Shouta stood observing his two interns as they spared. It was the third day of their internship and both were already showing improvement. He'd even started teaching them how to properly use his capture weapon yesterday. They'd picked up the concept of it fairly quickly but the execution was another thing entirely. Both had ended up tangled in the weapon most of the time they'd spent practicing. Shouta couldn't help but be amused by the sight; constantly having to hide smiles and small laughs behind his capture weapon throughout the day. He was fairly certain at least Midoriya caught a couple though. Both took the failure to get a handle on the weapon differently. Shinsou had looked frustrated at his lack of progress while Midoriya hadn't seemed to let the lack of progress get to him. He'd taken to the task with fervor and Shouta could see his persistence rubbing off on Shinsou as during the latter part of the day he seemed more focused.

Shouta didn't find himself surprised that Midoriya had flipped Shinsou onto the mat several times at this point; 15 times total if you were counting, but who was counting? If he was correct and Midoriya was Rabbit he'd had far more experience than Shinsou had, plus he knew more about fighting quirkless and Shouta forbade Shinsou from using his quirk during this spar. Though it didn't seem that Shinsou was discouraged at the numerous losses; instead he only looked more determined each time he got back up. Shouta also noticed that each time Shinsou would engage Midoriya again he would make sure to fix his mistake. If he seemed unsure of where he messed up Midoriya would gently guide him and show him where he made a mistake. Not to say Midoriya was perfect, far from it actually. His form and skill were better than Shinsou's for sure, but it wasn't hard for Shouta to see all the flaws.

After several more times of Shinsou being flipped onto the mat Shouta decided to step in. The two absorbed every bit of advice he gave them. After giving some general advice he let the two go back at each other, yelling out corrections to their stances and suggestions to improve their attacks. Shouta was pleased with how well they took the advice and integrated it. Neither attempted to question him when he corrected them and simply took the advice at face value. Even though these two supposedly had never met him before this internship, they put a lot of faith in his advice. It could just be because he was a pro and they both knew that, but Shouta didn't think that was it. It's what they'd want him to believe sure, but it wasn't the truth.

For now he'd play along like he didn't know, but Shouta was fairly certain that Midoriya was at least suspicious of him knowing. The kid had always been smart and Shouta wouldn't have put it past him if he'd figured out part of the reason he'd wanted the two as interns. That wasn't the entire reason though. They had genuinely impressed him during the sport's festival. It once again reminded him of how unfair the entrance exam was to those without physical quirks, or in Midoriya's case without quirks at all. The two had gone toe to toe with some of the best students in his class; in his eyes they deserved to be in the hero course whether they were his vigilantes or not. Damn. He was getting attached, wasn't he?

Elsewhere…

Katsuki was having the time of his life. He let off explosions behind him in an attempt to keep up with Miriko. Before their first patrol on that first day Miriko had looked him over in his hero costume and told him, "Just cause you're a student doesn't mean I'm gonna slow down for you. If you wanna learn you keep up, got it kid?" She ended the declaration with a smirk that Katsuki had returned.

On his third day of interning for the rabbit hero he could start to keep up and as such was rewarded with being able to beat up some of the villains himself. Miriko would enthusiastically cheer from the sidelines or where she was beating her own villain into the ground. Katsuki found it easy to relate himself to Miriko; he saw a lot of himself in her. Well a better version of himself, not that he would ever admit that outloud.

After quickly dispatching some d rank villain, he found a microphone shoved in his face. He looked past it to see the smiling face of what must be some sort of news reporter. Katsuki fought back the urge to scowl at her. If there was one thing he didn't like about becoming a hero it was the reporters. He'd seen them borderline harass some pros and was not looking forward to that attention being placed on him. Unfortunately it was looking like he was gonna get his first dose of it before he was even out of his first year at UA. Maybe Izuku and Shinsou had the right idea of becoming underground heroes like Eraserhead. They wouldn't have to deal with this often.

The reporter smiled sweetly at him. "Hi, I'm with Hero News. You seem to be new on the scene, could I get a statement from you? It's not often you see Miriko working with other heroes."

Katsuki knew it was less like she was asking and more like demanding. He glanced over at Miriko who was giving him a smug grin that told him he'd get no help there. Katsuki turned back to the reporter who still had an eager look on her face. There was no way he was getting out of this huh?

Katsuki considered his next words carefully. Whatever he said here would likely be all over the internet before the end of the day. He found himself wishing Izuku were here. He was much better at this than Katsuki even if he was a stuttering mess till he built up the confidence to speak. "Just, be yourself Kacchan. It's always best for heroes to be honest. Show people who you are. Don't hide it." Katsuki heard the advice he'd once gotten from Izuku run through his head.

