Kyouka was power walking through the halls of Hosu General Hospital, looking at every room number to make sure she finds the one she's looking for.

When she arrived at the hospital, the first thing she did was ask the receptionist for the room number of Izuku, Iida, and Todoroki.

The young girl didn't even take the time to say 'thank you' when she was told the room number, but instead quickly threw the receptionist an item that was barely caught before running off.

Unfortunately, she was stopped by a doctor who told her that she was not allowed to run in the hospital. Kyouka wanted to tell her to screw off, but she decided that it was best to not piss off a doctor. It would also be unfortunate if that doctor was taking care of Izuku and they ran into each other in his hospital room.

Maybe being told not to run was for the best anyways, considering that she was carrying two items, one of them being more important than the other and very fragile.

Kyouka was holding onto the case that contained her hero costume in one hand and a bouquet of yellow daisies in the other. Personally, she would've preferred to get flowers that were a little more intimate, but with Iida and Todoroki being in the same room as Izuku, it would've been extremely awkward for her to give flowers only meant for Izuku and she didn't want him to think that she only cared about his health and happiness without thinking about the other two, even if it was the truth.

'Thank god Crust allowed me to visit Izuku in the hospital this morning. I still have to be at the agency by noon though. It's not as much time as I would like, but it's better than nothing.'

Kyouka tried to ask if she could go to the hospital last night after she and Crust left the crime scene, but the hero insisted that it was too late in the night and that Izuku, Iida, and Todoroki should have time to themselves tonight to rest.

She personally didn't care too much about the other two, much less Todoroki, but Izuku must've had a stressful night himself, so he deserved plenty of rest.

And although she got confirmation from two Pro Heroes, Endeavor and Gran Torino, that he was alright last night, she wasn't satisfied one bit. She had to see him with her own eyes and she wouldn't have it any other way.

If Crust hadn't given her permission to visit Izuku, she probably would've just ditched today's internship with no hesitation, even though that would have gotten her in some serious trouble with the hero.

Last night, she stared at her phone for hours, wanting to call Izuku and spam him with calls until he answered, but she didn't want to seem like a bother to him when he should've been resting. She didn't stop staring at her phone until sleep overtook her at 5 in the morning.

Thankfully, she woke up to a text from Izuku, asking her if they could call, but Kyouka had to force herself to tell him that she was busy and unavailable at that time. She decided that she wanted to surprise him at the hospital herself and she would prefer if she could hear his voice in person first rather than on the phone.

Kyouka now stood in front of the door with the room number the receptionist told her and paused, bracing herself for Izuku's current condition. Every other time Izuku had been injured and sent to the nurse's office, he'd have at least one broken limb. Now he's at the hospital in the same city that went through a Nomu attack last night and he most likely fought against The Hero Killer: Stain, if her suspicions are correct.

Kyouka gripped her case tightly and swiftly opened the door to rip off the bandage. But instead of giving a concerned or relieved expression, her expression was simply deadpan at the scene right in front of her.

Izuku and Iida were both in a fit of laughter while Todoroki was looking utterly confused and mortified at the same time. 'Did I miss something or…?'

The three boys were sitting on their hospital beds and wearing hospital gowns, with Izuku only having a bandaged-up wrist, Todoroki having a bandaged up forearm and a small bandage on his face, and Iida having both of his arms bandaged-up and in a sling.

Kyouka was honestly surprised and grateful that Izuku looked to be the least injured out of the three of them. Regarding his track record of reckless actions resulting in his injuries, this is the complete opposite of what she expected.

The laughter soon began to die down as Izuku was the first one to notice her as his face brightened in an instant, before taking a step towards her. But, stopped himself before he did anything to embarrass himself. "K-Kyouka…?" He gave a sheepish smile and wiped away some tears, catching his breath as well from all the laughter. "You… You just missed it. Todoroki told a hilarious joke a second ago. I'm surprised he even has a sense of humor in the first place."

"We wish you could've been here to witness it, Jirou." Iida said before turning to Todoroki. "Why don't you repeat it once more so we can all have another laugh?"

Todoroki lowered his head before quietly mumbling to himself. "It wasn't a joke…"

Kyouka gave a fake laugh, putting down her case on the floor. "That's not necessary. I don't want to cause Todoroki trouble. Besides, a joke is much funnier when it's told suddenly instead of prompted, right?"

'Honestly, I just don't want to hear Todoroki's attempt at being funny. If he thinks this is some "make friends quick" scheme, then there's no way I'm falling for that. It may have worked on Izuku and Iida though, with how friendly those two naturally are. I'll just simply ignore his presence as much as possible.'

Iida nodded. "You make an excellent point."

"I'm grateful you're here to visit us, Kyouka. I didn't expect to see you at all this week, and admittedly I was bummed when you said you were too busy to call this morning. But this is way better than a call." Izuku stated as he rubbed the back of his neck before noticing the flowers in Kyouka's hand. "Oh, um, are those for us?"

Kyouka smiled at her hero and nodded. "Yeah, but I wasn't thinking when I bought these and forgot to buy a vase to put the flowers in before I came straight here. A real dumb move on my part. Oh hey, I have an idea. Izuku, do you mind coming with me to find a vase for these flowers? Unless it's an inconvenience for you and you're not recovered enough to walk around?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, I'd love to help. In fact, I was walking around the hospital not long ago and just finished getting off the phone with Uraraka a few minutes before you arrived."

Without thinking, Kyouka tightened her grip on the bouquet of flowers but stopped short to avoid crushing the flowers as she forced a wide smile. "Uraraka, huh? Well, that's lovely. I bet it was nice to hear the voice of a friend."

