Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry Young Lady. But you can’t be a hero, not without a quirk.”

Those were his words. All Might’s words. Fifteen years of idolisation crushed in a single moment.

The words rattled around Lauren Midoriya’s head as she trudged back home. The Number One hero himself had said it was impossible. She had to face it; she’d been deluding herself. Hiding away in notebooks and watching videos online.

Lauren sighed, wiping the freshest wave of tears from her eyes. She’d need to find a better dream. What that dream was, she didn’t know. Maybe she should just focus on what was going well right now.

Her grades? One of the best in her class.

Her mom? Never been closer.

Her body? Finally starting to improve.

Right. Her body. The HRT.

She’d been taking estradiol and spiro for a little over two months now. And she was just starting to see some effects. Barely anything, more a trick of the light than any actual changes. But Lauren swore that her chest was at least a little puffier than it had been at the start of the year.

But still, take away her hero dream and what was left? A quirkless trans girl with good grades but no idea where to put them. Hardly the most inspiring description.

The sky had been getting dark with clouds for a long time now, and it finally started to rain. There was a rumble of distant thunder, and within moments, sheets of water were hammering down from above. A few seconds later, and Lauren was already shivering.

She needed to get inside, fast.

Lauren scanned the street for an open door, somewhere, anywhere she could duck into while she waited for the rain to clear. Her eyes fell upon the old neon lights of Night Sky Coffee. She’d hidden in there once before, when Kacchan was chasing her. The owner was an older trans man who went only by Kanta. Perfect.

The bell by the door rang cheerfully as Lauren pushed it open. There café smelled unsurprisingly of coffee, with just a hint of spices. The lights were warm, a perfect contrast to the oppressive gray outside. It was busy as well; all the tables were full except for one lonely booth near the back.

Lauren nodded to Kanta as she crossed the room and sat down. She sat her backpack down on the ground and rested her head on her hand. She didn’t want to be rude, but she wasn’t in the mood for coffee, or tiny cakes, or even being talked to right now. She glanced down at her bag, and could sense her notebook burning a hole in it.

The notebook now bore All Might’s very own signature. That technically made it another piece in her collection of memorabilia for the number one hero. An hour ago he was her idol, now he was just another person in the long list of people who told her she couldn’t be a hero.

But at least he’d be the last. Lauren sat back and closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds around her. The constant chatter of the other patrons, the incessant beating of rain on windows, the mechanical hissing of coffee machines.

There was another ring of the bell. Another customer. Lauren opened her eyes, but then her breath caught in her throat as she saw the new arrival.

It was a man, tall, broad and muscular, with short spiky blond hair and an eyepatch over a scarred left eye. He looked like an older, more beat up Kacchan. He was wearing a red tank top and green pants, and was looking around for a place to sit.

The only seat left was the one across from Lauren. She started to tremble as he approached, one hand around the strap of her backpack. The man reached the booth and loomed over her. Lauren gulped.

“I, I can leave i-if you want.” She squeaked out.

The man chuckled darkly and shook his head. “Aw, don’t run. I’m not a monster.”

Lauren’s whole body locked up as he sat across from her. There was a heavy silence between them for several moments. A police car’s siren screamed past the café. She could feel her heart beating in her chest, and her breathing felt impossibly loud. Meanwhile the man across from her filled the booth casually, it felt like she was sitting across from a lion.

The man tilted his head as if he was curious, “You nervous kid?”

Lauren flinched as he spoke, and found her mouth responding on autopilot. “J-just a rough day really…”

“What?” The man scoffed, “Bombed a test or some crap like that?”

“Well… more like got told to jump off a roof, got attacked by a villain and my idol told me to give up on my dreams.” She blurted out.

The man paused. “Damn. That is a rough day.”

“Yeah…” Lauren made an exhaling sound that wanted to be a laugh. “H-how was your day?”

The man smirked when she asked that question on autopilot. His good eye looked up, as if reminiscing.

“Good day really, won my fight, and that’s all I really need out of life.”

“Wait…” Lauren’s heart jumped, “Won your fight? You’re a fighter?”

“One of the best.” The man grinned proudly.

Without thinking, Lauren spoke again.

“Could you teach me how to fight?”

There was a beat of silence. The man raised an eyebrow, and his lips curled into a mocking smile.

“What does a pipsqueak like you want fighting lessons for?”

Lauren’s face turned bright red when she realised what she said. She slunk back in her seat, trying to make herself as small as possible. The man kept looking at her like a hungry wolf eyes a young and frail deer. Unlike her previous words, her next sentence came out like pulling teeth.

“W-well… I really want to be a hero and… no one thinks I can since I don’t have a quirk and then there’ll be strength loss from the HRT and I just… I’m hopeless.”

“Wait…?” The man’s smirk widened, “You want to be a hero? Damn, well at least you look like you get into fights. Don’t look like you win many though.”

Lauren gasped slightly. Before realising that her uniform was still partially singed from her earlier encounters with Kacchan. Then a globule of green slime dripped out of her hair and onto her table. That alone made her flinch again.

“I… no…” She admitted, eyes downcast, “I get bullied, a lot. For a lot of things… but always the hero stuff. I can’t be a hero without a quirk.”

“So why’d you ask me to train you?” The man leaned forward.

Lauren’s shoulders rose up as she pressed her index fingers against each other. “I… it just slipped out…”

“Well,” The man sat back in the booth, “Heroes are the ones who win right, that’s what the TV likes to tell you? You know how to fight, you know how to win, you make yourself a hero.”

“Well, being a hero is more than just winning.” Lauren said, slightly defensively, “It’s about h-helping people and making them feel safe.”

“Yeah, yeah yeah.” The man waved his hand dismissively, “But you can’t do that if you can’t win fights. You’d die too easily.”

Lauren sighed, “I guess…”

“Now listen here girl.” The man leaned forward again, looking amused. “I ain’t got the time to train ya. But I can give you the address of the guy who trained me. He’s a real tough bastard. He’ll whip you right into shape. Just get yourself some kickboxing gear when you show up.”

Lauren nodded, “Right. Th-thank you.”

“On the corner between Theatre and Red Street, look for ‘Black Knuckle Kickboxing Gym’. I hope you find what you’re looking for.” He said bluntly.

The man glanced past her, “Huh, looks like the rain stopped.”

Lauren poked her head out the booth and looked through the window. “Yeah, it is… I, I think I’ll be going now.”

She picked her bag up and awkwardly shuffled out of the booth. The man kept tracking her with his eye.

“I’ll stay here, seat’s nice.” He said simply. “Stay safe pipsqueak.”

“You too.” Lauren nodded, slinging the backpack over her shoulder, “Thanks Mr…”

“Imasuji.” The man said bluntly, “Goto Imasuji. Now scram.”

Lauren nodded again, quickly, before turning and hurrying out of the café. She didn’t look back. Whoever that Imasuji man was, he was terrifying. Her heart was still pounding frantically as she headed home through the puddle riddled streets. She wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to see him again. But she had an address now. She had an idea of what she could do.

 

The sun was getting low by the time she was ascending the steps outside her apartment, bathing Musutafu in an orange glow. Lauren gripped the door handle, bad turned it open. The moment the latch clicked open, she heard shuffling from the other side.

An instant later the handle was ripped from her hands as her mother flung the door open. Inko grabbed her daughter and yanked her into her arms, crying profusely. Lauren hastily hugged her back, already feeling tears pricking in her eyes despite not knowing why.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” She asked hesitantly.

Inko pulled away, still gripping her daughter’s shoulders. “It’s Katsuki, your f-friend. He got attacked.”

“What?!” Lauren gasped, “When? How?”

“J-just now, it was on the news. L-look, I filmed some of it.”

Inko produced her phone with a shaking hand and showed it to Lauren. The footage was blurry, but she could make out the TV against the rest of the room. The news was playing, it took a moment for Lauren to realise what was happening. It was a street on fire, heroes and civilians gathered either side of the barricades. And in the middle of it all was the sludge villain All Might had saved her from, and he was currently engulfing a thrashing, screaming Katsuki Bakugo.

“Kacchan…” she exhaled.

Inko jerked the phone away, still trembling. “If it wasn’t for that sudden rainstorm putting out the fire… I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

Lauren nodded in agreement, “That would’ve been bad… C-can we sit down, for a moment? I’ve had, a day.”

Inko’s eyes went wide and she started nodding rapidly, “Of course, of course. Come in, sit.”

Inko ushered her daughter inside, into the warmth of their apartment. They sat down, side by side on the couch. Lauren clutched her backpack in her lap. She looked up and met her mother’s eyes, which were already brimming with unshed tears.

“Mom,” Lauren sighed, “Today was rough, b-but it worked out okay, I promise.”

“Okay,” Inko said, folding her hands in her lap. She was shaking, but she was clearly trying to put a brave face on for her daughter. Lauren appreciated that. “What happened sweetheart?”

Lauren took a deep breath, then began to speak.

“So, things started out f-fine. Went to school, saw a new hero, Aldera was doing their career day. A-and then… Kacchan, he, he burned my notebook and told me, if I wanted to be a hero, I- I should jump off a building a-and hope for a better quirk in my next life.”

