Early the next morning at 4:45, I wake up and run to the bathroom, emptying the contents of my stomach out of anxiety. My head is killing me, so after I clean myself up, I down a couple painkillers and chug some water. I head to the cafeteria and make some tea to wake myself up. About five minutes later, Bakugo walks in.

He grabs himself a plate and makes eggs and bacon on the skillet they've provided. I lay my head on the table between sips of tea, not ready for human interaction yet. Especially not with him. And not when I'm still…

I'm still in my pajamas! I think with a start, looking down at my baggy blue shirt and snowflake sweatpants. Well, he can't be much better, can he?

I look up to see him walking over to the table, blonde hair mussed from sleep, and wearing a black tank top and black sweatpants with white skulls on them.

Even when he just woke up, he's intimidating!

I have to hold back a snort of laughter as he sits down a little further down the table and I spot a cowlick on the back of his head. I hide my smile with my mug and take a sip of the steaming tea.

"You gonna fuckin' eat?" He snaps. He's glaring at me because of course he is. I shrug and scoot along the bench until I'm sitting across from him. I reach across the table to grab a piece of bacon from his plate, but he smacks my hand away. He growls, "your own food, Mute."

I wave him off impatiently and climb over the table to pick an apple from the bowl of fruit. "What the fuck?" He calls from behind me. "We eat on this table."

The food doesn't go directly on the table, I think, but only shrug when I walk back over. "My apologies," I sign as I put the apple in my mouth, holding it with my teeth as I climb between the bench and the table, shimmying down to crawl underneath and pop up on the other side.

"Fuckin' weirdo," he spats. In response, I take a bite from the apple and give him a smile that says I don't even care.

We eat in silence for maybe a minute, before I feel his eyes on me. I glance over to see his eyebrows furrowed. Following his eyeline, I realize with a start, my scar!

I drop the apple onto the table and rummage around in my pockets, quickly finding my choker and clasping it behind my neck. My cheeks burn self consciously and any desire to eat has abandoned me.

I have to remind myself that he already knows about me. But it's not like he's ever seen my scar, I think as I let my head thwack against the wooden table. Well now he knows how it happened.

He might've tried to say something, but he's silenced when a couple of our classmates walk in.

At least nobody else saw it. Especially Ei. He would be so disappointed in me. I don't think I could take that.

I remain with my head on the table as everyone else files in and eats, not giving any indication of paying attention to anyone. That is, until Mandalay's voice comes on like a loudspeaker in my mind.

"Hey there, Koto Yamada!" She chirps. "Be sure to put on a swimsuit under your athletic uniform!"

As she gets out of my mind, I groan and lift my head. It's only the second day and I already have to wear that in front of everyone?

I stand from the table and walk out, throwing out my apple core on the way. I notice with relief that Todoroki is doing the same.

"Mandalay?" He asks simply as we walk out, side by side. I nod and we walk back to our rooms in silence.

At 5:30, we're all ushered outside. Most of my classmates are groaning at the early hour, but I am used to it, so I make no complaints.

"Good morning, class," Aizawa addresses us. "Today, we begin a training camp that will increase your strength. Our goal is to increase your skills exponentially, so that each of you earns a provisional license. This will allow you to face the dangers that continue to fester in the darkness. Proceed carefully. Look alive, Bakugo."

Our teacher throws the boy the same softball from our first day of class. "Try throwing that for me."

"Yeah sure. Like in the fitness test," he replies.

"That's right," our teacher says, his unwavering gaze on his student. I'm almost positive he has something up his sleeve. "When you first started school, your record was 705.2 meters. Let's see if you've improved."

The boy walks away from the group as everyone begins excitedly yelling how far he'll probably be able to make it. He warms up his arm before winding back and throwing the ball forward with a confident smirk and a massive explosion, sending a backlash of dirt over us. Again? I thought there was enough of this yesterday!

The ball disappears into the trees and Mr. Aizawa says blandly, "That was 709.6 meters."

Bakugo's smile immediately deflates and his eyes snap wide open, looking out at the woods in disbelief. The rest of our jaws fall wide open. I notice everyone looking at the angry boy, probably wondering when he's going to explode on all of us.

"That's it?" Sero asks. "Kinda disappointing."

