Toshi had a hard time keeping Izuku at the apartment. No sooner had they finished breakfast, had Izuku wanted to take off. He had seemed very agitated, unable to sit still. Toshi tried to convince him that he needed to rest, seeing how last night's fight had taken its toll on him.

However, that didn't stop Izuku. To Toshi's annoyance, after having a check in with the rest of the pros, they had agreed with Izuku's plan to check out Haibori Woods as soon as possible, not wanting the opportunity to slip by them.

So here they were, driving once again. Luckily, the rain had finally abated, and the sky was ablaze with pink and red hues of the sun setting. The golden rays filtered through the treetops. During the drive, Toshi was mulling over what Izuku had told him of the night before. He had managed to unlock yet another quirk, helping it to overcome Nagant in the fight.

That made all but one quirk left to manifest. Toshi knew he should feel relieved that Izuku was almost there, but it scared him how quickly the abilities were coming. He had also seen how using multiple quirks was putting a strain on his body. Despite this, his pleas were falling on deaf ears as Izuku grumbled that he was fine.

He was not.

Something had changed during his brief time with Nagant, becoming more reserved with his demeanour. Toshi had tentatively tried to approach the subject during the drive, but Izuku replied back with one word answers, so eventually he was forced to drop the subject.

Gone was the crying fanboy he had once known, and in its place was a more detached version of himself.

An old and worn mansion came into view. Most of the windows appeared to be cracked, with ivy growing through them. Outside he could see a small crowd of people waiting. Endeavour, Jeanist and The Lurkers, with Hawks coordinating from afar. They had decided to keep their group small, making it more akin to a stealth mission. The less people knew, that meant the less the villains could anticipate them coming.

"Izuku wait!" The moment that Toshi pulled up, the teenage boy jumped and immediately began heading up the drive.

"Good luck everybody," Hawks called over the radio. Toshi got out and stood by his car. He knew that he was in no state to follow, so anxiously watched as the pros followed after Izuku.

"Be cautious," Jeanist warned, trying to put a hand out to stop him.

"Hang on Deku! Don't be reckless!" barked Endeavour, who began running after Izuku. However, Izuku wasn't going to be deterred, and was determined to be the first one in the building.

Toga was pissed. After meeting up with Spinner and Dabi, it had been revealed that their role was to plant a load of video cameras at the old hideout of the Creature Rejection Clan. She had been frustrated because she had so desperately wanted to see her dear Izuku in person. However, All For One had assured her it was not yet time to see him. Their reunion would come at a later point.

Despite how annoyed she was at All For One, she was not one to argue with their leader. After all, his predictions for his plans had come through with a frightening degree of accuracy. It wasn't that unexpected, considering just how long he had been planning this for.

Back at their hideout, Toga sat surrounded by several monitors. She spun lazily around on her chair, bored that nothing had happened yet. Dabi had disappeared off, claiming that he had more important work to do, and Spinner had taken the opportunity to have a doze in the corner. So it had fallen on her to do the menial job of watching the empty mansion.

Her patience was finally rewarded when the door of the mansion slid open, the evening light beaming inside. A familiarly shaped silhouette stood in the entrance assessing the room in front of them. Toga gave a squeal of glee, seeing her beloved Izuku step into the room.

All For One had had him running ragged over the past month, sending villain after villain in his direction. She noticed that he walked in with a very agitated stance, and the way his eyes were darting around the room revealed how paranoid he had become. Behind him, walked two of the pro heroes, preferring to stay in the doorway, cautiously evaluating the situation.

"It's showtime Izuku-kun!"

With that, she pressed the play button on the laptop in front of her, live streaming All For One into a holographic projector next to Izuku.

"Did you enjoy your Q & A session with Lady Nagant?" She laughed as she watched him jump into the air with fright, acting like a frightened little rabbit.

"Well Izuku Midoriya? Because if you're seeing this message that must've been what happened."

Toga watched with glee as Endeavour stormed into the room behind Izuku. The plan was going as AFO foretold. Not only had Izuku showed up, but he had brought the Number One hero with him too!

"You see, I love predicting and reading people. And a boy like you could never outright abandon someone like her, yes?"

Despite how jumpy Izuku had initially been, Toga could just about make out the rage in his eyes through his mask. This exhilarated her immensely, she had never seen him this angry before! His hands formed into two fists by his sides.

"I didn't force her, you know. She acted on her one free will. But those poor souls who stumble on the road of life are labelled villains. People go on and on about quirks, preaching the merits of individualism, but ours is a regimented society under tight control. One where the wrong sort of individuality gets you ostracised. Purged."

Each word on the recording dripped with malice. It sent shivers down her spine. AFO was such an intense presence, and she felt elated that she got to work under such an inspiring figure.

"Democracy? Socialism? Doesn't matter. There are no exceptions, because the root of all this predates the concept of human society altogether. It's the principle that governs all social organisms."

She could see that Izuku was hanging onto every word in the recording. It was a shame that he was wearing a mask over his beautiful face, she wanted to see what kind of expression he was wearing. It made her feel hot on the inside, wishing that she could be there in person next to him. Toga wanted to be close enough that she feel his breath on her face.

