A shrill whistle sounds about the campsite, breaking me from my trance. I tiredly open my eyes and glance around at the platform I'm still standing on. The sun is just touching the peaks of the mountains in the evening sky.

"Alright, that's enough for today!" Tiger roars at us. "Take a final breather then head back to the cabin for supper."

More than happy to follow his order, I lower my platform to the ground and sit down to catch my breath and wipe the sweat from my forehead. I don't know what exactly I busied my head about the entire time I've been up there, but one thing's for sure: despite the five minute breaks I got to take every hour, I am downright exhausted.

Mandalay walks by and hands me a water bottle. I gladly take it and break the cap as she continues on to pass the rest of them out to my classmates. I down gulp after gulp until I exhale after the first half is gone. I take a couple more seconds to jerk my shirt to fan myself before summoning my flames.

I give a hash mental command to pick me up to my feet, only to nearly throw myself off the platform and just stumble to my knees, throwing my water bottle. I guess I've been putting too much force in my levitation for so long, I've gotta settle down and take it slow.

I sigh at my bottle now on the ground and properly stand to grab it and follow my classmates as well as class B, who are already tiredly plodding back to the cabin as instructed. Tiger watches as we pass him and leave the field.

What I would give to just go back and turn in. However, the pain in my stomach reminds me of another need of the day: food. I've only eaten a few granola bars over my breaks, but none of it was satisfying enough to keep me going all the way in. I could honestly take a sandwich and be done, but it seems that the Pussycats have other complex plans.

My heart just about sinks when I arrive at the building and Mandalay directs us to the back where the pavilions are. There we find Pixiebob and the green cat, or "Ragdoll" according to Midoriya, standing behind a table with a large assortment of fresh ingredients.

"Now!" Pixiebob calls out, presenting the vegetables and boxes before them. "Remember what I said? We're not serving your food anymore!"

Ragdoll happily adds, waving her paws around. "If you guys wanna eat, you'll have to make your own meals! Starting with curry!"

Darn it. "Yes mam," we all groan, hanging our heads in tiredness and disappointment.

"Ahahahahaha!!" the green-haired cat giddily cackles again, prancing in place and pointing at us in sheer amusement. "Oh man, do you guys look exhausted! But that doesn't mean you can coast by making sloppy cat food!"

Iida looks up and puts a finger to his chin as if realizing something. "I see," he murmurs beside me. "An important part of saving someone recovering from a disaster is providing for their physical needs as well as spiritual. Ah! This is a great opportunity!"

"Seriously?" I sigh. "Tone down the education, will ya?"

He ignores me and turns to the rest of us. "Let's make the most delicious curry in the world, everyone!"

"Yeah, okay," we all groan, not at all thrilled about our class rep's agreement.

"Kendo," Iida calls. "As a fellow class representative, I suggest we divide the work among classes with class A manning the fire and class B preparing the ingredients."

"Yeah, sure," she tiredly agrees, not in the exact encouraging mood as Iida.

"Right! Class A, to the pavilions!"

It's a miracle I'm still even walking and following my class to the outdoor ovens. I'm still totally out of it, but by still going, I could get this over with, eat, and go to bed.

I wait in line behind everyone to wash their hands at a lone tap behind the brick stoves, until I help myself by also splashing my face with the cold water to wake up more. Afterward, Tojuta calls me over to help get the fires going.

"Okay! Let's get to work!" Auxi proudly yells, holding up the DIY curry box. She then turns it over to the instructions. "'Step one: preheat the oven to four hundred degrees.'" She reaches to the brick stove before her but then stops to stare blankly at it. ". . . Uh. . . I think it's broken."

"Are you serious?" Samae groans to her, bringing over a stack of fire wood. "It's manual, stupid. No gas or anything fancy."

"With that though, we do need a method to start our fire," Tojuta observes, taking the wood and arranging it properly, while Samae leaves again to boil water with Todoroki.

"Hey, Seshin!" I look up at Sero standing by another fire place with Bakugo and Tokoyami. "You sure you can't start fires with yours?"

"Positive. Stop asking." I thought I already told him this back in the cavalry battle.

"Need some help?" Luna asks, casually walking over.

"If you can," Kuiru nods, standing aside to let her in.

She kneels down by the logs and takes in a breath. She then slowly exhales and lets out a steady stream of fire. The wood burns and crumples around the ashes as the warm breeze blows out into our faces. "Perfect."

