When Friday comes around, Sensei McCaffery and Gila take Class 1-A to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ, for rescue training. They told the class they would be meeting an additional teacher there, but nobody was expecting to see the pro hero Uravity. Her pink and black space suit matches her bubbly smile as she addresses the students.

"Hi there everyone!" the hero chirps, waving. "I'm honored to be your first guest teacher of the year!"

The students' faces shine with anticipation. Uravity was a member of the most famous Class A that U.A. has ever seen. Even just their first year, they had faced more struggle than most hero students to date. They were given special permission to participate in work studies their first year to prepare to fight in the big Paranormal Liberation War.

It was only five years ago, but they remember the constant state of fear their country was in. Uravity played a big part in comforting the public and making sure they knew the heroes were there to protect them.

"Today, we'll be going over the most important basics for a rescue. Some of your quirks may not be best suited for this, but it's at the core of heroics to protect others. We will discuss the main parts of a rescue mission and conduct practice runs."

The hero shifts her weight, looking over the assembled students. "The first thing you should do when arriving at the situation is what?"

Hirose raises his hand, his pale hair glinting in the light from the frosted glass of the dome. "Assess the area. Find any threats or advantages. Know who you're saving and where they are."

"Correct!" Uravity chirps. "Jumping into the situation can make it worse without proper consideration beforehand. The first thing we will do today are timed tests where you must write down everything you notice about a disaster site that can be of use."

She goes on to explain as she passes out pads of paper. "This should be something you're constantly practicing. Become highly aware of your situation so, by the time you get out in the field, it becomes second nature. Excess time spent on this can be a liability in a real scenario. You have to train yourselves to see as much as you can as fast as you can."

The hero beckons the students down the stairs and into the center of the USJ. "Let's get started. Follow me."

•°•☆•°•

Takara flexes her hand. She understands the point of the exercise, but she finds herself bummed out that today's rescue training has been more writing than action. She scrubs the side of her palm on her leg, trying to remove the sheen of smudged graphite as they move from one disaster site to the next.

"And now, we'll try a practice run," Uravity says, stopping before a large body of water. "This will let you get your toes wet, so to say."

Takara blinks hesitantly at the water, a thought occurring to her: she hasn't swam since she started training her quirk. Sure, when she was little, a bit of jade on her face and hands wasn't enough to weigh her down. But now, she constantly has a thick layer of jade below her skin. She can't help but wonder if she's too dense to swim.

"In a water disaster, it can be hard to see the extent of the damage from above. I know some of you have abilities that will help you in the water, this is your chance to put those to use."

Takara glances around and rubs her hands on her legs. Aiya and Kaede don't seem particularly pleased either.

"This is your chance to use what we've learned today," the hero continues. "You'll have to work together with your classmates to extract and rescue all ten victims on the sinking ship!"

She points out to the middle of the lake where a fancy white yacht is idling.

"The ship seems to be fine," Sugita points out, raising his hand.

Uravity grins at the class conspiratorially. "For now." She claps her hands. "But first, a word on shipwrecks, since I don't like the idea of throwing you into this entirely blind. A sinking ship will release air bubbles and drag down whoever happens to swim above it. Additionally, debris will be sinking separately from the main ship, so you have to constantly be aware of your surroundings. This is the most dangerous thing you'll be trained on today, so stay vigilant!"

The hero leads the students onto a pier and guides them to the edge. Takara peers over the side and stares down the drop into the water. "Use what you've learned to communicate the situation with your team. Lend yourself where you are needed. Without further ado..."

She pulls a controller with a comically large red button from her pocket and grins as she presses it. The explosion ripples out from the center of the lake, blasting them with heat even from a distance.

The twins take off, zipping toward the boat. Their wings flutter so fast they look more like blurs. Araya leaps from the pier, diving into the water. His right shoe lights up from the ankle. He disappears under the water, followed by many of their other classmates.

A submerged missile seems to shoot toward the boat, but then a sleek grey back breaks the surface, revealing a grown dolphin.

Takara can't help but laugh to herself. "Ha! Who knew?"

