The Duellists

The examination with Midnight ended up taking the whole day, so when the results were out the students were free to go. Yousuke was taking his time packing his things since he wasn't in a hurry to get home.

There were only a few students left in the class who were similarly deliberate. One of which was heading towards Yousuke.

'If I'm not wrong, he must be the youngest son of the Pro Hero Endeavor, Shoto Todoroki. He could make ice, I think.' thought Yousuke, looking at the two-toned teen walking his way.

"Something the matter?" asked Yousuke before Shoto could say anything.

The shorter teen seemed impassive on the surface, but he was shaken on the inside.

'He read my intentions like an open book. As expected of Master 5Sol!' thought Shoto.

In reality, the teen didn't say anything for a few moments while he gathered his thoughts, before opening his mouth to speak.

"You're... 5Sol, right?" asked Shoto, mainly for politeness. It wouldn't do if he just up and assumed like that.

Yousuke was surprised someone actually recognized him from his Youtube videos. He hadn't revealed his face or anything in the videos because he'd thought it'd be weird if he were to be both a famous doctor and a famous Youtuber.

'This Todoroki fellow must be quite the fan then, huh?'

"That's me." he replied.

At that, the other teen pulled out a small, handheld console and showed the screen to Yousuke. Looking at it, he could see that it was the latest console made by Nintendo, but with the company's weird naming sense, he couldn't quite remember the name. Thank god Pokemon spread to PC, otherwise he'd be ashamed to make speedrunning videos and not know the name of the only platform the game worked on.

"Could I ask you for some advice regarding this Pokemon's 36th evolution variant? I can't seem to be able to get it, no matter what I do..." said Todoroki.

"Ah, for that you have to hold the console upside down and level it up with 59 affection at 2:46 in the morning. It's not that hard once you know what to do." replied Yousuke.

Shoto looked amazing at that explanation. Not because of the ridiculous conditions to get that evolution, but rather because Yousuke had already figured that out. It once again reaffirmed his status as a legend in Shoto's heart.

"I see..." muttered the heterochromatic teen, before a weird silence took over.

"You wanna walk out together or something?" offered Yousuke, clearly noticing Shoto's social awkwardness.

Shoto brightened up at that.

|INTERMISSION|

The following day was much more ordinary. UA might be a heroics school, but it was also an institution with much influence, where the other courses were also highly valued. Be it the General Studies, the Management Course or the Support Course, every class in UA was a one-way to success.

Yousuke had just finished noting down what Present Mic had written on the whiteboard, English class having just ended.

He hadn't really thought about it before, but knowing more than one language was very important to a Pro Hero, considering villains wouldn't always be native to the country they're acting in. Knowing two languages was almost required of every Pro Hero, while knowing more than that was strongly suggested. With that in mind, Yousuke intended to learn another language some time in the future, perhaps Korean or Chinese.

The teen stood up to go to the cafeteria. He'd heard that the school chef was the Pro Hero Lunch Rush. UA really is in another league of its own if it can afford to hire a hero as a cook for students.

He got there pretty early, even if he wasn't the first one to get to the cafeteria, since he saw Inasa and Eijiro sitting at a table with their food trays. The redhead saw him and called him over to sit with them, so Yousuke obliged after grabbing his own tray of food.

The two teens were already feverishly discussing their own training methods, and while Yousuke didn't share their overly enthusiast attitude, he'd joined them with his own experience training. Hearing how he was able to use his quirk to increase the gains from working out made both Inasa and Eijiro somewhat jealous, though they couldn't help but feel some respect for Yousuke for his very extended workout periods.

It was around that time that the rest of class 1-A entered the cafeteria. Yousuke waved at them to come sit at their table, seeing as there were only three people sitting at it. Shoto tried to make it look as if he didn't rush to sit on one side of Yousuke, but it was obvious to most. Seeing the two-toned teenager made Inasa somewhat uncomfortable, though he didn't comment on it.

After Shoto sat down, along came Setsuna and Hitoshi, who sat on Yousuke's other side. Apparently, the teen with a bird head and another guy with purple hair found kindred spirits within Hitoshi and came to sit down at the table too.

Similarly, seeing many of their classmates sitting together, Itsuka, the girl who Yousuke saw enlarge her fists, came to the table, along with a blue-skinned girl, a girl with vines for hair, a short-haired girl who had a neutral expression on her face, a girl with horns coming out of her head, a girl with shoulder-length white hair and glasses and the ponytail girl who was just below Yousuke in the examination yesterday.

Seeing so many girls sitting together at one table, the boy with yellow hair and a black lightning bolt-styled bang who Yousuke couldn't remember the name of came to sit at their table. He came alone, though after him the four others not yet at the table appeared too.

With everyone at the table, they'd all introduced themselves and casually chatted with each other. Yousuke had learnt that the blue-skinned girl he'd saved in the entrance exam was named Kaoruko Awata, and she had, once again, thanked him, much to the interest of Setsuna and Hitoshi.