“He what?!” Inko’s eyes went wide as she and Lauren burst into tears.

Inko wrapped her arms around Lauren and pulled her into her, letting her daughter cry into her shoulder. Lauren felt her mother’s hands smooth down her back, and the trembling in her body began to subside. They stayed like that for several long moments until Inko reached one hand into Lauren’s fluffy mop of hair and started gently massaging her scalp.

“Before you say anything else,” Inko said through a voice crack, “I’m going to transfer you to another school, okay. Away from Katsuki. Musutafu Girls’ Central. Where me and Mitsuki went, don’t worry, they’re inclusive.”

“Mom,’ Lauren pulled away to look Inko in the eyes, “Why-?”

Inko sighed a deep, heavy sigh. “This isn’t new for Katsuki is it…?”

Lauren shook her head slowly, “No…”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Inko said, worry making her voice waver.

“B-because he was my oldest friend.” Lauren blurted out, “And I didn’t want you to worry.”

The tears were streaming down Inko’s face now, “You know I worry, and if he does those things to you, he’s not your friend. So you’re moving schools, that’s not debatable.”

Lauren’s breath caught in her chest. Her mom was really doing this for her? Without her even needing to ask. After all this time, away from Kacchan felt, nice.

Lauren tried to blink away tears, “Th-thank you…”

The silence that followed was gentle, almost kind. But the implication of the rest of the day Lauren had hung heavy in the air. Eventually, her mother broke the silence.

“What else happened?” Inko asked.

“Well, after school, I was walking home and a villain attacked me, same one that attacked Kacchan.” Lauren said hesitantly.

Before Inko started to cry again, Lauren quickly finished.

“B-but All Might saved me, I’m okay.”

Inko’s shoulders dropped noticeably as she exhaled in relief. She smiled faintly.

“Well, that’s good that it turned out well.” Inko said with deliberate control in her voice. “And meeting All Might, you always wanted that.”

Lauren hummed solemnly, “Yeah… but you know how they say not to meet your heroes…”

“Oh sweetheart,” Inko gripped Lauren’s hand tightly, but reassuringly.

“He said, that I couldn’t be a hero, not without a quirk.” Lauren gripped back to still the shaking in her hands.

“I know hearing that is hard,” Inko said sympathetically, “especially from him.”

Lauren nodded, before forcing a determined smile, “But I’m not giving up yet.”

Inko looked shocked, “What do you mean.”

Lauren clenched her free hand, “I met a man. He was… scary, but he gave me an idea of how to be a hero.”

“And what was that Lauren?” Inko asked, sounding more apprehensive.

“I… I need to learn how to fight. I have an address, I just need gear.” She said hurriedly, as if speed could change her mother’s reaction.

“You want to what?” Inko gasped.

“I know it sounds bad.” Lauren put both hands out in a placating gesture. “But I’ve been sitting around for too long. I was never going to be a hero just making notes. I’d die too easily. I need to train, I have to try. I can’t give up without putting any effort in.”

“Oh, I see.” Inko said anxiously, “And there’s nothing I can say to convince you not to?”

Lauren shook her head, “No. I’m sorry but, I have to try. I’ll pay for everything out of my allowance I-“

Inko raised her hand to shush her. “If I can’t stop you, then I’ll support you. Just please, promise to not go trying to get yourself hurt.”

Lauren nodded, “I won’t, I swear.”

Inko sighed heavily, “Then I suppose it’s settled. What gear do you need dear?”

“Imasuji, that’s his name by the way said I needed kickboxing gear, so that I guess.” Lauren answered, her mood lightening.

“Well, I suppose that’s settled then.” Inko smiled warmly, though not without effort, “We’ll start looking in the morning. Until then, get changed, and I’ll make katsudon for dinner, okay?”

Lauren’s eyes lit up. “My favourite.”

“Yes, now hurry up I need to get cooking.” Inko said, patting Lauren on the back.

Lauren stood up, smiling, and headed for her room. She was quickly hit by the sheer quantity of All Might posters and other memorabilia. The army of beaming smiles and bright suits had lost their lustre now. Before she even thought about changing, she stood in front of the largest poster of the lot. The New Year’s commemorative one she’d bought 3 years ago, the first one she’d bought as Lauren.

With heavy hands, she reached up and unstuck it from the wall, the blu tack still stuck to the back of the poster as she rolled it up. She set it down on the bed and sighed.

Lauren changed quickly, removing her Aldera uniform for what she realised would be the last time. On went the sweatpants and the dark green hoodie she loved so much. Her silhouette was a little shapeless right now, but shapeless was good. Shapeless was safe, she liked shapeless.

She sat back on the bed, taking a deep breath and letting the air fill her lungs. There was a lot to unpack today. But all signs pointed towards things being different. A new school was one thing, but now she had a whole new path forward.

All Might had told her she couldn’t be a hero. But one terrifying stranger had offered her a solution. Maybe it wouldn’t lead to anything. Maybe she’d flop and fail and be right back to square one of finding something else to do with her life. But now she wasn’t going to give up without trying.

Lauren made a fist with her right hand, then another with her left. Black Knuckle Kickboxing Gym, that was where she was headed, no matter what she saw. And even if she couldn’t stomach it there, she’d go to a different gym, and train there. One thing she knew for certain is that she wouldn’t give up now. She’d wasted too much time.

Dinner would still be a while, so while she waited, she might as well get started on planning her new hero self. Lauren went to her desk and laid out her Hero Notes for the Future Volume 13. She flipped to a new page, the edges still singed from Katsuki’s explosions. Next she sketched out herself, well, an idealised version anyway.

Then came the suit ideas. She knew it had to be green, she loved green, and her red shoes were definitely staying. She added reinforced gloves, body armour on her torso and legs, even some neck protection. But one thing Lauren realised as she was sketching the neck, was that she hadn’t modelled it like All Might’s smile. Gone too was the cowl that mimicked his spiked hair tufts.

Lauren supposed that maybe this was a good thing. All Might wasn’t the one who told her she could be a hero. Dressing like him now would be… awkward. No, Lauren Midoriya would be her own hero, on her own terms. And that felt right.

Chapter Text

Lauren sat on the bench against the wall during lunch, watching the other girls talk and chat amongst themselves. She opened her bento and looked inside. Rice, chicken, a few vegetables, she smiled just a little.

Her first day so far at Musutafu Girls’ Central had been, calm. She’d been welcomed politely, not harassed for, any part of her, and her first few lessons had passed without issue. Unfortunately, despite it still being early in the school year, this was still the final year of middle school, all the friendship groups had more or less closed ranks, leaving her the odd one out.

At least no one was coming to blow up her notebooks.

Lauren was about to pick up her chopsticks when she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Someone had sat down next to her. She turned her head to see who it was. It was a girl she hadn’t seen before, with long lilac hair. She had her own bento sat in her lap.

Lauren cleared her throat and waved gently. “H-hi.”

The girl’s head whipped around, one piercing purple eye locking onto her, the other covered by an eyepatch. Meeting two new people in a week who both had eyepatches, what a coincidence, but at least this one had a star design on it. The girl shuffled over so she was closer to Lauren on the bench, smile wide.

“Hi! I’m Saki Nakashima.” She said, holding her hand out for a handshake.

Lauren accepted it, Saki’s grip was, surprisingly strong.

“You’re the new girl, Lauren Midoriya, right?” She asked, stumbling a little over the ‘L’ in Lauren.

Lauren nodded, “Yeah… that’s me.”

“Brilliant.” Saki clapped her hands together, “Because someone new showing up is definitely newsworthy, and I just so happen to run the school’s newspaper. The Curiosity.”

Lauren blinked twice, incredulous. “Newsworthy? I’m just a new student. O-or is it because I’m… me?”

Saki shook her head, sighing dejectedly. “Fine you got me. But if I want to hit the big leagues in journalism, I need to practice writing articles, as many as possible. So… would you mind giving me an interview?”

Lauren looked around the busy cafeteria, no one was looking at them. She looked back to Saki, who was gazing at her with hope in her eye, and nodded.

“Sure.”

“Brilliant.” Saki grinned, setting her bento aside and retrieving a notepad and pen from her bag, “So where did you come from Midoriya?”

Lauren straightened her posture and replied evenly, “Aldera Middle School.”

Saki nodded quickly, scribbling notes down, “Mhm, mhm, aaand, what’s your quirk?”

“Um… oh…” Lauren looked away for a moment, blushing. “A-actually I’m quirkless…”

Saiki glanced up from her notepad, before making a light ‘hm’ and writing something her notepad.

“Got it. Aaand, what do you want to do with your life?”

Lauren smiled, confident in her answer for the first time in a while. “I’m going to be a hero.”

Saki laughed, not mockingly, simply surprised. “Woah, big dreams over here! Best of luck to you.”

Lauren suddenly felt bashful, “Wait, really? Even though I just said I was quirkless?”

