"Sensei, I don't know if I'd be able to work well with any of the others!" Mineta insisted. "The girls, they're getting to see a different point of view with who they train with – even the one from 1-B is apparently planning on going after Mt. Lady to teach her a lesson!" And props to her, he might want some ass, but what Mt. Lady had been planning to do was too far even for his low standards. "Isn't there someone you could recommend me to?"

For a tense moment, Mineta was worried it hadn't worked. That his want to go with a heroine over a hero was too obvious. So, he sighed in relief at Aizawa-sensei's next words.

"I'll see what I can do." Was better than nothing after all!~

Actually, nothing would have been preferable to this. He woke up cold, wet, and scrambling to the surface of the water he had just been thrown into, emerging with a gasp of air. And a shocked look up at his instructor. The number three hero-who-looks-like-a-villain, the whale in a suit, Gang Orca, standing perfectly composed at the side of the pool which made up a part of his agency.

"What the hell was that for?" Mineta called out… before shrinking back as Gang Orca glared at him.

"Let me make one thing clear to you, Minoru Mineta." Gang Orca rumbled out as he approached the end of the pool Mineta had retreated too. "I do not usually take on students as interns, even for a week. I rarely take them on when I get asked on my weekend to deal with a student who is failing as a hero because of his personality. In fact, if it had been any student in your class, I thought I was going to have to deal with, it was Bakugou Katsuki."

Mineta scrambled out of the pool… only to see Gang Orca looming over him. "Most heroes would want to teach you the basics of patrolling. Of dealing with villains. Of the mundane. But in your case, you need something else – a wakeup call. You were so overtaken by your lust that you tried to insist to be given special permission – yes, Eraserhead saw through it." He interrupted as Mineta raised his hand. "Of all students I've met in my time, you're the one who seems to lack the most spiritually and physically, and in need of some… disciplinary action."

Those last two words would become ones that Mineta detested by the end of this.

It felt weird to be out on patrol. Not with Sir – I got the impression that he didn't go out on patrol unless it was vital, to lessen the chance that someone finds out about Foresight – but instead with Bubble Girl, the blue-skinned blunette who… I don't know much about actually. That's kinda nice, no real stress about talking with her.

Of course, I'm not transformed right now. Transforming like that, while not much of a strain, is still an effort to keep together. But I don't have the Night Rogue suit anymore because of the USJ. So, thanks to the Hatsume family as a whole, a new suit had been designed. It was a more skin-tight bodysuit of what I was told was a material tougher than standard spandex, originally done in black, but had been changed to make it look like the backdrop of space, complete with glittering stars and what I assumed was a nebula on my left shoulder. Apparently, Mei had heard about me calling myself Andromeda and sent a message home to get the changes done in time. The material, whatever it was, was stretchy and tear-resistant but had armoured padding underneath of what I believe was Kevlar.

In addition, were some white gloves and boots made of tougher material, and a steel toe for the boots. The suit had also been changed away from the bat aesthetic beforehand, with what I suspected was designed to look a bit like a jetpack on my back, a pair of shoulder pads with thrusters on them, but also a nozzle just behind each glove and on the bottom of the boots. To complete things was a silver belt around the waist area with the Fullbottle Holster on my left side, and the Steam Breaker (Because I'm not calling it Sweet Baby 22) on the other – as well as pockets behind them for storing things. To finish it up, I had a full head black helmet, essentially the entirety of it was a visor, but it also meant I was protected from sneak attacks.

"If you're going to be a full-time hero, you can't just rely on the one aspect of your Quirk Andros." Yubi had said. "You need to consider what you'll need otherwise – especially as you're getting a better handle of how to control Smash."

"And we've designed it for maximum mobility, as well as a bit of offence for you," Te added. "We were going to go with one of the symbols from the show but when Mei told us…"

"That suit, is it new?" Bubble Girl asked, breaking me out of my remembrance. "It's just you seem to be stretching a bit like you're adjusting it. Little things like that."

I blinked at that. "Ok, wow, yeah but I didn't realize it was that obvious," I admitted.

"It isn't." Bubble Girl commented as we continued to walk. "But you're going to learn this week that Sir Nighteye takes all parts of hero work seriously. We aren't just about smashing things or rescuing people, we need to be able to do detective work, to read people."

