Minoru woke up the next morning just as young and confused as the day before, if exceptionally well-rested and hungry from missing dinner. It seemed to be official: Scummer had somehow sent him into the past. He didn't know how a Quirk could possibly do that, and maybe he was just having an incredibly realistic dream or something, but given he had no way to distinguish this from reality he might as well treat it seriously. Now if only he knew what that meant. He certainly didn't want to repeat his mistakes of the past, but the sad fact was that unlike Midoriya, with his inheritance of One For All and the secret mentorship of All Might, Minoru was just…himself. With all the disadvantages that entailed: his small size meant he was never going to be particularly threatening even with training, his Quirk was great for capturing people but tended to let him down when things got dangerous, and at this point his future knowledge was mostly reminding him just how horrifically out-classed he was going to be in the troubles ahead.

  He was still brooding over his unhappy personal circumstances when he arrived at class, but was interrupted by the door flinging open and All Might in his muscular version leaning dramatically in as he proclaimed: "I have…come through the door like normal!"

  Minoru was shocked to find himself tearing up slightly as his classmates around laughed, and he quickly wiped his eyes, hoping no one had noticed. Damn, he hadn't really thought of All Might in years, and here he was again, straight out of his glory days. Minoru knew he wasn't actually at his peak any longer—this was simply disguising his own weakness and injury—but even so. It had been all too long since he felt the hope that All Might engendered simply through his larger-than-life presence.

  All Might wasted no time, but assumed a strange pose at the front of the class, like he was about to run straight through the opposite wall and make his escape. "Hero basic training! The class that'll put you straight through all sorts of special training to mold you into heroes! It also gives a ton of credits, but there's no time to dally. Today's activity is this!" He spun to fully face the class, a small placard in hand that read "BATTLE". "Battle training!"

  As the class exclaimed in excitement and the hidden shelves with their costumes rumbled out from their place recessed in one wall, Minoru collapsed downward in his seat with a groan. Crap, he'd forgotten they'd done this on only their second day. He didn't remember specifically how it had gone, but he did remember one thing perfectly well: it was the day he'd begun to earn the disgust of Momo Yaoyorozu, which had ultimate led to the entire female contingent of the class barely putting up with his presence. He knew what he needed to do to head that off—thanks to Aoi-chan's guidance—but damn was he not looking forward to doing it.

  On his way out of the locker room, Minoru paused, his attention caught by his own reflection in one of the mirrors above the sinks across the way. He remembered being so proud of his costume when he'd first tried it on years ago, but looking at it now he was filled with a vague feeling of discontent. It reminded him of something, but he was having trouble recalling what. Something he'd seen several years ago, maybe…ah!

  Minoru smacked his hand to his face. Now he remembered! He went through a phase a few years back where he watched a bunch of Western movies, and one of them had featured a circus. And his costume with its weirdly wide pants made him look just like one of the clowns. All he was missing was face paint, a red nose, and oversized shoes.

  Damn it, now that he'd made the connection, he couldn't unsee it. He was going to need to submit a costume change request as soon as possible. At least the film he'd seen hadn't been made yet, so hopefully none of his classmates would draw similar conclusions. Turning away from the traitorous mirror, Minoru trudged through the hallway leading from the locker rooms to training ground beta.

  Exiting the hall, Minoru paused, shading his eyes against the sudden influx of light. Many of his classmates had made it out before him and were standing arrayed before All Might as they awaited the stragglers. Minoru approached them, but as he drew around the bulk of Mezo Shoji's tentacle arms, he found himself completely arrested.

  Two things had evidently faded in his memory: first, just how gorgeous his female classmates looked in costume; his more recent memories of them were colored by the desperate fights they'd been in, when they were all beat up and looking defeated. And second, the immediacy and strength of emotions driven by teenage pubescent biology.

