One week later. Math class, 09:30 a.m., Tuesday.

Seven days had passed, interspersed with seven nights and seven identical clones of Mineta's nightmare. Always the same judge, witnesses, and people condemning him and his behavior. Always the same guilty song of reproaches running on a loop. The boy still hadn't gotten used to it and morning routines felt similar. Cold sweats, hot showers, introspective thoughts full of doubts, bad-quality sleep, general embarrassment and social distancing from midnight to midday and midday to midnight. A routine in a routine.

That day was like its predecessors.

By the time the exercise sheet landed on his desk, Mineta had recovered from his morning heartache. Little by little, slowly but surely, the bad emotions had slipped away. Mostly, as the still guilt-ridden boy wasn't completely free of his doubts. The accusing voices in his head, early forerunners of an existential crisis, hadn't gone extinct. Not yet. Those he couldn't get out were keeping a low profile as background noise. They were waiting for something.

Not yet.

"You have fifteen minutes before I come back. No talking to each other or Aizawa will hear about it." said Ectoplasm as he left the classroom. "Good luck, students."

Mineta had mixed feelings about this scientific subject. He wasn't especially bad or good at math – being smart still was one of his strongest features after all. He just didn't like it, especially not when it wasn't the appropriate time to think extensively.

Hence his "wise" decision to do what he was best at to kill time. Looking at girls.

At first, his keen depraved-boy reflexes seemed to be back in action. One by one, he made eye contact with each of the six girls in his class. In his head, the mastermind of perversion got to work to outline plots and conspiracies. Many synopses came together, dirty stories assembled. What would be his first low blow of the day? His first deviousness under the belt? Endless possibilities. Nothing would stop him from hatching the nastiest of all plans. His sly face winced in jubilation.

He was ready for it. Then a problem showed up.

It took him no time to realize that he was acting like a robot. Emotionless. He was emotionless. An obscure blockage deep inside prevented him from moving any further, rendering him powerless. As strange and unusual as could be, it turned out being a perv bored him. It was not so pleasant to devise an evil scheme. Unlike before, it felt like getting under the skin of a low-life villain. And a dumb one for his trouble, doomed to fail from the start.

Tenacious remnants of his nightmare still perturbed him like visions straight out of hell. Every time he laid an eye on a girl, his stomach hurt. The unnerved boy first put the blame on breakfast, which he had gulped down in a couple of seconds before class. He then remembered that he had barely eaten anything for lack of hunger and time, hence clearing the food of all charges.

His absent-mindedness, which had previously brought him reprimands from Ectoplasm to general amusement, only grew stronger. In such a state of mind, the boy suffered a major technical issue. He was now left with a crippled groin, unable to enjoy the benefits of his daily perverseness. Unbeknown to him, a tiny but resistant moral filter was slowly covering his eyes and blurring his primal urges.

Distraught, but not defeated, Mineta looked for a plan B. He needed allies to stimulate and cheer him up. The boy swept the class with his radar eyes to draw the attention of two likely "candidates", all while scanning their reaction to his implicit invitation. Hanta Sero didn't look so interested or concerned, if not downright hostile to the idea of hunting for forbidden fruits. The three unknowns of the equation written on his paper were funnier to search for.

Maybe Denki, his all-time-favorite faithful acolyte?

The pair was no new to this game. If their brains worked together as one perverted entity, they would definitely accomplish miracles. With the two of them looking for a perfect "angle", the ultimate "point of view", it'd be a matter of seconds before they acquire a good target in a moment of weakness. And then, striking like a lightning, they would plunge their avid looks under a careless skirt or in-between the lines of a falling bra.

One classic, timeless trick was to "accidentally" cause a girl to drop a pen on the floor, wait for her to bend down to pick it up, and watch the show as it rewarded them with cute underpants. Tactics that never grew old or out of fashion.

But most to his surprise, the electric boy denied his request to join a new session with a nod of the head. "Leave me alone!" was the only clear statement Mineta could read on his face. Denki wasn't interested, end of the debate. And he better had gotten used to it.

One week before, the Pikachu mascot and Kyoka Jiro had gotten closer together. "Closer" meaning "as a couple" to basically anyone with eyes to see. Probably had they already confessed their love for each other in private. In public though, they behaved like their relationship was still undisclosed, and their feelings for one another, unrevealed. Open secret.