“Of course.” Saki grinned, “Gotta aim high right? Besides, all that talk about flashy heroes comparing their quirks is just noise. At the end of the day they’re just people helping people. You’re honest, you don’t have some power to hide behind.”

Lauren laughed involuntarily at that, “Honest? Well I suppose there’s that.”

“Perfect,” Saki put her pen to the paper again, “What inspired you to be a hero?”

“Well…” Lauren drummed her fingers on her thighs, “I watched a lot of All Might videos growing up so, I suppose he’s a big inspiration. But it’s not the whole story.”

“And what’s that?” Saki leaned in.

“Well, recently I met this guy, and he gave me a place where I could train properly. I’m heading there later today.” Lauren explained.

“And this ‘guy’, what was he like?” Saki asked quickly, writing faster.

“Terrifying.” Lauren admitted, “But also, blunt, which was good. I don’t think I would’ve really started if it wasn’t for him.”

“So our newest student’s getting life advice from a villain, cool story!” Saki’s smile broadened.

“Wh-what!?” Lauren sputtered, “I never said that!”

“Well…” Saki tapped her pen against the notepad, “It’ll get people looking. A good headline’s the most important thing, according to Miss Kizuki.”

“Kizuki?” Lauren asked, “There’s not a Miss Kizuki in this school is there?”

Saki shook her head, “I’m talking about Chitose Kizuki, silly. Executive Director of Shoowaysha Publishing.”

“Oooooh.” Lauren nodded in understanding, Shoowaysha was the largest publishing company in Japan, and if Chitose Kizuki was the executive director of it, then she supposed that made her the ‘All Might of the news.’ Maybe they weren’t so different.

“So that’s me. But this isn’t about me. This is about you.” Saki smiled, twirling her pen, “So, how have you found MGC so far?”

“Well, it’s been really nice.” Lauren admitted, “Everyone just lets me, breathe. I think I’ll be happy here.”

“Well that’s wonderful to hear. Any details you want to share?” Saki said, leaning in closer.

Lauren shook her head slightly wistfully, “No, you’re the first person I’ve had a proper conversation with. But really compared to everything I’ve been through before, the quiet’s been nice.”

Saki’s eye lit up, “So you’ve got a backstory eh? Alright, out with it.”

She put her pen near Lauren’s face as if holding out a microphone. She looked curious, too curious. Lauren leaned back, biting her lip. She wanted details. Details Lauren wasn’t sure if she wanted to give.

She put her hands up defensively, “It’s nothing too dramatic, I swear.”

Saki pouted, “Fine… just give me an overview.”

Lauren scratched the back of her neck, “I guess I could do that… but I also think you could guess.”

“I could,” Saki shrugged, “But that’s bad journalism.”

Lauren sighed, “Okay, well… I suppose.”

She took a deep breath, bracing herself to reveal a bit of the truth. Lauren didn’t need to give away everything, just enough to satisfy Saki.

“Well, being quirkless and wanting to be a hero didn’t really go together, according to my peers anyway. They bullied me all the way until recently, coming out didn’t change much. Some people were weird about it but, well I suppose you could say they respected my gender, but not… me.”

Saki nodded, intrigued, “Interesting. Well, I’m glad to hear that we’re better.”

“Yes,” Lauren agreed, “Yes you are.”

Saki snapped her notebook shut. “Well, that’s all for me. I’ll see you around, and read my article.”

“Nakashima, wait.” Lauren said hesitantly as Saki began to stand up, “C-can we just… sit together and eat, maybe?”

Saki slowly lowered herself back onto the bench, “Oh, sure. I could probably draft some stuff while I’m sat here as well.”

Lauren smiled, “Really? That’d be nice. I’ve never really eaten lunch with anyone before, not for a while at least.”

“Well consider this a change for the better.” Saki grinned, opening her bento.

They ate in peace for the rest of the period, occasionally broken up by one of the pair commenting on the goings on of the cafeteria. An untied shoelace here, a stumble there, the pandemic of rolled skirts. Lauren even quietly noticed another girl with a trans flag pin on her bag, that made her smile. It was reassuring to know that she wasn’t the only one. Every now and then Saki scribbled something down in her notebook. Lauren made a mental note to buy the next issue of The Curiosity.

By the time the bell rang, and the next period started, Lauren was full and relaxed.

“Well, off to history.” Saki jumped to her feet, clearly excited.

“You like history too?” Lauren smiled, “I thought I was the only one.”

“Nah, it’s the best.” Saki grinned back.

“Too bad we don’t have it at the same time then.” Lauren said with a little bit of sadness. “I’ve got science.”

“Aw, that sucks.” Saki shook her head, commiserating, “Well, I suppose it’s goodbye for now then.”

Lauren nodded, “See you around then?”

“See you around.” Saki replied. “Oh, and The Curiosity comes out on Mondays, check it out.”

“I will.” Lauren said, meaning it.

They parted ways there, heading to their respective classes. Lauren felt just a little lighter on her feet. She had a friend, a real one who didn’t belittle her. Who wanted to talk to her. Sure it was because of an interview but, she didn’t have to interview her, not really. It felt nice, being noticed like that.

But now it was time for science.

---

Saiko Intelli walked through the halls of Seiai Academy, a stack of books on military tactics cradled in her arms, a flask of tea bouncing against her hip. She needed to finish these in her study period before afternoon drills. She hated drills, an intellect of her capacity was wasted on such trivial pursuits as exercise. One day she’d have sidekicks to do that for her.

She was the tactical queen of Class Athena already after all. Her roommate, Hikari Ozaku’s quirk, Hologram, was a perfect complement to hers. Saiko had no doubt that she would become her sidekick after graduation.

Two figures were approaching from the other direction. At the lead, Seiai’s headmistress, Kei, a humanoid insect approximately the size of a toddler, and nearly as intelligent as Saiko herself. Behind her followed a tall woman with voluptuous black hair, Miharu Sakuma, homeroom teacher of third year Class Persephone.

Kei clicked her wings and the pair headed into a classroom. Normally, Saiko would’ve kept walking, but as she passed the door, she heard something that piqued her interest.

“This isn’t working Sakuma.” Kei chittered.

Saiko’s stopped walking the moment she processed that. What wasn’t working? And why was the headmistress so agitated. She took a step towards the door and pressed her ear to it.

“Define ‘this.’” Sakuma said, her tone controlled.

“The graduates from this colony.” Kei answered, terse, “They’re not making the impact they need to. Not compared to the ones the rat’s school is producing.”

“You mean U.A.?” Sakuma assumed, “Are you saying we’re being outperformed?”

“Of course.” Kei responded, “This school does everything it can to turn its larva into the brightest, strongest queen bees possible, and yet what do we have to show for it? Nothing. Our only graduate in the Top 10 is Ryukyu, and Burnin sold out to Endeavour. And from where I’m sitting, we don’t have anyone who could compete with U.A.’s graduates in our current crop.”

Saiko hear Sakuma deliberately adjust herself in her seat before replying.

“Are you saying our teaching is… insufficient, Headmistress?”

Kei scoffed, “Of course not. It’s simply we are not receiving the raw potential our competitors are receiving. U.A., Shiketsu, even Ketsubutsu, receive applicants who simply have higher potential.”

“And why do you think that is Headmistress?” Sakuma asked.

“Reputation.” Kei answered bitterly, “The rest of Japan sees this school as a club for the wealthy, where girls of status simply purchase their hero licences while we teach them nothing but how to act like a hero, rather than how to be one.”

Saiko set her jaw. She was not just purchasing her hero licence, she was demonstrating exactly why she deserved it every moment she spent here. So what were the teachers planning?

“What are you suggesting we do?” Sakuma inquired, her tone curious.

“We spread our net further. Open up our entrance exam, remove the fee to take it.” Kei said simply, “That ought to dispel any notion of being able to simply, pay for entry.”

Saiko took a step back. Remove the entrance exam fee? That was a shocking development, but at the same time, entirely logical. If Seiai wanted to look less classist, then removing the barriers to entry would surely help with this aim. However, would it be enough? She supposed without additional data it would be difficult to predict.

Difficult, but not impossible. Saiko set off walking again, adjusting her grip on her books. Tactics could wait; this query was too enticing to pass up. Luckily, she’d already prepared her good tea. Assuming no interruptions, she would be able to get her calculations done by the end of the period and the pride of a problem solved would help alleviate the humiliation of training.

---

She wasn’t supposed to be doing this. Students weren’t allowed in the classrooms unless they had a club to attend. But this was her best option for training what she needed to work on. And Mrs Zenita liked her, if she was caught here then she might be able to get away with a warning.

Ochako Uraraka set her bag down on the floor in the corner and took a deep breath. She interlaced her fingers and stretched them out, feeling her knuckles pop. She could do this. A packet of ginger biscuits was retrieved from the bag and placed on Mrs Zenita’s desk.

She’d already worked up Zero Gravity’s weight limit up to just over a ton on a single object. But she still felt the nausea creep in faster when she spread it across multiple items. Which is why she was here, in Mrs Zenita’s classroom, 35 desks and chairs arranged in obedient rows. Perfect material to practice floating.

