It takes them both a while to calm down, but predictably, Bakugo does it first. For a moment, he kind of wants to just lay there sleepily, watching her cry a bit longer. But he quickly decides that that's weird and that he should probably get her to stop now. "Hey… You've still got other people to thank, y'know, besides me." She finally starts to calm down a bit to listen to him. "…And don't apologize. Every time you say you're sorry, you make everyone want to say the same thing back to you… Instead of apologizin' for all the trouble, just thank them for the help… Just like we just did."

Ah. Midoriya had never thought about it that way before. She'd never realized that she was making other people feel awful just by apologizing. If she had known… No, she probably still would've been too stubborn to stop. She never would've thought of just replacing those "sorrys" with genuine thanks. For the past few days, she's been trying to think about the right way to apologize to her classmates but couldn't come up with anything. Maybe this is the answer she needed.

She looks Bakugo in the eye. "Understood."

And it's the eyes he remembers, the eyes he never thought he'd miss so much, those sure, confident, fearless eyes. They truly make his heart clench, and he almost smiles. Almost.

Promising to come back soon and help him get back to the dorms (Recovery Girl used up almost all his stamina to heal him), she leaves in a hurry to go see the first person she has to thank. Since it's clearly evening, she's not sure he'll be there, but she has to try. She arrives at the teacher's lounge and knocks on the door. When someone tells her to come in, she opens the door and notes that the whole room stops when they see her. She doesn't blame them, but still she looks for All Might, and when she finds him, she marches over to him. For a moment, they stare in silence at each other, All Might not sure what to say, and Midoriya mentally preparing herself.

She bows to him at a 90 degree angle. It takes an embarrassing amount of conscious effort for her to resist the urge to apologize and instead say, "Thank you very much! I was unstable and irrational for a while and said things I didn't mean! But… you never pushed me away or left me all alone… So please allow me to continue to learn from you! I promise it won't happen again! …And if it does… I'll be sure to ask for your help next time… I promise that too."

A moment of silence. Then she feels a hand on her shoulder. "Raise your head, kid."

She hesitantly obeys. And sees him wipe a tear from his eye as he smiles. "You're okay. That's what matters."

Her eyes shine up at him. "Yes!" Before she leaves to go back to Kacchan she takes a moment to also thank Aizawa for his patience despite her not telling him what was going on. He tells her to rely on him a little more and that from now on he's going to have to check up on her more often. It's only the logical thing to do now. As All Might watches her thank the other teachers for their patience as well, her already long list of thank yous getting longer, he thinks, You've gotten stronger, haven't you, kid? And he's sure that the same goes for young Bakugo.

Midoriya's about to leave, when finally Present Mic speaks up. "Aren't you gonna ask about 'you know who'?"

"Eh? …Ah! Dr. Shinbyou! I almost forgot!"

"Not her." Seeing the look of confusion on her face, he continues, "Rose… She got suspended."

Midoriya nearly does a double take. "Wh… What? Senpai did…?"

"Couldn't be helped. That's what happens when you break the rules. No exceptions." He glares at her, and even from a distance, Midoriya can feel just how sour his mood is. "So when she gets back in two weeks, you better have the mother of all thank yous ready, kid."

She stares back with determined eyes. "Yes. I will. She saved me… so I'll make sure she knows just how thankful I am." She thanks them all again for their time, confirms that Dr. Shinbyou is still in her office working a little longer than usual, and bolts out again.

She feels good. It's been a long time since she's felt this good. Come to think of it, has she ever really felt this good? She had no idea that saying "thank you" could feel like this! She flies down the empty halls, like nothing's holding her back, like at any moment, she might become one with the wind and just float away. She skips and jumps a little, almost tripping, but not losing speed. And as she approaches Dr. Shinbyou's door, she gives one final leap, savoring that last frozen moment of total freedom. And when she lands firmly on the ground, she's ready to face the world again.

She knocks on the door. Entering upon the doctor's command, she catches the doctor's slight surprise from the curve of her eyebrows. But almost as quickly, her face stabilizes as she reads Midoriya's soul in a split second.

She smiles with relief, her wrinkles softening. I see… Congratulations. Her eyes get a bit misty. "Can I guess why you're here?"