With one more glance back at Miriko he smirked at the reporter. He jabbed his thumb to his chest, "The name's Ground Zero and I'm gonna be the next number one hero, just you fucking watch. I'll become an even better hero than All Might."

Miriko clapped him on the back and laughed heartily as they returned to the temporary office. "That was great kid! The look on the reporter's face was fucking priceless!"

Katsuki joined in her laughter. "Thanks, that'll give the vultures something to think over for a while. Why the fuck is this kid claiming he's gonna be the next number one in his first year of high school?" He finished mockingly.

Miriko's laugher only grew louder at that. "Kid once you're out of school make sure I send you an offer to be a sidekick. If I forget I give you permission to come find me and kick my ass till I remember."

Katsuki's grin widened. "I'll keep that in mind. Better not forget, cause I'll make it fucking hurt."

"Fucking good, if I forget I deserve that shit. And I won't have you doing anything by halves. Even if it's kicking my ass." Miriko said, chuckling. She clapped his back again before wandering back over to the paper filled desk.

Katsuki wandered over and glanced at the papers. "So, you gonna finally tell me what this is all about?" Katsuki asked, looking at Miriko.

Miriko looked up and met Katsuki's gaze. Suddenly she ruffled his hair and turned back to the papers; ignoring the sputtering protests from Katsuki. "You know what kid, sure. Let's teach you something you don't know. You ever hear about the hero killer?"

Elsewhere…

To say Shoto was exhausted would be an understatement. He flopped face first into the bed he'd been given at the Hawks agency; still in his hero costume. Though it was a good type of tired as he felt accomplished. He heard the chuckle of his classmate, Tokoyami, and felt a poke on his back.

"Is he dead Fumikage?" Dark Shadow asked, looking back at Tokoyami.

Tokoyami sighed, "No. He's simply tired. Leave him be Dark Shadow."

Shoto got up and awkwardly pet the sentient quirk. Dark Shadow made a happy noise at the affection while Tokoyami shook his head. "It's alright. He's just curious that's all." Shoto got up and stopped petting Dark Shadow who seemed upset. "I should get out of my costume."

Tokoyami nodded. "It would be best."

Shoto got out of his costume and changed into some more comfortable clothing to sleep in. As he returned to the room he and Tokoyami were sharing he nodded at his classmate, who returned the gesture, and got into his bed.

When he'd first gotten his offers after the sport's festival he'd been overwhelmed by the choices he had. Thankfully Midoriya had been kind enough to help him narrow down his choices significantly. It came as a surprise to Shoto just how much Midoriya knew about heroes; though he supposed with Midoriya being quirkless it made some sense. It would be advantageous to him to know as much about quirks as possible even without having one himself.

In the end he'd narrowed it down to two. One being his father and the other being Hawks. Shoto wanted to get a handle on his fire during this internship so he'd almost chosen to go with his father. Though Midoriya had brought up some fair points about Hawks.

"Well for Hawks' quirk he can control all his feathers individually right?" Midoriya asked. Shoto had nodded. He'd learned far more about the winged hero's quirk that day then he ever expected to in his life. "Well while I can admit Endeavor would know a lot more about controlling your fire, for obvious reasons, Hawks also knows about control. He probably had to work hard to learn the fine tuned control we can see during his fights. So if you wanted to learn control and didn't want to go with your dad he'd probably be your best option."

Shoto had decided to go with Hawks because he couldn't see himself enjoying doing more voluntary training with his dad. To his surprise Tokoyami had also accepted an offer from Hawks. Shoto didn't dislike his classmate, he didn't really dislike any of his classmates, but he hadn't been expecting to share his internship with someone else. Though after three days of it he found he didn't mind Tokoyami being around. Hawks was very high energy and not what Shoto was used to. Tokoyami's calm demeanor helped contrast and make sure Shoto could handle Hawks. Also he'd grown a bit fond of Dark Shadow.

Instead of going straight to sleep Shoto decided to pull out his phone. He went to his texting app and opened one of the two group chats he was in; the other being the class group chat that Iida had created and quickly lost control of.

Nothing Illegal Here

AllMightFanBoy : It's everywhere Kacchan! How did it even spread that fast?

KingExplosionMurder : How the fuck am I supposed to know? Guess they found that shit interesting enough to spread

What'sSleep? : Are any of us surprised? No? Good.

InventorExtraordinaire : I just wish you'd had some of my babies on you! They could have gone viral with you!

