The next day, everyone returned back to school. Classes resumed as they usually did. We did a small test in all of our classes to ensure we hadn't forgotten too much during our summer break and training for the Provisional License exam.

The entire morning back, I could feel several pairs of eyes staring at me. Whenever I tried to look around to see who was staring at me, I didn't find a single set of eyes on me. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew who was staring at me. The likelihood was that it was Ochako, Kiri, Momo and Iida. They were most likely concerned about me since they had no explanation on why I looked so upset the previous night or why I came downstairs that morning with bags under my eyes. I fully intended to give them an explanation, but I couldn't exactly do that whilst we were in class, could I?

The bell for lunch chimed and echoed throughout the class. Auntie Nemuri looked up from her book at the front of the class. "Ok everyone, time is up. Please make sure you're name is at the top of your paper and place it on my desk. Once you've done so you are free to go to lunch." Auntie Nemuri smiled.

There was a flurry of movement and the scrape of chairs as everyone rushed to place their quiz on the teacher's desk and rush towards the cafeteria. The aroma of Lunch Rush's food filled the air, making everyone's stomach rumble with hunger.

After collecting my food, I walked over to the tables which my class had practically claimed for ourselves and plopped down in between Ochako and Tenya. "Ah, I see you have picked a simple sandwich for lunch, an excellent choice, Izuku. Please ensure you eat the entire things so that you have enough energy for this afternoon's class." Tenya sated with a nod of his head as he looked down at me. Even sitting he towered over me.

"Of course, Iida." I chuckled lightly. With that, I dug into my chicken and sweetcorn sandwich. The delicious taste of mayonnaise and chicken exploded over my tongue. I knew it was rather plain, but I couldn't help but love the taste of the sandwich.

"Izuku..." Ochako's voice spoke up hesitantly from beside me. I turned in my seat from where I was talking to Aoyama and Shoji to look at my best friend. Ochako looked really upset and hesitant to speak.

"What's up, Ocha. You look really worried." I murmured quietly as I placed my sandwich down on my tray.

"Well... I was just worried about you, Izu. Last night Present Mic walked past the kitchen and I saw that he was carrying you. You looked like you had been crying and I was worried about you." Ocahko whispered, tears beading up in her eyes. I quickly pulled her into a hug and patted her back in an attempt to stop the tears falling from her eyes.

"Hey, hey. There's no need to cry. Everything is fine... well not really. But don't worry, ok. I'll tell you about it after school, ok? Don't worry, Ochako, everything will be fine." I whispered as I comforted my friend. I felt Ochako nod against my shoulder as we maintained the hug for a few more minutes before pulling away and smiling sweetly at each other.

"You're too sweet, Zuzu. You'd be great with kids. In fact, didn't that little kid Kota send you a thank you letter for saving him. I can't wait to see what type of hero you're going to be!" Mina squealed happily, shaking Kiri who was sat next to her trying to speak to his boyfriend. I blushed slightly and I was about to respond but I was cut off, rather rudely, by Kacchan.

"Oi! Stop shaking my boyfriend, Racoon Eyes! I'm trying to talk to him!" Kacchan snapped, snatching Kirishima from Mina's grasp. A shocked silence circulated around the table as people digested this information.

"Wait! You two are dating!" Hagakure squealed, her uniform moved forward slightly to lean on the table. She was no doubt trying to get closer to Kacchan and Kiri. I watched as Ojiro smiled slightly at Hagakure before guiding her back down into her seat so that Kacchan didn't blow her up for crowding his space.

"Yeah, we are! So shut up about it and mind your own business you fucking extra!" Kacchan snapped, baring his teeth like an animal at Hagakure.

Everyone sniggered at Kacchan's reaction before they turned back to their own conversations. Nobody really cared about their relationship in reality. There were quite a few same-sex relationships in the class. Of the 6 known relationships in the class, 4 of them were same-sex. Nobody really cared.

"Settle down everyone. Today we have some visitors coming in to talk about their time in the hero course and the next step in your journey." Dad yawned sleepily over the chatter of the classroom. Everyone immediately shut up and stared at Dad expectantly. "The Big 3 will be speaking to you so please keep quiet and listen to them. I'll explain more after." Dad muttered before waving a hand at the door and slumping forwards on his podium and falling asleep.

