^ Akiharu's haircut! it was supposed to publish last chapter but... oh well lol

We're officially at 37K reads... tysm for all the support!

𓆱❀𓆱

Every minute of my spare time was spent growing stronger in the following weeks. Time flew by in a blur as the days lengthened and the temperature rose. Soon the harmonic buzz of cicadas filled the air.

On the way to class a short student collided into my chest, spilling her books all over the floor. "Ack— Sorry!" she exclaimed.

"No problem," I said, and hurried to help her pick up her things.

The girl stuttered out a meek thank-you as she took the books from my hands, hiding her face behind platinum blond bangs. Her eyes met mine briefly, and they were pitch black as a night sky in the wilderness. "A-Akiharu!" For a moment, I thought I saw something swirl in her iris, and then she ducked her head again. "I... I like your haircut!" she squeaked, and then scurried down the hall.

I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly while she vanished around the corner. I'll never get used to those fan girls... A sudden chill ran down my spine and nestled between my shoulder blades.

I brushed the sensation off and made my way to class.

"It's almost time for summer vacation," Aizawa began homeroom. "But of course, it wouldn't make sense for you hero hopefuls to rest the whole month. That's why, during summer vacation, we'll be holding... A training camp in the woods!"

Cheers of joy filled the class. "Let's test our courage!" Mina exclaimed.

"Baths!" Mineta cheered with the same enthusiasm.

"Fireworks!"

"Open-air baths!"

"Curry."

"Early mornings," I grumbled.

"Hot springs!"

"If we're out in nature, we'll have to work under different conditions, right?" Yaoyorozu murmured. "I wonder if it'll be at the beach or in the mountains?"

The mountains... My eagerness perked at the idea of being immersed in nature.

"Co-ed baths!" Mineta exclaimed yet again.

My eye twitched. Expansive woods where no-one can hear you scream!

"However," Aizawa proclaimed over the bustling of the class, "Those who do not pass the midterms will be trapped in summer school hell and remain on U.A. campus."

The class fell silent.

"EVERYONE, LET'S DO OUR BEST!" Kirishima yelled with revitalized vigour.

"Ugh, exams," I muttered.

The bell rang above the noisy chatter. "Alright, that's it for class. There's only one week before final exams. You're all studying properly, right? I'm sure you already know, but it won't just be a written exam. There's also a practical component. Make sure you train your minds and bodies evenly. That's all."

The classroom door slid shut. Mina erupted into joyful laughter. "I haven't studied at all!"

I whipped around to her. "How can you sound happy about that!"

Kaminari grasped his head in his hands. "With the sports festival and then the internship, I didn't study either!"

I recalled the midterm exam results that I'd seen posted a few months ago. Kaminari had placed last in the class, and Mina only a few points ahead of him.

"For the midterms, we'd just started school so I didn't really have a hard time with them, Sato said to Koda. "But with the back-to-back events and stuff, the finals will be different..."

"It'll be tough since there's a practical exam, too," Mineta guffawed arrogantly, flexing his midterm exam results.

"Tenth on the midterms?!" exclaimed the dunce duo.

"And here I thought you were one of us idiots!"

"Guys like you are only likeable if they're dumb!" Kaminari gritted his teeth.

"Maybe he'd be more likeable if he wasn't human fucking scum," I muttered.

"Ashido, Kaminari!" Midoriya called. "Let's do our best! We all want to go to the training camp together, right?" Midoriya's ranking, unlike Mineta's, actually made some sense, as he came fourth in the lineup.

"Yes!" Iida proclaimed. "As class rep, I also have high hopes that you'll all be moved to action!" Iida had come second in the class – as expected of someone as studious as himself.

"It's pretty hard to fail if you just pay attention to class..." Todoroki murmured, ranking fifth.

"Be careful with your words!" Kaminari sobbed, bowing to the floor in a puddle of tears. "Some of us aren't naturally gifted!"

"What you need isn't a 'natural gift,' it's a lifetime's supply of Adderall," I muttered.

Yaoyorozu leaned in close to the dunces and politely offered to help them with their studies. The classroom immediately bursted with joy and hope as the unrivalled top of the class offered to share some of her smarts.

"I'm not one of those two, but may I also join?" Jiro asked. "I'm having some trouble with quadratic functions..."

"Sorry, me too!" Sero pleaded. "How are you with classical Japanese?"

