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XVIII.

Sea in the Sky


Hatsume Mei woke up to the sound of footsteps, faint but fast-approaching. The scent of scorched skin stirred her as she strained to see past the shadows, eyes squinting despite her enhanced sight. Light drifted into the room from a dingy lamp a bit too far out of reach, revealing a young woman with glass skin and the bluest stare on the planet.

"Awake at last," she said. "I have heard many good things about you, Hatsume Mei."

"How do you know my name?"

"My name is Eir."

"What a nice name," Mei said, limbs aching and head splitting in half. The words quivered on her tongue, still hoarse from sleep and further subdued by a surge of fear. "Who are you?"

Eir managed a smile, taking a step forward. "I saw your performance at the Sports Festival. The inventions you presented were quite impressive and, in truth, the reason why we brought you here in the first place."

"You're not answering any of my questions."

"This is a Quirk amplification device," Eir said, gesturing at a peculiar gadget in her hands. "It is powerful, but unfinished. I need you to stabilize it long enough for someone to properly put it to use. Will you do that?"

"I don't know you," Mei blurted out. "I don't know where I am, how I got here, how to get home. I want to go home!"

"It is important that you agree to what I ask of you."

"Why?"

"Because if you do not," Eir said, her gaze unyielding. "It will no longer be a mere request."

Mei said nothing at first. In her feverish state, she found herself wishing for a useful Quirk, something powerful like floods or fireworks, fire and frost. To have such a thought take up even a fraction of her mind made her already heavy heart swell with shame as she had never once before that felt so envious of her peers.

"What will happen if I don't?" Mei asked.

"I do not intend to force you."

"But you said—"

"I," Eir emphasized, turning her head towards the door. "Do not intend to force you."

"Hatsume."

Mei recalled his voice clearly, a low droll that always sounded much older than someone their age. Not the kind of old that reminded her of grumpy grandparents or melodramatic millennials complaining about chronic migraines and indiscriminate joint pain, but rather an aged tiredness that told those who cared to listen that he had grown up faster than everyone else.

"No," Mei gasped. "What are you doing here, Shinsō?"

Hearing the words come out of her mouth made her visibly cringe. It was a reckless question with what should have been an obvious answer. The more plausible of the two that came to mind was that they had taken him just as they had stolen her, but the other sounded harsher in her ears, a cruel implication no matter how impossible the idea—that he was there on his own volition.

"I didn't mean it," Mei stuttered. "Not like that. I wouldn't think that. Never did."

Shinsō stared at her for a few seconds too long, or at least long enough that she felt uncomfortable under his gaze. "I know. And I know you understand that I don't want to use my Quirk on you, right?"

"Of course."

"Then please do as she asks."

"I feel like she's with bad people, Shinsō. The kind of people you swore you wouldn't become, the reason you wanted to transfer into the Hero Course—"

"If you don't do what they want, they'll just force me to force you," Shinsō said, his frown looking more like a snarl than she remembered it. "No one's coming to save us, Hatsume. No one. Not All Might, not Aizawa-sensei, not Kendō, not Higuchi."

Mei might have noticed had she looked at him a little longer. It was conspicuous by the way he spoke, the way he pouted, like a coward, like a child. Before this conversation, she would have said with certainty that Shinsō Hitoshi was one of the wisest, bravest people she had ever met. He experienced more heartbreak than most adults did at twice their age, yet his perseverance never wavered. To hear and see him so utterly defeated felt unnatural, if not unnerving, but projecting her own insecurities strengthened the belief that he told the truth.

"Will you hurt him if I don't go along with it?" Mei asked, softly.

Eir graced her with a grim nod. "I cannot stress enough just how much it is in your best interests to do as I say."

"You don't want that on your shoulders," Shinsō said, almost taunting. "The guilt isn't worth it."

Mei hadn't even noticed him disappear into the shadows. Her bones felt brittle with foreboding, but she couldn't bring herself to move, sitting still and silent for several seconds after that. The terror alone was overwhelming and breathing became more and more unbearable. It was with rising horror that she realized she was on the verge of suffocating in her panic.

"I'll do it," she whispered.

Eir exhaled, slowly, deeply, and the action encouraged Mei to do the same. It helped her come to terms with the decision, if only a little bit. No one had to die. Not because of her. Not this time. Mei just had to fix that device, and fixing devices was her specialty. No one had to die.

"We shall begin shortly," Eir said. "I will return with the materials you need for the process, but until then, please reserve your energy."

When the woman had gone, Mei lifted her head and looked outside the little window on the opposite side of the room. The pitch blackness of the night made it impossible to see more than simple shapes, but many minutes must have passed as specks of sunlight slipped through the shadows.

In the back of her mind, she knew that working on the device in any capacity made her an accessory to all of the crimes these Villains committed by using it. Could that be considered treason? Maybe not if she was kidnapped and threatened, but it was betrayal all the same, and the thought absolutely gutted her.

Was there shame in wanting to be saved if she didn't deserve it?

For a fleeting moment Mei considered making another wish, then decided against it, turning her hopes into prayers and a plea for the Paragon of Peace. The hands she had always depended on to create and construct and build beautiful bridges remained bound behind her back. With empty eyes ebbed of their effervescence, all she could do now was watch those bridges burn.


Hitoshi never sought to get attached.

His interest in things depended on his mood, and his mood had a tendency to modify quite a bit. It made sense considering his upbringing, shunned and ignored to the point where he had nothing and no one to get attached to in the first place, but transferring to Class 1-A altered his perspective on the matter more than he realized.

"This way," Hitoshi said, guiding civilians to an exit. "Watch your head."

It couldn't be helped that he wasn't there the first time something like this occurred. The incident at USJ swept the nation, but he didn't care about the first years who just happened to be caught in the crossfire—that is, until the tragedy on Children's Day gave him a glimpse of their struggles. For the first time, Hitoshi found purpose in fighting alongside those same students, protecting people in need and each other from harm.

His mind cycled back even further than that. Rei and her kindness during the Sports Festival and the days after, Midoriya's welcoming smiles every morning as he stepped into class, the effort Kaminari put into making him laugh with lame jokes, and even the nickname bestowed upon him by a certain loudmouthed blond. People used to call Hitoshi all sorts of things, but Catmint was the first he'd ever heard not synonymous to Villain.

As much as Hitoshi never sought to get attached, it was an indubitable fact that he already was. He ended up on the first rescue plane dispatched to I-Island due in part to Aizawa-sensei's influence, but even when the latter expressed his reservations, Hitoshi refused to take no for an answer. The moment they received the distress call from I-Island, he thought about Todoroki offering him a ticket to the Expo, about Kaminari and Midoriya and Bakugou and Higuchi, and he knew he had to be there.

"Shinsō."

Amajiki Tamaki, or Suneater, as he preferred to be called on the field, slowly approached him with a near unconscious Yaoyorozu draped behind his back. It looked like she had sustained a number of injuries prior to their arrival, deep scrapes and bruises marring her skin along with evident signs of exhaustion.

"I've got her," Hitoshi said, hurriedly stepping forward. "How're you doing, Yaoyorozu?"

Yaoyorozu tensed, her eyes still half-shut, but she mustered a small smile once she recognized his voice. "I promise I appear much worse than I feel."

"I'll hold you to that," Hitoshi muttered, adjusting his grip around her shoulders.

Yaoyorozu was someone he didn't expect to befriend. Most students in and outside of the Hero Course had at least heard of her name for a multitude of reasons. Her wealth, intelligence, the fact that she got in through recommendations, things Hitoshi didn't care about save maybe for that last bit. It wasn't like he had a vendetta against her. He just expected himself to mingle with other people.

Transferring into Class 1-A, the only name on that list was Higuchi, but Midoriya and Kaminari made equally tenacious efforts to talk to him. Hitoshi appreciated Tokoyami's company regardless of the fact that it was often spent in silence. Todoroki and Bakugou had interesting things to say on occasion. Yaoyorozu, in comparison, was nothing more than his class vice president.

And then Children's Day happened.

