Two sides of the Blade

The Real Test Begins

The second day of school starts the same as the first. I'm one of the first students to arrive in the classroom and quickly make my way back to my designated spot. One thing I notice is slightly different, the multi haired kid with the scar has arrived before me, and is already sitting at his desk, scrolling through something on his phone. Once again he doesn't acknowledge when I walk up, but I can't help but feel slightly anxious thinking about what Aizawa had said to me last night at dinner.

Yesterday Evening:
After finishing setting the table, I wait for Aizawa to sit down before beginning to eat. I made soba with bean sprouts and meat to go along with some rice I had made for our lunches. We begin eating in our comfortable silence like we always do, neither one of us feeling the need to force conversation. Eventually though he speaks up,
"Oi, you said you talked to Midoriya today right?" I nod at his random question, but continue to keep my focus on my food.
"Just because you talked once, I wouldn't call that a friendship..." his lazy nonchalant response makes me spit out my noodles an annoyed tic forming on my head.
"Y- yeah I know that! You didn't have to say it so harsh." I mumble to myself, digging back into my noodles with slightly more aggression.
"You need to try and make more connections. People don't trust loners, thats not the hero way." I grow more frustrated with each word that passes. *You're one to talk! You only talk to Mic-sensei!* I don't respond to his harassment instead just huff and continue stuffing my face. He can sense my frustration and sighs,
"I'm just saying.... Maybe try talking to the other students who got in by recommendation. There's 2 others in class A-1, and Todoroki sits right next to you right?" His voice softens as he reaches for his chopsticks to keep eating. I still don't respond but nod slightly at his words. The rest of dinner continues on quietly as I sit and ponder exactly what Im gonna do...

Back to Present:
I sit with my head in my hands, im practically shaking with anxiety about how I'm actually going to start a conversation. I can see the other students passing glances in my direction, an aura of dread emitting from my corner of the room.
'Hello Todoroki-kun, I'm Mizuki lets be friends! No thats too forward. Todoroki-kun right? Nice to meet you, so happy to be sitting next to you! Thats way too bubbly!!! Ya' you're that multicolored guy who got in on recommendation right? WHY DO I SOUND LIKE A GANGSTER?!?!'
My ramblings are cut short when I hear something hit the floor and look down to see a mechanical pencil rolling near my feet. I go to pick it up and accidentally touch hands with someone else trying to do the same.
" Oh sorry, that's mine..." I look up to match the voice with the face and am met with a pair of heterochromatic eyes. Todoroki is staring back at me, and I feel my cheeks start to burn realizing how long I've been staring without saying anything. I quickly hand him his pencil and turn away, fidgeting with my hands on my desk. He looks at me blankly for a second before turning back to his desk.
"Arigato..."
Once again Aizawa's words flash through my mind. 'People don't trust loners, its not the hero way...' I take a deep breath and very mechanically turn to face the boy. In one swift moment I bow stiffly and quickly mumble out.
"HellomynameisMizukiFugiwaraimgladtobesittingnexttoyouletshaveagoodyear." I stay bowed down, my face a mix of horror and embarrassment. At first the boy didn't say anything and I felt the fear really start to sink in. But then very calmly he responded.
"Hai. I'm Shoto Todoroki, its nice to meet you Fugiwara-san." I look up from my bowed position, a look of shock crossed my face. I softly smile and nod. We both turn back to our seats, Todoroki-kun completely unfazed by our interaction, and me just happy that was a semi normal conversation, you can practically see the sparkles radiating from my chair.
'That felt like a success. I can't wait to tell Aizawa about it tonight!'
Everyone else files into the room, sitting in their respected seats some stirring up conversations and laughing about random things. Midoriya eventually walks in and is immediately met by Uraraka and Iida. I feel a twinge of jealousy at how easily they approach one another.
'Gosh, I wish I could do that.'
Out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya catches me watching their interaction and throws me a closed eyed smile while waving. "Good morning, Fugiwara-San!" I'm completely caught off guard by his sudden greeting and the attention it brings along with it, as others in the class start to follow his gaze to my place in the room. I quickly look around frantic to find something to hide my face, but reluctantly hold up my hand in a stiff wave, my eyes hidden by my bangs.