"I'd like to join, too!" Ojiro murmured.

"Please!"

"Everyone..." Yaoyorozu murmured, covering her mouth and radiating pure joy. "Yes, of course!"

"All right!"

"Let us hold a study session at my residence this weekend! I must tell mother and have her open up the hall! Everyone, what kind of tea are you all partial to? In my family, we always drink Harrod's, or Wedgwood, so if you have any preference, let me know!"

Ah... I think we just got dunked on. I knew Yaoyorozu was rich, but I didn't know she was rich rich... But she was so pure about it nobody seemed to mind the subtle flex.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Kirishima's ruby eyes light up with an idea. He leaned into Bakugo and wiggled his eyebrows. "Look at the difference in virtue," he winked, gesturing to Yaoyorozu. "That's what I call heroic!"

"I can do it too!" Bakugo snapped. "Want me to beat it into you?"

"Yeah, I'm counting on you!" Kirishima grinned. Bakugo had ranked after the class representatives at a close third place. It was infuriating someone could be that well-rounded. It was such a shame his attitude was nowhere near as polished.

"What're you staring at me for," Bakugo scoffed, grinning at me. "Hoping I'll impart some genius upon you, plebian?"

My eye twitched. "I didn't score that poorly."

"Sorry, what was that? I can't hear you from way down the class list!"

"6th isn't that far down, asshole!"

"That's a great idea!" bubbled Kirishima. "Akiharu can join us!"

"No way!" Bakugo and I exclaimed in unison.

"Why not?" Kirishima leaned into me with pleading eyes. "Don't leave me alone with him..."

"Don't give me the puppy eyes Kirishima..."

"Please, Akiharu? We'll go to a cafe after! My treat!"

"Well..." The tantalizing offer of free coffee combined with an excuse to leave the headquarters finally swayed me. "Fine."

Kirishima leaned into Bakugo and shared a few quiet words. "Don't you wanna show off..?"

Bakugo crossed his arms and turned a gaze radiating pure determination toward me. "You're gonna get a taste of my genius, Shitty tie, just you wait!" he grinned, marching out of the classroom.

"That's great!" Kirishima cheered, following him out of the room. "That means we can train together for the practical too!"

Ah... That fucking redhead just played the both of us like a fiddle, didn't he?

"Akiharu," I startled at the voice of Todoroki coming over my shoulder. I need to tie a bell to his damn neck so he stops sneaking up on me... "If you would be interested, my house is open for studying as well."

I turned to him with a smile while I packed up my workbooks. "I might take you up on that, thanks."

After lunch, I learned that some information had been gleaned from the Class B students. Apparently, the practical exam would be taken against robots, much like the entrance exam.

Kaminari breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it'll be easy if it's robots!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Mina cheered.

"You guys have a hard time controlling your Quirks against people, huh?"

"Yeah, but we can let loose with Robots, so it'll be a cinch!" Kaminari laughed.

"And it'll be a cinch for me to melt them!"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I wouldn't count on that..." I interrupted. Aizawa had been over at the HPSC for a training session last week, and he'd had a wicked evil grin on his face the whole time. "It wouldn't surprise me if they had something worse planned for this year."

"Aw, don't say that!" Sero called. "If  Mina and Kaminari can get Yaoyorozu to help them study, they'll be set for the finals!"

"It doesn't matter if they're people or robots. They're the same if you beat 'em up, right?" Bakugo scoffed. "What're you idiots talking about it being a cinch for?

"Who're you calling an idiot!" Kaminari snapped.

"Shut up!" Bakugo retorted "If you need to control your quirk, then control it! Idiot!"

"He does kind-of have a point," I said.

"Shut the fuck up! Don't agree with me!" Bakugo roared. "And you, Deku! I don't know if you've figured out how to use your Quirk a little or what, but you seriously keep rubbing me the wrong way. I don't need another half-assed result like at the sports festival. At the upcoming finals, we'll get individual scores, so we'll see who's better whether you like it or not. I'll beat you with an indisputable difference! I'll kill you! Todoroki! You, too! And you especially, Shitty Tie!"

"At least use my name when declaring war," I muttered. The classroom door slammed shut as Bakugo stormed out.

"It's been a while since I've seen Bakugo that intense," Kirishima sighed.

"Yeah, he's been so subdued since internships I almsot forgot that's his normal setting," I agreed.

𓆱❀𓆱

~1625 words