Making his way into the toy shop, looking for the section that held the plush toys that Niseko-chan was clearly so fond of, Shin found himself once again reflecting upon how off it was, to be outside of the Hassaikai compound. He was without his mask and hat, in order to better blend in with those outside of the Hassaikai – those who couldn't understand what it meant to be Hassaikai – seeking out the plush toys so that he could bring one back to Niseko-chan.

He'd been informed that Overhaul had been forced to scold Niseko-chan for his foolishness, and so Shin expected that Niseko-chan would want the comfort that one of the plush penguins that the store he was browsing provided.

Making his way into the section that had been dedicated to the plush animals that children such as Niseko-chan would naturally enjoy, Shin found his gaze almost immediately settling upon a rather adorable pair of plushes, in the form of an Emperor Penguin standing over a small, fluffy gray chick. Truly, the pair seemed made to perfectly embody the relationship that Overhaul wished to establish with Niseko-chan. There were few things that could have better help Niseko-chan to understand how Overhaul wished for the pair of them to interact.

Such a relationship would naturally take some time to form, but seeing a concrete representation placed before him would likely help the child to settle into the place that Overhaul had been preparing for him within the Shie Hassaikai.

Once he'd picked up the pair, Shin caught sight of another man, making his way over to where the plushes he had been looking at were all stored.

"Good afternoon," the man – tall and rather thin, with green hair and spectacles – said, making his way over to where Shin was standing, seeming interested in both the pile of animal plushes, as well as Shin himself.

It was something of a relief, seeing someone else who had not been taken in by the adulation of those who had embraced their particular strain of disease to the point where it had become a part of their very identity.

"Good afternoon," he said, offering a smile; for the moment, while he stood outside the walls of the compound, Shin Nemoto was not acting as a part of the Shie Hassaikai. "Have you come to pick out a gift for one of your children, as well?"

"Indeed," the man said, removing a phone from his right pocket. "He's actually a child of one of my friends."

"Ah," Shin said, looking down at the image on the screen.

The child displayed was far too young to have been tainted by the disease that Overhaul wished to eradicate – barely out of toddlerhood, and dressed in a onesie that gave him the appearance of being a small, green rabbit – and Shin found himself hoping that the boy would have the chance to grow up in a world that had been cleansed by Overhaul and his efforts.

"He seems to be doing well," Shin commented, finding himself slightly surprised to find the man's hand on his left shoulder.

"He is," the man said. "Though I was hoping to return with a gift for him."

"I suppose I don't have to ask after his favorite animal," Shin said, feeling slightly amused.

"Indeed," the man said, shifting his spectacles slightly. "Thank you for indulging my curiosity."

"Of course," Shin said, turning to pay for his purchase.

The pair of them parted ways after that, and Shin made his way back to the compound where Niseko-chan was waiting for him.

~MHA~

A long moment of concentration revealed the future of the nameless man Nighteye had been speaking to; allowing him to observe the man as he descended into the depths of the building that he and his team had been keeping watch over ever since they had received word from Stendhal that Niseko Sezu and a young girl named Eri had both been taken captive by Kai Chisaki and the Shie Hassaikai. Having watched as the man descended into the hidden depths of the Hassaikai's compound, activating a concealed switch so that he could make his way into a deeper, seemingly subterranean area of the compound, Nighteye found himself watching as the man he had been speaking to handed the plush penguin he had previously purchased over to Niseko Sezu.

It seemed as though they had indeed managed to find one of the children who had been taken by the Shie Hassaikai.

It also seemed as though Niseko Sezu was working to resist some kind of emotional manipulation, given both the way he had reacted to the man handing him the plush toy, as well as the way Chisaki appeared to have dressed him. It was rather unsettling, seeing how Chisaki appeared to be attempting to make Niseko Sezu over in his own image, giving him a black cloth mask and the same kind of white gloves that he himself wore. It would, therefore, be best that he and his rescued him as soon as possible.

Returning to his agency once more, Sir Nighteye found Toya Setsuno – a man who had been saved from either a great deal of debt or else some kind of heartbreak – chivvying Toshinori off to sleep.

"Thank you for looking after him, Setsuno," he said, as the pair of them passed each other by.

"Yeah," Setsuno said, laughing softly. "Well, someone has to do it, since Toshi there isn't good at looking after himself."

Such a fact, sadly enough, could easily go without saying.

~MHA~

Waking up entirely too early the next morning, Izuku found himself and the rest of class 1-A gathered together in front of Aizawa-sensei so that they could all see how their Quirks had improved in both their strength and their utility since the beginning of the year. Naturally, Kacchan was the first one chosen to demonstrate the growth of his own Quirk, but it seemed that most of his growth had been in utility rather than straight power; naturally, Kacchan made a joke about needing to improve his pitching form.

All in all, it was a rather interesting development.