I tilted my head – body language from wearing my usual suit too long I suppose. "That makes sense. A lot of heroes rely a lot on their Quirk… but with one like Sir's, he'd need to figure out how to combine it or just use it to inform how he fights." I noted.

Bubble Girl shook her head. "Not just his. I'm not so sure about Centipeder, but Lemillion and I both have Quirks that either are good for defence or good for debilitating people, not just brute-forcing it." She commented. "By combining it with enough prediction training and a bit of martial arts to restrain them, we've been able to take down villains that would've otherwise been out of our league. Being able to read someone and tell what they're about to do is part of that."

"I suppose that's why Sir sent me a recommendation-" I started

"It wasn't." Bubble Girl interrupted, holding up an arm. "Don't look around. We're being followed. We'll walk for a bit longer, then I'll turn around and check. Probably an overzealous fan Sir got the ire of at an event. At least it's not the 'plastic Samurai' again."

… I knew he collected toys but what? Ok, Sir's apparent crazy adventures aside, I made no movement aside from continuing to walk forwards… and Bubble Girl turned around, smiling.

"Hello there, could I ask why you've been following us since the office Mr…?" She asked, bluntly. I turned around at that and - oh you have to be kidding me.

"Taro?" I blurted out. What the fuck is Taro Hakaiken doing here? He's clean-shaven and just wearing casual clothes, no wonder Bubble Girl wasn't too concerned about him – although I wager if she knew about Hazard she wouldn't have.

"Yo! Thought that was ya Andros!" Taro called out with a wave, walking up to us. "What'cha doing in my end of the woods?"

"You know him?" Bubble Girl questioned. "Wait, Hakaiken – why does that ring a bell?"

"The first Smash, and someone I've made friends with since," I remarked. "And your neck of the woods? This is like, at least an hour out of the way of your workplace!"

"And I've called in a week of vacation time." Taro insisted. "I take a job where I can, but even I need downtime. Spotted your helmet yesterday and thought I'd see how my fave hero in trainin' is doing."

Bubble Girl gave me a look and I sweated a little. "Taro, I understand that but… I'm on patrol." I remarked.

"Andromeda and I are a bit busy." Bubble Girl commented… but Taro already had a big ol' grin on his face.

"'Andromeda'? That's yer hero name? Cool man!" Taro insisted.

I rubbed the back of my helmet. "Nebula Hero: Andromeda, yeah…" I admitted sheepishly. "But uh…"

"Oh, right, I've delayed ya two already haven't I!" Taro realized at last. "Sorry! Keep up tha good work!" And with that, he just sprinted past us.

"He's… eccentric." Bubble Girl commented. "Hakaiken… he was your first Smash, wasn't he?"

I nodded. "We've become good friends since," I replied. "But… he is a bit… much sometimes. Wouldn't change that, but still…"

Bubble Girl just sighed at that. "Don't be too soft handed with fans though. You were lucky it was an over-curious friend of yours." She pointed out… before shivering. "The sort of creeps that Sir and Centipeder had to chase off before were sort of ridiculous. It took me going for a stink bomb bubble for them to get the point."

I just winced at that. Ooof, I can sympathize with that at least.

Faster, faster, FASTER!

Midoriya Izuku gritted his teeth as he leaped from wall to wall, keeping a careful eye out to avoid the microwave, even as he had to bounce and try to avoid his speedier mentor. He was only just starting to get a handle on 5% after Gran Torino had insisted he should push himself as hard as he could, and yet even with the extra speed, Gran Torino seemed to be on another level.

It made him thankful he had the Full Cowling technique down already because like this, he could analyse, adapt, and evolve his style. Even so-

"Too slow!"

He was starting to see why All Might had the reaction he did to the recommendation letter. Izuku groaned, pulling himself up from the floor that he'd just been slammed into from above, Gran Torino leaping off him as he did.

"It's like I keep telling you kid, your idea with this Full Cowling is solid, but you're still stiff!" Gran Torino remarked. "You need to learn to loosen up and increase your speed, to act faster. It was the same during your match."

That snapped Izuku out of the brief funk and sense of failure that washed over him. "You watched the sports festival?" He questioned. "I thought you sent the recommendation because I was All Might's student."

