"I am... Coming through the door like a normal person!"

Kazue let his face fall from where it was barely supported by the palm of his hand, forehead slamming into the desk. His classmates, already used to the occurrence as it'd happened in every class thus far in the first two days of school, didn't even ask if he was alright.

Finally. It was getting annoying.

All Might strutted to the podium at the front of the room, grinning wide as he addressed the excitedly chattering teens. "I teach Hero Basic Training!" the blond announced grandly.

Really, never would've guessed, Kazue thought sarcastically. Like it hadn't been the subject of hero nerds' conspiracy theories for the past year. It was guaranteed that the news wouldn't stay in the school, and the press would definitely show up sooner or later. Not that they'd be able to get in through the gate without a pass, but it would still be annoying to leave when it happened.

"It is a subject where you can train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero," All Might continued, fists at his hips in that 'heroic' pose he always did on TV. "You'll take the most units of this subject. Let's get right into it! This is what we'll do today—Combat training!"

If Kazue's head wasn't already on the desk in front of him, he would've let it fall at precisely that moment.

Combat training, huh?

They'd be paired up or put in groups, probably, to make it more realistic. Everyone would be in their hero costumes.

He shrugged to himself. At least he'd get to see how outlandish their costumes looked, with most heroes those days trying to make themselves look cool and think of functionality second. Key word: 'trying'. The companies that made their costumes and tended to actually make the useless attachments actually useful for something.

Ah, to be in the support course...

"And to go with that are these!" the hero smiled widely, pointing at the wall of the classroom. As if on cue, numbered cases slid out from slots. "Costumes made based on your Quirk registrations and requests you sent in before school started. After you change, gather in Ground Beta!"

"Yes, sir!"

Kazue died inside at his classmates' enthusiasm, hanging back to wait and grab his own case. The one numbered '10'. At least it wasn't seven like back during the practical exam. He was just about done with the universe trying to make him follow in his father's footsteps.

"So, thought over my offer yet?" he asked quietly as most of the other students had left to go change.

Midoriya's head jerked up from where he was holding up a... turquoise? jumpsuit, eyes wide. "Erm... I..." he hesitated, glancing over at the guy with the fire and ice Quirk and waiting until he'd left the room. "I don't know."

Kazue snorted at the response, wondering what the green-haired boy could be unsure about but not wanting to press. "Alright. Feel free to call anytime, then. You still have my card, right?"

A nod.

"Good luck during training," Kazue stated as an ominous form of goodbye, turning and leaving without a second word. He headed to the boy's locker room for Class 1-A with the student map he'd memorized the day before, then clicked open his case in a back corner away from all the other teens.

The brunet stared down at his costume. It looked good enough on the surface, but was it made the way he'd intended?

There was the top half, which appeared to be a black fitted, hoodless sweatshirt, and the bottom half, the kind of pants the military would wear. Durable, and not overly tight or loose so it wouldn't hinder movement. Gloves with a little padding over the knuckles and buttons on the sides of the index fingers. Wires were inlaid in the material from the buttons to the wrists, where they would get snapped to the sleeves of the top and travel down the similarly attached pants and the back of the shirt. The ones that went to the pants then continued down to what was one of the most important parts of the costume.

Jet boots, in the same color as the rest of the getup with silver highlights. The reason why Kimura Katashi was even effective as a hero, let alone had made it into the top ten. The devices allowed him to cross distances at great speeds with great maneuverability. And if Kazue didn't have them, he likely wasn't going to be able to do much against most of the Quirks of his classmates, let alone villains.

Well, they weren't actually that useful without the matching stabilizer device reminiscent of a Mandalorian's jetpack that was attached to the back of Kazue's shirt and had straps over his shoulders. If he didn't have that part, activating the boots would result in him flipping into a wall or something.

The brunet glanced around the room and sighed quietly to himself in annoyance. Most were already halfway done getting dressed, some with costumes that were just plain weird. The short kid with the Pop-off Quirk looked like he was wearing a toilet bowl, Bakugō's costume resembled what a villain might wear, and the pipes running along Engine's sides weren't even connected to anything.

