Izuku is home. It's over. Korosensei is gone.

It's time to move forward.

Stepping back into his home for the first time in a week was a massive weight off Izuku's chest. He was home. He was safe.

No Ministry. No soldiers. No heroes or reporters.

Just Izuku and his mom.

Safe.

And alone.

Finally, away from everything, Izuku felt his shoulders slump. He took in a deep shuddering breath and tried to not let it all overwhelm him.

A pair of soft, warm, and comforting arms wrapped slowly around Izuku, pulling him into a gentle hug. He leaned into his mom, letting the tears fall. "Izuku," she said, soft and quiet. Everything was soft and quiet. Comforting. "Are you alright, honey?"

Izuku took in a shuddering breath, trying to push the tears aside. "Y-yeah," he finally said. "I just… a lot has happened. I need… I need some time."

"Alright. Take all the time you need." Inko pulled away and gave Izuku a quick kiss on the forehead as she rubbed his arms. "Here," she handed him a small stack of envelopes. "Whenever you're ready, you can open them. Just… try not to take too long. You still have some decisions to make."

Izuku nodded slowly and took the envelopes. He leaned into his mom for another few moments, then slowly walked off to his room without a word. In the dark room, Izuku sat at his desk and stared at the envelopes. His test results. They would have arrived only a few days ago, wouldn't they?

A few days…

If they'd just waited. If they'd been more patient, he would have known before they went to kill Korosensei. He would have been able to tell Korosensei the results.

Izuku sighed, turning away from the letters on his desk. He couldn't deal with that right now. Instead, he turned to the bag he'd been sent home with. After the graduation ceremony, they'd returned to the detention center they'd been kept in to retrieve their things, then continued to the school to pick up their yearbooks and other school supplies. They cleaned up the building one last time before returning to the main building for debriefing. Their final gag orders were given, and an offer of government paid therapy quickly made, something Izuku was just as quick to accept. A few others also accepted, but most were still thinking on it.

They had also distributed the reward money. There was a lot of debate about what to do with the money. Some had tried saying that their ten billion were theirs alone and it didn't matter what the others said, but a quick consultation with Korosensei's guidebooks had even them turning away large portions of the money. Izuku was fairly certain Isogai had kept the most to look after his family. No one actually disclosed how much they kept, but Izuku was confident no one kept more than 200 million. Izuku wound up keeping more than he initially wanted because hero schools, and UA specifically, were expensive, and he was probably going to rack up quite the bill from health expenses and gear for his costume.

The costume was less of a concern when Karasuma-sensei confirmed that the Ministry of Defense was willing to allow him to use it and pay for it while he was in school. After he graduated, he'd have to come up with the money himself if he needed modifications or replacements.

The remaining money… they had agreed to certain donations and purchases that would take some time to go through and formalize but should be finished by the time school started. When they were done, they planned to have Isogai formally return the remaining money to the Ministry.

Something that certainly made the Ministry a little less upset over what happened the night before.

So, yeah. Izuku had a few notebooks, a gym uniform (minus weapons) that would never see the light of day again, and two books the size of first-generation desktop monitors, and a small pile of money to remember Korosensei and the Assassination Classroom by.

He carefully moved each item from the bag to a safe and proper location. Most of this year's memorabilia was moved to the back of his closet where hopefully no one would ever look. His clothes and other items were quickly tucked away in his drawers where they belonged, and his phone was plugged in to charge.

Laying on his bed, Izuku stared at the ceiling. He should probably sleep. He should change and actually rest.

It didn't feel like he should. It didn't matter that Izuku had things to do in the morning and nothing he was ready to do now, there was just too much in his head. Too many things. Too much had happened over the past days and he just… couldn't handle it all. He didn't want to think about it, but in the dark and the silence, it was all he could think about.

Watching Kayano die. Watching Korosensei fight to protect them. Watching him put Kayano back together again. The feel of his tentacle under Izuku's hands. The sound of his voice as he did roll call and said goodbye. The lights-

Izuku's phone started buzzing frantically. Izuku jumped up and stifled a squeak with his hand. Breathing heavy, Izuku glanced over at the offending device. Of course, it was going to vibrate now. It had lost power days ago, and at the very least his mom had to have been trying to text him.

