Two days later.

Damn. So Kazue wasn't the only one to give up his post as a class rep. Midoriya, shaking, had informed the class that Iida was a better choice after only a day on the job. Something about 'getting everyone's attention in a cool way' during the break-in of the press or something. The brunet was only slightly paying attention, meaning he did hear everything, but was just too lazy to recall it to mind.

Then everyone started complimenting Iida about... looking like the person on emergency exit signs?

Kazue was beyond confused, but assumed it had something to do with the alert during lunch. It'd probably resulted in a panic... ah. The teen in glasses had gotten everyone's attention and told them that it was just the press.

Made sense, he supposed, and Iida was likely to do better as the class rep than the rather timid Midoriya. He was assertive enough to lead, but held his classmates in high regard. All in all a good choice, and with Yaoyorozu as the deputy class rep since Kazue had abdicated...

The class was in good hands. Meaning that Kazue didn't have to worry about being in charge of anything related to everyone. If he had to do it, he would've, but it definitely would've been a pain in the ass.

His mind began to drift off with that as English class with Present Mic started. To the support course. He wondered what classes were like in that department. How different would it be from the hero course? They would have the basic classes and not have heroics, obviously, but what additional classes? Kazue knew they had labs with all sorts of top-of-the-line tech, but he wasn't satisfied with such a bland answer.

What kind of tech did they have access to, and were the students allowed to freely create things?

Maybe... maybe he could ask Hamasaki the next day at lunch. Well, that is, if she'd be there and he hadn't scared her off by also wanting to be alone. They'd both been reading Horimiya and she'd invited him to stay the first time and hadn't said anything the second, so maybe he wasn't quite overstepping?

Yeah, or Kazue was just overthinking things like he always did. Since when did he care about what others thought?

Ah, right. Since someone had found out what he read in his spare time. Embarrassing, even if Hamasaki didn't appear to care in the slightest. And if she was sitting on the roof, alone, she probably wasn't going to tell anyone.

Ugh. The whole situation had been so awkward, it'd set a new record for Kazue. He was normally so blunt and kept his face blank, but had cracked upon 'exposing' himself by accident. And it was all because...

Wait.

Not because he hadn't bothered to hide what he was reading better, rather because a certain someone told him he'd be alone. Kazue had let his guard down because Midnight had told him that. And he'd trusted her because she was a pro hero, and a teacher at that.

But with a reputation like hers, it wasn't far-fetched to think that she'd deliberately not told him. The roof wasn't exactly a place you could go without permission, and Hamasaki didn't seem like the rule-breaker type. Especially not with her comment on how using Quirks outside without a license was illegal.

The brunet made a sound of annoyance under his breath, putting his head down on his desk and staring at the white... plastic? Hard to tell. All he knew at that moment was that the most likely cause of why two students who'd wanted to be alone had ended up together.

What was the cause, exactly? A certain heroine with a questionable costume thought it would be a great way to set up two teens.

But that was just a theory, no matter how plausible it sounded thanks to all the romance manga Kazue had read over the years. Besides, even if it did turn out to be true, who gave a shit? Then it would just be a teacher too invested in the lives of her students and two students that just wanted eat their lunch and read, maybe exchange a few words here and there if necessary.

Kazue made a face at himself, rolling his eyes since all his classmates could see was the back of his head. Seriously, why the hell was he overthinking everything?

Because the whole situation was a pain in the ass, obviously. But one thing was for sure, and Kazue was definitely going to ask Hamasaki who'd given her permission to go up on the roof the next time they saw each other at lunch.

~-~-~-~

"Kimura. Wake up, this is important."

Kazue slowly lifted his head from his desk with bleary eyes, realizing that he'd fallen asleep without it even being one of his semi-regular episodes.

Whoops.

By the looks of things, it was the last class of the day, even if their homeroom teacher was at the front of the class instead of All Might. Meaning he'd slept through the majority of English, as well as math. Not that it mattered, either way, if he paid attention or slept. If anything important was said, Kazue could always access the audio files that were constantly recorded by his hearing aids and stored to his computer back home. Other than that, it was all just pointless review for things he already knew.

"For today's hero basic training, it's turned into a class with three instructors, All Might and me, and one more person," Eraser Head began.

Sero's hand shot up, voicing the majority of the class's confusion. "Excuse me! What'll we be doing?"

The hero's hand shot out, a card reading 'RESCUE' in light blue text in his grip. "Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between. It's rescue training." His eyes narrowed as several students began chattering excitedly. "Hey, I'm not done. You can decide if you want to wear your costume or not this time," Eraser Head stated, pressing the button that made the cases in the wall slide out. "Because there are probably costumes that limit your abilities, too."

Kazue's eye twitched at that, wondering who in their right mind would design a costume to limit their Quirk. Oh, wait, that was several students in the class, like Iida, Mineta, and Todoroki, to name a few. The first's costume had unnecessary parts, the second's was just plain idiotic in design (so it hindered his movement, not his Quirk, but whatever), and the third's limited him pretty much only use his ice.

The last one made the brunet a bit curious as to why his fire side was so underused, but he didn't want to straight-up ask the other teen. Even if they did sit right next to each other and Todoroki had woken him up too many times to count, Kazue felt like that was a personal matter.

"The training will take place off-campus, so we're taking a bus," Eraser Head added a moment later as soon as the cases had finished extruding from the wall. "That is all. Start getting ready."