"The path you've chosen is a thorny one. Every battle grinds away at your soul with no end in sight. Can you guess who was on my mind the entire time I was in jail? YOU."

All For One paused in his recording, letting the last word hang in the air. Toga could see Izuku and Endeavour slowly digesting his speech. She felt her excitement building up inside her, it wasn't long now they reached the finale of his speech.

"All Might no longer interests me. I've moved on from that great useless oaf."

"Now it's YOUR TURN!"

With that, Toga only got a glimpse of the shock in the eyes of Izuku, before the cameras turned to static. The bomb had gone off without a hitch. The operation had been a success!

Only the first two seconds or so of the bomb could be heard through the speakers, before the blaring static noise swiftly filled the room with a loud buzzing. Spinner woke up abruptly from his doze.

"Huh, what happened?"

"The plan was a success. Oh Spinner, you should have seen the look in Izuku-kun's eyes!"

With that, Toga quickly began to excitedly recount what had transpired to a very disgruntled Spinner.

It was very rare that the whole school got together. The hall had been packed with plastic fold out seats, all lined in rows. Class 2-A were the last to arrive, and so they filtered into the two remaining rows near the rear of the room. It was unusual that they would be slow to arrive, considering they had Tenya as their class president, but he had spent an anxious 20 minutes pacing around the common room trying to deduct what was going to be said at the assembly, before Tsuyu pointed out that they were going to be late. So in his usual Tenya fashion, he had frog marched the class out promptly to the hall.

There was an air of unease as they took their seats, Shota felt like he could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Whilst they waited for the president to take the stage, he took the opportunity to have a look around. Near the front of the stage sat the cohort of first year students. It had come as a surprise when they had announced that the entrance exams were still going ahead, amidst the villain attacks. There had been heavy cautions and restrictions that had been put into place.

Shota found it reassuring that there were students who were still brave enough to apply, considering how much scrutiny the pros had been put under. There had been countless news reports, articles and websites online that had attacked the heroes, complaining that they were a waste of human resources, with the government money being better spent on giving protection equipment and aid to the civilians. Shoto knew there was truth behind what they were saying, but it still hurt to read how negatively the people thought of them. There had been many protests in the streets, saying that the hero academies had to be shut down. Thankfully that wasn't the case, instead they had been turned into evacuation zones, whilst still offering lessons to their students.

Around the edge of the hall, the various teachers were leaning against the walls, keeping a keen eye on their students. Shoto noted the absence left behind by Midnight and All Might. In their place were several new teachers; Air Jet, Sensoji, and two more heroes that he hadn't seen before. If Midoriya was here, he would be gushing over the school's new additions. It made Shoto sad to think that his ex-classmate was not here to babble on about what cool quirks that they might have.

"Good morning students!" Onto the stage, walked the principle. Despite being a man of short stature, he commanded a great presence.

"I trust that you've all settled well. As you know, Japan has known many years of peace. However ever since the retirement of All Might, there has been an uprise in villain activity. Of course the heroes across the country are doing their utmost to keep the peace.

As you know just over a month ago, the Hero Commission put together the largest raid in recent history. They had been given a tip that the League Of Villains had formed an alliance with the Meta Liberation Army, creating the biggest villain organisation in Japan's history. The plan had been to counteract before they ever got the chance to strike."

Shoto personally thought that principle was downplaying it. It hadn't been just a raid. It had been an all out war. Apart from the new first year students, everybody in the school had been involved one way or another. All the hero course students had worked alongside the pros on the ground. The support course had provided new and improved gear, whilst the management course provided support from afar.

"Most of you participated in this raid, which was a first in UA history. Everybody went above and beyond, echoing UA's Plus Ultra motto and I couldn't be prouder of you all. I think all of the teachers here would agree with me."

"But it's important to recognise that we also suffered many losses. A lot of heroes had been severely injured or killed. And now with the public backlash, even more are stepping down. This is why we look to you, future heroes of Japan, to step up and protect in their place."

Shoto could see the first years near the front of the row, sitting there uncomfortably, several of them fidgeting awkwardly. For many of them, they all had long standing dreams of becoming a pro hero. After all, it was evident with the rising number of applications to each hero school each year. However, society had never seen such a huge loss of life from one incident, and it had shone a light on how fragile the hero system was. Many of them had only been in it for fame and fortune, thinking that a peaceful society had been all but assured. But with so many pros being killed, it was hard to see the appeal in becoming a hero.

Nezu continued to talk for a while. In the past, his start of term speeches had normally been pretty light hearted. However this year, there was a grimace in his tone. A huge chunk of his talk ended up being devoted to a eulogy of Midnight. There were many teary eyes from both students and teachers alike. She had been a hugely popular hero, with her loss rippling through the community.

Nezu then moved on to talk about the other heroes that had given their lives that day, but Shoto felt his concentration slipping. He couldn't help but wander his thoughts back to Dabi, and his bombshell of a revelation that he was Endeavour's son, and his long lost brother.