Since that not-so-unsuspected event, Denki had more openly kept his distance from his former partner in indecency. He had distanced himself from what he perceived as inappropriate behavior, incompatible with his love life and that could jeopardize his coupledom. From this moment on, Mineta would probably have to do without him.

Yet another plan falling apart.

"And yet another friend giving up on me…" Mineta mumbled. "Maybe he wasn't that a good friend…or I wasn't one."

Upon returning, Ectoplasm collected the papers. Mineta had yet to write an answer, so he turned backward. Momo Yaoyorozu, sitting behind him, always gave the right answers. The class' top student usually was first to raise her hand, or first to speak after Izuku Midoriya got it wrong. Depending on the number of unknowns and letters. The cheater boy caught a quick glance of her written answer, memorized and copied it on his own paper. Better that than a meeting with Aizawa.

The misunderstanding came from Yaoyorozu herself, when she lifted up her head as Mineta turned back forward. Having learned how to decode his gestural behavior like an open book, she jumped to the conclusion that the grape-haired boy had not been looking for math. Instinctively, she covered her breasts with her arms, pouting angrily.

"You stupid pervert!" she murmured as her eyebrows dropped further down.

The boy froze in embarrassment. Turning around to cheat at a math test had been enough to be misinterpreted as an act of predation. Other classmates turned their heads altogether upon hearing the whispered accusation. When they saw who the two involved people were – with a clear knowledge of the culprit – half the class frowned at him.

And Mineta, blushing like he just committed a crime of high treason, found himself coerced into keeping a low profile for something he hadn't done. Karma had spoken in its own way. Am I really that much a pervert? he thought twice, in all honesty.

The question was rhetorical. Yet for a split second, Mineta felt true interrogation and surprise. Like he had actually become aware of all his misdeeds at this precise moment.

This didn't make sense, as the light-hearted boy with a selective conscience had been knowing how bad and immoral, if not unlawful his actions and words were, for a very long time. From the beginning, to say the least, he had known that harassing, sexually assaulting and peeping on girls was unworthy of a hero. Unworthy of any good, decent man.

"A hero, really? Try learning how to be a good person first!" Kota Izumi had said while pushing back the wall-climber, leaving him to literally fall from grace into the onsen pool.

Mineta hadn't learned his lesson since. It had yet to happen, but wasn't too late for that. It was then, in this seemingly unimportant lapse of time, that a surprise thought shook his mind. What if…doing all I do was wrong? started the train of his remorse. What if I hurt someone? it kept rolling. What if…I hurt her? And them?

Mineta took it upon himself to suffer in silence from the general antipathy, and waited until the tension dissipated.

Ectoplasm being a math teacher, his brain-racking questions filled with numbers kept most of his pupils busy scratching their heads. As he started an interactive self-correction session, no doubts most of them would need brain surgery by the end of the course. And no doubts Mineta didn't need him to tear his hair out over haunting issues. What if I'm a bad person, like that "judge" said…

The thought became an eventuality. The eventuality turned into obsession.

To convince himself otherwise, the grape-haired student chose to make the most of this advantageous situation. He'd observe each girl, scrutinize them all, one by one. Until the pleasure of looking at their individual body came back where it was supposed to. Then, and only then, he'd feel like himself again.

From where she was, Yaoyorozu couldn't be the first. Therefore, he started with Tsuyu Asui.

The Rainy-Season Hero was one of his favorites. Dark sea-green hair, large frog-like mouth, oval-shaped eyes and slender body. Besides from her generous breast, what Mineta liked the most about his froggy classmate were her sweet and tender voice, her laid-out behavior and straightforward way of expressing herself. Her finger tic two. It was adorable, period. Even her morally-strong sense of responsibilities and high judgment skills were impossible to feel indifferent about; quite ironic from a boy with such imperfect moral principles.

But no matter how insistently he looked at her, all he could feel was guilt. The guilt of never having apologized to her for his misconduct during the U.S.J. Incident. The scorching memories of Asui's tongue hitting him for legitimate reasons, or hanging him by the feet. Mineta had a lot to be blamed for regarding her. He had yet to correct the wrong and the workload would be heavy.

Too bad he couldn't bother thinking about it. Instead, he focused his attention on the next target on his list. Jiro.

