Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.

To Be a Hero

rise like the wind

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After the Pro Heroes' raid on the League of Villain's base, Shigaraki was forced to go into hiding with the remaining members. He was not over All For One's sacrifice and swore vengeance; the heroes will one day all fall like fleas, and he will make sure to be the cause of it.

He was also going to make sure that the next time he was reunited with his sister that she stayed with him. It was the only right place for her to be, and since Giran had managed to find out that the girl was well and fought off the memory-induced coma, he knew she will finally understand him.

"Shigaraki Tomura," Kurogiri appeared before the lanky man and bowed slightly. "Toga was successful in getting into the exam. Everything is in order."

Now with All For One arrested and locked away in the deepest and strongest criminal facility in the country, it was Shigaraki's turn to officially lead the League. He fully embraced the role because he took his master's last words to heart. If All For One believed in him, then he had no more doubts.

"She better not mess up."

Shigaraki stood up from his position on the creaky old chair. Everything about their new makeshift hideout was dirty and unpleasant, but the League needed to lay low until he can gather more strength on his side. Kurogiri walked with the young leader naturally.

"I've instructed her to do exactly what you ordered and obtain Midoriya Izuku's blood," the Portal villain responded. "She also did ask if you'd like her to take a sample from Aisaka Shiragiku."

Shigaraki's fist slammed against the dusty wall and ruby eyes glared through the cracks from his hand mask, "It's not part of the plan," he growled. "That crazy bitch better not—"

"Don't worry," Kurogiri nodded immediately, unfazed by the anger but used his calmness to settle the young man down. "I already advised against it and Toga knows her boundaries. When the right time comes, I can have Dabi and Mr. Compress take the job to bring your sister back."

"No."

"Is that not a good plan? They were successful last time."

"No..." the seriousness in Shigaraki's voice was unusual that it made Kurogiri wonder. "When the right time comes... Shiragiku will come back herself."

"The other guys are moving around in groups of ten or more," Todoroki remarked while they were in hiding. "I could attack first, but it would be annoying if there are people with Quirks I'm weak against. Ideally, the other teams would fight each other and bring each other's number down before I launch my attack, but..."

"With only 100 people allowed to pass, you can't wait around," Shiro nodded and thought deeply. They were at the edge of the mountainous terrain and near the city-scape area. "This area is too cramped and you wouldn't be able to use your attack effectively, but it works for me with sneak attacks… We need to split up here."

Although it was risky for them to split up after solidifying that the other examinees were especially aiming for U.A. students, they had to do it.

"Good luck," Todoroki said, his heterochromatic eyes showing not worry, but that he trusted her abilities.

With one last determined look at each other, they nodded and went separate ways. As the male slipped away to go towards the factory setting, Shiro weaved around the buildings of the cityscape to find her targets. If she didn't know better, she'd think that the city was actually void of anyone with how empty the streets are. However, people were good at hiding; she was good at finding them, but it would be faster if they can all gather in a group.

She looked around to see if she can cause a small distraction somewhere and her eyes narrowed on the many electrical poles lining down the street.

This could work…

Slipping through the alley to get close to the one that was near the entrance, she focused her eyes and set both palms on the thick, wooden beam. Both of her eyes spun and worked to rewrite the section of the wood into woodchips—she was careful not to overexert the power as she didn't want the entire structure to change, but just enough so that it can become unstable.

Craaack!

The pole started so waver and crack at the base and Shiro quickly retracted her hands and slipped back into the alley to watch the show unfold. It took less than a few seconds for the wooden beam crush downwards upon its own weight and the electrical lines that were connecting it to the other ones started to snap and send out sparks as the entire line of beams fell like dominos.

Voices of concern and shock could be heard as the examinees that were in hiding rushed out to confront the person who caused the disturbance or to avoid being hit by debris that came down with the beams. Immediately, Shiro threw out two smoke bombs from her utility bag to cause even more confusion as she covered higher ground and got her rubber balls ready to aim.

One!

"Hey!" A girl shouted in surprise when she realized the target she placed on her hip was hit after feeling a bump and seeing the illuminating red light. "We're under someone's surprise attack!"

Two!

"How many people?!"

"I can't see anything!"

Three! Four!

