"Holy shit, Kimura-kun, what happened to you?"

Kazue blinked at the exclamation hurled at his face as he pushed open the roof access door, foot hovering over the threshold. "Um," he said smartly, gaze darting around the open space until it settled on the speaker. "Villains. At the USJ facility."

Hamasaki narrowed her eyes for a second, then clapped a hand over her mouth in realization. "Right... you're in Class A..."

He snorted, shaking his head as he sat down on the ledge. "Yeah," Kazue muttered, staring off into the distance while trying to figure out the best way to ask the question burning in his mind. In the end, he just decided to do it bluntly. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something. Who gave you permission to come up here?"

The support course student scratched the back of her head, then shrugged. "I don't really pay attention to heroes or what their super secret code names are, but it was this lady in an outfit that was definitely not school appropriate. She was with a guy who looked like he was an insomniac. Why?"

Ah. So it had been Midnight. "No reason," Kazue lied, splitting his chopsticks and muttering his thanks under his breath.

"Hold on, did she give you permission, too?" Hamasaki asked, pointing hers at him with a raised eyebrow.

He cringed. "Maybe. She told me I'd be alone."

She snorted, covering her mouth to hide her grin. "That sounds like the plot to a shitty fanfiction you'd find on Wattpad or something."

Kazue squinted at the website's (or app's) mention, then at the word 'fanfiction'. He wasn't judging, not at all, rather agreeing, but wished that there were more male original characters that he could relate to. Sure, there were a few male readers here and there, but he could never picture himself in the story, let alone read 'M/N' as anything but those two letters. "If this is a fanfiction, then what the hell is the original storyline? Also, we'd be breaking the fourth wall right now."

"Oh yeah... someone better tag that 'Fourth Wall Rebuilder' account," Hamasaki mused, not seeming embarrassed in the slightest about casually throwing fanfiction into a conversation. Ah, to have such confidence, even in a one-on-one conversation... Kazue could never when it came to what exactly he read in his spare time.

"What's your account name?" Kazue asked as innocently as he could, glancing up from the manga he was reading. "For science."

She spat out her milk. "Over my cold, dead body," Hamasaki choked out, pounding her chest with her fist as her cheeks flamed. "You do not wanna see my reading lists."

It was the brunet's turn to choke on his drink, coughing out his lungs at the innuendo while trying to keep his arm as still as possible. "I'm not sure what's worse," he coughed, gulping down half of his bottle of water and swiping a hand across his mouth. "People with obvious inexperience writing smut, the sheer obsession with it in the first place, or just the lack of anatomical knowledge."

"Oh, no, I only add the good ones to my reading lists," the girl wheezed, whatever redness that had been there previously nowhere to be found. Apparently, Kazue essentially admitting he'd read that sort of thing had negated her embarrassment. Must be nice. "How'd we end up talking about fanfics, anyway? I thought you hated talking because of the last two times and not showing up yesterday."

"I don't hate talking," Kazue shrugged as he ignored the fact that Hamasaki did, in fact, have 'good' smut reading lists, letting his chin rest on the heel of his palm. "I tolerate it. However, when it comes to topics I actually enjoy, well... it's nice, I guess. As for yesterday, I was kidnapped."

Hamasaki stared, mouth slightly agape. "Excuse me, you were what?"

The corners of the green-eyed teen's lips curled upwards. He was starting to enjoy himself a little. "Kidnapped. By All Might, actually. Did you know he wraps his bentos in cute little furoshikis? You'd think his mother still made lunches for him or something."

~-~-~-~

For the first time since applying to Yūei, Kazue actually had a pretty good day at school. Todoroki had gotten used to waking him up or getting his attention when the homework was being announced or papers were being passed back. The entire class had stopped asking him if he was okay every five seconds, which, while understandable, had gotten quite annoying.

And finally, he might've actually made a friend that wasn't Iwata.

Sure, in the end, Hamasaki still refused to spill what her username was, but it was a conversation that Kazue never expected he'd ever have in his lifetime. It was-

"The fuck did you say to me, you Quirkless runt?"

Kazue's footsteps faltered at the familiar voice yelling just around the corner, turning it quickly to be greeted by an all-too-common scene among kids and teenagers. Adults, too.

Daguchi Ichiro, Aerogale's old intern with the Dust Quirk, was standing angrily over a smaller boy with light brown hair.

The boy, a business course student by the looks of his uniform, and despite clutching his stomach and being sprawled across the floor, grinned. "I said, ya big lump of manure, that if you bump into someone going down the hall and knock them on their ass, you a-pol-o-gize."

A cruel smile spread across Daguchi's lips and he stepped forward, driving a swift kick into the younger teen's stomach. "There's the 'a'." He then grabbed the business course student by his collar, hoisting him to his feet with one hand and clenching the other into a fist. "And here's the 'pol'."

The next thing the third year knew, a knee was making contact with his stomach and his back was being slammed into the wall. Kazue gripped the older boy's tie with his hand, yanking his head down harshly to make sure he could hear exactly what was about to be said loud and clear. "Hey, Daguchi-senpai... do you want a repeat of last year's internship?"

"What the-" Daguchi spat angrily, flexing his arms to shove the brunet off only to be stopped by the sight of a knee dangerously close to an area no man would want to be kicked in. "You're that little brat from back then, huh? You think you're so tough?"

"Considering I beat your ass three times in a row while wondering if I should be paid to deal with that kind of bullshit, you decide," Kazue replied, voice barely even a whisper next to the third year's ear. "I'd be careful of your actions even before you graduate. The business course is notorious for blackmail, and I'd hate for your career to end before it even begins."

The darker-haired teen scoffed, but relaxed his muscles. "Get off of me, you rich entitled prick. Stop pretending you know everything just because your Daddy's Number Seven."