~-~-~-~

Kazue stood off to the side from the class, hands in the pockets of his still headphone-less hero costume as he stared off into the distance. Some of the other students were taking a while to change, having designed their costumes too much of a hassle to put on in a timely manner.

It was annoying how little foresight some of them had, but not everyone thought things all the way through. Either that, or they just didn't care-

His hands clamped over his ears as the piercing wail of a whistle broke the relatively quiet chattering, turning to sweatdrop at Iida. The guy was definitely talking his job as class rep a little too seriously.

"Class 1-A, gather 'round!" Iida announced loudly. "Form two lines by your student numbers in order to make boarding the bus go smoothly!"

Kazue first stared at the taller boy, then the bus itself and snorted quietly to himself. It wasn't that kind of bus. He'd seen the model before, and half the seats ran along the sides of the vehicle.

Whatever. He didn't want to mention it and become the center of attention like he had when he'd given up being deputy class rep.

~-~-~-~

"Kimura, we're here."

Kazue woke up in an instant at his classmate's voice and a hand on his shoulder. He nodded in thanks to Todoroki and stood up, following the rest of the teens and Eraser Head into... the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, better known as the U.S.J.

Ah. He should've realized it earlier when Eraser Head had informed the class they'd been doing rescue training. The pieces had been right there, but had failed to be put together.

Which meant, based on Yūei's staff list on their website, the third teacher attending the lessons would be...

"Everyone, I have been waiting for you," Thirteen greeted, the arms of her space suit spread wide in welcoming. Midoriya promptly started fanboying, Uraraka along with him. "Let's go inside without delay."

"Look forward to working with you!" the class replied enthusiastically, bowing their heads. Kazue mumbled the greeting along with them, already knowing that the training, although undoubtedly good, would be a pain in the ass.

They entered the building behind the two teachers, Kazue taking up his usual position at the back of the class. He raised an eyebrow slightly at the inside of the building, not having actually looked at any pictures of the training site beforehand.

There were four main sections from the looks of it. Buildings and rubble covered with fire. A lake with a shipwreck and some random water park structures. More buildings that could be classified as 'hunks of concrete held together by only rebar'. And finally, a section that it was raining in and oddly dark.

After Thirteen finished her speech exclaiming more or less what Kazue had thought seconds before, Eraser Head walked forward. "Thirteen, where's All Might? He was supposed to meet us here."

The brunet narrowed his eyes at the query, wondering the exact same thing. All Might only had about three hours to do hero work per day. Had he already used them all up?

Thirteen took two steps forward. "About that..." she began, lowering her voice so none of the students could hear while simultaneously raising three fingers in the air.

Yeah. He'd used up all his time.

Kazue coughed quietly into his hand, catching Eraser Head's gaze, then discreetly jabbed his thumb back at the door, held up a single finger, and tapped his wrist. By now, it was practically guaranteed that all the teachers knew of his knowledge of All Might's time limit, as well as information not even they knew.

The hero only looked back at Thirteen, letting out an audible sigh. "That's the height of irrationality. It can't be helped. Shall we begin?"

Interesting. Kazue taking part in training appeared to be more important than All Might actually teaching said training. A bit backwards, he has to admit, but whatever. If the teachers didn't want him to give the number one hero a boost for an hour, then that was their problem, not his.

"Let's see... Before we begin, let me say one thing...er...or two, or three, or four...five...six...seven..." Thirteen began, ticking off fingers as she went before trailing off. The entire class deadpanned. "Everyone, I am sure you are aware of my Quirk, Black Hole. I can suck up anything and turn it to dust."

Midoriya's face lit up. "You've been able to use that Quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?" he asked, Uraraka nodding enthusiastically from beside him.

"Yes, but it is a power that can kill easily," the space hero replied seriously. "Some of you also have Quirks like that, right?"

Kazue looked away at the rhetorical question, the image of Kirishima lying prone on the floor coming unwarranted into his mind.

"In a superhuman society, personal Quirks have been certified and stringently regulated, so that doesn't seem to be a problem at first glance. However, please do not forget that there are many Quirks that can easily kill with one wrong step. With Aizawa-san's physical fitness test, you found out about the possibility of your own hidden powers, and with All Might's person-to-person combat training, I think you experienced the danger of using those powers against others. This class is a fresh start. You shall learn how to use your Quirks to save people's lives. You do not have powers so that you can harm others. I hope you leave here with the understanding that you have powers in order to help others." Thirteen bowed. By then, Kazue had stopped paying attention and had his gaze fixed on the fountain in the center of the facility. Something felt... wrong. "That is all. Thank you for listening."

Eraser Head promptly cut off the cheers that came afterwards, pulling a hand out of his pocket and opening his mouth to speak.

"Sensei," Kazue spoke up urgently, lifting his eyes to meet the hero's. He raised his arm, finger pointing directly at the fountain. As if on cue, electricity crackled along the lights of the building and the flow of the water faltered, spurting out irregularly. The brunet could only grimace, sensing the residual of an electric-type Quirk. "We're about to have... visitors."

Shit's 'bout to go down. You guys ready? Kazue's about to wish he has auto telepathy with all the info he gets from all the villains just by looking at 'em, cuz they don't have time to stand around and chat.

Questions/comments?