Hitoshi had no choice but to trust her to watch his back, and she did. For someone so wealthy, she was humble and kind. For someone so smart, she was clumsy at times, easily flustered. For a recommended student, she worked hard. In hindsight, those traits applied to Higuchi all the same, but the two carried their responsibilities in noticeably different ways.

Higuchi moved along the frontlines, collecting and connecting scattered souls not unlike dots or stars. When others looked at her, they saw parts of themselves, and people flocked because she made them feel like they deserved to exist in this world. People turned to Yaoyorozu because she helped them navigate it, using the pieces laid out in front of her to make the plays that everyone else couldn't.

Hitoshi admired them both, but looking at Yaoyorozu in the state she was in now made him see things from a new point of view. Though she kept her head held high and effortlessly took command of a room, she wasn't just the leader people wanted her to be. Yaoyorozu was as much of a fighter as the rest of them, and this time she fought valiantly until she could no more.

"You've freed the Pro Heroes," Amajiki said, breathing a sigh of relief. "What about the civilians?"

"The Pros are helping them escape to the airport," Hitoshi said, leading them to another exit. "Eraserhead is sending additional air support to that location now."

"We've spoken to our friends," Yayorozu said, stumbling a bit as she steered away from the rubble. "The Villains planted explosives throughout the island. Mostly benign, but if our theories are correct, the sheer amount of them will be enough to level the city."

"So that's what it was," Hitoshi mumbled, thinking back to the commotion he'd heard a short distance away. "What do we do now? Just let them detonate?"

"We don't have time to search for all of them," Amajiki said. "Our priority right now is evacuation."

"And then?" Hitoshi asked.

"Let's focus solely on that," Yaoyorozu said, clutching at the fabric on his shirt. "I'm sure there are people adamant to leave. Not only is this place home to many, but plenty of scientists will stay in hopes of saving some of their research. It's difficult to leave behind years of blood, sweat, and tears even in the midst of such chaos."

"It'd help to have someone with a locator type Quirk," Hitoshi said, frowning. "Edgeshot is probably the closest we have to it since he can get into small spaces without a problem. Maybe that other third year with the permeation Quirk, too."

Amajiki shook his head, his frown peeking out from beneath his hood. "Mirio's with some of your friends right now. I'm sure his priority is making sure they get to safety first."

"I can just—"

"Shinsō, take Yaoyorozu to the airport."

Yaoyorozu gasped and unwittingly pulled Hitoshi into a choke hold. He grimaced, tapping on her arm in forfeit, but her eyes remained fixed on their senior.

"Amajiki-senpai—"

"Don't forget that my initial mission was to get you to safety as well," Amajiki said, firmly shaking his head despite avoiding their gazes. "The ships by the docks are ready to depart. I'll ask Edgeshot and some of the other Pro Heroes to help me search for any strays."

Yaoyorozu looked about to protest again, but Amajiki added, "It's because of you two that the Pro Heroes and civilians in this part of the city are alive. Don't forget that, okay?"

His words made both Hitoshi and Yaoyorozu slacken their grip on each other. Guilt fed off of their inability to do more, and pride quelled the beast with the reminder that they did their best, but Yaoyorozu looked all sorts of heartbroken.

"We can at least help with evacuations at the airport," Hitoshi said, standing a bit straighter. "With the amount of people on the island, Jirō and Kaminari will need all they can get."

He wanted to stay and help as much as Yaoyorozu did, but if Hitoshi learned one thing to practice from her, it was making difficult decisions in desperate times. Though she was a young woman of indomitable spirit, she was still fallible. The least he could do was carry the weight on her shoulders until she could stand on her own again.


"Miss Kamino, have you heard from Rei?"

From the corner of her eye, Ochako noticed Bakugou give her a look and discerned it as the one that said are you fucking crazy? before purposely ignoring it. Kamino looked just as intimidating to Ochako as the Hero did to the blond, but the fact that Kamino was also Rei's mom made asking a little less scary.

"No," Kamino said, looking at her with piercing eyes, crimson like Rei's and even Bakugou's, but sharper, somehow. "Have any of you?"

Tokoyami nodded, then winced, and the subtle movement made Dark Shadow gently nudge him in apology for the umpteenth time. "Bakugou and Uraraka called the rest of our friends shortly after you arrived."

"She's by the docks," Ochako said. "Todoroki-kun and his brother and the students from Shiketsu are there with her!"

"I'm assuming they're done with evacuations," Tokoyami added, talking now more so to himself than the Pro Hero or Ochako. "We're about done here, too, but surely more people are—"

"Don't even think about it," Kamino said, rolling her eyes, and Ochako heard both herself and Bakugou inhale because oh, wow, she looked so much like Rei just then. "Bakugou and Uraraka, was it? Would you please escort Tokoyami and Dark Shadow to the hospital?"

"The hospital?" Ochako asked, brows furrowed. "How would we get there before Aizawa-sensei—ah, Eraserhead—picks us up?"

The four of them had stopped near the airport. There, the civilians they helped evacuate along the way boarded planes sent in for rescue, led by none other than their homeroom teacher himself. Ochako, Bakugou, and Tokoyami offered to stay behind until the rest of the citizens could be accounted for, but looking at the latter's condition, Ochako understood why Kamino was growing impatient.

"I'll take you to him," Kamino said.

Bakugou blanched. "Shit."

"Did you say something, Bakugou?"

"She," Bakugou corrected, quickly pointing at the brunette. "Hasn't been there before, and she gets pretty fu—fussy and, uh, sick."

"Bakugou makes a good point," Tokoyami said, frowning. "It took even me a few times to get accustomed to the feeling."

"I apologize," Kamino said, mirroring his expression with a contemplative frown of her own. "That's something that can't be helped. It's the very nature of my powers."

"Shadows that transcend darkness into space," Tokoyami mumbled under his breath. "If you could, perhaps, create some sort of foundation…"

Kamino raised a brow. "Like a floor?"

"Well, yes," Tokoyami flushed, and beside him, Dark Shadow snickered. "As long as Uraraka has her feet on the ground, so to speak, I think Bakugou and I will be able to get her through it without much ado."

"Speak for yourself," Bakugou muttered.

"I'll do my best to provide," Kamino mused, looking at the brunette. "You might want to hold onto them."

"Hold onto," Ochako blinked. "Them?"

The darkness came as swiftly as the light disappeared. Ochako fell to her knees in an instant, but the absence of color made it impossible to tell the difference between up and down.

"I can't see," she gasped, holding out a hand in front of her eyes. "It's pitch black all of a sudden!"

"It'll pass in a second," Bakugou said, or at least, she thought he did. "Take a deep breath or something."

"Where are you, Bakugou-kun?"

"You're asking like I can see anything right now."

"I thought you've done this before!"

"And it was the worst fuckin' experience of my life!"

"Bakugou," Tokoyami grunted, a touch urgently. "Light."

The blond scoffed, but obliged without hesitation, his hands immediately lightning up with harmless sparks. Ochako glanced at the familiar sight and stumbled back a few spaces upon realizing that she had stood much closer to him than she anticipated.

"This is Kamino's Quirk?" Ochako marveled, taking the opportunity to look around. Not much to see, all things considered, but it was kind of fascinating nonetheless.

Bakugou raised a brow, asking almost accusingly, "What the hell are you looking at?"

"I'm just trying to figure out where we are!"

"We're in a pocket of space," Tokoyami said, calming down Dark Shadow with pats on the head. "It's hard to say where in the real world that is or how long it's been since we entered hers, but since we are presumably heading somewhere close by, we should be out of here soon."

"I think there's a floor, at least," Ochako said, tentatively stomping her foot down on something solid beneath them.

Dark Shadow purred behind Tokoyami's shoulder. "Looks like Kamino takes criticism well."

"You're feeling better now, too, Dark Shadow?" Ochako asked, smiling slightly. "I guess things are really looking up!"

"Don't get too comfortable," Bakugou said. "We've still got shit to do."

Ochako bobbed her head, and though the action made her queasy as the effects of their surroundings caught up with her, the darkness only served to emphasize the determination that lit her eyes ablaze.

"You don't have to worry about me," she said. "I want to be a Hero, too, you know."

