"Wh-what's going on?" Uraraka asked in a panicked voice, taking a step back from the classroom door.

Iida whipped a robot hand up to stiffly gesture to the crowd of other first years outside the door. "What business do you have with Class A?"

"We can't get out!" Mineta exclaimed, raising a fist. "What'd you come here for, anyway?"

Kazue snorted from where he stood next to Midoriya, watching as Bakugō walked past with anger simmering below the surface. The sparks within his Quirk crackled. "Scouting out the enemy, small fry," the ash blond stated in a surprising anger-free tone, trudging towards the door. "We're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack. They probably wanna check us out before the Sports Festival." He stopped in front of the other first years crowding the exit, a few of the ones in front shrinking back. "There's no point in doing stuff like that. Out of my way, extras."

Iida promptly had a robotic spasm attack while Uraraka and Midoriya watched the scene in terror. "Stop calling people 'extras' just because you don't know them!"

A new voice spoke from the back of the crowd, a taller boy with a bush of purple hair pushing through. "I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this? Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned. There are quite a few people who enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the hero course. Did you know that?"

Kazue rolled his eyes under the bandages. Anyone who'd done their research prior to applying knew that. He was just making a scene, presumably to go on and say that the Sports Festival was the ticket for some in other departments to join the hero course in the place of some other student.

Yeah. That's exactly what came next.

"The school has left those of us a chance. Depending on the results of the Sports Festival, they'll consider our transfer into the hero course. And it seems they may also transfer people out." His eyes slowly traveled over the entire class, and Kazue didn't miss the slightly unnerved look that he received, being covered in bandages and all. "Scouting out the enemy? I, at least, came to say that even if you're in the hero course, if you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. I came with a declaration of war."

Kazue snorted, plodding forwards while ignoring the ache in his face and arm. The painkillers he'd taken before school were starting to wear off. "If you're done, can you please move?" he muttered, stopping next to Bakugō. "Declarations of war are time consuming to listen to and I have somewhere to be."

"It looks like I was right," the taller boy scoffed, looking down his nose. "You are all arrogant."

"Actions speak louder than words for that sort of thing," Kazue stated flatly, adjusting the bandages over his eyes so he could see a little better. He shrugged, his work persona seeping through the uncaring mask he usually kept. "Except in your case, of course, with that sort of Quirk. You might want to practice your martial arts a bit more if everyone here suddenly finds out what it is you're able to do."

Brainwashing was taken aback, eyes narrowed as the cogs in his mind visibly turned at the deadpanned threat. "That reminds me. How did you get into the hero course with a Quirk like that?"

Kazue snorted at the question, waving the crowd away from the door so he could get through. "That reminds me, I have a complaint to submit to the principal," he mused, slowly making his way through the crowd while avoiding jostling his arm. A conversation he'd had on the first day of school floated to the forefront of his mind. "Whoever designed the exams was idiotic and completely irrational. I look forward to seeing you at the Sports Festival..."

"Shinsō Hitoshi."

"Right," the brunet drawled, walking away down the hall without looking back. Not that he could, anyway, with the annoying sharp pain in his neck. "Best of luck, Shinsō-san."

~-~-~-~

Recovery Girl was terrifying.

That was Kazue's only thought the moment he'd stepped into her office and she'd immediately whipped out an entire rant about how he shouldn't have left the hospital and should be resting.

She was almost scarier than the mutant creature, Nōmu, when it'd effortlessly crushed his arm and smashed his face into the ground.

The elderly hero took a deep breath, concluding her rant. Kazue discreetly turned his volume back up, thankful he'd finally made the device. "I will heal you," Recovery Girl said curtly, still not over her frustration at him quite yet. "But only as much as you can handle in for right now."

Oh, great, so that meant only to the point where he'd feel a little tired and be able to go about his day. No thanks. 

"Thank you," Kazue replied, bowing his head as much as he could in his current state. And I'm sorry in advance.

As soon as Recovery Girl's lips extended and made contact with the shoulder of his broken arm, he pulsed.

She drew back instantly, alarm and worry clear across her face, but the work had already been done. Kazue pushed away the exhaustion that crashed over him like a wave, used to an even stronger version of the feeling from his own Quirk. For the second time since it'd started, he didn't completely hate the sleeping spells and accidentally gaining insomnia from forgetting to go to bed at night.

He tilted his neck to the side with a quiet groan, cracking it left and right before unwinding the bandages covering his eyes and below and discarding them in the trash. "My apologies," Kazue mumbled with a small yawn, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

Recovery Girl thwacked him in the chest with her cane a few good times. "Don't use your Quirk in school without permission!" she exclaimed, sounding more worried than upset. "You need time to heal, not just my power!"

The brunet offered a small smile. "True, but I'm used to operating with barely any energy. Your Quirk's drawback isn't nearly as annoying as mine," he said quietly, noting that the pain in his arm was now just a dull throb that pulsed along with his heart. The stabbing was gone. Nice.

She just sighed. "You kids are going to be the death of me. Get some rest!"

~-~-~-~

Kazue lifted a hand in greeting as he trudged up to Gym Gamma, pushing open the doors and flicking on the lights after a glance around. "Let's not waste any time," he muttered, gesturing for his classmate to enter. Side note, the freckled boy was wearing a t-shirt that read 'flannel shirt'. "We have two weeks to get you ready for the Sports Festival, alright? That's either not a lot or plenty of time to develop a Quirk, but it depends on the person and how willing they are to put in the effort."

Midoriya nodded, eyes filled with the determination that the brunet still didn't quite understand how people had. "I'll become stronger! Um, also... you look better than you did leaving class."