Whatever. Not his problem at the moment.

Kazue turned back to his case, pulling the body of the costume on quickly and turning the last piece of equipment over in his hands carefully as he inspected it.

"What the..." he muttered, blinking a few times to make sure he was really seeing what he was seeing.

The specialized headphones he'd described in great detail on his costume request had been half-assed. Probably someone who didn't give a damn about their job had made them look good on the outside. But that didn't change the fact that the volume dials on the sides didn't even turn.

Now, Kazue was no Karen or knowledgeable of memes outside of random crap in comment sections, but he definitely wanted to speak with someone's manager at that moment. Mostly about the fact that the item he'd been given sucked ass, but also that it hadn't been inspected after it was made.

He'd have to do the combat training without the added protection and hope for the best.

The brunet snorted as he left the locker room, trailing along after everyone else. Who was he kidding? Hope for the best? Yeah, right. The day he actually tried to win at anything school-related would be the same day pigs decided to fly.

~-~-~-~

"They say the clothes make the man, young men and ladies. Be fully aware...from now on...you are heroes!"

Wow.

So inspiring that Kazue was considering finding the nearest vaguely comfy spot to take a nap in, and not even because his sleep attack had happened at the end of the previous class period. Whatever, as long as the other teens felt 'empowered'. They were the future of Japan if they ended up becoming competent heroes, and he could get behind that even if he still didn't understand why.

"That's great, everyone," the hero grinned, scanning the crowd. "You all look cool! Now, shall we begin, you zygotes?"

Midoriya finally decided to show up at that moment, wearing his jumpsuit complete with knee and elbow pads, a mask that made him look like a bunny, oversized white gloves, and a red utility belt that clashed with the turquoise.

Kazue felt like his eyes were about to bleed and glanced back at All Might instead, standing next to Half-Hot Half-Cold (whose costume was him just being half-encased in ice with what looked like a heater on his back).

"Now, it's time for combat training!" the buff blond announced, the brunet not missing how he kept getting caught in the gaze of the man's shadowed eyes.

Engine, who was in the disgrace to support items everywhere, raised his hand like a robot. "Sensei! This is a battle center from the entrance exam, so will we be conducting urban battles again?"

All Might held up two fingers. "No, we're going to move ahead two steps!" he announced. "Most of the time, fighting villains takes place outside, but if you look at the total numbers, atrocious villains appear indoors at a higher rate. Imprisonment, house arrest, backroom deals—In this society filled with heroes, truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows!"

True enough, which was why, although Kazue didn't particularly like Eraser Head for calling him out in front of the entire class, he respected him as a hero who also hid in the shadows. An underground hero, one who was comfortable diving into back alleys and places where no 'respectable hero' would go. The world needed more heroes like that. Ones who would take care of the problem before innocent people could get hurt in the flashy and destructive battles the big pros tended to have.

It pissed the brunet off when people who had no part in those types of affairs got forcefully involved. If he actually wanted to be a hero, that was the kind that Kazue would be.

All Might carried on with his explanation of the exercise with enthusiasm, making Kazue have to pay attention again. Apparently, they'd be paired up and assigned a number. The numbers would be picked in pairs, with one team being the heroes and the other the villains. The villains would get five minutes to set up shop in a building, then the heroes would go in and try to 'retrieve' the fake bomb by touching it.

Simple enough, but a pain in the ass nonetheless. And depending on who he'd be partnered with, it could either get better or worse.

Damn, I'm on a roll with the short chapters. This one's just over 1.5k.

Anyway, Midoriya's kinda a dumbass for hesitating so much. Like, dude, you got a guy who can help you control your Quirk and are being more wishy washy than Charlie Brown. Get your shit together, bro.

Questions/comments/things I should change? 

(Although for that last one, I kinda have up to chapter 16-17ish pre-written, so...)