" I feel alive." Sora stretched her arms upwards, all feathers had fallen off by then.
" It feels good!"
" I love that there are hot springs here." Yaoyorozu was the last one to join them into the water. " I feel like all the exhaustion of today is washed away."
" Nothing is better than a hot bath." Uraraka sank down with a delighted smile.
" It's good for our skin too." Ashido clambered on a rock, splashing water at them with her legs.
" Stop it Mina-chan!" Sora was more than happy to retaliate, drenching her from horns to feet.
" You're been childish," Yaoyorozu told them.
" Don't ruin the fun, Yaomomo." She made it so the black-haired girl was her next target.
Suddenly they could hear Mineta screaming and they looked up the wall separating them. It seemed Kota had swatted the short boy's hand, making him fall down back on Iida as they hear his shout too.
" Mineta-chan really is the worst, huh?" Asui was fuming.
" Thanks, Kota-kun!" Ashido cried out, swaying her arms overhead. " Yay, yay!"
Kota seemed to be startled and he keeled on the other end of the wall. " Watch out!" Sora's wings grew in an instant, ready to grasp him. However, Midoriya beat her. She breathed out when she heard him taking the boy away and pulled back her wings, only to realize all the girls were staring at her. " Huh?" It seems she had splashed them all when she pulled out her wings so suddenly.
" Revenge! Revenge!" Ashido smirked splashing her along with the rest.
" Stop it! I'm sorry guys! I'm sorry!"
After a minute or so, they all laid back on the rocks, relishing their moments." Nothing is better than a hot bath."
" Ochaco-chan, you said that earlier." Asui pointed.
" This is really fun." Sora smiled. " To be able to spend such time together."
" Still, you know what would be more fun!" Ashido smirked. " Girly talks!"
" Girly talks?"
" Talking about crushes and all." Ashido bobbled.
" Hm, Mina-chan, it has been only half a year. Don't you think it's quite early for any of us to have crushes yet?" Asui had one finger placed near her mouth.
" Is that so? I thought some of us already developed ones."
For some reason, Uraraka's face had gone red and she hastily covered it with her hands. " I mean, come on, half a year is enough to get interested in someone right? Not to mention those who came from the same junior high. We do even have some childhood friends after all." She smirked as she looked back at Sora, her eyebrows dancing upwards.
" Fat chance." Sora laughed and shrugged. " I'm afraid Yuu has no romantic feelings for me, he sees me as nothing but a friend."
" Are you being serious right now?! I mean, you both are pretty close." Ashido pressed, not believing her yet.
" In addition, I don't think Yuu has the slightest idea what a romantic feeling is. He is too innocent if you ask me."
" Now thinking about it..." Uraraka thought back to their time at Gunhead's agency. Although she was flattered when Gunhead teased her about Midoriya being her significant other, Yuu didn't get the smallest wisp of it. " He really seems too innocent for his age."
" Tell me about it." Sora laughed as she sank into the water, blowing bubbles under its surface.
" Then Sora-chan, how do you feel about Seijin-chan?" Asui questioned this time, head tilted slightly to the side.
" Huh?" Sora raised an eyebrow as she rose slightly from under the water.
" Do you see him as more than a friend?" A physically impossible pit of water approached her.
" Nah, I tell you, we've been friends since a young age, we practically grew up together," she said remembering how many nights the boy had spent at their house when they were younger. If anything, she considered him the sibling she never had.
" Boring! I demand to have something interesting right now!"
Sora contemplated for a second before looking up at Ashido. " About that, you said that there were some of us from the same junior high. But I only know of Bakugo-kun and Midoriya. Is there anyone else?"
" Oh, Kirishima and I used to attend the same junior high too, but different classes. I thought there were others like us?" The girls, save for Sora, shook their heads at that. None of them met any of their classmates before the start of that year. " Huh? For real!?"
" UA is a renowned school, students from all across Japan apply for its entrance exam. However, only a handful of them are chosen. Chances of having students from the same school aren't that high," explained Yaoyorozu.
" Woah! I think we were kind of lucky to cut it." Sora marveled.
" Either way, let's go back to our girly talk!" Ashido piped in.
" We said we don't have any," blurted Uraraka as she flung her hands around, her face red and hot.
" Hm, then instead of that, let me ask you. Who is the boy you think is the most interesting in our class?" Ashido held a finger up, waiting for their answers. She wasn't letting that topic drop any time soon.
" First of all, we have to eliminate Mineta-chan." That decision was unanimous.
" I think it's Todoroki-kun, he is the hottie of our class, and his skills are stellar." Hagakure pointed.
