15-16

Chapter 15: Hero Class

After spending the evening brainstorming ways to create a suitable exercise plan for Shinso, he retired for the night as he had been eager to start the next day. That day was their first taste of what most days at U.A. were like as they went through their classes like normal. As he expected, just because he was in the hero course meant they slacked off on the other subjects. Like any high school, the U.A. was required to ensure that its students performed at a certain level in pre-selected subjects like Mathematics, English, Japanese, World and Japanese History, Sciences like physics, biology and chemistry, Arts and geography.

U.A. went a step further in that by an edict by the principal some 5 years back, all courses were also required to have classes in ethics, quirk morality and political science. This ensures that anyone who walks out the gates with the diploma has the education to better understand and interact with the world in a fashion that doesn't needlessly harm another. Midoriya could say that he approved of that mindset as if more people were willing to engage in comfortable topics or see past quirk status…. he wouldn't be there now, would he? Not as a disciple to the master, anyway.

It was weird to have all their teachers be pros, both active and retired, but it made for unique classes as they approached their courses in ways that kept students guessing. Present Mic, for example, had fully expected that the man would treat English like his radio show. Still, he was calm, collected and professional. Only breaking out that Mic charm sparingly made it all the more fun even if he preferred to study Spanish or Portuguese as he dreamed of travelling through central and South America, perhaps trying his hand at foreign hero work there rather than the more popular U.S.

Ectoplasm as a Math teacher was a godsent. While the least jarring as he carried himself how they expected, his quirk made it so that he could spawn clones who could focus on individuals, which Izuku badly needed after he missed months of school. Still, if this was a taste of what math would be like, his grades would make a comeback! Literature was a different story as Cementoss wasn't the issue; the man was passionate about his subject and was an avid reader, but Midoriya wasn't the type that particularly enjoyed just reading.

Even when relaxing, he would instead do something proactive like gardening, training, or working in a sand garden, a byproduct of how active his life had been for years. Still, he understood the first two chapters of Kitch by Banana Yoshimoto, one of the 3 books they were meant to cover for the semester. Arts wasn't as bad as Izuku had thought it would be, as while Midnight brought that same flirtatious, sexy energy to teaching as she did her hero work, Izuku was able to focus on what she was teaching over the way she moved or the clear double meaning in her statements by remembering he was a taken man and that he won't break!

If Kodai said he sat as still as a stone throughout the class, he'd firmly confirm that. Science class, specifically chemistry, was where he paid the most attention as while not an egg-head, he needed to study more about chemistry and compounds for his plants to be as powerful and versatile as they could be, as he had to have some level of understanding of what he was doing with them, which was why at the moment he only used wood, which was comparatively easier to manipulate and grow then say, flowers.

When lunch came around, he was a happy camper as his table had all his new friends, sans Shinso, who had opted to eat with his classmates. Kodai thought he was merely avoiding them as he knew what Midoriya was planning for them. The best part was that despite the gourmet options the kitchens offered the students, all of it was affordable. He indulged in more food than expected, filling his plate with greens, beans and fish. Enough that he got Shiozaki to take some of his as they had hero class after this, and they'll need their strength. "I hope you will enjoy your food. It was made with love!"

"You can tell."

"You served a lot; aren't you worried about getting bloated?"

"Part of training requires you to have a rich diet," "Trust me, I train so hard that I could pig out and still stay in shape."

"Moderation."

"That's what I'm doing, Kodai."

But as fun, if mentally draining, as their morning classes were, it was nothing compared to the raw excitement they felt after lunch as it would soon be their time. Their chance to do what they all had applied to the U.A. for in the first place: Hero training.

However, while he was more pumped for the activity, his classmates were focused more on the teacher handling it: All Might, the number one hero and Symbol of Peace.

A hypocrite.

He let out a deep breath and couldn't feel the same excitement as his classmates. But he also didn't feel the same anger from that day when he met All Might. After Izuku had time to cool off, to really think about it over the last few months, he found that he didn't hate him because he had accepted that he was merely another pro, another person obsessed with what your quirk could do. Did it hurt that he presented himself differently to someone like Endeavour, who had made no secret of what he felt about quirks and their compatibility in hero work? Yes. But that was part of life. His master always told him that disappointments and failures were as natural as night and day, and if you didn't have them, you weren't living in reality.

So he focused more on what All Might could bring as a teacher; those they had in the morning were all clearly skilled in their craft, with the training and experience to be as effective teachers as they were heroes. Was All Might the same? He would think so, as the man has been declining for years, and he couldn't imagine that the U.A. would just let All Might teach without ensuring he could actually teach. If nothing else, he could stomach his displeasure over being taught by All Might and take the positive that a man with over 30 years of hero work could bring to the table.

His wish would be half answered when the door but instead of being the number one hero, it was Vlad. "Afternoon students, I hope you're ready for your first hero class."

Vlad hadn't expected them to sing his praises, but he had thought they'd be pumped for their first hero class as their group of first years had been. Yet what he saw when he walked in and announced himself was a collective disappointment as students groaned as if he had just given them a pop quiz. "Dammit, it's just Vlad." Tetsutetsu's head hit his desk, and Vlad felt his brow twitch.

"And pray tell," His voice made some gulp as they could tell he wasn't pleased. "Is wrong with that."

Lucky for them, Honenuki was there to save their asses as he raised his hand. "Sir, wasn't All Might meant to be taking this?" Vlad felt that made sense and left them in the wrong spot as he had to be the bearer of bad news.