"We're going to be pushing each and every one of your Quirks to their absolute limits and beyond, this week. Our aim is to prepare you to defend yourselves, in the event that any of you find yourselves caught up in what seems to be an escalating situation, you'll have a better chance at defending yourselves," Aizawa-sensei said, then he started grinning in that unsettling way he always did when he was determined to push someone beyond their self-imposed limits. "You're all going to feel like you're dying," he grinned wider. "Let's hope you all survive."

Biting back the laughter that would have been entirely inappropriate under the circumstances, Izuku found himself wondering just how he was going to be using his Quirks in this week-long training camp; his own Quirk didn't really have any kind of physical effects, at least not in the way any of his classmates' did. Really, the only way he could physically use his own Quirk was when he absorbed and digested someone else's Quirk. It was one of the reasons that Monoma had latched onto him so quickly, the similarities between their respective Quirks had drawn them together.

Even though Monoma was still more than a little strange, and he still didn't seem to like any of Izuku's own classmates in 1-A, either.

Thoughts of Monoma naturally brought up some curiosity about where the rest of class 1-B was, as well; and also if they'd ended up being attacked by the other two members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats. He also found himself wondering about the fifth member of their team. Uncle Toshi had told him about the woman he'd helped to take a trip to Thailand, the one who'd met up with Tiger while she was staying there, and the pair of them had apparently formed enough of a connection that she'd ended up joining up with the Pussycats as a fifth member.

Given the way that he'd talked about her acting around him, it also seemed like the woman – someone by the name of Masami Hikiishi – had something of a crush on Uncle Toshi, though he didn't really seem to know about it; it was kind of funny, when Izuku found himself thinking about it.

~MHA~

Rubbing his eyes as he found himself forced to wake up earlier than anyone normal would have ever wanted to be doing, Neito sighed and rubbed his eyes as he heard Kan-sensei talking about how class 1-B was going to have to work all the harder to put themselves over class 1-A. They'd been the ones to get a chance to work with the Symbol of Hope, to say nothing of the way that they were being taught by the Symbol of Peace himself. That was something that everyone in U.A. could say, after all.

Well, at least those of us in the Hero Course, he reflected, thinking back on his meeting with Izuku's sister, and that Shinsou guy from class 1-C; Shinsou did seem to want to be a Hero himself, which explained his drive for training and how hard he'd driven himself during the Sports Festival.

As they all continued on their way through the woods, Neito began to hear the sounds of those arrogant bastards in class 1-A – and Izuku, of course, but Neito would tell anyone who asked that Izuku was basically an honorary member of class 1-B already – working out their Quirks and trying to make them stronger so that they could take even more attention away from class 1-B. All except Izuku, since he'd just be looking to help as many people as he could with all of those Quirks he'd collected. It was a lot like what Neito wished he could do, but his Quirk didn't really work like that.

Izuku, on the other hand, was a good enough guy to work with him, so that the both of them could make good use of all those Quirks he'd managed to stock up on.

~MHA~

Narrowing his eyes as he stared down the balance-beam he was standing in front of – the one that Aizawa-sensei had had set up to help him gain better control over his movements while he was using the Quirk he'd copied from Bambaa-chan, at least when he was running – Izuku found himself shuddering involuntarily when he glanced down into the long pool of water that'd been set up beneath the balance beam. It'd clearly been meant to motivate him, and he was certain that the idea of using water had come from Aizawa-sensei, too. Water, specifically cold water, would be just the kind of thing that would fit with Aizawa-sensei's teaching-style.

Stopping to remove his shoes, knowing that they'd have fallen right off if he tried to run in them after his feet had transitioned from human-style plantigrade to Bambaa-chan's digitigrade feet, Izuku quickly set them aside and called up Bambaa-chan's stored Quirk. His body shifted into the more catlike shape that his sister had lived with for all of her life, and Izuku found himself shifting uncomfortably as his clothes pressed up against his new fur. Rearranging his pants so that he could let his new tail out, Izuku climbed up onto the platform where the balance beam started.

Glancing down into the water, Izuku shuddered for a last time as he crouched down and set off.

~MHA~

Looking down at the reports that he'd just been given, Chisaki narrowed his eyes; there was little chance, under the present circumstances, that the Shie Hassaikai would be able to remain within the outpost where they had settled for the work that they were currently undertaking. It seemed that those who had embraced their disease to the point where they had made it a part of their very identity had indeed managed to gain information as to precisely where they were. He and his, therefore, would need not only to evacuate this place, but also to find a way to cover their escape while they made it. In a sense, it was fortunate that he'd not yet decided to dispose of those creatures he'd been studying in the wake of his purge of Rosaru.

It would be the only truly worthwhile thing such unfortunate creatures would be capable of doing.

Still, for the moment the preparations for their escape would need to take precedence; the creatures in the tanks could only be released once they were finalized.

~MHA~

Rubbing his arms, feeling as though he'd spent the last fuck knows how many hours having his arms smacked around with a goddamned sledgehammer, Katsuki wiped his hands off on his pants and stretched his back. He'd seen the nerd a few times, running around on those beams that'd been set up for him to work on stopping when he was using sis' Quirk to run as fast as he could. He'd also seen the nerd fall into the water more than a few times; it'd actually felt more difficult, keeping himself from laughing, those times when the nerd would jump out of the water with his tail all puffed up.