"Bah, I would've sent it either way. You've got potential, but you've relied too much on using the full power of One for All so far – even in the fight against Todoroki." Gran Torino insisted. "Way I see it, that Full Cowling technique could have you fighting as I do, so the sooner you can adapt, the better it will be for you... and you won't need a finger break to get away from ice next time." For a moment a grim mood seemed to fall over the area… before Gran Torino grinned. "But enough about that, it's time for some Taiyaki!"

… for all that he could be scary or serious, it was hard to take the small old man seriously whenever his sweet tooth to rival Sato's or Nebulos' reared its gluttonous head.

"As you are right now, you're a failure to All Might's example of a hero."

Those were not the words that Bakugou Katsuki had expected to come out of the former sidekick to the number one hero, and yet there they were plain as day, enough to leave him stunned for a moment.

Nighteye adjusted his glasses briefly. "I'm saying this now because it would be offensive to both of our intelligences and the example set by All Might to pretend otherwise. And I know that you probably have no idea what I mean by that." He continued.

"Wha- how the fuck could I be failing that example?" Bakugou asked with a bit more emotion than he intended. "Oh, lemme guess, cause of the bullying-"

"While abhorrent, you were younger and even Nebulos pointed out that you've stopped bullying others." Sir noted. "The answer is rooted in something else. Bakugou – what do you think makes All Might the Number One Hero?"

Katsuki blinked for a moment as the question came out, it seemed… a bit out of left field, but the answer was in his mind with little hesitation. "It's because he's a hero who never loses, a hero who always wins, of course," Katsuki remarked.

Sir Nighteye… actually chuckled at that. Without changing his expression.

"What the fuck is so funny about that?" Katsuki queried.

"What's humorous is that you both do and do not understand it." Sir Nighteye remarked. "Yes, All Might is the powerful hero who never loses… but that's not all he is."

Silence filled the room again as Katsuki blinked. "Then… what the fuck is the other part of it? And why bring it up?" He demanded.

Nighteye looked at Bakugou head-on. It was a steely glare, enough to make Katsuki flinch slightly, something he hadn't done since the match with Deku. "All Might isn't just a hero. He's THE hero. The symbol of peace. A hero doesn't just need to win, but they need to be able to save people." Nighteye explained. "And the reason I bring it up is that you're ONLY the strength right now. Until you can accept what being a hero means, you'll never reach the full potential of who you can be."

"That doesn't answer my question!" Bakugou yelled. "Why bring it up? I get you were his sidekick, but what the fuck about me says you should bring up All Might?"

And that glaring bastard of a mentor finally changed expressions to a little smile. "Oh, that's simple. I perform background checks with all my interns… or in other words, I had a nice chat with your mother."

THAT DAMN HAG-!

"Balance is an important part of many ninja techniques, Ashido" Edgeshot noted. "And while this method might be very Western in its use, I find it's a good way to test potential candidates."

Mina personally felt anyone using the 'books on heads' cliché could have the books shoved up where the sun didn't shine, at least as she struggled to keep balance on one leg at a time, standing in the middle of a room that looked very much like a wooden dojo but was in the middle of the office. But she had lasted at least five minutes so far. Surely it wasn't going to-

"And that's time. And then some." Edgeshot remarked with an approving tone. "And while balance is an important factor, you've just shown another important factor – strength of will." As he removed the books, Mina gave him a look with a raised eyebrow.

"Isn't that a bit cliché?" Mina asked. "It sounds like it came out of a movie, no offence."

Edgeshot… actually chuckled at that. "None taken. I understand that those who look at my hero motif beyond the initial appeal of my costume might consider me simply co-opting the ninja sensibility, playing to more of its pop-culture effect, correct?" He asked. When Mina just replied with a surprised nod, she swore she saw a faint imprint of a smile beneath his mask. "Where you stand now, Ashido, is one of only two ninja schools remain, of which both draw their heritage back from a time before Quirks."

"You've gotta be kidding me?" Mina questioned. "I mean, it sounds reasonable but… well…"

Edgeshot chuckled. "You can ask your homeroom teacher if you wish. Eraserhead and I both trained under the previous grandmaster of this school – I was more focused on the path of the ninja, although Eraserhead is in his own way more of a ninja than I am as a result." He explained, hands behind his back.