"That was the plan, but something came up which the principal needed his assistance with." He kept it short, though the truth was that All Might used up too much time stopping an incident on his way to school and then handling class A. By the time he finished with them, he was running on fumes and resting in the principal's office.

His gruff explanation flew with most of them, as teachers got pulled for other stuff back in middle school. However, Monoma asked a question as he found it fishy that he was pulled. "Was he pulled before or after he taught class A?"

Vlad didn't miss a beat, having suspected such as he figured they had heard that class A had gone with All Might earlier. "After, but don't let that discourage you. In fact, I would argue you can use it as fuel to grow. So, what if you missed out on All Might today? You'll still grow to become exceptional heroes, and I expect each of you to carve that into your hearts." Vlad kept his words and tone strong. He had taught here for years and saw some exceptional students go through his class. He took pride in that and, unlike his fellow homeroom teacher, made sure they could take pride in that.

As the class collectively replied, this had the desired effect of any lingering disappointment or resentment over missing a chance to be with All Might. "Yes, sir!" Midoriya was one of them because he wasn't that invested in All Might and because Vlad knew how to pick up a room. There was also a tiny part of him that wanted to keep proving himself better than his naysayers believed, and what better way to do that than showing up to the apparent favourite class, even if he suspected that All Might had just used up too much of his time and was resting.

"Now, you first years will be placed into foundational hero studies, an introductory course where we'll learn about and perfect your knowledge and skills in all the basics." Vlad pulled out a bright, flashy card with the word 'Battle' printed in bold English for all to see. "With the first class being battle."

"Battle?" Kamakiri smiled.

"We get to fight?" Tetsutetsu was with him, eager to show what he could do.

"Oh yeah, bring it on!" Tsunotori was the third as Vlad nodded, happy with the enthusiasm.

"Before that, let's start our journey to being the superior hero class the right way." Vlad pulled out a remote and pressed one button, and from the walls, shelves appeared, each carrying 5 thick-looking briefcases with a number on them. "Your costumes are made to order as per your specifications. The only changes made were to impractical designs or against regulations." He started as the students looked at them in awe before getting up to retrieve them.

They figured out that the numbers marked out seat numbers. Because they were the closest ones to them, it was up to Bondo and Midoriya to distribute them to the intended recipient as Vlad approached the door, opened it, and turned to them again.

"Once you've changed into them, we'll meet on Grand Beta. Don't be late!" He ordered them, leaving them to follow through with that.

Midoriya found himself in the dining hall of the sanctuary a week before school started. He had already celebrated his entry into U.A. with a massive dinner where he got a boatload of congratulations and well wishes from the rest of the residents, both permanent and those staying till the final touches could be done on the new and improved community centre in Raxus. But that left him with an issue that he had yet to solve as, along with the acceptance letter, had been the forms he needed to fill out.

It was the usual stuff, like school rules, that he would need to read and then sign that he did so and accepted, same with his parent or guardian, so he was going to ask the master to sign it for him. He also provided contact information for emergencies and other school events, which, again, he'll put in Kenmikoto-sensei's contact details as he was sure she wouldn't mind. But along with that and forms about his size information for the uniforms, there was stuff he had to fill in for his hero costume as the school worked with support companies to produce them for the students, but they were given a set price to work with so they couldn't ask for something too expensive, along with rules on what a costume could and could not have in its design.

He wondered about that but then recalled the uproar that broke out when Midnight made her debut; so many angry parents demanded that they make changes so she didn't 'corrupt the youth' or something along those lines. He had yet to pay much attention to it, but it helped explain why U.A and other schools presumable had to overall their rules regarding costumes. Still, he can remember when Midnight came out with a second costume that fit within the rules and how both he and Kyūfune had spat out their drinks when they saw it, as it was pretty damn clear she chose a colour as close to her natural skin tone as possible which combined with how thin the fabric was made it looked arguable more revealing and risqué than her last one.

Once he had calmed his blush down, he couldn't help but salute the proverbial 'fuck you' she threw at the regulators as it was everything she wanted, but within their new rules so they could complain all they wanted, but they couldn't do anything about it.

But that just left him confused about what he should submit, as he had spent so much time preparing his body and mind for hero work that he forgot to design his costume, something he was sure everyone else would have in mind. So, he had spent the last 3 hours trying to create something, researching current and former heroes' costumes for inspiration and even looking towards nature thanks to the fact he controlled wood. Unlike others, he didn't need to worry about a quirk, so his costume didn't need to have anything special about it. It could be simpler, though he still wished to give off the appearance of a quirk, with cats being the animal he was studying, so he looked up the Wild Wild Pussycats.

It was another 3 hours, close to dinner time, when he would finally finish something he was happy to wish for.

Waiting for the students, Vlad grunted when he saw them approaching through the tunnel entrance, as they had made it here in less than 10 minutes. As each stepped into the light, he could appraise each costume and saw that they offered a wide array of ideas, colours, and styles, perfect for heroes, as they needed to be visible and easily identifiable. "As far as costumes go, you'll all understood the assignment; well done. From here on out, when you wear your gear, I want you to do so with pride and honour." He told them that Midoriya was the last one out.