Twelve missed calls. Nine from Mom and three from Yagi-san. Six voicemails from mom, one from Yagi-san. Izuku promptly deleted the voicemails from his mom. He knew exactly what was in them. He knew why she was calling. He didn't think he could stand to hear her crying right now. He couldn't listen to her desperately begging him to respond. He ignored the one from Yagi-san for now. It could wait.

The texts… he could handle that.

Unknown: "You better come back in one piece. If you hurt Aunty like that, I"

Unknown: "Just come back"

Izuku stared at the messages. When had Bakugou gotten his phone number? How had Bakugou gotten his phone number?

Izuku blinked back tears and opened the next thread.

Mom: "Izuku, the Ministry of Defense just stopped by. Please stay safe."

Mom: "Honey, can you talk to me?"

Mom: "Please respond"

Mom: "I miss you, Izuku."

Mom: "I'm going to assume they took your phone, now. I'll stop calling."

Mom: "You'd love watching all the heroes around right now. There are so many. There's even a few I can recognize from the national news, but only some."

Mom: "I bet you would recognize more than I do."

Mom: "I got a few autographs for you today. You'll have to remind me to show you when you come home."

Mom: "Made katsudon for lunch today. Still thinking of you."

Mom: "Your test results came today. UA delivered them by hand."

Mom: "Katsuki got accepted into UA. I haven't opened your letters yet."

Mom: "Are you going to be at the graduation ceremony?"

Mom: "I'll bring your uniform for you just in case."

Mom: "It's at the community center, if they haven't told you."

Izuku couldn't hold back his sobs. He could barely even read the last texts through his tears by the end. Goddamnit. Why did this have to happen? Why him? Why did everything have to hurt?

Just… why.

Izuku's thoughts circled and spiraled, and eventually, he had no tears left. Exhausted, Izuku sat there, staring at nothing, doing nothing. He should… do something. Go to bed? Sleep sounded wonderful now. Maybe. He should sleep, but that meant moving. He could sleep in his chair. He'd done it before, but it had never been an active choice.

His phone buzzed again. Someone was texting him now, at… two in the morning? Why were they awake?

Yagi: "Hey, sorry I haven't been responding lately. Things got pretty busy. Can you meet me on Dagobah beach tonight?"

Yagi: "Midoriya-shounen, are you coming?"

Yagi: "Midoriya"

Yagi: "Izuku"

Yagi: "Youre starting to worry me"

That was… that was from the night they… the night Korosensei died. Yagi-san must have wanted to talk about the results.

Yagi: "I don't know whats going on but Im sorry."

Yagi: "Whenever youre ready, text or call"

Yagi: "Ill be waiting"

Izuku: "sorry"

Izuku: "like you said, a lot has happened"

Yagi: "Izuku! Are you alright! Whats going on!"

Izuku: "i'm fine"

Izuku: "i think"

Izuku: "i can meet up to talk tonight"

Izuku: "tomorrow night?"

Izuku: "i should be able to go through the results by then"

Yagi: "Please, don't push yourself. Try and get some sleep tonight."

Izuku: "i'll try"

Izuku: "you should sleep too"

Izuku: "good night yagi-san"

Yagi: "Goodnight, Midoriya-shounen"

Izuku left his phone plugged in on his desk and flopped down on his bed. Tears pricked at his eyes as he curled up on his side. He thought he'd been done crying for the night, but apparently his body had other ideas. Time passed, and the tears didn't stop, but eventually, quietly and subtly, the shuddering breaths evened out to a fitful sleep.

Izuku hated how much he was worrying his mom. She'd let him sleep in late, but eventually pulled him out of bed when she realized he wasn't even sleeping anymore. She quickly cajoled him into something more comfortable and into cleaning himself up a little bit. She even worked up some katsudon for him for lunch.

When Izuku reminded her of the autographs, she lit up slightly and dashed off. She came back with a small notepad and had quickly wrapped Izuku and herself up in a blanket on the couch to go through them. There were only four, but all of them were wonderful.

The first one was from Eraserhead. Izuku was astounded that his mom had managed to get the signature at all, given how reclusive the underground hero was. Inko quickly admitted that she wouldn't have recognized him as a hero if not for the fact that he'd just come out of the restricted area. Her description of him as a scruffy, tired looking man that had hidden his face in his scarf for most of the interaction had gotten a weak laugh out of Izuku. ("I swear, he was blushing, Izuku!")

