My fingers started to tap on top of my desk as we all waited for Mr. Elastic to calculate our results. The only thing I could hear was someone clicking their pen as we all anxiously waited. Besides that, the room was silent. It was so quiet that you could hear when people shifted uncomfortably in their seats, waiting. All we could do was wait.

I turned to look at Yamamoto, who sat one row over and three seats ahead of me. He didn't look angry anymore. If anything, he looked like the most relaxed person in the room. His head fell on top of his arms, covering his face. His dark brown hair fell in front of him and onto the top of his desk. The students around him would look to see if he was still awake, but no one dared to say a word to him.

Honestly, I didn't blame any of them.

Sakura, who sat in front of him in the very front of the classroom, seemed a bit more on edge. Even though I sat far away from her, I could tell she was fighting the cold she had due to overusing her Quirk. There was a pile of clean tissues sitting in one corner of her desk, and a pile of used ones in the other corner. It didn't seem to do a thing as she kept wiping her nose and silencing whatever noise would follow. When she wasn't doing that, she was rubbing her eyes.

As miserable as she looked, I knew she was feeling two times worse than that.

"Okay class," Mr. Elastic said as he stood up from his desk. Everyone's head snapped up to look at him, eager to hear what he had to say. As he looked at each and every one of us, I felt my stomach tightened, worried about what these results would be. "After evaluating everyone's scores, I've decided that you're all going to stay in the same ranks as you were given. Don't let that discourage you, as the real test will come at the very end of your time here at U.A. when you take the final exams to become a hero."

A sigh of relief escaped my lips, and luckily, no one heard it. No one heard it as they all started to whisper to one another. I leaned back in my seat, trying not to be seen by anyone or overhear what they had to say. I didn't really care. I was still ranked number twenty and that was a good number to be at.

If I were to fail, it wouldn't be a surprise. A higher ranking would've been more of a shock, but at least now, I would be able to slip out of the class like an old memory. All I'd have to do is make sure that I stayed in this rank, not improving much in any of my hero classes. Eventually, I could fail my hero classes that there'd be no way they'd even consider keeping me in this class. They'd have to kick me out, or maybe I could fail a huge test like the midterm or something.

Either way, I would be out of here in time to transfer schools. In the meantime, I just had to think as to what I wanted to do with my life and deal with these classes.

Well, that and figure out some way to survive my classes.

Yamamoto's hand shot up in the air. He didn't even wait for Mr. Elastic to call on him as he vocaled everyone's number one question in a very harsh way. "You can't be serious. My group won. Hell, we worked harder than other groups! How is it our ranking stayed the same?"

Everyone quieted down at his remark and snapped their attention to Mr. Elastic. Our teacher was still standing behind his desk, staring at Yamamoto in disbelief. To be honest, I was a bit shocked that Yamamoto would actually say something about it, but I didn't say a word. Not that I could have said something. I mean, the only person who could've talked in that moment was Mr. Elastic. He was the teacher after all.

But he wasn't the one to speak up. The silence must've been too much for Yamamoto who stood up at his desk, slapping his hands on top of it. Everyone flinched at the sound, staring at him in fear.

"Smith and I were able to complete the exam, yet we are the only ones who completed it who didn't move up above our opponents. The other groups, the higher ranked students won, but we out-smarted higher ranks. How is it that those Go twins get to stay ranked six and seven, but I'm stuck at number thirteen? If anything, I should've been moved up!" Yamamoto complained.

The kid beside me gave me a glance, realizing I was his partner for this entire thing. I sunk lower into my seat, trying to stay hidden. Being ranked number 20 was a good thing. I liked it. Not only would it make it easier to drop out of the class, but I had to sit in the far back corner of the room.

That was another thing about ranking. Instead of just determining how strong a student was in the class, it also determined where we sat at. The student ranking first would sit in the front row, closest to the door. Michi ranked second, so she sat behind the student who had ranked first. Being ranked 20 meant that I could hide away in the back. I liked that. No attention would come my way.

Or at least, no attention should have gone my way. Yamamoto's comment kind of put me in the center of attention.

"This was just a test to make sure you all tried your hardest out there," Mr. Elastic said before looking around the classroom. When his eyes landed on mine, I felt my heart stop. He looked at me for a moment before returning his gaze over towards Yamamoto. "You were partnered with Smith, right?"

As soon as my name was mentioned everyone's eyes snapped over towards me. Sweat poured down my forehead as I tried sliding down my chair to go unnoticed, but that didn't happen. Even when I only had my eyes above my desk, I could still see everyone looking at me with curiosity.

"Yeah," Yamamoto said. "Her rank should've gone up by at least one for distracting the other team. Besides, aren't there going to be times where we have to distract the villains?"

His comment caused everyone to look back at Mr. Elastic. Only, Mr. Elastic had his eyes glued on mine for a moment. I could tell he wanted to say something, but he quickly closed his mouth before looking back at Yamamoto.