"What're you saying 'you know' for?" Bakugou muttered, rolling his eyes. "Like I didn't already."

"It's not like you pay attention to anything aside from the same couple of stuff," Ochako pointed out.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Not counting becoming the Number One Hero? Kirishima and Rei."

"You think I give two shits about those idiots?"

"Of course," Ochako said, crossing her arms. "It's super obvious so if you deny it now you're the one who's gonna look like an idiot."

"Say that again," Bakugou goaded, the sparks on his hands crackling just a bit louder.

Ochako cupped her hands around her mouth and promptly yelled, "Bakugou-kun is a big idiot!"

"You little—"

"You seem to be getting along well," Tokoyami said, looking at the two in amusement. "I see that our change in seating arrangements fulfilled its purpose."

"Now you're the one saying dumb shit," Bakugou said, barely restraining himself and opting to roll his eyes instead.

Ochako stuck her tongue out at him, but turned to Tokoyami out of curiosity. "We changed our seats ages ago, Tokoyami-kun. I remember that day because it's when Shinsō-kun transferred to our class."

"Wouldn't be surprised if Catmint's here, too," Bakugou said, kicking his feet at nothing in particular.

"You're also giving people much tamer nicknames these days," Tokoyami noted, almost teasing. "Uraraka seems to have underestimated your capacity to care."

"Shut your fuckin' mouth, Bird Brain!"

"I was just kidding, anyway," Ochako said, puffing her cheeks out to hide her creeping embarrassment. "I don't actually think Bakugou-kun is that bad. Not anymore, at least. He's kind of like Dark Shadow, isn't he? Scary looking, but soft on the inside."

"You should've just stopped talking, Chipmunk!" Bakugou growled.

His tone didn't bother her since she spoke the truth: Bakugou didn't come across as terrifying as he once did. Even when his temper spiked, the most he ever did was ignore everyone else, maybe glare a little harder than usual. Ochako still found it a bit difficult to approach him in one of those moods, but others didn't bat an eye, like Rei and Kirishima and Kaminari and Sero. Ochako would have called them brave. In reality, though, they just cared about Bakugou a lot.

The same could be said about Tokoyami. Just a few months ago, the only person he ever really spoke to apart from Dark Shadow was Shōji and sometimes Todoroki. Nowadays, it wasn't unusual for Ochako to catch him in the middle of a conversation with Shinsō or Yaoyorozu or even Deku. Their worlds became that much bigger after attending Yūei and becoming a part of Class 1-A. Ochako wondered if people looked at her and saw those same changes, too.

Because Ochako would like to think she changed a lot.

For starters, the Uraraka Ochako from the start of the semester would have probably puked by now. That Ochako didn't have the nerve to ask for favors or hangout with her classmates—no, friends—outside of school. It was hard to form lasting relationships when everyone felt so far out of reach. Ochako never approached girls like Rei and Yaoyorozu with their brains and beauty and billions in their pockets. Now she considered those two some of the most precious people in her life.

"Take a joke," Bakugou said, rapidly waving a hand in front of her face. "That blank ass stare is creeping me out, Chipmunk."

"Maybe the atmosphere is starting to affect her?" Tokoyami suggested.

"You think she'll be spewing glitter again?"

"We should at least—"

Ochako blinked at Tokoyami, and then at the blond. "Bakugou-kun."

"If you throw up on me," Bakugou said slowly, letting his arm drop at his side. "I'll kick your ass."

Ochako stared at him, nonplussed. It bothered her a little that she said what she did. From what she's heard from Deku, Bakugou was someone who had trouble building bonds like that in the past, but it looked like things changed for him, too. Aside from Kirishima and Rei, he found friends in Kaminari and Sero, and he seemed to get along better with Shinsō and Todoroki these days. He was never really mean to the other girls in their class, and Kōda once said that dogs had a particular fondness for the blond. Even All Might had a soft spot for him. That had to count for something, right?

"I want to become a Hero," Ochako said suddenly. "You know that."

"Didn't we just go over this?" Bakugou asked.

"Hear me out."

"No."

"I'm saying it anyway."

"What the—"

"If I'm ever having a bad day," Ochako paused to take a breath, making sure she said the words correctly in her head before continuing. "If it ever looks like I'm giving up, for whatever reason, I hope you know that I know that you—"

"Get to the damn point already!"

"You won't let me give up," she said, grinning. "Not ever, right? Right?"

It's not like you pay attention to anything aside from the same couple of stuff.

Ochako was so very wrong. It wasn't that Bakugou didn't pay attention to anyone else. Maybe it was like that in the beginning, but not anymore. It was because Ochako never really paid attention to him that she didn't notice he was always watching, that he'd been trying just as hard as the rest of them all this time.

Even if you deny it because you're still a big idiot sometimes…

"What an odd question," Tokoyami chuckled.

"Not a question!" Ochako protested, fervently shaking her head. "Bakugou-kun would seriously say something like, 'Snap the heck out of it, Chipmunk, or I'll kick your freakin' butt!"

Dark Shadow snickered, loudly whispering, "Close enough, I guess."

Ochako puffed her cheeks, sheepish at the sudden attention. Her eyes darted to the blond staring at her with a raised brow, but she met his gaze unflinchingly until his lips quirked into a smug smirk.

"That's what you were spacing out about?" Bakugou scoffed. "Damn straight, I'd kick your ass!"

Your world grew most of all, didn't it, Bakugou-kun?


"The freshmen this year are really something else, huh?"

Kyōka grinned, bumping fists with Kaminari as Hadō Nejire gave them an approving smile. It took a bit of clunking around, illegally, at that, but the two of them managed to hotwire the controls that cleared the airport runways for take off.

Not that they cared much about legality when it came to potential life or death situations or anything. It was more or less out of respect for the people who built the machines, and of course…

"I hope this means Aizawa-sensei won't be mad that we fried the system," Kaminari whispered.

Hadō-senpai ducked her head, peeking at him sideways. "Oh, he'll be pissed, but that's what makes it fun, right?"

"We try not to aggravate him more than necessary," Kyōka said dryly, shuddering at the thought. "How're the rest of the evacuations going? Have either of you heard from the others?"

"Yaomomo and Shinsō are on their way here now," Kaminari said, bouncing on the heels of his feet.

Hadō-senpai mimicked the action, long hair swaying behind her. "Amajiki's surveying the area for strays."

"Alone?"

"With Edgeshot."

"And Togata-senpai?"

"Last I heard from him was when we had that group call," Hadō-senpai said, frowning apologetically. "I wouldn't worry about them, though. Togata's totally reliable!"

"I thought you should know," Luci chimed in, forehead furrowed. "Natsu just called and said Rei's about to do something crazy."

"Define crazy," Kaminari said warily.

Luci chuckled, a hollow sound that aimed to soften the following blow. "Like, dive headfirst into the Pacific Ocean to manually steer the ships out of the pier kind of crazy?"

"What the hell," Kaminari groaned, throwing his hands up to point at the sky. "In the middle of a storm? With thunder? Lightning?"

"Well, lightning strikes the highest point, and the ocean is pretty far down—"

"That's the last thing I'm thinking about," Kaminari said, bringing two fingers to his temple before turning on his heel. "I'll be right back."

Kyōka frowned, calling out, "Where're you going?"

"Gotta tell the others!" Kaminari shouted back.

Kyōka assumed he meant Bakugou, Kirishima, Midoriya, and Uraraka. Yaomomo and Shinsō would find out when they got here, and Todoroki must have had half a heart attack by the time they even heard about it.

"Is this a need to know thing?" Hadō-senpai asked, blinking owlishly.

"Nah," Kyōka said. "Those guys are just really close."

"Don't cut yourself out of the picture like that," Luci chided. "'Those guys' are your friends, too, aren't they?"

"Yeah, b—"

"I'm not even letting you use that 'but,'" Luci said, holding up a hand. "I don't know Rei all that well yet," Kyōka arched a brow at yet, and Luci shrugged. "What? We all know she's going to end up my sister-in-law."

Kyōka chortled. "Not all of us."

