All Might's voice boomed through the training facility.
"I AM HERE! READY TO TEACH!"
The Number One Hero stood before Class 1-A in full costume; bright colors, massive frame, and smile that could power a small city. He radiated confidence so absolute it felt like a quirk itself.
"Welcome to Basic Hero Training!" He held up a card that read BATTLE.'
"Today's focus: COMBAT!"
Excited murmurs rippled through the class.
Fern stood near the back, with costume on, and mentally preparing. The outfit fit well; flexible enough for complex movement, armored enough to justify some durability without raising questions.
"You'll be split into teams of two!" All Might continued. "Heroes versus villains in indoor combat scenarios! The villain team guards a weapon. The hero team must capture it or subdue the villains within fifteen minutes!"
He pulled out a box containing lettered balls. "We'll draw lots for teams and matchups!"
Random assignment. Can't plan for that.
The drawing commenced. Fern pulled ball D. Her partner would be whoever else drew D.
"Team D is Hayashi and Todoroki!" All Might announced.
Todoroki glanced at her, nodded once, said nothing.
The half-ice, half-fire boy. Powerful quirk. Complicated psychology if his expression is any indicator.
"First match!" All Might declared. "Team A, Midoriya and Uraraka as heroes! Team C, Bakugo and Iida as villains!"
Fern watched as the four students prepared. Bakugo looked feral with anticipation. Midoriya looked terrified.
This will be educational.
***
The match was chaos.
Fern observed from the monitoring room with other students. Multiple screens showed different camera angles of the training building's interior.
Midoriya and Uraraka entered cautiously. Bakugo immediately launched himself at Midoriya with explosive fury.
"DEKU!"
The blonde boy attacked with single-minded aggression, ignoring the actual objective. Each explosion was positioned to kill, or would be, if this were real.
"Bakugo's not even guarding the weapon," someone muttered. "He just wants to fight Midoriya."
Fern agreed. This wasn't strategy. This was personal.
Midoriya barely dodged, using the building's layout for cover. He was muttering constantly, analyzing. Smart, but inexperienced.
Then Bakugo unleashed a massive explosion that shook the entire building.
"THAT'S TOO MUCH!" someone shouted.
All Might's smile tightened but he didn't stop the match.
Meanwhile, Uraraka had bypassed the conflict entirely, reaching Iida at the objective. She used her zero-gravity quirk creatively, turning debris into projectiles.
In the end, heroes won. Midoriya landed one perfect punch that took Bakugo down, though it shattered his own arm in the process.
Fascinating. His quirk damages his body. Self-destructive power. Inefficient.
All Might declared the match over and immediately rushed to get Recovery Girl for Midoriya.
"That was intense!" Kaminari said.
"Bakugo's crazy strong," Kirishima added. "But Midoriya's quirk is nuts too!"
Fern said nothing. She was recalculating.
Midoriya's quirk appeared suddenly. He couldn't control it. He destroyed his body using it. That's... unusual for someone who should have had it since childhood.
Another variable to track.
"Next match!" All Might returned. "Team B, Todoroki and Hayashi as villains! Team I, Hagakure and Ojiro as heroes!"
Fern's attention snapped forward.
Time to work.
***
The training building was five stories, with multiple rooms and numerous tactical positions.
Fern and Todoroki stood in the objective room; fourth floor, center of the building. A prop nuclear weapon sat between them.
"Strategy?" Todoroki asked. His voice was flat, disinterested.
"You defend the weapon," Fern said. "I'll intercept them before they reach this floor."
"Why?"
"Your ice can lock down the objective room completely. Mine can't. Better I delay them while you fortify."
Todoroki studied her for a moment, then nodded. "Don't lose quickly."
Ice spread from his right side, sealing the room's entrance. He was creating a maze; walls within walls, forcing attackers to navigate while he maintained complete control of the space.
Fern left before he finished, descending to the third floor.
The heroes are Hagakure with invisibility quirk, and Ojiro with tail quirk, close combat specialist. Hagakure will scout. And Ojiro will engage.
I need to handle Hagakure first. Invisibility is only useful if I can't detect her.
Fern closed her eyes and extended her magic sense, a basic spell from her old life, detecting energy signatures within a radius.
There. Second floor. A heat signature moving up the stairs. Human-shaped void in the air flow.
Fern positioned herself in a corridor intersection and waited.
Footsteps, barely audible. Breathing, carefully controlled.
Hagakure was good. Trained. But training couldn't hide biological necessity.
When the invisible girl passed Fern's position, Fern moved.
She created a suppression field, but not around Hagakure herself; that would be too obvious and too questionable. Instead, she suppressed the kinetic energy in the air directly around the girl.
The effect was immediate. Hagakure suddenly couldn't move through the thick, resistant atmosphere.
