As Mina walked through the cafeteria, she looked around trying to find the guy she wanted to have a chat with.

If she just wanted to eat alongside someone, there were a lot of options, Mina having quickly established herself as one of the people in class almost everyone was friends with. However, she was looking for someone in particular at the moment.

As such, she decided to head over to the table where Tenya sat together with Uraraka and Tsuyu.

The brown-haired marvel and the frog girl hadn't been an especially close pair at the start of the year, but like a lot of new friend pairs of the class, they had bonded during the invasion.

There were a lot of those new friend pairs. Momo hadn't exactly been unapproachable, but she hadn't been all that close with anyone either. That had changed now, as she sat together with Jirou, who she had been teleported away together with during the invasion.

Similarly, Jirou had become friends with Kaminari(Who had also been teleported away together with them), though he was currently together with another one of his friends, Kirishima who was a former classmate of Mina from before Yuei.

He in turn had apparently introduced him to Bakugou, the most antisocial guy in class, who he had been paired with during the invasion.

It was kinda fascinating how friendships formed, not only through the battles themselves but also who the people involved knew from before.

Bakugou who never would have cared at all for Kaminari apparently tolerated him because of Kirishima.

Hell, her own friendship with Uraraka(And to a somewhat lesser extent Iida), had become a much stronger part of her regular circle due to their shared friendship with Midori, who had become really close with since the invasion.

As she sat down on Iida's side, the big dork greeted her in his own, usual manner with his regular, overdramatic arm motions along with his regular way of speaking.

"Greetings Ashido-San! Do you wish to eat with us?"

She chuckled.

"Greetings to you to man."

She nodded to Uraraka and Tsuyu and greeted them in a similar greeting.

Though they did reply, both their replies were pretty… Listless.

A lot of the class was very clearly not getting all their necessary beauty sleep due to personal training lately, but nowhere else was that lack anywhere near as bad as it was with these two, Uraraka in particular.

The normally cheerful and happy girl sat and ate her food just going through the motions, while her eyes fought a constant struggle not to shutter close and have her face plant into the food.

"Rough night?" She said, more a statement with a sympathetic tone than a question.

"Yes, it's been quite awful." Tsuyu said in her usual blunt, no sugarcoating manner.

Uraraka just groaned in agreement.

Both of them seemed completely down and out of it at the moment.

Luckily, she had something that should help with that.

Mina fished out a black thermos from her bag, along with a couple of extra cups she usually carried around just in case.

After filling the two up with… Well not steaming hot coffee, though not cold sludge either.

"Here you go! Have some coffee!"

Both of the two girls just stared at it, but both eventually did pick up their cups and drink. In Urarakas case, she downed the whole thing in one go.

The effect was pretty drastic, as, after about 20 seconds, both of them seemed 5 times more awake than they had just. Uraraka blinking fervently and staring down at the beverage in something akin to awe.

"Is this actually coffee?"

Tsuyu cocked her head.

"Yes, It seems much too strong to be regular coffee."

Mina chuckled, a big grin adorning her lips.

"Yeah, it's coffee. More specifically, it's Solomons Black Brew, some stuff my mom imports from Africa. She's really fond of the stuff. It's got a bit more kick than regular coffee."

"No kidding."

Uraraka seemed like she had just become alive, the way she looked like she had just truly realized there was food on her plate.

"Thanks, Mina you're a lifesaver!"

She then began to devour her meal with far more enthusiasm than before.

"No problem. I'm happy to help." Then she turned serious. "That said I'm actually looking for Midori. Do you guys know where he is?"

Uraraka, who was in the process of devouring a pike, looked up with surprise, her mouth full of food, but it was Tenya who answered.

"Midoriya? No, we haven't seen him since class ended."

Of course, they hadn't.

"Do you think… There's something wrong?" Uraraka asked hesitantly.

"I mean… He's completely stopped eating with us."

Mina blinked.

"Completely? Like, he doesn't eat with you at all anymore?"

