The second day of the internship was very uneventful for Iida Tenya. The closest thing the city had to real villain activity that day was a brief attack by a random villain. Unfortunately for said villain, he chose to do it while Black Cat was in the city, meaning all he got for his neerdowell activities was a rather thorough beating.

They had arrived at the scene as he was arrested, and Black Cat was just leaving. Upon seeing her, he had wondered where Mina and Izuku were, but really, how Black Cat enacted her internship was not his business.

Other than that, Iida and Manual generally did the less flashy parts of hero work, like helping out people who had gotten lost, patrolling the streets on the lookout for villain attacks that would not come.

After the villain attack, they had been too late to help with, he and Manual had stayed around to help with the aftermath, especially with the traffic.

In particular, there had been an upended bus whose occupants had required help to exit the vehicle.

That had taken roughly half an hour, and they'd helped out crying children, older but resigned men and women, and average salarymen. There had also been two physically handicapped people, who had required special care, one an older woman in a wheelchair, and one older, blind gentleman from America. The old woman had been ecstatic and crying at receiving help, while the blind man had been surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

It was the kind of work that normally would have seemed just fine to Tenya. Today, however, he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder, or every single alleyway they passed.

The idea that the hero killer could still be here, somewhere in the city, was a thought that borrowed it's way into Tenya's mind. He just could NOT get that idea out of his mind.

Still, no sign of his quarry was evident, and he didn't see a single sign of the monster prowling these streets.

I

Izuku was slamming the old buss that he was currently using as target practice with 6 small cannonballs in rapid succession, when a loud call from Black Cat composed of the word "break-time", sounded loudly across the yard.

Izuku halted surprised, having expected and planned for this part of training to go on for another hour or so more at least before they got a break.

As it was, as he turned around to where Black Cat and Mina had been sparring, the older woman was nowhere in sight, while Mina had settled down on the hood of one of the countless cars in the scrapyard.

As he walked up to her, she was panting hard, and absolutely drenched in sweat, but she grinned at him as he stepped up to her.

"Mom got a call about some crime or other she had to go deal with." She said, answering the question Izuku hadn't actually asked.

He simply nodded, and as he walked up beside her, the mask around his face retracted leaving his head bare.

The two of them were relatively early into the second training rotation for the second day, and though there was soreness in his arms, Izuku knew from painful experience that the pain wouldn't really set in this early in the training.

Izuku felt a momentary pang of desire for the two of them to have tagged along with Black Cat, and seen her in action, but he let it drop. Realistically speaking, there was no reason to drag along the two of them along to do actual hero work. Not yet anyway.

As it was, he instead settled down on the car hood alongside Mina.

Yesterday's history lesson had been quite… Illuminating, and he was still kinda trying to wrap his head around it all.

The Caribbean League, the prophecies of madam Web, being confronted with the stark and brutal realities of realpolitik, and the fact he still didn't know anything about what the league of Villains wanted…

It was a lot to consider, and he still hadn't arrived at an answer about how he felt about it all.

As he sat there with Mina though, he was able to put that all aside for the moment. It was a surprisingly calming thing, just sitting there together. At least he thought so.

The silence lasted about half a minute more before Mina finally spoke up.

"So… How are you doing? You seemed pretty distraught about what mom told you yesterday."

"I… I'm fine. It's just… A lot to take in."

She nodded.

"I suppose. Personally, I kinda find that history stuff really, really boring, but I suppose it's important to know who our enemies are."

Boring was not a word Izuku would have used to describe any of the stuff Black Cat had told him, but he supposed Mina was entitled to her opinion.

"So… You really knew about it all, ever since the day it happened?"

"Yeah. Like… If I had known you were that interested and worried about it, I'd have told you, but man… You've never even mentioned you were worried or wondering about any of this stuff. Like, at all."

Yeah, he supposed that was on him.

Mina was right. He had been burning with questions, questions he had only set aside to focus on the tournament, but he had not as much as mentioned that with any of his friends.

"I'll… I'll keep that in mind in the future.

Mina nodded absently.

"So… You don't really seem bothered by any of it?"