"That's so cool! Real ninja!" Mina would be unrepentant in her geeking out at this point. Real-life ninja! Even a sci-fi nerd like her could get into that. "Oooh, which clan are you from, Koga, Iga, maybe Hattori?"

"The clan of Hattori Hanzo was not a Ninja clan, but a Samurai one." Edgeshot cooly commented. "But to answer your question, a little story would be needed… if you don't mind a brief lecture."

"About ninja history? Who would be bored by ninja history?" Mina asked incredulously, quickly getting on her knees to hear this, as Edgeshot mirrored her.

"You would be surprised," Edgeshot said with a chuckle in his voice. "Anyway. Just before the time of Quirks began, two major ninja clans had their techniques survive into the modern-day through books of technique and museums – the Koga clan and the Iga clan. When the chaos during the early times of Quirks erupted, a group of would-be ninja gathered together and formed the Koiga Ninja School, a school designed to take in those ostracized due to their Quirks, as well as to help others out. That is the school that I represent even today… but during the earlier days, there was dissent. Loudest of which was one voice that insisted that they should be aiming for power – to take control of society, to bring about the correct order. That voice eventually split and formed their own school… the Butterfly Ninja School."

"And…?" Mina asked curiously.

Edgeshot sighed. "To our continuing shame… the school still exists under its original Grandmaster. Lady Papillion, a dangerously talented kunoichi with a magnetic Quirk… and one who Eraserhead and I suspect was among the group who attacked your fellow students at the USJ." He admitted. "Be aware, you may see the techniques I teach you this week used against you too. Not just from myself or the other school, but anyone who has access to the Bansenshukai, or believes they can self-teach through Quirk use and pop culture."

Mina took that in for a moment… and then grinned. "Well, I'll just have to outplay then at my own game!" She insisted.

"The perfect mindset." Edgeshot concurred as he stood up. "Now, follow me. We'll see how we can adapt the use of your Quirk. The extremely reflective acid you used during your matches, you can't make much, correct?"

Mina winced at the reminder.

"Predict what they're going to do, and act upon it!" Nighteye shouted, even as Centipeder ran at us. Frankly, I personally think it's a bit unfair to have us going up against him even two on one, but given the alternatives are Bubble Girl with no Quirk use and Mirio, we'd insisted on prediction training against Centipeder.

To be exact, somehow in the whole of this building, there was one floor that was just one massive white training room, with obstacles, cover and the like that meant not only did Centipeder get the home-field advantage, but Bakugou was limited in what explosions he could let off. As a result, we were left on the defensive a lot, even with my enhanced strength and speed, while Centipeder was attacking from a distance.

I leaped into an arc, launching into a jump kick to just try and get a single hit on Centipeder. We'd been tasked with that and with the terrain massively stacked against us we'd tried all sorts of moves. At the same time, Bakugou was using his Explosive Turbo to rush at Centipeder from the left. Unfortunately, with arms like his, he could take care of both of us at once, hitting me with enough force to send me tumbling down an artificial hill and behind some fake rubble, Bakugo joining me soon after, just as un-gracefully.

"For fuck's sake, we're never gonna get anywhere at this rate," Bakugou grumbled as he dusted himself off. "Even if we tried shooting you there with my explosions you'd just get knocked out of the air."

"Then what we need to do is be unpredictable and predict his moves." I pointed out. "And I know what to do for that. Dodge!" At that, I briefly indicated upwards before backflipping over a telegraphed sweep of his extended arm that crashed through the rubble, while Bakugou was forced to let off an explosion to leap in time. Just as I thought he would. It'd be easy for him to do a short jump over the arm, but by using an explosion it sent him up into the air and made sure that Centipeder would soon be focusing on him.

"Come on!" Bakugou cried out, blasting off another explosion to head straight for Centipeder, who brought up an arm to knock him away, even as I started to move towards him… before I slammed my foot down to skid to a stop and thrust my left arm forward at the same time Bakugou brought his arms down and launched an explosion to send him over the arms, just like against Izuku. While he did that, I let loose with something to try and take from my lessons earlier – I sent out one of the cords towards him, the one from the arm I thrust forward. I would've grimaced if I could as it shot right past him and only bent in the air, refusing to change its forward momentum – I'd been hoping to make it hook around him so I could pull him towards me – even as I pushed it back to straightness and felt it hit the opposite wall, leaping forward at the same time that Bakugou let off another explosion to recommence his meteoric assault within Centipeder's guard-

"That's enough." Sir Nighteye remarked.

