Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Well, I can say falling down a staircase wasn’t how I had planned to spend my day.

(Searing pain, a pounding headache, and then-)

But neither was waking up in a stranger’s(no- mine?) household in the middle of the night, heart pounding out of my chest as I stared blankly into the ceiling. 

1, 2, 3, 4,

My eyes darted around the room, trying to find something familiar-(you know this house, you were there when your brother surprised you with it-)

5, 6, 7, 8,

And they landed on a poster of what seemed to be Star and Stripe(it was a collector’s edition, Theo gave it to you so you could have a little piece of home with you even in Japan-)

9… what?

From My Hero Academia? I felt my breathing start to slow out of pure confusion. As far as I knew, I was- 

Well.

Looking around, really taking in my surroundings, I realized something that I had overlooked before. It was loud.

Instinctively, I patted the area above my head where my cochlear's would be, only to feel a smooth surface reaching upwards. Brow furrowing, I touched… something protruding from my head.

Deciding I really needed to get a look in the mirror now, ignoring the creeping, sinister dread that this body was not my own, I rushed to the bathroom(-how did I know where it was-) and my fears were confirmed. Shock painted the stranger’s face as their(-her?) hand touched their face. 

My breathing started to pick up again.

The stranger’s hands began to claw at their face, leaving red, angry marks that I somehow could feel despite this not being my own body. Shuddering, gasping breaths left them as their too-round pupils shrunk to pinpricks. 

It was too loud. 

Crumpling up in a corner in the bathroom I covered my hands over my ears(-a futile comfort, I needed to turn off my cochears) and softly cried. 

Time passed, as I slowly came out of my daze. The chirping of birds and warm sunlight accompanied me as the room that previously seemed foreign and hostile in the night was both warm and familiar in the soft morning light. Tired and worn out from the night, I slipped into sleep.

He was falling, pinks and greys blending together. 

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, we introduce to you, the Clown! A hopeless fool who-”

Now with his hand on her shoulder, mouth duct taped shut. 

“-thinks he’s important in life! Haha! Oh, thank you ladies and gents for the applause, thank you-”

“You’re a demon!-”

“I’m sorry Pony, but not now. Daddy’s a little too busy to play, alright?

(The sound of coughing, harsh and viscous, from the bathroom)

“Why can’t you just leave?”

They were falling faster now, the colors turning to dusty rose and mauve.

“-Pony! Ainm! PONY-”

The dusty air swirled around, dancing in the sunbeams as the sun dipped lower in the sky. This time, waking up was slow and unhurried. A thought, slow as molasses, surfaced in my mind.

Hey, shouldn’t the letter from UA be here by now?

Reluctantly, my eyes open. Still bleary from sleep and worn out by the long day, it took a moment to register that it was afternoon already, the sun splashing me directly in the face. 

Disgruntled, I got out of bed, going through the motions of getting ready when the memories of last night came rushing back like a river, readying to overflow the dam it was stuck behind.

So that wasn’t a dream after all… 

Looking into the mirror, my mirror, I came to the conclusion that… I was not nearly awake enough for this.

Thoroughly derailed from my previous train of thought, I checked my mail and found-

Pony was working her way through the rubble of the very wrecked exam area. After having saved a blond boy who seemed nice, she heard Present Mice- or was it Michael? Yell that the testers only had 5 minutes left. Shoot! She’d taken down 15 robots at this point, but that wasn’t nearly enough! She grimaced, rushing ahead. She was not gonna fail, not on her watch. 

A letter from UA sitting right on top of the pile.

Huh. Who the hell did I reincarnate into again?

Opening the letter, a disk shaped object fell out and clattered loudly on the countertop. I looked around, half expecting my two little brothers to come out and ask what the noise was (it was quiet, too quiet) And got subsequently disappointed (what were you expecting? You useless coward, can’t even take care of your siblings right-) when they didn’t show up. Turning my attention back to the disc-shaped object, poking at it revealed a hologram that nearly made me tumble over in surprise.  

All Might of all people popped up, and the only surprise more than that was-

30th.

(Welcome to your Hero Academia!)

Fucking 30th. 

I was just happy to get a second chance, (No past to drag you down, no siblings to be a burden-) but now I’m on a collision course with the one thing I wanted to avoid.

If there’s one thing I hate more than drawing trouble, it’s drawing attention.

And often, those go hand in hand.

Running to my mirror, abandoning the disc on the countertop, I looked into the mirror, nearly touching the glass.“Pony Tsunotori… Where have I heard that name before?” Whispering softly to myself, brow furrowed. 

-And then it hit me. I was a side character who got like-

Um. How many times did I show up again? 

Doomed to be a nameless character with no real place in the narrative.

Really, universe?

Time to get to training then.

Chapter Text

Combating both ordinary first-day nerves and plot driven, isekai-related stress was proving to be absolute havoc on my mind, so, boxing up those thoughts and taking several deep, forceful breaths, I grabbed my schoolbag and walked down to the train station.

The train was a balm on my tumultuous emotional state, the background noise reminding me of my house on the louder days… and wasn’t that a shock, not being deaf anymore. The world sounded less… metallic, almost. It was a hard feeling to describe; just that the world sounded different, now. My eyes slid closed as I remembered re-learning how to to actually use my quirk, Horn Cannon. 

Clang! The trash can clattered across the alleyway and the silhouette at the other end gavea slight wince at the noise. Pony was at the lower end of Mustafu, near the docks. The smell of the sea was present in the air. It wasn’t the nicest neighborhood, all things considered, but it got the job done. They weren’t about to be arrested for using their quirk by the heroes in a neighborhood the heroes ignored so that was a plus. They rubbed their horns, still not entirely used to the feeling after living a whole life without them.  

Cheeks turning warm, I recalled when I re-remembered that I had hooves for feet.

That was a memory to be looked back on with fondness eventually, but not now. ( And what makes you think you’ll live that long in the first place you selfish motherfucker - )

Anyway! Back to thinking about the first day of school. 

Or not, as the train’s doors slid open to my stop.

Getting out, breathing in the mixed smell of gasoline and spring, I looked up at the towering school looming above me. 

Walking through the gates, I see a spikey-haired blond boy with a scowl on his face. Shuffling away, I’m thinking about how that guy seemed familiar when it strikes me- that was Bakugou, Midorya’s rival and former bully from the Anime. I’m walking on autopilot at this point, sitting down in my assigned seat and getting my pencil and drawing notebook to calm the nerves.

As the bell rings, I hear Aizawa’s voice cut through the classroom.

“Alright, children, welcome to Class 1-A. This year will be difficult for you all, so stop messing around, put your big person clothing on, and start being actual Hero Students .” 

I see Kirishima- only recognizable by his bright, red and spiky hair- raise his hand. “Hey um, can I ask a question?” 

Aizawa points at him- wait. Is… is Aizawa female!? Freezing in place, I almost don’t hear her response. “Yes, Red Hair, what's your question?” 

Kirishima turns around.. And points at me!? “Right, so, you’re Pony Tsunotori, yes?” 

Trying my best to not let panic show on my face, I answer. “Yes?” 

He turns around to point at Shinsou- and now I’m certain the timeline I’ve been forcibly punted into is an AU. That would explain me being in class 1-A, Aizawa being female, and Shinsou being here too. Panicking over that, I miss the next things he says, only getting pulled back into the conversation when he addresses the whole class.

“……Right, everyone raise your hands if you also got isekaied into My Hero Academia in the past three-odd weeks.”

“…What?”  

What the fuck. What the fuck.  I-I mean, I knew that since I got into 1-A that this was probably a different timeline ( Though maybe, some part of you still hoped, beyond all hope, that this was your own merit. Your own talent. ) since both Todoroki and the cheese guy that stared at the camera were missing, but I was hoping for something at least resembling the canon timeline…

But a-fucking-parently, that was too much for me to ask for.  

Kirishima, shattering my dreams of a semi-coherent plot and predictable future, stands up.  “Right, everyone- Okay, let’s do this in an actually organized fashion. Mr.- Ms.- Aizawa- I’m sorry, however I’m supposed to refer to you, can I use the chalkboard?”

I thud my head on my desk. I don’t want to see this anymore, and maybe if I could knock myself out, that’d be great. 

I hear a sigh. “Sure, and it’s Ms. Aizawa now.” 

“Right, headcount, if you have weird future knowledge about My Hero Academia and/or got possessed by a ghost recently raise your hand.” 

I don’t want to see who raises their hands.( You thought you were special for once? Ha! Don’t get me started- ) I don’t want to see who will cause me even more stress than their canon counterparts. 

I hear the scratch of chalk on the whiteboard, Kirishima speaking again. 

“Alright, cool, if you’re not an SI, sit tight for a moment- if you come find me at lunch tomorrow I’ll explain the whole thing so you’re not super lost. Anyways, canon knowledg-”
Kaminari bursts through the doorway, startling me with the loud noise. At some point, I’d gotten so panicked that I’d circled back around to being calm again. “Sorry for being late I got lost-” One thing that’s better seen with my head up is the gradual confusion showing itself on Kaminari’s face as he scans the room. “What the fu-” 

Kirishima points again. Maybe he was secretly Phoenix Wright all along? 

“Are you an SI?” 

Shock flickers through Kaminari’s face briefly as it moves toward resignation. 

“No point in hiding it. I am, I have Denki in my head and I’m going to assume you all are SIs too. This is just great.”

The maybe-Phoenix Wright in disguise moves back to the board. 

“‘Bout half and half, actually. Anyways, grab a seat, we’re playing a game of who-knows-what so we’re all on the same page when it comes to things.” 

Kaminari nods, “Okay, I got up to chapter 407 of the manga. I’m gonna go sit down now.” and moves to do just that. 

On the other side of the room, Yaoyorozu slowly raises her hand.

Kirishima points at her. “Yaoyorozu. Go.” Alright, who made Wright isekai into Kirishima? At least he was helping get things done.  Looking a little surprised by the formality, Yaoyorozu spoke. 

“Hello… I’m awfully sorry to interrupt but… what on earth are you all talking about when it comes to chapters? And… did you say SIs? Also, you know my name?” 

So not an.. SI, then. 

Midoriya chips in.  

“You see, this world is fiction, and we used to read it. Then, through some cosmic bullshit, we got punted here by God or something.”

More like pushed.( Falling- pain- nothingness . Then-) 

Well. No use dwelling on it- 

“…We’ll get to the Q&A after we finish up this whole nonsense. Like I said, if you want, I’ll explain this whole thing at lunch tomorrow. Right, I’m up to… I think Chapter 405?”

Aizawa said, “I’ve caught up to the anime and have enough spoilers to know what happened.” 

Iida chimes in. “I’m up to date on the anime too and I’ve read a bunch of fanfics and seen respect threads.”

At this point, all sound is blurring in my ears and turning into indecipherable gibberish. I had gotten a total of 4 hours of sleep the night before, and the unforeseen chaos and panic of the morning was getting to me. I put my head down on my desk, trying to ignore the noisy classroom and preferably go to sleep. I succeed for a little while- until the disguised Phoenix Wright starts speaking again. 

“Before we get to that- has anyone made big metaknowledge-changes in the past three or so weeks? I know Iida and I told the plot to Nedzu, All Might, and Detective Tsukauchi, so that solves some things.”

An ask of what Metaknowledge is is heard from the back of the classroom. Probably Midoriya- though I shouldn’t assume, with the new… SIs, anyone could have asked it. Too bad I’m too tired to look. 

“Basically a catch-all for all the knowledge of the manga/anime we’ve got. Rolls off the tongue nicely. ‘Metaknowledge’. Also it sounds fancy, which is always a plus.”

Midoriya calls out; “Oh… I don’t know if this means what I think it means but my- er- Izuku’s dad has white hair.” 

Well, shit. I may have not been the most well versed when it came to the manga and anything past Kamino, aside from occasionally spoilers- lookin at you, Midnight-  but I was well-versed in the fanfiction side of the fandom… and everyone knew that white hair was a clear sign of All for One being Midorya- or whomever the poor unlucky soul was -’s father.. (more often than not an absentee one as well.)

Kirishima grimaced. “Shit. I guess we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it?”

Out of nowhere, I hear a person’s voice, and I can’t tell where it’s coming from. This wasn’t unusual before, but it sure is now. 

“What does him having a white-haired father have to do with anything?”

Kirishima is visibly startled for once, and it actually looks like Phoenix.  “Holy hell! When did you get here, Hagakure? Also, side note, are you an SI?”

I have a feeling, underneath the invisibility, Hagakure is furrowing her brows. “What do you mean? An essay?”

..I know the feeling of missing something too, but that reaction certainly places her firmly in the not-an-SI category.

Kaminari looks at Midoriya.  “Well, fuck. You’re the son of All for One. This might actually be an AU after all…”

I’m glad to see that other people are coming round to the same conclusion I did.

Ojiro yells. “Seriously!?! DAD FOR ONE is canon here?”

Hagakure sounded confused. “Who’s Awful Won?”

I tune out Kiri’s subsequent explanation.

“Why does he not have a head? Did he get decapitated?”

You know, I think that actually would have been better than punching it off.

Kirishima says, “All Might punched it off. It was a whole thing that, honestly, I’m probably not legally allowed to talk about.” 

Better safe than sorry, after all.

Uraraka states, face worried, “So Midoriya’s dad is All for One? That changes a lot. And where are the missing people? Are they also SIs?”

Hagakure speaks up again. It’s almost nostalgic how I can’t quite tell where the disembodied voice is coming from. “Oh! I saw an article a couple weeks ago about someone running away- they seemed pretty important, something about the number two hero? Do they have anything to do with this?”

Kirishima looks to be in thought.

“Then probably, yeah- the missing folks are Todoroki and Aoyama, and they’re the most likely to have SIs that want to get the fuck out of dodge.”

There’s a pause. 

Kirishima claps his hands. “Right, so none of you folks changed canon significantly in the past three weeks?” He surveys the class, seemingly focused on certain people. Probably the other SIs.

Aizawa mentions her transition, and Tokoyami declares his intent to come out in both ways to his moms.

“What do cannons have to do with anything?”

Hagakure says with a clear edge of confusion. 

Yaoyorozu, taking the statement literally, says,

“I can make cannons if it’s required? It takes a while, though.”

I say, hopefully not with an edge of hysteria,  “Nope, still no idea about what’s going on! Absolutely none at all, hahaha.” I’m not particularly hopeful on that front.