Apparently, everybody was interested in the top-ranker's narration of the events of the entrance exam, so they'd listened carefully to the boy while he talked, occasionally interjecting with an 'ahh' or 'ohh'. In Eijiro's own words, he was 'really manly' in that exam, saving other applicants.

By the time he'd finished, everybody had filled their stomachs with the delicious lunch and, seeing that lunch period was getting close to ending, decided to head back to class for the next period. Once they returned in the classroom, Hitoshi checked something on his phone to see what subject is next.

"We have heroics coming up, and according to the syllabus, our heroics teacher is All-"

But the purple-haired teen didn't have time to finish that sentence before the door was suddenly and loudly opened by none other than their American-themed Symbol of Peace, who was also their teacher.

"I AM HERE!" he shouted, with his usual boisterous attitude and ever-present smile. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

'Who enters a class like that?!' thought every student in the class, and despite that, everyone was excited about what was going to happen. For All Might, Japan's Nr. 1 Hero, to be teaching a class, no sane person wouldn't be hyped for what was to come.

The tall hero walked inside the classroom, standing in front of the board and striking a pose while revealing a small card held in his gigantic hands.

"Foundational Hero Studies, the course which shall build the very foundation of your future behavior as a hero as well as your potential for which area you shall decide. It also grants massive points for your curriculum, so it's a must for any potential would-be hero." said All Might, making the class effectively tremble in excitement.

The giant man fished out a remote from his suit and pressed on a button. The back of the board hissed and lifted up, revealing a hidden compartment with many cases numbered from 1 to 20. Of course, the students were happy that their costumes were produced so fast.

"A hero also has to look the part, hence why you will all need these! Get to the locker rooms, suit up and move to training ground Beta! I shall wait there for you all! HAHAHA!" and with that, All Might disappeared in a puff of smoke, his laughter echoing in the hallway.

|INTERMISSION|

Ground Beta was just like the mock city in the entrance exam. Yousuke had a few ideas as to why he was brought there, but he awaited the pro's explanation. Meanwhile, he'd let himself check the costumes of a few of his mates.

Shoto's costume was just his left side covered in ice. Seriously.

Eijiro... didn't have that much of a costume going on. His upper body was almost entirely uncovered, most likely for his quirk.

Similarly, Yaoyorozu was also not-quite-but-almost naked, her costume barely covering anything.

Hitoshi's hero costume was made of a long-sleeved black shirt, fingerless gloves, black pants and white boots with purple tips. In addition, Hitoshi wore a mask on his face and his Capturing Weapon around his neck. He said that he took inspiration from the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead, who uses the same kind of weapon in combat because his quirk doesn't have offensive capabilities.

On the other hand, Setsuna had a hero costume consisting of a purple, scaly mask over her eyes, a simple bodysuit with a matching design and black knee-high boots, finger gloves with orange, three-piece wrist-guards, and a belt around her waist.

"This bodysuit is made from my cells so it regenerates with my body parts, so I don't, you know..." said the girl, seeing that Yousuke was looking at her, though she was becoming more embarrassed towards the end.

Yousuke looked at her embarrassed expression and chuckled.

"No one would've thought you were a gyaru in middle school if they saw you now, you know." he said, further flustering the green-haired girl.

She would've said something, but at that moment All Might begun speaking with the students.

"How very cool, all of you! I can see you truly did put your heart into your costumes! I hope you also did put as much thought into how practical they would be as today's exercise will be an indoors battle!" the hero with the eternal smile began explaining the reasons for the exercise before anyone could question it.

"You might not know it, but the majority of villainous activities are conducted indoors. A truly smart villain would not peruse around the streets, neither would they commit their misdeeds where there could be witnesses or patrolling heroes. Normally, you might be led to think that outdoor crimes are larger in number, but that only seems so due to media coverage. Now, with all this information in hand, we shall begin the exercise! The class will be divided in two groups of Villains and Heroes, all of which will have to either defend a nuclear device or capture either the weapon or the villains!"

The man spoke so quick, any questions the students could have withering before they could be asked. All Might, unperturbed, took out two boxes, one colored white for the heroes and one colored red for the villains. The results went like this:

Team A: Todoroki Shoto and Yoarashi Inasa

Team B: Bakugou Katsuki and Fumikage Tokoyami

Team C: Yaoyorozu Momo and Kodai Yui

Team D: Kaminari Denki and Midoriya Izuku

Team E: Kirishima Eijiro and Shoji Mezo

Team F: Tokage Setsuna and Kendo Itsuka

Team G: Shinso Hitoshi and Kamakiri Togaru

Team H: Awato Kaoruko and Tsunotori Pony

Team I: Gojo Yousuke and Shiozaki Ibara

Team J: Shishikura Seiji and Sekigai Kashiko

The matches were randomly selected. As such, the first fight was as follows:

Villains: Team G (Shinso Hitoshi and Kamakiri Togaru) VS

Heroes: Team H (Awato Kaoruko and Pony Tsunotori)