"Do you remember the three things you'd be judged on?" he asked.

"Retrieving the child, that was it," Yamamoto claimed. "We got the job done, and that's what matters."

Mr. Elastic sighed before he turned his attention to me. Seeing that he did, I froze. If I could use my Quirk to turn to something else, like a fly, so I could disappear in that moment, I would have. I couldn't do that. That would've been impossible.

"Not quite," he explained as he returned his attention to Yamamoto, "That was only one of the rules. The other two qualities were that you work as a team and other aspects that made the rescue hero-like. You didn't put into consideration that your partner wasn't comfortable changing into someone else and left her stranded in the middle of the streets without helping her out. You need to learn to be more empathetic and not be so selfish. Selfishness does not make a good hero. You need to learn to listen to others and put their feelings into consideration."

I watched as Yamamoto slid back into his seat. Even though I sat well behind him, I could see the crestfallen look on his face. While Yamamoto's skin was fairly tan, I could see the color of it starting to drain.

Mr. Elastic gave a small smile, as we all started to realize the lesson Yamamoto had learned that very moment. He had always thought about himself, seeing what would help him in his own personal gain, and nothing else. It was how I always thought heroes thought whenever they fought. Maybe that was what the problem was with many heroes. Maybe that was why Mr. Elastic wanted to teach him.

We all had something we could learn from at that moment, but the lesson wasn't done as Mr. Elastic's smile faded before he snapped it over towards me.

I gulped.

"As for Smith, the goal was to act as heroes in the situation. Yes, I can see where this puts your Quirk at a disadvantage there, I won't deny that, but that doesn't give you the right to transform into a little kid. What would've happened if you did that as a hero? What would happen if the villains kidnapped you and figured out who you were before you had the chance to realize it? Being a hero is more than just looking out for others, but it's also keeping yourself safe. Had you been captured by true villains, you could've ended up dead before you got any information," Mr. Elastic lectured.

The air around me started to thin as I felt the sweat coating around my neck. My hands grabbed the knot of my red tie, adjusting it, so it wasn't suffocating me any further. The last thing I needed was to pass out, and Mr. Elastic was embarrassing me that I could've.

It was like Sakura had said earlier today: it would've been horrible if I passed out outside my Quirk.

Mr. Elastic didn't even make it easy for me as he took a seat at his desk before he grabbed a pen from the front of it.

"Your actions were more harmful than they were helpful," he concluded. "It's worrisome what could happen if your Quirk was used in the wrong hands."

~*~*~*~

The moment the school bell rang, everyone leapt out of their seats and darted out. I quickly followed, knowing that I'd have to go to pick up Ollie from school. My hand grabbed my backpack as I followed the crowd, slipping it onto my back.

Before I could even reach the doorway, someone stopped me.

"Smith, could you hold back for a moment?"

I turned around to see Mr. Elastic standing behind his desk, looking over at me. Every muscle in my body tensed as I looked at him, realizing what this whole thing was about. While I wanted to follow my classmates out the door, I couldn't. There was no way I could.

It took every bit of strength I had left in me to walk in front of his desk. With every step, I could already hear the words he was going to say. After calling everyone out in class, he was going to reprimand me even more. That was what this was all about, wasn't it?

Mr. Elastic didn't even look me in the eyes by the time I stood in front of his desk. Instead, he looked down at the contents of his desk. I did the same, noticing the papers and pens scattered across it, a coffee mug with a little bit of coffee left in it sitting in the corner of his desk, creating brown rings on the paper it sat on, and a photo that was turned away from me. For a teacher, he wasn't very organized, but that didn't really matter when this was only a part time job for him.

As I looked at the contents of his desk, I noticed the seating arrangement, with the students' rankings on it. My name was scribbled on the bottom, almost as if it was an afterthought.

"Humor me, Smith, what made you want to become a hero?" Mr. Elastic asked.

My eyes widened as I looked up at him. His yellow eyes still avoided me, fixated on the picture he had snatched up from his desk. I tucked my hands into the pockets of my jacket, trying to stay as calm as I could. It didn't help much. If anything, my hands just felt the heat wrapping around them as they slowly grew hotter.

Was this how Kaito felt whenever he would use his Quirk?

"I-I want to help people," I told him.

"You know you could help people in other ways, Smith," Mr. Elastic pointed out. "Volunteering at the local food bank, tutoring—heck there are a lot of jobs that can help out others. What makes you want to be a hero above anything else?"

He knew, didn't he? There was no way he was asking me these questions if he didn't know, especially since he attacked me with our results. All those questions, they couldn't have been for nothing.

Here, I thought I was doing a pretty good job in hiding my intentions, that I was only here because I was forced to. Maybe not forced, but I didn't have much of a choice. My mom moved here, so I could have a better opportunity to be a hero. Peter moved with her, even though he truly didn't have to. He could've said something to have us all stay in America.