“…Right, then I’ll surrender the floor back to you, Ms. Aizawa. Take us on scholastic adventures and whatnot!” Kiri returns to his seat.

Aizawa questions if the class should even do the quirk assessment test, and I promptly tune out.

Slowly but surely, panic has been rising in me again after the initial shock.

I don’t know what expression I’m making, but I know it isn’t pretty.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see toxic green smoke. Tuning back in, I turn to see Midoriya staring at lida as the smoke billows off of him.

“So One for All and Smokescreen?”

Aizawa comments.

“No, I just manifested One for All as small amounts of green smoke instead of lightning.”

Definitely an AU.

Kaminari sighs. “At least you’re learning faster than the Midoriya of canon did. Speaking of, do you have him in your head? Actually, does everyone have the canon character in their head?”

“Yes, I have him as a vestige… The other vestiges were not pleased about me though.”

Midoriya says.

“Vestiges? What the fuck are you even talking about, you damn imposter?!” Bakugou says loudly. Now that’s one canon character that I’ll avoid. He’s far too loud and rude for me to ever hope of befriending him, that’s for certain.

Tokoyami seemingly stares at Bakugou.

Kaminari nods. “That makes sense. You aren’t their chosen user.”

“I’m a mix of canon Kirishima and a guy named James Eisner- no ghosts to speak of.”

Kirishima replies.

I guess we were more similar than I thought.

“Wait, hold on, do you mean vestiges or ghosts?”

Shoji rumbles in confusion. 

Kaminari looks at  Kirishima. “Okay… So there’s multiple types of SI then, huh.”

“I’ve got O.G. Iida as a ghost too.”

Iida adds.

“I kinda just took over Aizawa’s memories and body. I have all his memories but no ghosty.”

Aizawa says.

Kaminari hums. “So that’s three types of SIs so far. I’d assume there’s more but we can’t be sure.”

There’s a rule of threes somewhere in mythology. Somehow, I think that’s all.

“W-wait, so there’s people with ghosts, people with just their character’s memories, and people that merged with their character?”

Koda stutters slightly.

“And folks that took over the character but without their memories.”

Kirishima adds helpfully.

“Sato’s gone. I don’t have his memories or personality, it's just me.”

Sato says hesitantly, and somewhat downcastly.

“…I’m sorry to hear that, man. You need someone to talk to and you let me know, ‘kay? Kirishima addresses the whole class. “Actually, that goes for everyone here- if you need a shoulder to lean on or general help either adapting to the isekai or adapting to the fact that your classmates are isekaied, lemme know and I’ll come running, got it? It’s not manly to suffer alone so I don’t want to see any of you angsting about this junk!”

That’s sweet. I had some doubts, but the Phoenix Wright in disguise seems to have no ulterior  motives.

Sato chuckles. “Nah, don’t worry. I’ve come to terms with this.”

“Same here. No memories of Mr. Mediocre. He’s probably enjoying my tailless body as we speak. “

Ojiro says, slightly sulky.

“I- I’ve got no memories either…”

Jirou says, clearly nervous.

I’m tired. The sound blurs around me once more,

Aizawa calls out, snagging my attention once again. “Alright, settle down. Since this self-insert bullcrap got us off track, let's go actually learn. Everyone to the training ground for the quirk assessment test.”

Shoji raises his hand. “…What about P.E. uniforms?”

“Oh, right, forgot about those.”

Aizawa responds, grabbing them from under the podium and tossing them at the students.

“Catch.”

Mine lands on my head, muffling the sound around me, and my sight. As much as I want to stay like this, I take the uniform off and stand up, ready to follow the crowd. I let the noise of conversation wash over me, calming my incredibly frayed nerves.

Aizawa quickly speedwalks out of the classroom to the training field.

Kaminari looks at where Aizawa left. “So… do any of us actually know where to go, or are we going to be left in the dark? “

“Well, if Ms. Aizawa is an… SI, as you put it? Then it’s more than likely she won’t know either?”

Momo replies.

“We should be talking about the implications that Aizawa-sensei is an SI. Who else is an SI besides us? 1-B? Other Pros? VILLAINS?! “

Tokoyami says, trailing off into a yell near the end.

“What if All for One is an SI, or one of his lackeys?! Oh gosh, if Overhaul is an SI…and poor Eri if she is one.”

“…Shit.” 

Kiri states.

Kaminari slams his head on the desk. “If Shiggy is an evil SI we’ll be so screwed.”

“To be fair, I doubt there are many people that are that evil…”

Midoriya protests.

“Well, I’m thankful that certain bigots don’t exist anymore. Although we really need to find Eri.”

Tokoyami says, relieved.

Aizawa’s voice crackles from the intercom system. “Yo! I’m already at the field. Get your asses over here quickly!”

Kirishima stands up. “Right, gang, let’s scooch and boogie! Anybody have any idea where to change?”

Kaminari shakes his head.

Tokoyami starts blushing.

“So that means…I would see y’all’s… Fuck. I might be asexual but it’s still awkward for this to happen.”

Kirishima says confidently

“There’s probably a gender-neutral bathroom that you can use if I had to bet.”

“Honestly, I’ve just been ignoring the impending truckload of body dysmorphia that would come with being in a different body but it hasn’t shown up yet,”

Midoriya says with a clear trepidation.

“I have yet to experience that as… well…

I don’t think it’s gonna happen instantly, though, as I got a detachment from my own original body… fucking hate its fat.”

Tokoyami mutters.

Ojiro says sarcastically. “I honestly can’t wait for the feeling of complete mediocrity to wash over me in this new body.”

Kirishima claps his hands yet again. “Right, blind leading the blind. Let’s do this!”

I cannot wait to get lost and be late… yay.

Sato pulls out his phone. “Actually, I took a photo of the map near the entrance.”

Never mind, I suppose.

Yaoyorozu pulls out her phone looking for the map on it, seemingly not worried about how many leave the room.

Kirishima does a dramatic bow. “Then lead the way, my friend!”

I follow, ready to get out of here. I want this day to be over already…

Reaching the training grounds still took a while, even with the map. 

Aizawa was annoyed. “Finally! It took you all far too long. Heroes need less time to suit up into real hero suits, and you all are only wearing P.E. Uniforms. Do better next time!”

Kiri waves. “Apologies, took us a while to find the changing rooms.”

She sighs. “A Hero must always check their surroundings beforehand. You should’ve used the map U.A provided you in your acceptance letter.”

We had a map?? Though to be fair, even if it was pointed out to me, I was a little busy at the time.   

Yaoyorozu chimes in. “…Did no one else check their emails?”

I feel like punching myself a little right now.

Kiri sighs. “That would have been a fantastic idea, yeah.” “We got emails?” Hagakure says confusedly.

What? We did??

“We all have school e-mail accounts from U.A. The log-in was included in the info packet enclosed with the acceptance holodisk.”

Shoji explained. 

Would have been very nice to know beforehand. 

“So, for the people that didn’t know that, check the letters that you get sent by U.A. fully, because I may add little surprises like glitter bombs in them when we do send out more.”

Aizawa explained. 

Well, I’ll have to set a reminder on my phone for dealing with that.. 

“HELL YEAH!” Tokoyami exclaimed. 

“ Please don’t…” I mutter. 

“Send a glitter bomb. I dare you. I’ll mail it back with twice as much glitter.”

Kaminari tempts Aizawa by looking her in the eyes like some sort of reverse Medusa.. 

Aizawa chuckles. “So you don’t believe me? Have you ever heard of Pocket Sand? Try Pocket Glitter.” And Aizawa strikes back by throwing a handful of glitter at Kaminari from her Utility Belt.

I ignore the subsequent flailing from Kaminari. That’s one person that’s not much different from his canon counterpart.  

Shinsou raises his hand. “So, what are we doing for the test?”

“Oh, right,” Aizawa says.“So you all remember the eight tests at the start of the year in middle school? We will be doing those with your quirks instead, along with your physical ability if your quirk doesn’t work well with the event.”

I make a face. “PE.. my nemesis..” (‘ Sis! Sis, do you want to see our workout plan? We did 5 push ups today! It's good for you to workout, you should do it more often, Sis .’) 

Despite my little brothers pushing me to workout, I never did muster up the motivation.

I suppose, that’s another thing that’s different, here. 

Lost in thought, I’m startled back to reality when I hear a loud scream of DIE!!!!!!!!

It seems Bakugou did the ball test already. 

Wow.. that’s going far. 

Kaminari looks up into the sky and whistles. “It’s really going far, huh?”

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…we’re gonna die thanks to a lack of direction.”

Tokoyami gulps. 

Aizawa looks down at the phone thingy and holds it up. “705.2 Meters.”

Sato’s eyes are wide. “Damn! It's one thing to see it on screen but that was impressive.”

“Next. Yaoyorozu.”

Aizawa tosses the ball to her.

Yaoyorozu catches the ball. “Right, yes ma’am.” She walks into the circle and turns to address everyone else. “This… might take me a moment, so feel free to talk amongst yourselves.”  She unbuttons the PE uniform top as the creative sparkles begin leaking out of her.  After a minute or so, a great cannon crashes onto the floor in front of her. She shakes her head, a little red in the face, sighing as she picks the ball up.

Mineta begins staring and whistles. 

I look away, heat rising to my cheeks. I’ll give Yaoyorozu some privacy. 

I hear Sato say,

“Pay attention to the tests, Mineta. Last thing you want is to lose because you were chasing girls.” 

Yaoyorozu turns to Aizawa. 

“Okay, ma’am, I’m ready to proceed. “

Aizawa, seemingly unfazed, says “Whenever you’re ready.”

Yaoyorozu loads the ball into the cannon, hearing it roll down and clunk at the bottom. She picks it up and spends a few seconds aiming at the right angle before turning to the others. “You… may wish to cover your ears for this!”

I put my hands over my ears.

 Yaoyorozu kicks the base of the cannon as it starts to smoke and whir up, before eventually shooting off loudly and the ball tears into the sky.

Thanks for giving the warning, Yaoyorozu..it’s loud.

Aizawa sits and waits until it lands, then looks down at her phone thing and holds up the device. 

“1070 Meters. Tokoyami, you’re next.”

Tokoyami grins as they enter the circle. Dark Shadow appears and Tokoyami orders her to take the ball in her hands. 

Tokoyami yells.

“DARK SHADOW, USE YEET!”

I am so tired. I do not want to deal with ancient memes right now. For my sanity, please let that be it.

Dark Shadow throws the ball into the very far distance.

Tokoyami watches the ball “Better than expected.”

Aizawa holds up the phone-thing, the results are displayed as 644.4m.

Tokoyami slumps. “Why does the number 4 always follow me…” 

I trip and fall several times. I’m pretty sure it’s due to the stress and little sleep, and it’s all I can I do to pretend to be unbothered by the bad scores. 

Aizawa calls out to the class. “Now that we’ve finished, let's show your scores! “

Ochako Uraraka

Momo Yaoyorozu

Izuku Midoriya

Katsuki Bakugo

Tenya Iida

Mezo Shoji

Ejiro Kirishima

Fumikage Tokoyami

Mina Ashido

Mashirao Ojiro

Tsuyu Asui

Rikido Sato

Pony Tsunotori

Koji Koda

Hanta Sero

Tooru Hagakure

Denki Kaminari

Kyoka Jiro

Hitoshi Shinso

Minoru Mineta

I’m just glad I’m not last.

“WOOHOO!”

Tokoyami yells and high-fives Dark Shadow. 

Ojiro presses his forehead. “Exact mid-point. God really loves making this man the most mid guy ever.” 

Kaminari rolls his eyes. 

Mineta collaspes on the ground, wailing. “Nooooo! I can’t go home! I haven’t got a girlfriend yet!”

Kaminari sighs. “Buddy, you tried, that's what matters.”

Well, that’s one person I’m not torn up about leaving. Good riddance, pervert. 

Shouji shakes his head disapprovingly.

Dark Shadow slaps Mineta on the back.

Aizawa smirks. 

“And I lied! Nobody is getting expelled! Although I may recommend Mineta to our counselor just so that he may find a reason to become a hero that’s about more than just getting a girl.”

“…But getting chicks is why I want to be a hero!”

Mineta says.

And it’s a shit reason to become a hero.( But then, what’s yours?- ) 

I’ll work it out later. 

Kirishima grins.” Which means you get to go on a soul search!” He leans in closer, grin still frozen on his face. “Also, harass anyone in this class and I will physically drag you to Nedzu.”

“That’s all for today, you’re dismissed. Remember to check your e-mail for orientation information,”

Aizawa says, leaving. 

This… will be an interesting school year. 

Chapter Text

I walked into UA, the spring breeze making my hair fly in the wind when i hear someone running up to me. Turning behind me, I see none other than the titular bitchular, Monoma Neito himself.

“Hello, Pony Tsunotori!”

I know who he is,  but how does he know me?? 

“Uh- hello?? How do you know my name??” I say.  Monoma grins. “Do you know the term “SI”? Kirishima in your class made it.”

“Oh. Oh.” I sigh in relief. “That makes a bit more sense, I thought you were a stalker or something and that I was gonna have to use my quirk on you.”

“You thought- What?” He looks insulted. “I wouldn’t stalk you! We’re friends, or at least we are in the canon timeline.”

I squinted suspiciously at him. “Uh huh… and how do I know you’re not lying?” Far as I knew, I was just a random extra. Though the way he spoke about me was convincing me otherwise.

“I don’t know. Do you not know who I am? I was on the show too, you know.” Monoma said.

I squint, with a guilty grin growing. ( Sis, you stole a piece of chocolate didn't you? Don’t try and hide it, we can see that grin! ) “I-I’m?? Not an SI??” My voice pitches high towards the end of the sentence. I have a feeling that I’m going to get caught in a lie sooner or later, and that might be now. 

“Oh… You’re a lot better at Japanese than you should be though…” Monoma shrugs his shoulders. “Eh, must be a canon divergence someone caused. Do you want to be friends anyway?” Or not, apparently. I let out a small sigh, shoulders untensing near-imperceptibly. 

I think, looking at the rocky ground. 

“Well, you gave a bad first impression but… I do need friends. Ok!” I looked up from the ground, with a ( weak, clearly fake, ) smile in place. “I’ll be your friend!” 

Monoma perks up. “That’s great! Can I call you a nickname?”