"That's what I'm saying! It's like, hello, can you start having your conversations in front of a mirror so you can see what everyone else does?"

"Wait," Hadō-senpai said. "Who are we talking about?"

"No one," Kyōka and Luci uttered in unison.

Luci pointed at herself, adding, "I was in the middle of a pep talk. Thanks for reminding me, Hadō-san."

"We're the same age," Hadō-senpai said, shaking her head with a smile. "Feel free to drop the honorifics."

"Hadō, then," Luci grinned.

Kyōka raised her hand. "Do I have to listen to a pep talk I don't need?"

"You lot are way closer than the people in my first year high school class," Luci said, arms crossed. "I see it in the way you interact with each other, and I'm guessing part of it is because you've experienced things together that no one else will truly understand," at that, Kyōka winced. "Sorry, stop me any time—"

"No," Kyōka mumbled. "You're pretty spot on so far."

"I'm just saying you can't say stuff like 'those guys' as if you don't have a bond with them, too. Of course, I barely know you guys. Who am I to say such arbitrarily inspiring stuff?"

Much to her chagrin, Kyōka couldn't find anything incorrect about what Luci said. It forced feelings of insecurity to the forefront of her mind, things most other teenagers dealt with on a daily basis. Kyōka could say with certainty that she wasn't jealous of Rei as a person, but Rei's way with people was easy to envy.

Kyōka considered Yaomomo and Kaminari her two closest friends in the class, and for the most part, that was because talking to them was effortless. It didn't bother her that the two also had a good friend in Rei, but sometimes, like right now, Kyōka felt like she was just so far out of her league. Except Kaminari. Mostly.

It wasn't like Kyōka herself didn't have a friend in Rei. Ever since they spent the day at the Higuchi household, Kyōka found their conversations just as easy to maneuver, and the two of them had a lot in common. No, Kyōka wasn't jealous of Rei, and she didn't feel at all possessive of their mutual friends. It was something else, something worse.

"I don't dive into things headfirst like that," Kyōka said, looking down at her scuffed boots. "The others are a lot more used to this sort of stuff, like, fighting on the frontlines or whatever. It kind of feels like I can't keep up sometimes."

Luci let out a sympathetic hum. "I heard about what your class went through at USJ."

"That sucked."

"And you want to experience it again?"

"Definitely not!"

"What did you mean about 'fighting on the frontlines' then?"

"Have you heard about the Children's Day incident? I'm pretty sure everyone here except for me was involved in that." Shōji and Tokoyami, too, in hindsight, but her point still stood despite the minutiae.

"It's like you said about us becoming closer because of these experiences," Kyōka carried on. "Don't get me wrong. I wish such a terrible thing never happened, but it did, and I wasn't there. All of my closest friends played a part in it, though, and that's something I can't say I'll ever relate to them about."

"Oh," Luci said, smiling sadly. "Yeah, I get how that stings."

Kyōka crouched down. Deep conversations always felt too heavy, too much, and it tired her out. "They don't even bring it up unless it's somehow relevant to our training. That's not healthy, right?"

"I can't speak on their behalf, but I can see why you think that, too."

"Maybe I'm just being stupid."

"You're worried," Luci said, shaking her head. "I'm the one who was being stupid. It's not that you're trying to set yourself apart from the others—in fact, you just want to know what it's like to be a part of their world, don't you?"

Kyōka pulled her knees to her chest. "I see them have these silent conversations that I can't join, and I know they don't do it on purpose, but all I can think is what can I do? How can I help them?"

"Maybe you can start by getting rid of that 'me and them' mentality," Luci said, sitting down on the ground beside her. "Don't come at me for saying something so cliché, but why not tell them how you feel?"

"I don't want to dump this on them when they have way more important things to worry about."

"I bet they're the same way," Luci pointed out. "You said that they don't hide things from you on purpose. It's probably because they don't want to burden you with their troubles."

Kyōka hung her head back and let out a sigh, mumbling, "Where does that leave us then?"

"You can try joining their world."

"Why do you keep saying it like that?"

"Because you're in orbit right now," Luci said, grinning. "Don't you see, Jirō? It doesn't have to be an asymptotic relationship. We look at the moon and it feels so far away, but haven't we stepped foot there? A small step that turned into a giant leap."

The skies turned dark hours ago, and they looked even more foreboding with the coming storm, but at the blond's words, Kyōka glanced up in search of the moon. Her thoughts turned to memories; lighter, easier to think about. Getting ready for the night in Rei and Uraraka's room, the day they spent at Rei's house, and the training exercise with Shiketsu and Isamu High. Kyōka was there for each of those moments, and despite the chaos, she only ever felt like she belonged in the midst of it all.

"Jirō!"

Luci and Kyōka looked over at Kaminari as he jogged towards them with a stupid grin on his face. Kyōka raised a brow, but the corners of her mouth twitched at the sight.

"Aizawa—uh, Eraserhead—is sending one of the airlifts over to pick up the passengers on the ships," Kaminari said, his enthusiasm fading a bit. "It looks like the docks along the whole coast went down, but they managed to leave just in time. Do you want to come with us to go get them? With Edgeshot gone, they'll need more hands to make the transfer."

"Go ahead," Luci said. "There are only a dozen or so people left to evacuate in this section of the island, and they'll be safe once the airlifts arrive. I can handle it from here."

"What about Yaomomo and Shinsō?" Kyōka asked, frowning.

Luci grinned and shooed her off. "Leave them to me!"

A small step that turned into a giant leap…

"Well?" Kaminari prodded, jabbing his thumb behind him. "Eraser's about to land and the rest of the airlifts should be here in a couple of minutes, too."

Kyōka stared at the outstretched hand in front of her for only a second longer before reaching out to grab it. As Kaminari tugged, she pushed herself to her feet, and once standing, she turned around, holding out her own hands to the blond still sitting down.

"Thanks," Kyōka said, smiling.

Luci's grin widened, gladly accepting the help. "Get out of here."

"That's our cue," Kaminari said. "I call shotgun!"

"There's no such thing as shotgun in an airlift, idiot!"


Mezō ducked as Midoriya kicked away pieces of falling debris coming dangerously close to their heads. At the head of the pack, Kirishima bulldozed through the rubble, clearing a path to the closest set of stairs. With the system rebooted, their group of Vigilantes—for now, seeing as all but one of them had yet to receive their Hero Licenses—needed to evacuate the premises as soon as possible.

"What are the chances of this place going down?" Kirishima asked, punching through a crumbling wall. "Like, statistically."

"I don't think it's safe for us to take the stairs," Melissa admitted, looking over at Mezō, or rather, her father on Mezō's back. "Is there another exit we can use, Papa?"

"No," David Shields said, solemnly. "It's built to withstand earthquakes so I'd like to think the tower is sturdy enough to keep from collapsing in its entirety, but with a security system modeled after Tartarus, there was never a need to take into consideration bombs."

Tōgata shifted David's unconscious assistant behind his back to knock on the windows. "This is some kind of tempered glass, right? Do you think you can smash through it, Kirishima?"

"Well, yeah," Kirishima shouted back. "But why?"

"We need to take a shortcut," Midoriya realized, kicking down another collapsing wall. "We're not even halfway down and there's no telling if or when the tower will collapse!"

"You want us to jump out the window from the fiftieth floor?" Melissa gasped.

"No need for such dramatics."

Mezō had heard plenty about her in the past. Mostly from the news, but also from Tokoyami, as of late, and a few important facts from Higuchi. The Number Three Hero was a force to behold, and when Mezō found out she was a mother on top of that, he knew she was all the more powerful.

"Number Three Hero," Kirishima and Midoriya exclaimed, both gaping at the figure emerging from a swirl of shadows.

Kamino spared the two of them a closed lipped smile, and Mezō caught a glimpse of something vaguely fond in her expression. "Let's get all of you out of here, shall we?"

"Um," Kirishima said, holding a hand high above his head. "I'm all for it 'cause, you know, I really don't want to be stuck here when this place goes down, but I'm the only one who's done that before, and, uh, it's kind of—"

"I just had this same conversation with some of your friends," Kamino said, looking as amused as the situation allowed. "Unfortunately, I have no remedy at the moment."