"Oh, you're one of the students who got in on recommendation right? Thats amazing! Im Denki Kaminari! Hey you're kind of cute, you wanna grab some food sometime?" The yellow eyed boy appears in front of me like a flash and I freeze in terror. "U uh umm- I" my ability to form a sentence flees and I sit there a shaking mess.
"Baka! Why do you have to flirt with every girl!" A girl with a dark bob and cords hanging from her ears comes and smacks the boy in the back of the head causing him to yelp. "Sorry about him, he's kind of an idiot. Im Kyouka Jirou." The girl sticks her hands in her pocket while introducing herself.
'She's so cool! She's like a new age rock star!'
I smile gratefully at her placing a piece of hair behind my ear. "Hello, I- I'm M Mizuki Fugiwara, its nice to meet all of you." My voice is soft but I try to sound welcoming. The dark haired girl smiles at me, "Nice to meet you Fugiwara-San." My smile widens as I continue my conversation with the girl.
"You participated in the tests yesterday right? I don't remember your quirk exactly, sorry." She scratches the back of her neck and I shake my head softly.
"N- no its okay! I- I didn't really get to use my quirk yesterday." My voice dies off at the end, a hint of embarrassment in my expression.
'You sound so pretentious! Now they'll think you believe you're better if you didn't use it!'
The girl senses my doubt and smiles, "Ahh you're amazing Fugiwara-San! You must be so strong, you did so well on the tests! I can't wait to see you're quirk sometime soon!" My cheeks tint pink as I watch the girl smile at me. Before we can continue our conversation, the bell rings signifying the start of classes.
Aizawa comes in and gives the morning announcements, which entails nothing exciting and stuff I already knew about thanks to the principle letting me sit in on the teacher meetings. The morning classes are pretty standard for any high school: english, math, science, history, language. The only thing abnormal about these courses are that they are being taught by hero's. I find Mic Sensei's lessons to be particularly entertaining and disturbing. Once the general classes are complete we are released for lunch, which is basically when I lock myself in the bathroom and eat my bento box, or stalk Aizawa and sit with him in the teachers lounge. 'Both are sad options....'
The bell signals its time for us to be released to the cafeteria, so I gather my lunch but am stopped by a familiar pair of black combat boots.
"Hey, Fugiwara-San, we are going to eat in the cafeteria, would you like to join us?" Jirou-san asks gesturing to the other 5 people that are standing behind her.
'This is like a high school slice of life manga!'
I slightly start to shake but give her a curt nod. She smiles at me laughing slightly and leads the way to the cafeteria. The 6 people in front of me are smiling and talking about random things, I feel very out of place but carry on behind them. We make it to the cafeteria and sit down at a table in the middle, I sit in-between Jirou and a girl I learned who's name is Ashido. We sit and I listen to them talk about what they think what will happen this year, their favorite hero's, and just hobbies they like to do. Every once in a while I think about interjecting, but become overwhelmed by the idea and just sit. Lunch ends rather quickly and we gather our things to head back to the classroom. The rest of the group stands up and begins to walk away, but Ashido-san holds back to walk beside me. She can pretty much hold a conversation by herself which I am extremely grateful for, its actually very refreshing to just listen to someone.
Once back in the classroom we return to our seats awaiting instructions for the next lesson. Suddenly a booming voice can be heard from the hallway,
"I AM... WALKING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!!" All Might races into the room, completely decked out in one of his old hero costume. The class erupts into Awh and cheers. I simply sigh, unenthused by this very common occurrence.
'He really likes the spot light.... Well thats to be expected for the number one hero I guess.'
He waltzes up to the podium and continues his grand opening speech, "I teach Hero Basic Training. It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject! Let's get right into it! This is what we'll be doing today...!" He throws out a card with some red lettering scribbled across it.
'Battle?? Thats so vague.'