"What—?" The invisible girl's voice came from the trapped space. "I can't—I'm stuck!"
Fern stepped forward. "Your quirk makes you invisible. Doesn't help if you can't move."
"How did you even know I was here?!"
Good question. One I can't answer honestly.
"Your breathing," Fern lied. "And footsteps. Invisibility doesn't mean silence."
Ojiro rounded the corner. "Hagakure!"
He charged, tail swinging.
Fern dodged and created a suppression field in his path. Ojiro's tail passed through it and suddenly lost all momentum, falling limply.
"My tail!" He stumbled, off-balance.
Fern swept his legs. He hit the ground hard.
Too easy. These students rely too much on their quirks.
She maintained the suppression fields on both of them and activated her comm. "Todoroki. Heroes neutralized on third floor."
"Already?" His voice carried mild surprise. "That was fast."
"They weren't prepared for suppression tactics."
The buzzer sounded. Match over. Villains win.
***
Back in the monitoring room, All Might was grinning.
"Excellent work, Young Hayashi and Young Todoroki! A flawless victory!"
The class looked impressed. And confused.
"Wait, Fern didn't even use her quirk," Ashido said. "She just... beat them?"
"She did use her quirk," Tokoyami observed. "She immobilized them somehow. They couldn't move."
"But how did she know where Hagakure was?" Kaminari asked. "That's the real question."
All Might nodded. "Young Hayashi, please explain your tactics!"
Fern stepped forward. Every eye in the room focused on her.
Careful. This is a test within a test.
"Hagakure's invisibility is visual only," Fern explained. "She still produces sound, body heat, air displacement. I listened for her breathing pattern and timed her movement."
"And you just... grabbed her out of the air?" Jiro asked skeptically.
"I created a suppression field in the likely path. When she entered it, her movement stopped."
"But you couldn't see her," Jiro pressed. "How did you know the exact spot?"
She's right to be suspicious. A normal person couldn't time that perfectly blind.
"I guessed," Fern said simply. "The corridor only had one approach angle. I covered the entire width."
Not entirely true, but not entirely false either.
All Might clapped his massive hands together. "Adaptability! Young Hayashi used her quirk's unique properties to neutralize opponents before they could leverage their own advantages! THIS is what hero work looks like!"
The class accepted the explanation. Mostly.
Aizawa, standing in the back with his arms crossed, did not look convinced.
***
More matches followed.
Fern watched each one carefully, cataloging quirks and personalities.
Todoroki vs. Sero. Todoroki flash-froze the entire building. Overwhelming power, zero subtlety.
Bakugo vs. Uraraka. Bakugo won but barely. The pink-cheeked girl had strategy even if her power was limited.
Iida vs. Midoriya (again, different teams). Speed versus analysis. Speed won.
Each match revealed something. Weaknesses. Habits. Psychological tells.
These students are strong but predictable. They've never fought anyone who thinks like a soldier.
When all matches concluded, All Might gathered the class.
"You all did WONDERFULLY! But remember, hero work isn't just about power! It's about STRATEGY! TEAMWORK! ADAPTATION!"
He pulled out evaluation cards. "I'll be providing individual feedback. For now, excellent work! Class dismissed!"
Students filed out excitedly, discussing their performances.
Fern waited until most had left, then approached All Might.
"Sensei."
He turned, smile unwavering. "Young Hayashi! That was impressive work today! Your tactical thinking is exceptional!"
"Thank you. I wanted to ask about suppression quirks specifically. Are there—"
"Aizawa."
Fern's homeroom teacher had appeared silently behind her.
"We need to discuss Hayashi's performance," Aizawa said to All Might.
"Of course! Though I thought she did wonderfully—"
"In private."
All Might's smile faltered slightly. "Ah. I see. Young Hayashi, we'll continue this conversation later."
Fern nodded and left, but slowly enough to hear the beginning of their conversation.
"—too precise. She knew Hagakure's location without visual confirmation—"
"Maybe she has enhanced hearing?"
"That's not listed in her quirk file. And the way she moved, the timing—"
The door closed, cutting off the rest.
They're discussing me. Specifically my abilities.
Fern walked down the hallway, her mind racing.
I need to be more careful. Show weakness occasionally. Make mistakes. Act like a teenager learning, not a veteran executing.
Her phone buzzed. Message from Todoroki:
"Good work today. You're competent."
From him, that was probably high praise.
She typed back: "You too."
No need for more. Todoroki seemed like the type who preferred minimal communication.
At least I have one classmate who won't ask constant questions.
***
That evening, Fern's apartment.
She'd changed out of her hero costume and was reviewing notes when her phone rang.
Kenji. Her father.
"Fern! How was combat training?"
"Fine. We won our match."
"That's wonderful! Your mother wants to know if you're eating properly. She's worried you're not getting enough nutrition for quirk development—"
"I'm eating fine."
