"Hello, Young Bakugou, how are you feeling?"

Bakugou groaned as he came to, breathing deeply and ignoring how his chest felt as if he had been hit by a truck. "Where the fuck am I?"

He was startled by a tap to his head by something that felt like it was made of plastic. "Mind your language while you're in my infirmary, young man, or I will be refusing to heal you further."

Bakugou growled as he sat up and looked around, his mind finally catching up to him and filling in the blanks of his memory. "GOD DAMNIT DEKU!"

He was rewarded for his yell by another smack to the head, and whipped around to see that Recovery Girl was standing on a stool next to his bed, frowning. "What did I just say? And be quiet, people are resting."

Bakugou opened his mouth again to yell but stopped when he saw Recovery Girl's arms tense, ready to smack him with her cane again. He settled on scowling at her instead. "What the fuck happened to me?"

Recovery Girl opened her mouth to say something when the door was pushed open, revealing Eraserhead standing in the doorway, Nezu perched on his shoulder, frowning, his paws crossed over his chest.

"Greetings, Young Bakugou. It is time we had a chat about you and your attitude."

Bakugou felt a coldness in his chest as the words registered in his mind, not stupid enough to think that it was a coincidence that this meeting happened right after that fight. He glared at the pair, not liking where this conversation was probably going.

UA teachers definitely seemed less likely to let that shit go than the shitty extras currying favour with him at his old schools.

"Izuku!"

Izuku whipped around quickly as he heard Joseph shout, confused and happy to see the man. Joseph ran up to him and wrapped him in a hug, the man in the red suit beside him smiling softly.

"I'm so glad you're alright!"

Izuku just laughed as he hugged Joseph back, before he pulled back, confused. "Wait, how did you know that I was hurt? You weren't watching my fight, were you? How did you get permission to do that?"

Joseph shook his head. "No, no, I wasn't watching the fight… at least not while it was happening… that doesn't matter right now. All that matters is that you're OK! Inko and Susie would probably kill both of us if you got hurt!"

Izuku smiled as he nodded. "Yea, I wasn't entirely sure that my barrier would work, but I thought about how you blocked the bullets that Santviento shot back at you and thought to myself; 'if Mr Joestar can block bullets safely, surely I can block an attack that's far more spread out, even if it is more powerful'."

Joseph shook his head, smirking. "Well, not the first thing I would have thought you used a Hamon barrier to protect against, but I'm glad that it was effective. I'm so, so glad it was effective."

Izuku laughed sheepishly. "Well, it was kind of effective. Turns out Hamon barriers can't block heat from an explosion, only the force. The blast gave me some killer burns, bad enough that I had to heal myself right away."

He looked back up to see Joseph frozen, his eye twitching. The man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, mumbling to himself. Izuku heard something about 'wishing he had sued' someone, but didn't comment on it.

After a moment, Joseph opened his eyes again and squeezed Izuku in another hug. "Well, as long as you're OK now, the punishment Nezu and I decided on should suffice."

Izuku raised his eyebrow, starting to panic as he put some pieces together. "Punishment? Wait, Mr Wright? Is that you? Mr Joestar! Did you just sue UA for me?!"

Phoenix, to his credit, had the sense to back away from Izuku as he asked that, spotting the boy's Hamon begin to flow unconsciously. After seeing Joseph's Hamon abilities in action, he was not inclined to test the boy.

Joseph just laughed at his question. "No! I did not just sue UA for you. I did however come to an agreement with the principal to avoid having to take UA to court. Also, no offence Pheonix, but I'm not sure we would win a legal case. We'd probably just make people upset with UA for a short while."

He then raised his hand up and rubbed his ear, grimacing. "And my Quirk made sure I knew that wasn't a good idea in the long term."

Izuku let out a sigh, his head dropping as he thanked the lords above for Joseph's Quirk, and whatever self-control the man had. He lifted his head and looked Joseph in the eyes. "So, what's going to happen to Bakugou? And I guess All Might? Those two being punished for this incident makes sense to me."

Joseph smirked, remembering the terms that he and Nezu had set out for their agreement. "Well, you didn't hear it from me, but All Might got a demotion to a teaching assistant."

Izuku glanced side to side before chuckling at that, smiling. "And what about Bakugou?"

Joseph's smirk grew even wider as pure smug energy flowed through his veins.

"You ever heard of Shiketsu?"

A darkened figure turned to the man in his foyer, humming a tune to himself.

DIO let the song fade from his throat as he gave one of his flesh-bud-slaves, Jean-Pierre Polnareff, a once over, crossing his arms. "Show me again, Polnareff. Show me your stand."

The Frenchman bowed his head. "Of course, lord DIO."

Polnareff then stood back up, the shiny and sleek figure of Silver Chariot coming into existence above his shoulder, the stand's rapier pointed towards the floor. It floated around Polnareff until it was in between him and DIO.