His costume included a black slim-fitting jumpsuit, grey-furred lined shin-length boots, and a pair of dark green fur-lined forearm-length gloves. Over this, he wore a dark green leopard print baggy pair of knee-length shorts held up by a thick grey belt with a large belt buckle with the kanji for 'leaf' etched. On his top half, he wore a dark green leopard print sleeve crop jacket with a collar lined. Finishing the look, he had pouches held in place by his belt to carry supplies and a thick grey snow leopard-like tail that shifted and moved like the real thing.

Seeing this had some of the girls calling it out. "I got it. Your quirk has something to do with a snow leopard!" Komori called out as he giggled.

"Nope. Try again." She pouted as he moved past her, joined by Kodai and Kuroiro.

"Really, then why go with the design?" The black-skinned boy who had opted for a much simpler and equally colourless attire asked, to which Midoriya merely shrugged.

"It felt right." He replied as Vlad clapped his hands to get their attention.

"You can discuss your costumes later; right now, we have a class to start," Vlad stated as Kaibara raised his hand.

"Vlad-sensei, this is the same grounds as the entrance exam. Will this be another urban battle?" He asked the man, who shook his head.

"No, this will be a scenario that takes place indoors. While you've undoubtedly seen plenty of villain incidents in the streets, the numbers support the theory that most villains handle their business indoors. Over 60% of them occur in places like abandoned areas, buildings, backroom deals, bars, clubs and any other place that can keep them away from the light of day." He explained as Midoriya thought back to the incident with Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods, then to the Raxus fire, which took place somewhere people liked to ignore.

"In a world with so many heroes patrolling the streets, it's the smart and dangerous villains that do their best to operate in the shadows, so for this, we're going to simulate a raid on a villain's hideout. You'll be split randomly into teams of 2 and take turns with one team acting as the heroes, the other as villains." Vlad continued, seeing that they were following along with what he was trying to say.

"Shouldn't we get some basic training first?" Yanagi asked as it seemed like they were rushing.

"No better teacher than experience. But remember that this isn't the exam, and you're not fighting robots, so I expect restraint. If you go overboard, I'll disqualify your team, which I'll go on your record." Vlad replied, eyeing them down to clarify that he wouldn't hesitate to do that as he might not expel his students as liberally as Eraser, but that didn't mean he didn't run a tight ship.

"Why randomly split us up? Wouldn't it work best if we could work with people whose quirks complement one another?" Fukidashi asked, and this time, Midoriya answered for Vlad.

"It's real to life, you know. Pros gotta be able to work with whoever happens to be on the scene. It won't always be your partner or sidekick." Vlad nodded at him.

"Correct. The exercise itself is pretty simple. The villain team will be charged with defending a bomb for 10 minutes, while the hero team needs to either defeat the villains or secure the bomb by touching it. A defeat doesn't need to be a knock-out as all four will be given capture tape; even if you wrap it around their finger, it will be a knock-out, and that person will need to leave." The pro gave a simple breakdown of the objectives for the two teams before he held out a box for them.

"And with that done, let's draw lots!" They went up one at a time and pulled out a slip of paper with a letter, with the box having 20 slips in 10 pairs. Once that was done, the class found itself split into teams that were made up of Team A, which was Midoriya and Kodai; Team B, which was Tokage and Rin; Team C, which was Tsunotori and Kamakiri; Team D was Monoma and Shiozaki; team E was Awase and Honenuki; team F was Shishida and Yanagi; team G was Tsuburaba and Komori; team G was Tetsutetsu and Shoda; team H was Bondo and Fukidashi and team I was Kaibara and Kuroiro.

"And with that done, the first group will be these two!" Vlad called out as he pulled out two other boxes, one black and marked as 'villain' and the other white and marked as 'hero'. From the former, he pulled out team A. From the latter, team D. The four students in question turned to face one another, with Monoma having a strange look when he looked towards Midoriya, who returned with a raised eyebrow.

"Everyone else, to the monitor room," Vlad instructed as the rest of the class walked off, Kuroiro giving the three a nod of good luck as he went by. Soon, it was just the five of them as Vlad led them towards a building that, at least on its exterior, was a regular 5-storey office complex, one of thousands to be found in any large city in Japan.

Turning, he opened the door for the villain team to enter but stopped them before they walked in. "Listen up, you have 5 minutes to enter the building and do as you please to prepare. Heroes, here is the floor plan of the place; study it well, as you don't know what the villains could prepare." He addressed the second bit towards the heroes as Monoma and Shiozaki nodded. However, the blonde looked strange when he turned his gaze to Midoriya.

Taking out another box of supplies, which made them wonder where Vlad was even keeping them, he handed them all an earpiece and a bland roll of tape. "Before you leave, here is your capture tape and earpieces. Remember, I'll listen to everything you say, so keep it professional." All nodded, with Midoriya and Kodai suspecting that he might have heard something he didn't want during one of these exercises in the past.

Putting in the air piece, Midoriya did a quick head shake to make sure it wasn't loose before he turned to his teammate with a thumbs up. "Let's go, Kodai. Let's show them what we are made of!" His tail seemed to share in his excitement as it flicked side to side.

"Sure," Kodai replied, her face and tone still as passive as the two walked into the building.

"I get that it's just training, but I don't like that we drew the short straw and have to play the villains," Midoriya noted as he walked towards the bomb, having inspected the room and found it bare as the rest of the building. U.A. wasn't willing to burn cash on furniture when they had to spend millions designing and building fake cities.

"It pays to know how a villain would think," Kodai replied, inspecting the sole window and finding it locked. Even better, it wasn't overlooking the street, so the heroes couldn't have looked up and seen them.

