Hagakure's POV:
It was hard to keep looking at that monitor. Y/n was probably beyond frustrated, even if he didn't show it. Their plan seemed almost perfect. They even accounted for Bakugo being rash! But... I suppose their plan was foolproof, not enraged-rivalproof...
The combatants came into the monitor room to review their performance. I greeted Y/n on the way in.
"Hey, L/n!" His expression shifted from one of disappointment to one of happiness. "That was a great fight! Sorry your team didn't win."
"Nah, it's fine. The loss is on me anyway." He said casually.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I didn't want to hurt Uraraka at the end. If she was a real villain, I would've just picked up a rock and flung it at her."
"Well, don't beat yourself up about it! You'll get 'em next time!"
"Yeah, thanks."
All Might began to break down our battle. "If I had to say, the MVP for this battle was Young Iida!"
Iida looked surprised.
"It's not either of the winners?" One girl asked.
"Well, does anybody know?"
Yaoyorozu raised her hand with confidence. "Yes, Mr. All Might."
"That is because Iida adapted the most to the context of the training. It appears Bakugo acted on his own because of a grudge. Midoriya caused large damage to the building, along with himself, because his plan was rash. Uraraka let her guard down, gave away her position, and her final attack was reckless. If she treated the fake weapon as if it were real, she wouldn't have tried something so risky. L/n hesitated to act. When he did, he made a sub-optimal choice of attack."
I looked over at Y/n. Those words looked like they struck a chord in him. He looked even more frustrated. I mean, what was he supposed to do then? Concuss his own classmate in an effort to win? That'd make him no better than Bakugo.
Yaoyorozu kept lecturing. Saying something about starting with the basics and devoting ourselves wholeheartedly. I wasn't really listening. My eyes kept drifting towards Y/n. I felt bad for him. I can't go and talk to him now though, my team is up next.
I got paired with Ojiro, the guy with the tail. He seemed strong enough. We'd be up against Shoji and Todoroki
They seem pretty strong too. But with Ojiro's strength paired with my invisibility, it'll be pretty hard to lose!
All Might came in over the intercom, "Now, let's start the second indoor person-to-person combat training match!"
All right, the first thing I'll do is take off my gloves and boots. They can't see me that way. Ojiro can protect the weapon while I sneak ahead to get the jump on them.
Suddenly, the whole building froze over in an instant. I didn't even have a chance to react before my feet were completely frozen over. What kind of quirk is that? That's not fair!
Todoroki walked over and put his hand on the weapon for an easy win. After that he started blasting heat and melting the ice. The floor went from ice cold to boiling hot just like that.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! That's hot!"
"Sorry," he started, "The difference in our ability was too great."
Is that meant to make me feel better?!
I walked back to the monitor room, still sour about how quickly we lost.
"Sheesh, and I thought I lost bad." Y/n joked as I came in.
"Oh, be quiet, dummy!" I retorted with a pouty face as I joined him in the corner.
"I'm just messin with you. You're good though, right? No frostbite?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just can't believe how easily we lost!"
"Well, It's like you said: We'll get 'em next time!"
My eyes lit up. On the outside, he just seems really goofy, but he's really passionate. I can tell by how well he does on a normal basis. Plus, he can get pretty competitive. At the same time, he's also pretty nice. There's just something different when I speak to him. I had to ask him something.
"Hey, L/n?"
"What's up?"
"How do you always manage to look me in my eyes? I'm invisible."
"Hm? I just kind of guess. My quirk helps me sense your presence or body shape, but other than that, It just comes down to assuming based on your body language or clothes."
"Oh, really?"
"Why do you ask? ...Is it weird? Does it make you uncomfortable?"
"No, not at all! It's just... no one has ever made prolonged eye contact with me before, other than my parents... I kind of like it."
He looked taken aback.
"I've always kind of been in the background," I continued, "so it's nice to know that there's someone looking in my direction... You know what I mean?"
"Yeah, I get it." He gave me a warm smile. One that made me smile just as brightly. "The competition doesn't look like it's going to let up either, so let's work our way up from the bottom!"
"Right!"
Y/n's POV:
After a long day of watching mock battles, class was finally over. All Might congratulated us for our efforts today.
"Well then, I must review the results with Young Midoriya!" He spun on his heel. "Change and return to the classroom!"
He kicked up dust as he practically flew down the hallway. Some of it clung to Hagakure's skin, revealing her figure.
"Waaah! Don't look!" She exclaimed as she quickly moved behind me.
"Wha-? I'm not gonna look! Who do you take me for?!"
She silently gestured to a small purple kid giving a thumbs up at the other end of the group.
"The hero course is the best..." I heard him say under his breath.
"Ah, I see. Well, just stay behind me then. I'm not exactly allowed to punt kids over buildings." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Later that day, close to the end of school, we were just talking amongst each other about today's battles. Some were already strategizing. Others were going around and getting acquainted with each other. Midoriya came through the door with his arm in a sling.
Everyone crowded around him to congratulate him and introduce themselves. Iida was still going around telling people to get off of desks. I saw Uraraka absolutely ignore Kaminari in favor of checking up on Midoriya.
I was just chatting with Hagakure, thinking up ways to apply our quirks better. Eventually, people were pressing up against the windows. We went to go see what was up. It looked like Midoriya and Bakugo were having some heart to heart talk.
"What was that?" A girl named Ashido asked.
"The fated battle between men." Said Uraraka.
"It looked like Midoriya was just giving excuses one-sidedly, though." Said a green haired girl named Tsuyu.
"The fated battle between men." Uraraka insisted.
I wouldn't put it past Bakugo to start throwing hands with a guy with a broken arm.
All in all, things seemed nice. Even though we took a hard loss today, I had a great time at school today. I nearly got slammed by a pillar. I made new friends. I got closer to the ones I already had.
But this would just be the start, Y/n. I'll have to work harder from here. Get it all down to a science. One day, I'll be able to top those special recommendation students! That's what I gotta shoot for! That... and I need to nail a superhero landing at some point.
Nice goals, Y/n, You're an inspiration to us all.
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Funny story guys , I had this part done two weeks ago and I completely neglected to publish it. Sorry if this chapter was a bit uneventful, but I just wanted to set up for the USJ arc to have a clean start. Now that midterms are over with, I'll hopefully be able to update this more often.
(also my dumbass didn't even publish the full chapter correctly the first time so forgive me)
That's about it from me, so I'll see you all later.
1194 words. finished on 1-2-2023 (published 1-16-22)