Mineta still had vivid memories of his right eye's "first contact" with her Earphone Jack, on that doomed day the pervy spy had unsuccessfully tried to peep on their naked body from his male classmates' locker room. His efforts to squeeze a tiny dash of pleasure out of her clothed body soon fell apart. Far from giving up, he turned his desire for results to Ochaco Uraraka. Same hope, same disappointment. Then came Toru Hagakure; invisible girl for an invisible pleasure. The attempt on Mina Ashido proved as fruitless. With only Yaoyorozu left but still out of sight, he attempted to picture her stripped-bare body in his head. Vainly.

The shadow of failure got him down. His head dropped.

Generally speaking, taking a peep at any of the six feminine beauties now had a meaning since that night of heavy introspection. For all the uttered profanities, unwanted sexual touching and inappropriate remarks – both in and outside of this class – he had some room in his grey matter to remember. An exhaustive list of all his offenses, from the smallest mishap to the most serious mistake, was being drawn up in his mind. All attempts to erase it from his memory failed.

He would never be able to circumvent it. I need to do something! Mineta thought with skepticism, until the truth revealed itself. What I've done was wrong. I-I better apologize. Yes! I really have to.

Starting from scratch, by demonstrating some maturity and humility. In his head, it almost sounded attractive. The self-changed man theory.

He barely had anything to lose trying. Or so he thought.

The moment Mineta chose to make a move was the worst ever.

Yielding to his own impatience, he jumped off his chair after Ectoplasm left. Until the next teacher arrived, the students were free to get up, talk and wander about in the classroom as they pleased. Gathered at the back of the room in a private circle, the girls were quietly talking to each other. Until a disruptive parasite came to break the harmony.

"Hello girls, sorry to–"

In unison, they mistakenly feared the purple-haired boy might be looking for trouble. His apologetic speech was cut short.

"Leave us alone." Yaoyorozu interrupted him abruptly. "You've done enough already."

Deep in her eyes, Mineta saw that the resentful cheerleader had not left.

"But–"

"I think you got enough of an eyeful today." Jiro added with a similar tone. "Just leave already, and stop looking at us like you want to do nasty things or something."

Mineta's heart suffered his first panic attack. They actually had noticed him eying them from his desk, earning him a straight zero in spying. He was off to a very bad start.

Nevertheless, the boy with good intentions had tremendous willpower in store. He loaded his pupils with his sincerest expression; and set them on Asui with stars shining around. To a limited degree, he and the froggy girl were still on friendly terms. Regardless of all the severe punishing he had received for his inappropriate comments - fair enough – he had come to look up to her like a kind of unofficial big sister. There wasn't a single day without recalling, with a fond but timid pride, the praise and support he had earned from her for his ingenuity in combat.

Although the threat of punishment always floated above his head.

"Sorry Minoru, but I'm not talking to you until you stop looking at my boobs. This is all you're interested in right now, kero."

At least, there was an "until". Better talk in conditional tense than nothing.

Unfortunately for Mineta, they knew him too much to grant him a chance of starting a normal conversation. How many times had he tricked them? Falling for his scheme always ended in misery. No matter how sincere he appeared, the boy remained a duplicitous hypocrite to most people around him. He and trust didn't see eye to eye, unlike lies and deceit.

Why would they change their minds now? Better ignore him.

"So, as I was saying…"

"Wait please!"

"No."

"I just–"

And the punishment tongue slapped.

Later in the afternoon, following a Hero Course fitness exercise in the P.E. Grounds, all students from Class 1-A were getting changed in the locker rooms.

As usual, Mineta ended up on his own in a corner. Nobody wanted to talk to him while locked in the same room as he was, especially THIS kind of place. Like being anywhere close to the controversial dwarf in this context made his peers feel embarrassed, when not put at risk.

It was a normal occurrence.

The boy had a long, well-known history of misbehavior in the locker rooms. Whenever he participated in a collective training that involved people removing their clothes at some point – especially six particular ones – Mineta always used to let his darkest side take over. Anybody with a working memory still remembered the Peephole Incident, with its share of malicious looks, profanities about woman anatomy and rivers of drools. Ever since, this shameful event had never been mentioned or debated again. But no one had forgotten, nor forgiven the pervy goblin. This was not acceptable and would not go without consequences for the infamous teen's social interactions. Shame on him.

This time nevertheless, nothing happened. The sad-looking boy stood distant from everyone, brooding over his earlier misfortune without saying a word. For he really was depressed. Sadly for him, his fellow classmates were anything but convinced that he was actually sucking it up. And slowly changing for that matter. There was one famous proverb that said: "Thoughts can create". All people around him dreaded the thought of such an incident to happen again.