She tried not to think about the pervasive smell of damp that pervaded the room. It was part of every room in the school really. But that didn’t matter, not right now. What mattered was the desks, and how many she could lift before her lunch came back up to say hello.

With the trash can repositioned to the centre of the room, the lid removed so if it really became an emergency she could just bend and hurl, Ochako felt ready to begin. She walked up to the first desk, and laid her hand on it. The familiar tingle in her fingers pulsed as Zero Gravity activated, and when she removed her hand, the desk began to float a couple of feet off the ground.

She barely felt the nausea in the beginning. The desk was such a small part of her quirk’s full capacity that her brain didn’t consider it worth registering unless she was looking for it. Ochako moved on to the next item, the chair. 2 objects floated, still nothing so far.

She kept going, lifting desks and chairs, until she had 5 of each suspended in midair. It was now that her stomach began to twist, ever so slightly. Like a ghostly hand had reached inside her and was lightly pressing against her organs.

Ochako took a deep breath through her nose and kept going. More pairs of objects rose into the air, bobbing in space like they were suspended in water. All the while though, the feeling in her stomach grew more uncomfortable. By the time Zero Gravity had claimed the tenth chair, it felt like butterflies had been let loose inside her.

She took one of the ginger biscuits and popped it in her mouth. Her jaw crunched down on it and the bitter taste spread across her tongue. Ochako swallowed, waiting a moment for the effects to take hold. The rolling in her stomach slowed, but only barely. For a moment she considered taking another one, but she shook that idea away. She needed to make them laugh, and pro heroes don’t get to take snack breaks.

She set the biscuit packet back down on Mrs Zenita’s desk and turned back to the classroom. Despite the ginger calming her nausea, the room in front of Ochako swam a little. She took a few, faltering steps forward, bracing herself with her knuckles on the closest non-floating desk.

“Come on Ochako…” She berated herself through gritted teeth, “You can do this.”

She turned her right hand around, and pressed down with her fingers. There was hesitation before she finally let her thumb make contact. Ochako almost immediately regretted it.

She stumbled back, trying to take deep breaths. It felt like her stomach was churning butter. The room pitched sideways and Ochako landed on her knees, scuffing them against the rough classroom carpet.

21 objects, but she hadn’t thrown up yet, she had to keep going. The chair still stood in front of her. Ochako reached out, but the leg multiplied before her eyes. She grasped uselessly towards it, but finally her fingers found metal.

No sooner as she had released her grip and let the chair rise up like a misshapen balloon, Ochako felt another wave of nausea crash through her. Her hands were trembling, her ears were ringing her vision blurring, and that was on top of feeling like her stomach was about to turn inside out.

Abort! Abort! Abort!

“Build a pyramid…” she muttered to herself.

Ochako fumbled as she tried to bring her fingers together into a triangle. Her vision was so blurred her hands looked like mutant octopi. She closed her eyes and let her fingertips find each other. She pressed her fingers pads into each other, visualising the pyramid in her head.

Two things happened when she did that.

The first was external, as gravity returned to the desks and chairs, they immediately dropped to the ground with a cacophony of clatters and scrapes. Some of them landed on their legs and stayed standing, others didn’t. Within moments the classroom was a mess.

The second thing that happened was internal. Releasing was always the worst part. The ghost hand that had lightly bothered her before now grabbed and squeezed, violently. Ochako could already taste the bile in her throat.

She barely made the scramble to the trash can before her stomach fully revolted and she retched. Ochako gripped the sides of the can, heaving as her lunch came up back up with a vengeance. Her skin had gone pale and clammy as she threw up the last remnants of what she’d eaten earlier, her legs trembling beneath her.

She knelt there for a moment, the acrid smell of her own vomit clinging to her nose. Ochako tried to take deep breaths, they tasted of acid. The floor was cold and rough underneath her, but the texture was welcome. It was several moments before she finally felt leaned away from the trash can.

But then her eyes wandered, and she spotted a note taped to the underside of one of the desks in the middle of the room. Wait, that was her desk, had someone left it there for her? Ochako crawled over and carefully the removed the note.

She sighed when she read it.

At the top of the note was her hero name, Uravity. She’d been open with it, known since she was 6 that this was the hero name she would use. Except, it was crossed out. Struck through with black ink like it was wrong somehow. Her chest tightened, and then she read what was written underneath it.

Uraratty.

Ochako gripped the paper tighter when she read that, her mind instantly going to her gym shoes, which at this point were held together by duct tape and hope, mostly the latter. Then she remembered the looks she got for the cheap lunches, the quiet but still noticeable snickering she heard whenever she brought her flip phone out, the way the gifts she gave were always the smallest in the pile at friends’ birthdays. She had to face it, she was ratty.

Rosaru wasn’t the richest town in Japan by any means, but that didn’t change the fact that the Uraraka household was broke. There just wasn’t much demand for construction work in this part of the country. No new buildings needed, and too few villain attacks for cleanup and rebuilding to be reliable. Which meant they were stuck barely scraping by, just about putting food on the table. Ochako insisted she was fine, smiled through it, but they needed to get out. Her parents deserved better, and she would be the person to give it to them.

That didn’t change the fact that having it called out so bluntly hurt.

But then her eyes drifted lower, a third word, written in a different pen to the first two. Clearly added later, by another, equally creative classmate.

Urafatty.

Something deep inside Ochako recoiled at that. She screwed up the paper into a ball as she felt tears already pricking at the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t cry. She wasn’t even that big. Apart from the fact that her stomach stuck out and her thighs were huge and her hips were wide and-

Ochako crushed that thought down. Heroes weren’t allowed to worry about what they saw in the mirror, even if it was disgusting. She tossed the note away, and heard it land in the trash can, complete with a little squelch as it sunk into her vomit.

She didn’t want to get up for several moments, so she just sat there, slumped against the floor. None of what the note had said wasn’t true. She was broke, she was fat, she wasn’t hero material.

But she had to try anyway.

Ochako forced herself to stand and tidy up the classroom. One by one the desks were stood back up, and the chairs were slid under them. No Zero Gravity, her stomach still felt queasy. The bin was pushed back into the corner, with the lid over the top. The janitors would be here soon, and the evidence would be gone. She retrieved the ginger biscuits from Mrs Zenita’s desk and returned them to her bag.

She slunk out of the room, shoulders hunched, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. She’d head home to loving parents and a cramped house and a crappy heater. They’d ask her how school went. She’d smile and say it was great. No mention of hurling her guts up after class. No mention of the note under her desk. No mention of how truly badly she wanted to help them.

As Ochako stepped out of Rosaru Junior High, the sun kissing her still clammy skin, she put her smile back on. Another day completed, she was getting stronger. She could feel it. 21 objects was her hard limit for spreading her quirk between now, maybe tomorrow she’d reach 22.

She just had to keep pushing.

---

Black Knuckle Kickboxing Gym was a squat building in downtown Musutafu. Old brick walls, a simple logo of a black fist against a blood red circle, small windows that it was just possible to see movement through. It was the last place Lauren would’ve seen herself a month ago. But now she was here, gym bag hooked over her shoulder, hovering by the threshold.

She’d ran home quickly after class at MGC had ended. Not out of hurry to get away, but because of eagerness to head there. She’d changed into workout clothes, grabbed the bag containing her gear, and borderline sprinted to the address she’d found when she’d looked up the gym.

Now however, she was apprehensive.

All she had to do was turn the handle and enter. But still, she hesitated. Imasuji was terrifying, and what Saki had said about him being a villain had her on edge, even if it was just for sensationalism. He had an eyepatch with a massive scar behind it, so he’d probably lost an eye. What if he’d lost the eye here? What if she lost an eye?

There was a loud ‘THUD’ from inside that made her flinch. It was someone hitting a bag most likely. Or maybe someone had hit the mat. Had their eye been gouged out?

“Stop thinking about eyes.” She chastised herself.

With a deep breath, she closed her hand around the handle and pulled the door open.

Lauren had barely taken a step inside before she was hit with the energy of the place. The energy was made of two primary components. The first was a strong, unmistakeable ‘gym smell’, comprised of old sweat, cleaning products, and plastic mats. The second was the sound, a constant beating din of gloved fists and padded feet slamming into bodies, punching bags, and each other.

Lauren gulped. There had been a long list of times in her life where she’d felt out of place, this was yet another one.

She shuffled inside slowly, taking stock of the people in the gym. It was mostly young men, tall and strong and ready for action. But that wasn’t to say that there weren’t women, or people outside of their 20’s. Her eyes drifted to a short girl hammering away at a punching bag like it owed her money, her punches sounding more like a machine gun than anything a human could do.

Lauren was now acutely aware of just how small she was. She’d never been tall, and while there were a few people in the gym shorter than her, their arms were way bigger than hers. All of a sudden, her own arms felt more like toothpicks. Lauren was sure any one of these people could break her in two without even trying.

In the middle of this was a mountain of a man, middle aged with a prodigious beard, larger than Imasuji based on how Lauren remembered him. He was guiding one of young men through a combo, alternating punches into a hook. She watched them for a few moments as they repeated the combo, the younger man getting faster each time.