I squinted again. “…What nickname?”

Monoma furrows his brows. 

“Ponytori. I think you might be suffering from something? I’ll try to be less loud, very sorry.”

“That’s fine. It would be nice if you were less loud but um, I’m not suffering from anything? At least, I don’t think so.” 

“You were squinting an awful lot. You haven’t done so since I quieted down. Maybe you have sensitive hearing and didn’t realize?” Monoma questioned. Was I really? 

“Oh. Oh, I didn’t even realize I was doing that. I do have kinda sensitive hearing, so… maybe?” I said, unsure. 

“Fun fact, in case nobody told you, today’s Hero Class is a battle trial. You’ll be divided into hero teams and villain teams. The Villain Teams get 5 minutes of prep time to ensure the Hero Team can’t touch the fake bomb when they enter. If the heroes do, they win. Villains win by running out the clock. Both teams can win by using the provided capture tape on both opponents. Anyways, here’s a paper with some techniques I think you should try.” Monoma rambled a little bit, handing me a paper. This.. is a little much. 

[ Pegasus : By riding 2 horns, she can fly.

Impaler : By throwing a horn into an opponent at maximum speed, she can pierce through most light-armors.

Horn Launcher : By grabbing a person and accelerating them, spinning their body all the while, she can let go and launch them with the combined force of inertia and centrifugal force.]

“I- uh, ok?” I lean away from him slightly. I knew of the Battle Trials, but I guess I just have to pretend not to. The decision to not put my hand up was spur-of-the-moment( You just wanted to feel special. Didn’t you?- ) and I was still seeing its effects. “Ah, sorry for the overflow of information. Here, let me have the paper back, I’ll write it all down.” Monoma says sheepishly.

I give the paper back. That’ll be useful information to have for later. Now for the important question. 

“Um… how did you know about my quirk?”( about me? ) I thought… from the others, I thought I wasn’t anyone important.”( you were never special in the first place, that won’t change- )

“Well, you’re important to me, at least. We’re friends, after all.” 

 Oh. Well, I.. guess that does change some things. I still want to be a hero( for who? Your friends, gone? Your brother, working to support an impossible dream? Or… maybe your Father - ) shut UP. Later. But I thought I was going to do it alone. Now… maybe not. 

“O-oh, well, then thank you!” A smile finds its way onto my face. Genuine as it may be, it’s also a good way to cover up my own thoughts and feelings. 

“Of course. I’m going to write a couple strategies down for you as I talk if that’s alright?”

Monoma asked, paper at the ready. 

“That’s fine.” I replied. 

“If you’re on the Hero Team, I recommend using the Pegasus technique on the paper to just fly around the outside of the building, looking in. If you’re on the Villain Team, I recommend you use your horns to move the fake bomb to a different building, then try to hide, or at least keep away from the opponents.” His pencil’s flying across the paper as he writes. Leaning in to listen, ears pricked, I go; “Ok… alright. That’s- really useful, honestly.”

“Thanks, Ponytori. Want to trade phone numbers so we can keep ahold of each other out of class?” Monoma holds out his phone. 

“Oh- oh yeah, sure! “ I really need to work on that stuttering habit. 

Handing my phone over, I take his and put my phone number in. After a moment of hesitation, I set myself as Ponytori. I look up, smiling. ”Thank you- for the friendship and the quirk help, really.” 

He smiles back. It’s a little stiff around the edges, but it’s clearly genuine. “Of course. Talk to you later? Oh yeah, feel free to call me Neito. Or make a nickname for me.”

A sudden idea strikes me. 

“Oh, uh um. Is- is it ok if I call you Nei? Or not, that's fine too.” I don’t want to come off as desperate, but I think I might have with that last sentence being said so quickly. 

Monoma smiles again. 

‘Feel free to, Ponytori. It’s cute. I like it.”

“Thank you. Nei. Um, I’ll see you later?”( You’re desperate, too desperate- )

“Alright, talk to you after class. Or during, I’m not picky.” Nei replied.

“Don’t skip your classes just to come see me- besides, that would get you caught easily. Our homeroom teacher- uh, she’s pretty scary.” I furrow my brow.

“She? Oh, did Aizawa transition or was she always a girl in this universe?”

Nei looks interested.

“Um, she said she was an SI too. And that the transition was a recent thing.” I reply. 

“Interesting. Tell her I said congrats? Anyways, we should probably hurry off to class now. Also, I accidentally copied your quirk. It’ll wear off in 5 minutes, don’t worry.” Nei looks as if he’s noting something down mentally.

“Oh-yeah,” I look at my watch. “We do need to get going. Uh,ok. Oh ok- um, alright? I’ll see you later, I guess.”( He copied your quirk? And he still doesn’t think you’re a demon? Hahaa, it's only a matter of time- ) Shut. UP. Blinking aggressively, I look to see Nei walking away.” Alright, bye bye, Ponytori.” 

 And wait- are those horns-? I don’t have time for this! I yell, “Bye!” …Where’s the map again? 

The classes are just ordinary classes, except they’re run by heroes, and they’re trying.. and failing to get us excited for Math and English. The bell rings, 

I survey the lunchroom. 

Nei walks over with his tray, and says, “Hello, 1-A, Jiro, Ponytori, Zaki, and Kaibara.” 

I responded easily. I’m glad I at least know someone at this table. “Hi, Nei.”

Kirishima pulls a notebook and pen out of his backpack. “Right, down to business. Shiozaki, Kaibara, do either of you have bizarre inexplicable future knowledge and/or a ghost mysteriously in your head?” 

Kaibara said, furrowing his brow. 

“Uh… Yeah? Do you have the same thing?”

Kirishima answered. 

Yeah, there’s a bunch of us; we’ll get back to that in a moment. Shiozaki?

Shiozaki turns to Kirishima. 

“I both have knowledge of the future and a ghost. Say hi, Ibara!”  Nothing happens in the physical world, but from Shiozaki’s reaction, she seems to have said hi to us.

“I’m caught up with the manga, and Ibara’s grumpy that she didn’t have a lot of panel time.” 

Nei waved. “Hello, Ibara! Zaki, perhaps you can just tell us whenever Ibara says something?” 

Kirishima writes down the answers, then looks up. “Also- either of you change canon significantly in the past three-odd weeks?” 

“No, I haven’t done much. My character-I mean, me- can’t change canon that much. And sure, Monoma, I‘ll do that.” Shiozaki responds.

Kendo walks up from behind with Yanagi. “I don't know, Shiozaki, I think you’re underestimating how much one person can change things. Hey, Eijiro, Monoma, everyone.” 

Yanagi nods. “Greetings.”

Tokoyami, from the other side of me, waves. 

A voice, seemingly coming from a small speaker on Yanagi’s shoulder says, 

“Hi, guys!”

I looked around, and in a small voice,( pushing past the fear, the judgment- ) said “Hi.”

Jirou waves, her gaze seemingly lingering on me for a second before looking away( fool, liar, freak, demon- ) but I probably imagined it. 

Tuning back in, Ashido’s slid into seating at the opposite end of me, with Sero sitting behind, next to the vantablack kid and the most ordinary girl I’ve ever seen. 

Kirishima, responding to Sero for something I didn’t hear; 

“Eh, don’t worry about it! I’m just glad you could make it at all.”

“Are you kidding? I definitely wasn’t passing up the chance to learn about the future like this!” Sero grins.

Kirishima claps his hands. “Right, anyone else got anything before we get started with this whole business?” 

Nei mentions that everyone’s quirks appear interesting, which- ( Demon, demon, don’t let her touch you with her horns- ) which is likely an insult, but that’s fine. So long as he doesn’t say it straight to my face, he could say whatever he wanted. It’s not like it was anything new. Tokoyami leans forward. “I dare you to touch me.” Dark Shadow, his loyal companion, stares at Nei. “Bite me, weather boy.” 

I went, “What??” as I’m not quite certain I heard what I just heard. 

“No thanks, Uzi Jr.” Nei said. Tokoyami puffs up. “It’s ‘Prince of Bel-Air’, Sanji!” Nei shrugs. “Never heard of it.” 

“Uzi Jr.? Is that because the U.S has weird gun laws?” Shiozaki looks confused. 

Tokoyami turns to face Shiozaki. “No, my dear Shiozaki. It’s Murder Drones, which exists.”

Kirishima claps his hands to regain everyone’s attention. 

“I’ll take that as a no on important questions, then. Keep questions for the end, please, everyone, or we’ll be here all day. So long story short: me and a few other folks, including Kyouka, Monoma, Shiozaki, Kaibara, and Fallia,” When each person’s name is spoken, Kirishima pointed to them. Honestly, it’s like he’s not even trying to hide the fact he’s Phoenix Wright anymore.  “Got thrown into a world that’s essentially the same as a manga series from our previous lives and intend to use that future knowledge to do good. To significantly raise our odds of doing good with said knowledge, we’re going to hit the big beats of canon with you folks so you’re not caught by surprise when things go pear shaped. With me so far?” 

Nei states. “Objection! I don’t think you understand my situation as well as you seem to think you do, Mr. Kirishima. I am still 100% Monoma. The person who attempted to reincarnate into my head is gone.” 

I whisper under my breath. 

“Phoenix Wright??” 

Clearly, not-even trying to hide it, Phoenix Wright points at Nei. “That makes me slightly more worried about your mental state, but objection sustained.” 

Jirou sighed. She seemed pretty preoccupied, ( She looked at you, didn’t she? Probably thinking of all the ways you’re unnatural, disgusting- ) 

“Don’t turn this into a court…” 

“Sorry, Kirishima just reminded me of a video game character. Something Right? I don’t recall.
Nei said.

I put my head in my head, feeling incredibly tired in the way only someone messing up a franchise name could make me feel.  Nei looks at me with concern. “Are you alright, Ponytori?” 

I look up. “Yeah, I’m ok.” Just annoyed at the current state of affairs. 

Nei, satisfied with that answer, nods. “Alright. Continue, Wright.”

“Right, right, back on topic: the main character of said manga series was a kid named Izuku Midoriya in Class 1-A, who also happens to be an SI. So that’s out the window, long story short. Big events coming up: tomorrow a villain’s going to use the press as cover to try and infiltrate U.A.; we’ve already told Nedzu about that so hopefully it’ll be stopped. After that on Friday 1-A gets attacked by a group of villains at the USJ; once again, hopefully foiled. There’s the Sports Festival after, Katsuki Bakugo wins, nothing too surprising… During internships, Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya, and a kid named Shoto Todoroki all fight Stain the Hero Killer during internships while the villains stage an attack on Hosu, so probably take internships away from that city…”

…Aaand I tune out. I joined this because I thought I wouldn’t know the material, but this is all stuff I already know.

Dad, can you play with me?

“Not now, sweetheart, I’m… busy.”

Oh. Ok, but… can you tell me when you’re not? I wanna play!

“Can’t you play on your own, or with your brother?”

Yeah… but it’s not the same without you, Dad! 

Alright, alright. I’ll tell you when I can play with you, ok?” 

Ok Dad!

(The sound of coughing, harsh and thick, from the bathroom-) 

Dad… you haven’t gotten out of bed in a week. Are you still going to play with me?

(No response comes from the lump underneath the covers.)

“Hey Pony…  I think Dad’s busy. Let’s leave the house this time, alright?”

Ok Theo. When will we come back to see Dad again?

“...”

Theo? 

I employ all my skills I’ve learned about keeping a poker face( from your old friends- but where are they now? Dead, dead, dead and gone ) and I’m somewhat successful. My nails still carve a crescent-moon shape in my skin from how tightly I’m clenching my fists, but I’ve gone through worse. I can bear it. 

 I hear an alarm go off on Kirishima’s phone that snaps me out of my daze, listening to him. “Right, that’s the twenty minutes until the end of the period alarm. Let’s get some food in us, ‘kay? Battle Trials are no joke when it comes to energy expended.” 

“Battle Trials?”

The pale white Todoroki sibling ripoff asked. 

“Plans for Hero class today. Everyone who’s number I don’t have already- let’s swap now, and text me if you have any questions, yeah?” Kirishima explained.

“Battle Trials, right.” Nei nodded. “Swapping numbers is probably a decent idea. I already ate enough, anyhow. I’m gonna go look for someone afterwards.”

Ashido chants. 

“Group chat. Group chat. Group chat — I’m making it first so I get admin perms!” 

Kirishima looks vaguely worried. “…This may be a mistake.”

Looking over at Kirishima, it seems a bit late for that realization. I’m pretty sure Ashido’s already made it.

Shiozaki sounds vaguely worried. 

“Because this is based on an anime, I hope it doesn’t turn into a group chat fanfiction, but knowing Mina’s character…” 

Ashido pouts. But, well… knowing her, yeah, I would be worried too. 

“I am right here! Besides, it’s going to be fineee…” 

The classes are dull, until the battle trials. I watch the first two matches nervously, waiting in anticipation for my name to be called. And called it is, with Yaoyorozu on my side and Tokoyami and Mineta on the other. 

I frantically try to remember what Nei’s strategies were. 

“Okay Tsunotori… Do you have any ideas for a strategy or?”

Yaoyorozu looked at me, and I did actually have a couple strategies, thankfully remembering what Nei told me. 

I stuttered slightly. I really need to work on that. “W-well, I ran into Monoma this morning. H-He said that maybe I could use my horns to move the bomb? I’m not sure how he knew about the thing we were doing, but- uh. Yeah. That’s something.” I knew, I just knew, I looked nervous. I felt nervous. 

Yaoyorozu looked at me, smiling.

“I’m not familiar with this Monoma… But that’s definitely a good idea! Great thinking! If we falsely fortify this location then they’ll eat all their time away trying to get something that isn’t there!” 

“O-oh. Um. Thank you.” Please, me, just shut up. You aren’t doing yourself any favors. “Yeah! That sounds like a really good plan!” It does, honestly. Yaoyorozu’s far better at creating plans than I am. 

I see her look at me with concern. 

“Tsunotori… How are you feeling about this? Forgive me for saying, but I couldn’t help but notice you seem a little on edge.” 

I feel a big, almost manic-feeling grin grow on my face. “Oh, uh a little. Ahahaha, was it really that obvious?”( Hahaha. HAHAHA. Of course it was, you’re weak . Look at the clown, fools! Playing their part in the show- ) I know I probably sound a little hysterical right now, but I feel like it’s justified. We’re only two days from the USJ, and I don’t have an inclination to get traumatized anytime soon. 