"You've had a single semester at UA, and due to your various experiences, all of you have definitely improved. But those improvements have mostly been limited to mental prowess and technical skill. With a slight increase in stamina thrown in along the way. Your quirks really haven't gotten that much stronger. Not on a fundamental level. That's why we're now going to focus on improving your powers. This'll be so hard, you'll feel like you're dying. Let's hope you all survive."

He ends his speech with a demonic grin to rival Bakugo's. I feel a shudder go down my spine and I grasp at Ochaco's hand, silently saying we're going to be fine.

The Pussycats come prancing out and separating us into groups. The woman with the green hair, Ragdoll, takes Momo, Sato, Todoroki, Bakugo, and I to a section set up with a picnic table full of food and three oil drums. One is set up closer to the table, but the other two are more spread out. I look into the one beside me to see it's filled with water.

"Okay, kitties!" The green-haired hero chirps in her squeaky voice, her eyes impossibly wide. She extends her paws to Todoroki and Bakugo, saying "you two will work on improving your strength! Todoroki will sit in a barrel of water over there and regulate its temperature, using his ice and flames as he sees fit, switching rapidly between the two! And Bakugo will plunge his hands into boiling water in that drum over there," she points to an oil drum that I only now realize is steaming and set upon hot coals, "to expand his sweat glands, then fire quick explosions in succession into the air!"

I wince. That sounds extremely painful. I'm not looking forward to whatever I have to do.

She then turns to Momo and Sato, explaining how they will eat food to improve their turnaround times for creating items in the former's case and energy in the latter's. Finally, she turns to me and I feel my heart beat heavily.

"And you'll be submerged in this barrel right here while producing steady sound into it, using your Echolocation trick! Every fifteen minutes, you'll up the amplitude another few decibels and hold it there!"

She turns to Momo and puts her paw out. "Snorkel!" She demands.

The girl readily creates a simple plastic snorkel for me to put in my mouth while I'm submerged. Ragdoll lets us disperse and go to our own stations. Extremely self conscious, I look around to make sure nobody's watching before unzipping my jacket and stepping out of my pants, my swimsuit-clad body shivering in the cool morning air.

I go on my tiptoes to swing one leg over the rim of the drum. I gasp as my foot meets the frigid water. They couldn't have heated it up even a little bit? I clench my jaw and swing my other leg in, putting the snorkel in my mouth. The moment my feet feel steady, I sink down to sit with my whole body underwater. It's not comfortable in the slightest, the way my toes are holding me up as I remain in a squatting position, my back leaning against one side. I reach up to grab the metal and pull myself up while I resituate my legs to be crossed underneath me.

As soon as I'm comfortable, I hear two sharp taps on the outside of the barrel, so I close my eyes and activate Echolocation.

At first, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. It seems more like just meditating while under water. Though not too much time passes before my head starts aching.

Eventually, I'm sure I'm going to pass out, but Mandalay's voice chirps in my head, "Good work, kitty! Take a ten minute break for lunch while we switch out the water!"

Switch out the water?

I'm confused, but I deactivate my quirk nevertheless. I open my eyes to be met with the red tinted water. I pull myself out and wince at my appearance. My whole body is dripping with the red water. Sure, just let me bleed out through my nose, why don't you? I think spitefully, pulling myself out and hosing myself down as Ragdoll dumps out the bloody water.

I pull my pants and jacket back on and stretch out my limbs. This week may be for strengthening our quirks, but I still have to stay physically strong.

I use the side of the barrel to practice barre while they're refilling it. It blissfully stretches out my stiff muscles. Who thought stuffing me in a tiny barrel was a good idea?

When my break is almost over, I sit on the dusty ground and stretch out my legs. I hold myself in a split while I watch Momo eat, constantly making little Russian nesting dolls.

"Back in the water!" Mandalay chirps, so I take off my now wet clothes and climb back into the freezing water, continuing where I left off.

------Author's Note------

Hey guys!

Sorry for the delay, but I've been absolutely drowning in work lately. It seems to me as though the professors just think "oh, online learning means they have more time on their hands, so let's assign more work." It's been a bit of a nightmare, but I'm trying to get through it. I hope all of you who are still in school are doing alright! And if not, my DMs are always open if you need someone to vent to.

I know this chapter was short and it sorta seems like a filler, but it didn't really fit with the others. The next couple will be much longer, but I felt we needed some calm before the storm.

I'll see you guys next week with another chapter!