"Not since the sports festival announcement…"

It was worse than she thought. She'd noticed Izuku was really out of it lately, and she'd thought it strange she hadn't seen him at lunch, so she'd decided she would seek him out. But to miss lunch entirely? What was he doing?

"You wish to talk to Midoriya?" A voice from behind her asked in a voice that was quite a bit deeper than it naturally sounded.

Both Mina and Tenya turned to look who spoke and found Tokoyami, who hadn't actually turned to face them.

"He was heading up towards the roof the last time I saw him. You may, or may not find him there."

Great!

"Awesome! Thanks for the help Tokoyami!"

As she got up from the table, she turned to look at Uraraka.

"By the way, you still sure you don't wanna train with me Uraraka? Maybe I could help you out with your training?"

She wasn't entirely sure what she could do to help Uraraka with her crippling lack of rest and her anxieties, but she was sure she could figure something out.

Uraraka smiled a smile so forced it was almost painful.

"Thanks for the offer Mina, but… I'm fine. Really."

I

As the rest of the class headed out to eat, Izuku had headed up to the roof, which was his usual place to enjoy his sinful sugary delights alongside his food.

Even so, he felt like not even chocolate could wake his spirits at the moment.

He felt drained like he was a towel that had been put through the washer 4 too many times, as all-nighters with Venom became a thing again.

The fact that he completely forgot to check whether someone was around before he sat down to eat was a pretty good showcase of just how tired he actually was.

"Heya Midori!"

Izuku completely missed the pink girl until she suddenly plopped down right beside him, completely taking him by surprise, and almost making him fumble his box of chocolates to the ground.

As he put it down in his bag again(A blush creeping to his cheeks) he turned to face her.

"H-hey Mina."

A short awkward pause followed his reply as Izuku just stared at her, desperately waiting to see if she would continue with a question, but instead, Mina just sat staring at him in silence with a smile on her face.

Finally, Izuku gathered the courage to speak.

"D-did… Did you want something, Mina…?"

"Well duh, I wouldn't have come here if I didn't. I wanted to check up on you. You haven't been eating with any of us lately, and frankly, you look like a mess, man."

He winced at her bluntness. Still, there was nothing but warmth in her tone. Her expression was equally warm as she looked at him. Then her eyes went down to the chocolate bag.

"... Have you seriously been running off from eating with everyone else just so you can eat chocolate alone?"

The redness instantly conquered his cheeks.

"NOO! I just-I… Kinda…"

Why did hanging out with one of his friends so often end with him wanting to die from embarrassment?

Mina chuckled with a grin but patted his back kindly.

"It's okay dude, I won't judge."

Another awkward silence followed before Izuku took a deep breath to calm down.

"It's… Not the only reason…"

Izuku was still blushing furiously, the box clutched tightly to his chest, but he had stopped shaking as he continued.

"I... Well… Lately, I've been doing some training for the sports festival, and…"

"Ohhh! What kind of training?" She interrupted him.

She beamed at him.

"Any secret, ultimate moves?"

"Um… Yeah actually, I have one technique-" "Really? That's Awesome! You gonna be using that as your big move from now on?"

Izuku bit his lip.

"It's… Not exactly the kind of move I can use against people…"

"Ahhh." Something seemed to click in Mina's mind.

"Like my Xeno-acid!"

"You-Your what?"

"My strongest acid. Remember I tried using it on Rhino? The green ball that just disintegrated the stone beneath his foot? That's it."

"And you named it… Xeno-Acid?"

"Yeah, you know, after the acid blood of the xenomorphs from Alien and… You've never watched Alien have you?"

Izuku winced, but she had clearly gleamed the truth from his confused face, so there wasn't really much point denying it.

"Not… Really."

"Wow. You've really been missing out! Well, we'll have to rectify that! Once the festival's over, you and me are gonna have a movie night with the alien series! The good ones anyway!"

Izuku was about to try making some protest, but it was quickly shut down as Mina's look got kinda serious.