Kazue could almost laugh at the sad attempt at an insult. It'd been somewhat creative the first time someone had called him that, but after that it just got bland. Rich? Partially, except over two-thirds of his father's agency's earnings were donated to foundations all over the country. Entitled...to a bit of goddamn peace and quiet, maybe. As for the 'prick' portion, it was likely more fitting to just call him the entire cactus and be done with it.

"Whatever," the brunet muttered, huffing out a breath of annoyance as he stepped back. Daguchi's eyes were filled with rage, but he dared not do anything more when both his classmates and juniors were beginning to gather and would easily be able to stop one person.

He walked away without a second thought, the day already not as good as it had been before. So, of course, it had to sink even lower.

"Hey, you little shit, see if you can match up to your words!" Daguchi called down the hall, sounding absolutely pissed. "Ten minutes, Gym Gamma."

At that, Kazue just had to tip his head back, stare at the ceiling, and question his life while his fellow students chattered amongst themselves and watched. Of all the places to challenge him to a fight, Daguchi had to choose the very place Kazue was going anyway? Talk about a pain in the ass.

"What's wrong, loser, you scared? Gonna cry?"

"Piss off, you're not Tobey Maguire," a voice groaned, undoubtedly the student from the business course.

"Shut it-"

"Sorry, Gym Gamma will be occupied after school," Kazue finally drawled, casting an annoyed glance over his shoulder as his right eye started to twitch. Daguchi was starting to piss him off. "Maybe another time, you know, when my arm isn't broken? If this is a revenge match, then you likely won't gain much satisfaction if you actually manage to win this time."

The third year stalked forward with a murderous gleam in his eyes, stopping right in front of the brunet and jabbing an index finger into his sternum. "Fine. Let's say... after the Sports Festival, got it? You back down then when you're all healed up and we'll see just how much of a smack-talking coward you really are."

Kazue deadpanned, considering glancing behind him to see if there was a mirror. Sure, he was rather good at pissing people off with his insults and the way he delivered them, but he sure as hell wasn't a coward. He rolled his eyes, smacking Daguchu's hand away. "That's fine with me," the younger teen muttered, not even bothering to say anything else as he turned on his heel, trudging down the hall.

Of-fucking-course he had to get challenged to a fight by one of the only interns that'd refused his help during their week with Aerogale. Would the redheaded girl that Kazue still didn't know the name of do the same thing now that they went to the same school? He hadn't exactly seen her anywhere in the halls, but she was bound to be around somewhere and had seemed pretty pissed at him even offering to help way back when.

'Seemed' was an understatement. She'd been downright pissed off.

~-~-~-~

"Again," Kazue stated flatly, gaze fixed impassively on the green-haired boy struggling to get to his feet. Midoriya's chest heaved with exhaustion as he staggered into a position that vaguely resembled standing, the half-percent lightning that they'd worked on the day before crackling to life like a car running on nothing but fumes. "Remember, One For All may enhance your speed, but you have to hone your reaction time up to or beyond the same level. With eight previous users, even half a percent has considerably more power than the average human's strength."

The other boy nodded tiredly, clenching his fists at his sides before launching himself though the air yet again. Kazue appraised the angle, noting that it was slightly off, but Midoriya managed to plant his feet on the first stone pillar and push off towards the second with barely even a fumble.

Unfortunately, his speed had slowed considerably from what it had been earlier in the training session, let alone from the initial jump. Midoriya slammed into the stone pillar with a painful-sounding smack, then collapsed in a heap on the floor of the gymnasium Cementoss had customized at Kazue's request earlier in the day.

"That's enough for today," Kazue finally relented, figuring he'd tortured his classmate long enough. If there was one thing that the interns who'd taken him up on his offer had learned, it was that training with the Kimura was hell. "Summary time."

Midoriya shakily raised a hand from where he laid face-down on the stone floor. "No, I- I can still-"

"Shut up," the brunet sighed, walking over and crouching down beside the shorter boy. "No, you can't. Learn your own limits and stay within them during training. It won't do you any good to go beyond when we have ten more days to improve both the power percentage of the lightning and your physical capabilities."

Midoriya was already a fast learner, and had obviously practiced holding the half-percent lightning until he passed out when he got home. The residue from recent Quirk exhaustion hung around him like a shroud, yet he was filled with more determination than ever.

"Full Cowling," the green-haired boy groaned, rolling onto his back with a pained wince. Kazue raised the eyebrow that didn't have stitches running along the skin above it. "Instead of 'the lightning'. I, uh, erm... came up with it last night?"

He was rewarded with an amused snort. "Naming your moves already, are we?" Kazue asked, sincerely hoping that Midoriya kept the names short and didn't make them obscenely long like some heroes did. "Alright. We'll include that in the summary."

The summary.

The part of training that some dreaded more than the actual session itself. It was where they went over everything that happened in detail, with more criticisms than necessary and promises of doom for the next day of training.

Midoriya wasn't one of those people so far. He took every comment to heart Kazue had made on their first lesson to heart, pushing himself to overcome them by the next day. Of course, there was no humanly possible way to do everything perfectly. It just wasn't possible, even for someone who had such a Quirk. They were bound to mess up eventually.

So, of course, Kazue told the shorter boy exactly what and how he'd fucked up, from his power level never remaining completely consistent to just not being physically strong enough. Bluntly. Midoriya may or may not have been on the verge of tears by the end.

He was definitely going to dread the summary after that.

Daguchi's back, and he's just as big a dick as he was a year ago. Sorry, random redheaded girl, idk if I'll remember you or not. Heck, you don't even have a name.

For future reference, Daguchi's in Class 3-B with Mirio, he's the chapter banner.

That conversations about fanfics was so.... Mgfchtrdhyrfjyf wHY did I include that-