Then, there was Ollie.

"My brother," I told him. "I—I want to be a hero for—for him. He can't be a hero. I mean, he wants to, but you can't be a hero without a Quirk, right? So—so I have to be one for him, to protect people like him."

A sigh escaped Mr. Elastic's mouth. "You're just like your father."

I froze. My mom rarely talked about him, but I knew enough, mainly because we weren't good enough for him. He left before I was born. I had no memories of him, only the information my mom told me about him. That wasn't much, only the fact that he left and why.

While I knew the why, I tried not to think about it. Unfortunately, that's all Mr. Elastic wanted to talk about.

"I'm sure your mother talks about him, about how everything he did was for the benefit of others. Though, I can't necessarily say I agreed with him all the time, despite working with him," Mr. Elastic told me. "He was still a good man."

My head dropped to avoid any eye contact with him. There were many reasons why I didn't want to be a hero; why I didn't want to come here and train to be a hero. I could get hurt. I wasn't cut out for it. My Quirk wasn't hero material, despite what people would say. While I could say all those reasons and have people disagree with me, there was one that would make people uncomfortable.

It was easy not thinking about something until people brought it up. That man who left my mom fourteen years ago was one of those reasons why I didn't want to be a hero. Key words, his name, even the topic of heroes were an easy way to think about him though. Sounds like I'd constantly think about him, but I didn't. I didn't know the guy.

Except, I knew what I needed to, to know that heroes weren't good. My father was Justice-Core, a hero. When he learned my mom was going to have a baby, he left her. He didn't think he could be a hero and a father at the same time, so he chose that life over family. No one ever seemed to remember that. They painted him as a good guy, as this hero who was always there for others.

Wasn't it ironic how a caring hero could get up and leave his wife? Not that it mattered. He died a month before I was born.

"How exactly did you know him?" I asked, trying to be as polite as I could without freezing up or getting worked up about it.

"I was his side-kick back when I studied in America for a while," Mr. Elastic told me. "Didn't your mother tell you?"

"No," I coldly responded. "We don't talk about him."

"Oh," was all that could come out of Mr. Elastic's mouth for a moment.

There was a pause, almost as if he didn't know what to say. Likewise, I wasn't sure if I could leave. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get out of here, avoid anymore conversations about the topic Mr. Elastic was trying to get to. All I wanted was to pick my brother up from school.

"Well, I'm sorry to bring him up. I just thought you were trying to mimic what he did," Mr. Elastic told me. "But I'll still warn you, you shouldn't hide your true strength in the classroom. You're ranked number twenty in the class, but I see great potential in you. If you'd try, I could see you becoming a great hero. You've just got to put a little effort into it, alright?"

I nodded my head, still refusing to look Mr. Elastic in the eyes. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"I have one more thing to say," my teacher confessed. As he did, I turned to look at him. He reached for the back of his neck and started to scratch it. "I know you might think my way of teaching is harsh, but trust me when I say fighting villains will bring even more challenges. I'm only doing my job as a teacher to prepare you for that."

Once again, I nodded my head, letting him know I understood what he was saying, only, I didn't. A hero wasn't what I wanted to be, but I couldn't tell anyone that. I didn't want to make the same mistakes as he did. The best way to do that was to not become what he was.

Somehow, I'd figure a way out of this, but just not today. Someday...someday I'd get the strength to do what I wanted.

Just not today.

Author's Note:

And that's the end of the second arc! Whoohoo! We've finally figured out why Tami doesn't want to be a hero and a bit on why she's not quite fond of heroes. Hmm...wonder what could happen next?

It may take a while for updates to happen again, but once updates come, they will be more frequent. What I mean by this is instead of every other week there's an update, it'll move to every week. This is because I feel like this next arc is pretty much ready (with the exception of finishing up the tail end of it, but in terms of editing, I feel confident with it).

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the last chapter question for a while: We've been introduced to a whole bunch of characters in this arc. Some are pretty minor (and will probably only show up in this arc, sorry) while others will be very important ones. I want to know, which character from this story is your favorite by far?

So, until next time, take care!

Character Spotlight: Mr. Elastic
Quirk: Stretch
Likes: White Hair Dye

Even though it was introduced on how students ranked and where that correlates with where they sit in this story, I figured I'd give you all a chart on what that would look like. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, ranks 1-5 sits closest to the door while ranks 16-20 sits near the window. Below it are known students rankings as not every student will be mentioned by name, just ones that have a major part in an arc or two or is a major character.

~Front of the Classroom~

16 11 6 1

17 12 7 2

18 13 8 3

19 14 9 4

20 15 10 5

~Back of the Classroom~

Known Rankings

Michi—2

Chiyo—6

Ichiro—7

Kaito—10

Sakura—12

Raiden—13

Daigo—16

Tami—20

Song: Greed from Haikyuu