"Um… First, about Omoda-senpai… I feel awful that she felt like she had to steal your memories to help me…" She really does look guilty. "But I can't apologize, so…!" She bows her head again. "Thank you very much! Even if it was indirectly, thank you for helping senpai. And… thank you for helping me and Kacchan. We… needed a real heart to heart… So really, thank you."

The doctor can sense that deep down, Midoriya wants to apologize from the bottom of her heart. But simply the fact that she's replaced "sorry" with "thank you" shows just how far she's come. "Is that all?" she asks.

Midoriya panics for a moment, wondering if there's something else she's forgotten to say.

"…You know, I am here to help you find even more ways to recover from your trauma. Are you sure there's nothing else you want to ask me?"

As Midoriya understands what the doctor is hinting at, she starts, "Will… Will senpai still be allowed to come back and get therapy? She's not banned, is she?" Midoriya knows that Rose has recovered a lot, but there will still be plenty of issues that can't all be solved in such a short time, just like Midoriya herself.

"…No. What she did was reckless, but also selfless. I sensed no serious ill will towards me, so I bear no grudge."

"…Then… I'd like to come back too. If it's okay with you… I'd like to officially start therapy." She's ready. She can do this. She's not going to run away anymore, not after everything that everyone's done for her.

And the doctor gets the message. "…Thank you." Midoriya looks at her with confusion. "For deciding to trust me. Just like I thought when we first met, you're very brave, Izuku Midoriya."

Midoriya's gut instinct is to tell her that's not true, that she's not brave at all, that she still has a long way to go. But instead, she chooses to accept the compliment without a struggle. She bows again and says, "Please take care of me!"

She then returns to Kacchan's side, ready to help him get back home. He's looking forward to a full day of rest after their ordeal. As he slings an arm over her shoulders (the one that wasn't previously dislocated), she avoids looking at him in such close proximity. She can't lie to herself; she's enjoying this a bit… Okay, a lot. Kacchan is so close. He smells good. Most guys don't smell good, but his sweat is like Nitroglycerin, so it smells sweet. But even if it didn't, maybe she'd still like it because it's so familiar.

She really is turning into a pervert, and it's a serious problem. She knows that. She knows it, but it doesn't stop her heart from racing. She's finally touching him, like she wanted. Not just for the assignment, but because he trusts her and actually wants to be close to her. And he thinks she's amazing! He said so! He wants to be like her! A hero like her of all people! And he said it with that look on his face! Like he'd really be… lost without her…

It's… It's so unfair. How's she supposed to make these feelings go away… after he said all that?

"Hey," he says, startling her. They're about halfway down the path back to the dorms and had been silent the whole time, so suddenly hearing him speak so close to her ear makes her jump a little. Under the faint glow of the street lamps and the almost full moon, he can see that nervousness and immediately gets suspicious.

"Wh-What?" she answers.

"You… Are you sick or somethin'?"

His voice is definitely softer than she remembers. Was it always this soft? Or is her girly brain suddenly making a big deal out of nothing again? (Note: the answer is that his voice is softer because he's drowsy.) "Eh? Wh-Why would you…?"

"Cuz you're all red."

She shivers so violently that they stumble a bit. Seriously! Was his voice always so… so… What's the word? Could it be…

Sexy? Is that what this weird feeling is in her lady parts?! Just the thought of it makes her turn a whole shade redder as she slowly, mechanically turns away from him in panic, beads of nervous sweat cascading down her face.

"Hey!" he yells at the fact that they almost tripped. "Look, if you're sick, you better tell me! No more secrets!" But just as he says that, he remembers something. "Ah. That reminds me. I told Uraraka you like her."

Midoriya freezes. Almost as if she never turned red to begin with, her face starts to turn pale. She slowly turns back to him. "What did you say?"

"I told her. I promised that since you were hiding things from her, I'd tell her the truth if she helped me get you to therapy… Even though things didn't work out then, I kept my promise."

Midoriya has to stop and think about that for a minute. Uraraka-san knows now? So when they get back to the dorms, if she sees the brunette again…

"Sorry about that." Bakugo had realized that he should probably apologize for that. She glances at him, clear frustration on her face, but meets his cool, sincere eyes, before he turns away a bit in shame.

