Chapter 4: Rage You Damn Nerd

Luna

"Alright that's it for today. Pick up a syllabus in the classroom and read it before tomorrow morning." Our teacher says as he leaves us on the training field.

"Wow, talk about intense huh?" I say.

"Yeah, I for sure thought I was a goner." Denki replies as we walk back towards the locker room where our uniforms are. Once we're changed, we walk back to the classroom to get the syllabus Mr. Aizawa mentioned. I'm not paying attention when I reach for it. Denki is going on about the other quirks we saw in class today and what he thinks the rest of the class is going to be like with such a hardass teacher. But then my hand touches something soft and warm. I snap my neck to look at it and realize I grabbed Shoto's hand and not the stapled together sheets of paper. What the heck? How did I not notice Shoto? He's in class 1-A too?

"Oh hey," I say to make this much less awkward as I take my hand back. "Sorry I wasn't paying attention."

"It's fine," he looks at me through the side of his eye, grabs the booklet and leaves without another word while I'm still standing there, shocked at how deep his voice has gotten. Of course it had, I mean we're 15 now. I'm sure a lot has changed since we were kids.

"Helloooo, earth to Luna," Denki drags his words waving a hand in front of my face. "Are you going to grab one or what? You're holding up the line."

"Huh? Yeah, sorry." I glance back at him, realizing many of our new classmates were standing behind us waiting for the same pieces of paper. I grab two booklets and hand one to Denki as we walk away.

"Are you okay? You're acting weird now."

"I am not," I argue as we make our way out of the school and towards the front gate. There Todoroki slips into the back of a black Sedan with windows tinted so dark you can't see inside.

"Well, since we finished early, do you want to go to the arcade?" Denki asks.

"Yeah, sure," I say then turn to him. He's giving me a weird look again.

"You sure you're okay? You don't seem as excited as I am. Don't tell me Mr. Aizawa scared you off with today."

"Psht, please. I'm not scared of a little competition."

"You look like it,"

"What?" I stop in my tracks but he keeps walking and shrugs his shoulders.

"Someone's being a scaredy cat,"

"I am not!" I exclaim. "And I'll prove it! I'm so going to kick your ass in Super Mario!"

The bus has just pulled up outside the gate so I run to it.

"Dream on!" He exclaims running after me.

~

I'm just as excited for today as I was yesterday. And that's because as soon as all our regular classes are over, we have hero training. And no one other than All Might himself burst into the room to tell us because he is going to be our instructor. Can you believe it! All Might! The number one hero in all of Japan!

"And that's not all," he announces. He holds up an arm that's easily as big around as me and Denki combined.

Racks emerge from inside the wall to our left holding cases with numbers 1-24 on them.

"When you were accepted into UA you each were asked to submit a costume idea design and your exact measurements. This was done in order to make your very own hero costume!"

WHAT?!?!?!

I had my suspicions when I filled out that part of the packet but I never imagined we'd get to use them on our second day! This is awesome!!

I look at Denki who's already giving me an excited smile. When All Might dismisses us I rush to the case with my seat number and make a beeline for the locker room. Marveling at my very own hero costume. It's everything I imagined and more. From the dark forest green body suit with mint green accents, the matching boots and bat emblem displayed across my chest to the matching utility belt and gloves. And my favorite of all… the transparent green goggles that will protect my eyes when I'm in the air! Everything about this costume matches what I've dreamed of.

"Look at you!" Mina Ashida exclaims as she walks over to the mirror where I'm currently checking myself out. Her costume is so cute too! It's the perfect shade of blue that accents and highlights her pink skin. And the armless furry vest is probably one of the most fashionable accessories I've seen. I haven't known her for long, but I know this outfit is a perfect display of her personality.

"I know right?" I'm smiling as I hold out my gloves. "It's so much more functional than I imagined. And since the fabric is super stretchy it's really easy to get my wings into."

"They seem like they get in the way a lot." A girl with a super cute purple bob cut says. Earphone jacks hang from her ear lobes.

"Sometimes, especially when they first grew. They were huge and I was still tiny. It took me years to grow into them."

Mina giggles. "Awe I'd love to see tiny disproportioned Luna!" She squeals as we walk out of the locker room and follow the rest of our classmates towards the training grounds All Might instructed us to meet him at.

"You should," Denki laughs. "It's hilarious!"

"Ha ha ha," I throw sarcastically. "If I remember correctly you looked just as dorky and your quirk isn't a mutation quirk."