Then the larger man noticed her, eyes narrowing beneath thick black brows. Lauren flinched back, feeling like a rabbit that had gotten lost and wandered into a bear’s cave. The two men repeated the combo one last time before the older man motioned for the other to stop.

“You’re getting faster, but sloppier.” The old man corrected, “Work on that. Take 5, I’ve got to deal with the new blood.”

“Yes Coach.” The younger man nodded, bowed, and headed away.

That left the older man, Coach, to focus on Lauren. He approached her, towering over her. It was like meeting All Might all over again, except with less smiling. Lauren raised a shaking hand up and gave him a wave.

“H-hi…”

“You want to train?” The man asked, bluntly.

Lauren nodded, her voice coming out squeaky, “Y-yes. I paid for a membership, on the website. Under the name Lauren Mdioriya.”

The coach made a grunt of acknowledgement, “I saw. I’m Syouji Endou. But you can call me Coach.”

“Y-yes Coach.” Lauren said, channelling the young man from earlier, “Nice to meet you Coach.”

“This your first time at a kickboxing gym?” Coach asked, though it was clear from his tone that he knew the answer.

“First time at any gym.” Lauren admitted, shuffling on her feet, “I want to get stronger, so I can be a hero.”

“You want to be a hero? A tiny thing like you would get bent in half in a real fight.” He said, his voice deep and harsh, “Lucky for you, you came to the right place.”

Coach’s features spread into a grin. Not a comforting grin, but not a menacing one either. But it was knowing. This man knew already exactly what he was going to put her through. Lauren wasn’t sure whether to be eager or petrified.

Coach turned and gestured for her to follow him, “Come on. Let me give you the tour.”

Lauren quickly hurried to catch up. The tour was rather short, as the gym was not very large. Coach kept the pads on as he pointed out the highlights. She was shown the lockers, the weight rack, the pad storage, the lineup of punching bags, and the finally, the centrepiece of the gym, the ring.

The ring was currently occupied. Two women, both taller and older than Lauren, fully geared up, were hammering away at each other with fists, knees and feet. They seemed to be evenly matched, until one of them caught her opponent with a roundhouse kick to the face, sending her crumpling to the mat. Almost as soon as this happened though, the victor crouched down beside the loser and they bumped gloves, grinning through gum shielded mouths.

“Don’t worry, I won’t be sending you up there today.” Coach reassured her. “But you will be up there. And if you want to be a hero, I’ll be expecting to see you up there a lot.”

Lauren swallowed her nerves and clenched her fists, “Yes Coach.”

“I like the enthusiasm.” Coach nodded approvingly, “Now, get your gloves on. First things first, knowing how to punch.”

“Right.” Lauren nodded.

She hurried to one of the benches, set her bag down and opened it. Her forest green boxing gloves greeted her the moment the zipper was down. Lauren took them out and put them on, the padded material covering her hands. They fit well, not too tight or slipping off her hands. She returned to Coach, who was now standing back in the centre of the gym.

He looked her up and down, “Alright, let’s see what you’re working with. Show me your stance.”

“Um… okay.” Lauren accepted, hesitantly.

She raised her arms up in front of her face, protecting her head with her gloves. Lauren was mostly imitating how she protected herself from Kacchan when he got irritated with her. This was how you did it, right? She very quickly heard a disapproving sigh from Coach.

“Your hands are too high and too close to your head.” He said, gruffly. “Can you even see like that?”

Lauren paused for moment as she properly registered that no, she couldn’t see a thing. She had a small channel of vision in the gap between her gloves but besides from that, nothing. She slowly lowered her hands.

“S-sorry…” She mumbled.

“Copy me.” Coach instructed, showing her the proper stance, “You want your hands by your jaw so you can see and attack. Tuck your elbows. Spread your feet, shoulder width. Bend your knees.”

Lauren tried to adjust herself in time with his instructions. Eventually she ended up with something resembling his own positioning. He nodded.

“Better.” He stepped forward and held up one of the pads, “Looks like you’re leading with your right hand. Give this a jab.”

“Um… okay.” Lauren murmured.

She knew the punch was pitiful the moment she threw it. It wasn’t even half as fast as any of the punches she’d seen so far. It was worse when it landed; her fist basically just bounced off the pad. The impact shot up through the glove, into her wrist and up her forearm. Lauren was sure she felt it more than he did.

She couldn’t meet his eyes, and she could already feel her cheeks heating up, ashamed of how weak her punch was. Her shoulders went up as she braced herself for a scolding, being laughed at for being so scrawny. Even when quirks weren’t involved, she was weak.

But the mockery never came. Instead, she got a grunt that sounded more impatient than anything.

“Keep going. You won’t improve your form if you mope after every punch. Lean into the punch this time.”

Lauren looked up, the pad was still there, waiting to be hit. Coach was ready for her. Lauren nodded and went back to her stance, remembering how it was after he’d corrected her.

She threw another punch, leaning in like she’d been told. Coach still didn’t move when she made contact, but the thud of glove against pad sounded just the slightest bit more impactful. This time, she didn’t wait for him to tell her to do it again. Lauren did another jab.

After that, the corrections came fast. Each one helping to get just a bit more power out of the punch.

“Lean with your body, not just your torso.”

“Move your feet.”

“Bring your arm back faster.”

“Rotate your palm.”

“Keep your guard up with your other hand.”

Lauren kept jabbing away. Her arm was getting tired, but she was feeling something she’d never felt before. Competent. Every repeat she absorbed just a little more of what she was being taught. Right now, it felt like she might stand a chance at getting good at this.

Then Coach held up the other pad, taking the one she was currently striking down.

Lauren blinked at it, before guessing and throwing a punch with her left hand.

Coach laughed, “Good. Not everyone realises it that quickly at first. I’ve had some new trainees just stare at the thing. You can’t just use one hand. You need both for a proper combo.”

A combo, she liked the sound of that. Lauren grinned back at him. Her neck was ever so slightly sore due to the height difference.

“Then teach me, please.” She asked.

“Enthusiasm,” Coach smirked back, “The best thing a trainee can have.”

Coach raised his pads again. “Do a jab into a cross. Then repeat.”

“Got it.” Lauren settled into her stance again.

Then she got to punching. Right hand, left hand. Jab, cross, repeat. She settled into a rhythm. Too close together and it felt rushed, too far apart and it was barely a combo at all. But at this speed, it felt effective, real.

When Coach shifted his hands again after another cycle, this time so the target of the pad was facing the floor, Lauren didn’t wait. She drove her right fist up into the pad in an uppercut.

“Good instincts.” Coach encouraged her.

Lauren didn’t know how long they were there for. He guided her through the basic punches, jabs, crosses, uppercuts and hooks. Before she knew it she was kicking away at the large, padded shield. She was still clumsy and rough around the edges. But her body was finally starting to listen to her, it didn’t do that often.

Coach set the shield down with a thud, “You look exhausted. Let’s end it here eh?”

A few moments after the exhaustion comment, she understood why he’d made it. Lauren was drenched in sweat, her curls sticking to her forehead. Then she noticed how much her arms were trembling, and her hands and shins were sore.

“Oh…” she mumbled, “Sorry…”

“Don’t be.” Coach shook his head, “You’ve got decent stamina for a newbie. Don’t want you gassing out on your first day. If I were you, I’d head home now, start working on your fitness in your own time.”

Lauren wiped some of the sweat from her head with the back of her arm, “Really?”

Coach shrugged, “We don’t exactly have space for any proper athletics equipment besides weights. Do some laps round the block and some press ups, 100 a day ought to be a good start.”

“Got it Coach, thanks Coach.” Lauren nodded enthusiastically.

“Now scram.” Coach thudded her on the pack, “Before any of my other trainees decide to introduce themselves.”

Lauren staggered a bit from the impact, but she didn’t topple. That sounded like good advice. She smiled back at him as she crossed the room to her bag. Her gloves practically tumbled off her hands into the bag, reeking of sweat. She’d need to wash those when she got back home. She zipped the bag back up and gave one last look to Coach.

He gave her a curt nod, which she returned. Then, she headed for the exit. The fresh air of the street was a welcome relief from the stale air of the gym. She really needed a shower.

But aside from the smell, she felt good. Back in the noise of the city, with the occasional car driving past, Lauren let her thoughts wander. She had trained, and it had felt good. She’d almost felt silly for not trying before. But in between bullying for being quirkless and the dysphoria she could barely name back then, the idea had felt pointless. But now it was real, it was exhilarating.

She wondered if she would ever see Imasuji again. If she did, she’d have to thank him for showing telling her about this place, about this opportunity. He was a good guy, even if he and everyone he knew was terrifying. Coach seemed decent, and he was the one who taught Imasuji, so that meant he was probably okay too.

Lauren clenched her weary fist, being a hero felt possible now, more within her grasp than it had ever been. All she had to do was stay the course, and she could reach out and grasp it. Soon.