"I figured," Kirishima said, shoulders dropping. "I just thought I should warn you guys, but I don't think it'll be that bad as long as we're all together."

"What are you talking about?" Mezō finally asked.

Kamino turned to him, and the crimson that met his gaze was strange and familiar at the same time. "Perhaps it's better to show you."

The walls disappeared at that moment, leaving only the night sky and then inevitable darkness. Mezō heard Melissa or Midoriya gasp and Kirishima rushing to console them, but he found that all he could focus on was the absence of light. Was this how Tokoyami and Dark Shadow felt? Not just in certain situations, but in every second of everyday.

"We'll be fine," Kirishima said, though Mezō shifted one of his limbs into an eye and saw that the redhead had shut his own. "It's kind of scary at first, but I honestly can't think of anywhere safer to be right now."

Melissa inhaled again, a sharp sound that made David tighten his grip around Mezō's shoulders. "Where are we?"

"This is part of her Quirk, isn't it?" Midoriya breathed out, his tone more awed than afraid. "I've heard Kamino can make pockets of space so deep that it spans entire cities!"

"Couldn't she just transport all of the residents on the island?" Melissa asked, holding onto both Midoriya and Tōgata for support.

"The darkness is not very welcoming to outsiders," Mezō said, his eyes, the real ones, slowly adjusting to the blackness around them. "Or so I've heard."

"You're taking this pretty well, Shōji," Kirishima said, the grin in his voice apparent.

Mezō mustered a small smile, but even he couldn't put into words why he felt so obligated to tolerate the shadows. His nerves remained largely unsettled, not unlike the rest of his company, and yet he reminded himself that others lived in a similar environment oftentimes all alone.

He thought of Tokoyami, who stayed behind, who deserved to have someone understand. Mezō knew they each had a part to play in every mission regardless of the dangers, but he felt that he had more to prove as this was his first thrown so deeply into the fray. If his compassion was all he could offer right now, then he would provide just that.

"It's the least I can do," Mezō said. "I'm sure you and Midoriya have gone through much worse than this."

Midoriya turned to him, or in his general direction. "I don't think it's fair to rate our experiences like that. Not when we come out of each one a little different."

"Different how?" Mezō asked.

"I think I get it," Kirishima pondered, thoughtful. "These experiences affect us, sometimes even change us, so to say one is better or worse than the others suggests that the rest aren't important."

"But they are," Midoriya added.

Kirishima beamed, cutting through the murky shadows like rubies in a cave. "Because they're all a part of what makes us, well, us, right?"

Mezō didn't fully comprehend the details, and he had questions that Kirishima or Midoriya might not have been able to answer, but the way their smiles were directed at him, and the fact that he was here hoping to do his part felt like something important all the same.

"Right," Mezō said, and he meant it.


The civilians on the beach had long since boarded any and all available ships, but unbeknownst to us until just a few moments ago, the watercrafts built at I-Island ran entirely on battery power. With their systems inoperable over the past couple of hours, the boats had little to no charge, and that left us with pretty much one option.

"Are you sure you can do this?"

I peered at the waves violently churning beneath our feet. My hands gripped the railings until blush indentations appeared on my palms, but I didn't notice the pain as much as my nerves. Natsuo asked his question out of concern, not skepticism. I had to remind myself of that if I wanted to calm down.

"We can't stay here," I said, tying my hair back. "If I don't do it, I'm sure worse things will happen."

I was the only person here capable of getting us to safety. The civilians on these ships had no choice but to trust that I would get them out, and that terrified me. People assumed that our class had grown accustomed to these situations, but no matter how often we stepped into the presence of danger, the fear rages rampantly.

"The evacuations on the other parts of the island have gone underway," Seiji-senpai said, his voice static through the phone. "Don't think about it too hard. Edgeshot entrusted this job to you for a reason, and Camie and I are on the other two ships willing and able to help."

"Please don't turn anyone into a meatball."

"No promises."

Natsuo wrinkled his nose. "That's kind of gross."

"Just a little bit," I agreed.

"We should get moving," Todoroki said. "According to Luci, we need to cross about three thousand meters to reach the outskirts of the island."

The ocean, of all liquid forms, had a life of its own, and I learned early on that I couldn't force the motion. I needed to beckon it forward, let the waves move through me. It didn't help that a massive storm looked just about to hit. In addition to the bombs detonating at unknown intervals, I expected the rainfall in a few minutes, probably fifteen at most.

"Not intimidating at all," I said, holding my arms out. "Let's hope I don't pass out this time."

Todoroki frowned in disapproval. "You should really stop joking about that."

"It's a legitimate concern."

"Did she say 'this time?'" Natsuo asked, turning to his younger brother in mild panic. "What do you mean 'this time?'"

I had improved exponentially when it came to using my Quirk without unnecessary movements and for the most part relied on my mind to control liquid, but commanding three ships meant I had to maintain a connection with multiple points: left hand on Camie-senpai's ship, right hand on Seiji-senpai's ship, and every last one of my brain cells on ours.

Taking a deep breath, I urged the ships that flanked ours forward and felt the sea immediately pull them back. My eyes shut, and with furrowed brows, I tugged harder, but not so much that I took complete command. Still, the waves resisted, and for a moment it almost felt like they started beckoning me instead.

"I have to get closer," I breathed out in realization, abruptly standing to my feet.

Natsuo looked on the brink of a heart attack. "Closer? Closer to what?"

"You are not seriously considering going down there," Seiji-senpai said. "Really, Reiko, in the middle of a storm?"

"The storm hasn't hit yet," I rectified, kicking off my heels. "That's why I need to hurry."

"You're going down there?" Natsuo asked, his voice practically raising an entire octave. "Into the water?"

Todoroki slipped off his jacket and quickly discarded his belt and shoes after that. "Not alone."

"Shouto—"

"I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that."

"Then don't worry about it."

Natsuo frowned, and for a moment, I thought Todoroki was grounded for life. "You'll look out for each other?"

"Always do," I said, and beside me, Todoroki nodded in earnest.

"We are not telling Mom about this ever," Natsuo muttered, reaching forward to trap his younger brother into a headlock. Todoroki grunted at his tight grip, barely hanging onto the edge as Natsuo affectionately messed up his hair. "Maybe Dad if you think it'll piss him off."

For a second, I wondered if Natsuo realized his humor turned kind of sarcastic under pressure, but I shoved the thought to the back of my mind and threw my body off the side of the boat. Todoroki created a block of ice for us to land on, and I sat by the edge, hands clasped together in as much silence as an impending storm at sea allowed. I didn't pray or plead, only persuaded, and the ocean pushed back. Not even a minute after we jumped, a merciless wave crashed over our heads.

With that, I rejected any thoughts about the pain and all else shortly thereafter, slipping closer to unconsciousness the deeper my descent. It felt like my limbs kept splitting apart, torn in conflicting directions until I lost ample amounts of what little oxygen I had stored in my lungs. The last thought I remembered was that I had to make sure Todoroki didn't end up the same way. I willed a cocoon of water around him, and it manifested seconds prior to me succumbing to the sea.


Fists covered in frost, Shouto punched at the whirlpool surrounding him, but the sections that froze only drowned in more and more water. It kept him trapped in a bubble for a few seconds too long until his breaths turned frantic and his left side came alive.

His flames, in their magnificence, evaporated the ice and liquid in an instant, but it left him falling towards the ocean once more. Shouto willfully accepted it. Somewhere in the depths of these waves, Higuchi had disappeared, and he had every intention of finding her.

"Shouto!"

He ignored his brother's call, though he wondered for a moment how the ships came to be so close. It wasn't until he landed on something that felt suspiciously like a body did Shouto realize he didn't fall into the water at all. From underneath his weight, Natsuo-nii groaned, stomach flat against the floor.

"Stupid," Shouto muttered angrily under his breath, rushing to his feet. "She's so stupid, why did she do that—"

Natsuo-nii took hold of his shoulders, locking him in a vice grip. "You're not going back down there."