"So, is that why you're depressed? Your ultimate move turning out to be way too awesome to use?"

"A… Bit I guess. There's… There's some other stuff too…"

Mina, as she was want to do, instantly changed her look from serious, to that of a concerned friend. She was way more expressive than Izuku was.

She didn't say anything though, letting Izuku take his time.

"Well… Once I realized the whole ultimate move thing wasn't gonna work out for the tournament… Well, I tried some other stuff… Stuff related to my black Webs."

Mina nodded.

"And that's going badly?"

Izuku winced once more. Then, with just one single bit of hesitation, he nodded.

"Yeah… Like, I can do basic web and lines just fine, but when I try anything advanced stuff without Venom holding my hand… Well… The aim is the least of my problems."

"I see…" Mina had put her hand up beneath her chin in a classic stereotypical thinking pose.

"Well, I'm not sure how I can help you with that, but if you want, we could train together? I offered to spar some with Uraraka yesterday, to help her out with her issues."

"You… You've been helping out Uraraka-San too with this?"

"Of course! She's my friend, and it's been clear she's been really stressed lately. Like, even worse than you are."

Then her expression shifted once more, this time to an angry, yet adorable pout.

"I tried talking with Bakugou too, but he just told me to fuck off! The jerk!"

Izuku was for one moment pulled between a burst of anger at Katsuki, and a strange urge to just smile at Mina's expression.

Instead, he considered her offer.

"Thanks for the offer Mina, but… I think I'd prefer training alone for the tournament." For one thing, he wouldn't look like a complete moron trying to launch small cannonballs from his fists.

It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Mina's offer. He did, but… Right now he just did not want to train with anyone. He liked being alone, with Just him and Venom to witness his failures.

Mina looked him over in silence for a moment.

"It's scary right?"

"What?"

"Having to perform in front of thousands of people, for all the world to see. That's what's bothering you isn't it?"

Izuku just stared at her, then almost resigned, he slumped his shoulders.

"... Kinda.".

She nodded in an understanding manner.

"Yeah, I kinda thought it might be something like that. I mean… You're not exactly the most self-assured guy I know."

Putting it mildly.

"I know several of the rest of the class are pretty scared about it too. It's kinda silly, to be scared of performing in front of others when you've proven you're able to do or die, but I guess it's just the way it is."

Izuku was well aware of just how silly it might be.

It didn't change how he felt about it.

"Are… Are you afraid?"

"Nope."

The certainty in her voice was surprising, though Izuku wasn't all that surprised. Mina didn't really seem like the kind of person who crumbled under pressure.

"I mean, I guess I'm a bit afraid of screwing up and looking like an idiot on national TV, but I'm not worried about the festival in itself. It's just a sports tournament. We're not gonna die if we don't do well in it."

That… Was kinda a different way of looking at it.

"... So you're not worried about losing?"

"Of course I am! I'm planning to win the tournament after all. Like, why would you bother participating if you weren't gonna give it your all?"

"But If I lose… Well… It's not the end of the world. It's just a competition after all. I mean, mom never won any contests, and she did great for herself."

Izuku had gotten the impression from Uraraka that All Might's daughter was kind struggling to live up to the great image of All Might. That she was kinda being crushed under the expectations of her inherited legacy.

He had, somewhat erroneously it seemed, thought Mina might be feeling similar pressure. If so, she didn't show any of it.

Black Cat's legacy seemed to be a great strength for Mina to draw upon. It made perfect sense of course. It was just a concept so removed from Izuku's world. Izuku had gotten many good things from his parents, but a legacy to take great pride in as a source of strength for his hero career wasn't one of them.

His mom had until recently been a failed lawyer, and his dad a common salaryman. It was quite a humble origins.

Not quite like Black Cat.

She'd been a great hero before she even came to Japan.

"So, what about you Midori?" Mina looked at him with those Black and golden eyes, filled with concern.

"You worried about the contest itself?"

