Burying himself in a new passion seemed to be exactly what Izuku needed. He was learning new things, discovering something new for the first time in what felt like forever- and it felt like a fresh breath of air. Being stuck in the same loop over and over again had dulled his senses, his passion, his love for anything hero related. He'd always held the highest respect for the people who made and designed his costume and support gear and now he'd be able to stand by their side! How cool was that?!

The best thing? He stayed friends with Kacchan! The ash blonde was still grumpy and angry and arrogant and, sure, he teased him about his lack of a quirk every now and then, but that was just Kacchan! He stuck around, gave Izuku a chance even if everyone around them wrote him off as a useless quirkless child. He knew Izuku's worth, always had, in a way. Izuku knew he only bullied him because he couldn't understand him, because he thought Izuku was better than him yet incompetent at the same time. But now? Now Izuku was smart and competent and his dreams actually lined up with a realistic goal that wouldn't send him into an early grave! And Kacchan never had the inner conflict that drove them apart.

"You better get in, you hear me? I'll fucking kill you if you fail," Katsuki told him, even if he was a nervous mess himself.

"Right back at you," Izuku grinned, desperately trying to keep himself from jumping up and down. They'd take the UA entrance exam today. Each their own different versions, true, but since they had them on the same day, they could still travel together. "You're going to nail this, though. Those robots don't stand a chance against you."

"Still don't know why you're so fucking convinced it's gonna be robots, but you can bet I'll beat their ass no matter what!" Katsuki grinned. "What about you? You ready for this shit?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Izuku smiled, wondering what the questions would be. For the first time in an eternity, he would actually have a test he didn't know the questions of ahead of time. He was kinda nervous, now that he stopped to think about it. Izuku had studied, had done research, knew what were the latest developments, understood the technicalities of most things- But that's just because support items had always held a special place in his old hero analytics, so it wasn't all new to him. "I really wanna pass this exam, Kacchan."

"You will."

There was no room for questions or doubts, it was a statement. Izuku will pass, and Kacchan could probably make that a threat, too.

"Of course," Izuku said, taking a shaky breath. This was all or nothing. But, just as all the times before, it turned out Izuku had nothing to worry about. His anxious ass over-prepared for this test- shocking, I know- and aced it without too much trouble. If he wasn't making it into the support course after writing entire essays like that on the exam, he was going to have words with Nezu. That was a promise.

Katsuki was all pumped up after his exam, too. Adrenaline still coursing through his veins as he animated a retelling with a wicked grin on his face on their way home. Izuku could tell he strained his arms, that the aftermath hurt even if he refused to show it. So Izuku didn't mention it, either. Instead he told Kacchan all about his own exam, about the sort of questions and technicalities- Not that Katsuki understood everything he was talking about, but with his parents working in the business, he'd gotten passive exposure to most of the terms Izuku was using.

A few weeks later, they each got their acceptance letters. A few days after that, Katsuki submitted Izuku's design for his hero costume. And months after that, they were standing side by side in front of UA High once more, each in their own uniform, each with their own schedule. Their old middle school had congratulated them on getting in, although somewhat reluctantly in Izuku's case because he wasn't accepted into a hero course program. Still, he was happy he'd been able to rub it in since they were the same people who always pushed him down for being quirkless and unable to achieve anything.

"This is it, Kacchan," Izuku breathed. "UA... We really made it."

"Tch. Of fucking course we made it, Deku," he scoffed, putting his hands in his pockets.

"See you at lunch, then?" Izuku asked, tugging onto the straps of his back bag, as if to make sure it wouldn't slip off his shoulders. The first day of the support course required people to bring in all of their best designs, so his bag was absolutely packed.

"Sure," Katsuki shrugged, subconsciously fiddling with the strap of his bag as well. This would be the first time in their lives they'd be in separate classes, even over the course of all their lifetimes. Izuku never expected it to feel so... What? Uneasy? Was that the term he was looking for? It's just... Kacchan had become a constant in his life, had been for as long as he could remember, and now... Now they'd be in separate classes, taking different courses... It just didn't feel right, in a way.