Shiro was having fun picking out her targets—a guy with mutant-rock arms with a target square in the chest and his friend with one on the shoulder. However, the examinees were quickly learning and using all means to protect themselves even without a clear view of who was behind it all. The smoke bombs didn't last, and the area was clearing up again. People were on guard and started to suspect each other. As Shiro retreated, she noticed someone not too far off and was observing the crowd from a tall building.

Who is that...?

She quickly rolled over to hide behind a large structure on the roof and wondered if the person had seen her. Taking a small peak, it looked like the person hadn't looked over towards where she was, and she can only assume that they hadn't been able to pinpoint her location when she orchestrated her sneak attack.

That person looks familiar… she used the zoom on her visor that Hatsume so graciously added and ruby eyes flashed with surprise. It's that guy from Shiketsu High… Yoarashi Inasa? What's he doing up here?

It was evident that the male has all his targets intact and being up on higher ground like her means that he must be conjuring up a plan as well. She decided risk it and get closer to him; she had two targets left, so if she can sneak up and take him by surprise, then he will be her ticket to passing.

She maneuvered her way over silently and as she got close, there was a sudden gust of wind that picked up around the entire block in the city as Inasa spoke.

"I think heroes need passion! All of your fights are so passionate! I love passion!"

Wind… Is this his Quirk? Shiro furrowed her brows. Taking for granted that the male was distracted with what was happening down below, she didn't waste any time and aimed he rubber balls at Inasa's target spots with her right eye spinning.

Ding!

As one ball hit his leg, the male moved away in surprise and twisted so that the other ball flew just an inch past him.

"That was a close one!" Inasa exclaimed before looking around. His eyes brightened up when he caught a peek of Shiro's silver-blue hair. "You hit one of my targets, Aisaka! Amazing!"

He's not fazed at all, Shiro gritted her teeth in. Not only that, he dodged my last one. I don't any extras on me!

"You're the one who was behind that sneak attack earlier, weren't you? I was really impressed, so please allow me to join in your passionate fighting!" Inasa said before manipulating the wind to pick up speed rapidly from his fingertips and the confused crowd below shouted in cacophony as the rubber balls in their possession were sucked out and into the air. "I'm looking..."

Shiro watched as the wind stopped swirling momentarily with all the suspended balls in the air. She took a chance and dashed towards Inasa as the male bowed and all at once the balls dropped down on the examinees below.

"...forward to it!"

Screams and shouts could be heard as the examinees scrambled to get away from the massive attack while Shiro reached Inasa, but not before one of the falling balls hit the target on her upper arm after reaching to grab one for herself. She didn't have time to get caught up in that and ripped the ribbons from her hair in preparation. "Don't turn your back to an opponent!" she warned and attacked the Inasa for the last point.

Despite how big and burly the male looked, he was fast on his feet and flexible, too. He stopped her feet from contacting his chest by lifting a draft of wind towards her, but she quickly looped her ribbons around his right arm to prevent herself from being blasted away.

"I apologize! You're very strong!" Inasa continued to praise her as he put more force behind his Quirk. Shiro braced herself and allowed both of her eyes to spin once again. The ball she retrieved grew heavy with weight and she immediately let go of her ribbon, which caused her to be blasted up into the air.

Inasa halted his wind immediately and widened his eyes in surprise, "What—"

Without a moment to lose, Shiro switched back to just her right eye spinning and aimed her rubber ball straight at the target on the male's chest. Since it took him a second to react between catching the falling girl or activating his Quirk, his wind didn't have enough force to blow the heavier ball away before it made contact.

Shiro twisted and landed expertly on the ground with her two feet; she didn't need the male's help, but she had gambled on his hesitance. It was a little bit of using her skill as well as the male's righteousness against him.

A yawn came on from the intercom after the commotion in the cityscape stopped completely. "Finally, two people passed and... What?! 120 people were taken out?!"

Since Shiro only took out individual targets from multiple people, she couldn't take credit for the massive number of examinees taken out. Nonetheless, she passed because she hit six targets, two of them being on Yoarashi Inasa.

"I won!" the male shouted before coming up to clasp his large hands on Shiro's smaller ones, nearly propelling her forwards to his larger form if she didn't root her feet on the ground. "But you're too amazing! Seriously!"

He's too caught up with his admiration for me… she sweat-dropped. Suddenly, the targets on their bodies lit up with a blue hue as an automated message played back and cut the excited male off.