'Dammit, I should've just let him call me earlier! Uraraka got to hear his voice before I did today, all because I wanted to surprise him!'

"So out of curiosity, did she call you or did you call her? N-Not that it has any importance or anything."

"Hm, well she called me."

Kyouka internally sighed in relief. 'Okay, it's all good. He tried to call me this morning. Meanwhile, she had to call him herself and isn't even making an attempt at visiting him…'

"Alright, lead the way for our search for the vase."

Izuku nodded and waved at Iida and Todoroki before leaving the room.

"Wait, I gotta put these flowers somewhere first. I don't wanna leave them lying down and risk getting messed up." Kyouka mumbled, scanning the room, and smiled as she walked over to Iida before sticking the flowers in between his two bandaged hands. "Take care of these and my case please."

Iida's face was now covered by flowers as he smelled them, enjoying their nice fragrance. "Of course, Jirou. Todoroki and I will make sure no harm will come to these items."

"Jirou, before we go, I have something to ask you." Todoroki called out as Kyouka had just made it outside the door, causing the girl to stop. "Do you believe that I'm cursed?"

"Yes. You're 100% cursed." Kyouka bluntly answered before slamming the door shut, not caring one bit about Todoroki's feelings.

Iida turned towards Todoroki with a smile. "I'm impressed, Todoroki. You managed to get Jirou to play along with your joke without telling her anything. You may have a secret talent as a comedi-ACHOO! Excuse me. These flowers seem to be causing some slight allergies-ACHOO! I hope you don't mind the sneezi-ACHOO!"

Todoroki stared at his hand in silence as Iida continued to sneeze from the flowers while doing his very best to make sure they didn't fall out of his arms.

Kyouka was now following Izuku down the halls as she smirked without him noticing. 'Mostly according to plan…'

Her original plan was to somehow convince both Iida and Todoroki to hunt for the vase while she volunteered to stay in the room with Izuku, using Iida's willingness to do favors for his friends and Todoroki being the type to rarely express his opinions. However, this way works out a whole lot better with Izuku not having any severe injuries and not being bedridden like she expected him to be. Would she have appreciated the comfort of being alone in a room with Izuku? Of course she would. But it's a lot easier to convince Izuku to come with her, and she'll take Izuku being in a better condition than being alone with him any day of the week.

"So, who do you think we should ask about a vase? I doubt a doctor or nurse would have much of a clue." Izuku said, turning to his best friend.

Kyouka cupped her chin. "Hmm, a receptionist sounds like the perfect person to ask. Even if they don't know, they can at least call someone who does. Worst case scenario, I can head out to a nearby store and buy one. But doing that will take away from my time to be visiting since I have to be back at Crust's agency by noon."

"Speaking of Crust, how has your internship with him been? I'm sure it must be amazing to be working with the number seven hero and seeing his quirk in action."

"Eh… Honestly, I've only seen him use his quirk to smash his own windows so far. But it is kinda cool how he creates his shields so effortlessly."

"I know right, it's so awesome how he uses his shields both defensively and offensively whether he's protecting civilians from a villain's attack or attacking that villain with those very same shields. Most of the time it's both. I've always wanted to know how durable those shields are. Just how much punishment can they take before they break? Do they crumble after a certain amount of time after Crust throws them or if they just stay at the scene and someone has to clean them up? Then again, what are those shields made of? By appearance alone, they seem to be made from stone, but his shields have withstood attacks from villains who possess super strength as well as taking gunfire without a single dent to them so stone doesn't feel like the correct answer." Izuku muttered while staring at the ceiling.

"How about I ask him the next time I get the chance?" Kyouka offered to her hero.

Izuku's eyes sparkled at the offer as he looked back at his friend. "Really? You'd do that for me, Kyouka? I mean, if it's not too much trouble for you that is."

"No, it's all good. He's a super nice guy and I'd be surprised if he refused to answer my questions. After all, he allowed me to visit you this morning as soon as I asked him. But hey, let's not make this all about my internship. I want to hear everything about yours as well." Kyouka stated before pointing at a bench that was right in front of them. "And let's take a seat while you tell me about it."

"Well, there isn't much to tell so far. It's been training for the most part. It's not interesting at all-" Izuku then stopped himself as he noticed Kyouka now sitting on the bench and patting the empty space next to her. "Oh yeah…"

Kyouka chuckled, watching her hero sit right next to her. "It's good to see you catching on. I remember back when I had to spell things out for you for what felt like 10 minutes. Now go on and let me hear about your internship."

Izuku sighed but couldn't help but smile. "Well for starters, I understand now why All Might was so scared of him. Gran Torino shows no mercy whatsoever during training. But in a way, it's very beneficial to push my limits. Most of the time, I tried catching him and had to get creative to even get close. I did manage to catch him once, but it was only when I used 13% of my power that my body ended up hurting like crazy. Thankfully, the first aid kit you prepared for me came in real handy. So thanks for that, Kyouka."

Kyouka smiled back, glad that her kit was useful to her hero. "Anytime. I knew you would need it."

'It's like she knew I would end up getting injured. I can't blame her though. Here I am in a hospital. I don't know if I should be more embarrassed or more grateful that she knows me so well for this…'

'I wish I could scold him for using 13% of his power for training and hurting himself, but I can't judge him for wanting to improve… But he better not use it too often unless he has to.'