All. Of. Them. And so it happened. Sort of.

When Mineta was done getting dressed in his school uniform, he proceeded to the exit. It was this moment a mischievous draft chose to slap his face as he opened the door, whipping up a poster that was wrongly fixed to the wall in the process. Behind it was a hole that led right to the female locker room. Again. Karma-level teasing from fate itself.

The boy was walking close to it, unaware of its existence, when the rest of the class noticed. Tenya Iida was first to jump at the chance of reprimanding him by the books.

"Minoru, cease and desist at once! I've already told you that peeping was a criminal act! Won't you learn one day?"

He was calling him by his first name, hinting that he cared about his well-being and treated him as a friend. But the severe, unfriendly glance in the middle of his upset face said otherwise. The muscular Class Representative had had enough.

"This is very disappointing of you, Mineta. Doing it again whereas you knew it is wrong? Very disappointing" he rubbed it in with his usual, weird hand gestures.

Looks of approval for his words – and disapproving of Mineta's presumed ways – popped up on most faces. Mineta would have a hard time defending himself. He tried anyway.

"What are you talking about? I-I was not spying…" he started awkwardly. "It was just the wind. I've got nothing to do with that, I swear!"

He was speaking the truth. In vain, as everybody had their little say about "their" own truth. Starting with his closest friend.

"Even though I understand why you like girls – who doesn't here? - you're taking it too far, buddy." said Kaminari with an obviously embarrassed expression on his face. "I love girls too, but I still respect their privacy. Because they are, you know, human beings? You should do the same. One day, you gonna cross the line and it will have consequences. I don't wanna be around when it happens."

He clearly had the intention of taking his distance from the hormonal black sheep of the class. And what better way to achieve this than scolding his own friend in front of everyone? And it seemed to work. From the moment he stopped talking, cheers of support and a thunder of applause erupted. As far as from behind the wall, in the adjacent female locker rooms.

The girls had heard it all and soundly backed his speech.

"Thank you, Denki-kun! You're the best."

"I hope this pig didn't get to see any of us."

"He's been fairly punished, kero."

Of course, he likes girls… Jiro thought, a bit jealous. But at least, HE said something about me.

Inconspicuously, Kaminari flashed Sero a sidelong thumbs up at a distance. The latter quickly returned the gesture with a knowing wink. Kaminari was happy, as his female classmates' appreciation of him was now skyrocketing. He already had a girlfriend, but he still treated himself to remaining a cheeky pervert in a smarter way. Nice and clever move.

When Mineta took notice of this, he couldn't help but feel envious. His friend was successfully reconciling respect and love for women. A level he had yet to reach. Hats off.

This hint of jealously quickly vanished when the outpouring of blame continued, from the seconds after the last hands stopped clapping.

"As a Class Rep, it is my duty to remind you of what we are doing here, in that school." resumed Iida, the same strict look drawing out on his face. "We want to become heroes, protect everyone from villains and make this world a better place. Am I right?"

The grape-haired boy gave a timid nod. Iida's authoritative aura intimated him like he was back in his kindergarten shoes.

"But the way you behave is completely unheroic and won't do U.A. any honors. It's a shame at your age!" Iida scolded. "I still respect you as a classmate. But you better work on your manners and change your ways, before I refer to our teachers for further disciplinary actions against you. For all the bad things you've done and the times you misbehaved, including this morning, I won't hesitate to report you to Principal Nezu should there be another misconduct from you."

Mineta's attempts to apologize had led to being judged as a pervert again. All for nothing.

"It is my duty, and I will do it if necessary. The sooner you grow up, the better." Iida finished.

His hand chopped down with visible strictness, until it moderately hit the balls covering the top of Mineta's skull. And yet another round of praise to support this explicit threat. If there still was a doubt about how bad Mineta's reputation had gotten, it was now gone for good.

In the crowded locker room, frowned looks and snarky comments flew all over the place. Even peaceful people like Koji Koda – timid to the point of turning mute 99% of the time – didn't hide their discontent over these accusations against their purple classmate.

Only Bakugo couldn't care less. His back was turned, his eyes turned to other horizons and his legs already walking to the exit. For not caring at all and saying nothing, Mineta almost wanted to thank him.

"You big pervert!" Sero whispered. "That's what you get for behaving like a scumbag."

