I actually had a lot of fun with the screencaps in this one 🤭

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"Today's Hero's Basics has turned into a special class with three instructors," Aizawa mumbled through the class introduction. "These people will be myself, All Might, and one person you'll meet shortly."

Sero's hand shot into the air. "Excuse me! What'll we be doing?"

"Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between." Despite his lacklustre performance, the class stirred in excitement. "It's rescue training."

"Rescue..." Kaminari's eyes squinted. "Looks like it'll be a lot of work this time, too."

Ashido pumped her fists excitedly. "Right!?"

"Idiot," Kirishima scolded, leaning forward in his chair, "This is the duty of a hero! My arms are ready to rumble!"

"Hey, I'm not done," Aizawa grumbled. "You can decide if you want to wear your costumes or not, as there are likely some that are a hindrance. The training will take place off-campus, so we're taking a bus. That is all. Start getting ready."

It turned out that everyone but Midoriya wore their costumes. Some had left out certain parts, like Bakugo who equipped only one gauntlet, and Iida who left behind his helmet. I was part of that group, having left my gloves and mask behind.

Waiting for all my classmates to gather, I caught something irregular out of the corner of my eye. Mineta stood a few feet away, his gaze trained on the distracted Uraraka, wearing her full-length bodysuit. With the disgustingly blissful expression on his face, he was most definitely staring at her inappropriately.

I scowled.

"Hey, asshole." At the sound of my venomous tone, Mineta flinched. "You keep doing that and I'll forcefully revoke your ability to stare."

Mineta, wide-eyed, made a choking squeak and scurried away. Hopefully not to go harass some other girl – Rather, for his own sake, he'd better not be.

A piercing whistle echoed through the lot. "Class 1-A, gather around!" Iida yelled, waving his hands like a traffic guard, a sports whistle round his neck. After the events with the trespasser alarms, Midoriya had stepped down from Class Rep. and elected Iida in his place, who certainly seemed to be getting into it. "In order to make the boarding of the bus go smoothly, form two lines in order of your student number!"

The class did as he said without complaint, but as we boarded, it was revealed that the bus seats were arranged differently than he'd anticipated. Most of them were placed along the outside, facing toward the aisle, with a few rows at the back. In the end, everyone simply filed into whatever seats were empty.

By the time I boarded, I settled into one of the few remaining empty seats, which was (just my luck), beside Bakugo. He didn't give me any shit, though, and instead propped his chin on his fist and glared out the window.

"If we're talking about flashy and strong, it's gotta be Akiharu, Todoroki, and Bakugo, huh?" Kirishima was saying. I pulled my headphones down from over my ears, glancing to Todoroki behind me. He looked peaceful, at least... Bakugo, on the other hand, scoffed at the sound of his name.

Here we go again...

"Ah," Asui hummed, "But Bakugo's always mad, so it doesn't seem like he'll be all that popular anyway."

Bakugo flung to his feet, gripping the bar that separated our seats from theirs. "What the hell! You wanna fight, bitch? I'll fucking kill you!"

Tilting his head with a smirk, Kaminari jumped at the chance to get under Bakugo's skin. "We haven't known each other long, so it's pretty crazy that everyone already knows his personality is crap steeped in sewage."

Bakugo bared his teeth, lunging in the other boy's direction, creeping even more into my personal space. "What's with that vocabulary, bastard! I'll kill you!"

Kaminari was in no way bothered by his threats. This, of course, pissed the Blondie off even more.

Fighting a laugh, I managed to subdue it into a single chuckle, muffled with my hand. However, it didn't escape the super-hearing of the hyper-pissed Bakugo.

"Don't fucking laugh!" he yelled, whipping around to me.

Oh god, that look on his face... My shoulders hunched and started to shake, my eyes squeezing shut. No wonder no one here took him seriously.

"I'll make all of you pricks regret attending this school!"

Iida reached his limit, swiping a hand Bakugo's way. "Bakugo! Cease the foul talk! You're disrupting the other passengers! Classmates should be encouraging one another, not demeaning!"

"Shut up, damned four eyes! Drop dead!"

"Hey Blondie," I chuckled, "If you wanna prove a point, maybe you should start using better insults. The one's you've got now are getting stale."

