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10. Sparring

Rule 7, rewrite: Never harm a person with your quirk.

Otsuka didn't really get why it came as such a shock to her classmates when Aizawa walked into class on the first day back after the USJ. Yes, they had kind of watched a massive creature slam his face into the ground, but he'd escaped with a fairly light concussion considering. And yes, they'd also watched the same creature break his arm, but it was only the one arm, the other one was just lightly disintegrated around the elbow. And yes, he'd also fought a bunch of villains all before those injuries, but his injuries from that were pretty minor.

Ok. Maybe her class had a point. It was kind of impressive that he'd come in on the first day back. She wondered what they'd do when they realised he'd not only come in, but also planned to teach today.

"Your fight isn't over yet."

Otsuka froze. The UA staff had handled the villains at the USJ. The villains were gone. They were safe now.

He had to be wrong.

"The UA sports festival is coming."

Otsuka could've slapped him in that moment. Well, realistically she couldn't have. She was not that brave (nor stupid enough to think she'd manage to do that to a pro hero— no way, that required skills well beyond her).

It was fine. No more villains. Just a regular, normal school festival that involved a bunch of kids beating each other up. UA-style normal.

"Yes, this festival is too important to cancel for villains," Aizawa explained dismissively, his voice slightly muffled by the bandages he'd been bundled in by a mixture of a glare from Yamada and the fear every living being on this good planet had for Recovery Girl. "This is the first opportunity you have to show your skills and be scouted by hero agencies. It is one of the most viewed events in the world, don't forget it."

Most viewed event in the world. Just that was enough to strike fear through Otsuka's very bones. She'd always been taught to stay on the down low, to keep her quirk hidden wherever possible. That was how to stay safe as a level one controlee. Instead, she was going to demonstrate her quirk to more people than she could even comprehend. Yay.

It would be fine, she was sure. It was going to be amazing practice for her future as a limelight hero. She'd just have to pretend there was nobody watching if she got nervous. It would all be great.

Despite the scare from Aizawa that morning, the class had gone from freaked to pumped up by lunch time. Excitement glittered in their eyes, thoughts of how incredible it would be to get out there and show off everything they'd learnt so far in their time at UA bouncing around.

(As much as the USJ had been terrifying for all of them, it had taught them far more than they realised too. They didn't understand, not yet, but they would by the time the festival was over. And those things it taught them would continue to come in handy for a long time. Desperation was the kind of teacher nobody liked to admit was so damn good at their job— sometimes anyway.)

Otsuka followed the tide of students to the lunch hall, glad that the stream of hungry teenagers was easy to traipse after. She was the last of the class into the hall and, when she collected the food made by none other than Lunch Rush (the incredible food hero) himself, she took a look around the tables to figure out where to sit.

Some of the tables were filled with joyous chatter, groups of friends sitting beside one another, others were laughing and just being normal teenagers. Faces Otsuka didn't recognise but assumed belonged to people from other classes blurred by in an overwhelming whirlwind until she found that inevitable island of peace: the loner table. In every school, there was always one.