Yaoyorozu looks around the room to the surveillance cameras, before taking her earpiece out and holding on to it with one hand before placing the other on my shoulder as she kneels down.

“It’s okay. You’re not on your own in this. I’m gonna be right here with you this entire time, it’s just a training exercise after all. But… Look, I’m gonna keep you safe with everything I have at my disposal, alright? It’s okay to be scared, but just know that I’m right here with you.” 

My anxious grin slowly grows smaller throughout Yaoyorozu’s speech, being replaced with a tiny, barely-there smile. She… reminds me of my brother.( The one you never had, the ones you lost- ) my vision glazes over at the edges, and I’m certain that I have tears gathering in the corners. I also take off my earpiece before I start talking, because this… isn’t something that should be heard by the class watching.

“I don’t know if anyone’s ever told you this, but you’re very good at comforting other people.”

( I miss them. ) 

Yaoyorozu looks down, chuckling a little before looking back up and squeezing my shoulder slightly.

“Well… I had a pretty good teacher. I know you’re going to do great today; I just hope at some point in this exercise that you know that too.” 

I smile again. “Thank you. Really.” 

“I don’t suppose this… Monoma, had any tips against our classmates too, did he?”

Yaoyorozu asked.

I cast my memory back to the morning, trying to think. “Oh uh, he did say something about my horns being used as a… um what was the word? Centri-something… Centrifugal weapon! That was it!” I snap my fingers. “Where I could move someone with my horns and spin them around, then release them later!”

Yaoyorozu nods approvingly.

“That could work wonders… Okay! Then we’ll use that to nullify the others once you’ve successfully moved the payload! But we’ll have to wait until they’re inside the building before they can start. Otherwise they’ll see what we’re up to.” 

“Yeah.. um, should we put our earpieces back in?” I ask, moving to put it in.

“How do you feel about the trial now?” She looked at me, patiently waiting for an answer.  

“A lot more confident… I think I might have been making too big a deal out of it than it actually was. Thank you, seriously.” My face hardens in determination, and slight excitement. 

Yaoyorozu pats me on the shoulder one last time as she gets to her feet, twirling the earpiece in her fingers. 

“If something ever means that much to you… It’s never a big deal. How you feel going forward is a big deal.”

She puts her earpiece back in her ear as her stomach starts to crackle with creative sparkles. 

“I’m going to give you some flashbangs just incase one of them slips by me.”

She pulls free two matryoshka dolls and hands them to me. 

“All you have to do is twist, throw and cover your eyes and ears. Got it?” 

I nod, listening. 

“I got it!”

I take the two matryoshka dolls from Yaoyorozu and look at them.

Yaoyorozu’s body keeps sparkling beneath her red cloak as she starts to pull something free, meanwhile her forearm crackles too as a shield forms, looking over her shoulder.

“Well then Pony… Let’s win this thing.” 

She pulls free a silver and blue glowing Warhammer, holding the long grip in one hand. 

My eyes grow wide. …How the fuck did she manage to pull off an entirely accidental MCU reference?? What she said registers in my ears. 

“Alright then… let’s do it!” 

Oh right, I still have the earpiece. I better put that on… 

Mineta, crouching on the windowsill, talking through his earpiece, says “I found the bomb. And a beautiful babe to go with it.” 

“Ok… no pressure! Just gotta keep moving…” I mutter to myself. 

Mineta seems to be trying to stand suavely on the windowsill. 

 Put down the bomb, “villain”! It’s just kind of sad, to be honest. 

Startled, I try to open the matryoshka dolls Yaoyorozu gave me. “Oh- oh shit! UH-” 

Mineta begins throwing orbs at me, sticking the dolls to one of my hands. “You can stop any time, villain!” 

“No thanks!” I yell. Trying to get the orb off, it’s incredibly sticky. “Why won’t it come OFF!”

Mineta hops down from the windowsill. “My balls are super sticky! There’s no way to get them off!” His chest seems to puff up with pride. 

I narrow my eyes, lowering my head, not unlike a bull ready to strike. “Then… I guess I have no choice! Horn Barrage!”

Horns shoot off my head! It’s uncontrolled, but vaguely in the area near Mineta.

Mineta yelps, before running away, overturning and hiding under a nearby table. “How many horns do you have???”

Grinning, I reply. “I haven’t found a limit yet!”

Mineta throws back. 

“Too bad for you, I have more balls!” He begins throwing balls uncontrollably over the table.

There’s at least half a minute of back-and-forth, before- 

A ball hits me, toppling me to the ground! 

“WOAH!” I yell. 

Mineta stands on top of the table.

“Hah, I got you now!”

I try to get up, but fail. “What do you PUT in these things??”

Mineta winks “All of m-”

He’s thankfully cut off by my remote controlled horns grabbing him from the back. 

I exclaim in relieved satisfaction. “HA! Gotcha!” 

Mineta is yanked across the room by the horns; right before hitting the wall, he pulls out two hairballs and uses them to bounce off the wall, much to my anger. 

I yell in frustration, cursing more than I normally would. “Why the FUCK are you so SLIPPERY??”

Mineta, while still pinned to the ground by my horns, tries to flirt. “That's what all the ladies say~” 

All Might sounds the airhorn. “Momo Yaoyorozu has been eliminated!”

“No-”

Mineta’s shirt rips as he lunges- 

“-Not going to let you-”

Mineta’s fingers brush against the bomb as my horns grab him and yank him away-

There’s a pause. 

All Might sounds the airhorn. “And the winner is the heroes!”

I lay my head down on the ground. 

“…Godammit.”

Mineta’s still pinned to the wall upside down. 

“Noooo! I didn’t get to feel any-”

Alright that’s it.  

Dragging Mineta’s dead weight outside, I see Tokoyami’s quirk dragging them off as well, yelling “YOU NEED THERAPY”. I’m not certain whether or not to be worried.

All Might grin is, unfortunately, just as blinding in person as it was described to be with the fanfictions I used to read. 

“Well done, all three of you! Unfortunately, Young Yaoyorozu was not feeling well, so I shall review her after-action report later. Now, can anyone tell me who the MVP for this match was?”

Yaoyorozu’s missing? That’s… not good. When I see her tomorrow I’ll ask if she’s ok. 

Asui calls out. “Was it Fallia?”

Tokoyami raises their hand. “What’s an MVP, sir?” 

All Might looks over at them. 

“It stands for “Most Valuable Player”, Young Tokoyami!”

He then looks over to Asui. 

“And Young Asui, that is correct!”

Tokoyami freezes up. “…What? How the heck did I-” 

All Might cuts him off. “While both heroes and both villains did a marvelous job, Young Tokoyami was a fantastic hero and thus has earned their MVP placement. In particular, fantastic work with communicating with your partner! “ Yeah, and I’m sure you’re not just saying that to make me feel better, Yagi Toshinori. I cost my partner the win and that’s all there is to it. 

All Might calls on me. “Now, Young Tsunotori?” 

That’s my name, don’t wear it out. “Oh! Y-yes?” I really need to work on that stutter. 

All Might nods. “You need to work on your confidence. In the field, it’s important to be self-assured of your actions, both to stay calm and to keep nearby civilians calm.” I- don’t know how to do that. For as long as I can remember, my admittedly shit self-esteem has been with me. That’s… not something that can just be fixed so easily. Noise fades into the background as I think. Why did you give me awareness of this flaw, this problem, if I can’t solve it? 

His announcement jolts me out of my brain, and I look over to his direction. 

“That’s all! Next to fight will be…  All Might reaches into the box.  Team A as the heroes and Team E as the villains!” 

I'm in a corner of the viewing room, thinking about my loss. I opened my phone and saw a notification pop up under the contact listed as Nei.

Nei:

Hello, Ponytori! How did you match go?

Ponytori:

Not great.

Nei:

Oh no

What happened

Ponytori:

We lost.

I know, I can see you typing. 

I tried your strategy, and it worked good! 

Its just that I wasn’t good enough to pull it off.

Nei:

Shush

It wasn’t your fault

The opponents just had a better strategy, presumably either yaoyorzu, mid-oriya, bakugo, or mineta

Ponytori:

I had Yaoyorzu on my side, and yeah

Mineta was there 

I punched him, but i dont think that was enough

Nei:

Yeah, he’s pretty perseverant from what I’ve seen

Wait

He didn’t say anything perverted to you, did he?

Ponytori:

I think he was trying to seduce me by striking a pose on the windowsill, but it just looked sad to me

And then he did say something about wanting to touch boobs, but dont worry

I punched him real hard for that

I think hes still in the infirmary

Nei:

He got what he deserved

You feeling alright after your loss?

Just remember it wasn’t your fault you lost

Mineta’s one of the best srategists in 1-A

*Strategists

Ponytori:

He is?? didn’t seem like it to me 

But ok if you say so

How has ur day been goin?

Nei:

It’s been going pretty well

I made a new friend, but I think she’s

only my friend because she pities me

Ponytori:

Punch her if that turns out to be the case 

Nei:

No, that’d be rude

It might just be my low self-esteem

talking, anyway

Ponytori:

Im glad your aware that you have that at least

Hey are you aware of lkojhchguh

How the hell did I trip?? I’m in a corner.

Nei:

I don’t speak Korean, sorry Ponytori

I thought you only knew English and

Japanese?

Ponytori:

And ASL, but that wasnt Korean 

I just tripped 

Nei:

Oh ok

Ponytori:

But anyway

Whos your new friend? 

Maybe i know their name

Nei:

Kyoka Jiro

I accidentally copied her quirk and it

gave me sensory overload

Ponytori:

Yikes that sucks

Are you alright?

Nei:

Yeah, just have a headache

Ponytori:

Get some ice and try not to look at bright things if you can help it

Also try to stay in quieter places

Ofc you dont have to take my advice 

but its here if you want to use it

Nei:

I will

Thanks for the advice, Ponytori

You’re a good friend

Ponytori:

thank you

Nei:

Of course, Ponyori

Hey, did you want to hang out after school?

Ponytori:

Sure

Where would we go?

Nei:

I

Idk

Ponytori:

Well your company is good company so id be happy to hang out wherever you want to go

Nei:

Thanks, Ponyotri!

*Ponytori

Gtg, my match is coming up

Have a nice rest of the school day

I’ll see you after school

Ponytori: 

wait where are we meeting up

Nei:

Maybe at that park near the school?

Ponytori:

Oh yea the one with the monkey bars?

Nei:

I think so?

Ponytori:

Ok then there

Now go to ur match i dont want you to be late

See u after school

Nei:

Yep

See u

The school day was over, and I couldn’t  wait to get to see Nei again. The house( yours, not-yours, empty-) is ( lonely ) boring at times, so it’ll be nice to see my ( how do you know they won’t leave you too?) friend again. I stop for a moment, just to appreciate the… enormity of it all. 

This is real. Somehow, it feels like I’m just on the edge of a breakthrough- 

“Hey, Ponytori!” 

And I snap back to reality, moving one step forward at a time. I waved back to Neito. “Hey, Nei. 

Neito explained. 

“We just need to wait for my other friend. She came this way yesterday and I think she probably will again.” Nei seems to know several people already, what with him meeting Jirou earlier, and now this mysterious friend. I’m impressed, I didn’t think that I’d be friends with such a social butterfly so early into the year.

I nod my head. “Alright.” 

Neito calls out at something invisible behind me.

“Hello, my invisible friend! I have a question for you.”

Then, I see what he’s calling out to. “Monoma?” A voice speaks from thin air as reality seems to almost warp in on itself despite knowing there’s nothing there.

“In the flesh, Invisigirl! Sorry, you never told me your name so I kind of have to use a nickname for you.” Neito responded. 

I know who this is, it’s … uh. Well, names have never been my strong suit.

“Oh, it’s you! The one who jumpscared Kirishima yesterday.” At least she’s identifiable by that.

The newly-dubbed Invisigirl seems to sigh. “Is that really what I’m known for?”

Nei blinks, looking confused. “Why were you in 1-A’s classroom, Invisigirl?”

I look over at Nei. Did he not know? “We’re both in 1-A.”

Nei still looks confused. “I don’t speak whatever language you just said.”

The invisible girl sounds concerned. “That was Japanese though.”

 I slump a little. “Oh. I’m sorry.” I must’ve been speaking in English for that.

Nei speaks in English as well. “You’re forgiven.” He switches back to Japanese. “It definitely wasn’t Japanese.”

She was clearly slightly skeptical. “It definitely was.”

“Let’s just move on… Do you want to do some friendship activities, Invisigirl?”

Nei looked at her. 

“Which are…?”

Invisigirl responded, questioning. 

“Friends hang out together.”

Nei answered.

“And… do… stuff! Together.” Was my contribution to the conversation. 

Neito agreed. I knew he would. After all, I probably know what I’m talking about! 

“Yeah!”

“That sounds great, but what stuff?” Invisible- wait! No, I remember now. Her name’s Hagakure! Hagakure, ever the realist, asked.

“…I was hoping you guys knew?” I said, knowing very well I was clueless on this sort of thing. 

Nei proposed an idea. “We can just walk around and go wherever seems interesting?”

Hagakure agreed, pulling out her phone to text her parents. 

“Sure. Let me just tell my family that I’ll be late.”

Neito made no move to pull anything out of his pockets. “My adoptive parents usually aren’t too concerned. I stay out late a lot.”

“I… don’t really have anyone at home. It’s just me.” I reveal, ready for the teasing. 

“Oh… sorry about that, Ponytori.”

Neito sounded like he pitied me.”, which… was at least better than teasing.

(Children can be cruel.)

Hagakure’s uniform makes it seem as if she looks up. “I’m all good now.”

Neito says, leaving the ball in our court.

“Let’s look around then. I’ll let you guys decide. I’m up for anything.”

I think… “Uh… uh. I got nothin. What about you, Hagakure?” I said, slightly embarrassed. 

Hagakure deflects the question, asking one of her own. “What’s around here? I’m not too familiar with the area.”

“Neither am I. That’s kinda why I suggested we look around.”

He explains. 

“I… just moved here recently. I don’t really know anything about the area besides the basics.” I’m aware that I moved here a little less than recently, but-( a quiet house. Eyes on your back- )

I haven’t had the chance to get out much. 

Hagakure cuts through my thoughts.  “Let's just start walking then.”