"Surprised you can still use your quirk for this kind of stuff after today," I tease her.

"Shut up," she huffs, standing back up. "My training today was breathing exercises in the sky so I can control my flames better. You got to just stand there on a piece of wood."

"Believe me, that was a lot more complicated and difficult than it looked," I argue.

"How so?" Tojuta asks, curious of my point.

"Imagine this: you're holding something up that is about twice your weight with supports that could give way at the strongest gust of wind. What's more, you got classmates all around you who are exerting forces that give off just that. You're doing that all while questioning the great mysteries of yourself, the world around you, and the world beyond."

"Man," he breathes. "Impressive. I was over by the cliffs scratching my back on the rocks. I think Tiger said it would somewhat grind my quills there, or they would regrow sharper."

"Dude, I bet that hurt."

"That part wasn't all bad. My skin underneath may be scratched here and there, but my legs are beyond sore! For the most part, I had to perform squats to scratch, and not just the half bent ones. I mean going all the way down."

"Ouch."

"You think your legs are sore?" Samae challenges, walking toward us with the water. "Have you ever tried jumping up tree trunks?"

"No," Tojuta shakes his head. "What exactly did you have to do?"

"You were in the forest with me, right?" Auxi asks.

"Yeah. I was under a tree branch where a bell was hanging from. I had to use the shadow around me to plunge down and shoot up to ring it."

"How tall was it?"

"The branch itself was around nine feet off the ground, give or take. That was hard."

"Heh. I bet," I sigh.

"Auxi, you said you were in the forest," Luna confirms. "What were you up to?"

"I wasn't really up to anywhere," she jokes. "Let me explain. So the Pussycats are exploring my bandage-slash-scarf deal and having me work with it in more uses. So, I'm having to wrap it around a tree branch and climb up my own bandage. I never really got to reach the top. In fact, I don't think I got very high at all."

"All day to do stuff, and you hardly made progress?" Samae asks.

"Hey, I'm getting somewhere!"

A stomach growl practically roars among us, and all eyes slide to Tojuta, who nervously glances around in embarrassment. He then finds his feet interesting as the gurgles go on for a few seconds. Anxious, he sighs and mumbles a quick "Excuse me."

"It's a good reminder actually," Luna nods. "I'm sure all of us are starving, so we should continue to focus on that." With that, she leaves back to her classmates to finish with the vegetables while we continue with the fire.

—————————————————————————————————————

The very next day begins the same. Tiger barges into the boys room, calls us awake, and gives us the move on to the lobby, where we meet up with the girls and class B, and head outside to meet our teachers. As tired as we are, it seems like we have nothing on the five failures of our class. They keep having to be jerked awake by Mr. Aizawa countless times. Though, from what they said even happened, I can't really blame them. They complained as we were walking out that their extra lecture went to three in the morning, and if I recall, we all had to be woken up at five-thirty. Oof.

Once again, I find myself on the large, wooden platform, floating several feet off the ground. From what my friends described their exercises as yesterday, I try to peek around the land and property for them, but only spy Luna high above the mountains, spewing fountains of fire over her.

Bakugo yells and swears, hinting me to work around his blast. I speed up the rotation of my flames to quickly take and hide from the dangerous gusts. With that out of the way, I return to my thoughts.

Over the time, I try to find a pattern as to how often each of the boys around me will do something to disrupt my focus. Todoroki's bursts of heat and cool is almost constant with small intervals in between, but his moves don't blow that much. Iida blazes past me about every five to ten minutes, bringing tailwind with him that gets me out of nowhere. Finally, my biggest threat, Bakugo, would throw a blast in the air every minute that would blow ferociously around him, where I happen to be. He screams every time he does though, so I treat that as a warning.

Sometimes, I end up losing either my grip or connection and fall again, but every time, I brush myself off and get back up. I decided to have my flames orbit my platform faster as to take less wind damage from everything at a time. Just to help me keep track of my supports, I count each flame over and over to reinforce my connection.

"Don't lose focus," Mr. Aizawa suddenly starts talking. "Each of you can move faster. And no matter what you're doing, just remember where you started from. Don't forget who you were before UA. Always keep in mind why you're sweating and why your limits keep getting tested. That's what it means to improve."

