CHAPTER FOUR

      Kaito Okumura a.k.a the Scarlet Hero, Red Flame and the current number 7 pro-hero was a very busy man. His agency, consisting of himself and five other sidekicks, located in Shibuya was well known for their detective work and was kept busy by cases in the city itself as well as cases that came from the government.

      So it came as a surprise to Megumi when she came downstairs, fully dressed in her U.A. uniform, only to see him sitting on the living room sofa, scrolling through something on his tablet.

      "Dad, what are you doing here?" Megumi asked with surprise. "Aren't you supposed to be at work right now?"

      "Oh, you're ready to leave," Kaito said as he put down his tablet on the sofa. He stood up and started walking, only stopping when he was directly in front of Megumi. "I thought since I didn't see you off on your first day, I'd see you off today. I told everyone I'd be a bit late."

      "You didn't have to do that," Megumi said. "I know you're busy with work and all."

      "Don't be like that," Kaito answered as he ruffled his daughter's hair. "Joining a school like U.A. is an honor and I am so proud you got in. And I know you're gonna do amazing, because you didn't go by a recommendation. You fought in the entrance exam and got through with your own strength and that is commendable. You've already shown to me that you're capable of being a hero. Now, you have to show that same spirit in school."

      As soon as he finished talking, Kaito pulled Megumi into a hug. Megumi hugged him back, gripping the back of his jacket. "You've made me so proud to be your dad," He said, rubbing her back gently. "And I know your mom would be really proud of you too."

      "Would she really?" Megumi asked. After all, she had never gotten to know her mom since she lost her when she was just a one year old. She barely remembered her face, but her memories did hold traces of a warm smile. This was the smile she looked to, whenever she felt down. It always cheered her up.

      "She most definitely would," Kaito answered. He stepped away from the hug. "Miyuki loved you very much. I think she loved you more than me." Though he had said the last line rather jokingly, it seemed like his daughter had taken it a little more seriously.

      "Well, of course, she loved me more. I am the daughter of an angel after all."

      Seeing the shocked expression on her dad's face, Megumi laughed. "I got you there, didn't I?"

      "You got me there," Kaito replied, shaking his head. He ruffled Megumi's hair again and pushed her towards the door. "Now go. You don't want to be late."

      "Don't worry, Dad. I won't be. Well, I would be if Natsume wasn't already at the gate of his house. If I do get late, I'll blame you."

      "That's not a funny joke."

      "I wasn't joking, Dad. I'm gonna go now. Bye. See you at night."

      "See ya," Kaito said, waving at his daughter. He watched Megumi step out the door and shut it behind her. He looked up at the ceiling, smiling softly. 'She's literally a carbon copy of you, Miyuki. I couldn't be more proud; I just hope you are too.'

      U.A.'s hero curriculum did not just involve hero training classes. It also included regular, required classes like mathematics and English. They were held in the morning followed by the hero training in the afternoon. Not so shockingly, Present Mic was their teacher for English and that was the class Megumi enjoyed the most, though the confused faces of some of her classmates told her some of them found the class a little boring. (After yesterday's action-packed class, that was understandable.)

      Lunch passed by surprisingly quickly. Megumi had to admit; Lunch Rush's food in the cafeteria was amazing. He made everything tasty. He even made the same exact type of slightly undercooked meat Natsume liked (he only because of his quirk though).

      Soon enough, it was afternoon and it was finally time for the lesson everyone had been waiting for. Hero Basic Training. They all sat in their seats, talking among themselves, wondering about who their teacher would be. Megumi wanted to talk to the half-red, half-white haired sitting next to her, but he gave off rather cold vibes. She'd talk to him later then.

      "I am coming through the door like a normal person!"

      Megumi nearly fell out of her chair as she recognised the voice. It was All Might. All Might was really going to be teaching them.

      "It's All Might!" Her classmates seemed to be having the same reaction, with looks of awe visible on almost all faces.

      "I can't believe it's really All Might," Kaminari said, pounding his fists on his desk in excitement.

      Kirishima was grinning widely, fists raised slightly. "So, he really is a teacher."

      "Is he wearing his Silver Age costume?" Tsuyu asked.

      "Its style is so different," Ojiro commented, smiling in awe. "I'm getting goosebumps."

      "This feels like a dream come true," Natsume stated. "All Might is awesome."

      All Might stood behind the teacher's desk, hands on his hips. "I teach hero Basic Training. It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero. You'll take the most units of this subject! Let's get right into it!" He flexed his massive muscles in front of the class before spinning around. "Today's lesson..."

      He pulled out a small card with the word 'Battle' written on it. "Will pull no punches! Combat Training!"

      "Combat training already?" Megumi muttered to herself. It felt strange to have combat training so soon, but after the quirk assessment test, Megumi felt like she could handle it. 'But that would also depend on the kind of training we will have.'

     "But one of the keys of being a hero is..." All Might turned towards the wall. Shelves started to come out, each labelled with a different number. "Looking good! These were designed for you based on your quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."

      "We're already getting our costumes? That's awesome," Natsume exclaimed. Others around him voiced their agreement. Megumi nodded along too. Hopefully, her costume had turned out the way she had imagined it too.