DIO hummed in delight as he saw the man's stand, his control over the spirit complete and mastered through years of work. He walked around it, inspecting it. "Show me its other form, Polnareff."

The man didn't respond verbally, instead, the armour on Silver Chariot's body flew off of it with a loud bang, revealing the stand's less durable, but faster, form. DIO reached out and ran his hand over the surface of the stand, marvelling at its ethereal texture.

"The ability to choose whether to prioritise speed or defence, and a weapon capable of moving as fast as the eye can see. While its range might be fairly low, you should be proud of your stand, Polnareff. Truly, it is a marvel to behold…"

Polnareff bowed his head again. "Even with all your praise, nothing will compare to the might of The World, my lord, once you have discovered its ability. Of this I am sure."

The soft smile on DIO's face faded, replaced with a scowl as he was reminded of his own struggles to conquer his stand. "Yes… nothing will compare, of this I am sure as well, Polnareff. But enough of this exhibition. I have a task for you."

The man instantly recalled his stand, allowing it to fade back into his body as he stood up straight, like a soldier awaiting an order from a commanding officer. "How may I be of service, my lord?"

DIO closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel the connection that Jonathan's body had to his blood relatives… and this new player that had weaselled his way into the Joestar's 'Spiritual Collective', or whatever the hag had called it.

He put his hands on his hips and turned to Polnareff. "You are to scour Japan for this false Joestar brat and bring me their head on a platter. I will not allow someone new and unknown to interfere with my plans."

Polnareff nodded but hesitated for a second. "But how will I know who the boy is, my lord? Japan is a densely packed country. It will be hard to locate him."

DIO waved a hand at him, dismissing him from the room. "Speak to Enyaba about it. I wish to contemplate my stand and take another step towards mastery."

Polnareff frowned, but turned away from DIO, exiting the room. DIO spread his arms and allowed his stand to appear as best he could, the glow surrounding his body a brilliant yellow, and the yellow figure floating in the air in front of him, staring back at him silently.

DIO made it move through some basic boxing forms to practise controlling its movements, frustrated that he still hadn't discovered his own stand's special ability.

"I will conquer you eventually, you impudent spectre…"

"You got him transferred?!"

Joseph smirked as he nodded. "Yes, I did. With the ego boost that being a UA student gives him, as well as their slightly looser teaching styles, Bakugou was a dangerous person to keep around. Nezu and I eventually agreed that the high levels of structure and discipline that the Shiketsu instructors apply to their students would be beneficial to his development."

Izuku just froze at that. He had gotten transferred. Izuku wouldn't have to deal with Bakugou until they were well and truly into adulthood and heroics. Hopefully. Izuku couldn't stop the smile from growing on his face at the thought.

Bakugou's influence had been the driving force to so much of his development over the years, or at least was the thing that kickstarted his development, like how he thought in a fight, how he moved, and his drive to get stronger and faster.

But now, Izuku had different driving forces. He had Messina, and Mr Joestar, and Susie Q, and of course, his mother. He had all the motivation he needed to excel and continue to grow in both strength and skill.

He didn't need Bakugou or his toxic influence in his life anymore to push forward.

It couldn't be understated just how freeing that statement was to say to himself.

"Alright everyone. Today we will be doing rescue training with a special teacher."

The class was visibly excited at this, completely distracted from Bakugou's absence now, those who were thinking about it turning their attention to Eraserhead.

"You can wear your costumes if you want, but unless you're confident in your ability to move and work in them, I suggest wearing your PE uniforms."

There was silence around the room before they sprung up and sprinted for their costume cases, before heading straight to the change rooms at break-neck speeds. Izuku didn't chase after them, instead grabbing his PE uniform out of his bag.

But before he got out of the classroom, he felt something wrap around the wrist that had reached for the door, spinning him back around. Confused, Izuku saw Eraserhead staring at him with an odd look on his face.

"Is everything alright, sir?"

Him speaking seemed to have snapped Eraserhead out of whatever he was thinking, his gaze solidifying on Izuku, whereas before it looked like he was staring right through the boy.

Eraserhead hummed, thinking over his words. "I wanted to just double check that after yesterday's… incident, that you were feeling up to another practical class so soon."

Izuku smiled, nodding. "Yes sir! Recovery Girl cleared me for class, and I'm really looking forward to rescue training! I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

Eraserhead held his scarf around the boy's wrist for another moment and then released him. "If you insist. Go get changed. The bus should be here soon."

Izuku nodded and sprinted out of the room towards the changing rooms. He didn't know why Eraserhead had stopped him like that, but he guessed it was a good thing? Most of the teachers at his old school had just kinda left him alone. At least Eraserhead seemed to care for his safety.

The bus ride was fairly slow, and class 1-A spent it talking about their Quirks. Izuku made sure to be suitably vauge in his descriptions, as Hamon was still a semi-secret to the general public.

He pulled the coat of his PE uniform tighter as he stepped out of the bus, zipping it up at the front.

"Welcome, everyone! To the USJ!"