"Those who have passed should go to the waiting room. Hurry."

"Right! We have all the time talk in the waiting room!" Inasa was undeterred. "Shall we go?!"

"Please let go of me first," Shiro requested without the same pitch in enthusiasm, looking at her hands that were still wrapped in his tight grip. He immediately did as told but nothing could wipe the victorious grin off his face as they walked towards the anteroom together.

"Let's get to know each other, Aisaka! Who's your favorite Pro Hero?!"

It was going to be a long walk to the waiting room… And even longer once she's trapped in the room with the guy who was a little too passionate about everything.

As the time ticked for the examinees during the first test, a little over half out of the spots were taken by examinees while more than a few hundred had already failed. Todoroki was successful in taking out targets to be the 54th person to pass.

Meanwhile, thanks to the large earth tremor caused by Ketsubutsu Academy's Shindo Yo, the rest class 1-A were split up into smaller groups and had to fend off other schools that were plotting against them. Along the split up groups was Momo, Jiro, Asui, and Shoji who took cover within a tall skyscraper building, not knowing that Seiai students were laying in wait.

Midoriya found himself alone and being ambushed by a Shiketsu student—the blonde girl with plump lips named Camie—who can apparently transform into other people. During their short scuffle, she managed to scratch his cheek and draw blood. It was only when Midoriya was reunited with others from class 1-A that Camie slipped away. She was a mystery, but Midoriya and the others had to regroup to fend off Ketsubutsu as well so there was no time to dwell...

It took a while for Shiro to be able to tone Inasa's enthusiastic voice out and she could just nod occasionally at his remarks. Examinees were slowly trickling in the waiting room but to she hadn't been able to find anyone from class 1-A yet. Currently, she was looking over her options at the refreshment table with the Shiketsu male.

Custard buns, chicken wings, sandwiches... Oh, they have drinks over there.

Inasa was still rambling while Shiro poured some lemonade into disposable cups, and then she handed one to the male with a straight look. His words caught in his throat and eyes blinked in surprise as he took the cup from her.

"You're probably thirsty... From all that talking," she said offhandedly. She really just wanted him to stop yelling so loud, because they were getting looks from the other examinees.

"Thank you!" Inasa said gratefully after chugging the drink in one gulp and bowing 90 degrees. What she did only solidified his impression of her to be passionate and kind. More people looked over at them with confusion and curiousity. "Have you thought about my confession at all?!"

"No," Shiro replied truthfully and tried to hide her exasperated face behind her hand. "You draw a lot of attention..." she sighed. The male was so strong and capable, but why was he so socially-unaware?

"I'm sorry!" he apologized again. "I will try harder to be low-key during my pursuit for your affections! I'll prove to you that I am passionate about this!"

"That's not what I meant, Yoarashi-san. I'm not thinking about relationships at this time—"

"Of course! You're right that this exam is the most important thing right now!"

He's not listening...

"I should ask Camie for advice later. It looks like she's not here yet, but she has great interaction techniques with others."

Camie? Oh, that must be one of the other Shiketsu students.

"...What's Shiketsu like?" Shiro asked,wanting to chnage the subject and with her interest now piqued. If she was going to be stuck with the Shiketsu male, at least she can gather some information on what Shiketsu was like. Inasa's eyes lit up at her sudden interest and grinned.

"We uphold and emphasize the core values as heroes at all times; that's why we wear our uniform and hat with pride!" he started and explained further with enthusiasm. Shiketsu truly held their title of U.A.'s rival with their curriculum and standards. "I really wanted to come to U.A., though. It was my dream school."

"So why didn't you come here?"

"Well, that..."

It was then the door opened to reveal Todoroki walking inside. Shiro saw the flash of emotion Inasa's dark eyes and it was different from his excitable demeanor. As Todoroki caught sight of her and Inasa, she could tell that Inasa was not happy with the duel Quirk user's presence. But the feeling was mutual with both males.

"Shiro."

"Good work," Shiro greeted her friend before drawing her attention back to Inasa who grew extremely quiet. "Yoarashi-san?"

The tension the two males exuded was nearly suffocating and Shiro furrowed her brows. What was going on? She was tired of being caught in the middle of stare downs.

