Friday afternoon, 04:20 p.m.

Once Mineta had been spotted, Shinso never let him out of his sight.

For a while, he gingerly stayed in the shadow and stealthily followed him in silence. Nevertheless, his target was not oblivious of this rival indigo-haired student's tailing of him. The grape hero's legs adopted an erratic behavior, speeding up, slowing down, changing direction or destination at the last moment. The boy had nowhere to go, but plenty of time to lose toying frivolously with his pursuer's nerves. Seconds after seconds of sweaty running, the surveillance turned into tracking. Tracking turned into hunting, then into chasing and so on.

The man on Mineta's heels took no precautionary approach to safeguard his discreetness. Eventually, the shorter boy let out a jaded sigh.

"Seriously?"

Shinso kept following him very closely as though he hadn't heard anything.

Class 1-A was still busy dwelling on the Mineta issue, when a voice interrupted everyone.

"Listen folks, someone is coming. It's…"

Ashido looked through a window. She got overly-excited and bit anxious too.

"Oh my god, be quiet! It's him!"

They all fell silent. Save for one, casually attempting to slink away.

"Kacchan! Where are you…"

The Grenade boy angrily faced his classmates – Midoriya first – and shushed them at first sight with his threatening look, as he walked himself out. They were horrified, but couldn't say a thing for fear of alerting Mineta of their presence inside the classroom.

With Shinso still stuck to his backside like glue, Mineta grew tired of this absurd game. He paced down his walk speed, scratching his neck like nothing mattered more.

"If your goal in life is to become a spy, you chose the wrong school."

At this stage, Shinso could have easily replied with a straightforward approach to his issue with Mineta. I'm not the only one whose career counselor was drunk the day he sent me here.

But it wouldn't be so classy as driving Mineta into the corner, and coercing him into confessing his own fault. Patience was the key.

"Had I been a real spy, you wouldn't know I'm here."

"Then what do you want from me? It's highly unlikely that you came all this way up my tail just because of how handsome I am."

Humor. The prerogative of people who couldn't care less. A truthful fact in that case, as Mineta wouldn't pay the slightest attention to what he was saying. His back remained unturned.

"Cynicism doesn't fit you well. Aren't you a bit too overconfident?"

"Over-confidence? Don't know that Pokemon yet. By the way, you should capture one called irony. Should help you speak my language."

"I have already. Cynicism and irony are the two sides of the same coin, but I still can't get what kind of guy you are."

Mineta brutally halted his walking and turned to Shinso, whose voice he had already identified.

"Thanks for the lesson, Sir know-it-all, but you should wait for your turn and answer my question first. What do you want?"

You've got a nerve asking for fairness! the indigo-haired student madly repeated in his head.

In actual fact, Shinso was still willing to grant Mineta's request. Until a third party drew his attention from behind his purple interlocutor's back.

"What's with you, extras? Lookin' for a fight?"

Bakugo had just exited a classroom, closing the door behind him in a weirdly careful manner. To his utmost astonishment, Mineta – once a fearful weeper - kept a prideful, egotistical stance and looked at him deep in the eyes without letting Bakugo's fierce aura belittling him.

"I'm not interested in kicking asses today." the purple boy arrogantly retorted. "Knowing what the fuck you're doing here is enough."

The effect of surprise initially angered Bakugo.

"Is that of your business, Ball Head?"

Mineta gave no flinch of fear, barely batting an eye.

"Not at all, BAKAgo. In fact, I was leaving."

He actually couldn't give a damn, no matter how shorter his life expectancy would get for making such a provoking comment. Just this once, Shinso's heartbeat accelerated out of fear for Mineta's life. Their explosive-tempered opponent's face turned red in rage.

"Oh hell no!" Bakugo counter-ordered, his strong arm blocking the way. "Don't you move."

Both his fists clashed. Right on the other side of the wall, on Mineta's right, eighteen people were carefully listening to this impromptu exchange of courtesies. They prayed too.

He's gonna get killed! Midoriya frightfully thought.