"You guys knew each other before UA?"

"Yup. We've gone to the same school since primary." Denki says then throws an arm around my shoulders.

"Awe, that's so cute! You guys make such a cute couple!"

"What!? Ew no!" I exclaim shoving Denki off of me. "We are definitely not a couple. We're just best friends."

"Oh," Mina giggles. "My bad,"

"Yeah there's no way I'd date Luna. She's not cool enough." Denki crosses his arms over his chest.

"Hey! I'm awesome, thank you very much!" I shove at his shoulder which is crossed against his chest. "At least I'm cool enough to pick a costume that doesn't look like I'm just some random person off the street."

"Basic and functional. Do I need much more? My quirk is flashy enough anyway."

Denki is defending himself as we walk through the gate of the training center. It looks a lot like the one from the mock battles we took to get into this school. It also looks like the town surrounding the school. There are random multiple story buildings on each side of a paved street. There are sidewalks with light posts and shrubbery. Even fake power lines. I have to look back at the gate just to make sure that we are indeed in the training center and didn't just accidentally leave the school.

"You all look amazing!" All Might smiles.

I look around. Everyone does look amazing! I give myself a second to take it all in. Here I am at one of the best schools in the country surrounded by future heroes just like me. Comrades. People who I will fight alongside one day. Looking at everyone's costumes… I don't know, I guess the reality of it hits me.

"Alright, is everyone ready?" All Might asks.

"Yes sir!" We answer.

"Good, it's time for combat training."

"Sir," someone whose hero costume looks like a big engine… robot…? Thing…? Says. I know it's not Kokoro. She's standing up front to the left and her suit -yes looks like a badass robot assassin- is much different than this one. From the sound of his voice I figure it's Ida under there.

"This is the same fake city from our entrance exams. Am I correct to assume we will be participating in urban battles?"

"Not quite, young man. Most villain attacks you see on the news are outdoors. But a majority of evildoer activity occurs in the shadows: locked rooms, robberies, underground secret lairs. Intelligent villains stay hidden in the shadows. So for this exercise you will do two-on-two indoor battles. You will be split into teams of heroes and villains."

More questions ring out but I can't hear them over the excitement buzzing through me. Finally we get to show off what we're made of!

"Let me finish explaining." All Might says which quiets the crowd. "Alright, this is the situation: a team of villains has hidden a nuclear missile. It is the heroes responsibility to capture the villains or secure the missile. The villains win if they protect the target or capture the heroes."

"This is so awesome!" I squeal.

"It's just like a video game," Denki says.

"Teams will be chosen by drawing lots."

"Awe man, I was hoping we'd get to choose our teams." Denki whines.

"This makes more sense," I say.

"How?"

"Think about it. When we're in the field and something happens we don't know what heroes we'll get paired up with."

Denki just groans. "I hate it when you're logical."

"Alright let's draw!"

We all line up to pick out pieces of paper from a box All Might is holding. I open mine as soon as I get it.

"Ah, team K. Looks like you'll be paired up with Young Imamura."

"What?!" I hear her angry exclamation before I see her standing off to the side. She's wearing a black skin tight leotard with yellow accents and cut outs on her sides and back. It has a collar that the zipper can zip up to which she leaves undone and exposes the top of breasts that are at least three times my size…. lucky…. She also wears black zip up boots with yellow accents, a holster around her thigh and sleeves that cover just below a very muscled shoulder, to the tips of her fingers. If I'm being honest, she looks like some kind of street fighter… Totally badass.

I smile. "When are you going to accept that the universe wants us to be friends?"

"The universe doesn't want us to be friends, you're just stalking me." She growls and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night bestie," I playfully hit her arm. She responds by rolling her eyes and walking away.

I know deep down she has to be a good person or else she wouldn't be here and I'm determined to uncover it.

"What did you get?" Denki walks up to me.

"I'm team K. What'd you get?"

"Team G," he groans.

"Who's your partner?"

"The girl with the Earphone jacks."

"Oh, Jiro! She seems nice. And cute too." I nudge my elbow into his ribs with a wink.

"Come on, will you be serious for a minute here."

I laugh. "You did not just ask me that. You… Denki of all people!" I'm still laughing as I finish the sentence. I can't believe this guy. The dorkiest kid I've ever met wants me to be serious.

