Another bright and sunny morning made for a pleasant walk to school. Crowds of students were gathered at the entrance when Aina reached UA High; it looked much livelier than yesterday.
Navigating the building was also easier; she was able to find the door of Class 1A in minutes. Majority of her classmates had already shown up. Todoroki sat at his desk, observing all the ruckus as usual. As she approached her seat, their gazes locked for a brief moment.
Both were stiff upon seeing the other. Yesterday's conversation hadn't sat well with either of them, and it wouldn't be so easily forgotten.
Aina tried her best to ignore Todoroki's piercing eyes as she sat down in her chair. The boy couldn't help but notice that she was wearing her earbuds again.
The last few students piled in shortly after. When Mr. Aizawa arrived, the room was dramatically different compared to yesterday. The class was attentive, tense, perhaps even intimidated.
"Four seconds for you all to quiet down," he announced. "That's already an improvement from yesterday. You're all beginning to learn, congratulations." His tone was as rye and unenthusiastic as before. "Now that the easy stuff is out of the way, let's begin today's lesson."
The start of their second day was filled with standard lessons, written notes and basic assignments. Aside from the teachers being pro heroes, the classes were just as boring as any other school. Aina's least favorite was English with Present Mic.
"Hey, everybody, look alive! Grammar rules!" he exclaimed, observing their weary faces.
Yelling about the lesson doesn't make this any more interesting...
When lunch period rolled around, Aina found herself hesitant to go to the cafeteria. She didn't want a repeat of her encounter with Todoroki; his crude remarks had spoiled her appetite last time.
To her surprise though, the boy with two-toned hair was nowhere to be found. She couldn't deny her mild curiosity, but was grateful nonetheless to have the table to herself. The break came and went with ease, and the class to follow would be the most exciting by far.
"I... AM... HERE!" Class 1A turned their attention towards a booming patriotic voice.
"Coming through the door like a hero!"
Everyone gasped at the all-too familiar legend that marched into their room.
"I can't believe it's really All Might!"
"So he is a teacher! This year is gonna be totally awesome!"
"Hey, look. Is he wearing his Silver Age costume?"
"I'm getting goose-bumps. It's so retro!"
Even Aina was staring in amazement. The Number-One hero, standing before them in his classic red, yellow and blue jumpsuit. He had a muscular build with chiseled features all around, and shining gold hair to match his pure white smile. The look in his eyes, the pride in his steps; he had a persona that screamed nothing but justice.
"Welcome to the most important class at UA High," declared All Might. "Think of it as "Hero-ing 101." Here you will learn the basics of being a pro, and what it means to fight in the name of good! Let's get into it! Today's lesson will pull no punches!"
He held up a sign that had the word "BATTLE" written in bold, red letters. The room seemed to spark with a newfound energy.
"Fight training," Bakugo held a menacing smile.
"Real combat?" squeaked a nervous Midoriya.
All Might continued on, "But one of the keys of being a hero is... looking good!" He pointed a finger to the side of the room. From there, four hidden shelves emerged from the wall to display rows of shining steel cases. Each had a bold neon number printed on its surface, correlated to match the seat number of every student
"These were designed for you based on your Quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."
The class gasped and cheered with delight.
Our hero costumes.
"Get yourselves suited up," All Might instructed, "and then meet me at Training Ground Beta!"
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone rose to grab their designated case before heading to the changing rooms. Aina was anxious to see the final product of her designs. She hadn't asked for much in the request forms; all she wanted was something light, sleek and weatherproof. The rest was up to the manufacturing team.
The pieces to her costume were minimal: a black bodysuit with a steely gray collar, a matching gray tailcoat with a large hood, black leather gloves, knee-high black boots, and solid gold guards for her arms and knees.
The design was rather vintage, but it was still beyond anything Aina imagined she would receive. Majority of the outfit was easy to wear, but the black bodysuit was a little too skintight for her liking.
"Wow, your costume looks amazing!"
Aina turned around to face Uraraka, who approached with a bubbly skip in her step.
"It's so sleek and sophisticated!" She commented.
Aina nodded her head shyly. "Oh... thank you. Yours looks good too."
Examining Uraraka's outfit, she also wore a black bodysuit, but hers had a pale pink design on her shoulders and torso. She wore wide knee high boots, pink circular wrist supports, a matching pink belt, and a helmet with a tinted visor.
"Haha, thanks," she chuckled. "My suit is a lot tighter than I expected it to be, though. I'm not really a fan, so I'll probably have to submit a new design form later on."
