Sora hardly could stifle her laughter at Iida who was steering them through the door, trying to get them in line but forgetting he was outside it.
" This is the first opening ceremony for us in UA, right?" Yuu asked.
" Right, because our first day was reserved for the Quirk test, we ended up missing it after all." Sora had a finger to her jaw, recalling their first day at UA before a shiver ran down her spine. " ... This aura..."
She looked up ahead, her eyes falling then on the blond leaning against the wall and sneering down at them. " As I thought it's him... the Slytherin boy..."
" You actually nicknamed him that!" Whisper mused, though he kind of liked the nickname to be fair.
Monoma was flaunting the fact that all of class 1B had passed their exam, which somehow affected Todoroki, making him feel responsible for their class falling behind. " Sorry... everyone..."
" They're turning it into a competition on their own, so don't worry about it." Kirishima tried cheering him up, but with Todoroki, you could never know if it had worked or not.
" That's right, Todoroki, don't mind don't mind." Sora patted his shoulder gently.
" According to Vlad Teacher, we'll have classes together this semester!" A blonde girl with large horns stated in a kind of broken Japanese. " I'm looking forward to it!"
" Was UA accepting exchange students again?" Sora turned to ask Yuu, who too was rather surprised to find they had one.
Sora snapped when Kendo gave Monoma a rather vigorous chop to his scurf, knocking him cold after he set Tsunotori to challenge them. " I don't know what we would have done without you, class rep." Tobio sighed.
" Monoma-kun is weak." Ai giggled from next to Kendo, poking the blond's head. But Monoma was out cold, his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
" Hey, we're trying to get through back here." A voice called out, redirecting their attention to the back where Shinso and a few more students were passing. Iida apologized before urging the rest of the class to make way.
Sora chanced a glance at Shinso as he passed her while she was putting on her blue sneakers again. He seemed rather bulkier than she had recalled. Has he been working out?
They lined the school grounds before a dais that had been erected for the occasion. The students were chatting happily about the summer vacation and their dorm life when the principal took the stage and started off his speech by talking about taking care of his fur.
Neither Sora nor Yuu brought themselves to stay focused on the whole thing. It wasn't until the speech proceeded to the after-effects of the recent incidents that all eyes and ears regained focus.
Sora and Yuu were most interested in the Hero Work Studies, not knowing what it meant yet. Their best guess was that it was similar to the internship but they couldn't confirm their speculation until they talked with their teacher.
After principal Nezu, Hound Dog ascended the podium. Sora pointed at him and turned back to Yuu. " Did we have such a teacher? I don't recall him at all!"
" Vlad-sensei just told you, he is a non-curricular guidance teacher. More like a counselor."
The teacher began speaking in a series of growls and roars before giving one last howl at the sky and descending. " I see. It's only natural after what both Midoriya-san and Bakugo-san did."
Sora blinked at her friend, dumbfounded that he made sense of all of that. Her classmates looked at him as though infected by Kaminari's dumb." You actually... understood him..."
Yuu nodded nonchalantly like it wasn't any big deal while the rest needed Vlad to translate it for them.
As the ceremony finished, they were all sent back to their classes. The jabbering didn't halt though, all of them were eager to know more about what Nezu had said...
________________
" Man! This is a pretty tough return!" Sora stretched up as she crossed the threshold of their dormitory. " I mean, with all the lessons and even the work study."
Yuu bobbed his head in agreement. " There is a lot to wrap our heads around."
Sora tossed away her rucksack and sagged onto the sofa. " I want to be swallowed and never get up again."
" Sora-chan, how did you find Present Mic's lesson this afternoon?" Mina asked her.
" Lively, as usual." Sora shrugged.
" You're the only one who thinks that him flipping the classroom into a disco is lively," Whisper grunted.
" No, I mean the English lesson itself," Ashido added. " It felt he was moving at a fast pace I hardly could catch up."
" It felt as usual for me." Sora tilted her head.
" That's our top English student." Sato chuckled.