To his own surprise, the Taping Hero was told off by Iida himself for insulting his classmate. A short, but passionate speech about respect, dignity and forgiveness ensured in a loudly theatrical way. He always took responsibilities for the guidance of those he cared for, and made sure to downplay tension among them with a little help from his defusing skills.

Whoever he was, made no exception and still stood as a worthy classmate to his dedicated friend. However, Iida had a flawed habit of jumping to conclusions and acted on them for better or for worse. Assuming on a whim that Mineta was guilty of another peeping crime, regardless of what facts said, he now acknowledged him as a repeat offender who could relapse whenever his back was turned.

This would greatly affect the overall perception of how the boy could be trusted. Even when I'm innocent, I'm guilty. Doing nothing at all is still a crime…

Now aware of how serious his predicament was, Mineta was defenseless. "Accepting" this judgment and conceding defeat in silence was his only hope of enjoying peace again. Nobody would change his mind about him. Arguing was pointless.

Then spoke another classmate. Not just anyone.

"You know, Mineta-san…" Midoriya approached. "This class should be very important to you. As the future generation of heroes, we need to stick together and support each other. It's like a family, where everyone does his best. You are still are friend and we mean no harm. We just want to help, alright? Help you become a better person. That's also what heroes do."

Once again, the whole class approved. In a friendlier way.

"Friendship". "Family". Mineta wondered about the meaning of these two words. What it meant for the remainder of his peers, who doubtlessly had better relatives and thought friendship had to be earned. And what they meant for him. Not much, actually. For he felt like he barely had neither a family or friends to be counted on.

Did he deserve to have any? Could he actually become a hero when no one cared about or wanted him around? Probably not. Better get used to that.

"Yes…you're right. I'm sorry." he confessed half-heartedly.

Midoriya smiled like he knew how to. The entire room became bright from his teeth shining.

"Good!" he rejoiced. "I'm glad you agree."

He didn't.

"It's over now. Let's go back to class." Iida announced, satisfied.

Height Alliance dormitories, 04:00 p.m.

Homework was already done. The ladies were resting in the dorm lounge, talking to each other about their incoming night out.

"I suggest we go shopping at the Mall." Ashido started with negotiations.

"Why not try the swimming pool?" Asui said. "We could ask Aizawa-sensei and book it for ourselves tonight, kero."

Yaoyorozu looked skeptical.

"I don't know…won't there be another "visitor" this time? This kind of place offers many good spots to hide. There is always a sneaky little pervert to spy on us. We're not safe there."

The pervert in question was the reason why, despite the warm and sunny weather, the girls had decided to gather inside in the common area. In the outdoor courtyard, predators could have been on the lookout. Following the second "looker room" incident, one could never be too careful. Especially someone like Yaoyorozu, who still felt the disgusting sensation of the "genius" purple parasite holding onto her back like an imprinted stain. He really was the worse.

For her part, Jiro was already standing by.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. If he ever comes close to you again, I'll make sure his left eye hurts more than the right one."

"Well-said!" Ashido approved. "I'll help you too. When that naughty stalker comes back to play peek-a-boo, I'll be here to Acid Veil some good old-fashioned respect into him. It might hurt a little, but it's for his own good. My special move is an excellent way to wash one's mind clean off any dirty thought!" she boasted.

Jiro laughed at this radically-exaggerated statement. She raised her Earphone Jacks in the air, stiffened like sharp daggers, to better prove her point and echo back to Ashido's hawkish stance. Uraraka wore the same determinate face than when she had returned from her internship at Gunhead's, a fierce aura of willpower darkening her eyes.

"This pervy boy must be so light; he's only 1m08 high. It's gonna be easy to send him flying over the Moon if he bothers any of us!" she threatened, her fighting spirit almost creeping everybody out. "Don't you dare, Pervineta."

Asui was also ready. Her lashing tongue would do the job, but she chose not to express it.

"Still…" Ashido seemed to regret. "It's a real shame. Each new day, he's stooping lower than the day before."

"I'd even say that he already hit rock-bottom." Hagakure added.

Time had come for Yaoyorozu to let herself go.

"But he keeps digging!" she kidded.

They shrieked in laughter, defusing the tension and lightening up the atmosphere. Putting all his flaws apart, the dreaded purple head often managed to extort a smile from them in secret. No matter how badly he had angered them, he could still be someone's laughing stock.