"And to go with that are these! Costumes made based on your Quirk registration, and the request sent in before school started." He states while walking over to the far right wall in the front of the classroom. Four panels open up with green numbered brief cases. Another wave of excitement overtakes the crowd, including myself! We quickly gathered out costumes and headed off to the locker rooms. A lot of the girls stripped right in the main entry way but I scurried back to one of the changing spaces. Opening my briefcase I pulled out my uniform and smiled, the colors the shapes everything is exactly as I imagined it to be! I swiftly changed, and after making sure everything was in the right places turned around give myself a look over it the mirror.
'I forgot how revealing this costume was... maybe I should just wear my gym clothes for today and get the school to make some adjustments....'
While I'm still concentrated on my appearance, I barely have time to register the voice calling for me beyond the curtain, "Oi, Fugiwara have you finished changing yet? We all want to se-" without a moment of hesitation Ashido pulls the curtain back and reveals me in my uniform. My whole body burns red as I try to place my hands in front of me to hide my legs.
"WOAHHH Fugiwara-Chan you look so cute! Neh Neh isn't her costume so cool?" Hagakure is the first to speak up, "Yah, I wish mine looked like that! You're so lucky!" Jirou is the next to chime in. Slowly all the girls compliment me on my costume design. I slowly start to relax and smile at everyone, a light pink still dusting my cheeks.
"Ahhhh th- thank you everyone, you're all so nice."  Each one of them throws me a grin and then we all walk out to meet the boys in the hallway before walking out onto the field. I take notice of a lot of the boys costumes, especially the firey blonde from yesterday who I've come to know as Katsuki Bakugou. He had grenade like arm accessories and a thick black mask.
'Honestly he gives more of a villain vibe. He's just so angry.'
Todoroki-San's costume was very similar to the gym uniform just more form fitting. Very minimalistic but also professional. Iida had big robot Armoury surrounding his whole frame, it really helped in accentuating his quirk on his legs. Finally Midoriya's costume was.....
'Is he like a nuclear rabbit? No, there's something oddly familiar with his costume.....'
I passed several glances between All Might and the boy and it finally struck me. I burst out laughing holding my stomach while turning around.
'He's a total fanboy!'
All might then gives a very detailed, very loud speech going over the exercise and what we will be doing. It's a team mission where we will be working in pairs, one as villians and one as hero's. The villians are meant to protect a weapon somewhere in the building while the hero's retrieve the weapon and or capture the villians.
'Seems like a pretty cut and dry mission...'
All Might then continues to split up the pairs, and that is when I notice there is one individual who does not have a partner. All might seems to have noticed as well.
"Hmmmm young Fugiwara, it seems this class is an odd number. Depending on who is left uninjured at the end of the matches, I will have a task for you." He states and I curtly nod in response, feeling a little bit apprehended that I have to wait until the end.
The first round to be drawn is between Team A: Uraraka and Midoriya (hero's) and Team D: Iida and Bakugou (villians). Midoriya looks like he's going to pass out at any moment, where as Bakugou looks like he's just been handed the greatest opportunity in the world. I can practically feel the heat and excitement radiating off of the blonde and slowly take steps back. The match ends in complete annihilation of the building. The blow dealt by Midoriya not only disintegrates all the levels, but also shatters his arm causing him to fall. Despite the gruesomeness of the event the Hero team wins.
'That was hard to watch. The pent up anger and trauma those two have been saving basically blew up all at once.'
The following matches all ended fairly quickly with little to no injuries thankfully. Then came my turn,
"Now that we have finished all of the matches, we will need a volunteer to compete against Mrs. Fugiwara." The room went silent and I started to get an anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd end up competing with All Might. Suddenly a hand raised from the front of the crowd, "I'll go against her, if no one else will! Im always up for a challenge, its a manly quality." Kirishima spoke up proudly walking forward with a toothy grin. I gently smiled in thanks to the boy for saving me from going against the old man.
"So its been decided. Kirishima will be the villain, Fugiwara will play the hero. Since it is a one on one match all you need to do is either capture Mr. Kirishima using this rope, or retrieve the object. Is that clear?"
Both of us answer, "Hai" and are dismissed to enter the training building.