("Not everyone can be a hero," the note above Eraserhead's signature read, "but hard work and strong morals are all you need to get there.")

The second also had Izuku smiling softly. Miruko might not be well known yet, but she was rising fast. Izuku was quick to tell his mom that she'd just met a hero that was going to be in the top ten someday. Between her hard work and winning personality, she was gaining fans fast, even with her young age. She might not beat out Hawks as the youngest to make top 10, but she was certainly going to be up there. Probably within the next ranking cycle. ("Really? Well, I suppose she was quite the energetic young woman.")

("You've got a great mom, kid. Never forget to tell her how much you love her.")

Gunhead's signature wasn't as valuable as the first two. He was usually pretty easy to find and had stagnated in the lower ranks years ago. Sure, it was still valuable, and Izuku still loved that his mom had gotten it for him. ("Oh, I remember when he first debuted! It was a pretty big case for a rookie, but he handled it wonderfully. It looked like he was going to be great for a while, but well, not everyone can be destined for greatness, I guess.")

(Don't worry too much about the numbers or what anyone else says. All of us have a part to play and a purpose in our society.")

The last was from Hound Dog and was accompanied by a little cartoon of the hero arresting villains in a cute little chibi style. There wasn't a note, but Izuku was still smiling softly.

While they sat on the couch, Izuku's mood rapidly falling back to where it had been when he got up, Inko decided to bring up the possibility of therapy. Izuku responded that the Ministry was going to set him up with a therapist and was going to pay for it, which got an approving hum out of Inko.

Either way, Izuku was still tired, and sad, and eventually he extricated himself from the blankets to go look at his test results. Inko didn't say anything, but Izuku could tell she thought he was pushing himself. And maybe he was, but he needed to get this done. No amount of waiting was going to make him more prepared, and the schools weren't going to wait forever.

So now he was sitting in his dark room again, staring at the pile of envelopes. What did he open first? The ones he knew he failed? The ones he wasn't sure about? Did he open UA first? They had packaged the results for both his General Studies and Heroics applications together. It was simultaneously his dream and his backup plan, and he couldn't look at one without seeing the other.

Izuku eventually gave up on thinking about it and just grabbed the first from the pile and opened it without looking. He finally glanced down at the papers in his hand. Buntai. A rejection letter. Not that he didn't know that was coming, but it still hurt. He knew it all came down to his other teammates not working with him. Came back to his quirklessness. To the idea that he had nothing to offer the team. Izuku placed it to the side without reading further.

Might as well get the bad ones through with first. Izuku picked up the letter from Ken. This was a nicer letter. Still a rejection, but they weren't dismissing him outright. Technically he was waitlisted, but Izuku found it unlikely that anyone more than fifteen spots down would have any chance of making it in, and he was in the eighties. There was a lot of flowery language about him being a good candidate and wishing him luck elsewhere. Izuku could take that.

Now, what next? Back up and pointless dream, or the one he knew he got? Izuku lifted UA's envelope. Might as well get this over with. See if he had a second blade to work with. With shaking hands, he pried open the letter. There was a thick packet of papers and a small projector disk inside. Izuku dropped the disk, turning his attention back to the packet. Before he could look, a bright flash startled Izuku, causing him to jump back and knock over his chair, his throat closing on any noise he tried to make. The disk bounced and spun, and eventually stopped. With the projection face down.

"Booyah! I am here as a projection now!"

Izuku scrambled to flip it over. What the heck was All Might doing on a UA recording? Did they get alumni to announce the results? How much money did UA have?

"I know it's been a while-" That's right. He said that in the text messages, too. "-but with great power comes mountains of paperwork! Eheh. My apologies, shounen. The truth is, I didn't come to this city just to fight crime. You're looking at the newest UA faculty member!"

Actually, that answered several questions Izuku had. It was probably how All Might planned on transitioning from active hero work to spending more time as Yagi-san. Not that he would actually succeed at balancing his heroic impulses with his new teaching job. Izuku was pretty sure Yagi-san couldn't remember the last time he wasn't a full-time hero.

Someone off to the side leaned in to tell All Might to get a move on.

"Erm, right! Midoriya-shounen! You passed the written test with flying colors, receiving one of the highest scores UA has on record! But that alone is not enough. In the practical exam, you earned 19 villain points, which, unfortunately, is not enough to secure a passing score, and applicants must pass both the written and practical tests to be accepted." Yes. But what about the rescues? What about helping people? Had Izuku been wrong? Please, don't let him have been wrong.