Chapter Text

Lauren had jogged all the way to the gym today, bag bouncing against her back. 2 months into her new training regimen and things were going well. Her fitness was way better, she’d done the push ups, the sit ups, the jogging, and she was definitely beginning to feel stronger.

 

The changes were evident in her body. She was beginning to gain muscle tone, especially in her arms and legs, and her core was a little tighter if she straightened up properly. She’d been expecting to feel dysphoric, but surprisingly, she didn’t. Exercise felt good, and seeing the results was a reward that kept on giving. It didn’t hurt that her transition goals featured about half the female pros in the top 10, all of whom had at least a little muscle, and that in the meantime her chest had developed to a size she’d called ‘a’, case sensitive of course.

 

Before she entered the gym, Lauren retrieved her phone from her pocket and pressed ‘Stop.’ She’d shaved 4.6 seconds off her time yesterday, another personal best. She returned her phone to her pocket and took out her notebook, still burned from that fateful day with All Might and Imasuji, and pen. She flipped to a page dedicated not to a hero, but to herself, and marked down the latest time before putting it away.

 

She pushed open the door to Black Knuckle Kickboxing Gym, and welcomed the smell and the sound. Lauren had a plan for what she needed to do today. One of the punching bags should be free at this time of day, so she could practice on that. She needed to work on improving her flow from punching into kicking, so she’d do that for about 30 minutes. Then she’d move onto the weights to improve her strength. When she could barely lift her arms, she’d head home.

 

But then she made eye contact with Coach. As she raised her arm to greet him, he nodded in acknowledgement, then gestured for him to come towards her. Lauren gripped her bag’s strap a little tighter and approached. Her gaze drifted from him down to the person standing beside him.

 

It was the girl she’d seen when she first arrived, the one that was attacking the punching bag like it owed her money. She had light brown hair that she cut very short, and while she was shorter than Lauren, she looked a lot stronger. Lauren had never seen her make an expression other than a scowl and right now was no different. She already had her gloves and shin pads on.

 

“Lauren Midoriya, meet Shiori Rappa.” Coach said. “You’ll be sparring with her today.”

 

“What?” Lauren gulped.

 

“Seriously?” Shiori protested, already sounding frustrated, “You’re making me fight runts?!”

 

Lauren tilted her head. This girl was shorter than her, so the runt thing was probably because she hadn’t been doing this as long.

 

“I knocked Katou on his ass last week, and he’s twice her size.” Shiori explained, gesturing to an older boy by the weight rack, “It’d be a waste of time.”

 

“Oh…” Lauren laughed nervously, “W-well I mean- I don’t h-have to…”

 

“The newbie needs to spar sooner or later. And you two are about the same weight class.” Coach said sternly, “Let her know what an actual fight feels like, but don’t overwhelm her. Midoriya needs to learn, not get knocked unconscious, yet.”

 

“Ugh, you want me to hold back?” Shiori bristled, “Fine. I’ll rough her up.”

 

She glared at Lauren, “Get your gloves on. And try to make this worth my time.”

 

Lauren nodded rapidly, “Yes. Of course.”

 

Lauren hurried to the benches and quickly retrieved her helmet, gloves and shin guards, leaving her phone in her bag. She was still fumbling her mouth guard into her mouth even as she approached the ring. She ducked under the ropes and rose to her feet, Shiori already waiting for her, leaning against the ropes.

 

Lauren swallowed her nerves and nodded to her. Her opponent scoffed and stepped forward, planting her feet and putting her guard up. But then she started punching the air, fast. So fast that she could barely see her hands. She looked to Coach as Shiori continued her high-speed shadow boxing.

 

“Rappa.” Coach called out, “No quirks.”

 

Shiori rolled her eyes. “It’s called warming up. If new girl scared of that she can bow out now.”

 

Her voice was slightly lisped due to the mouth guard, but Lauren could still sense the contempt through it. But at least knowing that Shiori had some kind of fast punching quirk meant she herself wasn’t supposed to be able to do that. Lauren put her guard up and stepped forward.

 

“I want a good, clean spar from the both of you.” Coach instructed, “Midoriya, remember what I taught you, don’t panic. Rappa, use this to focus on your fundamentals, she might surprise you.”

 

Shiori glared at her from beneath her helmet, eyes burning into Lauren’s. It reminded her of Kacchan in a way, same cold confidence, same desire to prove her skills, same desire to hurt. Lauren approached, remembering to keep herself light on her feet.

 

“Round 1. Start.” Coach declared.

 

Shiori didn’t immediately explode at her, which only served to make Lauren more nervous. They circled each other, eyeing up the person across from them. But Lauren was more preoccupied with policing her own stance. All of a sudden everything felt wrong. Her hands were too high, her feet were too close, her knees weren’t bent enough.

 

Lauren took a deep breath and steadied herself, settling into her proper stance, careful not to take her eyes off Shiori. She still wasn’t throwing a punch, or a kick, or even looking like she wanted to attack. Then it hit her. She was waiting, waiting for Lauren to attack first so she could take advantage of the opening.

 

They continued to stare each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. But she couldn’t just sit here and wait. She needed to prove she could do this, not to Shiori, or even Coach, but to herself. She couldn’t be the worthless, quirkless weakling she’d been for too long now. Lauren had to be more than that, she had to be a hero. And heroes didn’t hesitate, waiting for their opponent to strike.

 

She stepped forward and threw a jab straight at Shiori’s face.

 

Despite knowing the skill gap, Lauren couldn’t help but feel disappointed in herself as Shiori bobbed her head around the blow. She then proceeded to drive her fist directly into Lauren’s side, pain bursting just below her ribs.

 

Lauren staggered back, but only a few steps. She got her guard up just in time to block the next blow to her head, but that just left her vulnerable to a front kick directly to her chest. That sent her reeling, but she stayed standing.

 

Shiori didn’t press her advantage. Instead, she was looking Lauren up and down, looking almost impressed. She must have been expecting Lauren to go down just like that, but instead she was still standing. Lauren supposed taking explosions to her body nearly every day since she was 4 meant she had a better pain tolerance than normal.

 

A moment later, and Lauren’s guard was up again. She advanced towards Shiori again, this time doing a jab into a cross to try to work her way around her guard. Lauren received another strike to the gut for her efforts.

 

She would try again, this time with a hook, but she was dodged and countered yet again. This was getting her nowhere. Lauren spared a glance over to Coach; his expression was unreadable. No help there.

 

Wait. She was only getting hit when she went to attack Shiori. Attacking left her vulnerable. Shiori was dodging her punches and counterpunching. What if she tried the same thing, and punish Shiori for attacking her?

 

Lauren looked back to Shiori. Her stance was tight, controlled, perfect, but at the same time, she looked bored. She didn’t blame her; she’d been painfully predictable so far. But that might make it easier to fake her out. She needed to feint, get Shiori to commit to the counter, and punish her for it.

 

Lauren threw another jab, cutting it short before her arm fully extended. It worked perfectly. Shiori saw the start of the motion and dodged on autopilot, ducking around a punch that simply wasn’t there. When the counterpunch came, Lauren was ready for it.

 

She stepped to the side, letting Shiori’s punch sail past her. Then, Lauren tensed her muscles and swung her fist upwards in an uppercut, directly at Shiori’s jaw.

 

The punch connected! Shiori’s head shot back from the impact. She reeled back, grunting in pain. Lauren let out a triumphant laugh, giving a small punch to the air as she returned to her guard. But the laugh died in her throat when Shiori stepped forward again.

 

She was growling. Shiori was growling. Her opponent was growling. That was terrifying. Lauren was already retreating before Shiori had taken her second step.

 

What happened next was too fast for Lauren to follow.

 

Shiori moved so fast she could barely track her, then everything exploded into pain. A hail of fists and kicks rained down onto Lauren’s body, smashing through her guard. One fist bashed her arms away, then a foot slammed into her side. And then Lauren was in a clinch, Shiori’s arms wrapped around her neck.

 

Then came the finisher. Shiori drove her knee into Lauren’s stomach, knocking the breath from her lungs. When Shiori let Lauren go, she dropped to her knees like a puppet severed from its strings. Her helmet thudded against the mat while the rest of her body went limp, leaving her spreadeagled on the floor.

 

“Match over.” Coach announced, stepping under the ropes and into the ring, “Rappa, back to your corner. Midoriya, you okay?”

 

Lauren groaned into the mat. Her stomach felt like mush as she rolled herself over onto her back. She spat out her mouthguard as she tried to speak.

 

“Never… better…” She said, weakly.

 

“On your feet.” Coach instructed, holding out his hand.

 

Lauren reached a gloved hand up. Coach grabbed her wrist and hauled her to her feet. She kept her other hand protectively over her stomach as she eyed Shiori, who was standing in her corner. She couldn’t tell anything about the shorter girl’s expression, given she was currently facing away from her, but the way her shoulders weren’t heaving from exertion in the slightest suggested that she wasn’t exactly tired.

 

“She was going easy on me wasn’t she…” Lauren sighed as she clumsily took her gloves off, retrieving her mouthguard from the floor.