I open my eyes halfway. "Who I was?" What on earth?

"Meowmeowmeowmeow!" Pixiebob's laugh grabs our attention from our prior thoughts as she raises her paw. "More importantly, tonight's gonna be fun! We're pitting classes against each other in a test of courage! I know you've been training hard today, and later you'll get to play hard! How's that for a reward?!"

Test of courage? Against classes? At night!? You have my attention!

"Don't slack now!" she continues. "Make sure you keep on pushing yourself as you work!"

"Yes mam!!"

Before any of that, back to Mr. Aizawa's advice. Okay, something to think about. I close my eyes again and keep my pattern going, circling my floor with my flames. Who I was, huh? I think back to where I was just five years old. That's when I first manifested my quirk. I was just an excited little kid, always thinking everything would turn out alright in the end of everything. Then came the night where Dad never came home.

I want to move through it, but more and more images pop up of him. I try to think past it, but they just keep coming. Finally though, the images become more real. I can see his loving eyes, hear his humble voice, and feel his last, strong hug hold me. I frown but keep my eyes closed.

Never alone. Those were the final words he said before leaving with the police. I've always thought that was the cheesy meaning that he'd be with me near and far, but I see it's more than that. I've got friends, mentors, even my ancestors who've got my back. It's only right I repay everyone with my very best.

1..2..3..4..5..6..
1..2..3..4..5..6..
1..2..3..4..5..6..
1..2..3..4..5..6....7?

I open my eyes and gaze down at my cupped hands, stopping my flames around me. Another flame flickers just in front of me. Excited, I glance around to check if it's not one of the six I already have. I count them again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.. 7.

There it is. My seventh milestone. Closer and stronger. I've done it! After all this time since the USJ, I achieved another flame!

Suddenly, a loud blast erupts on the ground, forcing wind in my direction. Surprised at Bakugo, I quickly shut my eyes and hurriedly cling to my connection to my supports. The blast feels stronger though, as if my blonde classmate was only playing around up until now. Or, no, he didn't scream this time, so maybe he's specifically attacking me.

In the five seconds I try to endure the winds, I finally feel two links snap from my consciousness, and my platform tilts. Caught off guard, I lose my other flames and fall to the ground with the wood. I land on my back in the dirt with my platform just in front. Annoyed, I sit up and hold where it hurts, sending an unamused look at Bakugo, who, of course, is staring at me with arms and hands soaked and a small smirk on his face.

I sigh at his immaturity and stand back up. "Y'know," I call to him, "I can't help but feel like that one was more directed at me than straight above you."

"Heh!" he scoffs. "You just can't take the heat!" He plunges his arms back in his metal barrel. "If you can't survive a small blast like that, then you're nothing but done. Weak."

I scowl at his last word. 'Weak.' Several thoughts flash in mind that I'm itching to point out. It's dumb though. It'd be like poking an already agitated bear. Ah, you know what?

"Let me get this straight," I speak, stepping up again and summoning my flames. "If I'm weak from you being able to push me off my platform, then that would make you strong."

He looks up from the water with a confused look. "Yeah. What the crap are you getting at?"

"So therefore, if I survive a blow from you and stay up here, then I'm strong," I smirk at him, "making you weak."

"WHAT?!"

"If there are only two sides of that description then there can be no in between. You can only be strong or weak. And let's face it, I've been up here most of the entire time, and you've only knocked me down two or three times out of the countless explosions you've sent off just today."

I can see the rage creeping onto his face until he yanks his soaked arms out and shoves them into the sky. "YOU ASKED FOR IT!! DIE!!!" Cannon shots erupt from his hands, but I'm ready this time.

To keep mostly out of the wind's way, I conduct my flames faster around the wood, trying to stay balanced. My hair blows violently over my head until falling half over my eyes. I take half a second and push it out of my face before Bakugo follows up with another hostile blast, and I repeat my strategy.

Once it slows down again, I glance at the blonde, who is panting hard. I smirk at him. "Is that all you got?"

"SHUT UP!!" he screams and dunks his arms in again but jerks one out just as quickly and points it at me.

I conduct my spirits at a slower pace for the smaller explosion but then gasp as I watch him pull out his other arm. Before I know it, he sends off a chain of blasts. I'm almost overwhelmed by the continuous gusts of wind but hold on tight. I suddenly lose one flame, but I act fast and separate them further to properly balance myself.