Neito nods before following the floating outfit. “Yeah…” 

“Alright.” I give my affirmative. 

We walk for a while, and then we see a mall in the distance. 

“We could go shopping, maybe?” Nei suggests. 

All three of us agree, and we walk into the mall. Nei questions what we will do once inside. 

“Is there anything you’d want to shop for? I don’t go shopping too often.” And neither do I, so that makes two of us. Oh, wait.. well, I suppose there’s one thing I  do want to look at. 

“Uh… we can look at the bookstore?” I throw out there. 

“Do you like books or manga?” 

Hagakure asks. 

Nei likes my idea. 

“A bookstore sounds nice. I wonder if they’ll have any pre-quirk American comics.”

Maybe? I don't think it's likely, though.” Hagakure spoke. 

We all entered the closest bookstore. “Oh well. Let’s see what they have.” Nei says. 

“Should we split up and then come back together in a little bit? I can see some really pretty pictures over there…” I ask, drawn to the photography section. 

Hagakure questions. “Sure, how long do you want?” 

Sounds alright with me. Nei accepted. 

I responded to her with, “Uh, maybe 10 minutes?”

“Alright, we’ll meet back in 10 minutes.” Neito stated, then immediately walked over to a section with superhero manga. 

I walk over to where I see the photography books, showing off beautiful landscapes. I get lost in the shots of gold-bleached wheat fields, damp yet almost springy looking sea-green grass, and cresting waves of foam in the deep blue, almost black, seas. 

Then I hear Nei laughing, and turn to look. “Spider-Man: Fake Red! I’ve been looking for this.” …Spider-Man: Fake Red? Now I’m curious.

Walking over, ignoring the random civilian shushing Neito,  

“Fake Red? I don’t think I’ve heard of that comic edition.” I ask. 

“A Japanese-American civilian finds Spider-Man’s costume when he goes missing and tries to be Spider-Man, though it’s harder due to his total lack of spider powers.” Neito explains, clearly enthusiastic about this topic.

Neito looks over after finishing the explanation, walking over to Hagakure. 

“What are you reading?” 

Hagakure looks up. “Murder mystery. It's the first of a series of over seventy books.” I walk over as well, as I’m pretty curious. “That sounds long.” 

Neito smiles. He doesn’t seem to do it very often. “Seems pretty neat though. I may ask to borrow that when you finish.” 

“Oh, I'm not buying that. I have my eye on another book.”

Hagakure says.

I wander off, looking for Wings of Fire- my favorite book series. If this shop has a murder mystery spanning 70 volumes, there’s a non-zero chance they have Wings of Fire too. And wouldn’t you know it- at the bottom of a rack, I see the green cover of the Flames of Hope. 

I come back to the other two, grinning. “Look what I found!” 

Neito asks, clearly curious. He also looked a little red… maybe it was too warm in here?

“Oh, you look happy. What did you find?” Well. nevermind. 

“Wings of Fire! I- (love it! I was so sad when it ended-) It’s a book series I used to read. I ran out of pre-bought old books to read, but it looks like I found the last one over here!” 

“Oh, the reincarnator in my head read that a while ago. Not Book 14, but the first 5.”

Neito says.

“The what in your head?”

I say, uncomprehending. 

Hagakure, without missing a beat, says, “The one that messed up your quirk?”      

Neito affirms Hakagure’s statement. 

“Yeah, the one that messed up my quirk. A ‘reincarnator’ is a better descript than a ‘self-insert’ as Kirishima of 1-A called them. ‘Self-Insert’ doesn’t even make sense. They reincarnated, use that.”

I make a noise of slight confusion, but Neito appears to have taken it as understanding, as the conversation moves on. Well, nothing I can do about that now. 

Hagakure compliments the book. “Oh. That's a well thought-out twist.”

Neito preens.“Thanks! What should we do next? Get something to eat maybe?” 

Hagakure goes to the bookshelf and grabs ‘palm-of-hand stories’ from the shelf. “Let me buy some books first.”

I am getting pretty hungry, so, “Getting food sounds good.”

Hagakure walks back to us, having heard our conversation. “Yeah.”

Neito gets up. 

“Alright, let’s pay for our stuff first.” He pays for his manga at the counter. 

I also go up to the counter and pay for my book. I’ll read it when I have the time.

Hagakure, after buying her book, asks 

“So do you guys want to get japanese food or something else?”

“I’m fine with whatever. Ponytori?” Neito answers. 

“Oh uh, is it ok if we get some American food? It’s been a while since I’ve had any.” I ask, embarrassed. I don’t want to be a bother.

Hagakure’s ok with it too, apparently. “Sure. I'm not too familiar with it, so you can pick the restaurant.”

“Alright. Uh, I don’t really know this area any better than you guys do though, so.” That might be a slight obstacle in the way of getting American food. 

Hagakure’s uniform moves, but I can’t tell what she’s doing. “I think there's a restaurant that sells american food around here. According to the directory, it's a couple floors above us.” 

I look at the ceiling, almost envisioning the restaurant. “That sounds good, thank you.”

“I am going to bet 50 Yen there’s a McDonalds somewhere nearby.”

Neito says, but I’m not taking him up on that bet. I don’t bet on losing dogs, after all. 

Hagakure moves toward the exit, commenting, “We should get going. It'll be less busy if we eat before dinnertime.”

Neito follows Hakagure, “Alright, lead the 

There was an attempt to find the escalator, but we got lost. Eventually though, we found our way to an elevator. 

“At least it worked out.” The invisible hero student said. 

Neito agreed. “Yeah.”

After getting off on the right floor, I smell greasy oil and burgers from the shop right in front of us. Looking up… 

It’s a McDonalds. Of course it is. Well, now I’m doubly glad I didn’t take Nei up on his bet. Still, it is a prime example of American food, and I am curious to see how it differs in Japan. 

“They should have chicken nuggets, right?”

Neito asks.

“I think so.” Hakagure responds. 

“I hope so.” I say eagerly. 

All three of us go up to the counter. There’s no line, so we walk right up.

Hagakure, presumably looking at the menu: “It's a lot of fried food.”

“Well, it is supposed to be American.”

Neito comments. 

Looking at the menu, he orders. “I’ll have Chicken Nuggets and French Fries, please.”

Looking at the menu, it brings me back. 

Theo, where are we gonna go? 

“Well, Pony, first, we’re gonna go to McDonalds. You love that place, don’t you?” 

Well.. yeah. But,.. you said that we can’t stay with dad right now. And doesn’t dad have all the money and stuff? 

“Don’t worry about it, Pony. Just… go play in the playground with the other kids. Please.”

…ok.

Neito calls. 

“Ponytori?”

Hagakure tries to get my attention. 

“Tsunotori?”

Hearing their voices, I startle. Oh! Uh, I’ll have a double cheeseburger with fries and a sprite. Sorry for making you wait, I got lost in thought.” (Do you miss him?)

“Alright. I think I’ll have a water, too. Will you have a drink, Invisigirl? I should probably make a different nickname for you…”

Neito spoke, questioning. 

Hagakure waves him off.

“I'm fine, I've brought my own water. We should go grab a table.”

Neito talked, indifferent to the seating. “Yeah. I don’t particularly care where we sit, so I’ll let you guys decide.”

I look around. Voicing my thoughts,  “Maybe that one spot in the corner?”  

Neito turns to the floating uniform. 

“That works for me? Invi? That’s my new nickname for you, Invisigirl, since you don’t feel like sharing your name.”

Hagakure agrees. “Sure.” Rather hard to read someone’s body language when it’s not visible at all, unfortunately.

——————————————————

After getting the food, we eat.

“This tastes pretty good. Haven’t had McDonalds in a while.” Neito commented. 

I.. don’t know what I was thinking. It wasn’t like home, (would never be again- not the one you’re thinking of.) “Yeah. Not quite like home, though.” This was nice, though. Even if it wasn’t home. 

Neito sighs. “Suppose not.”

Hagakure criticized the food. “Not spicy enough.”

“Oh. Are you used to spicier foods?”

Nei asked. 

Hagakure responded, “Yeah, my parents cook it a lot.” 

Neito makes a noise of understanding.

“Ah, I see. Me personally, I just eat whatever’s cheap. Kinda leads to my taste palette, or whatever that’s called, to be less Japanese than it should be. I don’t think most people here eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches.”

“That actually sounds pretty good. I’ll just eat whatever’s on the table, except pizza. I’m not that picky.” I say. I’ve had- (hey Sis! We’re having pizza for dinner again! Come on, you gotta order!-) it one too many times to like it any more.

“Why don't you like pizza?”

Hagakure asked.( Guys, you order it wayy too much. Of course I don’t like it!-)

“Ah, just… never had a taste for it.” I’m good at sounding upbeat when I need to. 

Neito says, seemingly understanding. “Ah, I understand. I enjoy it, personally, but everyone has different tastes.”

Hagakure’s uniform bends a little bit. I think she nodded? 

“So what do you think our classes are gonna feature next? Since outside heroics, UA just feels like a normal school.” Doing an unsubtle topic change, I ask the other two’s opinion of UA.

Neito answers, 

“I don’t know. I suppose Rescue Training, though preferably not in the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.”

“…Unforseen Simulation Joint?”

Hagakure asks, after a pause.

“It was made by the Rescue Hero: Thirteen. It has 6 or so different “Zones” that simulate various natural disasters. It also gets attacked by villains the day after tomorrow. Hopefully that can be changed.”

Neito explains to the fellow hero student.

After another pause, Hagakure asks for clarification. “…Sorry, what?”

“Ah, sorry Invi. Which part did you not understand? I’ll try to explain more in-depth.” Neito apologizes.

“Attacked?” Hagakure questions.

“Yup. A group called the “League of Villains” attacked it with the intention to kill All Might. They had the means to do it with their bioengineered monster too. Luckily, I can confirm it’s dead in this new timeline.” Neito confirms the truth.

“Oh, well, that’s good.” I say, still keeping up pretenses. I don’t know why I said that (time. That’s all you need. Just some more time-) but I’ll keep up the charade. I’ve dug myself this hole, so now I'll lie in it.

“Sorry, just give me a moment to process that?” Hagakure requested. 

Neito eats another chicken nugget.

I eat some of my fries and sip on some of my sprite.

Hagakure questions finally, sounding slightly disbelieving. 

“Bioengineered monster? We’re literally in our first week of class?” If I hadn’t lived a whole other life up until just last month, that’s what I would think too. Which reminds me…

“Yeah, uh. You’re sure that’s stopped, right? That none of the members have a designated driver or something?” I poke around, trying to see what the story was there. Unless there’s an SI on the villains side- which, now that I think about it, could be totally plausible- or a new UA traitor. Somehow, somewhere, someone changed enough to apparently kill a nomu before it appeared in canon. 

“Wait, how do you know that the monster you’re talking about died? How do you even know this stuff?” Hagakure wants to know the answer, and now that she’s brought attention to it, so do I. 

“Well for one, the guy in my head reincarnated into said monster before me. Then it exploded and kinda covered the tea shop I was in with its insides.” Neito traumadumped. 

Hagakure looks at Neito, and so do I. 

I am now incredibly concerned about his mental state.  “Do you need a hug? I mean- I’ve been told I give good hugs before, if you need one.”

“That would be nice, I guess?”

Neito gives his consent, and I get up and go around the table to give him a hug.

I feel him flinch, then slowly return the hug. “T-Thanks..? I haven’t actually had any hugs in a while. Are you alright, Invi?”

Hagakure, who’s be watching this silently;

“Huh? Yeah, I’m okay?”

I look over at her. “You seem pretty calm about all this, honestly. You sure you’re ok?” 

Ah. I see now. Hagakure does radiate the energy of a tired person. “I’m pretty tired. I’m sure I’ll freak out later tonight.”

“Ohh I see. That’s understandable.” I say, sympathetically. 

Neito also understands, clearly. 

“I see. Would you want to go home and rest then?”

Neito glances down at me, but seemingly doesn’t say anything. 

Hagakure responds. 

“No, I can stay for a bit longer.”

“Oh I’m sorry, do you want me to stop now? Sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable.” I notice the glance, and the last thing I want to do is overstep other’s boundaries (the invisible line that you’re always afraid to cross-) and hurt them. 

Neito sounds a little confused. “Huh? N-No, it’s fine. It’s kind of nice actually.”

Well, if he’s fine with it.. “Oh. Well if you’re fine with it, then ok!”

Neito affirms. “Yeah… anything else you gu- girls want to do today?”

Hagakure asks, curious. So am I, if I’m being honest. 

“Uh, what is there to do around this mall?”

Neito thinks. 

“There’s shops for all kinds of things and I think I saw an arcade.”

I feel myself perk up at the mention of an arcade. There was one, (-Sis! Sis look! I beat my high score! Sis, should I get candy or the Dino toy with my points?) back in my area. 

Hagakure asks for confirmation from the both of us. “The arcade, then?”

Neito agrees. “That’s fine by me. And I think Ponytori wants to go too. Not easy to see her face while she’s hugging me.”

“Oh, was it that obvious?” I say,  sheepishly grinning before realizing no one could see it. “Yeah, I’d like to go to the arcade. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone, so I want to see what new games exis- they have.”

“I’ve always liked crane machines- never really played anything else at arcades.”

Hagakure admitted.

“Yeah, the crane machines are awesome. I always liked the basketball ones, though. Where you’d have to shoot them into the hoop and get a high score. My dad… he was really good at those kind of games.” ((Which one?) Both. And now…)

Neito tightens his hug on me. It feels nice, though I’m not sure what brought it on. It is kind of cold in here, maybe he was just giving me some warmth? “I’ve never been to an arcade machine before. I’ve had friends but we just never went there. What’s a crane machine?” Nei requests to know. 

I lean out a little bit to look at Neito’s face.  “It’s like where you have a grab hook, and you control it! You have to get it to pick up a toy or whatever was inside the machine, but it was always ridiculously hard. It just made it even more fun when you got something, though. “

“Ah, you seem excited. It must be fun. If it’s so hard, then it’s possibly rigged, yeah?” Nei comments. 

“It’s not that hard in Japan, though.” Hagakure adds in. “I’m pretty sure foreign countries rig it more than we do here?”

“Oh yeah, it was definitely rigged. But that just made victory all the more sweet when you finally got something out.” I turn to look at Hagakure. “It wouldn’t surprise me if America rigged it more than Japan, honestly. I can’t wait to try these ones, though.” 