"Are you gonna jump, or what?" A voice jeers from behind her. She turns to see Hirose glaring at her. She's holding up those behind her by watching her friends take off. A few students just jump off the side of the pier instead of waiting for her.

"Oh, umm...right," Takara says, looking back over the edge. She steps to the very end of the pier and takes a few deep breaths. She might be denser than she once was, but she's stronger now too. She knows she can do this.

"Just go!"

She plugs her nose and jumps, bringing her legs up to brace for impact. She hits the water with a splash.

Her ears flood with water, muffling the sound of her other classmates jumping in. The girl opens her eyes to see bubbles swarming her vision.

She extends her arms to begin paddling up, but it takes much more effort than she remembers. Her movements are sluggish. Since when did water feel this thick?

She kicks her feet, but they can't seem to move fast enough. Sure enough, her body begins to sink.

•°•☆•°•

Up on the surface, the class continues to swim to the ship. Morita takes long strokes ahead. The mask around her neck chafes with every movement. She grumbles to herself about wearing her full costume when she's not even fighting anything.

The girl takes a moment to look over her shoulder but does a double take when she doesn't see one of her friends behind her.

Surely she's not that fast, Morita thinks, treading water to look at those ahead of her. But she doesn't see the chestnut hair she's looking for.

"Juba?" she calls. When she gets no response, she tries louder. "Juba!"

There's still no answer. Her other classmates pause to see why she's panicking. The twins glance at each other as they hover above the boat, then fly over.

Morita changes directions and paddles hastily back to shore. She takes a breath and goes underwater, only to resurface in frustration when she can't see anything.

"Morita!" Kaede calls, pointing at a small patch of bubbles on the surface by the pier.

"Help me!" Morita shouts, kicking into high gear and swimming forward frantically.

Aiya lands on the pier and searches the water, trying to find any sign of her friend. "The bubbles stopped!" the pixie cries, leaning further over the edge. She soars up to hover by her twin. "Where's Araya?"

Kaede clenches her fists. She knows it will take too long to get him. Pulling her wings in, the pixie dive bombs the water, swimming straight down.

Her wings are immediately waterlogged and trail uselessly behind her. In the limited light, she can see the reflection of the silver fabric on Takara's costume. Bubbles cling to the girl's eyelashes and lips. Kicking hard, Kaede finally reaches Takara who blinks lazily as the pixie grabs her arms and starts swimming up.

Another arm snakes around Takara's waist. Morita pulls her mask off and fits it over her friend's face. She presses a button on her gauntlet, and air begins flowing.

The two haul Takara up as she begins coughing up air bubbles. As they break the surface, they all gasp for air. The mask falls from Takara's face, and she hacks water from her lungs.

Morita and Kaede guide the girl to the ladder and help her up. Aiya pulls her over the edge and sits down next to her. "Are you okay?"

Takara gives a tired nod, though the coughs that still plague her rattle her body with their force.

Aiya purses her lips at her friend, not believing her in the slightest. Kaede and Morita pull themselves up over the edge. The redhead tries in vain to lift her wings.

A heavy green hoodie lands in front of her with a thump. She looks up to see Aiya flying back to the shipwreck, only wearing the brown romper base of her costume. Kaede begrudgingly picks up the sweatshirt and gently pats her wings.

"What happened there?" Morita exclaims.

Takara clears her throat. "Swimming is harder than I remember," she manages, voice garbled.

"You can't swim?" Kaede asks incredulously.

"I used to be able to," Takara mumbles, sniffling. "I guess I just sink now."

"Did that occur to you before you jumped?" A voice asks behind her. She looks up to see Uravity standing over her, hands on her hips.

Takara looks down at her lap. "Yes, but I didn't know I'd just sink. I thought I'd just be a little slower."

The hero shakes her head. "Well, you're lucky your friends noticed you were gone, but this is the type of thing you have to think about with this exercise. Which is still happening, by the way."

Morita blushes and dives back into the water. Kaede merely shakes her head. "Wings wet, can't fly."

Uravity nods and turns back to Takara as Kaede puts on her sister's hoodie.