"Did I do something to you?" Todoroki finally voiced. He was already irritated by the male from before when he confessed to Shiro, and now the constant glares and passive-aggressive attitude was getting on his nerves.

"Oh?" Inasa's eyes darkened under his hat before he replied with a tone of absolute distaste. "I'm sorry, son of Endeavor... While I love U.A., I hate you. You've changed a bit since back then, but your eyes are the same as Endeavor's."

It was a complete 180 from his attitude from before and caught both Shiro and Todoroki by surprise.

"Oi, Yoarashi!" Shiketsu's class representative Mora Nagamasa called out after seeing the first-year with the U.A. students, unaware of the tension. "I had a feeling you were probably one of the first to finish. I see you made some friends from U.A."

"Hello, sir!" Inasa greeted respectfully, switching back to his usual self and giving no indication of the confrontation. "I was actually the first along with Aisaka! I'm getting to know her! She's amazing!"

"I apologize for Yoarashi's forwardness," Nagamasa said while looking at Shiro—at least, she assumed he was since there was so much fur covering his entire body. "He has good intentions. He's just... Very passionate."

"I can see that," Shiro replied slowly, blinking. "It's fine."

"That's a relief to hear. I would like to build a good relationship with U.A. seeing that our schools are equals. Anyway, we will stop bothering you now," he nodded before taking his leave once he saw someone else he knew. Inasa also took his leave, but not before giving Shiro a bright grin and Todoroki one last glare.

"...So much for building a good relationship," Shiro commented and looked up at Todoroki. "Yoarashi-san really dislikes you."

"I don't remember doing anything to him during the recommendation exam," the male revealed with a frown. "Nonetheless, he seems to have an issue with my old man. He said it was my eyes..."

It reminded him what he caught his mother said in a hushed tone when he was little. It was inevitable; he is half of Endeavor's image.

"Don't let it get to you," Shiro encouraged. "You're not Endeavor and everything about you is uniquely yours. Besides, I don't see what Yoarashi-san sees. I like your eyes... They're kind."

Todoroki paused before a thought came to him.

"What are you going to do about Yoarashi Inasa's... Confession?"

"He's earnest, I'll give him that," she said with a small shrug. "I'm sure he's a great guy, but... I don't think I have the time or space in my heart to consider accepting Yoarashi-san's confession right now."

A small relief washed over Todoroki's face at her sincere rejection of Inasa, "I'm glad."

"I didn't take you for someone who would be happy about a girl's loneliness, Todoroki-san."

"I..."

"I'm just joking," Shiro laughed lightly. The sound was a melody in Todoroki's ears, though before either of them could continue the exchange, the door of the waiting room opened once more to reveal Momo, Jiro, Asui, and Shoji.

"Todoroki-san! Aisaka-san! You guys passed!" Momo went up to them happily and with relief.

"Didn't expect any less," Asui chipped in with a smile.

"What about the others?" Jiro asked. There was a sort of conflicted worry in her expression. "I saw that idiot Kaminari run off behind Bakugou and Kirishima, too..."

"I haven't seen anyone else come in after me," Todoroki told them before looking around. "Didn't Midoriya keep everyone together?"

Momo sighed, "We were, but we got split up by the quirk of someone from Ketsubutsu Academy..."

As the others talked, Shiro looked back to the door. There was less than 30 spots left until the end of the first test. Even though Midoriya and the others were split up, she didn't doubt that her classmates were going to pull through this. The green haired male especially; he always surprised and motivated those around him with his sheer will.

Bakugou, too... she thought. The blonde always ran head-first into danger but he was calculating and always knew what he was doing. Besides, she wasn't all that worried especially since Kirishima and Kaminari were with him. I wonder what's taking them so long, though.

"Kaminari, why'd you follow us?" Kirishima asked as he was climbing up the side of a large structure after Bakugou. The Thunder Quirk user voiced a sound of complaint in response.

"It's 'cause you guys started running! I was lonely, so I ended up following you!"

"Shut up!" Bakugou barked.

"What's with that tone of voice?" Kaminari pouted dejectedly. "You don't have to release your anger on your friends just because some big-shot recommended student from another school confessed to—"

"Don't add fuel to the fire, Kaminari! And Bakugou," Kirishima chided before addressing the angry male. He had to act as the mediator in situations like this all the time. "I told you to stop that. It looks like there are a bunch of people up there, so the three of us should work together—"

"No. Way."

