Started re-writing on December 18th 2022

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There was a shift in their friendship. A shift to include another. Iruka may have bristled and glared at Katsuki the first few days they started to walk together but Izuku, she tried not to be hostile. It was through their similar interest in protecting Izuku that ended her hostility towards Katsuki and thus a new routine was born.

Iruka and Izuku walk to Katsuki's home in the morning before they headed to school together. Iruka and Katsuki side eyeing (Iruka) and threaten (Katsuki) anyone that dares to look at Izuku the wrong way. Izuku split off after school to train with his family friend while Iruka and Katsuki walked home or Iruka would split off to UA.

It was on the day that Iruka and Katsuki would walk home together. She'd led him down an alley. Katsuki looked at her confused. It was certainly one way to go home but why choose somewhere different? Iruka had merely told him this was how she trained. She didn't answer any of his questions after as she kept listening for any signs of trouble.

Iruka split off the second she heard a cry for help. Katsuki hot on her trail. She quickly knocked out the attacker. The takedown was swift enough that Katsuki didn't have to intervene thankfully. For once in his confusion Katsuki said nothing as Iruka checked on the one who had screamed for help. A lady in her early 20s. She didn't think it necessary to make a report to the police as nothing thankfully had happened, so with one last look over Iruka bid her farewell before dragging Katsuki away. It took all of 2 turns before she spoke.

"Whiskers what the actual fuck was that about?"

"That was helping someone. It's how I train."

"That's fucking vigilantism and it's illegal!"

"Scream it to the world and get us arrested why don't you? Besides if an attack can be prevented why not do just that?"

"There are fucking heroes for that for a reason. Fucking hell how have you not gotten caught yet?"

"Who knows? The police give me a thanks and a warning and I'm home free." Katsuki gapes at her. The way she's just so casual about the whole thing.

"Fucking Alleyway Bandit should be your hero name if you ever make it." He grumbled.

"Don't think I could be a hero do you?"

"Not if you get fucking caught that's for fucking sure,"

Iruka shrugged and continued on. Thankfully they both made it home without much incident.

=========

"Your maths is absolute crap Whiskers. What the fuck is this?"

"I know that alright. This is why I study with Izuku and not you!"

"His maths is just as fucking bad."

"He'd be second if not first in class if his grades weren't faked all the time. I bet he does maths better than you can!"

"I'm right here you know,"

"Hush I am making a point."

3 more months before UA and this is how they've been preparing. Study groups at one of 3 houses. Training in one of 3 places. Dinner at one of 3 homes. Rinse and repeat. Iruka was sure the second she was out of school she'd burn every book she owned. Learning was nice and all but when you had to stare at the same questions over and over again it could start to feel nauseating.

"Oi you lot better come down and eat!" Mitsuki yelled. The blonde had a personality Iruka wasn't sure how to react to. Part of her was sickly sweet, like a hostess with ulterior motives. She realised later on that Mitsuki Bakugo was an aggressive lover. Snatching you into tight hugs, punches on the shoulder etcetera. Her sweet personality was a show. A show she pulls off at work and pulls off well. Iruka isn't sure how the fashion industry worked but she wasn't going to judge Mistuki's methods in her own field of work.

Everyone scrambled down to see Masaru already at the table. Now he was someone Iruka could understand. A man who was quiet and gentle. Someone willing to love from afar so long as he can love regardless. Iruka was confused by the Bakugo family's dynamic but she's grown somewhat accustomed to it. Even if on occasion something someone does throws her off the loop. Izuku though always feels at home here.

He had told her that he used to come here pretty often back when Inko still worked odd jobs. Iruka was sure it was well before he got diagnosed so she never asked further.

Dinner went as smoothly as it always does. At least 2 debates were being yelled across the table as food gradually left it. Smoothly indeed.

Iruka slept all of 3 hours the night of the entrance exam. The excitement brewing for at least a week now. It takes everything within herself to not bolt out the door the second the sun starts to rise. It's 6 30 when she allows herself to leave. It's still too early but she's done her morning chores and still has so much energy to burn. With her bag and some toast in hand, Iruka is out the door.

She debates with herself on whether she should go to her friends' homes or go to Takoba Beach to run her extra energy away. Something in her gut told her to go to Takoba Beach and thus to Takoba Beach she went. As tempted as she was to use her quirk to fly Iruka didn't, opting to walk there and allowing the sound of the morning city to keep her company.

Under the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach and the occasional car engine, Iruka could hear thumping on the sand. Running if the pace was anything to go by. She didn't need sight or scent to figure out the running came from a person with dark green hair.

10 months Izuku had worked on cleaning the beach as his own training. It is no surprise this is where she finds him now. On a beach almost entirely cleared of all its trash as far as the eye could see. Iruka and Katsuki helped occasion but there was no denying this was all Izuku's work.

With a quick transformation, Iruka jumps up to the sky before landing right in front of Izuku.

"Ahh!"