"Eh, I'm not really happy about any of it, but there's not really much we can do about it you know? We can't do anything about the Caribbean, and well, it's the pros' job to handle the league of villains. I mean… I could spend all the time worrying about this kinda stuff, and worrying that the leagues could strike again… But that's not really living you know?"

As she talked, Mina motioned with her hand to the side, signifying something large or big.

"You can't really live your life like that, worrying about everything that might go wrong, or something negative that could happen to you. If you do that, you'd never really get to enjoy life to the fullest."

Izuku… Didn't really know how to feel about that.

On one hand, he did get what she was saying. How you shouldn't fear the future and what it had to bring. On the other hand… That idea was so completely against how he'd lived his own life.

Izuku always worried about everything that could go wrong. He worried about the two leagues that were pitted against him and his school, he was worried about anyone learning about Venom's real nature, he was worried about ultimately failing in his dream of becoming a hero.

The simple truth was that Izuku feared the future.

It might not be the kind of crippling fear Mina described, but it was there.

He genuinely feared what could be in store for his future.

It was the reason he had always been terrified of opening up about his and Katsuki's earlier relationship. About telling anyone he had been, and still was, quirkless.

Because he feared the reaction.

Still, there was something… Beautiful about the way Mina did not fear what was ahead of her.

"My brother was like that. Mom spent just as much training him as she did me, and he's really damn strong, but… Well, he never really talked about it, but I'm pretty sure that when he tried Yuei's entrance exam, it really hit him you know? That Hero life isn't safe. There's tons of risks, and the simple fact is that if you aren't able to handle it, you're really not cut out for this kind of life."

Her voice as she talked changed to something rather melancholic as if she was remembering sad memories.

Izuku looked at her, really, really surprised. Then he nodded slowly.

He… Kinda doubted that it was intentional, but the way Mina just talked about her family problems to someone else, without a care in the world was… something else.

He thought about it and tried imagining himself in that position, talking with Mina about his family's relative poverty, or his not exactly existent relationship with his dad, or the way he worried about being a disappointing son to his mother.

A week ago, he could not have imagined opening up about any of that to anyone. Now… Well, now he felt… Different. At least in regards to Mina.

He felt… Safe when Mina was around. No, that… Wasn't quite the word. He felt… Happy around Mina, In a way, he just didn't with anyone else.

As he was trying to figure that out though, Mina continued.

"I don't think Ben would have been able to handle stuff like this. The leagues of All For One and the Caribbean I mean. Not like us."

Us. It was such a simple word, but he didn't miss the implications or the way Mina said it so casually.

She had full faith that he'd be able to handle it. It reminded him about how Uraraka had been so absolutely sure that he would beat Todoroki in the tournament.

And just like back then, he really wished he had her confidence in himself.

"Thank you..." He said without really thinking about it.

Mina cocked her head.

"For what?"

For a second Izuku just cursed himself for talking without thinking, but he answered truthfully enough.

"For having such faith in me."

For a second, Mina just looked confused. Then she nodded.

"Well, I wouldn't really call it faith. I know you can handle stuff like this. Like, you worry a lot about stuff, but when it's time to do something, you handle it like a real champ. It's one of the things I really like about you."

Izuku felt his cheeks go red, but his mouth became a smile, and his heart soared at the compliment.

"So, since we're talking about my family anyway... What's your thoughts on mom so far?"

"Well… She's a bit more hostile at me than I thought she would be. But that's ok. I mean… Our homeroom teacher is Aizawa."

"Huh. Yeah, that's actually a fair point."

"Yeah… Anyway, I had a talk with Venom about it Yesterday. I get why she's like that towards me now, and in any case, her training is really effective."

At that Mina stiffened, then got a humongous grin, that was a mixture between mischievous and ecstatic. Izuku didn't notice and just continued.

"All in all, I'm really happy with the internship so far. Your mom really knows her stuff, the way she dominated our fight with ease, and read every move I made before she ended it! Her technique was amazing, and the way she only moved exactly as much as she had to was… Stunning!"

"Man, you make it sound like you were even more starstruck by mom after she kicked your ass than you were at the sight of her when you introduced yourself to her."