Bakugou reached the top and marched away without waiting and the two had to quickly catch up with exasperation. Kirishima was doing his best to persuade him otherwise but when he saw the weird lumps on the ground up ahead he grew alarmed and caught one coming straight at Bakugou. Without hesitance, he ran forward and pushed his friend out of the way.

"Watch out!"

"Kirishima!" Kaminari shouted as the lump made contact with the redhead and in a horrifyingly sci-fi-esque way, started to morph the male into a lump of skin meatball. The lump of meat that was Kirishima floated back to the outstretched hand to reveal the perpetrator. "What the hell?!"

"That bastard did it, right?" the scowl on Bakugou's face deepened into a smirk when he saw that it was one of the losers from Shiketsu High. He had a bone pick with them and he didn't care which one he encountered. "I'll kill you."

Shishikura Seiji narrowed his eyes as he stared the two class 1-A students down.

"We Shiketsu students are obliged to wear our uniform hats when working. Why? That is because each and every one of our movements is crowned with the traditions of the name of Shiketsu High School, he said before dropping Kirishima to the ground carelessly. "This is a demonstration of power. We have placed great importance on obligation and dignity since the start of our education, creating a great difference in level between us and you vulgar and ordinary folk."

"I hate your type," Bakugou responded with a scoff while Kaminari hadn't even processed the words the Shiketsu male was saying. There were too many words and in too roundabout of a way. "He said that his eyes are too small, so he can't see the true strength of his opponents," Bakugou graciously explained.

"My eyes are handsome and long in length!"

"It looks like that's a sore spot for him!" Kaminari blanched at his friend. "Stop saying stuff like that!"

"I respect U.A. as a school and take pride that we are counted as equals. However, you lot continuously act in ways that cause its dignity to decline."

Bakugou narrowed his eyes with a deadly glare, "You sure you're not talking about your own school, Slanty Eyes? One of your own had the balls to try and fraternize with us. Next time I see him he's going to be dead meat like you."

"Don't insult Shiketsu with your dirty mouth," Seiji took a step back as he prepared for attack. "I'm talking specifically about you, Bakugou!"

"He's doing that gross thing again," Kaminari warned after he saw the lumps of meat-like appendages expand behind the male. "Watch out, Bakugou!"

"Shut up," the blonde chided as he took on the Shiketsu male's challenging display head on. "That whole thing about 'obligation' and 'dignity'? I hate people who won't stop talking. Show us with your actions, not your mouth, senpai."

"Want some gum?" Ms. Joke asked as she offered Aizawa one from her packet. The man took one glance at it before refusing.

"It's the kind that traps your finger, right? No thanks."

Ms. Joke only smiled knowingly and put it away, "You look too serious, Eraser!"

"It's frustrating not being able to see who failed and who passed."

"Ah, you have a point. Our Shindo made it even harder to see by splitting open the ground... Wait... What? Are you worried? You totally are!"

Aizawa didn't give into the provocation and continued to look around the arena with tired eyes, "There's something I realized after watching class 1-A for a while. While might not have realized it, but in the class, there are two people whose presence has a big effect. They're not leaders or the most popular, and the two of them don't get along at all. But... Before I knew it, their passion spread to the rest of the class."

He was referring to Midoriya and Bakugou, of course.

"It's strange, but one of them is always at the center of any major event," he looked over at Ms. Joke with confidence behind is tone, "I'm not worried. I can't wait to see what they'll do. Even if they're not physically with everyone, their presence raises the standards for the whole class."

Ms. Joke popped her bubble gum with a pout, "You've fallen for them hard, huh? I didn't think that was possible after the time you fell for Shiro-chan."

"Don't make it sound weird, Joke."

"You're not denying it..." she blinked excitedly. "The Eraser actually loves his students!"

"Hm."

I'm not having the best of times :( There's so many things to do but I'm so unproductive at home and it's just making me even more stressed. Writing is my little escape though writer's block has been such a bitch lately as well. How are you guys doing? I hope you're coping better than I am haha. If you have any ideas for fun quarantine activities, please let me know! I'm tired of binge watching shows and having no creativity TT-TT

Hope this chapter was okay... Until next time :)