“I see. I’ll try my best, but no guarantee I’ll be any good.” Neito speaks, taking this seriously. 

Hagakure finishes her burger. “Right, should we go now?”

 “I can pack the leftovers up and then maybe? If Nei wants to go right now, anyway.” I look at him. 

He seems to frown but immediately smiles again. “Yeah, that’s fine with me, Ponytori. I’m done anyway.” Neito eats the last chicken nugget and fry on his plate. 

I hear something off in his tone of voice but can’t identify it. “Well, alright, if you’re certain.” 

“I am. Let’s go.” He stands up and waits for us two to get ready and go. 

Letting go of the hug reluctantly, I walk over to my side of the table and pack up the leftovers and put them in my bag. These will be nice to reheat and eat later. “I’m ready to go as well. Hagakure?”

Hagakure stands up. 

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The mall was large, several stories letting in afternoon light as people from all walks of life talked to their friends or shopped alone. There was something for everyone, even a wishing fountain down on the ground floor. Sound echoed throughout the building, stopping once it reached the glass ceiling. 

Neito looks around. 

“I think..? Ah, there it is!” He walks over to the entrance of the arcade. 

I look over. 

“Oh that’s where it is. I probably wouldn’t have noticed that on my own.” The steps echo on tile as I join the other two in staring at the big arcade. 

Hagakure looking at it, states her surprise at how big it is. “Wow. It’s so big.”

“It really is.” I agree with her. 

Neito, not as awed as us, still stares at the arcade anyway. “Is it..? Dunno what size the average arcade is.”

“It’s a lot bigger than the ones back home, that’s for certain.” It was only one, but it served what was some damn-good pizza. 

Hagakure agreed with me. 

“Yeah, the ones around my town are mostly just small shops with some games shoved in there.”

He says, walking inside; “Well, let’s play some games then.”

“I don’t know any of these. Lead the way, I guess..?” Neito moving in step with us both. 

Looking around, I’m  surprised at how many strange games there are. I know it’s been at least 200 years, but it still comes as a surprise. “Neither do I.” Apparently. 

Hagakure’s sleeves rise as she points towards a machine. 

“Oh, there’s one of those traditional rhythm drum games! Oh- we should probably get some tokens first.”

I look at my wallet. It’s thin, a testament to the sorry state of my finances.“Uh.. do you guys know how much the tickets cost here?”

“Not… really?”

Neito responds, which… yeah. Ok, that makes sense. 

“Wait, nevermind. This is the type of arcade that takes spare change- there’s a machine over there that does the change thing.” Hagakure points again, but to a different type of machine. 

“Oh it’s one of those kinds.” I head over and look at the slots.

Hagakure looks at both of us. 

“Right, do you guys want to spread out?”

Neito accepted that. “Works for me. Let’s say we meet back up in say, half an hour?”

“That’s fine by me.” I say. 

Neito states, and we separate. 

“Right then, let's go.”

——————————————————

(after games)

We all gather around, a few bags on the floor with all our things. 

“Uh… so what did you guys do?”

Neito asks us two. 

. 

“I went to the crane machines, mostly.” Hagakure tells us, holding up her bag. “Not the best at it, but I did get a few things.” She pulls out two small plushies the size of keychains. They’re a yellow cat and a white cat. “Um… would you guys want these?” 

“Yes! Oh- I mean, yeah, I’d really like that. “ They look adorable. Of course, I can’t seem like I’m too excited for them and forgo my manners, anyway. 

Neito blinks. “Sure, Invi! Thanks.”

“I was just wandering around the entire hour… it was a lot, admittedly. But I did play one of those reaction time games, like uh, I accidentally switch to English. Subway Surfer? But different- oops, sorry! And back to Japanese. I didn’t mean to say that in English.”

Neito also switches to English.“Subway Surfer is fun. “And, -changing back into Japanese- it’s fine.”

Neito tells how exploring the arcade went. 

“I tried a few different games. One of them was a dancing game I attempted. One of the top scores was from a “KNG EXPLSN MRDR.” Obviously the blonde pop up book hair hypocrite from 1-A. So I did that. Again and again until I beat that score by 1 point, proving the superiority of 1-B! I also found a virtual reality game about an old American series I sort of know. I managed to defeat the squid alien but then I died to a sorceress.”

“Squid alien? Doesn’t ring a bell. I say.  But still, that’s really cool, Nei! King Explosion Murder? Yeah, that does sound like a spiky blonde classmate of ours… good job on beating him!” It was always good to see Bakugo get knocked down a peg in both fanfics and canon, because he was enough of a brat in the earlier chapters of the manga and anime that it felt deserved. 

Neito, despite being a little dramatic, was sincere in his hatred for … Vilagx? Whoever that guy was. 

“Vilgax, my nemesis. 2nd only to Excess Sweat.” Now Excess Sweat, there’s a common enemy that I can get behind. 

“Yeah, still doesn’t ring any bells. But Excess Sweat sure does. That stuff is horrible!” I respond to Nei’s tale. 

Neito isn’t wrong.. but it’s also quite hot in school. That’s probably why he can make explosions so easily.  

“Clearly Baka-go sweats constantly since he can make explosions any time. Vilgax is an antagonist in ‘Ben 10’, an Pre-Quirk American TV Show.”

“Oh. Oh, that show. I’ve heard of it, but never watched it myself. I- well, my brother was a big Pre-Quirk TV enthusiast.” I’m not lying about that. Just… which brother it was that liked now-old shows. 

Neito silently takes out his phone and sends me a large mp4 containing…  the entire classic timeline of Ben 10.  “Consider this an early present for whatever the closest present-related holiday is.”

I’m surprised, at first. Then, “Oh- Well, I guess that means that I gotta make that up to you on the next present related holiday- uh, whenever that is. I’ll be sure to watch it soon.”

Nei’s eyes widen before he waves his hands. “That really isn’t necessary…”

I smirk. “Well, I’m still gonna do it anyway.”

Neito’s confident grin falters. “I- Well, my birthday is next month…”

 Oh. Oh really?? How did I not know this? “Well, that’s the perfect date. You better look forward to that day, cause I’m definitely gonna bring you a thing or two.”

Neito hesitates before wrapping me in a hug. “Thank you…”

 I stiffen slightly. I’m.. not used to hugs. (not when everyone called us evil, demonic- less physical contact is part of the package.) Stiffens slightly, but then hugs him back) “It’s not something that you ever need to thank me for.”

Neito’s smiling. “Shush you. Just accept the thanks.”

Im grinning again. “Alright, alright. I will.”

Neito backs up with a blush and an accidentally copied [Horn Cannon]. “Thank- whoops, sorry. Your quirk is really cool though! It’s so useful! The difference in genetic expression between users is interesting too.”

He had reddish, stumpy horns in his hair, the very image of what the people around either decided to hate or ignore, yet… he complimented it. He copied it, and he didn’t think it was wrong.

 “I…” Tears start gathering in the corner of my eyes. “n-no one’s… “the tears start falling faster than she can wipe them away. “Ever called my quirk cool before.”

Neito wraps me  in a hug, and hesitantly tries to wipe away some of my tears.“It is cool. You’re cool. It’s okay, I’m here.”

I know my face probably looks like someone crumpled up a piece of paper and thrown around. “I- I’m getting your shirt wet, aren’t I? sorry about that. …Thank you.” Every now and then, an errant tear slips by.  

Nei wipes some more of my tears. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

“Thank you. Seriously.” I say it in English, because there’s something easier about communicating in your first tongue, and this was something that needed to be said right. 

Neito responded in English. “ You’re welcome.”

I push him away gently, feeling a little embarrassed at him seeing me cry and breakdown like that.  “I do feel a little better now.”

“That’s good, Ponytori.” Neito smiles at me. 

Looking outside the window, the sun is setting, colors mixing to create a tapestry of reddish orange fading into midnight blue. “I- It seems like it’s getting pretty late, though. We should head back soon. But really- I’m- just, thank you.”

Neito took the gratitude gracefully.  “You’re welcome.”

Hagakure, who has been standing there the entire time, waiting for us to finish, 

“Yeah. You guys walk home, right? Or do you take the train?” 

“No, I take the train.” It’s still a novel experience. 

Neito does the same as well, apparently. 

“Me too!” Alright, time to school my face back into some semblance of normalcy. 

 “Oh, that’s nice.” I’m not sure if I succeed, but no one comments on it, so I’ll take that as a yes. 

“If either of you need me for anything, feel free to text me. I’ll try to go wherever you need me. I still need a phone number for you, Invi?” Neito tells us both.

“Oh, alright then. See you guys next time?” Hagakure acknowledges Nei’s offer. 

“Both of you, thank you for inviting me. Seriously. I had an awesome time with you guys.” I’m being completely honest. 

Taking the train home, the busy nightlife and quiet chatter suffusing the air, I think back on the eventful day. I look inside my bag, the Flames of Hope still there. Back… before, I didn’t want to read the last book. It was silly, but I’d been following the series for several years then, and… I felt like reading it would make the ending real. Eventually, I said to myself, I’ll read it when I’m ready.  

(But life moves on, and so do you.)

Stepping inside, I take the book with me.

This time, I’m not going to wait. 

Chapter Text

My memory of the UA’s third day was probably inaccurate, and more than a little spotty, but I did remember that there was a mob at the front gates that Shigaraki used to get in, and there was a stampede in the cafeteria. I didn't want to be a part of either of those. The stampede was easy enough to avoid, but getting into UA without going through the entrance wasn’t. 

Wait- Didn’t Nei say something about my horns being used for flight? 

Walking around the tall, possibly-electrified fence, I found a semi- secluded corner where I could practice. Sure, maybe this was illegal, but only if I got caught- and this area was practically deserted, anyways. I really didn’t want to go through the gates and have to deal with the mess of reporters that would surely be there from what I remembered. 

Shooting out two of my horns, I make them hover underneath me. Then I try to balance on the smooth surface with my hooves- managing to do so, despite it being a lot harder than it looked. Rising above the probably-electrified fence, I felt a sense of triumph. 

Well- if I’m able to balance this well, then… I wonder, how far can I go on these? 

Reaching up to the window above me, I checked that I was hovering above the right one. Looking inside, there was Bakugou- yep, this was the right window. Knocking as a courtesy, I waited for someone to come over and let me in- but with a suspiciously loud creak, the window swung open. Studiously ignoring any and all eyes on me, I took my seat. I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe it was unconventional, but I didn’t care. Too much, anyway. 

Aizawa crawls into the room in a neon yellow sleeping bag, before unzipping the bag and standing up. 

“Hello class!”  She calls out. “Welcome to another day of UA! I guess..”  Tokoyami responds eagerly. “Hello, Miss Aizawa!” Their eyes are strangely dilated, like a cats… were they high? 

Kaminari looks up from his desk.

“It’s time for class already?”

Aizawa affirms it by saying, “Sadly, yes! Welcome to High School! Where sleep is for the weak! Anyways, onto the schedule. We will be doing something fun!” How does she have so much energy? 

Ojiro looks tired and annoyed as he raises his head from his desk. I hope I don’t look like that. “Somehow I doubt it.”  “Class rep selection, yeah?” Kirishima says, with some amount of enthusiasm. . 

“Is that really considered fun?” Hagakure sounds skeptical. 

Tokoyami answers. 

“Uhh…not really?” Kaminari groans, drawing my attention to him. 

“I was hoping to do this later in the day when I had more energy. We doing this via vote, right?”

“Of course it’s fun! Anyway, there are a couple rules! No voting for me as I have looked through Aizawa’s memories and a class tried that. Second, don’t kill each other.” Aizawa says, a little too cheerfully for the subject matter. Kirishima waits… “Is that it?”

“I mean, yeah? What do you want me to do, give you all seven thousand rules on how to behave during class when you all should know how to behave? I mean, at least don't murder each other and don't threaten each other without it being in good fun.” Aizawa states. 

“I mean, doesn’t the teacher get more involved normally?”

Shinsou slams his head on his desk. Jirou sighs.

“Yeah, give us the rules, please.” Hagakure asks, agreeing with Sero. 

“I nominate Kirishima!” Tokoyami calls out, still strangely hyper. 

Ojiro shrugs. “I concur. As long as it means I don’t have to be more involved.” 

Kirishima sounds surprised. “ I mean, sure, I guess.”

“Y’all want rules? Boring! Class is fun when anything can happen! Just no crimes, at least.” I didn’t know Aizawa was Texan. 

Kaminari pulls… a hat out of nowhere?? “So… Could we all make, like, a speech on who should be the class president or something or for ourselves if we wanted to?” 

“Wh- where did you pull the hat from??” I exclaim in confusion, not even bothering to be quiet. 

Bakugou gets ignored.

Hagakure asks a very good question.

“Why are we making speeches in the first place?”

Kaminari puts on the hat. 

“It’s fun! And it doesn’t involve violence!” 

Kirishima agrees. 

“Helps concentrate the votes around the folks who want the responsibility, too, so we don’t get a repeat of canon Midoriya passing up the role.”

“I absolutely don’t want it this time either.” 

Bakugo mutters. 

“Of course you fucking don’t… “

Aizawa addresses the class. 

“Okay! Because some of y’all want speeches, come up and say em! Don’t think about them! A hero must be able to act on the spot at all times!” 

Kaminari stands up.

“Perfect! I have one already.”

Shouji, confused, “How do you already have a speech prepared?”

“Magic… Nah, I just thought of it now, to be honest, so… do I just walk in front of the class? I’ve never really done anything like this before.” Kaminari asks awkwardly.

Asui asks in anticipation. “Can I go next?”

Kirishima says, trying to get everyone into an orderly fashion. 

“Okay, wait, raise your hand if you want to give a speech, please!” 

Looking around the room, I see Kirishima, Kaminari, Asui, Yaoyorozu, and Bakugou raise their hands. 

Kirishima starts pointing at people again. Squinting at him confusedly, why doesn’t he just come out and say that he’s just Phoenix Wright? 

“Right, Kaminari, you start, then Bakugo, Asui, Yaoyorozu, and I’ll bring up the caboose?” 

Kaminari nods at Kirishima.