"Maybe, but I wonder if we would even know that? Vlad-sensei, the villains that do this kind of stuff, are normally the crafty ones. Could we even replicate that?" Midoriya frowned, as villains like that were vile, cruel and merciless. They would start a fire in a crowded building with no regard for the lives that would be endangered. He hoped he never had to understand such a horrible mindset.

Approaching the bomb, Kodai tapped it and found it remarkably light for its size. A quirk shook, and then she found it weighed as much as her desk. "Bomb's made of paper mâché." She stated.

"Makes sense; it keeps it light, but it does have a weird design, actually…we can use this." Midoriya was waving that off before an idea popped into his head. Tapping his foot as he thought about it, he could put the pieces together and realise that they had the perfect chance to win this.

"What do you mean?" Kodai asked him as he approached the bomb, placing a hand on it.

"You can shrink the bomb, right?" He asked, to which the girl nodded, but while she could see what he was thinking, there was a big flaw.

"Monoma and Shiozaki know I can do that. They'll suspect that as soon as they enter." She replied, which he agreed with, but that was where he came in.

"Correct, but what if we replace the bomb with something else and act like it's the real deal. After all, we get the chance to go first, meaning they don't know what the bomb even looks like." This could only be done in the first round, as he didn't see Vlad hand them a picture of the bomb, so they would look for whatever seemed like it.

Kodai thought about it for a moment before replying. "That makes sense, but can we even make something like that?" They had some basic supplies lying around, but nothing that could pass for a 'bomb' as Midoriya pulled out a seed from his pouch, clenching his fist, he poured his tenet into it till before his teammate's shocked eyes, he opened his hand to reveal a wooden dog doll.

"I can. It won't take long. In the meantime, you shrink the bomb and hide it somewhere Momoma and Shiozaki aren't going to find." He tossed the small doll into the corner, out of sight and out of mind, as he pulled out another seed to use. Kodai agreed with the plan, touching the bomb as he watched it shrink to the point where it could be held in her hand like it was a toy. As she went to find a spot to hide it, Midoriya got to work; he clenched his hand again and went through the same process, only this time he didn't stop and shaped the wooden construct as it grew, getting so big that he placed the bomb on the floor but kept making it grow till it was large enough for what they needed.

Looking at it, he smiled at his work. While only half the size of the bomb it was replacing, it had the same basic shape. "And done, it's crude, but a cloth thrown over it should help to sell the idea." Luckily, there was a large cloth for them to use as he tossed it over the device and moved some other stuff around it, acting like it was meant to serve as a disguise/deterrent. That was when Kodai came back, her hands empty.

"I placed the bomb in a vent; they won't find it there," She pointed towards the air vent in question, one close to the doorway, which meant they'd be less likely to even notice it was there. "Why does Monoma look at you funny?" He looked at her, wondering where that question came from.

"You picked up on too? No clue. It's not like I knew him before yesterday. Maybe he's salty that I scored so high on the entrance and quirk assessment." Even though he said that he didn't completely buy it as while…eccentric and proud, Monoma didn't come off as the type to stew in his dissatisfaction.

"He comes off as loud and arrogant." He snorted, having to mask his laugh at how Kodai could be.

"Trust me, he's a breath of fresh air compared to what I'm used to dealing with." His mind flashed to another arrogant blonde who seemed to believe he was God's gift to the world and would fight anyone who said otherwise. He hadn't had the misfortune of running into him yet, but he figured it was only a matter of time.

Chapter 16: Class B Battle

Looking over the floor plans they had been given, Monoma tried to figure out which room the bomb could be placed in. He only knew a little about Kodai, so he couldn't theorise what she would do with objective evidence. He figured she'd try to shrink the bomb, but that was too obvious when they knew she would probably have it on hand. Midoriya, he figured, was a bit of a trickster from how he spoke and moved, even the fact that Midoriya was hiding the fact…no, that wasn't possible; maybe he was just wrong; he had to be with what they saw him accomplish.

All that meant that the bomb could just as quickly be where it could be best defended, like the upper or lower floors where they wouldn't expect, so somewhere in the middle. "It would be helpful if we had more insight into them," Monoma noted as his teammate, who wore rather plain robes, nodded.

"Yes, as they're playing the rule of villains, they could easily hide the bomb where they please." She made a face as she said that, which he caught.

"You don't like that, do you?" He didn't ask so much, as he stated, to which she didn't refute.

"I'm not a fan of deception," Shiozaki replied, as she had been raised to see lies as terrible things and to always be honest with others. After all, the bitter truth was better for you in the long term than a sweet lie. And she respected pros who lived by that.

"Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on that front." Monoma was a schemer; he knew it; everyone who had known him knew it, and he accepted that. He had to be to make it this far and will need it to keep going. "Your vines would be a good way to attack them, provided they can be used to overwhelm them."

"Correct, but they'll see them coming and block both our fields of view. While I can feel things with them, they need to touch whatever." Shiozaki replied, to which Monoma hummed, agreeing with her as he tried to think of another way in, but with just her quirk, that would be tricky. It would be a different story if he had managed to copy Tetsutetsu, Shishida, or Tokage.

"Hmm, if this trial hadn't had such a time lag, I could have copied someone else quirk to help us." But with the time, that wouldn't have mattered all that much.

"We'll simply make do with what we have," Shiozaki concluded as she returned to reading the floor plans. "But there is still the question of how we plan to handle this. I would much rather avoid a pointless fight and simply find the bomb."