 

“She doesn’t do ‘easy’,” Coach said, “Until now. Guess that means she likes you.”

 

“Lucky me…” Lauren groaned, tucking her glove under one arm, “Hey… Rappa? Round 2?”

 

“Waste of my time and yours.” Shiori snapped, without even turning.

 

Lauren looked to Coach, “She’s the only person here in my weight class, isn’t she.”

 

Coach nodded, “Correct.”

 

“So…” Lauren pondered her options for a moment before arriving at her conclusion, “I just need to get stronger until I’m worth her time.”

 

Then she deflated, shoulders sinking, “But… how can I do that if I can’t fight anyone else? Do I just keep grinding away at her like she’s a boss in a video game?”

 

“Fat chance of that working.” Shiori replied, she’d ducked under the ropes out into the rest of the gym.

 

Coach ran a hand through his beard as he watched Shiori walk off, “Keep doing what you’re doing. You can spar with some of the other woman who go here. They’ll be able to teach you without throwing you in the deep end like Rappa did.”

 

Lauren nodded, “Got it.”

 

Coach looked her up and down, “You look like crap kid. So don’t go challenging anyone else to a fight today.”

 

Lauren smiled faintly, “Feel like it too… but why’d you do it, put me against Rappa?”

 

“Took a gamble, didn’t go the way I planned.” Coach admitted, “But that’s the way we learn.”

 

Lauren started to remove her second glove, “I guess it is. Don’t worry Coach, I’ll keep getting stronger.”

 

“Counting on it kid.” Coach grinned, thumping her hard on the back.

 

Lauren was able to take that without collapsing, even though her core muscles were completely shot. She ducked under the ropes and heading back to her bag. As she was taking her helmet off, Lauren too stock of the damage she’d sustained. It was mostly on her torso, her arms still worked fine enough. That meant she could still get her weight training done today.

 

She tossed her shin guards into her bag, zipped it up, and moved over to the weights section. Shiori had returned to the punching bag, where Lauren had first seen her, and had rarely ever seen her away from. Lauren had graduated from the ‘baby weights’ and was now able to lift some of the ones with actual heft. But they were still light enough that she didn’t really have to wait for them to be free. She looped her fingers around a pair she was comfortable with, sat down on one of the benches, and started her bicep curls.

 

Several reps later, and Lauren was feeling a healthy burn in her arms. The healthy part could not be said for her torso. Shiori had given her a beating and half, and she didn’t need to see to know that there were bruises blooming under her tank top like misshapen, purple flowers.

 

Lauren returned the weights to the rack, stretching her arms out so they didn’t seize up. It was time to get going. She’d be back tomorrow of course, she always would be, and maybe then she’d spar with someone who wasn’t trying to demolish her.

 

She waved to Coach as she made for the exit, trying to ignore the pain in her gut. She’d need an ice pack on it when she got home. Mom would definitely fuss over her, a lot. That would be okay, she was still supporting her.

 

On second thoughts, Lauren realised that Inko had been more relaxed as of late. She didn’t have to guess as to why. Her daughter was safe at a new school and was improving mentally thanks to her new training, and even now she hadn’t been beaten up too badly. She’d been through worse at Kacchan’s hands, and this time it was in a controlled sparring match.

 

There was a buzz from her phone in her pocket as a message came through. Lauren reached in and took it out. It was Saki. And she’d attached something to it.

 

Saki Nakashima: You’re in luck, getting a sneak peak of one of my articles. It’s about hero schools as well. Might be worth a read ;)

 

The title of the article was the name of the file. SEIAI SPREADS IT’S ARMS: ELITE INSTITUTE LIFTS BARRIERS TO ENTRY.

 

Lauren opened it.

 

Seiai Academy has long been considered an elite institution amongst hero schools, but not always for the best reasons. It has historically boasted the single most expensive entrance exam of any school in Japan, sitting at 5 million yen just for a chance to compete, let alone enrol. However, this selective enrolment hasn’t produced the best results historically.

 

While Seiai has produced a number of high-ranking pro heroines, most notably Ryukyu, the average ranking of the academy’s graduates is rather low. The average rank of a non-sidekick Seiai graduate in Japan’s pro hero rankings is 156.3, far lower than the second most expensive hero academy, Shiketsu, at 87.8. The discrepancy between cost and results has called into question the value of the establishment’s education.

 

However, Seiai’s Principal Kei made a statement last Sunday that seems to seek to remedy this reputation. The hero school will be making its entrance exam free next exam season.

 

To quote the principal, “For too long this proud institution has let its desire to maintain appearances hamper its ability to cultivate those who possess true potential. Do not mistake this expansion of capacity for a loosening of standards. Our next Entrance Exam shall be tougher than ever. This is only the start of a new era of Seiai Academy.”

 

Such a marked deviation from Seiai’s previous requirements invites comparisons to Japan’s premier hero training academy, U.A. High, which until now has been the only hero course with a free entrance exam. Is Kei’s expanded recruiting scope evidence of an attempt to emulate the success of such a revered institution? And will this new measure improve the quality of Seiai’s graduates? It will take a long time before we can tell for certain.

 

U.A.’s Principal Nedzu is yet to offer a comment on these changes.

 

Stay tuned for more news as this story unfolds, and as always, stay curious.

 

Lauren went back to the messaging app, Saki had sent her something else while she was reading.

 

Saki Nakashima: Thought you might want to give Seiai a shot. I’ll B heading there 2, management course.

 

Lauren Midoriya: Good article. Why me tho? I’m aiming 4 U.A.

 

She didn’t need to wait long for a response.

 

Saki Nakashima: ?

Saki Nakashima: U rlly want 2 the same school as that Kacchan asshole?

 

Lauren Midoriya: It’s the best hero school in the country. I can’t let him put me off.

 

Saki Nakashima: NO!

Saki Nakashima: U don’t have to put up w/him.

Saki Nakashima: U deserve better.

 

There was a long pause after that, Lauren unable to type a response. What did she deserve? She wanted the best hero education she could get. U.A. had that. But Saki thought she deserved to be away from Kacchan, away from the person who hurt her. She couldn’t say that not having to deal with Kacchan hadn’t been really nice these past months, but she needed to be able to put up with him if she wanted to be the best hero she could be.

 

Her phone ‘dinged’ again as Saki sent another message.

 

Saki Nakashima: Just think about it. Pls.

 

Lauren sighed, that was a good idea.

 

Lauren Midoriya: Will do.

 

She slid her phone back into her pocket with another exhale. She’d need a long time to think about it. U.A., Seiai, or perhaps another hero school entirely. But she couldn’t let being scared of Kacchan be a reason not to go to U.A. That was cowardly, and heroes weren’t cowards.

 

Lauren started to jog back home. Her stomach still ached from the pummelling, but this would help her clear her head. Red sneakers started pounding against the pavement as she picked up the pace. She knew the route home, so she let her thoughts wander a little.

 

They drifted, predictably, to quirk analysis, this time to Saki’s. Powder was a simple quirk, providing the ability to create puffs of, well, powder from Saki’s fingertips. She could colour it, which made Lauren wonder if they could be used to create dyes. Or potentially they could be irritants, if someone was allergic to the powder. Saki likely wasn’t interested in a complete dissection of her quirk, but it didn’t hurt to theorise.

 

Lauren took a side road between a pair of buildings, a shortcut. She passed someone, several someones, at the speed she was going she didn’t have much time to acknowledge their appearance beyond the one at the front being blond.

 

Then something struck her shin.

 

She tumbled forward, momentum sending her crashing down the ground, grazing her knees on the pavement. She scuffed her palms as well as she caught herself with her hands. Lauren knelt there on the floor, blinking in bewilderment and being tripped.

 

“Thought you could get away from me eh Deku?” A voice behind her mocked.

 

Oh… it was him.

 

Katsuki Bakugo. Kacchan to her. Her friend, bully really, since childhood. She could already hear explosions sparking in his hands. His lackeys, Kouki and Gekko were behind him, snickering.

 

Lauren pushed herself to her feet, her bag slipping off her shoulder as she did, and turned to face him. She tried to relax her shoulders, it didn’t work.

 

“H-hey Kacchan…” She said, quietly, “What are you doing here?”

 

“Isn’t it obvious.” Kacchan scoffed, stepping forward, “Making sure you’re not getting any ideas.”

 

“I-ideas?” Lauren forced her voice to remain level, then she remembered something, “Wait. You were attacked by a villain 2 months ago, are you okay?”

 

“Ha!” Katsuki barked, “Better than ever. Even the pros were impressed by how I handled it, all it did was give me more reason to train even harder. I’ll be Number One in no time.”

 

“I’ve been training too actually.” Lauren stood up a little straighter, “Kickboxing, working on my strength, and technique.”

 

Katsuki’s expression curled into a snarl, and Lauren immediately regretted opening her mouth.

 

“You?! Training?! Don’t make me laugh Deku.” He advanced towards her, “You’ve always been weak, quirkless, don’t think pretending to know how to punch will solve anything.”