Just when I thought he couldn't get any madder, Bakugo fumed. His canines gnashed together as he wheeled on me, screaming. "Eat shit, shitty tie! Shithead! Die, bitch!"

If he were a cartoon character, smoke would be pouring from his ears. The imagery alone was enough to break my charade, as I dissolved back into a fit of laughter.

"Stop fucking laughing, I said!"

"Bakugo!" Iida shouted. "That's enough! Apologize!"

"Like hell I'll apologize, four-eyes! I'll kick your ass!"

Aizawa rose to his feet, looking tiredly to the back of the bus. "Hey, we're here," he said. "Stop messing around."

"Yes, sir!"

I slipped off the bus with the class, following them to the massive dome soaring over the treetops. Just outside the front doors, we were greeted by a rather small person dressed like an astronaut. "Everyone, I have been waiting for you!" they said.

An intake of excited breath passed through my peers. I glanced between them nervously, wondering what the deal was about. Fortunately, Midoriya saved my ass with his mumbling.

"Wowww! It's the space hero, Thirteen! The chivalrous hero who has rescued tons of people from disasters. A rescue specialist!"

Uraraka pumped her fists up and down. "Oh, I love Thirteen!"

They're named... a number? I shifted uncomfortably. I was embarrassed to admit yet again, another pro-hero was completely unrecognizable.

The astronaut pointed to the entrance behind them. "Lets go inside without delay!"

"We look forward to working with you!"

Kirishima drifted to my side as we walked to the dome. "Akiharu, what's that face for? Not a Thirteen fan?"

"Ehhh?" Ashido leaned into the two of us. "How can you not love Thirteen!?"

"Ah..." I winced, "I just didn't know of them..."

Appalled expressions morphed the faces of my peers. "You... WHAT?"

Midoriya casted a glance back in my direction. "Akiharu, you don't recognize Thirteen? But they're a legend in the rescue genre of heroics..."

"Er... Yeah, I kinda maybe live under a rock in most aspects of pro-heroes..."

"But you're aspiring to be a one!" Sero said.

"I'm working on it!" I complained. "I know about our teachers now!"

Kaminari laughed. "Akiharu, that's bare minimum!"

"Hey, I know about Crimson Riot, too!"

"Crimson Riot?" Midoriya hummed. "He's a retired hero who modelled chivalry and hard work. I'm surprised you know about him if you don't even know about Thirteen... He's an older hero, and no longer a public face..."

That checked out. The heroes I knew about were largely from case studies, and most of those still used older heroes – not the ones that were popular nowadays.

Ashido tapped her chin with a hum. "Crimson Riot... Isn't that the hero Kirishima likes?"

"Yep!"

"I figured," I said. "Your costume's an homage to him, right?"

"Hell yeah! I want to be as manly as him someday!"

"Akiharu!" Ashido cheered, snagging her arms around my waist. "If you're looking for popular heroes to check out, you should look up Ryuku or Miriko! They're both total queens!!"

Midoriya hummed, tilting his head. "I would suggest All Might's career, but well, I'm sure you know enough about him... Oh! If you want a well-known and exciting hero, why not try Hawks!"

"Hey, I know about Hawks," I said, offended.

"Really? That's surprising!" said Kaminari. "Yeah, he's popular, but came right out of nowhere pretty recently..."

My hand unconsciously reached toward my collar, where I usually kept the leather chord tucked beneath my shirt. Oh. I left it in my locker. Glancing to Kaminari, I shrugged. "I mean, you can't go anywhere downtown without seeing his stupid bird face plastered everywhere."

"So I take it you're... not a Hawks fan?"

"I didn't say that," I said. "It's just, when you get to know him, he's just a big bird-brained man-child."

The classmates looked to each-other, and then back to me. "You've... met Hawks?"

Oops.

"No way! He's always neck-deep in fans now!"

"Did you get an autograph?! Those are crazy hard to find otherwise! Almost as hard as All Might's! Hawks' popularity is crazy because of the grip he has on teenage audiences in Japan, even overseas..."

"When!" Ashido grasped my arm as Midoriya trailed off into a mumbling fit. "For how long? Did you get his autograph? No way, his phone number!"

"What? No! I mean..."