"That might be for the best as we might know what Kodai can do with her quirk, but Midoriya…" It was Monoma's turn to make a face as he recalled what he felt from the boy during their first homeroom. He felt nothing in the space where a quirk should reside, but he saw as hell had something. No one could pull off the stuff he had, but…he wasn't sure. All he knew was that I had to talk to him and get some answers before this drove him insane with theories.

And like with him, Shiozaki caught his face but misread it as she frowned. "While my reasons for avoiding a fight were based on my pacificist ideals, I agree with that. He has displayed remarkable physical abilities thus far, and he seems to like me and can control plant matter." She concluded, believing he was merely scared to face off against such a formidable unknown.

"Plant matter?" Monoma asked, pretending to be in the dark as Shiozaki explained part of what had been discussed with Shinso the previous day.

"We heard from someone in the same test area as him during the exam that his quirk seems to have a component to it that lets him create and control wood." As she explained it, she reached for her vine hair, wondering if his quirk was similar to hers or Kamui Woods, or worse, that he could manipulate all plant matter as if that was the case, it would mean she was all but useless against him.

"Yeah, his quirk." Monoma didn't wish to lie or talk more about that, so he changed the subject. "Either way, we should avoid a fight with them, so I suppose a two-pronged assault. I enter through the entrance here and you from the top." He pointed to some fire escape stairs to the side. She would need to reach the second floor to reach them, but he had seen what she had been capable of with her quirk during the assessment, so he had faith she'd manage it.

"Wouldn't that needlessly split us?" Shiozaki asked.

"Not necessarily. We don't know where the bomb is, but odds are, they won't both be defending it. Midoriya would most likely be on patrol of the place, so if we use your quirk, we can slowly encroach on them. If he tries to fight through your vines, we know where he is and can fight him on two sides." The way he saw it, they didn't need to fight him head-on, not only because they wished to avoid a fight but because they weren't sure what he could do. This way, if one of them went down, it still gave the other a chance to find the bomb.

Shiozaki chewed on that but recalled that his plan had a hole. "Doesn't your quirk have a time limit for how long you can hold a copied power?"

"Not if I have a lock, or in this case, a vine of her hair. If I keep that in hand, my limit will regularly reset." He replied as if he had copied people's quirks from nothing but hair. If Shiozaki's quirk worked similarly, he shouldn't have an issue. It also meant he could keep distance between himself and Midoriya.

"Very well," Shiozaki agreed as she removed a single vine of her hair, handing it over to him. "I trust you won't use my quirk for nefarious purposes."

Looking dramatically offended by that, he placed the back of his hand over his forehead in shock. "You wound me as if I'll betray the trust of a classmate."

"Alright, remember you're all hero students, so don't take things too far! Now let the first matchup between Team A and D begin!" Vlad's voice rang through the speakers in the area; Monoma quickly copied Shiozaki's quirk, changing his hair to vine shoulder-length vines.

"May the lord bless you." Shiozaki bowed her head a little as she turned to head for the fire escape.

"Good luck to you as well." Monoma returned it as he walked into the building via the main entrance. He knew it was risky, but he also bet that the villains were probably expecting them to sneak in like Shiozaki was. Once he cleared the place, he closed his eyes and reached into that little pocket inside Shiozaki's quirk, as while Neito wasn't as proficient with a quirk as the original holder, he found out pretty early one that he got a sort of 'manual' with any quirk he copied, giving him the basics of how it worked and how to use it.

With that reached, excessing, it allowed him to quickly grow out and shift his hair into tendril-covered waves of vines around the place. First blocking off the entrance before feeling out the few rooms on the ground level. Once he cleared those, he also sealed them off, as he wished to box them in. Shiozaki was doing the same on the roof as she closed off windows before going through the rooftop entrance, which wasn't even locked, but she still sealed it once inside.

As they cleared the floors, the students in the observation room kept an eye on them. At the same time, Vlad had his arms crossed, as it wasn't a bad idea they came up with. Still, it wouldn't work if the villains kept their plans up, so Monoma and Shiozaki would need to either be lucky or improvise.

Back with the four in the field, Monoma had just finished clearing the 2nd floor, and as he was climbing the stairs, he radioed his teammate. "Shiozaki, any luck?"

"Afraid not, but I've sealed the roof and everything past the 5th floor and am making my way down to the 4th floor," Shiozaki replied as he slowly moved around.

"That's good, I'm on my way to the 3rd floor which means one of us…" He stopped when he saw something he hadn't expected, Midoriya seated in the middle of the hallway, a bokken at his side with his back turned to him. "I've spotted Midoriya."

"Where?" Shiozaki asked him.

"He's seated in the middle of the hallway with what looked to be a bokken in hand," Monoma replied, wondering what Midoriya's game was, as it couldn't be this simple. Even if he was just arrogant, he would be facing the stairs. No, this had to be a trap. He was trying to bait him into attacking him, but why?

"Bokken?" Shiozaki seemed confused by the term.

"Wooden sword. I don't remember him having that earlier, so your theory of creating wood seems to be true." Monoma said, narrowing his eyes as he tried to figure out what Midoriya was playing here, but then he blinked and…wait, what the hell?

"What? Where'd he go?" Monoma asked, looking around the place and not seeing Midoriya at all.

"What do you mean?" Shiozaki asked, sounding as concerned as he was right now.