"But, wait, there's more! Look at this!" The screen changed to show the brown-haired girl from the exam. "Do you have a sec? Sorry to interrupt,"

All Might paused the video. "She stopped by to talk about you, shounen. But what does she have to say?" Izuku started looking for a fast forward button. Just let the clip play, All Might! "You'll have to stay tuned to find out!" There better not be a commercial break, All Might! All Might hit play.

"You know the boy with all the messy green hair and the freckles? Uh… his face is kinda plain looking and doesn't really stand out much? He was the one with all those weird bottles and stuff. Actually, was he carrying Molotov cocktails? Not important." Izuku swore Present Mic was trying not to laugh. "Would it be possible to give him some of my points? He rushed in to help me, even when everyone else was running away. He even had good ideas to help me avoid being hurt more, despite me not telling him anything about my quirk. He really deserves to get in, but I think he wasn't expecting much."

The image changed again, to the boy he'd helped with the three-pointer. He looked like he was talking to some friends. "I really want to find that kid and thank him. You should've seen it. He took on a three pointer with nothing but a metal spike and won! I would've been a goner without him."

Another examinee he'd helped by hitting a one pointer that was starting to sneak up on him with a Molotov was telling a similar story.

And another.

Several people were cut together in the same image, with one voice playing over it. "If he hadn't said something, I probably wouldn't have moved so fast. Who knows, I could've been caught in all that rubble."

The video stopped. "You've helped and inspired many people, putting yourself at risk. The actions of a hero. Which is why I am here! The practical exam was not graded on combat alone!" All Might hit play, and Izuku felt his mouth tugging up into a grin. He was right. There were points for helping people.

It cut back the Present Mic ruffling the girl's hair and cutting off her rambling. "Thank you for calling the station with your request, but there's no need to worry. The kid's chartin' just fine."

The screen cut back to All Might. "How could a hero course reject someone committed to saving others? Afterall, that is what makes a hero. And that's what my alma mater is all about. Training those who would risk their lives for the greater good. So we have rescue points! A panel of judges watches and awards points for heroic acts that go beyond just fighting the villains. Midoriya Izuku, for your many heroic acts throughout the exam, you have been awarded 22 rescue points, bringing your total to 41, and Uraraka-san, for both her actions on the field and her desire to help you after, 35 rescue points. You both pass the exam. Welcome, Izuku-kun, to your hero academia!"

Izuku sobbed. His legs gave out under him, leaving him sitting on the floor. He was in. He'd made it into UA. The hologram shut off, a simple disk waiting to be turned on again. He was in UA. He was going to be a hero.

Izuku let the rush pass, wiping the tears and snot from his face as they finally slowed. He should look over the papers sent and check what Toku sent him. Taking a breath, still giddy with excitement, Izuku glanced over the letter. It explained a lot of the same things, along with a listing of the top ten practical scores (of course Bakugou had first with only villain points), as well as his own ranking. Number twenty-three of the thirty-six admitted through the exams. Ranked tenth on composite scores. There was also some paperwork and a letter of acceptance for the General Education course with the instructions to send notification of intent to attend, with specification to which course he was attending, before March 24th.

He made it.

Korosensei had told him he could.

Izuku's smile fell.

If only he could have told Korosensei.

Izuku picked up his chair and sat down again.

Toku. He still needed to read Toku.

Hands steady again, Izuku quickly opened the letter from Toku. The letter was handwritten. They used what was probably the same paper they used for the others, with the insignia and mailing address at the top, but they had handwritten it. The letter gleefully told him that not only did he pass the exam, but he was the top applicant this year. Heck, not only that, he was the best applicant they had ever gotten. They hoped desperately to see him at the start of the school year but would understand if someone as skilled as he chose to go to a more prestigious school.

Oh, how he wished Korosensei could have seen this.

Izuku stumbled out of his room still crying. His mom was waiting there for him. Her face fell when she saw him. "Oh, Izuku…" she started, moving to wipe away the tears.

Izuku shook his head, grabbing her hand and holding it against his face. "I got in," he whispered. "Two schools accepted me. I got in."

Inko pulled him into a tight hug. "Which ones?"

"UA and Toku," Izuku answered, hugging her back just as tight. "Mom. I'm gonna be a hero."