"I stopped by the nurse's office on my way here," Kazue replied, stifling a yawn. Sure, the drawbacks of the elderly hero's Quirk weren't as bad as his own, but he still felt like he could drop at any second. "Not being able to see everything was a pain in the ass, and the damage to this part of my face was minimal, anyway."

From what he'd been able to sense in the brief moment he'd amplified Recovery Girl's Quirk, his jaw had a hairline fracture, his neck was bruised, and there were various scrapes and cuts and bruises on the lower half of his face. Fun, but nothing worth letting time heal. As for his arm and forehead... well, the former had been pretty much crushed and had already been healed to the point where it was just a regular old broken bone. That had probably been done when he was unconscious directly after the attack.

Kazue didn't bother touching on that, knowing that he wasn't a doctor despite his knowledge and could easily fuck something up.

And then for the latter. His forehead. There was a nice, deep cut that had been stitched up running across the right half of it, hence why the bandages were noticeably thicker over the location.

That was definitely going to scar.

"Kimura-kun? Are you... are you okay?"

Ah, shit, Midoriya. Right. Kazue had almost forgotten that he was in Gym Gamma to train the shorter boy. "No," the brunet replied breezily, closing the doors to the gym so they wouldn't be disturbed and striding to the center of the wide-open space. He gestured for Midoriya to come closer, then placed a hand on his shoulder and closed his eyes.

"What're you-"

"Shh."

"Sorry."

Kazue's lips quirked up into the faintest trace of a smile at how he'd actually sounded genuinely sorry, but it disappeared in an instant. He made contact with the gentle yet powerful green glow residing in Midoriya's chest, where everyone's Quirk 'core' was, and sent just the smallest bit of his own energy into it.

Faint green lightning crackled, but it was over in a flash when Midoriya stumbled back a few steps. The taller teen's eyes shot open, slightly annoyed. "You felt that?" he asked rhetorically, stifling yet another yawn. "Good. That was One For All at a tenth of a percent of its full power."

"A tenth of a percent?" Midoriya sweatdropped, staring down at his hands.

"More or less, the exact decimal is irrational," Kazue shrugged, gesturing for his new student to come closer again. "This time, try not to break the connection. I'm going to bring your entire body to half a percent. You're going to memorize what that feels like, and will practice holding it for the rest of our time here today."

"I'm ready!" Midoriya agreed enthusiastically, clenching his fist as he squeezed his eyes shut. Kazue snorted at his enthusiasm, placing his hand on the shorter boy's shoulder yet again and reconnecting. He slowly allowed a bit more energy to make its way into One For All, finding it more tiring to do so after combining his permanent exhaustion, the use of his Quirk earlier, and getting healed faster than what was the norm.

The green electricity crackled over Midoriya's body yet again, this time staying there. Although, Kazue knew that he could only see it because of his Quirk and it wasn't real lightning. It was a power-type Quirk, not an electric-type like Kaminari's. Speaking of which...he also had trouble controlling his Quirk, which had a pretty bad side effect on his mind.

Kazue was just going to say it and be done with it. He'd already begun creating training regimens for every single one of his classmates after the first day of school.

Whatever.

Force of habit.

He wasn't their teacher, rather their classmate. If he really wanted to teach kids, Kazue would've tested out of the remaining grades he had left, get his hero license through the exam, and apply to be a teacher.

Also known as something that was never going to happen.

"Open your eyes, Midoriya-san," Kazue yawned, wishing he could stifle it without severing the connection. "Tell me what you feel."

"It... feels almost like there's electricity or something," Midoriya mused in amazement, staring at his hands with wide eyes. He seemed to do that a lot.

"Essentially, yes," Kazue agreed, wishing he'd had them sit down or something. "My Quirk allows me to 'see' more than the regular eye can when it comes to others' Quirks. Like right now, you're encased in green lightning. Harmless, of course, but it's intriguing that I can feel the static."

"Really?!"

The brunet deadpanned, wondering which part he hadn't made clear in his statement. "Yes," he sighed. "I'm going to hold this for a few more seconds, then let go. Your job is to keep it at half a percent. Go above or below, and I will know."

A bead of sweat rolled down Midoriya's temple and he nodded, jaw clenching in concentration.

Kazue let go.

The lightning flickered once, then disappeared.

Kazue sighed. "Let's try that again."

And so they did.

After the first seven minutes, Midoriya managed to hold it for eleven seconds and then promptly fainted from shock.

Three minutes later, and he could hold it for fifteen each time without fail.

There was no doubt about it, Midoriya was a fast learner. Whereas everyone else had walked, or occasionally jogged to get where they were today, he was forced to sprint. To not take no for an answer and push himself.

To push himself until he could hold One For All at half a percent for a good minute, teeth gritted and muscles clenched. Even when the lightning wavered and the reading dropped down to a mere tenth of a percent, it surged back up just as quickly.

Kazue's lips had curled up into the beginnings of a tired smile again as he watched. This was a welcome change from Aerogale's interns, that was for sure. Most of them were arrogant, self centered, and resented him, even after they'd been the ones to ask for help. There were minor exceptions, of course, like the previous year's interns, but it tended to be the same every time before.

But Midoriya... well, he seemed humble as hell, put others before himself, and was nice.

Maybe this whole 'training the new Symbol of Peace' thing wouldn't be such a pain in the ass, after all.

Not me making Izuku get Full Cowling before the Sports Festival-

Not gonna lie, I found Kazue casually threatening Shinsō while sympathizing at the same time kinda funny. I can only imagine how long the complaint letter about the exams he'll write will be, considering how stupid they were.