Finally, he stops and soaks his arms again. I catch my breath as he growls at me. "GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE!!" He's getting ready for a big one! I try to think of a way to work around this before I see his arms throw themselves out of the water. Before I can even prepare myself though, I suddenly feel all my bonds with my flames snap, bringing me down with my platform and stumbling over the quake.

I push myself up and shake off my dizziness. There's no way. There's literally no way. I didn't even hear an explosion go off. I glance up at my classmate, who has a mixed expression of confusion and ticked off.

"Knock it off, both of you," Mr. Aizawa calls, prompting our attention. He's calmly walking over with his hands in his pockets, his red eyes shining, and his hair doing that thing where it defies all gravity. "Were you not listening to a thing I said? Stay focused."

"Sorry, sir," I apologize.

"Tch," Bakugo scoffs and mumbles, "We were training."

"It's maybe good you push others, but you're supposed to be focused on your own power. Sure, you might have been training, which is what is keeping you on the verge of getting in real trouble." He blinks, and his hair falls back down around his shoulders. "Keep that in mind and don't do it again."

"Yes sir," we answer and get back to our modes of training.

—————————————————————————————————————

The familiar soreness tugs at my muscles as I follow my classmates and the pro heroes back out to the forest we first traveled through on our first day. My only comfort to counter it is my new hoodie over my white t-shirt and black sweat pants. It may not have long sleeves, but I'd honestly settle for any hood. The stew we cooked for dinner earlier wasn't delicious, but it was at least filling. Finally, the hard part of the day is over, so now it's time for the event of the night.

"Perfect!" Pixiebob announces once everyone has quieted down. "We've filled our bellies and cleaned the dishes! It's time foooor!!"

"A totally awesome test if courage!!" Ashido finishes, dancing in place.

"We're gonna win!" Sato, Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari all join in, hyped up as well.

"Not so fast," Mr. Aizawa interrupts them, making them freeze up. "It pains me to say it, but the remedial class will be having lessons with me tonight instead."

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!" Ashido cries, already getting restrained by our teacher's capture scarf with her fellow failures.

"Sorry," he continues. "Your training during the day didn't impress me, so I'll be using this time, too." He pulls hard, bringing the five into submission.

Their whines continue and echo around the woods as our teachers lead them away with Monoma and, surprisingly, Kyor. I cringe at their misfortune with everyone else before the blue cat continues her instructions.

"Okay! So, class B is gonna start out as our scarers. When they're in place, class A will leave in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route. Your goal is to collect those!"

"Revelry in the dark," Tokoyami murmurs next to me.

"Heh! You and me, Tsukuyomi," Samae grimly smiles and softly punches his shoulder.

She continues. "Now, those who are scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Use your quirks to terrify the others. Got it? Once everyone has made it through, classes will trade positions with the other students as scarers!"

I swear, everyone immediately looked at me.

Tiger points at everyone. "The winners are the creative students who make the most people whizz their pants!!"

Awesome. Really needed that visual there.

"I see!" Iida realizes. "They're encouraging us to stoke our imaginations as we compete with each other all while showing us more uses for our quirks in the process! As expected of UA!!"

"Stop it!" I yell at him, getting sick of everything turning into a school lesson with him.

"Alright!" Pixiebob calls again, holding her fist up with papers with numbers at the ends. "Everyone draw to see who your partner will be!!"

I gather with everyone else, waiting my turn. I hope I get someone who I already get along with. If I'm lucky, I could get Samae or Tokoyami, then when it comes time to trade, we could crush everyone.

I make it to the hero's fist, close my eyes, and yank out a random piece of paper. I then get out of the way of everyone else and glance down at the edges.

Four. So whoever got this number too, that's who I will be with. I hopefully stare around for Tokoyami, only to see him comparing numbers with Shoji. Okay, Tojuta then? No, he's already high-fiving Ojiro. Samae is standing alone and looking around, but I can see from here that he has a six.

C'mon, who did I get? I scan the crowd of classmates. Everyone's already left Pixiebob with a number, so I must have someone now. I keep looking for anyone who is by themselves. C'mon, anyone but Bakugo. Anyone but Bakugo. Anyone but-.

I finally stop and stare at the only person left, holding a paper with the number four.

You have got to be screwing with me!!