"Too bad for him." Ashido concluded with an easygoing smirk. "I don't know about you girls, but we could almost say that it's too bad from some other people too…see what I mean?"

The pink-colored student was back to joking around cheerfully. On her happy-go-lucky face, she wore her usual smile. None of what she said was to be taken seriously.

"You talkin' about Shinso Hitoshi, right? Yaoyorozu followed suit cheerfully. "It's true that he would be a worthier hero than Mineta…maybe!"

"ALL of Class 1-B would!" Hagakure complemented with the same jovial tone.

Asui's vacant eyes opened wide, one finger close to her chin.

"I'm not certain our classroom is big enough for thirty-nine students…" she croaked.

They stopped laughing, gazing at the deadpan Rainy-Season Hero as she spoke from her mind with a vacant look. Apparently, she was serious. The second after, they were laughing again.

All six of them.

Their levelheaded friend was one-of-a-kind. On the rare occasions when she made jokes, the difficulty to read Asui's emotions made it hard for other classmates to react accordingly. Hence the silent lapse. This moment of frivolity was short-lived, as Yaoyorozu went back to thinking about the pervert boy in all seriousness.

"We shouldn't be saying that. Problematic elements have their reasons to be, too. We, Class 1-A, are a solid team. If we don't support each other, it will tear us apart."

"Iida Tenya, leave this body at once!" Ashido screamed gently.

"Coming from you, it's kinda weird." Hagakure said with surprise. "You should be the first to wish this lil' perv would be expelled tomorrow at dawn."

"You have a point." Yaoyorozu laughed, half-heartedly.

The lines between what was serious and what wasn't became blurred. No one could pretend to know, for sure, who actually thought what he said and who didn't. The only exception was Asui, whose straightforward and thoughtful mind had caught up with her.

She'd ask herself lots of questions about Mineta's odd behavior the same day. According to Ashido, the pervy boy was in great shape. Sarcastically speaking. Truth is, Mineta had spent half of the morning looking longingly at his female classmates. But this time had felt different. It wasn't anything like ogling or invasive peeking. Maybe at the beginning, but not for long. Had he just been observing them, like he was trying to understand something and make contact?

This ambiguous attitude allowed a lingering doubt.

"Earth to Tsu, do you copy?" Ashido asked. "What are you thinkin' about? I want to know who you want to marry."

Ashido being Ashido.

"K-kero? Sorry Mina-chan, it's about Mineta. I can't stop thinking about him."

The fluffy-haired girl almost fell from the couch. Of all relationships she could imagine, shipping the grape and the frog together was like eating fish with chocolate. Hard to swallow.

"That was…unexpected."

Asui soon understood what this quid pro quo was about.

"That's not what you think!" she cried out with more of these cute-sounding "keros" of hers, blushing in a way she hadn't since Mineta had touched her breasts. "I just don't think he was eyeballing us. He gave the impression that he was trying to talk to us. Maybe we should have listened to what he had to say?"

The room fell silent as they gave the croaking hero's words a thought. Asui was not the only one who had noticed Mineta's unordinary withdrawal and discretion that morning. It had been seven days since his behavioral upgrade had become apparent. Gone were the groping, ogling, scheming, gross language, sexual harassing and verbal indecency. Apart from a few glances every now and then, more on the awkward side than the lewd one, Mineta had muzzled his urges.

"Don't fall for this trick." Yaoyorozu warned. "It's probably another messed-up scheme. Mineta is a liar, and a manipulator who'll go to any lengths to reach his goal. My backside and your chest, in our case."

She was correct. In theory.

"You also have a point, kero." Asui admitted.

"I wish that boy could actually change for the better." Yaoyorozu insisted. "But when you think twice about it, Mineta was able to pass a difficult entrance exam with this "limited" Quirk of his, worked very hard to get into such a renowned high school and successfully started a Hero Course…just because he wanted to grope girls! That's nonsensical and ridiculous. That guy came to U.A. literally because of us! In an all-male course, he'd have quit within a day or two. Someone with such strong ambitions will stop at nothing, even if he has to forget what decency and being a noble hero mean. You should be careful about that."

She was completely right. Asui knew it and she agreed. Although some mixed feelings about the grape terror remained. No matter what others thought, the look on his face that morning was nothing normal. Something had happened to him. Good or bad? That was a mystery.