"Anyways, I've also picked up on a few techniques after watching how Gran Torino maneuvers. He bounces around the walls and ceiling at crazy fast speeds, making it difficult for me to keep my eyes on him while giving himself enough momentum to deliver hard-hitting kicks." Izuku explained before grabbing his side. "Trust me, I experienced dozens of those kicks firsthand… If only you could see the bruises I had at the end of my first day."

Kyouka gave a slightly disgusted look before shaking her head. "I think I'd rather not…"

'I don't think I need to feel angry towards Gran Torino right now. Cause I will if I see those bruises firsthand. It's for training. It's just for training… Gotta keep that in mind.'

"But even with the beating I took, I'm glad for the experience. Too bad it has to end so soon…"

"Why do you say that? We still have 3 more days until our internships are over."

"Umm… Gran Torino had some urgent hero business come up this morning, so it's getting cut short for me." Izuku stated, looking both unsure and sure of himself at the same time. "I'll be staying in the hospital for one more day before I'm free to go. Kinda disappointed that my training was cut a little short, but I'll make up for the lost time by working out the whole time until internships are over for everybody."

"Just make sure to take it easy. I don't wanna have to visit you here again."

"I think you worry a little too much sometimes. I can be careful when it comes to basic strength training. Also, I kind of want to ask a favor from you." Izuku fiddled around with his fingers, looking a little shy to ask the favor. "Um, can I take a look at your hero costume and see the modifications you made to it when we get back to the room?"

"Nope."

"Why such a fast rejection?!"

Kyouka smirked. "It's not fair for you to see my hero costume when I haven't seen your updated one yet. It's gotta be an equal trade. When we're back at school and have our next training exercise, then you can see it."

"You're seriously going to make me wait until next week?" Izuku asked in disbelief.

"Mhmm."

Izuku pouted, looking to the side. "So cruel…"

"I'm sorry, but rules are rules."

"What rules?"

"My rules that I just made up. If you wish to submit a formal complaint, please feel free to take it to my dad and see how well that goes." Kyouka proposed, crossing her arms.

"I… I don't think I'm brave enough to attempt that. I'd much rather break all my limbs 10 times over before I would even try." Izuku said with a sigh.

"About that, I'm glad you kept your promise to me before we left for our internships." Kyouka stated, glancing at Izuku's bandaged wrist. "But I can't say I'm 100% satisfied…"

Izuku noticed where his friend's eyes went and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, this? It's just a simple cut from debris while I was helping out some civilians. I did suffer a kick to the face as well, but I'd rather not discuss that…"

"In Hosu City, right?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, I didn't fight Hero Killer at all if you might be wondering that. I know I can be reckless, but I wouldn't break the law to fight a villain. Yes, Todoroki, Iida, and I did encounter the Hero Killer, but we were with seven other Pro Heroes and Endeavor rushed in and saved us before he could even lay a finger on any of us students. No harm came to us at all, and all of these injuries came from accidents during the incident in Hosu." Izuku sounded like he was reading from some kind of script. Kyouka knew him too well to know that this wasn't coming from his mind, so this didn't seem right to her. "Sorry if I worried you last night by sending my location with zero context. I was with Gran Torino the whole time and I just panicked when I sent my location. That is the only reason."

"You're right. You did worry me." Kyouka crossed her legs. "That location seemed very sketchy. An alleyway in the middle of the city."

"It… was an alleyway I passed by. Plus, the location I sent you wasn't that close to where the Hero Killer was apprehended."

"Yeah, okay. So why were you in Hosu City to begin with? You were on a train to Shibuya, weren't you?" Kyouka asked before sharply narrowing her eyes directly at Izuku. "Unless you deliberately lied to me to get my hopes up that I would be spending time with my best friend. Was that some cruel prank of yours, Izuku?

"Y-You know I would never do that." Izuku felt absolutely horrible for the possibility of Kyouka thinking he lied to her even though that's exactly what he's doing right now. But this lie wasn't his choice at all. "Gran Torino decided to make a decision at the very last second and moved us to Hosu. Trust me, I was disappointed that we couldn't spend time together last night."

Kyouka twirled around her earphone jack, looking unimpressed by his excuse. "You got anything else to say?"

"U-Uh… Yeah… Ummm…"

"You fought the Hero Killer." Kyouka suddenly stated with a raised eyebrow.

Izuku widened his eyes and frantically shook his head. "N-No, of course I didn't! What are you getting at?! You're talking nonsense here!"

"Uh-huh." Kyouka leaned in closer to her hero, keeping eye contact with him without blinking. "Is that right?"

A bead of sweat formed on the boy's face, slowly traveling down his face, stopping at his chin. "K-Kyouka, are you sure you didn't have a nightmare of me fighting him? Because even I wouldn't be that reckless to fight a villain."

"You know, I find it strange that you completely lied to me just now about the location you sent not being near the Hero Killer. You don't know this, but I went to the location sent over, I saw the Hero Killer was apprehended right there and he looked like he was defeated only a few minutes before. When I got there, it had been at least 10-20 minutes since I got your message, but I was told you and the other two only got to the scene only moments before he was defeated. So, something doesn't add up when you say you encountered the Hero Killer with other Pro Heroes when you apparently didn't get there until the last second. And the time you sent your message to the time he was defeated is weird too. I also know you're not dumb enough to pull out your phone and 'accidentally' send your location in a panic. I've seen you in a panic more times than I can count, so I know you're more rational than that." Kyouka explained before poking his forehead. "Now, what do you have to say to that?"

"..."

"You going to give me an answer? Or will you continue to lie to your best friend who cares about you so much?"

Izuku felt both terrified and admittedly a little attracted by Kyouka's deduction. 'What do I say to that?! She's got me completely pinned down with logic and guilt-tripping me! If she didn't want to become a hero or a musician, she would make for an amazing interrogator.'