“Sounds good!” Kaminari walks up to the front of the class and turns around, coughing to get everyone’s attention. "I won't lie to you, I don't want to be class president. I just want to say something serious because of the situation most of us are in, but this also applies to those who aren't reincarnates." Kaminari takes a deep breath before looking at the class with determination. "We're hero students, like it or not. We can't just mess around. I want to, I want to enjoy life, and  I know most of you do too. And with most of our problems seemingly already gone, we shouldn't have much to worry about. But we don't know about the future. If we all intend to go down this path then we should train for it and get better at using our quirks. We need to be better, stronger, faster. We can't just slack off. No, we have to put 200% effort into this to try and be the best heroes we can be." Kaminari walks back to his seat after bowing. 

Tokoyami, only half awake looking, mutters, “…Yay.” It looks like whatever drug they were on finally wore off. 

I say quietly, “That was good, actually.” 

The others seem to think the same, with the general mood in the room. 

Kirishima grins. “You got that right, Kaminari. We’ve got a head start, but that just means we can go even farther. Plus Ultra.” 

Kaminari grins back. 

“Plus Ultra indeed.” 

Tokoyami yawns. “Same… Snap outta it, Fallia! Please don’t sleep, me!” 

Kirishima turns to Bakugou. “Right. Bakugo?”

Bakugou stands up at his desk. 

“At this point, you all know I’m the best here. Just fucking vote me already.”

I quietly mutter in English- just so as to not alert any others to what I was saying- “Fuckin horrible.” There’s no way he’s gonna win with a speech like that. The rest of the room seems to agree. 

“Yeah, not sure how, exactly, that speech was supposed to make the class as a whole want to vote for you, but alright? Asui, you’re up.” Kirishima points out.

She stands up. 

“I hope you all feel good hearted enough to vote for my friend, Jirou.” Asui bows her head. “I believe she would be good for class president.”

“W-What!?”

Shouji chuckles. “Didn't expect that.”

Ojiro, presumably, says unseriously, “Yeah, elect the anxiety ridden girl to class representative, I’m sure that won’t go poorly at all.” I’ve never been the best at reading tone, but I’m pretty sure that was sarcasm. 

Hagakure asks if nominating someone else is allowed, and Kirishima responds in the affirmative. 

Jirou sounds dismayed. I can understand why, after all, I wouldn’t want to be nominated either. “…Please do not.” 

Kaminari hums. “Anyone would be better than Bakugo, I’m fine with whoever.”

Shouji nods. “Agreed.”

Kirishima then scolds both Kaminari and Bakugou for flipping each other off. To be fair, at least they didn’t use their quirks? 

“Kaminari, Bakugo, you guys should probably still be nice to your classmates, even if they are acting like jerks. Now, Yaoyorozu, you’re up! Speechify us!”

Tokoyami gives a nervous thumbs up and smile, as Yaoyorozu gets up and walks to the front of the room. 

Yaoyorozu’s voice washes over the class of students, making me want to listen in further. She’s got the makings of a natural-born leader, and is clearly putting it to good use. 

“For those of you who reincarnated: I entrust you’ve already seen who I am and what I’m capable of. But for those of you who don’t know me… I’m more than the person you saw in that battle trial yesterday. I’m always striving for perfection, I’m someone who only wants the best for those around her and those we hope to protect. Should you choose me to represent you, I can’t promise you that I’ll be perfect right away, it’s entirely possible I’ll make mistakes… But I’ll ensure that everyone in this room has a platform to speak, a place to feel safe and a shoulder to lean on. Thank you.”

She then sits back down again, leaving everyone with a positive response to her speech. 

Kaminari whistles. “She’s got my vote! Especially since Iida’s backing out.”

Tokoyami claps as Shouji says, “A very inspirational speech,  Yaoyorozu.”

Ojiro shrugs. “Eh. Not the worst I guess?” He’s one hell of a pessimist, that’s for sure. 

“Nice speech! Guess it’s my turn, then.”

Kirishima goes up to the front of the room.

“Alright, to be honest, I’m not super good at fancy speeches. And I’m not going to go around promising lofty goals that I can’t achieve. What I am good at, though, is people. 

If I do become class rep, I promise that I’ll make sure that none of you guys feel left behind. I promise that if you come to me with a concern, I’ll get it taken care of, come hell or high water. I’m not going to go out and promise that we’ll all be the top 20 heroes once we graduate, because the real world doesn’t work like that.”

No, it doesn’t. I’m glad he seems to recognize that. Both Yaoyorozu and Kirishima’s speech… they were grounded in reality. Not promising too much, just a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand. All things that anyone should have waiting for them at the end of the tunnel, instead of clawing their way into the light alone. 

“But I can promise you that I’ll do my fighting best to give us a shot at taking those spots, plus ultra style. Thanks.” He goes back to his seat, and sits down.

Shouji starts clapping. “You for sure got my vote now, Kirishima.”

Tokoyami cheers, despite having slept through the whole speech. I guess they just didn’t want to feel left out? “Kiri for the win!” 

I nod, not trusting myself to speak and say something coherent. 

Ojiro, always the negative one, can’t seem to find many flaws with his speech. 

“A bit much but probably the best one yet.” Koda raises his hand. “So how are we counting up the votes?” 

Kaminari excitedly takes off his hat. “I prepared for this moment.”

Kirishima, understanding, asks, 

“Alright, everybody have some notebook paper they can rip off?” No one denies it. 

“Then write the name of your vote for class representative, and second most votes gets to be the vice rep! Once you finish, take it on up and pass it to Kaminari, and when we’re all done we’ll count it up!”

Everyone writes both names down on notebook paper, including me.

Kaminari calls out, “Everything’s all in!”

Kirishima goes up to the board. “Right, Kaminari, read ‘em out!”

[Results:]

[Momo Yaoyorozu: 8

Kyouka Jirou: 2

Katsuki Bakugou: 2

Eijiro Kirishima: 8]

There seems to be a tie. Well, it’s not much of a surprise, really. Those two did have the highest quality speeches. The real question is who besides Asui voted for Jirou, 

Kirishima scratches his head. “Right, not sure how we’re going to handle a tie like this.”

Ojiro, sounding bored, proposes eithther Rock, Paper, Scissors or a Death Match. Either sounds fun, to be honest. 

Jirou glances around the classroom pointing her jacks at people.

“…Who was the funny one- The funny pair?” That’s what I’m interested in knowing, too. 

“Pretty big gaps. Are they going to be co-representatives?” That would work, wouldn’t it? Hagakure brings up a very good solution.  

Bakugou gets up, before throwing his arms in the air, annoyed. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He sighs. “Why am I not surprised, of course they won, it’s Kirishima and Yaoyarozou. I mean to be honest, it was pretty obvious they were gonna-”

Well. Clearly he’s a SI, though he could’ve fooled me the way he was acting. 

The SI’d Bakugou sits down, before immediately throwing his head into his hands. “Franco, you fucking idiota…” His name is Franco, then. No excuse to be an asshole any more, I hope. Maybe I can actually approach him, then. 

Tokoyami woke with a start from where they were slumped over on their desk. “Did someone just speak Italian?!” 

Kaminari slowly pieces it together, muttering, “I think… that was Italian… okay, I know why I had a hard time figuring out if he was an SI or not… Everything makes so much more sense.” 

Kirishima sighs. 

“Right,” pointing at Bakugou, "You no longer have an excuse to be an asshole. Stop.”

Uraraka laughs. It is kinda funny, admittedly. 

I slap my hand over my ears. “Ah!” The world is ringing, and I see Yaoyorozu walk to the front of the room. It seems like she did something? Slowly, the ringing fades, and I hear the last of her speech. 

“ …Therefore, with your consent, I propose that Kirishima and myself both take charge of things as Co-Leaders.”

Kirishima grins widely. “Hey, that works for me if you guys are fine with it!”

The class agrees generally. Mineta tries to be a creep, but Midorya saves us all from hearing it. Thank… whatever god is in this universe, I guess. 

“Sounds good,” I say, still kind of annoyed by the airhorn. If I were petty, I’d disagree with the class, but I’m not that petty- and afraid of retaliation to boot, so I’m not going to. 

Aizawa allows it.

The bell rings. “Class is dismissed. Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, I’ll tell you guys what you need to do as reps later.”

Kirishima grins, heading to his desk.  Alright, guys! Physics ho!

“Physics no.” I mumble in response, of all the things… why physics? Again… 

Tokoyami tries to be enthusiastic about physics, “Physics…yeah?” But fails and runs from the classroom in shame. My role model for sure. 

At the end of the day, I get on the train, seeing the vivid reddish-orange hues of the sunset blur together, like a kid’s oil pastels as they run a hand through the paper. I went into the library during lunch, not willing to deal with that whole mess. Hopefully, no one on the villain’s… side? Team? Well, anyone with a general vendetta against the heroes, got SI’d- or reincarnated, as Nei likes to call it, and told the LOV about everything over here. Still, I can’t shake the nagging feeling that something is going to go wrong. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. Exiting the train, the phone in my pocket started to ring. 

I picked it up. Who would be calling me? Looking at the I.D- 

(“I know that you don’t like what I did, but I had to! We were starving Pony- we needed help.”

“I’m not- I know that! But, why didn’t you leave, after?” 

… 

“This conversation’s over.”) 

(“I’m transferring over to Japan, Theodore. UA’s good, one of the best in the world. I’m… just telling you now, okay? You… can’t stop me here.”

(Please don’t stop me here.) 

“...Alright.”) 

-Theo. Why- why now? I answer the call, putting it up to my ear. This… would not be a nice conversation.

The voice crackles, distorted by an electronic output.

“Hey, Pony. How are you?” Quiet reigned, before I answered tensely. 

“I’m good.” 

“That’s good.”

“What now?”

“Can’t I just see my little sister?” 

“...”

“Fine. Listen, I keep my ear to the ground-”

“With your job, of course you do.” 

Maybe I was feeling a little petty. An electronic sigh, made harsher by the slight distortion in the speaker. “I keep my ear to the ground, and… an entire Yakuza disappearing practically overnight might be cause for concern, alright?” There’s the catch. 

“You want me to investigate.” It wasn't a question. 

“...We’d get more money if we bring in exclusive information.” 

“Fine.”

“Wait-” I hung up. I wasn’t about to spend any longer on the phone with him than I had to. Taking a deep breath, I headed into my small apartment. If there’s one thing I wasn’t, it was a procrastinator. Better to get it done sooner rather than later. 

Chapter Text

Stepping outside the locker room, I look around and see Neito. Walking over, I notice his outfit. 

“You look good. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is that Greek theming?”

Nei nods. “That’s right. You also look pretty good.”

I puff up slightly. I put a lot of work into my outfit, and I’m glad it shows.

“Thank you! Do you know what’s happening today? Since we’re… probably not going to the USJ.” At least, I hope so. If we were, that would just be tempting fate.

Neito ponders on my question. “Hmmm… Not sure. I’m glad we’re not going to the USJ, though.”

“Me too.” 

“Anyways, how are you?”

“Nervous, to be honest.” I want to tell him but- “I, uh, forgot what I was going to say.”

Neito commiserates. “Ah. I hate when that happens. Why are you nervous?”

I try to play off my strangely unsettled feeling. “I… I’m not quite sure myself. It might be because, well, the USJ has been played up as this huge event to anyone I’ve talked to about it so far. So… even though I know it’s not happening, there’s still kind of that anticipatory feeling attached to today. Does that make sense? Maybe it doesn’t, I wouldn’t know.” I’m rambling too much, I can tell. 

Neito agreed with me.

“Yeah, it makes sense. Well, I’m sure nothing will happen. Maybe we can hang out after school if you’re still feeling nervous?”

“That might be nice.” But- I still need to look into the Shie Hassaikai-   Pivoting mid-sentence, I try to gently shut Neito down. “Though… I do have some stuff to do. Maybe not, sorry?”

“No need to apologize! It was for you, so if you already have something to do that’s fine. We should probably start heading over to where we were supposed to go instead of standing outside the locker rooms, huh?” Neito says.

“Ah- yes, yeah, that- we should probably do that.” I stutter, realizing just how long we’d been standing there. 

“Race you there?” Neito asks.

“Yeah!” I take off running, not waiting for Neito. I hear him chasing after, and I smile, all thoughts of the USJ pushed to the back of my mind. 

Little did I know that peace would not last. 

Vlad King does a head count. “Good, you’re all here. We’re going to be heading to Gym Gamma today to work on quirkless sparring.” “Huh?” Sato says confusedly.  

“Ooooh, since-” Kirishima says, understanding, getting cut off by Aizawa. “Exactly.”

Uraraka nods. “I suppose it makes sense to avoid the USJ since the villains are attacking there.”

“God gave us a ‘canon divergence’.” Says Shiozak, which- yes, but I don’t know how I feel about it being phrased that way. 

“So we’re just working on quirkless sparring today?” I hear a tired-looking black-haired kid call out.

Vlad King talks to both the classes, in response.

“Exactly. Being able to fight quirkless is an important part of a pro hero; particularly if villains have something that can nullify your quirk or a quirk like [Erasure].” Then nodding at Aizawa.

Aizawa starts walking.

“That’s why we’ll be working on your sparring skills today! Everyone, follow us; we’ll explain more once we reach Gym Gamma!”

The walk to Gym Gamma is silent, everyone lost in their own head or small pockets of conversation here and there. Once we reach the gym, inside is what seems to be a masked, cowboy-wannabe hero and the Big Three.                         

“Vlad, Aizawa, glad you guys made it here.”

Vlad King tells us all who the mystery hero is. 

“Class, this is Snipe, the third year heroics teacher. He’s joined here today by three of our strongest students, who are collectively known as the Big Three.”

“I’m Mirio Togata! Nice to meet everyone!” The shiny, golden-retriever personified introduces himself. Wait- Togata like the guy that lost his quirk during the Shie Hassaki arc? …well, that’s certainly something that’s gonna change. 

“And I’m Nejire Hado! Super cool to meet you guys!” Too bubbly and bright for my tastes.

The third gives a small wave. “I’m Tamaki Amajiki.”

“Now, with introductions out of the way, let’s get started. All Might should be arriving to help us later, but right now-“

Everyone shouts various exclamations of surprise, as a misty portal opens on the wall. The heroes prepare for battle, as the leader of the LOV himself steps out of the portal. 

“All Might’s not here? That’s a shame. I’d hate to think we’d come all this way for nothing.”

Snipe fires his gun but Kurogiri opens a portal to block bullets.

“Don’t bother. Kurogiri got an upgrade from sensei.” He scratches his neck. “Hey, do you know what I hate even more than All Might?” Oh no.

