Manga had the most difficulty hiding his concern over All Might's impending retirement. His head didn't float up as much as it used to, and tear lines, on occasion, would form on his bubble. After one too many inquiries at home and school, he managed to write it off as just another case of artist's block, which brought the questions to a halt. Though I do wonder; how'd he get his parents to buy that excuse? Mine never did.

Tooru, by virtue of no facial expressions, did a much better job of acting like nothing earth-shattering had happened to her in the past few days. The worst that ever happened was that she wasn't at her usual volume, and even that dropped after a classmate pointed it out. In fact, said classmate accidentally handed her the excuse of having a bad night's sleep, even going as far as to suggest sleeping aids. A little weird in my opinion, but at least it was something nice to know.

As for me, I still had a copy of my notes from before I sent the envelope, which included my ideas on how to improve certain characters. As well as ways to trick them into going along with said improvements, but it wouldn't be necessary in this situation. Any extra ideas that popped into my head along the way were added to the notes, but they were few and far between.

Because after four days of coming to terms, grieving, angsting, whatever, Tooru and Manga showed up at my doorstep again, ready to go beyond.

"Look, before we do this, I have to be sure. Are you both cool?"

"Yeah/Uh-huh."

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes," was their unanimous(and ticked) reaction.

"Are you really, really-OW!" I clutched my forehead, reeling back from the invisible fingers that had flicked it.

"We. Are. Fine, Gen-chan." was Tooru's irritated answer. "Now give us something to do already!"

"Okay, okay!" I hurriedly pulled out a small notebook, quickly turning the pages. "Manga, you're first. Have you ever tried imitating the sounds of animals or vehicles?"

His head went from round to cloudlike, then back to round after a minute of deep thinking. "No, but now that you've brought it up," One inhale later-

"Kero!"

And the appropriate kanji spilled out, before the lines warped themselves just enough that it was actually shaped like a frog! Manga seemed delighted at first, and then he waved his hand, expecting to control it the same way I controlled my Monsters.

However, the 'frog' failed to react.

"Maybe say 'kero' a few more times?" I postulated, scratching my chin. But all that managed to do was spawn more warty little caricatures, each as unresponsive as the first.

"Can we move on to something else, please?" Tooru asked, edging away from a 'frog' that was half a foot away from her leg.

"Yeah, okay, moving on." I hopped onto the nearest bench. "I've two ideas on how to fix your dry throat weakness; one is to carry a supply of water on your costume, to keep your pipes nice and wet. The other involves getting used to your throat when it's dry, perhaps after running a few miles or so?"

"Ehh?!"

"Don't 'Ehh' me, Manga, your canon self stank at phys ed! You barely managed to make it to the second round of the Sports Fest, and Tooru managed to restrain you without breaking a sweat!"

Tooru was this close to defenestrating a 'frog' when she stilled at the sound of her name. "Really, now?"

"Really, now." I repeated to Tooru. Meanwhile, Manga's exclamation mark curled under the weight of his woes. "Sorry, Manga. You did say you wanted to go beyond canon, right?"

"I did, but-" Manga trailed off into incoherent mumbling as his head went cloudy again, before reverting back with a sigh. "Fine."

I gave my bubble-headed buddy a consolatory pat on the back before turning back to Tooru. "And now for you, Tooru. So, most of my ideas on how to improve you are mostly around Support Items, with one glaring exception. Do you remember when I taught you how to bend light around your own body so-?"

"Hard to forget something like that, Gen-chan." To illustrate her point, a glassy hand crystallized into existence, flashing the V-sign before fading.

"Right, my bad." I lightly palmed my forehead. "What I was getting at was that, maybe you could bend light around you so that your hands could act like binoculars." I held my own hands in front of my eye for reference. "You could pull off that flashy move in the story, so I think you could pull that off, at least."

Tooru's torso bobbed a little, so I assumed she was nodding yes.

"So, what was the part about Support Items?"

"Well, in the story, your hero costume was kind of… lacking. So I wanted to see if I could make something a bit more protective. You know, in case you can't avoid getting spotted."

"Wait, what do you mean by lacking?" Manga piped up. Tooru's reaction to her canon costume was… stiff and unreadable, so I erred on the side of caution.

"Spoilers, Manga." That was all I was willing to say on the subject. "Anyways, I have a few ideas, but most of them are going to require your hair. I have a few Monsters that can help with that, but, to clarify, this is only if you want to." I looked back to Tooru, who was still stiff and unreadable. "Uh, Tooru? Are you still with us?"

"I am, just, give me a second to think."

I'll admit, that softly-voiced statement threw me for a loop; why would she need time to think about it? But before I could ask, she had an answer.

"Alright. Just don't leave me with a bad haircut!" And she was back to her normal tone.

Any remarks I would've had about her invisible haircut were replaced with the confusion over why she sounded… Concerned? Disappointed? when I said I'd make her an invisible costume. I'd have to ask her later.

In the end, it took 2 Hair Inducers, 3 Penny Lane Barbers, and a box of sweet potato slices for me to get the hair I needed for my project. Or at least, one of my projects.

"So, what do you think?"

Manga gave my initial designs for the Shiroyasha a good once-over.

"I keep telling you, Takanashi, don't use so many sharp angles. We want this thing to look heroic and different from the Nomu."

This was how our weekend morning routine went ever since All Might received the envelope. Manga, who lived closer to my house compared to Tooru, was the first to arrive. Tooru was a late riser on top of that, which meant a full hour before she made it over. Lots of time for me and Manga to work on creating Monster designs for the end of the Golden Age.