"So you realized you might have trouble and didn't think to take the ladder instead? Just in case?" the hero asks gently.

Takara hides her face in her hands. She feels tears pricking at her eyes. When was the last time she felt that?

"This is the sort of thing this information will help you with. You should be able to tell if your quirk will inhibit a mission. The smartest thing for you to do at this point would have been to stay back. There should always be someone to make sure the evacuees have a safe place to recover, right?"

In the distance, a glistening shape shoots out of the water with a wet doll balanced on its nose. Aiya catches the dummy, and dolphin-Araya returns to the water.

"I'm sorry," Takara murmurs, continuing to gaze out at the lake. "I'll think it over next time."

Uravity doesn't say anything for a moment, just gives her a firm look. "This is why we practice in a controlled environment, but it won't always be this way. I'm teaching you these things so that you'll know how to assess a situation and know your limits. Please pay more attention from now on. These training sessions are to help you transition seamlessly to hero work. You have to treat them like the real thing."

Takara nods, gulping down the lump in her throat. "I understand."

"Good." The hero extends her hand to Kaede. "As for you, Komatso, you should be ready for the evacuees when they get to the pier. Juba gets an out for now."

The redhead accepts her hand and pulls herself up. Her sopping braid and wings poke out from the bottom of the fluffy sweatshirt. She steps to the edge of the pier and watches their classmates swim over with the fake victims.

"Thank you for diving in," Takara says, voice still thick. "I'm sorry you have to miss out on the rest of the activity."

Kaede shrugs. "I'm not going to just let you drown. Like Uravity said, I still have a job to do back here. As long as you're okay."

Takara reaches out for Kaede to pull her up. Shaky as her legs are, she leans on the pixie more than she expected and gives her a tight hug. Kaede wraps a single arm around her and helps her right her balance.

When the shorter girl pulls away, Kaede pats her shoulder. "All in a day's work of being a hero."

Together, they pull the first students up the ladder and supervise the simulated evacuation.

•°•☆•°•

After the exercise has finished and Uravity has given the class a few final thoughts, they are sent back to U.A. As the bus pulls up to the grand front doors of the school, Takara sees a crowd gathered in bright costumes. At the very front is the Class 1-B teacher, Rosebud.

Given that it's her first true glimpse at the other heroics class, one would think her first thought would be something more intelligent than lots more mutation quirks. But the observation stands true. Class 1-B is much more eccentric in appearance than Class 1-A.

At the sight of the other teacher, Sensei McCaffery rubs his temples, an action Takara doesn't miss. He leads the class in filing off the bus.

"McCaffery."

"Rosebud."

The two acknowledge each other briefly. McCaffery continues to lumber along to the doors, but the other teacher calls after him, "I hope your students didn't damage the training facility too much."

He turns and replies with a placating, if not condescending, smile. "They did just fine. Thanks for your concern, love."

The petals around Rosebud's face bristle and seem to turn a darker shade of magenta. Sensei McCaffery ushers his class inside as his coworker opens her mouth for a retort. Whether it would have been an insult or a challenge, they'll never know because the door closes with a satisfying clang before she can get a word out.

Class 1-A's teacher grins to himself and urges his class on to the locker rooms. "Sometimes, it's better to turn the other cheek than to take the bait," he advises. "You lot remember that. The lovely Rosebud seems to forget we're not here to prove who the best Pro Hero is but to teach the next era of great heroes."

"I don't like how she talks to us," Endo mumbles. Takara can't help but agree.

Araya nudges Endo's arm. "Who cares what she thinks? She doesn't see us train, so how's she supposed to know what we can do?"

"Exactly," McCaffery affirms with a nod. "You're not responsible for how she perceives you. She has quite the competitive streak, that's all. When you get to the Sports Festival, you'll have to watch out. I've heard she likes to start rivalries between classes. I don't care much for rivalries, especially when she places them on her students' shoulders. Just focus on doing the best you can and don't let her rile you."

The class splits to towel off and change back into their uniforms. Then, they head to their last class of the day. Most of their hair remains damp, and Kaede half-heartedly flutters her wings as they enter the class, still trying to dry them.

