"When you said training...?"

The tall, blonde adult sweat dropped in concern as he stared at the two students in front of him. The group of six had entered the gym no problem, but Yagi had quickly grown confused as everyone except Mirio and Masami went to go stand against the wall. The two exceptions stood a few feet apart from each other, looking like they were about to fight.

Which they were.

"I want to see how strong Hideyoshi-san over here is, so we decided to test it out through a fight!" Mirio explained with his usual smile, waiting patiently as Masami took off her black high tops and gloves. He wasn't too sure why she was taking them off, but he wasn't really going to question it. Besides, going off of Arata's exasperated expression, there was probably a reason behind it.

"Don't tell me you're wearing weights again, Masami?" Arata sighed in exasperation causing the others to look at him. However, Masami only gave him a small glance as she set her shoes and gloves next to the wall.

"Th-they wouldn't be of much use if I-I didn't wear them," She countered. "N-now, would they?"

"Whatever you say..." He only shook his head in response. He had told her multiple times that there was no need for her to wear them and that they only cause unnecessary strain, but she ignored him every time.

"Are you ready to fight now?" Mirio asked as Masami made her way back to the middle of the room only about two or three meters away from the smiling blonde.

"Mhm!"

"You can come at me anytime, from anywhere!" Despite Mirio's casual attitude about the whole situation, he wasn't underestimating her. After all, he couldn't afford to underestimate her. It would be foolish of him to do so. Especially if she was as strong as Arata always went on about.

Though, Arata had only mentioned her about a week before school started up, Mirio remembered the conversation quite well.

***Flashback***

The Big Four were out and about in the city as they tried to use up what little free time they had before school started. Honestly, they didn't hang out as much outside of school, excluding Mirio and Tamaki who happened to be best friends. But, anyways, they decided they'd hang out in the city because why the hell not? The only one somewhat against it was Tamaki for obvious reasons.

"Ne, ne, Fujiyama," Nejire spoke up as they walked, gaining the attention of the three boys. "I've been meaning to ask, but why do you look so happy lately? Like, happier than usual happy."

"My sister's supposed to be starting at U.A. this year!" Arata answered with no hesitance and a large grin, almost as though he had just been waiting to burst out with the news.

"You have a sister?" Nejire asked, glancing at Arata's proud face with a smile of her own. He was definitely acting like a proud older brother.

"Well, I say sister, but we're not actually related," He admitted, his grin turning a bit sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head. "We're actually just coworkers, but she's still like a little sister to me!"

"Is she entering the Hero Course, too?" This time, it was Mirio that asked the question. It wasn't as though Tamaki would be asking any questions, though. He was a bit preoccupied trying to hide from any possible observing passerbys. In other words...

He was being paranoid.

"General Studies, actually," The others looked a bit curious at the sudden frown on Arata's face. "She's easily strong enough to get into the Hero Course, but she doesn't have any interest apparently. It's a shame, really, because she's even stronger than I am."

"Stronger than Fujiyama...?" Tamaki spoke up, momentarily distracted from his internal panic by the boy's words. Mirio's and Nejire's eyes had widened ever so slightly as well. It wasn't often that Arata admitted someone to be stronger than him. So far, the only other person to gain that courtesy was Mirio.

This made the three even more curious about the girl with no interest in becoming a hero.

"What kind of quirk does she have?" Of course, Mirio knew better than anyone that quirks weren't everything. It took a lot of training to become strong even with a supposedly strong quirk. And, in some cases, such as Mirio's, it took even more training to make the quirk appear to be strong. But still, he was curious about what kind of quirk this girl, that had gained the respect of Arata, had.

"Haha, that's the amazing part!" The grin, thankfully, returned to Arata's face. An Arata not grinning just wasn't natural. "She's actually quirkless!"

"Quirkless, huh...?"

***Flashback end***

Mirio had wanted to experience a fight with her ever since. He wanted to understand how much she had to train in order to beat Arata without a quirk. After all, if anyone else were to understand how quirks weren't all powerful, it would probably be her.

Honestly, he was a bit surprised at the girl's frail, shy looking appearance at first. But he wasn't going to judge just yet. He was sure that she had gained Arata's respect for a reason.

And now, looking at Masami's serious face as she stood before him, he had no doubts about Arata's words. Just glancing at her, he could tell that there weren't any openings for him to attack despite her fairly casual stance. It was almost as though she was a different person than the one he had met in the lunch room.

Her lack of openings was one of the reasons why he had decided to let her attack first. However, he wasn't expecting it when she practically disappeared. He was just barely able to keep up with her with his eyes.

But he wasn't the only one surprised. As it was, the only person not surprised in the room was Arata. He already knew about the strength of the two, so there was no reason for him to be surprised. The other bystanders, however...

For one, Yagi seemed to be utterly surprised with wide eyes as he stared onwards at the fight in front of him. It had turned into a high speed fight that he wasn't quite sure how was possible considering one of the people fighting was Masami. The quirkless girl that he had known since she was born. She had never been this fast or strong as a kid. Nor had he ever seen any quirkless person fight in such a way. Even he didn't fight like that when he had been quirkless himself.

Suddenly, he understood why Mirio had been so interested in fighting her.

Nejire and Tamaki were surprised for a slightly different reason.

This was the first time in a while that they had seen someone give Mirio such a hard time in a fight. He wasn't a part of the Big Four for nothing.

Now, Masami was a bit surprised, too. After all, Arata had never mentioned any of his friends' quirks, meaning that Masami had no idea what to expect as she sent a kick Mirio's way as the fight began. So, she definitely didn't expect for her leg to slide right through his chest. Nor did she expect his clothes to fall right off.