" Second top, Todoroki scored more during the final exam. Anyway, if you guys have some trouble, I can help you out." Sora smiled, clapping her hands together.
" Really! Shirogane you're such a nice person!" Sero cheered.
" It's my pleasure to help." Her eyes then darted back to the green head talking to Iida. He must be feeling left behind with all of them talking about the lessons and the work study. Though she understood why, leaving both him and the ash-blond in the dark felt too rude from their teachers.
" We can help them catch up later," Yuu stated, taking the seat by her side. " For now, they have to reflect on their actions."
Sora couldn't argue...
________________
Yuusuke bit his lip as he looked down at the message that came to his mother's phone. She didn't even bother checking it but he was curious to know what could Yuu have sent to them.
When he saw the content and the enclosed picture of Yuu's license, rage and anger swallowed him like a tidal wave. Why and how did someone as useless as Yuu get a provisional hero license? There was something wrong with the world he thought.
Yuu was nothing compared to him. He was the smartest, the most handsome and the most blessed between both of them. While Yuu, Yuu was there to make him shine even further, to make his brilliance stand out more.
Yuu was there to be looked down upon while everything about him was appreciated. From their parents to their neighbors, he was their talk since he was a kid.
Yet seeing Yuu coming this far made him sick. There was nothing that Yuu could do he didn't do better than him, but Yuusuke then stood in front of a harsh truth.
Yuu was steadily realizing the same dream he had given up on when he was a kid...
________________
Three days elapsed and Midoriya was back in the classroom again, rather fired up to catch up with all that he missed while he was away.
" Even Iida is no much to him today." Snorted Whisper bemusedly as he looked at a befuddled Iida.
It wasn't before long that a cold voice told them to take their seats, and though Sora and Yuu were in their seats already, they sank even further when they saw the stern stare of their teacher. It sure felt like a long time since they were under his intense aura.
As the rest settled down, Aizawa told them they would be discussing the work study further now that Midoriya was back. He looked back to the door. " Please come in."
The door slid open, letting in three upperclass students. They lined themselves beside Aizawa's desk and faced off against the rest of the class. One of them was a tall bulky build blond boy with beady blue eyes. Sora saw a few scars visible on his arms.
The second was a girl with long light blue hair trailing behind her. She had large blue eyes and a smile was plastered on her face as she absentmindedly studied them.
" She is gorgeous..." Sora couldn't help but gape at her.
The last one was a boy, he had raven short hair and was lowering his head, looking down at his feet. His ears were rather pointy, and his eyes were narrow and raven in color. The way he avoided eye contact, the way he was slouching and his lips trembling... he reminded her strongly of Yuu.
" The three third years at UA who stand at the top of all UA students. Also known as the Big Three." Aizawa introduced them. According to him, they were to learn about work study from them.
The whole class broke into whispers, having recognized them. " They're really that famous?" Sora patted Uraraka's shoulder who nodded.
" They're typically what you would want to be when you reach your third year here," she told her.
" They don't look any special to me," Whisper interjected, his eyes studying the three of them carefully. Yuu however couldn't stop himself from admiring them. He had heard of them and like so many people, he too aspired to reach their level.
" Okay, can you please introduce yourself briefly?" Aizawa spoke calmly. " Let's start with Amajiki."
The raven blue-haired boy raised two sharp eyes at them and they all recoiled from the intensity of his glance. " It's no good..."
Much to their surprise, the boy was shaking, apparently unable to utter a word, and seemed as though he was about to keel over any moment. All of them blinked twice, awaiting his introduction but he twirled on himself, facing the wall. " I want to go home!"
" Huh?!"
Is this really the Big Three?!
All of them thought. The navy-haired girl then took the introduction upon herself. " This is the flea, Amajiki Tamaki." She gestured towards the still-shuddering boy.
Flea!?
" And then, I'm Hado Nejire. We were asked to talk to you guys about work studies." She blinked at them. " But wait..."