"...Yeah."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really…"

Mina continued looking at him like she was internally debating whether to push further or not. In the end, she sighed, then stood up while stretching her arms over her head.

"Well, I can't force you, but if you wanna talk about it, I'm here. Also-" She nodded at the box. "Not gonna tattle on you about your secret forbidden delights or anything, but if you plan on eating alone from now on, you should tell Tenya and Uraraka about it. They've been really worried about where you've been running off to."

Then she gave a cheery wave as she walked off towards the exit.

"See Ya later Midori!"

"... Later."

As she left, Izuku just looked after her, thinking about what they had just talked about.

It wasn't anything Venom hadn't talked with him about before, but somehow it was different to chat about it with someone who wasn't trying to push him about it.

Still, what was there to say? That he was terrified of losing because he felt like it would prove he hadn't changed at all from who he used to be? That'd require him to explain that he had been a complete failure not too long ago.

He didn't want to talk about that. He didn't want to talk about those days. As far as he was concerned, he wanted to pretend who he was had begun on that day on the junk-filled beach so long ago now that it felt like another lifetime ago.

Mina, Uraraka, Tenya, his entire class. None of them knew who he had been. The only one who did was Bakugou, and he couldn't do anything about him. But the rest…

The rest of them didn't need to know about Izuku the useless, Quirkless weakling. The only Izuku they needed to know was the one he was now. The shy guy who was occasionally an idiot, but had the strength to actually do something in the world.

Although… He really should have told Tenya and Uraraka about these running offs of his. Mina was right. They were probably worried about him.

Frankly, he had to find some other time to eat this part of his daily meals… For as long as it went. He had kinda been pushing his cash reserves to the limit of chocolates. They'd run dry soon.

God, spending all his pocket change on chocolate…

Venom finally decided to appear on his shoulder.

"The Alien mythos eh? That's gonna be fun."

Izuku, who hadn't really been thinking about Mina's promise about movies, and who knew absolutely nothing about the ancient film franchise other than a vague idea of them being about some black alien creature, was surprised with the really approving way he said that.

"So they're… Good movies then?"

"Exceedingly so. Great atmosphere, thrills, and especially good, realistic architecture. But the real fun will be watching you react to them. Yes, that will be hilarious."

Izuku just stared at him for a second, before it clicked. Then dread clenched in his gut.

"...They're horror movies aren't they?".

I

After his talk with Mina, and deciding to go apologies to Uraraka and Tenya for ditching them during Lunch(Along with promising he'd eat lunch with them regularly from now on) Izuku had thought that would have been the end of the day's surprises.

The sight outside their classroom as classes ended that day(10 Minutes later than usual due to some extra lectures from Aizawa.) dispelled that notion.

The corridor was packed, absolutely packed with students from other classes. Not just 1-B, which was the only other heroics class, but also from the general and the tech classes too.

The students who had come all had different looks. Some looked curious, some annoyed, some eager, and others just looked downright hostile.

There were murmurings on both sides, both from Izuku's classmates and from the students who had come to gawk.

But it was the dwarf Mineta who finally asked the big question.

"Why are these guys here crowding the exit? Who are they?"

The one who answered, surprisingly enough, was Katsuki Bakugou, with a voice that was much more calm and subdued, if no less hostile, than usual.

"They're scoping out the competition you retard. They wanna see the gang who made it through the villain ambush, so they've come to check us out before the big battle, asshole."

He walked up to right before the gathered students, before continuing.

"It's pointless to try though, so why don't you just fuck off you goddamn extras."

Izuku wasn't surprised by Katsuki's words of choice. What he was surprised by was just how burning the anger that welled up inside of him was at those words. It burned like searing coals to see him treat others like how he had once treated him. And he was about to voice his opinion on that when Iida did it for him.

"Don't go calling people you don't know extras!"

Yeah, that was how he had always been. He didn't believe that other people had feelings, lives, or anything else that mattered in the world. Sociopathic git.