"Good morning Izu!"

"You didn't need to scare me like that Iru!"

"Nope, but it was funny. Training?" Iruka glanced over at the small pile of trash that sat neatly at the edge of the beach.

"Just some last-minute cleanup. I'm meeting Yagi-san here so I thought I would kill some time."

"I can help you get this to the pickup zone before Yagi gets here,"

"That would be great Iru."

It didn't take long for them to do just that, nor did it take long for Yagi to get there. Iruka walked off to wait for Izuku while Yagi and he had some kind of private conversation. She decided to text Katsuki whilst waiting.

Kaboom
Hey, are you nerds ready? I'm heading to UA now.

Whisky
We'll meet you up at the station Izuku is talking to Yagi

Kaboom
Tell him to hurry the fuck up.

Iruka wasn't sure how she was going to manage that without invading their privacy. Thankfully she didn't have to. Izuku and Yagi came into view just moments later.

"We gotta go Izu," Iruka grabbed onto Izuku without waiting for a reply, "Wish us luck Yagi-san!"

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"How did you think you did Whiskers?"

'Ehhhh," Iruka waved her hand around, "Could've been better, definitely could've been worse,"

"Hey that's still something. I'm sure you did fine Iru. We just have one more thing to do,"

"Practicals!" Iruka bumped her fist into the air.

"If you somehow managed to fuck this up not even I'll have hope for you,"

"That's mean Kacchan,"

Slowly the students filled up the hall. Hushed conversations came to a stop as the lights dimmed and the stage illuminated.

"HEYYYYYY!" Present Mic stood in front of them. "It's time to put those academics aside and get to the practicals." Behind him, a slideshow played. 3 robots they would have to defeat, 1 they would have to ignore.

Iruka took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She glanced over at Izuku, who looked just as nervous as she felt. Katsuki, on the other hand, looked the most collected of all of them. They'd be separated into different arenas, which wasn't helping her nerves. Nevertheless, she bid them both luck and hopped onto her bus.

Iruka took the seat nearest to the front. She noticed the different people around her but paid them no mind as she focused on keeping herself calm. It didn't take long for them to arrive at their arena. As they got off Iruka saw the giant gate. Slowly it eased open. Everyone stared at the suburban area. Iruka saw a shift in the distance.

"There aren't any countdowns in real life! Go go go!" Present Mic yelled from somewhere above them. Iruka didn't need to be told twice as she flew straight at a robot in front of her. She quickly changed her wings into gorilla arms and knocked the thing onto its back. A quick punch was all it took to shut it down. She kept that knowledge in mind as she went further ahead.

Iruka worked as quickly as she could to take down the bots in front of her. The arena itself wasn't as big as the walls made it out to be leaving Iruka to circle back. She went through alleyways and kept her senses sharp. Every once in a while she'd knock over a bot that was too close to another examine. Sometimes they were frozen in fear, other times they were outmatched. She was checking on another examine when she fell, the ground rumble.

Iruka made it to the main road and spotted the tall robot a few metres from them. It started to move towards them and many ran away. Some stood gawking at it, one of which being Iruka, but as its foot landed she realised it would get to them fast.

"We have to go!" She called out, pulling many out of their fascination. This was the zero pointer Iruka was sure of it. There wouldn't be a point in fighting so surely there would be no shame in running from it right?

As another mechanical foot landed, Iruka was sure that thing could pace everyone. It seemed to keep going straight ahead so surely the other would think to jump out of the way. That idea wasn't long-lived as one of the robot's arms went up and swung. Taking a chunk of a building nearby. Iruka shielded herself and another as the debris came flying down. The dust barely eased when she heard a scream. Behind her was a purple-haired boy who had gotten his leg caught under a cement chunk.

Iruka ran towards him.

"Hey, I'm going to try to get this thing of you alright?" Iruka changed her arms once again into gorilla arms hoping it would be strong enough to lift the cement chunk. Iruka ignored the rumbling of the earth and tried her best to be gentle. She managed to lift the cement and tossed it to the side.

"I don't think I could walk," The boy had said. Worry fell on her face.

"I'll have to-" A shadow loomed over them. They looked up to see the foot of the robot just above them. Pangolin scales grew on Iruka's back before she curled around the boy.

UA wouldn't hurt potential students, right?

A bell rang. Present Mic's voice rang through the sound system.

"The exam is over, well done everyone! If you have any injuries please proceed to the entrance where you will be healed." The shadow that had loomed over Iruka and the boy slowly retreated.

"I'll help you to the entrance."

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Hello hello,

This is going to be the last chapter that I will re-write for now. I will get back to updating normal chapters regularly in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully by than I have accumulated a decent amount of drafts lol.

As usually, thanks for reading my fanfiction and if you enjoyed this please leave a voote and/or comment.

Hope you had a lovely day, night, weekend, whenever, wherever you are.

Stay hydrated, stay safe,
Bye Lovies~