After the first round had wrapped up, the heard had been thinned out significantly. The majority of people moving on to the second round were hero course students, that’s how it always goes, but there were a handful of support course kids as well. Hizashi looked around with a massive grin on his face, heart racing, and sweating, searching for his best friend—there’s not a doubt in his mind that Oboro had managed to keep pace, he wouldn’t drop out in the first round after all.

As Hizashi was pushing through the crowd of contestants, someone was abruptly shoved into him, nearly toppling him over until he got his footing and held the other guy upright. Apparently, he was in the middle of an argument with Sensoji, not even bothering to turn and apologize for ramming into Hizashi as he continued to shout. “You could’ve killed that girl, the hell was I supposed to do? Let you?”

Hizashi saw the rage on Sensoji’s face and immediately put himself between the two of them, trying to break up the fight before it got worse. “Woah, woah. Calm down dude,” he said to his classmate. “What’s going on here?” He looked back to the other kid who he now realized had modified their sports uniform, wearing a hood and some sort of scarf around his neck.

“This guy grabbed me and interfered with my quirk,” Sensoji shouted, jabbing a finger in the kid’s direction.

“Because you were being reckless with it,” the stranger seethed.

“Uh- who are you,” Hizashi asked, staring at him in bewilderment with a healthy mix of admiration as well—it takes guts to stand up to Sensoji’s arrogance, especially from someone outside their class. “Are you with the support department,” he wonders aloud, glancing at the strange material of the winding fabric on his shoulders.

The kid’s glare turned toward him now, quiet and contemplative. “Gen. Ed., actually,” he said in a low tone.

"No shit." Hizashi’s brows shot up before turning to grin wildly at his classmate. “You were taken down by a scrawny kid from Gen. Ed.?”

“He didn’t take me down, you idiot! I said he messed with my quirk!”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” the mysterious guy said with an eyeroll. “Just be more careful when there are other people around you. Your quirk is powerful.” Then he turned and walked away.

“I don’t need you to tell me how—”

Hizashi grabbed his arm as he moved to follow the guy. “Dude, it’s not worth it. Just leave him alone.” Sensoji ripped his arm away and turned in the opposite direction, grumbling about how great he is under his breath. Hizashi shook his head at the humorous sight before glancing back for the other boy, only to find he had disappeared in the crowd.

As he stared through the mingling students, he realized he didn’t get the guy’s name.

“What was that about,” a familiar voice said curiously, sliding an arm over his shoulder.

“Some Gen. Ed. kid kicked Sensoji’s ass,” he said, eyes still searching for that dark hood.

“Seriously,” Oboro sprang to life with excitement, following his gaze toward the mix of students. “I gotta meet this guy!”