You and me, both. Aina couldn't help but wonder if the manufacturers did this to all of the girls' costumes on purpose.
Class 1A emerged from the changing area, everyone glistening in their new outfits. They found All Might waiting for them at the training ground, standing tall and fearsome even amidst the towering buildings.
"They say that clothes make the pros, young ladies and gentleman," he proclaimed, "and behold, you are the proof! Take this to heart. From now on you are all... heroes in training!" He chuckled like a proud father. "This is getting me all revved up. You look so cool! Now. Shall we get started, you buncha newbies?"
Everyone cheered with excitement. Some classmates had gathered to compare outfits together.
It's a little weird to see everyone outside of their school uniforms. But then again, this is U.A, after all...
"Hey, it's Aoi, right? Aina Aoi?"
Aina turned to the sound of her name. Approaching her was a familiar classmate: the girl from home room that wasn't fooled by Mr. Aizawa's 'rational deception'.
"I didn't get a chance to introduce myself yesterday," she said. "I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, and I just wanted to say that I love your costume! It's so vintage."
A heteromorphic student with the face of a raven also joined in, "I agree. I'm a big fan of your cloak in particular."
Aina was caught off guard by their compliments. "Oh um, thank you..."
So many people are talking to me.... And that girl remembers my name too?
All Might's booming voice interrupted their conversation. "Now that you're ready, it's time for combat training."
"Sir!" Tenya Iida raised his hand. "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean that we'll be conducting urban battles again?"
"Not quite," All Might held up two fingers. "I'm going to move you two steps ahead. Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly evildoers take place indoors. Think about it. Backroom deals, home invasions, secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay hidden in the shadows. For this training exercise, you'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys, and fight two-on-two indoor battles."
"Isn't this a little advanced?" wondered Tsuyu Asui.
"The best training is what you get on the battlefield!" All Might insisted. "But remember, you can't just punch a robot this time. You're dealing with actual people now."
A handful of students began to call out questions.
"Sir, will you be the one deciding who wins?"
"How much can we hurt the other team?"
"Do we need to worry about the losers getting expelled like earlier?"
"Will you be splitting us up based on chance or comparative skill?"
"Isn't this cape tres chic?"
"I wasn't finished talking!" All Might grunted in frustration. He then pulled out a folded piece of paper.
...A script?
"Listen up. The situation is this. The villains have hidden a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans. To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the weapon. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload or capture the heroes. Time's limited, and we'll choose teams by drawing lots!"
"Isn't there a better way?" Iida questioned.
"Think about it!" Midoriya interjected. "Pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot, so maybe that's the reason we're seeing that here."
Aina was impressed with his logic. For someone that hardly knew how to use his Quirk, he sure had an advanced level of reasoning.
"Yes, I see," said Iida. "Life is a random series of events." He turned back to All Might and bowed. "Excuse my rudeness."
"No sweat," the hero exclaimed. "Let's draw!"
Everyone took turns pulling lots from a large yellow box. Unfolding her paper, Aina found the letter 'H' written in bold red ink.
"It seems like you and I are a team." The raven boy from earlier approached her and presented a matching card. "I didn't get to say my name earlier, but I'm Fumikage Tokoyami. Let's do our best."
Everyone met with their partners before turning their attention back to All Might.
"I declare that the first teams to fight will be... these guys!"
The hero held up two spheres in his hands, the letters 'D' and 'A' boldly printed on them.
"Team A will be the heroes, Team D will be the villains. Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch!"
"Yes, sir!"
Minus the two pairs, the class began to walk away. Aina took a moment to look over her shoulder at the teams. Midoriya, in a vibrant green jumpsuit, had a worrisome look on his face. He glanced over at Bakugo, who's gaze seemed to be filled with murderous intent. Though he stood in a shiny new hero costume, Aina could tell that he was trembling with anxiety.
She couldn't help but pity him again, Sighing, she turned around and walked with the rest of the class.
The monitoring room was dark and spacious with numerous hanging flatscreens. From each one, you could see different angles of the battleground. Everyone started to chat eagerly while All Might gave instructions to the first teams.
He joined the rest of the students moments later.
"All right! Let's begin the indoor combat training! Team A and Team D, your time starts now!"
An alarm sounded at the start of the fifteen minute match.
"Pay attention, kids," he instructed. "Think about what you would do."