Izuku lowered his head and sighed, having completely given up going against Kyouka any longer. Anything else he can say right now would just dig him deeper and deeper into this grave. "Okay… You're right. I fought the Hero Killer last night..."

"With Iida and Todoroki too, right?"

"No, it was just m-" Izuku sighed, seeing no point in trying to cover for them with her being the one who's asking the question. "Yeah, we fought him together…"

'I knew it…'

The young girl wasn't sure whether she should be glad or saddened that her suspicions were right after she pieced it together. Her suspicions started last night with the info she learned, and it seemed like something Izuku would do. Maybe it's for the best she's only learning this now or her small breakdown last night could've gone worse.

"Why did you try to keep it a secret from me?"

"Other than the fact that I don't want to needlessly worry you, we're not allowed to tell anyone about this. The police chief told us that what we did was against the law and getting reprimanded is unavoidable, so we have to keep this a secret to avoid all of that. The only ones who know are a few Pro Heroes and the Hosu police. Guess you're on that list too now. But-"

"That's stupid! How could he demand such a thing! You were fighting for your life and could've gotten killed out there! I'll go down to the station and have a few words with that chief myse-" Kyouka's outburst was interrupted by Izuku putting his hand on her mouth.

"Hey, don't let anyone hear. Remember, I can still get in trouble if anyone hears and spreads the rumor." Izuku pleaded, taking his hand off her mouth before smiling. "Honestly, I don't care if we don't get any of the credit. I would much rather not have my chance at being a hero taken away for some fame and glory. But to tell you the truth, I don't regret my actions as wrong as they legally are. Everyone's safe now and I like to think I played at least a small part in saving a life last night."

Kyouka's anger faded away from Izuku's positivity and smiled back at him. "You're right. Sorry for acting dumb like that. It makes sense why you kept this a secret. I can't fault you much for lying to me."

"It was hard. You're the last person I want to lie to. But I guess lying to you is impossible even if I tried my hardest."

"You got that right. Because remember, Izuku… I'm always watching." Kyouka stated in a serious tone, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Izuku blinked at her before letting out a small laugh. "Okay, very funny. You almost had me thinking that you watch me with perfect detail."

Kyouka laughed along, keeping up the charade. "Yeah, I did… Hey, we should probably continue our adventure for the vase. I don't want my time running out before we can get it."

"Yeah, we got a little too absorbed in our conversation there. I'll make sure the flowers you got for us have a good home." The two friends then got up and continued their search for the vase.

It wouldn't be until the very last minute before Kyouka miraculously found a vase after talking to the receptionist alone. Her finding that vase right as she was about to leave seemed like a convenient coincidence, but no one paid it any mind.

In reality, the item Kyouka threw at the receptionist earlier was a simple green vase. There's no way Kyouka would give Izuku flowers without getting him a vase to go along with them. It would just be rude of her to make Izuku deal with flowers without any proper place to hold them.

From certain perspectives, it can be seen as rude to make the fact that she had no idea about any vase, all for an excuse to talk to Izuku alone, but those perspectives don't matter to her.

She got the results she needed in the end and learned more than she expected. She still didn't like the fact that Izuku and the others fighting Stain had to be kept a secret, but if it became public, Izuku's future as a hero would be in jeopardy so the trade off seems worth it enough.

In a perfect world, Izuku's name would be on the front page of every newspaper and talked about all week in the news. She'll have to wait longer for Izuku's heroic duties to be told to the world, but she knows that day will come eventually so there's no rush.

Kyouka had now exited the hospital and was making her way to the sidewalk to call a taxi so she could get a ride back to the agency. She wished she could've been here all day, but with the time she had, she was happy with today's visit.

"Jirou! I must speak with you!" Iida called out, power walking towards her, trying not to bump into anyone so he wouldn't fall down while looking like an armless robot. "It's urgent!"

The young girl sighed and turned around. "Yea-whoa!" Iida was already in front of her. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you used your quirk to be so fast."

"I would never. It would be dangerous and rude to use it near hospital grounds."

'It was rhetorical, man.'

"Anyways, why are you here? And what makes it so urgent?"

"Midoriya informed Todoroki and I that you know about our fight with the Hero Killer." Iida let out a light chuckle. "He then apologized for being a horrible liar and gave you credit for putting the pieces together. But he did assure us that you wouldn't let the secret out and I trust his judgment and you." He sighed. "However, that is not what I came to tell you. I want you to have the whole story of what led up to our battle with the Hero Killer… I don't want the truth of the events to be hidden from you. It wouldn't sit right with me if you of all people didn't know the reason as to why Midoriya was there with how close you two are."

"Oh… okay. You can tell me." Kyouka said, feeling a bit uneasy now.

Iida got close to her ear and began to explain the entire situation. How he recklessly hunted for the Hero Killer and tried to take revenge for his brother. How he was at death's door before Izuku came to rescue him, soon followed by Todoroki. And how this entire incident wouldn't have happened if it weren't for himself.

Kyouka's eyes slowly widened as she heard Iida's story and she heard his voice slightly choke up as he apologized for endangering the two of them.

Iida bowed at her, lowering his head as much as possible while trying to keep himself balanced. "Please, don't harbor any frustration at Midoriya for getting involved. I swear that I wanted him to leave right as he showed up, but you know him more than I do… I shouldn't have to explain his attitude towards the situation. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at me and I'll gladly sit somewhere else in the cafeteria if you're not comfortable with being around me at school."