This is really, truly, stupidly unfair. She's still mad at him, but she can't say anything after he apologized and really meant it. Did he know that would work on her? No, he couldn't have known. But still, she wants to whine that he's cheating. She isn't sure she's ready to deal with all this when they get back. Especially not after she lied to the brunette. And especially not after Midoriya was literally just lusting (lusting! Can you believe that?!) after someone else a second ago! Uraraka-san deserves the best! Way better than Midoriya! She still stands by that. She's not good enough right now. If she really wants to make Uraraka-san happy, she still has more to do. But… she can start by at least being honest with the brunette and apologizing for something she truly, deliberately did wrong this time. She's slowly learning to tell the difference between when people want to hear "thank you" vs "I'm sorry".

I guess… I do have Kacchan to thank for that, so… "Got it. I'll talk to Uraraka-san. I won't lie to her again. I'm sorry you had to do that for me."

They hobble in silence for a second or two before Bakugo… "I'm sorry," he starts. She looks at him in confusion. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Now she's really confused. Ah! But she remembers what he said, that every time she apologizes to him, he… "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Okay! Okay! I get it!" He continues to bluntly say the same words over and over even as she tries to talk to him. Before she realizes it, she's blushing again, but but for a different reason this time. "I won't say that again! So just stop! It's embarrassing!"

He finishes his twelfth "I'm sorry", and she notices that he's blushing a little bit too. He probably didn't realize it would feel that embarrassing to say it over and over.

His face. It's cute. It's so goddamn cute. So cute that she lets her temper get the better of her. She grumbles, "Forget it. This is all Kacchan's fault anyways."

"Hah?!" he yells in her ear, making her wince. "You're the one who lied to her first! This happened cuz'a you! Sure, I was… wrong to say anything behind your back, but you fucking started this. Then you tried to force her on me! The fuck was even going through your head?! That was stupid, Midoriya."

There he goes calling her by her name again. It almost makes her heart stop, and she just knows she's turning redder. "Like I said… It's all your fault…" That's right. Even if it's immature, it's easier this way, easier to blame it all on him. On these pesky feelings that make it impossible for her to be totally loyal to Uraraka-san.

And come to think of it, she's still not sure where she stands with Todoroki-kun either. She hasn't been talking to him as much lately, not since she made it clear that she doesn't want him protecting her from Kacchan, that Kacchan himself will protect her. But she still hasn't quite shaken the lingering feelings for him either. She really needs to make up her mind once and for all… before she hurts them even more than she already has.

Meanwhile, she realizes there's a familiar feeling in the air. She hasn't felt it in a while, but she definitely recognizes it. And again, she slowly, mechanically turns towards Kacchan. That face. She knows that face. It's his "white hot fury" face. The face he would typically make before beating her up. He's just barely holding back, trying to keep himself from screaming in her ear. Instead he just breathes. Well he tries anyway. It's coming out more like wheezing or hissing, but she can tell he's definitely trying to calm down. And something about it is just…

She stifles a laugh. She covers her mouth a bit, but she just can't stop herself from slowly laughing freely. And it startles Bakugo so much that he actually calms down and stares at her, bewildered. "Sor— I mean… It just feels like it's been too long. I'm kind of glad."

A genuine smile. She's actually smiling honestly. She's not putting on a brave face, trying to look happy for his sake. She just genuinely laughed. Something about it makes him relax, even while his head gets all warm and fuzzy. "…Good," he replies quietly, as he turns back to the ground in front of him.

She looks back up at him and notices that he isn't angry anymore. It kind of startles her a bit that he suddenly calmed down, but she figures he must be getting better at his anger management. Whatever he's been doing, it's working wonders.

As he continues to hobble forward, he realizes there's something else he wants to say to her. "Hey, Midoriya…"

She blushes a bit again. Maybe she should ask him to stop calling her that, even if it means going back to "Deku". It's seriously doing weird things to her, and she's not sure she can get used to it.

"That fake smile you had on all the time… I don't ever wanna see that shit again. If you smile, you do it for real, okay? Everybody else thinks so too… We're sick'a the lies…"

Ah. That's another thing she didn't realize. She didn't know that the smile she was using to "protect" them was actually hurting them. But now she knows. She won't make the same mistakes again. "Got it. I'll try." All these changes will definitely take some getting used to, but she'll do her best for everyone.

"You better."

"…Yeah… Thank you, Kacchan."

He glances at her and sees her blushing and smiling at the ground. He has no idea what the fuck is wrong with her face… but as long as she's smiling for real now, as long as he gets to keep watching her smile by his side, he can't complain.