KingExplosionMurder : Whatever Crazy. But Miriko was laughing her ass off while I did it. It was great

AllMightFanBoy : Told you Miriko was the right choice Kacchan

KingExplosionMurder : Whatever Deku

What'sSleep? : I could feel the eyeroll from here

KingExplosionMurder : Oh shut the fuck up Eyebags

Shoto smiled slightly at the screen. He wasn't sure what they were talking about but it was fun to watch them go back and forth.

IcyHot : Hello

AllMightFanBoy : Hey Todoroki!

KingExplosionMurde r: Ugh why did we add Icyhot to this chat again?

AllMightFanBoy : I told you he needs friends Kacchan!

What'sSleep? : Don't mind the angry pomeranian. He's more bark than bite

KingExplosionMurder : NEXT TIME I SEE YOU YOU'RE DEAD EYEBAGS

What'sSleep? : Yeah, yeah. Heard it before

InventorExtraordinaire : Ooo ice boy! I've been thinking about some babies I could make for you!

IcyHot : Oh, thanks?

InventorExtraordinaire : Of course! Swing by the design studio anytime!

AllMightFanBoy : How's your internship going Todoroki?

IcyHot : It's going well. At times it's hard to keep up with Hawks but I feel like I'm learning a lot. How about you Midoriya?

AllMightFanBoy : That's good to hear! Me and Shinsou are doing well. Eraserhead is tough on us but we wouldn't expect anything less. He's even teaching us how to use his capture weapon!

What'sSleep? : More like he's getting amusement out of our failures

KingExplosionMurder : Serves you fucking right!

Shoto shook his head, the slight smile still on his face. He was very glad that Midoriya had managed to break through his walls and make friends with him. Even if he didn't add much to the conversations he enjoyed reading them quite a bit.

He was about to put his phone away when Hawks walked into the room. Hawks looked at him and Tokoyami. "We have something interesting on our hands. Miriko has requested a team up."

Tokoyami tilted his head. "A team up? What for?"

Hawks shifted his wings and gave them a lazy smile. "I'm sure you two are familiar with the hero killer. Miriko thinks she's figured out where he'll strike next and wants our help taking him down."

Elsewhere…

Izuku lay back in his bed after getting off his phone for the night. The internship was going well so far and both him and Shinsou were learning a lot. It still didn't seem real to him that they were being trained by the same hero who he and Katsuki had been nearly arrested by more times than he could count when they'd first started. He remembered his first encounter with the erasure hero well.

"Run fucking faster idiot!" Katsuki yelled at him as they hopped over rooftops, the black clad hero not far behind them.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Izuku yelled back, frustrated. They'd been so careful to remain under the radar so something like this wouldn't happen yet here they were running away from Eraserhead of all people. They both knew they stood little chance of outrunning him. They were young and had only about five months of practical experience under their belts; while Eraserhead was much older and had far more experience. Their only saving graces were that they knew the area well and they wouldn't be thrown off by him erasing their quirks.

Izuku looked around frantically for a way out of the situation. Then he got it. Honestly it was a bit of a longshot but he didn't have time to think of anything better. He pulled a small object from his pocket and got Katsuki's attention. He quickly looked at the object and faced forward again. "That might fucking work. Throw it and we'll duck into an alley and wait till he leaves." Katsuki said, quickly glancing behind him.

"G-got it!" Izuku said as he threw the small device in between them and Eraserhead. A bright flash managed to stop Eraserhead in his tracks for a moment. By the time his vision cleared and he pushed forward the duo had slipped into an alley and hid under a dumpster. The two spent a painful half an hour under that dumpster and when they'd finally managed to return home Katsuki was even more angry than usual. He'd stayed like that for nearly a month as Izuku remembered it; it hadn't made their patrols very fun for that month to say the least.

Izuku smiled fondly at the memory; though at the time it was a pretty bitter one. Now it reminded him of how far they had come and just how much closer they were reaching their goal. So while Izuku knew that at this point Aizawa wouldn't try and arrest them he was still nervous. Aizawa still hadn't given them any indication that he knew who they were and that had Izuku weary. He was almost 100% certain that Aizawa knew, yet he hadn't tried to talk to them about it or anything. Izuku sighed and shook his head. Still no use thinking about it too hard. He'd just have to focus on his internship.

Just as Izuku was falling asleep, Shinsou was still very much awake, Eraserhead knocked and entered the room. The two got up and turned their attention to him. He looked at them and sighed. "I forgot to say it earlier but tomorrow I'm going to be taking you two for some practical experience." He paused, hiding a smile in his capture weapon. "How does a trip down to Hosu sound?"