 

Deku. That name still stung even after all these years. Even after the wordplay no longer fit, he could still use it to hurt her. Useless, weak, a burden, never good enough, all wrapped up in two syllables. Lauren clenched her hands into fists.

 

“I’m not weak like that anymore.” She said back, summoning defiance into her voice.

 

Kacchan looked her up and down, “You’re not actually planning on fighting me, are you?”

 

Lauren’s eyes went just the tiniest bit wider in shock as she looked down at herself. She’d crouched her knees, spread her feet, and brought her fists up. She was in her stance, without even thinking about it. Had the muscle memory really gotten in that fast?

 

“I um…” Lauren set her jaw and tightened her stance, “I’m not going to let you push me around anymore.”

 

“Bullshit.” Kacchan grinned, taking another step forward, “All the training in the world doesn’t mean anything against any half decent quirk, let alone mine.”

 

Lauren swallowed her nerves, keeping her guard up. She really didn’t want to do this. She could run, but she’d been running all her life, and she’d eventually get caught, cornered, and blown up anyway. At least she might have a chance to go down swinging if she stayed and fought.

 

“I’m not Deku, not today, not ever again.” She shouted back, voice trembling.

 

Kacchan punched his fist into his palm, there was a muffled ‘boom’ and smoke curled out from the impact. He smiled cruelly, confidently, “We’ll see about that.”

 

He started to advance towards her again, hands spread by his sides, palms sparking with Explosion’s power. If nothing changed, Lauren might be able to jab him in the face before he could react. His hands were so far away from his head that if she didn’t telegraph it, he wouldn’t be able to move in time. She just had to wait for him to enter her range.

 

Then she saw someone, something, enter the alleyway behind him, and she froze. She felt her skin grow pale, staring past Kacchan at the new arrival. Kouki and Gekko had already fled, scattering away from the hulking, hooded figure as he approached Kacchan from behind.

 

Kacchan hadn’t noticed the new arrival, he smirked when he noticed Lauren trembling, “What’s the matter, got all scared all of a sudden?”

 

Then the figure was right behind him, casting a shadow over the boy. It was only now that Kacchan seemed to register the figure. He gritted his teeth and turned around, snarling.

 

“Who the hell are yo- urk!”

 

The figure picked Kacchan up by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. Something cracked under the impact. Kacchan squirmed in his grip, but the hand didn’t loosen the slightest fraction.

 

“Let go of me Asshole!” Kacchan yelled

 

 He thrust his palm forward and detonated an explosion directly in his assailant’s face, but his target didn’t even flinch. The force of the blast caused the figure’s hood to fall down revealing-

 

“Imasuji?!” Lauren blurted out, laying eyes on the short blond hair and eyepatch.

 

Goto Imasuji turned to face Lauren and grinned, “This jerk giving you problems kid?”

 

Kacchan’s eyes went wide with shock and fury, “You know this guy Deku!?”

 

Imasuji spared a glance towards Kacchan, still holding him firmly in place. “So you two know each other, eh? This wouldn’t happen to be the guy who burnt your uniform last I saw you, Deku?”

 

“M-my name’s Lauren, actually,” She replied, nervously, “Lauren Midoriya, D-deku’s just a, a bad nickname.”

 

Imasuji nodded in recognition, “Taking that as a yes. So then Midoriya, you don’t like this guy, do you?”

 

Lauren hesitated for a moment, before shaking her head, “N-no, not really. Me and Kacchan haven’t been friends for… a while.”

 

“I told you to stop calling me that Deku!” Kacchan snapped back, “My name’s Katsuki Bakugo, and I’m going to be the next Number One Hero, so let go of me before I do something I won’t regret!”

 

Imasuji laughed, a deep, rumbling, mocking thing, “You talk a big game for someone with their back against the wall and no legs to stand on. Now look closely Midoriya, I’m about to show you what to do to people you don’t like.”

 

Then, slowly, deliberately, Imasuji began to exert more force on Kacchan’s body, pushing him further into the wall. Kacchan cried out in pain as Imasuji’s hand pressed against his chest, cracks spiderwebbing up the brick behind him as he was forced against it. He continued to fire explosions against Imasuji’s arm, chest and head, but the larger man barely acknowledged it, not a flinch in sight, no damage dealt. Was Imasuji about to kill him?!

 

Lauren dashed forward, waving her arms to get the hulking man’s attention, “Wait, wait! I- I think he’s got the message!”

 

Imasuji lightened his pressure for a moment, “You sure? I don’t think anything’s even ruptured yet.”

 

Kacchan looked to her, not in rage, but with genuine fear in his eyes. Saki wasn’t right, was she? Was Imasuji a villain? Was she about to witness someone she’d know since childhood get crushed right in front of her. Sure, he was an asshole, but he didn’t deserve that, surely.

 

“Stop, please!” Lauren cried out again, “It’s fine, really, this is the first time I’ve seen him in months. I need him out of my life but no, dead! So just… put him down… for me…”

 

She hated how weak that sounded. Imasuji looked at her, taking in her trembling form, tears already in her eyes. Then he went back to Kacchan, struggling for breath underneath the crushing force of Imasuji’s palm. Then, the hulking man shrugged, removing his hand from Kacchan, and letting him collapse to the ground in a heap.

 

Kacchan crouched there for a moment, hand to his chest, sucking in oxygen. Imasuji took a single step back, watching him like he was amusing to him. Eventually, Kacchan slowly struggled to his feet, glaring at Imasuji.

 

“Don’t think this means you’re better than me!” He shouted defensively, hoarsely, “One day I’ll blow right past you.”

 

Imasuji gave a huff of acknowledgement, “Whatever you say, now scram.”

 

Kacchan looked to Lauren, as if contemplating one last remark, or perhaps an explosion to act like this was some kind of fighting retreat. Instead though, he grit his teeth and, hand still clutching a very sore chest, left, muttering unintelligibly, angrily, to himself. Lauren suspect that something was broken, or at least fractured, and she couldn’t help but worry for him.

 

“Wh-what was that?!” She cried, “You could’ve- you nearly-“

 

Imasuji barely seemed to register her panic, “I saw how you were standing. You were ready to fight him weren’t you. I feel kinda bad now, denying you that fight. But I ‘spose I just got protective of ya kid.”

 

“I…” words failed her, Lauren’s mouth flapping uselessly in the air.

 

“And don’t worry about him reporting me. I’m moving out of town soon.” He said, calmly and confidently.

 

“Are you villain?!” She finally asked, desperate for an answer that soothed her nerves even the slightest.

 

“Doesn’t matter what I am kid.” Imasuji grinned, “What matters is what you are, and you’re getting strong. Coach is doing good work with you, keep it up. You might just be a fighter yet.”

 

 And with that, he put his hood back up, and started walking. Lauren stepped aside as he walked past her, stepping over her bag. She stood there, trembling, for a long moment. His answer didn’t help anything, it was more than likely that Imasuji was a violent vigilante at best, and a villain at worst. Slowly, she reached down and retrieved her bag, clutching it in shaking hands.

 

So Saki was right, she’d been taking advice from a villain. And what did that mean for Coach, was he a villain, Shiori too? Was that entire gym a den on crime and bloodthirsty murder? Did that make her a villain? No, that couldn’t be right. Everyone else, except Shiori, had been perfectly fine, nice, even. Coach was a bit gruff sure, but he didn’t scream evil. She’d keep going back, she’d made a commitment, but if anyone else seemed off, she’d look somewhere else. Lauren also hoped she’d never need to see Imasuji again if he was leaving town.

 

But then, as her feet started moving, more out of instinct than command, her brain reminded her of something she’d thought while Imasuji was crushing Kacchan against the brick wall.

 

“I want him out of my life…” She whispered to herself, repeating the thought.

 

She wanted Kacchan out of her life. She’d thought it, she said it, she wanted it. She’d had Imasuji to protect her today, but she didn’t want that ever again. And even though he’d fled, Lauren had seen the anger burning behind his eyes the moment he was able to move again. Kacchan would want revenge, and she knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her, properly. And if they met at U.A. and fought under the guise of training, she flinched at the thought of what he could do to her.

 

“Maybe I will check Seiai out.” Lauren murmured.

 

It didn’t quite feel real, pivoting like this. U.A. was her dream, her goal, where all the best heroes became who they were. But it was also where Kacchan was going, and she couldn’t bring herself to doubt his ability to get in. And Saki was looking out for her, and Saki was going there.

 

U.A. with the boy who’d tormented her for a decade. Or Seiai with her new friend. It seemed obvious when she thought about it like that. Maybe a change would be good. She’d tell her in person tomorrow, that they’d be going to Seiai together.

 

Lauren slung her bag back over her back and picked her pace back up, eventually transitioning back into a jog. Plans were changing, but all the hero schools had their entrance exams during the same season, so she was still on the same timeline, only adjusted a few days either forward or back, she hoped back, since those last extra days of training could mean the difference between getting in and not.

 

Regardless, she’d have to keep training, and even if the path was a little different, Lauren would become a hero. And if Seiai’s was wanting to compete with U.A., maybe she’d still get all the training she needed anyway.