"Let's get started," their math teacher, Kumarēza, says. He gestures toward their seats, urging them along. "Sit, sit."

Though every lesson starts with his same impatience, Takara can't help but smile. She's thrilled to have such interesting heroes as teachers. Even if math isn't her best subject, the teacher's enthusiasm for the subject is enough to keep her attention. Not to mention, being voted "People's No. 1 Hottest Male Hero" doesn't hurt.

Kumarēza unclasps his jacket and drapes it gently over his chair. His mismatched eyes rove over the class with a glimmer. "We will review derivatives briefly before continuing onto integrals." His eyes may be intense, but his smile is that of a little boy's on Christmas Day. "We'll make sure you have a grasp on it to better transition to the next unit."

Turning to the blackboard, he shakes his hair from his face and begins listing problems in his blocky handwriting. The stripe of white in his black hair has always reminded Takara of the way chalk stands out against the dark board. She finds herself contemplating how she'd sketch him. Maybe she'd play with pastels on a dark sheet of paper and utilize the empty space to...

A loud slam shakes her free from her thoughts. She whips her head to the side to look at Araya. He gives a wry smile, mumbling "sorry" before picking up his textbook from the floor. He almost imperceptibly winks in Takara's direction. She raises an eyebrow, knowing he could have caught the book if he wanted to with his cat-like reflexes.

And yet, he let it fall to spare Takara the embarrassment of daydreaming in the silence. She hadn't even noticed when Kumarēza finished copying down questions. The girl was itching to draw. Perhaps it was the near-death experience that drew images from her brain that she wished to capture.

With a breath, she tries to turn that attention to her notebook to begin her classwork. Takara's lips purse upon seeing the quotient rule in the first example. She leafs through the pages to try to find the notes she has on it.

The margins of her notebook are filled with cramped notes. Just small additions she's copied from her friends. They clutter the page and make it difficult to follow. Why does math have to be such a web of rules and equations? Why is everything connected?

She has half a mind to ask this, but somebody beats her to it. From the back of the room where Kumarēza is helping a student, Takara overhears someone mumble, "What does this have to do with hero work?"

The teacher stands upright, looking around. "What a wonderful question," he replies, hastening to the front of the room. "What does calculus have to do with hero work? Any ideas?"

Nobody moves. Glancing around, Aiya tentatively raises her hand. "Is it to apply it in physics?"

"I don't doubt the importance of physics to heroics, especially out in the field, but what about math?" Kumarēza probes further. "What do we practice in this classroom that you directly use in the field?"

The students look between each other and their teacher with unsure eyes.

The edges of his mouth twitch up in a sad smile. "It's a lot simpler than you're all making it..." The man spreads his arms, his single blue eye glittering as if he's using his quirk to coax the ideas out of their brains. "It's about problem solving. It's about keeping your mind sharp.

"When you look at these problems, you mentally note what you see," the teacher explains, echoing the lesson from their hero course just before. "You separate it into different parts you know how to handle. From there, you tackle it piece by piece. When you get good enough at it, you don't even notice that you're doing it. It becomes second nature. This is about building your confidence in your own abilities to approach a problem. It's all about logic. Logic is the metaphorical muscle we are training in this class. Without training in logic, I fear you won't get very far in the field."

He barks out a laugh. "Do I hope you all learn to love math? Of course, but I will settle for learning first. If you had looked at these problems at the start of this semester, you probably wouldn't know where to start, but see where you are now?"

A pregnant silence overcomes the class. Kumarēza tosses a piece of chalk between his hands. "Let's remind ourselves of the rules we know and work through these problems."

Featured Character: Kumarēza
Quirk: Eye Contact
Likes: Enthusiasm

Note: Kumarēza is a character inspired by my own dog! I thought it would be cute to make him into an OC with a quirk. He has a black and white coat with a white stripe down his forehead, so the only good refs I can find of him are genderbent Cruella lol. His quirk is in reference to the stare he always gives food as if he can make it fly off the table and into his mouth.