I caught sight of Aizawa, glaring darkly in my direction. "Quit fooling around," he scolded.

Sweating bullets, my classmates refocused their attention onto the building we'd just wandered inside.

"Woah!" Kirishima said. "It's just like USJ!"

Universal Studios Japan... I could see the resemblance. There were six centres along the perimeter of the dome, each one containing a different sort of biome. To the left was an area of modern building ruins, followed by a mountain zone, a red dome printed with fire, a water zone, and then, directly to our right, a blue dome decorated with clouds and sweeping winds. All the biomes circulated a large centre plaza with a fountain.

Thirteen launched into their introduction as we finished taking in the insane structure. "A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm, etcetera... This place is a training ground that I designed with different types of accidents and disasters!" Thirteen pointed one arm into the air, balancing onto one of their feet. "It's called the Unforseen Simulation Joint... Or USJ, for short!"

It really is called USJ...

Aizawa approached Thirteen, sounding a question. "Where's All Might?" he asked. "He was supposed to meet us here."

"About that..." Thirteen leaned closer to Aizawa and continued the rest of the conversation in hushed tones.

"That's the height of irrationality," Aizawa grumbled as he returned to the class. "Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Shall we get started?"

"Let's see," Thirteen called, tapping their helmet. "Before we begin, let me just say one thing. Er... or two, or three... or four... five... six... seven..."

They shook their head, raising a hand. "Everyone, I am sure you're aware of my Quirk, Black Hole.

The classmates surrounding me threw mocking, skeptical glances in my direction. I looked to the side, a pleading smile on my face. Stop looking at me! I'm sorry for being clueless, goddammit!

"I can suck up anything and turn it to dust."

"You've been able to use that Quirk to save people from all kinds of disasters, right?" Midoriya chimed in. Uraraka at his side nodded furiously, bouncing on her heels and radiating pure glee.

"Yes," agreed Thirteen, but their voice lowered as their tone sobered. "But it is a power that can kill easily. Some of you also have Quirks like that, right?"

I felt my shoulder blades tense. Vague thoughts, feelings, and memories started rising in my throat like bile. With a clench of my jaw, I forced them back down.

"In this superhuman society, personal Quirks have been certified and stringently regulated, so that doesn't seem like a problem at first glance. However, please don't forget that there are many Quirks that can easily kill with just one misstep.

"With Aizawa's physical fitness test, you found out the possibility of your own hidden powers and their various applications. With All Might's person-to-person combat training, you experienced the danger of using those powers against others.

"This class is a fresh start. Today, you shall learn how to use your Quirks to save people's lives. You do not have powers so you can harm others. I hope you leave here understanding that you have these powers in order to help people, and how to apply them in that manner."

My tensed muscles relaxed a little. Maybe... Maybe this class can be something good for me.

"That is all!" Thirteen bowed with a flourish of their arm. "Everyone, thank you for listening."

The class erupted into applause. "That was wonderful! What a good speech! Bravo, bravo!"

Aizawa gestured behind him. "All right then, first..."

The lights working around the circumference of the dome dimmed, then shut off completely. Nervous murmurs begin drifting through the class.

The hairs on my arm prickled.

Aizawa stood completely tense. His raw-rimmed eyes glanced to the side and he whipped around completely. I followed his gaze.

Down the long staircase, a dark circle twisted in the middle of the plaza. It began to grow, larger, and larger. Something poked out of it, a speck in my vision.

Aizawa swung an arm out defensively, bracing himself between the plaza and the students. "Gather everyone and don't move!" he ordered. "Thirteen, protect the students!"

"What's that!" Kirishima and the others began to notice the rapidly growing black mass. Entire people began to emerge, unfocused from the distance. Kirishima raised a hand to his forehead as he peered closer. "Is this like the entrance exam, where the lesson's already started?"

No. It was written all over Aizawa's face. Something was very, very wrong.

That black hole... Is it from that day?

My stance lowered to the ground, almost perfectly mirroring my mentor's.

"Don't move!" Aizawa barked as his students started toward him. "Those are villains."

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2176 words

The fight begins next chapter!!!! I really like writing intense(?) scenes (COUGH, TRAUMATIZING MY OCS, COUGH) so I've been excited for this arc hehehehe >:))