It was at that moment that Masami had never been so eternally thankful for the poker face she always wore in a fight. If it wasn't for that, she probably would have passed out.

As the fighting continued at high speeds, both Masami and Mirio observed each other's fighting styles. While Masami's was a bit unpredictable, Mirio's had a few patterns that she was able to pick up on. For example, he had a habit of popping up from behind and was quick with activating his quirk when she aimed a strike at him.

For a while, neither one managed to land a strike on the other. And they were both growing accustomed to the other's movements. However, while Mirio began to slow down ever so slightly from not being accustomed to fighting at such a high pace for so long, Masami was perfectly fine, surprisingly enough for everyone else. In fact, she actually seemed to be moving faster than before.

So, it wasn't that surprising when she finally landed a hit. It wasn't that big of a deal as she had just managed to get him off balance by sweeping his feet off the ground before he had much of a chance to react. She had realized that in order to remain standing on the ground, Mirio had to at least keep his quirk unactivated in his feet. So, as long as she was fast enough to act before he could sink through the ground again, she could get the upper hand at least a little bit.

The upper hand didn't last, though, as he just sunk into the ground right after falling. But, before Masami could continue the fight when he popped up again, she stopped at the sight of him raising his hands as if in surrender.

"I think I've got a good idea of why Fujiyama respects you so much," He still had his usual smile on his face with a look of understanding.

"Hmm?" Masami cocked her head in confusion, not really understanding. Was that why he wanted to fight her? To understand why Arata respected her? It seemed kind of strange to her but she wouldn't really question it. Everyone has their own reasons for everything after all.

"Let's just leave it at a draw for today," Mirio waved off her confusion as he walked over to his discarded clothes. He didn't think it'd be very polite to expose those in the room to his nakedness any longer.

"O-oh, um, alright," It was only then that Masami completely relaxed her stance, her serious façade washing away. It was lucky for her that Mirio had already changed back into his clothes by the time her nervous, fidgety self came back to her or else there would have been some issues. Issues being Masami turning completely red then likely passing out.

"What'd I tell you?" The two looked over to Arata as he walked over to them with a large grin. "Strong, right?"

Not knowing who exactly he was talking to, both of them ended up nodding.

"She's a good sparring partner!" Mirio laughed. He had genuinely enjoyed the fight. It was a nice experience to be able to have a good fight without any killing intent being directed towards him like when he fought villains. The only other people he had struggled fighting like this was the other members of the Big Four.

"I, um," Masami stuttered out awkwardly, blushing as the attention shifted over to her. "I-I enjoyed fighting w-with you. You are very s-strong!"

Mirio looked at the girl in slight surprise as she gave a slight bow out of respect.

"That was awesome!" Nejire finally came bounding over as well having finally gotten over her shock of the fight ending in a draw. "Ne, Hideyoshi-chan, you'll fight with me one day, too, right?!"

"O-oh, um, sure!" She looked a bit surprised but didn't seem to mind the request. Despite not caring too much for fighting, it wasn't too bad having a friendly spar every once in a while. "I-I'd like that."

"Still, I'm surprised you're not even out of breath!" Nejire continued. "That was a pretty fast paced fight, after all!"

"It w-wasn't too exhausting," Masami blushed, looking down, fidgeting a bit. "M-my socks are a b-bit worse for wear, th-though."

They all looked towards her feet that were devoid of shoes. Masami was both thankful and regretful that she had taken off her weighted shoes for the fight. Thankful because she definitely needed the speed to fight Mirio. Regretful because the bottom of her socks no longer existed.

"I'll need to buy some new socks..." She mumbled under her breath, barely loud enough for the others to hear. As sad as it was, she only owned three pairs of socks. Well, two now.

"Maybe you should start wearing shoes without weights," Arata suggested 'innocently.'

"Maybe you should start wearing shoes with weights," Masami suggested right back, a bit tired of him bringing up the topic again. "You could definitely do with a bit more speed."

"Gasp, you wound me!" He placed a hand to his chest dramatically as he sent her a teasing grin. "I'll have you know that I'm one of the fastest in my class!"

"That so?" She raised a dubious brow at him. Honestly, she knew that he was fast. He was nearly as fast as her, actually, when using his quirk at least. She just enjoyed giving him a hard time when he did the same. "I never would have guessed."

Mirio and Nejire looked at Masami with well hidden surprise as her and Arata quarreled. This was the first time they had heard her speak without stuttering.

It was a bit strange.

Now, you may be wondering; Where are Yagi and Tamaki?

Well, Tamaki was still standing near the wall, slightly afraid to approach Masami. While they had a mutual understanding, seeing how strong she was made him sweat a bit nervously. Soooo, he decided he'd just turn and face the wall like he always did when he got too nervous.

Yagi, however, was in thought. He was surprised by the fight that occurred, of course. But, he was also curious. Curious as to how Masami became so strong since the last time he had seen her. Her strength also raised the question as to why she wasn't in the Hero Course. When she was a child, all she ever dreamed of was being a hero despite her quirklessness. Now, however, when she actually had the strength to become one, she didn't even make an attempt to apply. It was all a bit strange.

If it hadn't been Masami, he probably would have been quite suspicious.

In any case, he didn't regret agreeing to come watch.

****

2373 words excluding A/N's

Before I forget, I want to give a shout out to notnot_life. She asked me to help promote her story 'New Beginnings', so if you have any interest helping out a fellow writer, then that would be amazing!

Also, I just want to show you guys this little comic I found.

Finished- 11:53 pm on June 11, 2019

Bye~