Kyouka made a fist with her hand and looked up at Iida, her fist tightening and not saying a word.

'Izuku could've died in that alleyway all because of your desire for revenge?'

Iida closed his eyes, expecting to receive a serious scolding and possibly a punch to the face from Izuku's best friend. But he was ready to accept any outcome as long as it made her feel a little better.

"Iida… I… really hope you're doing alright now after all that's happened. I mean it."

Iida opened his eyes and looked taken aback, not expecting this reaction before giving her a small smile. "I think I am… And I think I'll be better as well."

"Good." Kyouka simply said, relaxing her fist and patting Iida's shoulder before continuing to walk off.

Kyouka wanted to lash out at Iida for doing something so stupid, but she could understand where he was coming from. His brother was paralyzed because of the Hero Killer and Iida saw an opportunity to take revenge on the man that did that. Kyouka reminded herself that if anyone did anything remotely close to Izuku, she would hunt this person to the ends of the earth and make sure that they'll get everything that will come to them and worse.

It's not like Iida forced Izuku to fight off Stain and risk his life. It was a coincidence that he ran into Iida right on time. It could've been any hero or civilian in that alleyway and the result still would've been the same, but maybe Izuku could've suffered more injuries if Iida wasn't there to help him and Todoroki.

However, she still felt uneasy about how Izuku was risking his life and easily could've been killed while she was nowhere nearby and unable to do anything. By the time she made it to the scene, the whole thing was over, and she absolutely hated that. She hates not being around him when he's being so reckless. Because all she wants is to be with him and make sure he's safe. That's the only way she'll accept him acting this way.

Kyouka raised her hand into the sky and stared at it. The next time that Izuku tries something like that again, she'll be at his side, or she'll fight in his stead if necessary. Either way works for her. That's a promise to herself that she intends to keep.


Kyouka was in the backroom, having just changed into her hero costume, and was sitting on a bench as she held her phone that now had a crack across the screen. 'Shit, I barely got this phone a few months ago… I gotta have the screen repaired before my parents find out I cracked the new phone they gifted me so soon. But maybe I can make an excuse about it being damaged from some hero work if they do find out. As long as they don't find out that I cracked it from almost crushing the phone with my own hand…'

Kyouka lowered her head and groaned. "I already want to go back to the hospital and see Izuku again. Why did I have to come back so soon? Crust couldn't have given me until the evening? Now I have to stress about my phone and get ready for the rest of the day." She stood up and stretched, trying to endure her own sour mood. "Better get today over with. Who knows, maybe my mind can be distracted from Izuku for a little while. But it's unlikely."

Kyouka walked into the lobby and saw a small group of Crust's sidekicks huddled up together before one of them took notice of her and waved at her. "Yo, Angelbeat. Come and check this out. The show is about to start."

"Uh, okay. But what is it?" Kyouka asked, joining the sidekicks in their huddle, and saw one of them holding up their phone with a paused video on some sketchy-looking website.

"Just wait and see." One of the sidekicks said before pressing play on the video.

The young girl held in a gasp as soon as she saw the contents of the video, trying to keep her cool. The video was all about Stain and it gave an overview of his origins and his reasons for becoming the Hero Killer in the first place.

It made Kyouka feel sick that his main reason for performing such actions is because he believed that heroes shouldn't seek any compensation and wanted the old days of heroes to return.

Then, the video switched to a whole new scene, one she recognized in an instant, one she hated. It was the place she arrived at last night when she saw the Hero Killer apprehended and thought that Izuku was possibly killed. If she ever goes to Hose city again for some reason, she'll actively avoid that place so that she wouldn't be reminded of the dark thoughts she had.

Next to Stain, Izuku was sitting on the ground in fear, and on the villain's other side, the corpse of a winged Nomu was laying on the ground, bleeding from its head. That must've been the corpse that was under the sheet that gave her so much fear last night.

For some odd reason, that Nomu gave her a sense of deja vu as if she's seen it before, but she knows that the only Nomu she's seen, besides the ones that appeared on the news this morning, was the one at the USJ. It gave her a feeling of disgust the same way Bakugo and his friends would make her feel back when she watched them taunt Izuku when they were children. She decided to not bother dwelling on it. It was pointless, seeing that it's dead and all. It's not like she would have the opportunity to anyways, with what speech came next.

"These streets must run with the blood of hypocrites! Hero! I will reclaim that word! Come on! Just try and stop me, you fakes! There is only man I'll allow to kill me. He is a true hero. All Might is worthy!" When the speech was over, the video came to an abrupt ending on Stain's deranged face.

Kyouka could feel the intimidation and fear from the speech as her legs wobbled slightly and an earphone jack unconsciously wrapped itself around her arm. If she hadn't witnessed real villains before, she definitely wouldn't be able to stand straight at all.

Kyouka took a second to peek down at the legs of the other sidekicks and saw that they weren't faring much better than her except for the one holding the phone. She had to guess that all of these guys, except for the one who's steady as a rock, hadn't really encountered anything like this before. One of them was even pinching his thigh as hard as he could to keep himself standing.

If the video alone had this kind of effect, she didn't want to think about what it would be like if she was there in person.

But Izuku was part of that group. He must've felt so scared and so helpless, watching Stain give that speech with a murdered Nomu next to him. Now that fear is out on the internet where people are probably eating this up like these guys. Hell, she wouldn't be surprised if there were weirdos out there who are actively cheering for Stain from this video. And if they're cheering for Stain, that means that they're indirectly cheering for Izuku's harm and possible death. Those kinds of people belong in the depths of hell for all she cares. If they want to support him so badly, they should just be killed by him.