"That's what Inflation is for, Manga. And doesn't white make it different enough?"

"Still needs less lines and edges." Manga finished up the profile and held it up. I pulled up my own design for reference. True to his word, Manga's Shiroyasha was a lot less angular and busy compared to mine, especially around the chest area. The gold claws were replaced with black gloves, with long gold bands on each finger. The forward-swept wings I had added were bigger and more segmented to add foldability. And finally, the lighting patterned V-fin had been replaced with some side antennae and a narrower V-fin that kind of resembled… wait.

"Manga, that V-fin resembles All Might's hair."

"So?"

"The Shiroyasha is supposed to read as 'Nomu-killing machine', not 'knockoff All-Might' or 'mecha Might.' "

"Mecha-Might doesn't sound that bad, actually."

"Please, Manga. At least shrink the V-fin down."

Manga replaced the V-fin with something that pointed upwards instead of diagonally. "Better?"

"Much better."

We spent the rest of the hour quibbling over the other five profiles of the Shiroyasha until my phone buzzed on the desk. I checked the caller ID, and sure enough-

"It's Tooru. She's outside waiting for us." I grabbed the papers and pressed them into a neat pile.

Manga groaned as I continued cleaning. "Takanashi, do we have to? It's already above 30℃!"

"I know, I know," I raised my hands in a placating manner. "But how are we supposed to make Tooru wake up earlier?"

"You still have those water guns?"

"No, you're not going to spray her." So many bad reasons, so little time to list them. "Just focus on running while I plan revenge for you, all right?"

"But-"

"No butts, Manga. Butts are for pooping, not running."

It was really a testament to Manga's prior lack of exercise that he was panting from a light, ten-mile jog. Tooru was doing much better in comparison, which I initially chalked up to her body's ability to let sunlight pass through her. Except that wasn't how it worked, apparently; Tooru really was that used to walking/running around town.

As for me, I was doing fine. The route I picked had plenty of places to climb or jump instead of run, which in my opinion, was a lot more fun. My wings were too small and too heavy for me to fly like a pigeon or crow, but that didn't mean they could give me a few extra feet of height.

Absolutely none of this was helping Manga's growing frustration with running, pushing him to cheat by following me across a rock laden pond. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite make a jump that I myself barely made via a glide halfway through, and as a result-

*SPLOOSH* "ARGH-BLRLBWLL-GAH!"

His running routine turned into a frantic swim for the shore, and once he made it, he flopped onto his back, too exhausted to even get up. Once we made his way over to him, anger veins began to sprout all over his bubble.

"Hate you." Manga snarled out. "Hate the both of you."

"Manga, you're the one who tried to jump the gap without wings," I pointed out weakly.

"Not that." Manga corrected me. "Hate you for making me run, and hate you," The anger veins doubled when he looked at Tooru. ", for being all suya-suya and making me run when it's all PIRI-PIRI!"

For those unsure what the heck Manga was spouting, swap 'suya-suya' with 'zzzz' and 'piri-piri' with 'sizzle'.

"...did the swim cool you off, at least?" Tooru asked.

"Tooru." I chided, lightly chopping her on the stomach for that remark. "Look, Manga, there's a nice, shady tree not too far away. If we carry you all the way over there, will you forgive us?"

The anger veins slowly faded as rage gave way to contemplation.

"As long as the next path you choose is hinyari(read:cooler), fine."

"Good man." I grabbed Manga by the shoulders while Tooru did the same with his feet. The willow we picked as our rest spot had enough foliage to keep us cool under the heat. Manga must've found it real comfortable, because he was asleep within minutes. He even had the requisite three Z's on his head and everything.

And with Manga's slumber came Tooru's questions.

"Say, Gen-chan, how's my costume working out?"

There was that quiet tone of voice again. What the heck was going on?

"Well, I think it works in terms of being comfortable and invisible, but uh, here's the thing." I scratched my cheek. "You still need to wash it like you would with hair, and I'm still trying to work out how to add protection, just in case you get spotted."

Tooru's posture straightened. "It was that easy to make?"

"Well, that's what happens when you have a B.S. Quirk like mine." I could vaguely hear my wings flutter for a brief moment. "Besides, it's still a prototype; no armor or extra pads of any sort."

"But still, I thought it would be really tricky and expensive to make, because," A slight pause hung in the air. "Because…"

"Because what?"

"Why else would I stick to boots and gloves?"

Wait a second. I never said her costume was boots and gloves, right?

"Gen-chan, when I took a peek at your- your doomsday notes," Well, that answered that question, "They said my costume," Tooru fidgeted a little. "Always consisted of just boots and gloves. Even when common sense said otherwise. Why?! Did the support companies have no idea how to make invisible clothes or something?"

I opened my mouth to respond, except, I didn't really have a good response.

"You don't know, huh?" I could see her deflate thanks to her running outfit. "Figures. Only focus an invisible girl gets is when she's a perv or-"

"Tooru." I placed a hand on her shoulder. "No brooding about what-ifs, okay? That's my job, remember?"

"Well, it's my job, too, now!" And she was back to sounding adorably airheaded. But before she could continue, Manga sneezed.

Fortunately for the both of us, we weren't at risk of contamination. But still...

"Gen-chan," Tooru asked slowly, "Did we just let Manga catch a summer cold?"

"Maybe." I searched my pockets for money. "We'd better cut training short and call a cab. As well as pray he doesn't sneeze on the ride home."

"You don't have any health mask Monsters?"

"Nope."

"Gahhh…"