As soon as Dad's head hit the podium, our classroom door was thrown up with more force than necessary, giving way to three people. I watched as Mirio as well as two other 3rd years walked into the room and stood at the front of the classroom. Miro and the girl stood beside him, Hado Nejire, both smiled widely at the class whilst the black-haired boy, Tamaki Amajiki, stood beside Hado had his head down and refused to look at anyone.

"Hello, Class 1A!" Mirio cheered enthusiastically. Everyone greeted him back with varying levels of enthusiasm. People such as Kyoka, Shoto, Shinso, Shoji, Koda and Tokoyami replied in quiet or unbothered voices whilst people such as Mina, Kami, Kiri, Sero, Aoyama and I all replied just as enthusiastically. Kacchan stayed silent and simply scowled at the three people stood at the front.

"How about we introduce ourselves! I'm Mirio Togata. I'm in Class 3B and I'm happy to meet all of you!" Mirio Senpai beamed before turning to Nejire beside him.

"I'm Hado Nejire but you can call me Nejire. I'm in Class 3A. By the way, you there, are you more like a toad or a frog, I've been wondering for ages!" Nejire introduced herself before she bounced over to Tsu.

"Umm... Well, my quirk is Frog, so I guess I'm more like a frog. Kero." Tsu shrugged. Nejire smiled and opened her mouth to question Tsu more but Shota's muffled voice interrupted.

"This is not the time for that. You can ask questions after class. Hurry it up." Dad grumbled. Neijire laughed airily before she skipped back to the front.

"I'm... I'm... I can't do it, Mirio, I'm too nervous. I keep trying to picture them as potatoes but it's not working." Tamaki Senpai whispered as he walked into the corner of the room and stared at the wall. Everyone looked to the other two for an explanation, it was clear that if we were to stare at Tamaki, we would only make him more nervous.

"His name is Tamaki Amajiki. He's in Class 3A and he isn't the best at public speaking." Mirio introduced for Tamaki. Everyone nodded in understanding and quietly waited for an explanation of why the top three students in all of Japan were stood in our classroom.

"Ok, the reason we're here is simple. We're here to explain the next step for you on your path to becoming fully-fledged heroes. Work Studies!" Mirio exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Work studies are your chance to see what being a hero is really like. You did internships after the sports festival, but overall, you really couldn't do much. Since you now have your provisional licenses, you are allowed to actively use your quirks and help people." Nejire continued for Mirio in a bubbly voice.

"You can be chosen by heroes or you can seek out a hero. Often times, people return to the people that they did internships with." Tamaki whispered against the wall. Everyone had to strain their ears to hear him.

"This year's batch of first years is really something if they are getting their provisional license now. How about I give you a little demonstration of my power. It would be a rational decision to test them against us and show them how far they have to go, right Eraser?" Mirio smiled, bouncing on his toes as he smiled at Dad.

"Whatever, do what you like," Dad grumbled into his sleeping bag. With permission from our teacher, Mirio perked up and smiled at us all. I felt myself go pale at the realization that we would be fighting against Mirio. I felt like I was the only one in the room who knew what he was truly capable of.

I stood on wobbly legs in Gym Gamma, watching as Mirio stretched and warmed up. The rest of my classmates all looked pretty confident in their ability to at least stay standing against their upperclassmen, but I knew that even the strongest of us stood no chance against Mirio. I had sparred with him before and walked away from the experience with bruised ribs and slightly traumatized.

"D-do I have to do this?" I whined to my dad as I watched everyone stretch. Dad looked down at me and smirked slightly as he shook his head. I let out a monumental sigh of relief at this information. I had no desire to walk away from the entire exercise even more traumatized by my shameless upperclassmen.

I walked away to stand by Tamaki against the wall. Tamaki peaked at me through his hands and appraised me, questions gleaming in his eyes. "I've already gone up against him before. I'd rather not experience that again." I hummed in answer to the unanswered questions which hung in the air between us. Tamaki nodded slightly in understanding before he turned back to the wall.

"Good choice. Fighting Mirio is never an enjoyable experience." Tamaki whispered.

I turned back to my classmates and saw that they had finished stretching and were all stood in fighting stances in front of Mirio. "Oi, Nerd, are you not fighting him?" Kacchan shouted over to me, causing quite a few heads to turn towards me. I saw Tamaki shrink in on himself a bit further beside me.