She began bouncing around, asking them about different things regardless of whether they were personal or not, like Shoji's mask, Todoroki's burn mark, Ashido's horns, Mineta's balls, which the boy had misinterpreted in a very pervert manner, and whether Asui was a tree frog or a toad...
" Shirogane-san, doesn't that halo disappear? Is it always there? Can't you cover it?"
" Eh... well..."
" Whisper-kun, right? You're a ghost, right? Do you remember how your last life was? Will you be passed on to some newborn at some point? Can you eat now that you're a ghost?"
" That's pretty personal you noisy!" Whisper yelled at her, trying to escape Yuu's arms.
" There's so much I want to know about all of you! It's so strange!" And she embarked on more questions without even waiting for answers, her target being Ojiro. Aizawa was getting fed up with her. She was entirely oblivious to his glare behind her.
" Isn't this lacking rationality?" Sora was sure no one needed Angel's eyes to see Aizawa's aura as he turned on the last one of them.
" Don't worry, Eraser Head!" The blond assured him. " I'm going last to wrap things up, right?"
He took Aizawa's desk. " The future is gonna be...?" He apparently was awaiting an answer but the whole class was the most silent Sora could ever recall them to be. His try at incurring their interest was rather weak.
This is... really the Big Three...
The class was disappointed. The trio didn't convey much of the glory their name implied. It was until..." why don't you all fight me at once?"
" He... Hee!?"
Sora was beyond thunderstruck at that moment. The boy was asking to be mushed to the ground. The more troublesome thing was that Aizawa gave his okay.
Are you serious... Aizawa-sensei...
________________
" He is undoubtedly serious!" Whisper blurted out seeing the boy warming up.
They switched location to the gym, where they had changed into their gym clothes and huddled before the boy, now known as Togata Mirio, who had challenged them. Todoroki stood by Aizawa's side, for he didn't have a provisional license so he couldn't partake.
Amajiki stood facing the wall, murmuring something about them not having enough ambitions and being unable to recover.
" Oh, listen! Did you know?" Hado, who was playing around with Ashido's horns much to the pinkette's dismay, turned back to them. " In the past, there was a student who got so frustrated he quit being a hero, and caused all sorts of problems. Did you know that? It's tough, isn't it, Togata? If you don't think things through properly, this will be rough. Really rough."
" Please stop..." Ashido pleaded.
" So, do they mean we would end up giving up after fighting him?" Sora's eyes lingered on Togata.
" Fat chance! You don't know what those guys had been through!" Whisper shouted. " You will be the one giving up later!"
" Please stop it, Whisper," Yuu pleaded.
Midoriya went forward aiming to land the first hit, supported by the close combat team. However, as he kicked the ground, something unexpected happened. Togata's clothes fell to the ground as though he had become some kind of ghost, leaving him naked. Jiro let out a loud yelp as her face turned red.
Whisper quickly covered Sora's eyes.
As he was putting back his pants, Midoriya tried to attack but his kick phased right through Togata's head. He landed behind him, shocked by what happened.
" A slip-through?" Yuu muttered. Despite their best efforts, their attacks kept only phasing through the boy's body without dealing any damage, only causing dust to engulf him.
" Kyaaa!" Jiro's loud shriek made them turn back. Togata was right behind them, naked again as he went on with the attack. He managed to knock most of them down simply using his fists.
" Did he teleport!" Sora asked, backing from him.
" Impossible! He couldn't have!" Yuu narrowed his eyes as he tried to find an answer.
" We better defend ourselves if we don't want to fall like the rest!" Whisper dived right into Yuu's chest, his energy mixing with him.
" Let's take him down!" As she called upon her wings, Sora turned to where the boy was but he wasn't to be seen.
" You're late." Her eyes widened when she heard his voice behind her. Having figured out his pattern already, she quickly stretched her right wing to protect her body.
The fist hit her wing and Sora felt as though some of her bones broke.
" Get away from her!" Yuu opted to surprise him with a dropkick from behind but Togata seemed to predict it. Yuu's foot phased through Togata's head as he whirled on him and plunged his elbow into his abdomen, the boy fell down clutching his stomach tightly and writhing in pain.