      "Get yourself suited up," All Might said. "And meet me at Training Ground Beta!"

      Like all those who aspired to be heroes, Megumi had a design for her costume from a young age. It had gone through many versions; the first one being probably the worst one. The current version was the best and she was very proud of the design. At a glance, it looked like a simple costume. But her dad had said that sometimes, simplicity worked best.

     Her costume consisted of a black undershirt, over which she wore a sleeveless, hooded jacket that was also black in color. The jacket had two pockets in the front, enabling her to carry small first aid items and a granola bar (to maintain her energy). With that, she had knee-length black shorts. Attached to her waist was a belt that could carry even more first aid items. Then, there were the boots. They reached her lower thigh and made of a hard, but streamlined material that would enable her to move easily. And finally, she had a pair of tinted goggles that covered her eyes.

     "You look really awesome, Megumi-san!" Uraraka complemented. Megumi blushed slightly, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish grin.

      "Thank you! You look pretty cool too," Megumi answered, glancing at Uraraka's costume. It really did look amazing.

     In no time, the entire class was walking out into the training ground, all dressed in outfits that looked pretty damn cool. Megumi scanned the crowd and also took a proper look at everyone's costumes. Her eyes fell on Natsume who grinned at her and waved her over. Her cousin's costume was probably the most simplistic out of everyone and he needed something like that.

     His quirk involved him transforming into a tiger with bulletproof fur and he had designed his costume in a way that it would transform along with him. To describe it simple, he wore a white button-up with the sleeves pushed to his elbows, a loose black tie, black pants, black, fingerless gloves, and a suspenders/belt combo with a long stretch of the belt dangling loosely from the buckle.

     "You look more badass than I thought," Natsume said. He stared down at his costume, pulling at his black tie. "Makes me feel weird about my costume being this simple."

     "Don't feel bad about it," Megumi told him, patting his arm. "It benefits you and your quirk. You look fine."

     "Yeah, that it does," Natsume replied. Before Megumi could say anything else, All Might spoke out.

      "They say that clothes make the pros, young ladies and gentlemen!" He said, sounding rather proud as he looked at all their costumes. "And behold! You are all the proof!"

      All Might laughed rather boisterously and his smile widened even more, if that was possible. "Take this to heart - you all are now true heroes in training! Shall we get started then, you bunch of newbies?"

     Megumi grinned at Natsume, who shot her a thumbs-up. This was going to be fun.

      "So now that you are all ready, let's start with the battle training."

      "Sir," Iida raised his hand. He was dressed in an armor-like suit that covered him from head to toe and he looked quite familiar, but Megumi couldn't place it for some reason. "We used this centre for the exam, so will it be a city battle again?"

      "Nope, we will go two steps ahead," All Might answered. "Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically speaking, run-ins with the most dastardly villains take place indoors. Think about it. Backroom deals. Home invasions. Secret underground lairs. Truly intelligent criminals stay in the shadows."

      "For this exercise," All Might continued. "You'll be split into teams of good guys and bad guys and fight each other in 2 on 2 indoor battles."

     Suddenly, everyone seemed to have questions, regarding how they would be split up, how they would determine the winner and the loser. The boy with the shiny cape, Aoyama, if Megumi remembered correctly, asked if his cape looked good. All Might seemed to be overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of questions, but nevertheless he took control of the situation and explained how the training would work.

      They were divided into teams by lots. Though if Megumi and Natsume were made a pair, the number of teams would be uneven and one team would be left without a pair to fight against. So All Might decided to place them in two separate teams that would face off against each other. Megumi found herself as part of Team B with Shoji and Todoroki, while Natsume went to Team I with Ojiro and Hagakure and these two teams would fight against each other.

      All Might pulled out two boxes, labelled 'Heroes' and 'Villains'. Reaching into them, he pulled out two small balls. "The first two teams fighting are these guys!"

      'Team A and Team D? Which teams were they again?' Megumi looked at Midoriya, suddenly remembering that it was him and Uraraka in a team together and then the opposing team was Bakugo and Iida.

      Judging by the look on the blonde-haired, hot head's face, she had a feeling something would happen during this training. She didn't know what, but her sixth sense was telling her this was not going to be an ordinary battle training.

      "Team A will be the heroes," All Might announced. "Team D will be the villains. Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch."

      As everyone except for the teams started walking towards the monitoring room, the bad feeling that Megumi had only grew. Something was going to happen here; judging by the expression on both Bakugo and Midoriya's face, they had shared history and this was definitely coming into play during this battle.

      She didn't know how right she was.

I know I promised a Megumi x Todoroki interaction in this chapter, but it was getting too long so I decided to split it. I promise that you will see these two interact in the next chapter. But this was a fun chapter to write and honestly, describing Megumi's costume really made me wish I had drawing skills so that I could draw her wearing it. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have been posting the same note in all my recent updates, but please take a look at issuesintheworld.carrd.co and currentinfo.carrd.co. Both of these carrds are regularly updated with issues that take place around the world. Please check them out, sign petitions and do what you can. Links to both of these will be in the comments.