"I came to see what you kids are made of, but I didn't think you'd be this arrogant. Are all the kids enrolled in the departments of heroics this way?"

The voice was a new one, a more weary one than anyone from their class.

The crowd in front of Katsuki parted to let said speaker step forward.

The speaker in question was a boy who kinda looked like a mixture between Aizawa and Izuku, with a massive, poofy unruly Mane of hair not too unlike Izuku's(Though his was purple) while his face had the same kind of completely drained bags under his eyes like Aizawa always had.

His expression was a neutral one, but… Izuku could feel… Bitterness emanating from him. Immense bitterness. Izuku also couldn't help but notice that the kids around the newcomer all seemed afraid of him, backing away to give him space.

"Gotta say, I'm a bit disillusioned. That's it huh?"

The boy let the silence hang for a moment, just broken by Katsuki's growls before he continued.

"There's lots of kids who end up in the general education departments or tech because they failed the exam for Heroics. Did you know that?"

"No." Venom suddenly popped out from Izuku's shoulder. "But so what?"

The purple-haired boy took a moment to take in the look of the alien, seemingly nonplussed by his sudden appearance before he continued.

"Based on the result of the sports festival, it's possible for students to be reviewed for a possible transfer to heroics. The reverse is also a possible outcome."

Venom snorted.

"As if. Aizawa isn't the kind who would be satisfied with just a transfer for underperforming students. If any of us underperforms in the festival, he'd just expel us."

A short pause followed that.

The purple kid scratched his neck, then continued.

"Well, I'm just here scoping out the competition. If nothing else, a general kid like me is thinking… Why don't I try pulling the rugs out from under the heroics kids, when they're on their high horses? You guys can consider this a declaration of war."

"Yeah, well that is all well and good, and fascinating and all…" Venom said in a very dry tone. "But it would have been a lot more effective if you hadn't just admitted beforehand that you weren't strong enough to make it into the department that actually matters."

It was amazing how Venom had a tendency to make himself, and by extension Izuku, into the target of attention of everyone around them. In this case, every single one of the students looked at the two of them with angry, narrowed eyes.

Of course.

Izuku swallowed, not really sure what to say.

He was spared that by another voice suddenly joining the discussion.

Namely, a guy Izuku had seen a lot before, but never really talked with before, that was literarily made of a Grey metal.

"HEY, YOU! I'M FROM CLASS 1-B!"

At the very least, his loud outburst, and upraised hand, made people stop glowering at Izuku, and turn towards him instead.

"I HEARD YOU GUYS KNOCKED AROUND A BUNCH OF VILLAINS, SO I CAME TO HEAR IT DIRECT! BUT I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT FROM SOME SNOT NOSED PUNK OR A PIECE OF GOO!"

Venom responded to that by baring his teeth at him for that comment.

"BUT WHATEVER, JUST DONT GO EMBARRASSING US DURING THE MAIN EVENT YOU HEAR?"

Then, as suddenly as he had entered the conversation he just left.

An awkward silence arose, before Bakugou decided to just begin to leave through the crowd, but was interrupted by Kirishima.

"WHY did you do that? Now we're gonna have haters all up in our grill throughout the entire festival!"

"It doesn't matter." Bakugou simply said in response.

"WHAT?"

"None of that matters once you're at the top." Then he left.

Izuku just stared after him. Around him, his classmates began debating the words Katsuki had just said. Some, like Kirishima, was impressed, while others like Kaminari was quite less so.

Him, he had finally understood.

None of that matters once you're at the top.

It was amazing how in one single sentence, Bakugou had finally made Izuku fully understand him and the way he thought.

Katsuki justified every single misdeed he had ever done, as unimportant, so long as he reached the top. Because what did hurting other people matter, compared to the idea of Bakugou standing at the top?

He glanced over at Uraraka, who stood at his side looking worriedly after Bakugou.

It was amazing. How these two had basically the same goal, but in every single way they were such opposites.

The goal of becoming number one didn't matter Izuku realized. Only the motivation for becoming so.