(A/N: I made a new collection here on patreon to contain extra chapters from this story. I don't want to spam people's email or notifications with something they might not be interested in so notifications aren't on for them but I'll make it a habit to include an announcement like this at the start of main chapters when they come out.)

XOXO

“Akaguro, Midoriya.” With a yawn, mister Aizawa, earlier than any of us by the look of things, rose up but remained fully zipped in his sleeping bag, looking like some kind of worm as he called us over. The others all went to their respective seats across the rest of the empty classroom, Midoriya and I stepping up to the podium at the front. “I heard about what you did in the cafeteria. Good work.” Mister Aizawa said, specifically giving me a nod.

“From what I’ve seen, you have a good handle on your quirk and the strength that comes with it.” He continued, moving on before I could offer any kind of response. I nodded. “Midoriya, it’s obvious you look up to All Might but before you shoot for an unrealistic goal like that, advice from someone closer to your level could help with that quirk of yours.”

I wasn’t sure how much, if any, of the details surrounding the Sludge and All Might meeting Midoriya through that was known by certain people, but it wouldn’t surprise if mister Aizawa picked up on there being something there already.

All Might and Midoriya, the latter especially, weren’t the most subtle people around.

“Um, Akaguro has already started helping me, mister Aizawa.” Midoriya managed to get out. Despite nerding out over him once he realized our teacher was Eraserhead, Midoriya looked ready to crumble away on the spot when he became the center of Aizawa’s attention, a sweat already building despite the cool room. I didn’t take over, simply nodding for Midoriya to keep going when his eyes flicked my way. “I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to get my quirk under control but I’m trying my best. I think Akaguro’s advice will help.”

Aizawa stared down at him, dead silent.

And I’m pretty sure Midoriya just stopped breathing.

“Like he said, it was only some advice, sir.” I said, taking some of that pressure off him. Aizawa’s strict, debatably cruelly so, approach to teaching still weighed heavily on the other students. Kind of hard to feel the same as them when I knew myself that this was the same guy who’d sooner face dozens upon dozens of villains alone rather than let the super powered kids under his watch join in to support him. “Midoriya’s quirk is too dangerous to do much more than that on our own.”

Aizawa grunted, now looking between the two of us. “One of you come with me after classes are over. First years don’t typically get access to the school’s training rooms so early but with how little control this one has over his quirk I’ll make an exception.” He said, looking over to Midoriya again. “Hurry up and get your quirk under control. I don’t need this extra work.”

Yawning, he dropped himself back behind the podium, curled up once more.

I was starting to wonder just how much room I had to call other people odd, but our teachers were definitely an eccentric bunch.

“I don’t know how you do it.” Midoriya whispered, shoulders dropping and a heavy breath leaving him as we headed over to his desk. “Aren’t you worried about getting in trouble with mister Aizawa?”

“For what? I asked rhetorically while he took his seat. “I’ll see you later.”

Heading to the back of class, I got to setting up my stuff alongside Yaoyorozu. I could’ve predicted a few different people butting into our conversation once they arrived, quite a few of our classmates rearing on the social side. One in particular chose to go against those predictions.

“I’ll get ahead of both of you.” Todoroki stated as he set his bag down on the desk in front of Yaoyorozu, an intense gaze aimed down at the both of us, me more so than her.

Beyond the overwhelming prospect of going up against his ice, I hadn’t sparred him much thought, but I couldn’t say that was how I expected our first conversation to start. Then again, I placed first in Aizawa’s test, had the quickest time in the battle trials despite him freezing an entire building over, and was now class president.

I wasn’t sure if this was his way of calling us stepping stones or declaring us rivals of some sort.

“Aren’t you the one that was behind all that ice back during the recommendation exams?” I asked, raising a brow. “You must’ve scored first place. I’d say that puts us all on even ground.”

“Third.” He said, aloof expression giving way to a small frown. “I scored third.”

That…was honestly surprising. I knew those other memories weren’t too clear on something as obscure as the Recommendation Exams but after seeing what he could do firsthand twice over, it was hard to imagine any student here getting one over on him even with that self imposed handicap.

Was first place that loud guy with the wind related quirk? He was about the only one in the exam I thought could go against all that ice.

Todoroki sat himself down, stoic façade already slipping back into place as he turned his back on us.

Was this the birth of a healthy rivalry? Yeah, no. Right now, just about everything Todoroki did could be traced back and centered around one specific person. Being recognized as the top student of the class was just another part of that.

…even without their armor, Space Marines were pretty resistant to extreme temperatures, weren’t they? That ticket was looking more and more like an all in one boost to every aspect about me the more I thought about it.

XOXO

“We’ll have to check if everyone’s signed up for it.”

“I can handle that. As for the-“

“Prez. Vice prez.” Sitting herself on the edge of my desk, Himiko looked between our open phones. “What are you up to?”

“We were looking through the school’s app. We’re planning on using that to make a chatroom for the class.” I said. As long as everyone actually used it, it would be easy alternative to trying to get everyone’s numbers and everything involved in that. “Didn’t you leave with Tsu?”