Not that his new class was bad. No, the support course was great! And Izuku was kinda glad he was already used to Hatsume's antics cause that girl sure had chaotic energy. Still, it was fun. It was different, something new. And that meant being surrounded by new faces as Izuku walked with his class to the morning assembly UA had organized for the new students. He'd never actually been to one of those before, not in any of his lifetimes. Afterwards when they got back to their classroom, Powerloader made them present their designs to the class so they could give criticism and compliments.

"I, uh, I designed some support items for a friend of mine," Izuku started, rolling out the sketches. "He sweats nitroglycerin like sweat that he can ignite on demand so I focussed on heat preservation and liquid storage for-"

He continued to ramble for a while, listening in on the thoughts of his classmates and teacher when he was done. They were actually quite impressed with his work! Izuku felt like he cheated, though. He knew Kacchan's generate gauntlets like the back of his hand, having helped the ash blonde on the maintenance of those things more times than he cared to remember. He'd seen the schematics a thousand times, back in his first life and in the lives that followed. Hatsume, on the other hand, was the real deal. Izuku recognized some designs from the first year sportsfestival. So she was already working on those, huh..?

"Looks like I've got the pleasure of teaching a bunch of talented young people again this year," Powerloader told them at the end of class, satisfied with what he'd seen so far. "The bell is gonna ring in about five, so you're all dismissed."

Getting out early, huh? This day was full of firsts, wasn't it? Well, not like it was a bad thing. That way he could make it over to class 1-A and surprise Kacchan! Sure, they weren't as close as they were before, when Kacchan had his memories, but they were still friends. Izuku was sure he wouldn't get blasted in the face for waiting by the door to walk to the cafeteria with him. They should be back from the quirk apprehension test by now, right? Huh, would Aizawa sensei expel someone now that Izuku wasn't there? The second to last place in the exercise was Mineta, but Izuku had no idea who filled his missing spot as the twentieth student so-

"Oh! Sorry, almost bumped into you there!"

Izuku blinked, looking up at Ochako as she smiled at him.

"It's okay! Guess I'm kinda standing in a bad spot," Izuku chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "Uhm, Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you."

"Ochako Uraraka," she said, looking over her shoulder as more people exited the classroom, smiling when she saw some of the girls band together. Ah, they must've planned on eating lunch together. "It was nice meeting you. See you around, Midoriya-kun!"

Midoriya-kun!

Yikes. Izuku was so used to her calling him Deku that hearing her say his last name like that felt unsettling, in a way. So...distant. Then again, this Ochako didn't know him. She never met him. That's what Izuku had wanted, wasn't it? To let them have a clean slate, to remove himself from the picture in order to appease Jikan and make this loop stop once and for all. It didn't mean he had to like it...

"Oi, what the hell are you doing here, Deku?"

Izuku smiled when Kacchan walked up to him with a glare, noticing the way the rest of class 1-A side eyed their conversation. Seems like Kacchan had already made quite the first impression on them, not that Izuku was surprised.

"Maijima sensei let us out early today so I thought we could walk to lunch together, Kacchan!" Izuku beamed. He also heard some gasps and a snort and an echo of the word 'Kacchan'. Right, Izuku forgot they weren't used to that cutesy childhood nickname yet. He saw Kacchan's face twist in annoyance as he turned to glare at his snickering classmates. "Ah, uh, unless you...don't want to-"

"It's fine," he snapped, grabbing Izuku's shirt and dragging him along, pushing him forward once they got going, stomping ahead as they made their way down the hall. "Spill it, nerd."

Izuku smiled as he started telling Kacchan about his first classes in the support course, going on about the designs of his classmates and telling Kacchan some of the pointers they made on his gauntlet design. Kacchan scoffed at that, almost defending Izuku on his decision to make them as big as he did. Almost, but Izuku still appreciated the sentiment.