"Time to see who goes first." All Might announces. He places one hand into a box labeled 'Heroes' and the other hand in a box labeled 'Villains'. "And the first teams to go will be these guys!"

In the hero hand he picks out a white ball with a large 'A' on it while in the villain hand is a ball with a large 'D'.

"The hero team will be Tem A, Team D will be the villains. Everyone else can head to the monitoring room to watch."

"Yessir!"

I do feel bad for Midoriya. He has to go up against that crazy Bakugou kid. And from what I've heard they don't get along anyway. For the past two days Bakugou's done nothing but bully and antagonize the kid. And with a quirk like Bakugou's, Midoriya is going to get his ass handed to him. I feel bad but I'm also kind of glad my team isn't up against him. Still, the sadness on Midoriya's face compels me to approach him.

"Hey," I say and he looks up at me through the mask of his green suit. "Just do your best, and good luck." I try to give him the most believing smile I could muster. Then I turn and walk to the screening room with the other students praying we're not about to witness a beat down.

~

Misaki

My heart is beating so hard I can feel it in my throat. Not only because Kokoro is the only person whose emotions I can feel right now, and she really doesn't seem to have any which means my mind is actually clear for the first time since my quirk manifested but also because I know everyone is watching. We're the last do to our dual battles. Everyone has gone all out. Midoriya was sent to the nurses office because of the injuries he sustained, and everyone is already so exhausted and proven their worth.

What if I freeze? How am I supposed to fight? I don't have a fighting type quirk. I play mental games not physical!

Stop. You can't let that get in your way, Misaki. What will happen if I face a villain that has nothing but physical prowess?

I just have to turn it into a mind game. If I can dodge long enough to get the opponent to lose the will to fight then I might have a chance.

"I think we should know each other's quirks in order to formulate a plan." Kokoro says snapping me from my thoughts.

"Oh," I say and tuck my hair behind my ears. "Right,"

"I'm half-cyborg. My limbs are robotic and I can disassemble and reassemble them into different gadgets as long as I have all the parts for them. My brain also works like a cyborg. I can analyze things based on sight and I can see in infrared."

"Wow! You're quirk is so awesome compared to mine." I say absolutely amazed. I can see why this girl came in first yesterday.

"It has its drawbacks." she answers. "For example, it's hard for me to understand human emotion as well as think anything but logically and analytically. What's your quirk?"

"Oh, uh, well, my quirk is empathy." I say nervously rubbing my hands together. "I can feel other people's emotions a-and can manipulate them if I want to." I say the last part quietly because most people get a little freaked out.

"So a surprise attack is probably our best advantage." she says as if my quirk doesn't freak her out at all. "I can use my infrared to figure out where they are and form a plan of attack."

"Wait, you're not freaked out?" I ask.

"Why would I be?"

"Well most people freak out when I tell them my quirk basically allows me to control them if I want to."

"I guess that would freak out most people." she says then looks at the building. "But I haven't felt emotions since my quirk manifested. I'm not sure it's really possible for me anymore."

While that explains the peace and quiet I feel around Kokoro, I also feel a little sad for her. Sure feeling nothing but other people's emotions all hours of the day is overwhelming, but because of my quirk I know what it's like to feel true love, and pure joy and excitement. I've felt content and good and pure just as much as I've felt all the despair.

"Alright, Team K and Team L your time starts now!"

Suddenly my heart accelerates.

"If you want, I'll take the lead." Kokoro says as she begins to walk towards the building. "I'll handle combat, just watch my back."

I nod and follow her into the building. It's dark but not dark enough to where I can't see. The walls are bare except for a few doors appearing randomly in the walls. It's quiet. Eerily quiet. I feel prickles of anxiety crawling up my arms and neck.

"If you start to feel them, let me know." Kokoro says to which I nod.

We continue, deeper and deeper into the building. We check every hallway and every room then move to the next floor up. There's nothing on the first three floors and I fear we're going to run out of time before we even find them. But then I feel something.

I feel anger and sadness.

This is weird, because it's not an anger that just manifested over a brief argument, no that feels different. This is an anger that's been festering and building for years. It's an anger that is so deeply rooted it's woven its way into this being's personality. But also I feel a sense of sadness, because this person doesn't want to be angry. They feel let down and disappointed by someone who was supposed to love them. This, too, has woven itself so deep into their personality that the sadness and anger feed off each other.

I reach up and tap Kokoro's shoulder to let her know I feel something.