"He vanished; he was right before me a second ago; now he's gone!" He whispered loudly in frustration. Stepping into the hallway proper, he looked around and saw there wasn't anywhere he could have gone; there were no doors or windows in sight.

"You know," He heard someone behind him and, without thinking, lashing out with his vine hair. Still, Midoriya jumped away, flipping in the air before landing in a crouch. Unbothered by that reflex, he continued to speak as if it never happened. "You should learn to whisper softer; I heard your entire conversation." Midoriya made his ears twitch, with Monoma narrowing his eyes as he wasn't sure what was happening.

"You should have taken me out when you had the chance." He told him, keeping his guard up as he struggled to figure out how Midoriya had just done that. Speed? All Might was fast to just vanish and reappear. No, that shouldn't be possible. Midoriya had a different kind of speed. Perhaps he went invisible? But wouldn't he have heard it? Even if those boots dampened the noise.

Midoriya could tell that the gears were turning in his head over that little trick he pulled. It had been easy; all he did was mask his tenet with Osaeru and walk right over to him. Standing at his feet' height, he gripped his bokken, having made it as short as a wakizashi rather than a full-length one due to the tight space of the hallway. "I could have, but this is training, is it not? What would be there to learn if I just knocked you out."

Reaching for his earpiece, he kept his eye on Monoma, who looked ready to strike at a moment's notice. Good, he had good instincts. "Kodai, we were right. They split, and Shiozaki's coming from up top." Midoriya informed his teammate; the reserved girl, having been waiting on her side of the building, started walking towards the stairs to head up and fend off Shiozaki.

"I'll handle it." Was her response as she cut the line, leaving the two to themselves as Midoriya smiled towards Monoma. However, it had an edge to it.

" If you want that bomb, you'll have to go through me." Monoma didn't reply with words but vines as a wave of them was sent towards Midoriya, who smiled as he swung his bokken to meet their threat.

Watching this play out, the students were confused as Monoma had merely let Midoriya approach him and acted spooked when he leaned over to talk to him. Even Vlad was caught off guard, though he hid this better than them. "Hold on, how the heck did Midoriya do that? Monoma didn't react at all to him walking towards him." Kaibara asked as the two started to fight, Monoma trying to keep Midoriya back with a mass of Shiozaki's vines. Still, his opponent was quick, avoiding the more prominent groups and swinging at the others, slicing through them despite using a wooden weapon.

"Maybe it's part of his quirk? Masking yourself from eyes but not cameras." Yanagi suggested, the girl finding Midoriya to be the pretty spooky one as with this, and the mystery that was his quirk, she would be lying if she claimed to not want to dig into this.

Awase groaned into his hand. "Great, so unless we replace our eyes with cameras, he'll be able to sneak up on us whenever he wants?" He was not looking forward to that.

"Not just your eyes. Monoma should have also heard him approaching, but he didn't." Honenuki added, though it wasn't wanted, as others started to complain that Midoriya might as well have 2 quirks about how in the hell this could fall under the same branch, and in the privacy of his mind, Vlad was starting to agree with them.

"Regardless of the how, there is the issue of why. If Izuku could sneak up on him, why didn't he handle him then and there?" Shishida broke off the discussion before it could proceed, as there was still one gleaming problem.

Tsubaraba shrugged. "Not sure, but he looks like he's enjoying this battle." The group noted that even as Monoma tried to burry him in vines, and the two seemed to exchange banter, Midoriya had yet to be caught, using one solid swing to slice clean through most of the vines, leaving the floor covered in what must be dozens of severed vines right now.

"Shiozaki and Kodai are fighting." Tsunotori directed their attention to the other encounter of the match

With the two girls, they starred the other down; Shiozaki composed while Kodai was aloof and passive. "So, the bomb is on the 3rd or 4th floor?" Shiozaki eventually asked, her loose vines rising at her mental command.

Reaching into her pocket, Kodai nodded her head. "It's on the 3rd; we wanted to place it in the middle of the building." Shiozaki narrowed her gaze just a little at that admission. She must have been confident she could keep her here, a dangerous level of confidence that she would say bordered on arrogance.

She must ensure she taught her better, which could come after this. "I thank you for telling me that, so please surrender."

"No." Kodai's response was to the point.

"Very well," Shiozaki sent her vines towards her to try and snatch her up. Still, Kodai threw what she had grabbed from her pocket to her before bringing her hands together with the quiet utterance of 'release'. That was revealed to be a toy train, supersized and crushing her vines underneath it. "Where did she?" Shiozaki asked, as she was sure this place wouldn't have such trivial items.

"I carry stuff on me for my quirk," Kodai answered her question, tapping the pouch that her costume came with attached to the belt. Bringing her hands together, she said, "Release." Which shrunk the toy back to its standard size, which Shiozaki used as a chance to try and advance, but was met with another obstacle, this one being an old action figure. She managed to move her vines to catch it, only the object to shrink while another came.

Avoiding the tire-sized coin thrown at her, Shiozaki found herself on the back foot as, in this cramped space, she couldn't use her quirk to its best potential, not without needless destruction to the structure. She refused to be that kind of hero. Kodai knew this, so she wasn't bothering to risk a capture attempt backfiring on her, so she merely chose to run out the clock. "If I can keep you bottle-necked here, you lose."