“And I’m back just to see you.” Himiko said, smiling. “Our bummy teacher gave me this. He still wants me to head over to the support section.” She revealed some stappled papers held behind her. “Someone’s going to come to one of you for help filling out one of these support forms and turning them in, in the future. Might as well learn how to do it today., right?”

A really good excuse to get me to go with her.

With classes over, most of our classmates already gone, Midoriya had gone off with mister Aizawa to handle that training room situation so that was one important thing handled.

“I can finish setting up things for the app.” Yaoyorozu said, giving me a nod. “We’ll have to make sure everyone joins it tomorrow morning.”

“Alright.” Nodding to her, I stood up. “I’ll see you later, Yaoyo.”

“Later, Yaoyo.” Himiko didn’t miss a beat, smiling and waving as she joined in on the nickname, Yaoyorozu returning both.

We didn’t even make it out the door before Himiko was poking at my side. “Come on, you’re calling her that, but you won’t even use Himi.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” Cheeks puffed out a bit, she kept up her complaints and poking as we walked through the school’s hall. Her whole reaction basically turned things into a self-fulfilling prophecy; I could call her Himi all the time like she wanted or get to see how cute she looked when she was annoyed about something.

An easy choice really.

Main building left behind, with the help of some notice boards, it didn’t take us long to find the main workshop of the support course, it just one of the many sizable buildings across the campus. Entering proved it to be no different than the main building, the both of us walking through empty quiet halls until we found the door we were after.

Find the teacher and overseer of the Support Course, Power Loader and turn in Himiko’s request form. Simple enough.

I slipped my fingers into the door handle.

BOOM!

Himiko and I jumped back, narrowly avoiding the door being sent flying through the hall, a rush of black smoke and the embers of whatever explosion just happened inside rushing out to engulf us.

That wasn’t the only thing to come flying through.

Pink. Just barely catching a glimpse of it through the smoke, Iron Mind helping me keep my eyes open despite the rushing cloud, my hands shot up and I caught the colorful blur speeding at me.

“Whoa, those are some quick reflexes.” Completely unbothered by the fact that I was holding her up in the air by her underarms, the girl that came flying out focused an intense stare on me. Gloved hands rose up, running and tracing over one of my arms. “Nice muscles too. Are you here to test out equipment? I’ve already got some babies ready to go that you could help with.”

Pink hair on the longer side styled into a unique collection of thick dreadlocks, most pulled into a ponytail with some left framing her face and an all too eager smile spread across her face. Soot might cover most of her but that and the strange yellow eyes with thin black crosses traveling across them, were extremely distinctive.

Hatsume Mei.

“You didn’t get hurt in whatever that was did you?” I asked as I held her further out and placed her on the ground, just doing my due diligence as a would be representative of one of U.A classes. Anyone else would’ve apologized and returned the concern. She took her freedom as license to close the distance and press at my abs through my shirt.

“What are you-“ Himiko wasn’t spared from that treatment, Hatsume catching one of her approaching hands and moving to examine her arms.

“You were pretty quick too. And you’re packing plenty of muscle for someone so small.” Hatsume complimented. “You help too. I’ll be able to collect twice as much data about my babies.”

“We’re pretty much the same height.” Himiko retorted, catching Hatsume’s wrists before the examination could go any further than her arms. Her furrowed brow loosened up, curiosity taking the lead. “And shouldn’t you be more worried about going to Recovery Girl’s office than tests or whatever?” Bruises and scrapes, some small and fresh, while others were older, bits of blood already beginning to dry, marked Hatsume, her tank top keeping all that in plain view.

“These are nothing.” Hatsume said loudly, trying and failing to push past Himiko’s grip. “Come on, come on, I bet you’re both hero course students. Don’t you want a chance to get gear that’ll put you ahead of your classmates? My babies can provide. You-“

“Dammit Hatsume.” Coughing and waving a way smoke as he stepped out of the dark room, the man we were looking came into view. “I know I gave you permission to stay after, but you need to be more careful about your work. If something looks unstable at least think twice before shrugging it off.”

“And keep your hands to yourself. Touching strangers is a good way to end up facing more than expulsion.” Power Loader, shirtless with giant gloves around his hands and an open mouth helmet that resembled some kind of monster in the style of a construction machine, released a sigh before focusing on us. “Sorry about her. I’m learning that common sense isn’t something she has. For better and for worse.”

Another heavy sigh left him. “Aizawa mentioned that one of his students would be passing by. That makes you Akaguro, the class president and you’re Toga.” I nodded, Himiko doing the same after Hatsume gave up, turning to head back into the smoking room. “We don’t usually get alteration requests this early in the year from first years. Either some part of your costume must’ve been impractical enough to piss him off or you showed off something that really caught his eye. Let me see the request.”