"Higuchi—"

"Is fine—"

"Let me go," Shouto snapped, all but ripping himself out of his grasp. "She could've drowned—"

"The ships are moving, Shouto."

At his brother's words, Shouto stopped, his breaths coming out in puffs of steam. Turquoise and silver widened as Natsuo-nii patiently waited for him to process the situation. The only way the ships could have moved even an inch—

"I have to find her," Shouto said, taking a step forward.

Natsuo-nii grabbed his arm just as he slipped on a puddle he had inadvertently created. "Wait a little bit."

"You don't—"

"Shouto," Natsuo-nii said, firmly this time, more like a parent or an older brother. "Not yet."

His tone made Shouto pause again. The adrenaline left him long enough to feel the effects of the cold, his left side barely keeping him steady. Natsuo-nii kept an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close until a raindrop fell from the sky.

Shouto should have sat closer on the raft, shielded her like his brother did for him right now. He should have paid more attention to the waves, should have protested the very idea from the start, but he never once doubted that Higuchi would succeed, and so he went down to support her instead.

This wasn't the first taste of danger she or any of them have had in recent months alone. USJ and the Children's Day incident still left a bitterness on his tongue, and the pandemonium of their training with Shiketsu and Isamu as well as the final exams against the Top Ten Heroes made their whole class wary of disaster.

It wasn't the first time she slipped away from right under his nose either. The two of them ended up separated at USJ and in entirely different cities on Children's Day, split up during training to the point where Higuchi became momentarily possessed, and Shouto had to watch as his father attacked her relentlessly for her practical test.

"We've never sparred before," Higuchi told him once.

Shouto realized something else. "Never even fought together if I recall correctly."

"Weird, isn't it? I would've thought that'd be one of the first things we'd cross off the bucket list."

"Bucket list?"

"A list of things you want to do—"

"I know what it is. I just didn't know we had one."

"Would it be kind of morbid to include 'fight together' on there?"

"We're going to be Heroes."

"I didn't get the memo you were open to having a partner."

"Not on paper," he'd teased. "I suppose I wouldn't mind an exception if there was a capable candidate."

"Picky as ever."

"It's called having standards."

"Do I fit those standards?" Higuchi asked, teasing him back.

In truth, he didn't have any standards about that sort of thing. He didn't say it then because he didn't think it was something needed to be said, but he hoped she knew that he never wanted a partner in the first place. Shouto just figured that if it was her, he wouldn't have minded. Higuchi was Higuchi, and that was all that mattered to him.

"You said before that you'd take me to see the ocean," Shouto told her afterwards. "That can be the next thing on the list, right?"

Higuchi smiled at him, what was once a rare sight now something he saw even with his eyes closed, when she wasn't there. He wanted to remember the ocean like that. Not as the wonder that swept her away, but as a promise for the future. More than that, Shouto wanted to see it again someday, with her.


The four fundamental states of matter included solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. I had, in my lifetime, taken control of something in each category—ice, water, steam, blood—and though part of me had always wondered how it was possible for me to manipulate the others much in the same way I controlled liquid, I never thought much of it.

I didn't become any more suspicious until my fight against Endeavor. Lava was a liquid that cools into solid rock, after all, not unlike water and ice, but it was very much not a traditional form of liquid. If I once assumed that I only had that connection with water, and such connection extended its reach to ice, and steam, and blood, and lava, was it possible for me to stretch my limits even further?

In physical science, a particle is an object that can take the form of several physical or chemical properties such as volume, density, or mass. It varies from subatomic particles like electrons to microscopic particles like atoms and molecules to macroscopic particles like powders and other granular materials. Particles could also be used to create even larger objects depending on their density much like celestial bodies in a crowd.

What if I couldn't just manipulate matter in a liquid state? What if it was as simple as reconstructing matter in its rawest form? If I merely had an affinity for liquid because I had grown up by the ocean and lived by sea? It was an absurd thought, but when I remembered my parents, people with such otherworldly powers, I felt humbled, like it didn't feel so far out of reach.

That said, I knew myself better than anyone. I didn't think a revelation about what my Quirk actually was, if I was even correct, changed much about what I could do with it. My mind and body handled stress to a finite extent, and though I felt curiouser and curiouser about all of the foreseeable possibilities, I understood that, realistically, such a power was wasted on someone like me. That didn't mean I planned to take it for granted.

It was like asking, "Why is the sky blue?" There's a right answer, of course, a scientific response that bored most people but was factually correct. I heard it enough times in elementary school and middle school and even at Yūei when Power Loader trailed off into absentminded tangents to know that such an explanation existed. Did it matter if all I wanted to do was appreciate the blueness of it and watch the clouds?

No.

And so, in the depths of the sea, I thought about the clouds.

Of the stars in the sky and our sun amongst galaxies, how small we really are relative to the rest of the universe. It all feels so far away when we stare at them from the ground, but we see them and know that they exist because of that. It isn't something we're taught so much as it is something we eventually realize: there are those who are born great, and there are those who are born. Empirically speaking, though, aren't we all made of the same star stuff?

Wake up.

Wake up.

Wake—

My eyes shot open.

"Shit," I said.

Or I tried to say before slapping a hand over my mouth because I was miles and miles and miles underwater. My chest had completely numbed at that point, but I ignored the piercing in my lungs and twirled in place with newfound resolve, building up enough momentum to catapult me straight to the surface. It didn't matter what I was capable of in the future. I was still the only one who could do this right now, and I had people depending on me to get it done.

My mind remained a blank slate, forcing abstract emotions to surface in place of discernible dialogue. The energy from the ocean felt almost electric now, swirling in colors and shapes I only ever saw on screens. As I soared through the water not unlike a bird flying above the clouds, I couldn't help but marvel at all the blue: the sea, the sky, the ice, this feeling. It was a color so often attributed to sadness and longing and despair, but all of a sudden, it felt so alive.

I recalled training with Kamihara-sensei and the hours I spent beneath an endless waterfall. I had decided that my purpose in this world wasn't to save it, but to be a part of it, and it was with that did I remember that the blood in my veins pumped blue just the same. I shut my eyes and imagined that the universe was turquoise once more, that it was turquoise all along, and I felt the waves move even faster.

When I opened my eyes again, the gates separating I-Island from an uncharted ocean appeared less than a few meters away. I kicked forward in my excitement, hurtling my body to cover the rest of the distance and pulling the weight of the ships along behind me. As soon as my hands touched the metal bars, shoving them open, I swam up to the top and instantly I felt a drop of rain on my forehead.

"Higuchi!"

I glanced up to see Todoroki skating down a makeshift slide attached onto the edge of one of the ships, and a smile threatened to break through my exhaustion at the sight of him safe. He looked almost disheveled as I felt, his shirt torn in multiple places from our earlier fight and clinging onto his skin only because of the rain, but otherwise unharmed. Before I could so much as open my mouth, he came to a halt in front of me.

"You're so stupid," Todoroki muttered, carefully pulling me up onto the sheet of ice.

He dropped his hand on my head once I stood level with him and left it there for a few quiet seconds. I stayed just as silent, startled and unsure of what to expect next. The rain felt more like prills of ice, prompting me to cover us with a thin veil of water while I waited for him to speak, but more seconds passed, and though I appreciated his closeness, I didn't really want to stay out here when the storm hit in its entirety.

"Todoroki," I whispered, or it sounded like that because of the winds. "I'm cold."

Despite the less than favorable circumstances, his gaze remained as steadfast as the rest of his disposition. After a moment, Todoroki nodded, but instead of bringing us back up, he took my wrist in his other hand and tugged just hard enough for me to stumble forward. If I gasped at my loss of balance, I must have completely short-circuited when I felt him press my head into his shoulder and dropped his chin onto mine.

"Stupid," Todoroki mumbled, his voice even softer amidst the crashing waves.

I couldn't tell if I shivered from the cold or our close proximity, but I felt much warmer with my cheek pressed onto his left side. It was only then did I realize he had deliberately heated up his skin upon contact. As if the sudden embrace didn't leave me flustered enough, the gesture and his kindness and my mind's constant murmur of the word hug set the insides of my chest into flames.