Kyouka felt her anger slowly boiling up the more she thought about other people liking this video and continued to wish horrible things on them. Meanwhile, the other sidekicks chatted amongst themselves, not paying attention to her.

"Whoo, that was intense. Felt like a rollercoaster in video form."

"Hey, we're not telling Crust about this, right? He'd probably get angry if he knew what we were watching."

"Of course not. It's just a harmless video anyways. We're watching it for pure entertainment."

"You gotta admit though, the Hero Killer's style is kinda cool. N-Not saying I support him, but it's based on how cool he is with his costume design and weapons alone. Pure aesthetic and stuff."

"Hey man, download that video real quick before it gets taken down. It took you 2 hours in the first place to find this site since they keep getting taken down."

"Oh yeah. I'll do that right no-"

Suddenly, her earphone jack was shot towards the phone, instantly piercing it through the middle like a bullet.

All the sidekicks backed up in surprise as they stared at her before one of them gave an annoyed look. "What the heck, Angelbeat?! What'd you kill my phone for?!"

"He was about to download the video too!"

"If you didn't want to watch, you could've just left."

"You got insurance on that phone, right?"

"Yeah, I'll take it to the shop once I'm done for the day. Still sucks that I gotta take time out of my day for that. At least the memory card is probably fine. But I think I'm gonna give up on trying to find that video again. It's gonna be even more hell to find by the time my phone's working again and it's not worth the trouble."

Kyouka ignored all of their words as she gave a hateful glare towards the phone as it hung dead from her earphone jack while she seethed through her teeth.

She was broken out of her hateful trance as she felt someone shake her shoulder before looking to see one of his sidekicks holding out his hand. "Huh?"

"You owe some money for the taxi to the shop so I can fix my phone. You broke it for no reason."

Kyouka looked forward and widened her eyes to see the broken phone on her earphone jack before hastily taking it off and placing it on the sidekick's hand. "Oh. Sorry about that. I'll pay you in a second. Gotta get my wallet from my locker."

Kyouka returned to the back room where she was no more than 5 minutes ago and sighed as she opened her locker, grabbing money from her wallet. 'I don't even remember what exactly I was thinking about. But I do know I hated every second of that video and what it stands for. I shouldn't even have to pay that guy. He deserves to have his phone broken if he's going to play such a disgusting video around me and in Crust's agency.' The money began to crumple in Kyouka's fist before she relaxed her hand. 'Maybe I should let him know… I'm sure you would agree, right, Izuku?'

A few minutes later, knocks were heard from outside of Crust's office.

"Come in!"

Kyouka opened the door. "Hey Crust… I got something I wanna tell you, but you didn't hear it from me, okay?" She then closed the door behind herself and spotted Crust doing jumping jacks. "Um, did I come at a bad time?"

Crust continued with his jumping jacks and shook his head. "Not at all! Please, what do you wish to tell me, Angelbeat?"

"Ah, dammit. This is a little harder than I expected it to be. I never want to be a tattletale, but I feel like it's right for me to tell you this." Kyouka said, letting out a breath. "I… saw some of your sidekicks watching a video of Stain that describes his origin and includes this speech of his."

"Is that right?"

The girl grit her teeth, feeling more confident in her next words. "Yeah, and they were just enjoying the hell out of it as if it was some cat video and even compared it to a rollercoaster ride. I hated it. I hated seeing them enjoy that video so much. I wish I could say I hated it because of some sense of justice, but that's not really it at all. I just can't help but feel angry when I saw them romanticize this bastard who hurt and could've killed Iz-my friends last night. It doesn't sit right with me at all."

Kyouka didn't realize that she was ranting now instead of sticking to her original plan to simply state the facts and leave right after.

Crust stopped his jumping jacks and crossed his arms, nodding as he took in the information. "Hm. I'll have to give those sidekicks a firm talking to whenever I have the chance."

"Really? You're not going to punish them or anything? I'm not saying you should. I don't want to sound like that one annoying girl who always snitches and begs for others to get punished. But it's probably too late for that…"

"No need to worry. Between you and me, I was that type of kid back in my elementary days. I let the idea of justice get to my head a little excessively, so I told on a lot of my fellow students for the smallest things. I'm glad I changed that by the time middle school came around or the bullying would've never stopped." Crust admitted with a wide smile before leaning against his desk. "But back to your first question, I won't punish them directly. I see no need to. What they did shouldn't be done, yes, but it's not in my position to enforce their choices so much. That can end up pushing them away. However, they won't get off completely scot-free. I'll give them double the work for these next few weeks, so they'll be too busy to even think about any such video."

Kyouka smiled and twirled around her earphone jack. "Those poor souls. Too bad I still had to pay that one guy. Maybe I should've talked to you first, so I could've possibly avoided it."

Crust raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Kyouka blinked and quickly opened the door. "Nothing! I didn't destroy one of their phones out of anger! Totally wasn't me! Okay, see ya! By the way, I have questions I need to ask you later about your quirk!"

Kyouka bolted out of the room before Crust could say anything and he stared out the door before bursting into laughter. "That kid sure has one hot head on her shoulders! Oh, I'll surely miss her when she's gone at the end of this internship! We'll all make the most out of her remaining time here!"


The Next Day

Kyouka and Crust were both in front of a bank and behind a row of police cars, surrounded by police officers with two villains just on the other side of the police cars.

Kyouka leaned her back against the police car, twirling around her earphone jack. "So… when are we going to do something? We've been at standstill for 3 minutes now. I thought heroes saved the day in an instant. This whole thing feels random, anyways."