Izuku could feel her smiling against his shoulder. "Of course, you are. I know… I know I wasn't always as supportive as I should have been. But you are my amazing, sweet child. You can do whatever you want. Be whoever you want to be. It doesn't matter what those other fools said when you were growing up. You've already proven them wrong just by getting this far."

Izuku forced himself to nod quietly as a fresh wave of tears hit him. He got in.

He was going to be a hero.

Yagi-san was already waiting when Izuku got to the beach after sunset. He looked more or less the same as he always had. Maybe a little… was he paler? It was hard to tell in the light, but Izuku could swear the hero had lost some color.

"Yagi-san? Are you alright?"

Yagi-san jumped and spun to face him. "Midoriya-shounen! I should be asking you that."

Izuku shrugged. "I… I'll be fine. You don't look so great though."

"Ah, I've been worried about you, Midoriya-shounen. That's all."

"Oh." Izuku ducked his head. Of course, it would be his fault Yagi-san wasn't well. "Well, you can stop worrying now."

"Midoriya-shounen, you don't have to put on that smile for me. I can tell something's wrong. Do you want to talk about it?"

Izuku let the smile drop and shook his head. Even if he did want to talk right now, he couldn't. He would never be able to tell him about it. "Y-you wanted to talk about the exam results, right?"

Yagi-san hummed and pulled Izuku to take a seat next to him on an old washing machine. Or was it a drier? Didn't matter. "I did," Yagi-san admitted. Right the results. "But you shouldn't be here just out of some sense of duty or responsibility."

Izuku shrugged. "I'm here now anyway. Whatever you wanted to say…"

"Right. So, you got into UA. I wanted to tell you I didn't tamper with the results. Never even told anyone I knew you."

"I- You-" It had never even crossed Izuku's mind that Yagi-san could have given him a better chance now that he was working at UA. "Thanks. I got into another school, too. They specialize in underground heroes."

"Have you decided where you want to go?"

Izuku shook his head. "I… UA is my dream school, but Toku is… Toku suits my current skills."

"Have you considered which school would be better for your goals? Both the goal of becoming a hero, and what you want to do as one?"

"They'll both get me through licensing. The only reason Toku isn't highly ranked is because they do everything they can to make themselves hard to find. Pretty sure they pay to keep their name off lists. After that… I don't know. I'm probably going to be doing a lot of underground work, but… I want people to see me, too. I want them to know me. Know who I am."

"And given this Toku's specialization in underground heroes, you might not get the spotlight you need after graduation?"

"Yeah. I don't know. It's just… there's some other stuff, I guess. It's complicated."

"Well, whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Izuku shrugged.

"When you make a decision, come talk to me," Yagi-san said, dropping down from his perch. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

"You want my help looking for a successor, don't you?"

Yagi-san sputtered and coughed up some blood. "What- How did you-?"

Izuku shrugged. "Kinda figured you would ask eventually."

Yagi-san got his coughing under control. "Yeah, I was going to ask you to help. I took the teaching position to look to a successor in the first place. After I met you, I figured it would be so I could continue training you alongside your peers, but then, well…"

"I changed my mind."

"Right. As far as finding another goes. I trust your judgement. I was going to give it to you, and you would have needed to find a successor of your own eventually anyway. On top of that, you'll see a lot more of your classmates than I will. It would give me a better idea of who's worthy than if I tried on my own. But don't let that be why you decide either way! Think of yourself first, Midoriya-shounen!"

"Yagi-san," Izuku said, jumping down from the washer/drier himself. "You… you can call me Izuku. You won't be able to as All Might, but… as Yagi-san, please, call me Izuku."

Yagi-san relaxed. "Alright, Izuku-kun. If that's what you want." Eh, close enough. "Now, come on. You should get home and get to bed."

Izuku sighed but let himself be led off. He didn't particularly want to go home yet. Going home meant thinking again. It was getting late, though, and letting himself fall into habits like this was hardly going to help him in the future.

And with this, Assassination Classroom is done and Izuku is moving onto highschool (and all of the new fun that's going to bring him). Unfortunately, I want to make sure I have some ducks (read: characters) in a row before I start posting the next section. Which means that while I do have some buffer, it is not enough for my taste. Hopefully I will be back soon.

Double unfortunately, I don't have a name for the next part picked out, so you guys are just going to have to keep your eyes open for the time being. Sorry.