It had taken him a long time to come to terms with the idea that Dabi was related to him. During his stay at the hospital, Shoto had mulled over the fact that Toya was also alive and filled with murderous contempt for both him and his father. He didn't blame him, knowing full well how awfully his father had mistreated him. Mistreated both of them. However, after the talk with the four of his family at the hospital, Shoto had seen that Endeavour had been truly remorseful of his actions, and wanted nothing more than to atone.

It had scared him that if Midoriya hadn't snapped Shoto out of his loathing towards his father, he might have ended up the same way as Dabi. That in itself had plagued Shoto with guilt, he felt like he hadn't properly gotten to thank Midoriya for that. And now he was gone.

Thinking back to his conversation with Endeavour at the hospital, he pulled out his phone discreetly to check his messages.

Nothing.

It frustrated him to no end, after ignoring all of his father's messages over the past year, now that Shoto decided to reach out, Endeavour was the one to ignore him. So much for solving issues together as a family.

Aizawa had not been kidding when he said that their second year would be getting exponentially harder. He had been working them to the grindstone, in both lessons and in training. When they weren't at school, the class were expected to volunteer at the evacuation centers on the campus. Between all the work, volunteering and lessons, the students felt like they hadn't been given a chance to think.

Kirishma felt like he had blinked and it was Friday afternoon, their first week passing in a snap. Present Mic had been his usual zealous self, and had delivered their English lessons that morning with his normal amount of gusto. Kirishma always struggled with the more academic side, much preferring to use his brawn over his brains. So he was intrigued when Air Jet walked into the classroom with Aizawa. It had been the first time Air Jet had been introduced to the class, so he was intrigued to know what sort of things they would be doing.

"Hello everyone," he began, eyeing up the students in the room, "I will be teaching you all about the subject of police investigations and reconnaissance."

Normally, the first half the year would be devoted to studying the core theory of reconnaissance and co-operating the police force with investigations, with the second half applying their theories to practice. However, to keep up with the demand of pros, we will be accelerating this module, and be changing up how we will be teaching it."

Kirishma internally groaned. It was a class on how to operate covertly. In his mind, heroes were these flashy celebrities that were there to put a smile on the citizen's faces. After all, it was part of the reason why he wanted to become a hero himself. He liked to face the villains head on, it was his approach to many things in his life.

"Many agencies work alongside the police force. This is how we share information, and make sure that we work within the confines of the law. Being a hero isn't only about fighting villains, it's about protecting the public safety."

Air Jet continued to talk at length about the importance to the police, and their role within their superhero society. However Kirishma struggled to listen. It felt surreal that he was sitting here doing lessons whilst the world outside of UA was falling to shambles. Nezu had assured them that their security system was what was keeping the villains at bay, but it didn't help the feeling of unease that was running through the school. He looked around the classroom, and saw that many of his classmates were just as distracted as he was.

Kirishma knew that the mandatory lessons was Nezu's way of showing kindness, to stop them from having any ideas of leaving. But deep down, Kirishma felt plagued with guilt. Izuku was out there risking life and limb fighting the villains and he was stuck at school taking notes. Sitting around made him feel antsy and so useless.

He was reminded of the time when Bakugo had been kidnapped by the League of Villains. Kirishma had been the first one to jump into action, unable to sit still in the hospital. The class had been very torn about what to do, with Tenya and Tsuyu being the most vocal about leaving it to the pros. But that didn't sit right with Kirishma, and he was extremely grateful that Shoto had been so open in supporting his plan. He'd even come up with the ingenious idea that they didn't need to fight the villains head on, they just needed to rescue Bakugo covertly.

And it had worked! After assessing the situation, Izuku had come up with an amazing and batshit insane plan of flying over the battlefield to rescue Bakugo, with Kirishma being the one to call out to him. Despite their success however, Aizawa had chastised the five of them for acting like heroes even though they didn't have their licences. Even more so, despite the fact they had turned the tide of battle with their rescue, the atmosphere had been pretty gloomy when they moved into UA, with Tsuyu's sorrowful outburst putting what had happened into perspective for the rest of the class. Kirishma didn't realise how shocked they would be, to go directly against their teachers orders.

But this time it was different. They had their provisional hero licences now. Not to mention society had been completely turned on its head. Every day Kirishma scrolled through the news only to read horror story after horror story. After the prison breakouts, there had been mass coverage of the riots caused by the villains, as well as protests being formed by various groups of civilians. The pro heroes were out there doing all that they could to suppress violence where possible, but it still hurt to see the destruction that was happening outside of the school.

"So we will be splitting you into groups and you will be performing your first patrols this evening."

Air Jets words interrupted Kirishma's train of thought.

"You will be working alongside a supervising member of the police force, where you will report your findings to them."

Finally! They were going to be doing something! Maybe this would be their chance to find their missing friend.

Sorry for leaving it three weeks between updating from chapter 2 to 3. Life somehow happened and I didn't realise how quickly time had flown by. Also did you guys read chapter 319 and 320? So much good wholesome angst! I am excited to see what happens next! Of course however, now that we know what Class 1-A have been up to whilst Deku's been on his solo adventure, it means that my version of events is going to differ, and we've headed into AU territory! Some bits of my story will still follow the manga, but for now I'll see you next time folks.