Izuku immediately went red at the implication, though there wasn't anything resembling an accusation in Mina's tone. On the contrary, she sounded like she was having a lot of fun.

"I-I-It wasn't like that! When I saw her I just..."

He immediately slammed his mouth shut.

"Yeah? You what?"

"I… I thought that she looked like how you'd probably be in a few years…"

Silence. This statement finally brought something else than amusement from the pink girl. Namely a faint blush. She quickly recovered her sly smile, though her blush didn't quite go away.

"Well… You might get that wish. Mom was about my height when she was my age. Maybe I'll grow just as much as she did."

She scooted just a bit closer to Izuku, their hips bumping together just so slightly.

It was at that moment that Izuku realized that something about the atmosphere had changed. Though when that had been, and what this new atmosphere was, he didn't really know.

Izuku's brain suddenly went into overdrive, wanting a topic, any topic to talk about.

"Well, I hope so." He said incredibly awkwardly. Then, instinctually building on that thread, as it was the first thing that popped into his mind, he continued.

"I-I don't think I'll grow much more if at all. I haven't grown an inch from 160 cm in the last half-year."

The sentence structure might have been fine, but the inanely stilted way he said it, made it sound like the most awkward and unnatural thing he had ever said in his life.

Mina however didn't seem taken aback, nor did she laugh at the incredibly silly way he'd replied.

Instead, she grinned slyly. The grin of a cat that was just about to swallow the canary.

"Well… I don't think that would be so bad. After all…" She playfully poked him in his rather well-toned and muscular arm, his black suit treacherously giving way to let her touch his skin directly, as it went in circles in a slow, deliberate manner. "You're already pretty well built where it matters~"

She leaned her face forward near his, her slightly taller build being far more obvious at this distance.

Izuku suddenly felt like his entire head was a lobster cooking in a, particularly boiling pot.

"I certainly wouldn't mind if you stayed small, cute, and adorable forever~"

Mina was a very, very pretty girl.

That was something Izuku knew already of course, but for some reason, it was the only thing Izuku's brain could manage to think of at the moment, with her face so close that with one or two inches closer, they'd have felt each other's breath on their faces.

"Having fun are you?" An amused voice of an older woman asked from behind them.

Izuku instinctually jumped away from Black Cat(Who had sneaked up on both teenagers from behind, without either of them noticing.) And landed on his feet, facing her, his mask having snapped up and reformed over his head.

To his chagrin, Izuku realized he'd instinctually moved into hitman style, and he let it drop.

"No need Midoriya. Keep the stance, and get back to training." Black Cat said, still in the same amused tone.

He immediately did just that, walking over to where he'd been when she had left and starting flinging cannonballs like nothing had interrupted him.

On the outside, he looked the exact same.

Inside, his heart hammered with such speed that one would have thought it was desperately trying to escape his chest, while his brain was still trying to make sense of what had just had just happened.

I

Uraraka finally managed to figure out the point Gran Torino had tried to guide her towards, late the second day.

It had taken quite a bit of thinking on her part, but in the end, she'd figured out that spreading the energy of one for all out throughout her entire body, and then just letting the energy flow allowed her to adapt, and then just let the power remain, rather than having to constantly resummon it.

It was such a simple change that she honestly couldn't fathom why she hadn't thought of it before. Gran Torino was right. She really was too hung up on how she HAD been doing things, to consider how she COULD be doing things.

It was quite a bit different than her usual way of doing things, but she could definitely see the countless advantages to it.

Being able to consistently move at massive speeds for one.

Gran Torino had been pretty pleased with it, and after a training session(That had still ended with her flat on her back, and him standing over her though this time he'd taken two surprisingly big gashes across his cheek) he'd declared that they would spend all tomorrow mastering it, and they would be going on on patrol the day after that.

Until then, all she could do was hammer in this new "Lightning mode"(She'd considered several different names, but in the end, she'd decided to just go with the obvious, and named herself after the bolts of lightning that now danced across her body all the time as she kept the mode going) of hers.

The only thing that mattered to her at that moment, was to hammer out this new way of fighting and moving until she was able to keep it on 24/7 if need be.

Nothing else mattered, other than training her ass off as hard as she possibly could.