Of course, there were those times when the nerd would cheat, suppressing sis' Quirk before he could fall into the water and soak all of his fur; that was kind of funny, too.

Still, after all the shit he'd been putting himself through, it was at least nice to know that he was going to be able to rest for what was left of the day. Joining up with the rest of his classmates, Katsuki didn't bother to stop himself from snickering as he passed by the nerd on their way back into the compound where they were all going to be staying for the rest of the week.

"Enjoy your bath, nerd?" he drawled, grinning as Zuzu turned an annoyed expression on him, swiping half-heartedly at him as the pair of them passed each other by.

"Funny, Kacchan."

Grinning, Katsuki continued on his way into the compound. He'd found out that sis was staying with them, getting some other kind of lessons from the last of the Pussycats. He hadn't asked about that kind of thing, but he knew that Zuzu would have been all over that kind of thing. Not just because he and sis lived together, but because the both of them seemed to have taken more than a little interest in what the other was doing. It was kind of funny, how the nerd seemed to want to cram his head full of everything that had to do with anything, not just what he'd need to know to be the next Number One Hero.

Or maybe that was just because he and sis had lived together for so long, sharing their interests and that kind of thing.

The old lady with the Earthflow Quirk and the blue outfit – the one who'd been panting after Uncle Sashi's Hero identity ever since she'd met him the first time, which was going to be more than a little funny, if Uncle Sashi ever ended up unmasking himself and people found out how long he'd been married to Auntie – had already told them that they'd be making their own dinner today, so Katsuki figured he'd get on it. Still, the thought of food brought up the uncomfortable thought of when he'd made curry for sis. It'd turned out that her Quirk didn't let her eat anything with capsaicin in it, not without getting really sick, anyway.

Capsaicin was apparently what made spicy food spicy, he'd learned at least that much once that'd happened.

~MHA~

Looking up into the sky as the sun began setting, Bombalurina heard the familiar, heavy steps of Tiger as the man made his way over to where she was standing.

"We managed to get in contact with your father," he said, carrying over the case that held her twelve inch refractor, grinning as he hefted it one-handed. "He said that this would be the best one for you to use in a place like this, since you didn't have him there to help you move your other one."

There was a curious expression on the man's painted face, so Bombalurina decided that she would indulge him.

/I have a Maksutov-Cassegrain back at home, but that kind of telescope is too heavy for me to lift on my own,/ she said, purring softly as Tiger handed the case over to her. /It's also a pretty serious instrument, so it has to be handled delicately. So no jokes about using it as a free weight; I've already heard them all from Papa./

Tiger laughed, in that same kind of way that Bombalurina had sometimes found herself wishing she could, when she was spending time around her friends and family. She remembered the way Papa had offered to take her birth Quirk from her, if it ever became too much of a burden for her to live with, but she didn't quite know if she was willing to do something that drastic. Even if Papa had said that he'd be doing everything he could to help her get used to living in the new body she'd be dealing with if she ever decided to take him up on his offer.

Papa's doctor, a man by the name of Daruma Ujiko, seemed a lot more interested in that kind of thing than she was, really.

Tiger offered to take her up into the mountains so that she would be able to find a good spot to put her telescope while she made her observations, and as the pair of them made their way out of the compound and up into the mountains, Bombalurina began hearing the sounds of someone else making their way through the underbrush. Glancing over her left shoulder, she caught sight of one of the other Pussycats, making what seemed to be her rounds of the compound.

~MHA~

Hearing what sounded like a scuffle, down in the baths where all of the Hero students from U.A. were sitting, Kota took his toy staff – the same kind of staff that he'd seen in Sensei's hands, when the Symbol of Hope had stepped through that portal and healed Mama and Papa – away from where he'd had it leaning against the wall. He was just about to call down, demanding to know just what was going on down there, when he caught sight of the short kid with the purple grape hair, struggling as he tried to climb up the boys' side of the wall.

"If you're learning how to be a Hero, you should be a good human, first," he snapped, slapping the stupid boy's right hand down just as he'd started raising it.

Hearing the cheerful shouts of the girls in their side of the baths, Kota made the mistake of looking over at them… Not one of them seemed to be wearing their towels, and as he found himself blushing, Kota tried to think of how Sensei would handle this kind of thing. He worked as a doctor, after all, so he'd probably had to deal with this kind of thing a lot. Straightening up, and picking up the copy of Sensei's staff that he'd asked Mama to buy as soon as they'd all been able to go back home, Kota stood his ground in the way he was sure that Sensei would always do when he was called on to help people.

The only thing that he wasn't quite sure how to deal with was the blush that stubbornly remained on his face; of course, Sensei was a lot older than him, so that probably meant he was a lot more used to dealing with girls.