She saw the vines growing in number as Shiozaki doubled her efforts. Still, she threw another toy train, making it large enough to block off the entire hallway before reaching for her earpiece. "I have Shiozaki on the 4th floor, I'll keep her away from the bomb."

"And I'll handle Monoma," She could hear his battle if it could be called that, as all she heard was faint demands from Monoma andwhat sounded like something being cut. Did he have a knife on him? "Man, this is fun! Talk later." Midoriya ended the call, leaving her to focus on this, but it was off that he seemed so engaged in this; perhaps she'll learn more about him as the school year went on.

"Weird." She didn't get a chance to think about it as dozens of vines grabbed the train holding Shiozaki back, thorns jutting out of them before crushing it along with parts of the wall.

Kodai merely blinked when she saw this, as the mass of vines that approached her now had thorns covering them, clearly strong ones if the remains of her train were of any indication. Bringing her hands together again, she shrunk it normally, leaving tiny pieces of wood and plastic on the floor. "Was that smart? Wreaking the walls along with the barrier."

In contrast to her calm, deadpan, Shiozaki grew irritated with the situation. "I just need to force my way through, as frustrating as that is."

Kodai nodded, kneeling and picking up a small piece of the wall. It wasn't as heavy as she had thought it would be. "True, but how do you plan to do that when I'm slowing you down."

"By destroying what obstacles you place before me and capturing you." Shiozaki's barbed vines raced towards her again, only to be met by a group of boulder-sized rocks appearing out of nowhere.

"Walls are things, too, and you just broke it," Kodai explained, touching more of the rocks and using her quirk to supersize them, forming an over-strengthened wall even as Shiozaki's vines worked through the gaps to grasp at them and smash them to pieces. But she eventually lost her patience. Her growl sounded very out of place with the usually calm, serene girl, and her vines destroyed more than half the rock wall between them.

"That seems bad," Kodai muttered before turning around and jogging off. "Bye."

Shiozaki felt her ire grow just a little as the source of it fled, but she took a breath to calm herself lest she let anger guide her. 'She's fleeing? She must think she'll have a closer position, but that means she's leading me to the device. All I need is to know the room and one of my vines can touch it; that should count as a capture.' Destroying the last of the wall, she gave chase, only to turn the corner and see it blocked off by supersized random items.

She may move up that discipline for Kodai.

Monoma felt like he was hitting a brick wall as he continued to try to defeat Midoriya. Still, the boy was too quick for him, and despite using nothing but a bokken, he was slicing through almost everything he threw at him; the stupid wooden practice sword that even showed signs of wear and tear would have no cracks.

"How is that even possible?" He asked as he leaned onto the wall, his head included as he sent off more vines towards Midoriya, who sliced them in two before jumping back to avoid the rest.

"Now, where's the fun in telling you?" He replied before he blinked. "Oh?" He jumped up, avoiding the leg snare Monoma had set up as he flipped midair so that his legs were facing the ceiling, which Midoriya used to kick off towards Monoma, striking him across the chest with his weapon as he flew back.

"Dammit!" Monoma cursed in anger and pain from the blow that dropped him to his knees. He knew he would have a bruise shaped like a line across his chest later. Midoriya turned to face him, still not finishing him.

"Nice try there, distracting me with a swarm and laying some of your vines in wait. You even moved yourself to the wall so I wouldn't notice them still attached to your head." Midoriya instead complimented his trick, as if he had been anyone else, it probably would have been in a bind right about now.

His chest still sore from that counterattack, Monoma turned to glare at him, just a little as he was running out of ideas. "Then how did you see them coming?"

"Have you ever tried to sneak up on a cat on the prowl? It's impossible." Again, Midoriya didn't give him a direct answer, speaking in metaphors and cat comparisons, as he had been this entire time. "But why don't we spice things up, don't we?" He dashed towards him, but a moment later, the jet vanished again as Monoma felt something hit his shoulder, making him take a few steps back.

"What the heck?!" Turning, he saw Midoriya standing but holding something in his hand that made him go wide-eyed, especially as he tried squeezing his left hand and found it empty. "When did you…" Midoriya's smile looked less playful and more akin to a cat that had caught a canary.

"I noticed that you never let off this, so my bet is that it's important to your quirk. Probably a time limit, and this," He held it up before tossing it back into the sea of severed vines, not so much a needle in a haystack as it was hay in a haystack. "Was keeping that up."

"Dammit." His chest was still sore from that strike, and the shoulder tackle he must have used to disguise him from grabbing Shiozaki's vine from his hand wasn't helping his case. 'My time limits shouldn't be too much of a problem, but that means I've wasted too much time fighting him.' They would have spent a little over 6 minutes fighting if they had kept the time right. That meant he had less than 4 left to mind that bomb as he was smart enough to know he was out-classed, only still in the fight because Midoriya wantedhim in the fight like that wasn't a bitter pill to swallow.

'If the sounds I'm hearing are right, then it means that Shiozaki is managing to push Kodai back, I just need a way to get past him and meet up with her, but how?' Looking at the floor, he saw the many vines he had already lost and knew that he didn't have much left, as Shiozaki's quirk wasn't unlimited. He couldn't pull a trick like before; that didn't work. Midoriya would see it…coming from a mile away.

But what if that was what he wanted? A game plan came together in his head, a one-shot deal, but he could live with that if it panned out.

Letting go of his bruised ribs, he smirked towards Midoriya, who looked confused by the expression. "You say you can react to anything I throw at you, then try on this." He sent out a dozen vines towards him, and when he moved to jump, he sent another couple to try and ensnare him again.