Everyone watched as Ururaka and Midoriya snuck around the building. There were a lot of blind spots; dark corners and narrow turns that could lead a gruesome assault at any moment.
The class flinched when Bakugo appeared. He leapt at the heroes ferociously, attempting to blast them with his Quirk. But Midoriya managed to not only evade his attack, but also protect his teammate all the while.
"He almost got the jump on them," exclaimed Mineta.
"Sneak attack, Bakugo?" Kirishima put his fists together. "What kinda man pulls cheap crap like that?"
But All Might had a different opinion. "It's a viable strategy. He's playing the part. Acting like a true villain would."
"It didn't work. Midoriya dodged him!" cheered Mina Ashido.
Denki Kaminari was fixated on the screen. "Look, there he goes!"
The class continued to watch with anticipation. In a crazy turn of events, Midoriya predicted Bakugo's next attack. The messy-haired boy grabbed his opponent by the arm and thrust him over his shoulder. Bakugo landed on his back with a hard "THUD!" and grunted from the pain.
The students of Class 1A could hardly contain their excitement. Even All Might was surprised.
"So he's an analyst, huh?" Aina mumbled. "He learns from pure observation of his opponent. He's like a sponge."
"That may be true," said Todoroki. "But don't forget that Midoriya hardly has any control over his Quirk. All the strategies in the world can't save him if he can't even use his power."
His response caught her off guard. She didn't think anyone could hear her, let alone if they were actually listening.
But he was right. As the exercise continued, Aina noted how Midoriya relied solely on hand-to-hand combat and refused to use his Quirk.
It nearly cost them the match; in the end, he and Uraraka just barely managed to win the fight. Even still, Midoriya was unconscious and badly injured; his right arm was broken from using his Quirk, while his left was scorched from blocking Bakugo's explosion.
"What a weird way for this to end," noted Kaminari. "The losers are practically untouched, and the winners are both on the ground."
"How does the old saying go?" said Tokoyami. "They may've lost the battle, but they won the war."
"This class is intense," added Asui.
All Might made his way to the ground before summoning a couple of transportation bots. Together, they carried the beaten figure of Midoriya to the nurse's office while the remaining students made their way to the monitoring room.
All Might began to review the results of the match.
"Well, despite the results, the MVP of this exercise is Young Iida!"
Everyone, including Iida, looked up in surprise.
"Shouldn't it be one of the heroes instead, since they're the winners?" wondered Asui.
"Mm! Valid question," All Might responded. "Why didn't I choose one of those two? Who has a guess?"
"Sir! I can tell you why!" Yaoyorozu raised her hand.
"Iida embraced this challenge. He was the only one who truly adapted to his assigned role. I'll explain. Bakugo's judgment was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya. As you pointed out earlier, launching a large-scale attack indoors was a foolish move. It could have been disastrous. Similarly, Midoriya's plan was also poorly thought out, considering the amount of damage that he received. He rendered himself helpless. Not smart. As for Uraraka, she let her guard down mid-battle, and her final attack was far too reckless given the hypothetical stakes. If she'd treated the fake weapon as though it were real, she never would've risked using such an imprecise move. Iida was fully prepared for his opponent's arrival. He had a strategy, and never lost sight of his mission to protect the dummy weapon, even if he was foiled in the end. Technically the hero team won, yes, but they took advantage of the fact that this was training. They didn't respect the spirit of the trial."
Everyone stood dumbfounded, Iida trembling as if he could die of happiness. Even All Might struggled to find any words.
"Yes... Well, you overlooked a few things. Young Iida could have relaxed a little bit in the exercise, but... otherwise, you nailed it!"
Yaoyorozu blinked. "One should always start with the basics and devote themselves wholeheartedly to learning. That's the only way to become a top hero."
The class was silent. Aina tilted her head, still trying to process.
Wow, she's good.
"Now then," All Might continued. "Time to blow this joint. Let's move on to the next match! Think about everything we saw and discussed as you tackle this training for yourself."
"Yes, sir!"
The next pair of teams gathered and made their way to the battleground. Their building was completely different from the first, which meant an entire new terrain and structure.
Aina watched the screen and perked up at the sight of a familiar boy with white and crimson hair.
Alright, Todoroki. Let's see you use this Quirk of yours, since you were so eager to brag about it yesterday.
"Match two!" All Might announced. "Team B will be the heroes, and Team I will be the villains. Look alive kids! Show us you're the embodiment of good. Or evil! Let's go!"