“Night vision goggles huh? This shouldn’t be too hard of-“

“I can handle it!” Hatsume exclaimed, turning on a dime and rejoining the conversation, request form snatched out Power Loader’s hand. “Baby number fifteen is perfect for this. Night vision, infrared, electromagnetic, x-ray; my baby will be to cover it all. We just need to-“

“The enthusiasm is good but it’s far too early for you to carrying out alterations to another student’s costume alone.”

“Then you can oversee it.” Hatsume suggested, none of that energy lost. “This is the perfect chance to get experience adapting one of my babies to someone’s costume. Aren’t you the one who said that’s all I needed?”

“Yeah, and a whole lot more common sense.” Power Loader shook his head, focusing on Himiko specifically. “Like I said, normally first years in the support course don’t start with alterations this early but Hatsume here is talented enough that I’d make an exception. It’s your costume though. If you want to take the chance on her, I’ll oversee things, but I’ll leave that choice to you.”

Let the official staff or upper year students it would’ve been regulated to handle it. That was the sensible approach. But the sideways glance Himiko sent my way, made it clear that she was leaning in the opposite direction.

I shrugged. Like Power Loader said, it was her costume. With a U.A. teacher overlooking things, whatever Hatsume whipped up was going to be just as good or better than typical despite it only being her first week here.

Her whole thing was being a prodigy in the support area og heroing after all.

“Is she always like this?” Himiko asked.

“When it comes to making gear? Yeah. Its barely been a week but with how long she keeps herself locked up in the workshop she’s on her way to breaking some long running records among the Support Course.” Power Loader said, shrugging. “Right now, no one else will be more eager to get your request done. I’ll make sure that doesn’t get her too ahead of herself.”

“…alright.”

“Finally! Baby number fifteen is waiting.” Hatsume cheered, pulling Himiko into the room as soon as she agreed.

“You’re welcome to stick around for this too.” Power Loader said before following them in. “At least take the time to ventilate the room before you jump into more work, Hatsume.”

I decided to do just that for a bit but eventually left them all to it. I still needed to go check in with Midoriya before the day was over.

XOXO

“He’s a rather interesting one, isn’t he?”

“Young Akaguro?” All Might questioned. Exhausted from all his morning hero work and classes, he’d long since abandoned the muscled form all others knew him by, suppressing a cough from his seat in the corner of the office. “He’s been earnest about all his work from what I’ve heard. Young Midoriya certainly holds him in high regard; I never expected him to come looking for permission to train with another student.”

“And it seems to be working out for him.”  Nezu said. Up along the wall of his office, a TV displayed footage from the training room Aizawa allowed the two students to use. Akaguro was in the middle of trying to get Midoriya to maintain his hold on One For All in the middle of conversation.

A sensible place to start. Especially so for eager children.

“Do you think there’s something strange about him?” All Might asked, picking up on his interest.

“Not in a bad way.” Nezu admitted. “It’s simply a matter of him not fitting the expected pattern. Students like that pass through this school of ours so often and they never fail to spark my interest.”

Intense admiration of and or shinning hopes of becoming a true hero.

Intense hatred of villains with, perhaps, unhealthy ambitions about taking them down.

After reading up on Akaguro, he’d expected one or the other. It was how things almost always went with children who had early run ins with crime and fought their way here. But, across all he’d seen of the boy, there were no signs of either.

All Might was a walking icon to those in his class, and Akaguro had one of the tamest responses to being taught by the man. He showed discipline that others lacked in practical exercises, not in a reckless rush to advance his training or breeze through his time here with no concern for those around him. He had no issue relating and getting along with the more typical students.

For Akaguro Katsuya, it was as if that villain attack never happened.

There were always people who could shrug off traumatic things, the young especially good at it times, but Nezu couldn’t help but find it strange.

Like those rare students before him, it was like looking at a puzzle with pieces missing. And sometimes he couldn’t help himself when it came to puzzles.

XOXO

(A/N: A chapter title that applies to many of the characters featured this chapter. Perfect.

Anyways our student council, I'm just going to call Katsu, Midoriya, and Yaoyorozu the student council, doing student council things such as learning to fill out forms, school apps and other things. Hatsume makes an early appearance. And of course Nezu.

I'd never written a character with super intelligence as their thing so there's a good chance I'm going to end up fucking up his portrayal but I think one of the biggest struggles is focusing too much on the logical aspect, which I know, sounds contradictory. I just mean there's too much of a focus on making the MC slip up in some way and/or outsmarting Nezu to avoid notice when in reality, that kind of intelligence isn't only logical.

Simply by being arguably normal, Katsu had made Nezu curious. A curious Nezu might look into him and connect dots others wouldn't in his free time. Where that will lead is up the air but I really don't feel the need to try my hand at suddenly turning this into a thriller with Nezu on his tail or something.

Nezu will find out what Nezu finds out, simply because he is curious and operates on a different, lets say, playing field to everyone else. If I be extra about that whole thing I'm just going to end up dumbing Nezu down or worse. Sometimes, less is more as they say. Or write what you know, as they say.

And I certainly don't know what its like to be smart.)