Crust gave thumbs up. "Don't worry. I just want to assess the outside situation a little longer before taking any action. You remember what this is all about, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember. Three villains robbed this bank a short while ago and two of them are out there, threatening everyone, while the other one has taken hostages inside."

The two villains who are outside were respectively wearing red and green spandex bodysuits and wearing tighty whities over them. They both had a big logo on their chest that read "CB".

"You will all tremble under the might of the newest and baddest villain group in all of Japan! We are the Condiment Brothers, and we will make the League of Villains look like a group of rowdy kids by the end of today! I am Red and this right here is Green! Remember that!" The villain known as Red announced with a weapon that looked like a weaponized water gun with ketchup inside. "We only ask that you provide us a safe means of escape with all of this money, and no one will die today!"

Green shot out relish from his gun at a lamppost with an identical gun, melting it instantaneously. "The hostages inside will end up the same as that lamppost if you don't give me any response in the next 20 minutes! Yellow is inside right now, threatening them with a gun to all of their faces as we speak!"

"Let's try to turn this into a lesson, Angelbeat. When there's a hostage situation, one of the most important actions to perform is surveillance, whether it is visual or audible. Your quirk is perfect for surveillance, so I want you to oversee this part of the hostage situation on your own." Crust raised a finger, looking proud at this idea.

"Wait, just me?" Kyouka pointed at herself. "That's a bit of pressure to put me in charge of this part of the hostage situation."

Crust laughed and patted her back. "No need to feel any pressure at all! I'm sure you've done something like this before in training, so this will be no different! You'll be absolutely wonderful here!"

Kyouka sighed and looked at the ground. "Okay, I got it. But I wish you told me that I would be handling this on our way here."

Kyouka stuck her earphone jack into the ground and closed her eyes to carefully listen inside of the bank.

"Other than those two guys outside, I hear the hostages and I think it's the one they called Yellow. But it sounds like Yellow is away from the hostages and-Wait, I hear him saying something."

"I hope none of the heroes or police call my bros' bluff on my mustard being able to melt these hostages like their quirks. Dammit, why'd I have to get stuck with the quirk that only stains clothes and is used on hot dogs while those two can melt stuff? I don't even like mustard. So unfair." Yellow took a deep breath and sounded like he was biting his nails. "This will be an easy score though. My bros will convince the police and whatever heroes that come to let us escape with the money. Then, it's smooth sailing from here. They'd rather give us money than risk innocent civilians getting hurt, much less killed."

Kyouka looked up at Crust, removing her earphone jack from the ground. "Hey, Crust, I think I got some vital info here."

"Tell me all about it, Angelbeat."

"Their partner, Yellow, can't actually harm anybody with his quirk. The whole hostage threat is a bluff. You don't have to worry about the hostages getting harmed in any way unless one of them is allergic to mustard."

"Ah, is that so?" Crust stretched down to touch his toes before hopping over the police cars and outstretched his hands as he faced the villains. "Good day, you two! Would you mind handling this in a peaceful manner and lay down your weapons?"

Red and Green pointed their guns directly at Crust, Red smiling at the hero. "I didn't think a Pro Hero would try anything this stupid! Do you want to get behind that police car or do you want to die?!"

Two large shields formed on Crust's forms arms as he placed them in front of him and began to approach the two villains. "Is there a third option?"

"Nope!" Red and Green both fired their guns at Crust's shields, stopping the hero as he angled his shields downward, so the ketchup and relish splashed towards the ground before slowly walking towards the two villains.

"Why isn't he running towards them? The guns can't be that strong, right?" Kyouka asked, not understanding why Crust is taking his sweet time.

"It's because if he runs towards them, he'll risk both exposing his legs to be attacked and the ketchup or relish splattering in random directions. It could hit us, the villains, or possibly a civilian if it can travel that far. And that's not a risk Crust would take." A police officer explained, adjusting his cap. "When you're trying to save lives, you must always think about the safest way to handle a situation instead of the easiest. He's doing this in a way that risks his life and no one else's."

"Ah, I see. A hero's a hero for a reason. Guess I'm used to seeing a lot about All Might where he takes out villains in one fell swoop."

Kyouka paid close attention to Crust's shields and looked at her speaker boots before looking at her forearms, an idea brewing in her head. 'Hmm, I wonder if that could work… I'll have to keep this mental note and consider it more sometime in the future. A little too soon for a costume upgrade.'

Green smirked at the hero. "I'll RELISH the moment when your body melts away, hero!"

Red cackled, refilling his gun with his quirk so it would keep firing as some sweat formed on his forehead. "You have 2 minutes to stop this pointless move! Or else I'll have Yellow kill the hostages and have them KETCHUP to you to your grave."

Crust created more shields from his arms, barely keeping up with the shields that melted away from the ketchup and relish. 'Wow! I didn't know villains could come up with such clever puns! What other puns could they have?'

Kyouka and the police officers around her groaned at the puns.

'Wow… I didn't know villains could come up with such stupid puns… I hope they don't have any other puns…'

Crust was getting closer and closer to the two villains as some relish splattered right in front of Red's foot, causing him to shriek in fear. "Green, watch where you're shooting! My foot almost melted off!"

Green shrieked in fear right after as some ketchup splattered right in front of his foot. "You're one to talk, Red! Who's going to help you keep Crust back once I'm missing a foot to stand on?!"

"Who's going to help me?! I should be saying that to you!" Red pointed at his brother. "You should be grateful that I'm helping you!"

Green pointed back at Red. "Please! I could easily hold him off on my own! I would even argue that your ketchup is diluting my relish!"