Of course, Midoriya saw right through this and managed to evade it with ease. "Really? That was," He paused when he saw that Monoma was gone. In his place was a wall-to-wall barrier made of vines tightly packed together. "Slow. Clever." He could hear him on the other side, panting from what must have been exhaustion before he ran off.

Reaching for his earpiece, he notified Kodai of this change. "Hey, Kodai, Monoma got past me and is heading for the bomb, I'll be there in a second." He swung his bokken at the vines, the weapon still flowing with his tenet to strength and sharpen it, only this time, when he cut through the vines, he saw that it was really thick.

"Make that a few seconds. Someone didn't want me to follow." Midoriya pulled his arm back to slice at this till he got through.

"That won't hold him for long." Monoma thought to himself as he raced away from where he had been getting his hands to him, his hair bald as he used up all his vines to erect that massive barrier to keep Midoriya busy.

"Shiozaki, where are you?" He asked over the comments, hoping she had better luck than him.

What he heard sounded both irritated and tired. "Approaching the stairs to the 3rd floor. Kodai slowed me down." He didn't have time to wonder what Kodai could have done to get that sort of reaction out of her as he saw something in a room with a slightly ajar door. Opening the door, he saw a large object poorly concealed by a tarp. He smiled and sighed in relief as he raced for it. All it would take was a single touch, and they'd win.

"I think I found it, we-" His hand ripped the tarp off only to be met with what he could say, with a stone in his gut, was a familiar sight of wood. "Win?"

"What? What is the issue?" Shiozaki asked him as he felt like growling and cursing up a storm as he looked up at the crudely made wooden bomb; no way this was what they were meant to capture, not when he was in this match.

"It's a fake! Dammit, they swapped out the real one for one of Midoriya's wooden constructs!" Monoma yelled over his coms, rubbing his bald head in frustration as he let Shiozaki's quirk rescind, but to his mild horror, he still felt his head was bald.

"Right, you are." His eyes shot up around the room to try to find the source of it, but no matter where he looked, he didn't see Midoriya. "Shame that you'll never get to see the real thing."

"How did you catch up so fast?" He asked, looking behind every box, lifting other tarps, even checking the sole window to see if he was out there.

Midoriya's chuckle only made him sweat, which didn't sound comforting. "Oh, that's easy. Instead of wasting time trying to get through your final barrier, I went downstairs through a window. Much easier."

"So, climbed out one window, went up a floor and entered through another?" Monoma questioned, trying to buy time so that he could locate him. However, he didn't know what he'd do after losing Shiozaki's vine, and he had already let the quirk vanish from its 'holding' spot. Usually, he'll just copy his opponent's quirk, but that wasn't an option right now!

"What, is that so hard to believe?" He just knew from that response that Midoriya was messing with him. He had him trapped like a rat and was only deciding on when to take him out.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you asked, Midoriya made his decision. "But that doesn't matter much anymore. I could run out the clock, but why use up the full time to finish this?" Suddenly, he reappeared as if phasing back into reality. In his arms was a cartoonishly big hammer, which he swung into Monoma's chest. Monoma felt something crack at the same time as all the air was expunged from his body as he was sent flying, his limbs noodles as he crashed into the wall, collapsing on the floor in a moaning, painful heap.

"A-a hammer...!" Monoma struggled to get air, and he knew that he must have cracked a rib from there as he glared at the culprit, who walked up, resting his hammer on his shoulder. "Really?"

"I didn't swing it that hard. You're still conscious, aren't you?" Midoriya shrugged, though he was still smiling as it had always wanted to pull that stunt. Monoma only muttered something about him being crazy under his breath as Midoriya whipped out his capture tape and wrapped it around Monoma's leg, the boy not bothering to fight when he knew he had been bested.

"Monoma is been captured; he's eliminated!" Vlad announced for all to hear as Midoriya reached a hand towards Monoma, who blinked in surprise at the gesture. Looking up, he saw that Midoriya still had a smile on his face, but it lacked any malice, arrogance or taunting presence. It was a friendly smile, the type you'll give someone when you say that you hoped they had a lovely day and meant it.

With his hand still out, Midoriya asked something. "No hard feelings?"

"There are some tough feelings," Monoma started, but still took the offered hand to help him up with a grunt, his ribs and other sores making themselves known to him. "But I'll deal with them with some help." As he got up, he shut off his earpiece, wanting to say something he didn't want Vlad to hear.

"That's great," Midoriya replied but found that Monoma hadn't let go of his hand; looking up, the bald guy was staring intently at him.

"I want to talk about your quirk," Midoriya's brow creased at that; did he want to make a guess? Instead, Monoma leaned in, wrapping a hand around him like a hug to mask him, shutting off Midoriya's earpiece in a move that could quickly come off as accidental. Now, with a moment of privacy. "Or lack of one." Once he said it, he turned them back on, hoping that Vlad would assume it was an error. As Midoriya looked at him, he just grew a second hard.

"When?" He broke from his victorious foe.

"Later, right now, I'm just gonna let this end so I can go see Recovery Girl," Monoma replied as he made his way out, hoping there was a path he hadn't sealed off. Leaving Midoriya to look at his back as he went, wondering what he'd do if Monoma asked too many questions or threatened to out him as Izuku liked his friends; he really did, but he wasn't sure he could trust them with them. He didn't want to look at him with hate, disgust, or pity.