As for the other girls, doubt still persisted as well. Asui was known for her straightforward approach to any problem, especially when getting something off her chest – in every way. She never was at a loss for words when it came to speaking her mind. And she never lied about her feelings. If something was off about Mineta and it bothering her, it may as well have been true and worth thinking twice. They would have to mention this again, sooner or later.

But the time was not right to give him a moment in the spotlight. Changing subjects proved necessary to clear her mind. Asui's finger returned in tic position as she spoke up.

"On second thoughts, I think the Mall is a great idea." Asui suggested. "Shall we go, kero?"

They got ready and left the dormitory half an hour later.

Back in his bedroom, Mineta's chest ached. A forest of emotions – hurt feelings, emptiness, helplessness – took his heart by storm as he dropped his schoolbag on his bed. They fought for power in his mind, pushing the boundaries of anxiety.

So, that's what they think…it's even worse than I thought.

A few minutes before.

On his way back to the dorms, Mineta overhead a conversation in the living room. From the end of a nearby corridor, he kept his ears open. It took him nothing more than a couple of seconds, before he wished he hadn't been listening to them at all. For it taught him out loud everything his former "targets" had been thinking about him from the beginning.

The nasty incidence of his eavesdropping rolled down his puffy cheeks, in the form of mute but painful tears. It had all started in the locker room, after he realized the girls had been listening to him being collectively lectured. He had to learn about what they would say about him, once in a private area where they could talk freely. Another peeping on them right after being scolded for it. Business as usual.

He eventually found out. Most to his dismay.

... It's a real shame….

…Shinso would be a worthier hero than Mineta…

…you should be the one to wish this lil' perv was expelled already…

…Mineta is a liar, a manipulator…

…just because he wanted to grope girls!…

Not making direct contact with them saved him the "visions of horror" from his nightmare, whenever he saw a girl. Listening to them brought him worse: a stab in the heart. The frivolous smiles on their faces eluded him, and the obvious humor went over his head. That'd teach him not to pay attention to the words of people who already hated him out in the open.

But now, Mineta knew. He knew what it was like to be spied from behind a wall. He knew how it felt to hear people talk about him behind his back. He knew it all.

Present time. Mineta's bedroom, 06:00 p.m.

The first feeling Mineta was able to identify shook his guts like a burst of magma. A faint, muffled, unexplainable, unruly anger.

How dare they? How dare they treat me a liar, after they refused to hear the truth? What I had to say…that I was sorry? That was bold of them…

And it wasn't the first time someone was shushing him before he could explain himself.

"Just shut the fuck up!" It had been his mother's favorite sentence to silence him, before he could say that he loved her.

"Be quiet!" he had been ordered to many times, by his teachers in middle school. Especially after he was given detention for losing his temper against bullies in the schoolyard, illegally using his Quirk for self-defense, and being framed as the perfect culprit because his physical traits made him suitable to play the villain.

Ever since, the curse had repeated itself. Was it a curse? Maybe or maybe not. Mineta had long got used to it. With his useless Quirk, his unattractive figure, inner lack of confidence and widespread unpopularity to the point of infamy.

Maybe he deserved it, hence explaining this hot feeling of anger directed at none other than himself. Maybe it was the price to pay for possessing one single quality…harassing women without ever getting tired of it. But did he really need it? To become a hero?

His repellent ways and coarse physical traits might as well been a natural defense weapon, to ensure nobody would enter his life and hurt him. But why would he feel more like the victim of his defense system? Was it really protecting him?

Or maybe he was still the average perv, a mediocre human being like he always knew he was. It was only a nightmare, after all. Being frowned upon, looked down on by his peers and lectured by his teacher had become a daily routine. So why did it hurt so much, all of a sudden?

I should have become a villain. It would be simpler for everyone…

He punched himself in the face.

"Out of the question, you stupid fool! Never say that again, even if you want to. "

Rather die a hero than becoming what he had sworn to fight. Not even as a symbol. The road to hell was paved with good intentions. For as long as his tainted nature flourished, Mineta knew he was headed to an underground resting place for bad boys. No matter how bad the pavement was, he still had to make his contribution.

He clenched his fists.

"I'm gonna do it again. And again. And again. Try it, retry it. A thousand times if I have to. I will apologize."

And his personal issues would not get in the way.

"I'll solve my family problems and tame my old demons on my own, like a grown-up. I don't need help."

But first, he had to gear up for it. Apologizing for perverted acts made no sense, as long as his own bedroom looked like a porn film studio.

"Time for clean-up. Let's get to work."