"Yeah right! It's the other way around! If I was the only one shooting at him, he would've been a puddle by now!"

"Do you have any idea how stupid you sound right now?! God, I would rather have Yellow out here with me right now!"

"I agree. He should be out here with you."

"Thank you! Finally, you agree with me!"

"I didn't agree with you! I'd rather die before that!"

"Then who was it?!"

"Me."

"Huh?"

Red and Green looked up to see Crust towering above them with a smile on his face before waving at them. "Hello."

They screamed as they laid their eyes on the hero. "How did you get here so soon?!

"With the speed you were walking at, we should've at least had another 30 seconds!"

"Take a look at your guns."

The two brothers looked at their guns to see that only little bits of ketchup and relish were dripping out of the barrels.

"Ah crap, we forgot to refill our guns."

"Yep. This is awkward."

"Quite. But you don't have to worry about them anymore." The hero said before he sliced through the two guns with his shields.

Green gulped, feeling his legs go weak under him as he whispered to Red. "What do we do now? We don't have any real leverage with our hostages not being in any real danger."

Red smirked at Green. "It's fine. We can catch him by surprise with our quirks. Our firing range may be short without our guns, but he's at the perfect range to get his face."

"Good idea. He won't see it coming. The last thing he'll feel is a searing pain all over his face."

"Alright, fire on my mark. 3… 2… 1… G-"

Crust grabbed both of their heads and smashed them together, knocking the two brothers out in an instant. "These two aren't the smartest cookies in the jar." He looked forward to the bank before looking back at Kyouka and the officers. "Be back in a jiffy!"

Crust ran into the bank with a smile that displayed full confidence in himself while everyone watched in silence. In a matter of seconds, sounds of splattering and punching were heard with some mustard flying out of the doors.

Suddenly, a man wearing a uniform similar to the other two villains, but yellow, was thrown out of the bank and landed on the ground, covered in bruises. "H-How did he know my mustard wasn't going to hurt anyone?!" He turned his head to see his brothers knocked out. "Ahhh! Red! Green! Wake up and save me!"

Police officers advanced forward and surrounded the three brothers. "On the ground, Yellow! Keep your hands where we can see them!"

Yellow nodded without hesitation and laid on the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"

Crust walked out of the bank, most of his body covered in mustard as he licked his fingers. "I much prefer ketchup, but this isn't half bad at all. This man could've easily excelled at having his own mustard brand across Japan. A real shame he chose the path of villainy. But… at least I have MUSTARD the strength to stop these evil-doers today! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Crust proceeded to laugh at his own joke, with the only other person laughing along with him being Yellow.

'Ugh, that joke wasn't necessary at all.'

"I'm so sorry, officers! This is all my mistake! If only I had acted sooner, this entire matter would've been resolved without any property damage!" Crust apologized as he approached them, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I swear on my title as a hero, I will not let a single piece of property get damaged the next time another crime occurs in this city!"

"It's all good, Crust. The worst thing that's happened is the lamppost melting with…relish, and one of our guys having his arm singed with… ketchup. Wow, that is one weird sentence."

"Wait! An officer was injured! Where is the officer?! I must see him this instant and provide my deepest apologies for allowing this to happen!" Crust shouted out before one of the officers pointed towards an ambulance with the officer in question being treated next to it.

Kyouka sweatdropped as she watched Crust grovel at the injured officer's feet, giving dozens of apologies and obviously making the officer uncomfortable while his fellow officers snickered at him.

'Sheesh, I'm glad I didn't get injured so I don't have to be in that guy's shoes. Think I'd rather get knocked unconscious than suffer through that embarrassment.' Kyouka pulled out her phone and started to call Izuku so she can tell him about what happened. 'This'll probably be the most excitement I'll get during this internship. Might as well let him know about something cool happening. These next couple of days will be a breeze in comparison, but I'm cool with that.'

However, Kyouka had no idea who she was going to meet on the last day of her internship. It would be a meeting that would change the course of her life and bring about misfortune.


A/N

That is the end of chapter 49!

So… I'm not dead. Hooray… If I'm being honest, I was so close to dropping this story and a part of me wants to delete and reboot it. But I don't have the time to rewrite this story from scratch and if I did reboot it, it would've definitely gotten dropped. With college and stuff, I don't have time for that.

Honestly, the entire hospital scene was written before I went on hiatus back in August, so it felt kinda weird to be returning months later to write the other parts of the chapter.

Hope some of you know what villain inspired the Condiment Brothers. I had some fun writing them even though it was really short-lived. But who knows? This may not be the end of the Condiment Brothers.

You know, I might make some retcons because I feel like it in the future. I think I'm at the point now where I'm like "Fuck it, I'm doing whatever I want. If I think it's a fun idea, I'm doing it." It brought me to make a decision that you'll see in the next chapter.

But one example I'll share is having Kyouka making unrealistic progress in training in the very near future because I'm regretting not taking the chance to improve her skills more during the months that Izuku was training with All Might. I could rewrite those chapters in particular, but I'm not sure if I want to. But hey, I'll take any feedback I can get from you guys to handle this smoother.

But I'm not saying this story will turn into a crack story where everything is randomly done so don't worry about that. I just want to feel less pressured to be logical about shit and try not to stick too close to the rules for this story that I set for myself a long while back.

(BTW, I'm not sure if you guys have seen the image of Kyouka's costume I've added to chapter 47 in AO3 and on Wattpad. Check it out if you haven't already.)

Won't be doing reviews this time cause I'm very tired and I don't have the energy to catch up on the reviews I missed. But next time for sure.