" Yuu!" Sora wanted to use the moment of diversion Yuu gave her to attack. But the boy disappeared from in front of her.
" Up here!" She raised her eyes up only to see him falling towards her, he had dropped on her back with all his weight rather violently she was thumped to the ground, unable to move, feeling as though her spine broke to shreds. " You did well protecting your front but your back was open."
Togata continued tormenting them for a few minutes before they were all scattered on the ground, coughing and wriggling in pain.
" I tried to make it so you wouldn't be able to see my willy, but I'm sorry about that, girls." Togata rubbed his head as they gathered before the entrance, clutching their abdomens in agony. Yuu's face was so blue that Sora thought he would be reunited with his breakfast any moment." But anyway, you kind of get it now, right?"
" Other than the pain... we didn't get anything..." Even Whisper was shaking, apparently, the impact was too much for him.
Some of their classmates felt it was unfair for them, thinking he might actually have multiple Quirks.
Yuu was rather surprised when Togata told them about his Quirk, permeation. It wasn't super powerful. Its demerits were too much. Just imagining not being able to feel at all was enough to seize the class with horror. But Togata managed to work around it, turning it into the strong Quirk he had just showcased to them all through hard work and experience.
" It's not his Quirk that makes him the amazing person he is... but he himself is the one that makes it look amazing," Yuu mumbled.
" To get to the top with that Quirk... Togata-senpai is sure something else," Sora's eyes widened in admiration.
Yuu gulped as Togata and the rest left. " Togata-senpai... just how much did you have to go through..."
" Work study... huh? The way he put it, it sounds like one heck for a rough ride," Whisper mused. " But we can't deny that that experience is required for a hero."
" You saw how strong Togata-senpai was... and it's all thanks to the work study..." Yuu's eyes narrowed slightly. " This will be the real deal, no more evacuating and supporting from the sideline like with the internship."
" It may sound scary but..." Sora's hands balled into fists as she grinned from ear to ear. " I'm taking the risk! That's what a hero does!"
" Me too!" Yuu added.
" That's the spirit soldiers!"
________________
" Hey! If you've got trash, then bring it here!" Bakugo shouted, holding out a large plastic bag.
The boys seemed to enjoy giving him their filled trash bags to tease him, and it was working. " You stashed too much away, you bastards!"
" I kinda feel sorry for him." Sora sweated.
" This is his last day of house arrest so it's their last chance to get at him." Whisper sniggered as he watched Bakugo squeeze the trash bags into a larger one.
" Oi! Baggy eyes!" Yuu flinched and turned his head back like some old rusty mechanism, shaking.
" Ye... yeah...?"
" Where is your bag?! Get it here you scum! Now!"
" It's alright... I will take it out myself-"
" If I must do something I must do it to perfection! I said now!"
" Yes sir!" And he went to fetch his trash bag in haste. Whisper hardly contained his laughter as he trailed after him.
" I'm looking forward to doing a work study job now." All the girls agreed with Asui. the demonstration provided by Togata worked in igniting their enthusiasm for the new experience.
Sora looked back at the setting sun, thinking about the road ahead of her. She was getting closer to her father, but she still didn't know where to look. " I wonder what was that feeling I felt back in the training camp," She muttered to herself, hugging her knees to her chest as she recalled the Nomu she had faced. " Papa... could it be a sign from you?..."...
________________
In a dark and cold place further from them, a man decked in a white coat shook his head and tutted as he looked down at the still form of the grey beast before him. " Our little experiment went wrong. Seems these ones can't withstand it, only your flesh and blood can." He looked back at a tank filled with purple liquid. " He was very weary of us I take it, not wanting us to steal it and use it. But that doesn't matter anymore..."
The man's hand touched the cold glass and wiped away the mist gathering atop it, allowing himself to look at what was conserved inside. " We have you," he whispered, "and that's enough. I'll make good use of you..." His lips split into a mischievous smile.
" Sweet dreams."...