He scratches his neck even more. 

“It’s cheaters. So when a guide NPC came to me and told me that so many of U.A.’s students were cheaters, peeking at my battle maps before they were ready, I wasn’t sure what to do.”

Shigaraki grins.

“But then I figured it out: why not skip the tutorial mission? Why should you guys get an XP grinder when you’ve already got a walkthrough?” Oh no. Oh no no- 

A maniacal light comes to his eyes.

“Good luck, heroes. Shigaraki sneers.  “You’re going to need it.”

Falling through the air, I hit the ground hard. For a second, the world feels as if it’s chaining me to the ground. Then- I get up, grimacing all the while. On a cliff face above us, there is an imposing villain, with large metal pillars scattered around him haphazardly. He’s wearing a mask, at least it looks like it from this distance- and a thick labcoat. He feels… important. Not for the first time, I wish I had read the manga instead of just being into fanfiction.

“Who’s that guy?” A - presumably - hero student asks, sweating nervously. 

“Just some brats?” The villain lights a cigarette, sitting down into a shoddy-looking metal throne. “This isn’t even worth my time.” he mutters, just loud enough to be heard by us. I would be insulted, but as is, I’m just trying to choke down my lingering fear and move . 

“You idiots down there, do your job.” he shouts.

Around us, thugs begin approaching: from every direction, there’s not a lot of places to hide on this mostly flat, open plane of rocks. Not a lot of places to run. 

Togata’s and Amajiki’s heads are already darting around, taking in their surroundings. Hopefully, with two of the Big Three on our side, we’d have a better chance at survival. 

“Uh, this isn’t good.” The brown haired boy looks even more nervous than before. 

“What… I knew we were tempting fate by going on a field trip today, but.. This is worse than what I imagined.” I mutter, trying to shield myself from the world- as if that would do any good in this situation. 

The hero student seems extremely shocked, and is visibly trembling.

“Togata-senpai, Amajiki-senpai, what are we going to do?”

“Get behind me first. What are your quirks?” Amajiki asks, starting to use his quirk, manifesting large crab pincers and eagle wings.

Togata calls out, “Tamaki, give me a boost!” Running into Amajiki, and jumping into him, then using the momentum to smash into some villains.

“I can shoot horns out of my head, and I can summon bigger ones to control. I- I can’t do it very well, but if I balance on the bigger horns, I can fly.” I explain, voice unsteady.  

“Air Wall. I can produce a wall made of it, and that’s it.” The basically an airbender student told Amajiki.

Togata is smashing the thugs, but some are getting closer. It’s not looking good for us. 

Amajiki speaks to me. 

“Keep that ace for now.”

He blocks a projectile, and grits his teeth “Put them up, however many you can.”

A thug gets behind me, causing a sudden spike of panic- Then Amajiki grabs him with his pincer and hurls him away. 

“Alright.” I say, lowering my head and begin firing my horns at the thugs getting too close to me and the air-bender wannabe. 

The avatar-rip off nodded. “Got it!” He then inhaled a giant gulp of air and began creating walls to block projectiles. 

Togata bounds back, heel-first into a tug coming up behind Amajiki; from that, he leaps onto the other side of the clearing, keeping that group in check. The two work together like they’ve done so for decades. 

Amajiki punches and cuts the thugs that get close, but they are unthinking and keep coming. Don’t they see? 

He grabs one with his pincer and as a show of force, rips into him. There’s a lot of blood, and some of the other thugs fall back, now seeing the whole fight in a different light. 

I get viscera splattered all over me, but, with only a shaky intake of breath and using my sleeve to wipe off the blood on myself, I hopefully don’t react outwardly. If it’s kill or be killed… I’d rather be a survivor than buried six feet underground.

Amajiki shows no emotion; there is a cold look on his face, which combined with the blood seeping down his arm, gives him an ominous aura. 

“I can kill all of you. Don’t make me.”

I stare at Amajki with a blank expression, then shoot a horn from my  head into the ground, picking the sharp weapon up and wielding it like a knife. As much as his aura unnerves me, I know I’m safe. It’s not directed at us, after all.

Togata bounds back, landing in front of me and the Bakugou and Rody-clone.  

Togata, clearly having no fear, shushed Amajiki. “He’s almost done with that smoke. We don’t have much time. We’re screwed if he joins in like this.”

Amajiki looks down on his blood stained hands, then glances back at me, the other student, and Togata. The thugs are getting frenzied, aware of the danger, like piranhas when they sense blood in the water.  

Amajiki manifests long, thin, blade-like appendages in place of his pincers.

“Let’s switch.”

He jumps amidst the villains, making sweeping cuts that take out multiple villains with each swing. I shoot some horns at the thugs, taking after Amajiki’s example, hitting them in the back and shoulders, causing blood to spray everywhere. It’s messy and gory, but it sends the message and tells the rest to stay far away from us. 

Togata plays defense, while Amajiki goes through the villains; it’s faster than Mirio’s punchy approach, but also more bloody. It’s not a pretty sight, but it’s more effective. Their numbers quickly dwindle, and the last 15% or so start to flee. Amajiki lets them. We’ve already seen enough bloodshed today. I… don’t want to see any more either. 

The brunette continues to create air walls,  blocking some goons.

The boy looks relieved that the rest of the goons are leaving, except for one. “Wait, don’t leave!” he shouts out to a female one, looking at her butt. “She had a nice ass!”

“Not the time, idiot!” I yell, anger surging.

The lead villain finishes his cigarette. 

“When you want something done well, you need to do it yourself, my old man used to say. He was a bastard, but he had that one right, at least.”

Lightning fast, a pillar grows and strikes among us two- dodging as fast as I can, I knew I was right; 

This fight will be far harder than the one before. 

He’s playing with us; he sends out a strike, then another, lazily glancing at us while we’re frantically dodging.

I shoot some horns at the metal-manipulator in frustration, and he blocks them with ease. It manages to make a dent in his metal amalgamation, and, with a slight huff of annoyance and rising hope on my end, he directs another steel projectile towards me- I barely dodge. 

Togata sinks into the ground, then uses the momentum to jump up towards the gray and white clad man: He puts up a shield, but Togata phases through it, reaching the man himself. 

They fight hand to hand for a little, and watching Togata dance between the metal structures he summons gives me a feeling of helplessness like no other. 

“Go, Togata!” The brunette shouts. Wait- I remember his name! It was Tsuburaba. Not the time, brain!

The villain’s attacks grow erratic as his attention is split in two different directions- and Amajiki manages to scale the cliff face. My heart is in my throat.

Wolfram wounds Togata in the shoulder, but Amajiki is coming from the other direction; he barely manages to put up a shield in time to block Amajiki’s next punch. 

Togata retreats, and together with Amajiki they begin to circle a villain that grows more agitated by the minute.

He strikes out at them with the twisted metal appendages, but since he can only see one at a time, he doesn’t manage to hit either. They’re doing it- they’re actually succeeding. 

Though nor are Amajiki and Togata able to attack him, since he called back the metal closer to himself. Well- maybe not succeeding, but they’re holding out. I lower my head, sending a horn straight to the metal-bender, which distracts him enough for the other two to jump towards him- He brings up an indiscriminate metal barrier around himself, but Togata phases through it, barreling into him and knocking him into his own barrier from the inside, relentlessly punching.

He snarls and uses the closest metal to try to injure Togata: somewhat successfully, but in the process, he uses the very same metal that formed the wall behind him, giving Amajiki an opportunity: he manifests a pincer and injects Wolfram with- something. 

Not fast enough to stop the latter from one last indiscriminate attack that manages to skewer both Big Three members somewhat. 

I rush over to the two, using my horns to balance and fly, almost slipping due to the blood on my hooves and the horns I’m using. “Shit- this isn’t- do you have any cloth? We need to stem the bleeding!” I exclaim panicked. “Togata, Amajiki, are you guys alright?” I’m soaked in blood as well, but most of it isn’t mine. 

Amajiki grunts. 

“Don’t worry about me.”

His skin is visibly knotting itself together as he says it. Clearly, he’s lying. 

“It’s not that bad,” says Togata, somehow keeping a smile on his face. “Good job you two.” he says to Tsuburaba and me. 

I wheeze slightly. “Worry about yourself first!” 

“I’ll be fine!” says Togata. “I’m not bleeding out any time soon, with my stomach not being on this plane of existence!” Pony wants to say something, but stops. 

“I’m glad you guys are alright. Uh, I think I’m feeling lightheaded.” Tsuburaba then sits down.

“Completely normal!” says Togata, keeping up his unending cheer. I feel a little blinded. “I felt that way after my first fight, and that was not half as intense as this one!” I drag a hand down my face in tiredness, with the unfortunate side effect of smearing blood all over. Well, there’s more important issues to worry about now. “How.. how are you so cheerful?? We almost died!” 

“Yeah, you got impaled!” Tsuburaba adds.

For a split second, Togata’s face drains, becoming the same blank face Amajiki wears. It’s the most unsettling thing I’ve seen all day. 

“If not on hope, then on what else can we depend on?” his smile returns, “It’s there to reassure people; if they wouldn’t call me a faker, I’d even say ‘I am here’!” 

My eyes widen as I catch that split second expression. “If not hope…” Shaking my head, “Still, we need to stay alert. Who knows if there are more villains out there.” 

“Yeah, especially if there are ones like that hot chick that ran away!” Tsuburaba adds, but is smacked in the back of the head by me. Not the time, nor place.

“With that attitude, you’ll die the next time you get into a fight and I’m not there to save you.” spits Amajiki, annoyed at Tsuburaba’s joke. “Better yet, your teammates will die with you.” he stands up, still holding his side, wincing in pain. “If there are any more villains, I’m seriously not going to hold back; damn if all my money goes to the fucking lawyer, I’ll kill them still.”

Tsuburaba seems to think for a moment, and realizes he’s acting stupidly. “Sorry about that: you’re right, I’ll stop goofing around.”

“Good. Blondie there wasn’t wrong, there might still be villains; put up some of your air walls around Mirio, if nothing else.” He hauls himself next to Togata. “We’ll stay here and guard him.” I huff. “My name’s not Blondie; it’s Pony Tsunotori, and don’t you forget it.” 

Amajiki looks at me unimpressed. “I won’t,” then turns towards Togata.

“Got it, Senpai!” Tsuburaba then makes multiple walls around the third year.

“Come on, Tamaki, I can take care of myself!” Togata weakly argues. “You should go and help others; all the other students must be freaking out right now . . . ” He appears to realize something. “If there were any other villains like that one, they definitely need your help!”

“I don’t care about those students.” The words slip out of Amajiki’s mouth. “They have their teachers, and each other. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you after I already saved your sorry ass.”

I look at Amajiki, slightly skeptical, but shrug. If I had someone like that in my life… I think I could understand where he’s coming from. I then shoot two horns from my head into the ground, and- yikes , I guess there might be a limit to how many of these I can make, or maybe someone just hit me on the head too hard.  After picking the sharp weapons up; my original one having been thrown away at some point, I hand it to Tsubarabra and Amajiki. “Here, Tsubarabra, Amajiki. I know you might not need it, but these are pretty sharp.” 

“Thanks, Pony.”

“Thank you,” says Amajiki, taking one. He rolls it around in his hand, quite aggressively.

A gust of wind, and All Might is there.

“I am here!” he bellows, though a moment later he notices that his audience doesn’t respond. He quickly takes in the scene; the shock is visible on his face.

Shaking his head, he rationalizes it; there’s no time for questions, when others may still need his assistance.

“You’ve managed to subdue the villains?” he asks.

“Yes,” Amajiki responds, standing up, drawing to his full height; his face eerily blank “But Mirio needs medical attention.”

“Help is on the way,” says All Might. “It will arrive soon. Hold strong until then, all of you,” he says, and he’s off the next moment, bounding back into the forest. 

Amajiki grits his teeth, narrowing his eyes in the direction All Might went. I wonder what he’s thinking. 

“Don’t worry about me!” says Togata, still maintaining his cheerfulness, trying to keep our spirits high.

“You know I can’t ‘not worry’.” says Amajiki, the exhaustion now visible on his face. I feel like I should say something, but I don’t want to interrupt the moment.

“I know,” he says, his smile a touch more somber. “Hey, Tamaki, remember the end of the Lord of the Rings? It’s almost like we’re Frodo and Sam waiting for the Eagles.” I never read the books or watched those movies. 

“How does that come into your mind right now?” Amajiki asks, exasperated.

“Come on,” Togata said, shifting around a little bit. “I need something to keep my mind off of all of this.”

“Right, okay, so, the Eagles are coming, I figure. I think I can already see them in the distance . . . Wait, I actually can. Are those helicopters?”

Tsuburaba pipes up. 

“I sure hope so.”

Seeing an opportunity, I chime in. “They look like helicopters to me.”

We wait with bated breath, and as they get closer the red crest becomes clearly visible.

“Here!” “Injured here!” We begin to shout in unison when the helicopters near us.

One of them stops and descends next to us, two male paramedics exiting it.

“How many of you need immediate medical assistance?” they ask, immediately down to business, looking at Amajiki, who stands at the forefront of the group.

“Only him, but he needs it fast,” he says, pointing towards Togata.

They quickly load Togata up, with All Might arriving in the meantime.

“I see the rescue team has already arrived! Splendid!” He looks over the remaining students, as the helicopter is preparing for take-off. “I gather the three of you are not gravely injured?” He receives nods, some more winceful than others. It hurts; but nothing I can’t handle.

“I will transport you to the Pussycat’s base; it has a road connected to it, UA’s bus will come there and pick up all of the students.”

“How, exactly?” asks Amajiki, suddenly skeptical.

“I have perfected the art of carrying people over thousands of rescues; three students are no challenge.” he says, and in the next moment we are all bound into a bear hug by All Might, scooped up and flying above the forest, touching down at the base of the Pussycats, the entire travel done during less than a second.

“I must gather the other students as well! Plus Ultra!” he says as he releases us, already bounding back into the forest.

Tsuburaba is dizzy, and falls to the ground after he’s let go. I'm close to puking, but I hope that doesn’t show on my face; All Might travel sucks. We see some other students, though nobody’s in the mood to talk; and before I could convince myself to do so, a large bus bearing UA’s logo comes rolling in on the dirt pathway.

Finally, this nightmare is over.