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  Minoru could do nothing other than stare. Nearest him was Ochako Uraraka, looking awkward in a costume that showed very little skin, but gently caressed her excellent curves in ways that left little to the imagination. Beyond her stood Momo Yaoyarozu, practically at attention, but her attempt to assert confidence was undermined by how stiff she was holding herself. Her costume was also form-fitting, but where Uraraka showed little skin, Yaoyorozu's showed a lot: of particular interest to Minoru, a slit extended from her neck to just above her stomach, exposing the sides of her breasts and the space between them.

  To the other side of the crowd, Tsuyu Asui hunched, but once again even her froggy posture was unable to completely hid the fact that her costume was hugging her body just as much as Uraraka's, revealing nearly as nice a set of assets. Near her, Mina Ashido looked the most comfortable in her costume of any of the girls, with a hint of cleavage peeking out of the top of her patterned bodysuit. Finally, Toru Hagakure was standing off to the side, and although her body was completely invisible, the fact that only her gloves and shoes were in evidence meant that she was standing there completely naked.

  Mineta involuntarily grabbed the arm of the person nearest him and found himself looking up into the enquiring eyes of Shoji above his mask. "We all must have done something right in our past life, huh? The hero course really is the best."

  Shoji stared at him without expression before giving a slight nod, and Minoru let him go, trying his best to avoid staring too much at the girls as he moved a few steps away now that the shock was easing a bit. Behind him, a frantic cadence of footsteps announced Midoriya, looking ridiculous in his all-green homage to All Might. Midoriya also came to a dead stop when he saw Uraraka, slapping a hand over his mouth to stop his exclamation in surprise at her costume. Minoru shot him a thumbs up in solidarity.

  "We're all here then?" called All Might. "Looking good!" He then caught sight of Midoriya and had to stifle a laugh before Ida brought him back on track and he explained that they would be doing anti-personnel battle training with students performing the roles of both villains and heroes in two-on-two battles. Minoru hung around near the back of the group, listening to the description of the activity just enough to ensure his memory was accurate, and before he knew it the time came to pick lots to discover the team compositions. As he'd expected, he once more ended up on Team C with Yaoyorozu.

  As Midoriya, Uraraka, Bakugo, and Ida traipsed off for their thrilling and grudge-filled showdown, Minoru followed the rest of the students to the viewing area and quietly tried to hype himself up. He could do this; he didn't need to win, he just needed to give a decent showing and ensure Yaoyorozu didn't hate him.

  As his attention was once again diverted by the flash of her torso out of the corner of his eye, he realized it was the latter that scared him the most. He took a deep breath and pulled his attention to the front of the room where All Might was encouraging everyone to watch and learn. He could do this; just like he'd practiced with Aoi-chan, and once or twice after with other women. He could handle a little rejection; he could! He wasn't a teenager anymore, damn it, no matter what his hormones had to say about it.

  Midoriya's match went as he remembered, with Bakugo going completely unhinged, Midoriya standing up to him, and All Might letting the fight go on far longer than was responsible. Of course, now Minoru had an idea why: he was likely hoping the challenge would force Midoriya to grow as the successor of his power. It was interesting to be reliving these early days, in that regard. With the power of memory or hindsight or whatever he wanted to call it, Minoru found himself watching All Might even more closely than the explosive action on the monitors. None of his classmates noticed, but the big hero was visibly nervous as Bakugo unleashed a stored-up blast of explosive sweat on Midoriya. How had none of them ever noticed in the past? Minoru looked around at his classmates, but all of them were riveted by the actions on the screens, most looking as if they were feeling a mixture of shock, intimidation, and awe.

  He supposed in fairness to them, no one could have expected this level of aggression or violence on their second day of school. As Midoriya punched through the entire building, unexpectedly pulling off a win for him and Uraraka, Minoru had to admit he was pulled right in with the rest. Even knowing what Midoriya would eventually be capable of, he had to admit that even a fraction of All Might's power was impressive stuff.

  Of course, he ruminated, as Yaoyorozu's earnest breakdown of the action wrapped up the debrief, then there was the second team-up which was ended in a split second when Todoroki froze the entire building in an instant.

  Those explosive first two matchups apparently lit a fire under his classmates, but Minoru could barely pay attention to the next matchup, because after that…it was his and Yaoyorozu's turn.