"So? How is the hero course? Is it as amazing as we've always dreamed of?" Izuku asked.

"My teacher is a fucking hobo," Katsuki scoffed, making Izuku snort. Yeah, he could see that. "But he did acknowledge I was first at the entrance exam, so the other extras know not to mess with me."

"What about the recommendation students?" Izuku asked, knowing both Shoto and Momo ranked before him in the apprehension test.

"They're...strong," Katsuki grumbled, although somewhat reluctantly. "Sensei had us take this quirk apprehension test to get a first look at our quirks. Some of the extras are actually kinda decent, I guess. Most of them are trash, though."

"They got into UA, so they can't be that trashy," Izuku said. "And I heard the son of Endeavor is attending this year, too! Apparently his quirk is super cool!"

"...It's not that cool," Katsuki mumbled. Aw, someone is jealous~ Izuku thought it was kinda cute.

"Yours is still the coolest, Kacchan, don't worry," Izuku chuckled, grunting when the ash blonde kicked him under the table. Yeah, okay, maybe he deserved that one. "Aw, come on Kacchan! It's true! No need to be jealous~ Your classmates won't steal me away from you, I'm still gonna be your personal support engineer no matter what."

"Since when did you become such a teasing piece of shit, hah?" he scoffed, neither confirming nor denying the jealousy part. "Don't think you're all that just cause you made it into a hero school, nerd."

"Right back at you," Izuku smirked, kicking Kacchan this time around. "Seriously though, I've read about the Todoroki children. That guy is no joke. Designing temperature proof gear to the extent of his extremes is a pain in the ass I bet."

"So if I wanna screw him over I just need to fuck up his equipment?" Katsuki asked, raising a brow with that shit eating grin of his. "Bet it takes ages to get repaired, too."

"Kacchan, that's just mean!" Izuku pouted. "Besides, I doubt he's the only one you need to worry about."

"Oh? What? You've gone full stalker mode on my classmates or something?" Katsuki joked, frowning when he saw Izuku's face. "Deku, what the fuck."

"Quirks are my passion, Kacchan!" Izuku whisper hissed. "You can't expect me not to look into UA students!"

"How did you even get their files?" Katsuki asked, leaning back. Izuku didn't know whether it was in shock or disgust or something in between. "Their names? Their quirks? The robots... You knew the entrance exam was going to be robots. How?"

"Kacchan, please, let's just-"

"No, don't try to act like this isn't a big deal, Deku," Katsuki hissed. "If you're doing some illegal shit to get this information-"

"I'm not!" Izuku told him. "I swear I'm not doing anything illegal! I didn't hack into UA's computer systems, if that's what you're thinking, Kacchan. I'm not nearly smart enough to get through their security!"

"Then how do you know this shit?" Katsuki asked. "The truth, Deku."

"I...can't say," Izuku sighed. Not if he wanted this plan to work. "Not yet. Not now. I just... Can you please just trust me, for now? I promise I'm not doing anything illegal or dangerous."

Katsuki squinted at him, gauging his expressions and body language in order to make out whether Izuku was lying, whether he was going to put his trust in a person he's known since childhood. It wouldn't even have been a question before, but now that the seed of suspicion had been planted... Ah, Izuku really doesn't know how to shut up around Kacchan, does he? It's how he found out about One For All, but Izuku swore it wouldn't be how he'd find out about the time loop.

"...Fine," Katsuki huffed. "For now. I expect you to cough up answers sooner rather than later, understand?"

"Yes, of course, thank you," Izuku smiled.

"Good," he scowled, stabbing his chopsticks into his food, a grin returning to his face. "So... I bet you analyzed all their weaknesses in order to provide the best support items, right?"

"I wrote a notebook on it, actually," Izuku said, already bending down to rummage through his school bag.