"Did you get taller?" I asked.

"Maybe."

"What's your height now?"

"A hundred and seventy-eight centimeters."

"Two centimeters in two months," I murmured, fingers itching at my sides. "You're so unfair, Todoroki."

Todoroki huffed, half out of irritation and half out of bemusement. I might have passed out again had I acknowledged that I felt his smile against my shoulder, so I didn't, but it was harder to ignore the fact that I had known the difference in something as minuscule as the way he breathed.

"You're unfair," Todoroki muttered, the hand behind my head unwittingly ensnaring itself in my tangled hair. "You disappeared and I thought you—"

"Sorry."

"I couldn't get out of that stupid bubble fast enough—"

"I did that on purpose."

"I know," Todoroki grumbled, mostly out of irritation this time. "Can you not do that on purpose again?"

Something about the way he said it made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. I slipped my arms around his waist before I even decided I wanted to move, nearly tackling him off the block of ice. Todoroki grunted from both surprise and the sheer force of impact, but he lifted his other hand to my back in an attempt to steady us.

"Higuchi?" Todoroki asked.

It didn't occur to me until that moment how tired I felt. The League of Villains, the destruction of I-Island, the dance between myself and the sea. I couldn't fathom how people believed we had gotten used to these sorts of things. We learned to expect it, anticipate it, but getting used to it asked for more than we could give. As much as coping was made easier because we had each other, we shouldn't have had to compartmentalize or compromise our trauma in this way or any way.

"Not yet," I said. "I don't want to think about it yet."

The exhaustion seemed to hit all at once. I clutched him tighter in fear of falling over, pulling him as close as he did me. A series of explosions erupted in the distance, and had I not known any better, I would've thought they came from some sort of fireworks show, but the truth prodded at my eyes until I felt the inevitable sting of tears. I wondered if I could have done more, if I knew nearly as much as I thought I did. It felt like everything crashed down at that moment, and what kept me standing was him.


The next couple of hours felt like a blur. I swiped at my tears before Todoroki saw them, but somehow I felt that he still knew. If he did, I appreciated him not saying anything about it. Natsuo helped us back onto the ship, and shortly after that, a plane carrying Aizawa-sensei, Kaminari, and Jirō appeared in the airspace above us.

For whatever reason, I kept shivering even after drying off. It got to a point where Todoroki had to keep a small flame ignited beside me on the ride to the hospital. I was afraid I had actually gotten pneumonia, but Natsuo, a medical expert, concluded that I must have been reeling from the shock of nearly drowning, among other things.

If I had to go by his reprimanding expression, I figured that didn't make my condition any better. I pointedly avoided his gaze, and since I couldn't look at Todoroki for more than a second without palpitating, I spent the majority of the ride glancing outside the window. I-Island, for the most part, remained an island in tact, but the city was in ruins.

"Rei!"

As soon as I stepped inside the hospital, I toppled onto the floor with my favorite brunette sprawled on top of me. Kaminari let out an oof while Bakugou snorted as Ochako and I groaned from the force of our collision.

"You're a fucking psychopath," Bakugou said, begrudginly helping me up when I stuck out a hand. "Who the hell jumps into the Pacific Ocean during a damn storm?"

"I heard you almost got thrown off the side of the control tower."

"Almost."

"That makes it okay?"

"Better than drowning, Guppy."

"I obviously didn't drown if I'm here listening to you nag me."

"Nag? Nag?" Bakugou repeated indignantly, eyes narrowed and twitching in vexation. "I am not fucking nagging—"

"You're in good spirits," Kaminari said, squinting at me as he pulled Ochako to her feet. "You sure you didn't drop her on her head, Todoroki?"

"I got here by walking on my own, thank you very much," I grumbled, plopping down on the closest available seat.

"Ah, there she is!"

Todoroki nodded and took a seat in the chair beside me. "Higuchi didn't pass out at all."

"Weird," Kaminari and Bakugou said in unison.

"I'm sorry," I said, nonchalant. "Do you prefer me unconscious?"

Kaminari opened his mouth, but Bakugou swiftly slapped a hand on his face, muttering, "You're a fucking moron if you think there's a right answer to that."

"You guys look lively for a bunch who just took down a villainous crime syndicate and saved thousands of people from potential disaster."

I lifted my head just enough to see Luci step inside, closely followed by Natsuo and Melissa. To my mild surprise, Shinsō strolled into the room seconds afterwards, nodding in greeting upon seeing us in the waiting room.

"I heard you came to help, but I didn't think you'd have time to stop by the hospital," I said, waving half-heartedly.

"Erasedhead wants everyone involved to get checked out," Shinsō said, shuffling a hand in his pockets. "The others should be finishing up soon. Here's your phone, by the way."

I caught it with both hands, offering a small smile in thanks. "I'm guessing Jirō's in there right now?"

"Jirō-chan will be out at any moment," Melissa said, looking tired and a little bit sad. "Midoriya-kun and Kirishima-kun as well."

Luci placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before turning to the rest of us. "But a couple of your friends need to stay overnight."

"Which friends?" Ochako asked, big, brown eyes growing even wider in concern.

"Yaoyorozu Momo and Tokoyami Fumikage," Natsuo said, gesturing to the doors leading away from the lobby. "Both are suffering from severe exhaustion," at this, multiple heads turned to me. "Shouto, Rei, you two should get checked out next."

"Rei first," Kaminari and Ochako chorused.

I rolled my eyes and stubbornly crossed my arms. "Stop that."

"I had to sit next to you the whole flight because you couldn't stop shivering," Todoroki pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure that's not the only reason why," Kaminari coughed into his fist. "What did I say about getting pneumonia?"

"It's not pneumonia," Natsuo and I said.

Bakugou raised a lazy brow. "Are you doin' that shit on purpose?"

"Who wants to keep Bakugou and Seiji-senpai from strangling each other while I'm gone?" I asked, mostly teasing as I stood to my feet. "I'll slip you a dollar."

"Make it ten," Kaminari said, holding out a hand.

Ochako slapped his away, replacing it with her own. "Twenty."

"Like either of you could take me," Bakugou said, glaring at them both. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Neither do I."

Bakugou brought a hand over his face and let out a groan, refusing to turn around. As if on a schedule, Seiji-senpai walked in through the automatic doors, hands clasped behind his back. He bowed politely at Natsuo, Luci, and Melissa before turning to me, nose wrinkling at my unkempt appearance.

"Go get your injuries taken care of, Reiko," Seiji-senpai said. "'I'll take care of the child."

"Fuckface," Bakugou sneered.

Seiji-senpai glowered at him. "Degenerate brat."

"Okay," Natsuo said, clapping his hands together. "Shouto, Rei, this way, please. Kaminari, Uraraka, if you really do manage to keep those two from strangling each other, I will personally pay you both."

I gave them a grin for good luck and trailed after Natsuo and Todoroki to the front desk. My arms felt heavier than lead while my legs trembled like jelly, and the stark contrast made even the smallest of movements painful and difficult. All I wanted to do was go home and sleep in my own bed, but I supposed I could stomach it a little bit longer so long as I had them here with me, too.


"With the help of the Pro Heroes and students on the island, we have reported minimal casualties."

I set the television on mute and slunk deeper into my blanket. Minimal. Not none. It meant that people were hurt or worse, people I could have protected if I was stronger, if I knew how to use the full extent of my Quirk. Granted, that last part was speculation right now, and I had no intention of confronting those demons just yet, but I felt discernibly guilty about it.

"You're tired."

My head lifted from the cushions, introducing Todoroki to my line of sight. I didn't have the energy to respond, but that in itself confirmed his observations. He came over to drop off my stuff, things we managed to salvage from our suitcases in the wreckage, and my mom invited him inside without hesitation. The two of us sat on my couch in silence mostly because I kept drifting off.

"Kamihara-sensei put me on bed rest for two weeks," I muttered, fingers twitching impatiently. "I'm not allowed to participate in any physical training until the summer camp starts."

"Is he allowed to do that?"

"That's what I said, and he called Aizawa-sensei to tell me instead."