I shook my head in response to Kacchan's question, "No. I'm not really feeling up to it..." I shouted, trailing off as my eyes landed on the excited and borderline crazy gleam in Miro's eyes. I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine. Mirio, as a person wasn't very scary, sure he got around and had a reputation to put it lightly, but he wasn't exactly scary. When he was fighting, he was an entirely different person in my eyes. No longer easy going but surprisingly fierce and harsh. I had no interest in facing him whilst he was like that.

Everyone shrugged and turned back to Mirio, ready to give it there all against someone with more experience than them. There was no real indication that the match had started. One moment they were all just stood there, waiting for the fight to begin then the next Mirio's clothes were phasing through his body and falling towards the floor. Kyoka shrieked in horror and covered her eyes as Miro sunk into the floor and out of everyone's sight.

The class gasped in surprise and looked around for Mirio in vain. Some people relaxed their fighting stances whilst others remained vigilant and let their eyes roam around the room. It was sudden. Mirio popped up out of the ground behind Kyoka without any sort of warning. "Kyoka! Behind you!" Kacchan shouted, powering forward and yanking Kyoka out of the way just in time for Mirio to bring his arms down. Mirio raised an eyebrow in surprise at the lack of victim before him. He looked up with curiosity shining in his eyes, he was just in time to see Kacchan swing an explosion at his head.

As fast as Kacchan may have been, Mirio was faster. He activated his quirk before Kacchan's blow could land and shot out an arm to try and catch Kacchan but Kacchan was already on the other side of the room, propelled by his explosion just in the nick of time.

The small interaction between Kacchan and Mirio took place in less than 5 seconds. The pace so rapid you could hardly tell what had happened. Not one to focus on the small loses, Mirio powered onwards and quickly took out all of the long-range fighters. By the time he was done, over half the class was laid groaning on the floor. I desperately wanted to laugh at the sight, even if it was a bit cruel of me.

"This is a great chance for a lesson to be beaten into you!" Dad called to everyone, " Mirio is the closest person to becoming the number one pro!".

This information, of course only spurred Kacchan on. It was common knowledge that Kacchan was aiming for the top, after all. Mirio turned his attention to the remaining few who were still standing. This included; Kacchan, Shoto, Iida, Ochako, Tsu, Kirishima, Kyoka, Sato, Ojiro and Koda. I could see the apprehension on nearly all of their faces. They were clearly reluctant to fight someone who had just taken out half of the class. The brief pause in the fight was interrupted when Mirio disappeared once again causing everyone to be alert and surveying their surroundings meticulously.

With a resounding crack, both Sato and Koda were sent flying backwards, landing with thumps on the ground. The next to go were Tsu, Kiri and Ojirio. All three of them tried to block the attack coming towards them but ultimately failed. With only 4 people remaining, it was very obvious to everyone who would come out on top in this spar, but that didn't mean my friends were going to give up.

I winced as Iida's head was thrown backwards by an unforeseeable uppercut. As if by design. Iida's body slammed into Ochako's sending them both sprawling with pain whimpers and groans. Now it was down to two. Even if they were the top students in the class, even if they were both very dear to me and I knew they were strong, I held no doubt in my mind that Kacchan and Shoto were going to be taken down by Mirio.

The two aforementioned boys stood back to back and kept their eyes and bodies alert for any shift in their environment. I watched as their heads swivelled from side to side like seagulls in search of food on the beach. Mirio's movements were fast and precise. He leapt at Shoto, his fist outstretched and ready to hit Shoto in the face. Shoto must have figured out at least something about Mirio's quirk because as Mirio's hand got closer and closer to my boyfriend's face, Shoto raised his right hand and grasped Mirio's wrist, letting ice encase his entire arm. Mirio's eyes widened in shock as Shoto sidestepped to reveal Kacchan with his palm directed at Mirio.

Shoto quickly let go of Mirio and sidestepped out of the way to allow Kacchan to unleash his quirk on Mirio. The resounding boom of Kacchan's explosion echoed around the room, rousing some people from their pain induced unconsciousness. Neither Kacchan nor Shoto relaxed their stances as they looked into the smoke which was beginning to clear, unfortunately, they were too focused on the smoke to notice Mirio shooting from the ground. They didn't know he was there until his fists connected with their heads, sending them both sprawling to the floor.

The outcome had been obvious from the start. Mirio was always gonna win. He wasn't in the Big Three for nothing.

Thank you for reading Chapter 25! Thank you for all the comments and votes on previous chapters. Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.