"Who?" she mouths but I shrug.

My quirk doesn't work like that. At least not till I've spent enough time with them. Then I can figure out their emotional fingerprint, which is what I call it. See there's one thing my quirk has taught me and it's that everyone, whether they realize it or not, has a set of base emotions that they feel constantly. Like my foster mom, who I can recognize because she's always an exact mix of tired, generous, and hungry. I know, kind of weird but hey, I'm not the one making this stuff up.

I don't know my classmates well enough to figure out their emotional fingerprints. Well, everyone except for Kokoro.

We carefully round each corner, the emotions getting stronger and stronger. I have to keep reminding myself to unclench my fist because I'm not the one who's actually angry.

"About time you two showed up." It's Imamura I hear. "I was beginning to think we were going to win this by default."

"That's not how this works." Kokoro says, holding up a hand. "Where's the bomb?"

"That's not how this works," Imamura mocks. "You want it, come and fight me for it."

Imamura takes a fighting stance.

Kokoro holds up her arm and it seems to dismantle and reassemble into some kind of blaster.

"Fine by me." Kokoro says.

The blaster goes off, a beam red beam of light shoots through the air and into the wall behind Imamura who only dodged it by a hair. She runs at Kokoro, dodging every blast. Then when she gets close enough she raises her fist, purple energy zipping and slashing through the air around it. She hit's Kokoro who blocks it but is sent flying across the hall, crushing the concrete wall.

What the hell kind of quirk is that?!

"Didn't you notice that those beams were moving a bit slower than they should?" Imamura smirks.

Kokoro pulls herself out of the wall and powers her thrusters. She flies towards Imamura whose feet now have the same purple electricity buzzing around them.

"Now this is a quirk I can use to my advantage!" Imamura shouts excitedly as she too shoots through the air at Kokoro. I wait for the clash but it doesn't happen. It seems Kokoro's punch is nullified and Imamura swings fast and hard. Again Kokoro flies back into the wall. She recovers and targets Imamura, but each time her punches are stopped as if there is no force behind them, then Imamura's punch hits her twice as hard as if her quirk is stealing the strength from Kokoro.

Come to think of it, during the quirk assessment test, anytime we had to go up against somebody Imamura's opponent always slowed as if their strength was leaving them.

But if that's the case, then any physical attack against Imamura is pointless because she'll be able to counterattack with even more power. Physical attacks are useless. Physical. Attacks.

I have to play the mind game. I have to make this my game.

"Imamura!" I shout just as she sends Kokoro flying back once more. I can see the metal on her arms already beginning to crack. Imamura turns to me and I wait until I can see the pupils of her green eyes. Then I know I have her.

I feel a short release of the anger which is filled by a sense of excitement and I think I start to understand her. She's angry, she's hurt, and the only thing that makes her feel better is seeing other people in as much pain as she is. In that way, she's terrifying. Imamura could easily become a villain. I know it. I feel it and somehow, she feels it too.

"You're not going to be a hero," I say, capturing the emotion as soon as we make eye contact. "You'll never be one."

The hungry joy in her face recedes. I feel annoyance but try to push it away.

"They left you. Stabbed you in the back." I feel the pull of despair and anger creeping back in.

"They left you."

"Stop talking!" She yells and runs at me but I am quick to side step.

"Misaki!" Kokoro moves to take Imamura but I stop her.

"Go I got this!"

Imamura takes another swing but my body reacts faster than my mind. That is until she catches me with an uppercut I don't expect. Pain stings my jaw and I'm knocked on my ass.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Imamura says and I feel her conscious slipping from me.

I've never tried to control a person's emotions while dodging their punches. This is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

"You feel pain, I know it, I can feel it too. They left you, abandoned you. And took someone you cared about with them!"

"Shut your mouth!" Imamura pulls back for another punch but I roll away. "You don't know anything!"

"I do Imamura, you're angry because they hurt who. So who was it? You're mom? Huh did she abandon you? Your dad?! No. It was both."

"I said shut up!" she screams. There are tears pouring from her face as I yank the anger to the forefront of her brain.

I might have made a mistake choosing anger to use against Imamura because she seems to just use it as fuel. She moves faster now, blinded by the rage I've caused. Her fist smashes into a wall just inches from my face. I fall, struggle to regain my footing as one of her kicks lands in my stomach.

I taste metallic liquid on my tongue and it hits the floor when I cough. Blood.

She kicks me again.