" Midoriya-chan is kind of capable and one can depend on him." Asui thought.
" He's a determined and hard-working person too!" Uraraka agreed.
" Heh, is there a reason why you approved?" Ashido smirked while leaning her head on her hand. Uraraka quickly dipped half of her red face into the water.
" Hm, if I have to choose, I would say Ojiro. He's kind and honest too." Jiro played around with her earplugs remembering the incident of the sports festival.
" I agree with Hagakure, Todoroki-san is the most standing out boy in our class." Said Yaoyorozu. " He's calm and can make decisions effectively because of that."
" And you have to admit, he is kind of cute, especially when he takes things too seriously," Sora added.
" Right, you spent your internship with him? Anything you want to add about our prince charming."
" Hm... Oh, he is very kind and he takes good care of his classmates. I mean, there was the time he got angry on behalf of Midoriya and Iida-kun, he gave his seat to the sick Aoyama-kun a few hours ago..."
" He looked after me during our final exam too," Yaoyorozu added as she recalled how worried he was about her after their exam ended.
" Speaking of it, he looked after me in the agency too, making sure I didn't miss on dinner because I was too tired to leave my room and he once lent me painkillers after... Let's say some training..." She laughed out nervously recalling Endeavor's beatings.
Ashido's eyes sparkled at that and Sora shouted. " Oh don't start on it now!"
" Then why are your cheeks so red? Plus, you're no longer formal when talking about him." The girl had a mirthful smirk. Sora's hands flew to her face, and true for Ashido's words, she could feel her face heating and blood gushing up.
It can't be...
" It's just from the hot spring. I'm not used to spending a long time at them. Plus, I've dropped the formality with Midoriya too." She laughed, waving it off. Ashido huffed, not satisfied with that. Sora however dipped her face down in the water, feeling flustered and agitated.
It can't be that I have a crush on Todoroki...
" Well then, Todoroki won this round with 3 votes for him!" Ashido announced.
From the other side, a certain two were pressing their ears onto the wall, trying to listen on to the conversation on the other side.
" They didn't even consider me!" Kaminari cried.
" Why would they eliminate me?! I'm very skilled and a gentleman! On top of that, I scored the 10th place of our class!" Mineta argued with leaky eyes. " That's not fair!"
" Kaminari-kun! Mineta-kun! What you're doing is intolerable!" Admonished Iida.
Kirishima looked back at a fuming Bakugo. " You've lost to Todoroki, Bakugo."
" Shut up!"
" But man, we won't stand a chance of winning so long that prince charming is around, right?" Sero looked back at their friend. Todoroki was at the further side of the spring, closing his eyes and leaning back on a rock, hardly paying them any attention.
Yuu blinked in confusion. " When did it become a contest?"
Whisper facepalmed. " You're unbelievable..."
________________
After that bath, all of them had fallen into a peaceful slumber. Even though Ashido wanted to play a game of cards before going to bed, she was snoring the moment she landed her head on the pillow.
The next day, they were up around daybreak. Sora yawned deeply and rubbed her eyes, her hair disheveled and her posture bent down. Everyone else sported bed hairs and were either stretching up or yawning tiredly.
" Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" Aizawa began. " Today, we will begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest. The goal of this training cam is to increase everyone's strength and with that, for everyone to obtain their provisional licenses."
" Provisional licenses?" Yuu blinked, befuddled.
" What's this, Yuu?" A half-asleep Sora asked.
" They're licenses which allow the execution of hero authorities under extreme circumstances. But, sensei, we're not supposed to have those until the start of next year?"
" True, but it is to prepare you all to face hostilities that are becoming more real by the minute. Proceed carefully," he replied and then directed his attention at Bakugo and threw a certain white ball at him.
" Isn't that..." Whisper double-checked the ball. " From the Quirk assessment test?"
Bakugo went for the throw. Frankly speaking, everyone expected him to exceed his last record, however, that wasn't the case. They were all dumbfounded when Aizawa said it was 709.6 meters.
" It's not that much at all..." Whisper murmured.
" It's been three months since you started high school. Through various experiences, you all have definitely improved. But that improvement has mainly been at the mental and technical levels, with some increase in stamina. As you can see, your Quirks themselves have not improved that much. That's why we will work on improving your Quirks starting today. "
Aizawa had a wide malicious smile on the face. " It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying, but try not to actually die."
Yuu took a step back, choking on his salvia. " Even if you say so..."
" So in order to improve their Quirks, you will need to push them to the breaking point." Whisper tapped his chin. " Yosh! I liked the idea!"...