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---
'Man, this shit is getting annoying,' I thought to myself as I passed by the crowd of press surrounding the entrance to UA. Ever since All Might had announced he was a teacher, the paparazzi had been an ever-present annoyance, hoping to catch a view of the number one hero and pestering staff and students for information.
"Hey, sweeties, can we talk to you for a minute?"
I looked up as a gruff voice reached my ears, and I saw a sleazy-looking man with a camera hanging around his neck call out to a familiar group of people consisting of Hagakure, Tsu, and Mina, who completely ignored him.
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Don't you freaks got ears?!"
"What was that?!" Mina screeched, whirling around on the man who grinned, clearly wanting to get a rise out of them. Instead of replying, the human weasel started to take pictures of Mina and the other girl, bombarding them with camera flashes.
Pushing through the crowd, I move up beside Mina before flicking out my pointer finger. A second later, the flashes stopped, and a moment later, the camera in the man's hand collapsed, revealing it had been cut clean in half.
"W-what the-my camera?!" The weasel exclaimed, holding the two separate halves of his camera.
"You should get better equipment," I advised before Mina grabbed onto my arm and pulled me away, though a smile was plastered across her face.
"You know Aizawa explicitly told us not to engage with the press," Mina scolded me as we rejoined with Tsu and Hagakure, though I could feel their appreciation rolling off them in waves.
"I don't know what you're talking about; his camera fell apart. All I did was flick my finger at him," I replied innocently with a shrug, making Mina scoff and roll her eyes. Yeah, right. You better hope that guy doesn't press charges."
"He doesn't even know my name," I shot back with a smile, "Anyways, did you guys do the homework for Ethics last night? I can't stand it when we have to defend our point of view in these hypothetical and theoretical situations."
"I think they're fun," Tsu answered, "And essential, what if one day we found ourselves in a similar situation and were forced to make that impossible decision."
"I wasn't able to finish after school, which is why I was trying to do it at lunch, but that false alarm really screwed me over," Hagakure complained," What do you think, Mina?"
Mina shrugged, "For me, It's just homework, nothing more, nothing less."
"Instead of lecturing us, they should give us more time to train so that when these potential situations manifest, we're strong enough to stop them and don't have to consider giving up one life for another," I replied as we entered the school building.
"Is six hours a day not enough for you?" Hagakure stressed, "I can barely stand even after the recovery days!"
Tsu croaked in agreement. "Six hours seems excessive, but I can't argue with the results. My standing jump has increased by nearly five meters, and I can lift nearly fifty pounds more with my tongue."
"But I can't improve my quirk like you can, Tsu," Hagakure whined.
Mina couldn't help but snicker lightly at Hagakure's plight, before turning to me, "Well, neither can Kenji, but you don't see him complaining."
"It's different!" Hagakure insisted, "He gets to flaunt all his sexy muscles while I can't even check my progress in the mirror! Am I getting a six-pack? Who knows?!"
After her rant, Hagakure sighed, and her shoulders slumped. Reaching over, Tsu placed a comforting hand on her friend's back, "I'm sorry you feel that way, Hagakure."
"It's fine. I just really, really hate working out."
'I'd never thought about that before. It would kinda such not being able to see your body improve,' I thought to myself as I reflected on my own gains over the last three weeks.
After scheduling an appointment, I finally went back to the quirk specialist, who took a tissue sample and confirmed that my muscle cells were also undergoing rapid mutation. A similar hexagonal lattice had started to spread over my muscle fibers and filaments responsible for contraction and movement.
As a result, I could move faster and punch harder, even without the use of my flux. And while my capacity hadn't increased past the 1.5 galleons, the doctor made note of something else.
"In addition to reinforcing your muscles and integrating with individual fibers, the lattice is replicating itself. It's creating new synthetic muscle fibers in areas with significant trauma, most likely from exercise. The astonishing thing is that your body has accepted these synthetic muscle fibers and is adapting to their presence. While it's imperceivable now, your body is undergoing a metamorphosis that I can not predict nor advise on. If you start to experience any symptoms or anomalies, you must return for a proper exam immediately."
Even though the doctor seemed stressed, I couldn't fathom why; his news only encouraged me that I was doing the right thing. But my improvements didn't stop at the physical changes to my body. I had been working tirelessly to optimize the current uses of my quirk. While I hadn't experienced anything as eye-opening as when I fought Ida, if one of my designs was flawed, all of them were.
---
"Everyone is present, Sir," Yaoyorozu informed after performing her duties as Class Vice Representative, a position she shared with Ida who was Class Representative. We had taken a vote a few days ago, and originally, Midoriya had been elected, only for him to pass the mantle onto Ida, citing his quick and clear thinking during the panic caused by the false report.
No one objected, and just like that, Ida was our class representative, which I didn't have a problem with. Even with his faults of being overly serious and preachy for my tastes, Ida was undeniably meant for a leadership position.
"Thank you Yaoyorozu," Aizawa replied before turning to face the class, "I'm here to inform you that today your normal classes will be dropped in exchange for a full day of Hero Studies."
At that moment, the door to the room opened, revealing someone wearing a white puffy jacket styled like a space suit, a pitch-black helmet with white eyes, and yellow boots.
"Today, you will be under the tutelage of Space Hero: Thirteen, the mind responsible for designing the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, a facility for training heroes in any conceivable natural disaster." Aizawa introduced us as Thirteen stepped up beside him and waved at us.
"Morning! I'm so glad to be working with all of you today! While I hope you never have to experience disaster response in your career, it is a vital skill that pro heroes must learn. It requires skill and technique, especially if you want to utilize your quirk without causing more damage in fragile environments."
Aizawa nodded, "Well said. Now, all of you get changed into your costumes before we walk over to the USJ. And just because we have all day doesn't mean you get to take your sweet time."
---
"I can't believe that THE Thirteen is teaching us!" Uraraka gushed, practically floating across the ground in excitement, which might have been literal, though I couldn't tell, "She's my favorite hero!"
"Really, I haven't heard about her much?" Kaminari commented as the entire class walked in one big group toward a massive glass dome surrounded by a large blue concert wall cut at the top at an angle, forming a viewing platform.
Uraraka blushed, "Well, she isn't that popular since she doesn't fight a lot of villains. But the number of lives she's saved is second to none. Her quirk black hole can disintegrate any object, so she mainly focuses on search and rescue."
"That's why she's your favorite?" Midoriya asked, and Uraraka nodded. Yeah, I guess it's because my quirk isn't that good for fighting either."
"Nah, gravity powers are always insane. You just gotta practice a bit more," I rebutted, "But it makes sense that you would want to follow in Thirteen's footsteps."
Uraraka smiled, and the conversation ended when we reached the USJ and stepped inside. After walking through the entrance, we came to a stop in what seemed like a central plaza, connected to several zones, each dedicated to a different kind of natural disaster.
"Welcome everyone to the USJ. Today, we will be doing a cursory overview of the facility's six scenarios: Urban Ruins, Wildfire, Monsoons, Floods, Earthquake, and Landslide." Thirteen spoke up with a clap of her hand as she stood before us, "Now if you could organize yourself into groups, we can-"
Thirteen's voice faded into the background, and I felt my eyes drawn to the space behind her. My ears popped as if the pressure had suddenly dropped, and the edges of my vision blurred. 'What's going on?'
Without me even realizing it, my quirk activated as my heart started to pound against my ribcage, 'Something isn't right.'
Before I could vocalize my concern, I watched as the space behind Thirteen warped as a pitch-black portal appeared out of thin air.