All Might wasn't at U.A. today—not out of indifference, but because his other duty called. Having transferred his energy to Midoriya, time was now against him. Every second he spent in hero form cost him something, and tely, that cost was rising. He'd been patrolling all morning, keeping up appearances, smiling for cameras, still existing as the Symbol of Peace. But beneath every smile was a storm. His time was short.

  Back at U.A., the mood was far from somber. Css 1-A buzzed with excitement.

  "I wonder what training is going to be like today?" Ochaco Uraraka asked, leaning over her desk-mate. "Do you think we'll get to battle fake vilins?"

  "I hope we get to perform rescue operations in a burning building or something!"Smiling, curling his arm, Eijiro Kirishima excimed: "I wanna go all out!"

  Laughing awkwardly in the center of the room where he was seated, Izuku Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck."U-U hear it's designed to simute natural disasters—flooding, ndslide, colpsed building… that sort of thing."

  "Whoa, that's heavy," added Mina Ashido, bouncing in her seat.

  As the bus rolled onto campus and the students began to line up, the css noise just got louder.

  Ochaco saw Hikari waiting by the doorway and approached her."Hey, um… I don't think we've actually talked. I'm Ochaco Uraraka."

  Hikari looked at her cautiously, blinking a few times."Hi."

  Ochaco smiled, twiddling with her sleeve a little."You are so strong. I was thinking… would you maybe want to be friends?"

  The question hung awkwardly in the air. Hikari’s breath hitched slightly. She gnced around, visibly uncomfortable, then darted past Ochaco and slipped into a seat next to Shoto Todoroki.

  Shoto's gaze swung over to her with a understanding gentleness. He recalled this about her quite well—how when they were children, all the kids from around the block would come by to try to py with her, but she never wanted to do anything with them. She just ever wanted to train. Just ever wanted to be a hero—like their dad.

  "Sorry, Uraraka," Shoto spoke softly. "She doesn't open up easily to people."

  Kirishima, who had been listening, smiled quietly."Maybe she's just more comfortable with you, Todoroki. I mean, she only hangs out with you or Midoriya, right?"

  As the bus left campus, the cabin was filled with enthusiastic chatter.

  "I hope there's an avanche zone!" Kaminari shouted.

  "Why?" Tsuyu Asui asked with an empty face.

  "So I can skate down it on my lightning!"

  "That's not how physics works, bro," Sero snorted.

  About him, however, Midoriya was fnked by peers who ached for theories and hypotheses to offer, and that they might pose some questions. He stammered over his words, his face burning with embarrassment.

  Hikari sat in the rear, watching, a smile pying on her face. She was happy he was communicating, so desperately trying to conform.

  "Like that too, you could be," Shoto whispered beside her. "You don't need to be at my side every time."

  She rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh."Then who will be my hot-and-cold comfort pillow on long bus rides? You know I'm always cold."

  Shoto blinked, a rare smile ghosting his lips. Without a word, he slid his arm around her, shielding her from the noise and the world.

  A few rows up, Bakugo gred out the window, steam practically rising from his ears. His hands sparked faintly with anger. Watching Shoto hold his girlfriend was not something he took lightly.

  “Dude, chill,” Kaminari whispered. “You’re gonna blow a fuse just watching them.”

  "Close it, Dunce Face."

  The bus skidded to a halt in front of the domed building that was the Unforeseen Simution Joint—USJ for short. The css exited in couples, entering the huge, state-of-the-art dome.

  Inside, the simution center was breathtaking. The dome stretched on and on as far as the eye could see. Disasters of every sort were simuted in various zones: fires burned in a simuted city, the floodwaters swirled in a ruptured riverbed, mountains of rubble towered like skeletal spires. It was as if one entered the aftermath of a hundred disasters at once.

  Waiting for them near the entrance was a woman in a space suit-like costume: bck helmet, white body suit, the number 13 embzoned on her chest.

  “Welcome to the USJ,” said the pro hero Thirteen, bowing slightly. “I’m honored to host today’s css.”

  Thirteen turned toward the group with practiced grace."My Quirk, Bck Hole, can consume anything—debris, rubble… even people. It's good for rescue missions. But as with any Quirk, it can kill if used by the wrong individual."

  That st sentence hit Hikari like a punch to the chest. Her smile fell. She looked down, hugging her arms.

  Shoto noticed immediately. Her eyes… they shifted. A hue not found in nature. Not violet. Not blue. An otherworldly hue that he'd only observed a time before—the evening she was kidnapped.

  "Hikari?" he breathed, his voice taut with concern.

  Her fingers wrapped around his in silence."Something's wrong."

  And then—the lights started to fsh.The air moved. Static electrified every hair on their bodies. Farthest from them, near a broken fountain, a churning bck cloud exploded forth—like a tear in the fabric of reality itself.

  A whirlpool had formed, and out of it emerged people. Dozens of them. Dark-robed men with weapons. Strange creatures with twisted bodies. At their head was a tall man wrapped in tatters, deathly white face and hands spasmodically shaking as he rubbed his neck. His very presence reeked of decay.

  His name was not yet known. But he arrived bursting with menace.

  Aizawa immediately pushed on his goggles and stepped out.

  "Thirteen, defend the students."

  He dove into the fight willingly.

  And so the chaos began.