"You! Don't! Know! Anything!" Every time she kicks me I feel like a rib is going to break and pierce my lung.

"You're scared," I wheeze when she finally stops kicking me.

Imamura has her body braced against the wall with her hands above me, her legs slacked and tired.

"I see it now." I say this because it's true. I hadn't felt it before because it was a shadow hiding behind the anger. But the more I push past the anger, the more I see it. And I know this battle is mine because fear is the one emotion that breaks a person with just a little tug. "You're scared you'll be just like them." I say and like a spell, fear breaks loose from the anger and consumes everything around it.

"No," Imamura whimpers as she backs away. "No, I'm not. I'm not like him."

Her eyes are cloudy which tells me I've completely got her. I almost feel sorry for her, because as she backs away, clutching her ears, shaking her head back and forth and sinking into the wall just opposite of me, she looks like the scared little child I used to be. Scared that no one will ever love us, scared that we'll become the monster's our parents were, I feel it. I feel every bit of it in her as well.

~

Nyoko

I hear my mother crying. I smell the pungent sanitizer used to mask the smell of rotting corpses sitting just on the other side of the door.

"Mommy?" I hear my own voice. "Mommy where's Maita?" There's no answer.

I still hear her crying.

"Mommy?! Mommy?! Where's Maita?!"

"Ichizo Mawatari, you have been found guilty for the murders of over a dozen people and the kidnapping and disappearance of your own daughter Maita Mawatari." I hear the judges voice clear as day. "Yukia Mawatari, you have been found guilty as an accessory to all of your husband's crimes."

"Mommy!" I'm crying hysterically. "Mommy!! Where are you?! Where's Maita?! Mommy!?!"

"Look at her, that poor girl," Women whisper.

"Let's hope she doesn't end up like her parents,"

"I heard he told her to kill people too."

"I heard he made her fight,"

"Anyone who came from that man is a monster."

"Monster!" I hear the little kids on the playground that mocked me. "Run away before she kills us just like her daddy did!"

"She's a monster!"

"No, I'm not!" I cry.

"She's going to be a killer!"

"No, I'm not!" I plead.

"She's going to be a villain!"

"No!" I scream out. "I'm going to be a hero! I'm not a monster!" Hot tears burn my eyes. "I'm not a monster!" I repeat the words over and over, trying anything to calm myself down. "I'm not a monster." I whimper. "I'm not a villain. I'm a hero. I'm not a monster. I'm a hero. I'm not a villain. I'm not a monster."

"Young Imamura," this voice I don't recognize from my memories. "Young Imamura, the fight is over." I feel warmth on my shoulders. Then the white plain before me that was replaying my memories fades. I see my knees hugged against me, my hands shaking in my lap.

"Young Imamura," I hear again. When I look up, it's All Might standing before me.

"What?"

"The fight is over. Team K has won."

Fight? What fight? The battle? Wait, the exercise is over? What happened? I don't remember anything after I began to fight the other girl.

Just over All Might's shoulders I see nurses lifting her onto a gurney.

Did I do that? I hurt her that bad? What happened?

All I remember is turning to attack her, then all I felt was anger. I was so angry. Why was I so angry? Why was I so upset? Why did those memories have to come back to me now?

I stand up and immediately regret doing so. My head feels dizzy and is pounding like a sledgehammer used it as target practice.

"Careful young Imamura, that was an intense battle." All Might grabs my shoulder to steady me. "Let recovery girl take a look at you."

"I'm fine," I say, pushing him away. I yank the ear piece out of my ear and toss it on the floor.

I walk back to the viewing room. On the way, bat girl runs up to me.

"We did it, partner! We won and it was so epic! You should have seen Kayama's energy rays. They were so awesome!"

She doesn't stop talking. For fucks sake I just want to be alone. But she just continues. Drones on and on and on, even when I haven't said a damn word.

"For the love of all things good can you please shut the hell up and leave me alone?!" I yell much louder than I intended to.

"Oh," she goes quiet real quick.

I make my way to the viewing room in silence. When I walk in, everyone stops and everyone stares. Especially Bakugou.

They all saw something. I did something when I blacked out. What the hell did I do?

I don't find out until All Might repays the footage and I'm mortified. I broke down in front of everyone, sobbing, yelling and screaming.

Everyone knows. I see it in their faces when they look at me. I see the sympathy. I see the disgust.

Everyone knows I'm a monster.