"—and I wanted to ask about your classmates. Are they friendly? Any troublemakers? Your homeroom teacher is Eraserhead, right? He's got a reputation for being strict—"
"Everyone's fine. Sensei is competent."
A pause. "Are you okay, Fern? You sound... distant."
I'm always distant. You just don't know me well enough to notice the difference.
"Just tired. Training was intensive."
"Of course, of course. Well, don't push yourself too hard. Call if you need anything. We're proud of you."
"Thank you. Goodnight."
She ended the call and set the phone aside.
Kenji and Yuki were good people. They'd raised her well, given her stability, never asked questions when she displayed unusual abilities early on.
But they weren't her parents. Not really. She'd had parents once, in another life, whose faces she could barely remember anymore.
Eighty-something years old in memory. Fifteen in body. Which one am I really?
A knock on her door interrupted the thought.
Fern opened it to find her apartment complex manager holding a package.
"Delivery for you. Came from UA."
Fern took it, signed, and closed the door.
Inside the package: A note from the support department and a small device.
The note read:
"Per Principal Nezu's request: Quirk monitoring bracelet. Required for all students with suppression-type quirks during training exercises. Tracks power output, duration, and physiological responses. Please wear during all hero training sessions. - Power Loader, Support Department Head"
Fern held the bracelet up to the light.
They're monitoring me. Officially now.
The device was sophisticatedl sensors for heart rate, temperature, and electrical activity. It would track everything.
Which meant she couldn't use magic during training anymore. Not without the sensors detecting anomalies.
Unless...
She examined the bracelet more carefully. The sensors worked by measuring bioelectric signals and quirk energy emissions.
Magic didn't produce bioelectric signals. It was will made manifest, not biological function.
If I use pure magic, the bracelet won't register it as quirk activity. It'll just show... nothing.
Which would itself be suspicious.
So I need to generate fake signals when I use magic. Make it look like quirk activation.
Possible. Difficult, but possible. She'd need to emit small amounts of electrical energy simultaneously with casting, enough to register as "quirk use" without actually doing anything.
More layers to maintain.
Fern set the bracelet aside and lay back on her bed.
UA was tightening the noose. Slowly, professionally, with plausible deniability at every step.
They suspected something. They were gathering data. Eventually, they'd have enough to act.
I need to give them answers before they take them by force.
But what answers? What lie would satisfy their curiosity without exposing the truth?
I'll figure it out. I've survived worse.
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges. New tests. New opportunities to either prove herself or reveal herself.
One day at a time. Just like the war. Just like adventuring.
Survive today. Worry about tomorrow when it comes.
In the darkness of her apartment, Fern's magic hummed quietly beneath her skin.
Waiting. Always waiting.
***
Meanwhile - UA Security Office
Aizawa reviewed the combat training footage with Nezu.
"Watch this sequence." He rewound to Fern's interception of Hagakure. "She moves before Hagakure is in position. She's predicting movement, not reacting to it."
"Experience?" Nezu suggested.
"She's fifteen. Where would she get that experience?"
"Perhaps she's fought invisible opponents before. Training with her parents? Private tutoring?"
Aizawa shook his head. "Her parents are normal. Father's a counselor, mother's a nurse. No combat background and hero connections."
"Then she's naturally talented."
"Nobody's that naturally talented." Aizawa pulled up another angle. "And look here, when Ojiro attacks, she dodges before his tail starts moving. She's not reacting to visual stimuli. She knows where the attack is coming before it happens."
"Prediction quirk?" Nezu asked. "Perhaps secondary?"
"Not listed. And prediction quirks usually require eye contact or physical touch to work."
They watched in silence as Fern disabled both heroes with clinical efficiency.
"The bracelet will help," Nezu said finally. "If her quirk produces unusual readings, we'll have data. If it doesn't produce readings when she uses it..."
"Then we'll know she's not using a quirk at all," Aizawa finished.
"Exactly."
Nezu sipped his tea thoughtfully. "I'm also curious about her psychological profile. She shows no nervousness, no excitement, no fear. Most students at her age display emotional volatility. She's remarkably... flat."
"Trauma response?" Aizawa suggested. "Something in her past that taught her to suppress emotion?"
"Possibly. Or she's simply mature beyond her years." Nezu set down his cup. "Continue observation. Let's see what the bracelet reveals. And Aizawa?"
"Yes?"
"Be prepared for the possibility that she's exactly what she appears to be; a talented quirk user with exceptional control. Sometimes the simplest answer is correct."
"And if it's not?"
Nezu's expression didn't change. "Then we'll deal with it appropriately."
The principal left.
Aizawa remained, watching the frozen image of Fern standing over her defeated opponents.
What are you?
The question echoed in the empty room.
Tomorrow, with the monitoring bracelet active, he'd start getting answers.
One way or another.