"Two weeks isn't that long."

"We didn't even spend that much time at our internships."

"You're allowed to leave your house, though, right? Go outside or other places?"

"What, like school?"

"No," Todoroki said, tilting his head. "My house."

I blinked at him several times. "Your house?"

"Fuyumi-nee asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow," Todoroki said. "Natsuo-nii is heading back to university in a couple of days and Luci is leaving to help with the restoration efforts on I-Island. And…"

"And?"

"We're visiting my mom after," Todoroki mumbled, suddenly awkward as he shifted his gaze. "Since the three of us are here at the same time…"

"Your mom?" I echoed, breath hitching.

Todoroki frowned, but still refused to meet my eyes. "Why do you keep repeating what I'm saying?"

"Give me a second to process this," I muttered, shaking my head. "I appreciate the invitation, but I don't want to take away from the time you spend with your family, your mom especially."

"My mom asked me to invite you, too."

"Your mom—"

"Stop," Todoroki interrupted.

I slapped a hand over my mouth. "Sorry."

"You don't have to come if you're busy," Todoroki said, finding my carpet extremely interesting. "Or if you just don't want to come. I'm the one imposing this on you."

"It's not that," I said, fixing my attention to the ceiling. "You're never imposing. And I meant what I said. I really do appreciate you inviting me."

"But?"

What could I say to that? I mean, I could have said a lot of things, but how was I supposed to put into words the feeling of dread because I wanted to make a good impression on his family? His mother? Because I was half in l—

"Shit," I cursed.

Todoroki raised a brow. "What?"

"Nothing," I said, pointedly looking at anything and everything else aside from his face. "Just thinking."

My cheeks felt so warm that I was irrationally afraid he would catch them steaming. Where did that thought lead? I wanted to make a good impression on Todoroki's family, his mom most of all, because I…?

"No."

"No?"

"No," I said, nearly throwing myself off the couch. "I mean, not no as in no, I'm not coming, but no about something else."

"… I don't get it."

"I'll come," I decided.

His eyes momentarily flickered to meet mine, and under his breath, he mumbled, "You haven't fully recovered yet."

"I'm not exactly injured," I said, sinking back into my pillows and hoping they would swallow me whole. "Unless you don't want me to come."

"I want you to come," Todoroki said, honestly.

My chest burned because I could tell he meant it. "And I want to be there."

"Okay."

"Okay."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Todoroki asked. "You don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable."

I almost shook my head, but the thought that had flustered me so much came to mind once more. If I couldn't be honest with myself right now, I could at least be a little bit honest with him.

"I've never met a friend's parent before," I confessed.

"You've met—"

"Endeavor doesn't count."

"Ah."

"No offense."

"I couldn't be any less offended," Todoroki deadpanned.

I snorted at his mien, kind of pouty by Todoroki standards, but I softened quickly and quietly, tugging the blankets closer to me. "I know your mom is important to you. I want her to like me, but I'm afraid I'll say the wrong thing or act in a way that puts her off."

"I was anxious to meet your mom for the same reasons," Todoroki said after a pause. "It turned out okay, didn't it?"

"Yeah, well, it's not like my mom could have said anything that would make me stop hanging out with you just 'cause."

"What's the difference then?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't think of anything my family could say that would make me stop hanging around you," Todoroki said, looking thoughtful as he furrowed his brows. He's actually thinking about it… shit, that's cute… "I know my mom will like you, anyway."

"You can't possibly know that," I said, frowning.

Todoroki shrugged. "I think she likes you a lot already. Why else would she want you to come?"

"I don't know," I muttered. "I feel a little stupid now. I'm still scared, but I also know you're right, so I'm not even sure what I'm nervous about."

"I'll be there."

"I'd hope so."

"When you're nervous," Todoroki said, for the first time during our conversation maintaining my gaze. "Or anxious or scared… just look at me."

I smiled a bit, teasing, "Like this?"

"Yeah," Todoroki nodded, lips quirking. "Like this."

Considering I tried so adamantly to avoid his eyes earlier, I found it almost laughable how impossible it was to look away now. My head felt distorted with all kinds of concerns about my Quirk and I-Island and the training camp and my father and now meeting Todoroki's mom, but when I looked at him, that was all I saw.

"What if this makes me nervous sometimes, too?" I murmured.

Todoroki inched forward, brows furrowed. "What was that?"

"Nothing," I lied again, settling into the couch with a chuckle. "Thanks, Todoroki."

"Rei."

I must have gotten whiplash with how fast my head turned.

"That's my mom's name," Todoroki added, ducking his head. "Todoroki Rei."

"Your mom's name," I echoed, but I caught myself mid-sentence, mouth agape. "Is that why you don't call me that?"

Todoroki scratched at his cheek, frowning as he admitted, "It's weird, if I think about it too hard."

"Then don't," I said, unable to hold back a laugh out of mirth and disbelief. "Call me whatever you want."

"You call my siblings by their names," Todoroki pointed out.

"Because I can't call all of you Todoroki," I paused, shrugging. "I mean, I could, but it's just not practical."

"Is it strange that we still call each other by our surnames?" Todoroki asked. "Because everyone else calls you by some sort of nickname, and you refer to my siblings by their first names."

"Déjà vu," I mused. "Didn't we agree last time that it didn't matter what names we used?"

"We did."

I opened my mouth then closed it again, suddenly understanding. "Does it matter now?"

"I think so," Todoroki said.

His head stayed lowered, but I caught his frown, confused and a little frustrated because I assumed he didn't know why he was confused in the first place. I couldn't speak on his behalf, and I didn't even know what made us revisit the subject. I just caught myself thinking that things felt different somehow, too, and the urge to figure out how made me all the braver at that moment.

"Shouto."

He lifted his head, his eyes imperceptibly wider at the sound of his name. The warmth in my cheeks persisted once again, but I buried the blush beneath a knowing grin.

"It's the name your mother gave you," I said, softly. "I like it a lot."

At that, his mouth relaxed into a proper smile. "I like it, too."

"I guess it wouldn't be fair not to use it then."

"Shouldn't that go both ways?"

"If that's what you want."

"Reiko."

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to try it."

"And?"

"It's like I told you before," Shouto said. "I like your name, too."

My heart, at that moment, burst into pieces, and he held all of them in that smile.


postscript

first and foremost the theme of this chapter and a lot of the chapters moving forward is the juxtaposition between those fighting on the frontlines and those stuck behind the scenes. jirō and shōji feel kind of helpless because it's the first time apart from usj that they've really taken part in these life or death sort of situations.

usj, if anything, gave them a sense of unity, like, class 1-a can do anything as long as we do it together, but knowing their friends have gone through arguably worse kind of flips that around because it's like, well, togetherness doesn't seem like much of a believable concept anymore now that you guys are in an entirely different league.

on the other end of the spectrum we have those who've been part of pretty much every major event beginning to burn out. having so many people depend on u all the time definitely takes its toll on ur mental and emotional health and we see rei start to truly struggle with that because it's come to a point where she's so tired but can't refuse.

in short, while jirō and shōji feel like they should be doing more to help, rei feels like they shouldn't be doing this much to begin with, or at least not to the extent where they're expected to be desensitized to the fact that they're almost dying every couple of months (i mean she's Not wrong). basically lmao can u pls give these kids a break

ok i just wanted to get that out of the way bc holy shit i was so in my feels writing the rest of this chapter (when i say i'm in my feels i mean i ended up rereading my own fic from start to finish just to see them get to this point) (that said the conversation that todoroki haha i mean SHOUTO recalls is from chapter 22)

i can't believe i'm posting this without crying wtf i'm rambling too much pls just catch me on tumblr bawling about this for the next week lmfao ur welcome to join (i made a playlist specifically for this chapter bc trust me it gets the feels going even faster but it made me want to try making playlists for all the other chapters again smh wish me luck)

thank u for reading :') as always i appreciate u reading this far without blocking me! pls read my haikyuu story after this if u want slice of life EVEN THO NEXT HSC CHAPTER IS SUPER SLICE OF LIFE OK I'M GONNA SHUT UP NOW FOR REAL