Only for Bakugou to attempt a rushed landing and for me to, shocked by the sudden call, slam into Centipeder.

"It's clear the two of you are at least good at analyzing your enemy's patterns and acting on them. That's a good start to predictive fighting. We can continue to work on that a little later." Sir remarked. "For now, Andromeda, I want you to work with Lemillion. I saw what you were trying to do with your cord there and it was sloppier than I thought, you need to practice on someone who can entirely avoid getting hit." As I rolled off of Centipeder and tugged the cord out of the wall, he looked at Bakugou. "You're doing better with working with Andromeda Bakugou-." Really, I thought Napalm Man or Ground Zero would have been amazing, but whoever owns Capcom still has the license to the former name apparently. "-but you still need work on the second factor. Bubble Girl and I will be helping try to… refine those points. As well as ways to use the explosions to rescue others."

"Wait, why is it just me who has to do that?" Bakugou questioned while I pulled myself up… before holding up a hand. "Of course, Galaxy Suit-" Oh hey new name, I like that one better. "-has basic super strength so of course those things are simple."

"That, and his training with Lemillion is his version." Bubble Girl added with a smile. Bakugou grumbled as he passed me, muttering something that I swore was "Gets to fight one of the tops, I should-" or something like that.

If I'm honest I'm glad I'm getting to talk with Mirio one on one. He's a nice guy and… well, I think it might be time for some advice. "Senpai-" I started as Bakugou and the others left the room.

"You can call me Mirio if you'd like Andros," Mirio remarked with his ever-present smile. "You're Western right? It's the accent."

I blinked. Ok, wow. "Detective work and analytical thinking… amazing."

"Eh, not really," Mirio insisted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Analyzing things is how I fight, so I sometimes recognize those small details."

Ah, right. "About that… I wanted to ask; how do you manage it? How did you manage to deal with your Quirk seeming not just silly but even dangerous if used wrong?" I asked.

Mirio stilled for a moment and his smile dropped instantly, his face one of shock as he looked at me. "… I understand. You're worried about your Quirk as a whole, right? You've had such a long period of not being able to use it without special equipment, then you get a new method… and now you're worried again because of the festival." Mirio summed up… before he put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "You've got nothing to worry about."

Eh? "B-but what-"

"That's just it!" Mirio exclaimed. "You keep asking yourself that about your Quirk. I know Sir talked with you about it yesterday." Swing and a miss Mirio but a fair assumption. "And from what I could gather, you've talked about it with others. And it still clings to you because you keep asking that. Don't worry. It'll be ok."

… ok, wow. This is… the sort of warm fuzzy feeling I got when I first came home to the Hatsume residence. And if I could, I'd smile right now. "R-right. Ok… so… where should we start?" I insisted.

"Start launching those cords at me, as fast as you can!" Mirio insisted. "Try to move them!" He exclaimed with a reassuring smile.

I nodded, and with a yell flicked my wrist!

There were many things that Tsukuyomi had expected in this dark, dangerous city on these immense, potentially career-shaping internships. Battles against villains, crises, saving lives.

"Together, we're one full bird!" Hawks exclaimed, an easy-going smile all too reminiscent of his electrical classmate on his face.

This was not one of them. He was starting to think Mt. Lady might have been the better choice.

Midnight. Japan time. It would be at worst early afternoon or late morning for I-Island at this point. And yet he hesitated.

Sir had never met David Shield. Even Gran Torino, the one who trained All Might, said he had only talked to the man once or twice over the phone. All Might liked to keep his first sidekick safe. But to the point of never telling him how One for All worked? Even when he knows the rest of the Quirk?

He understood why. All for One would have targeted David back in the day. But had it really slipped Toshinori's mind to tell his friend?

Sir let out a sigh. He couldn't hesitate. He dialled in the number Gran Torino had given him and then, waited.

He heard the tone ring once.

He heard it twice.