Rest in peace... Ashido silently murmured.

Mineta was done for. Or, was he?

"Why would I stay here?" he boldly asked, fear absent from his eyes.

"I…" Bakugo started, holding the flow of anger like an overflowing dam. "I hate it when people walk in front of me, and there is only one hallway with two directions. I'm going left and you come from the right. Either you wait until I'm far away to go on your way BEHIND me…or you go back to where you came from and kiss your friend's ass right here!" he scornfully said, pointing at Shinso with his finger.

That was unexpected. Bakugo not literally beating the living hell out of someone calling him an idiot – in front of witnesses, furthermore. Something was on his mind. Big plans for the dwarf.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you, Small Fry." he reminded Mineta of Iida's command. "In fact, I could have smashed you against a wall for smaller offenses than the way you just talked to me."

As Mineta remembered, Bakugo was not the best at obeying the Class Rep's orders. This was only an excuse to bring the painful memory back, supposedly as an indirect, a dash sadistic way to avenge himself for suffering such a bold comment.

"Should I be thankful? " Mineta asked straightforwardly, with that same sense of irony Shinso was fast to grasp this time.

"You better be! Cause it's your lucky day, Ball Head. I'm in the mood to spare people with guts as hard as their balls. I like it when one speaks his mind and says things to one's face. Even petty losers like you."

This should have further exhilarated the grape boy's rage, but there was less judgment in Bakugo's facial expression than in the mouth of a scolding girl actually meaning what she said. Besides, praising Mineta's frankness right after getting insulted by him made no sense. For a reason unknown, the brash boy with an attitude was talking in innuendos; at odds with his usual unvarnished style of communication. He had to get Mineta a message under a veil of secrecy.

"Well…thank you, I guess."

The purple sheep made it clear, through his unapologetic voice, that he was all but meaning it. Bakugo surprisingly let it slide.

"As a reward for finally growing a pair, I'll answer your first question." he announced. "Iida was pissing me off with his bloody Rep bullshits, always giving me orders like he's a hero god. I gave him shit and moved to this empty classroom to chill." he lied. "Feel free to get inside, but be warned: you've got a leech on your back and you better not let it in. This classroom is for heroes. Not dumbasses thinking they're hot shit, who use deceitful tricks to take on weaker people and win competitions they don't deserve to win."

Rumors had it that thanks to his brainwashing Quirk, Shinso had easily eliminated competitors and qualified for the final round during the Sports Festival. Truthful or not, this suspicion had proven controversial and raised many concerns. Bakugo's code of conduct forbade such duplicitous tactics and Shinso, if not just a deadweight, was nothing but a coward and an unworthy enemy. The latter remained impassive; insults from a scum of the earth would never reach him.

"Happy now?" Bakugo ultimately asked Mineta.

"Yes."

An impish smile, barely menacing, brightened up Bakugo's apparent threat like it was a wink in disguise. Nothing short of staged and fake.

"Ask me another question, just one…and you'll see what happens when I go wine-picking with nitroglycerin. To that game, I always win, Small Fry."

Upon saying the word "win", Bakugo's thumb rotated backward and took aim at his chest. Outwardly, it linked the notion of victory to him, reminiscent of his many past successes and the many more to come. Inwardly, the volatile bully designed himself for another reason that could be detected in his lukewarm eyes. A veiled regret made his own anger tepid, lessening its intensity. In a not-so-distant past, Bakugo had unfairly abused a certain Quirkless boy.

Never would it be a victory to his eyes. Not until Bakugo could do what Mineta was about to do. Speak the truth.

The more he threatened him, the more Mineta realized Bakugo was the only one who could call the grape boy names without actually hurting him. For it was normal; same treatment for everyone regardless of their background story. Midoriya was a "nerd", Todoroki a "Half-and-half bastard", Kirishima a "Hedgehog Hair"…and Mineta a "Small Fry". Arguably more digestible than a grape. Had Bakugo not minded having his Hero Course suspended, he'd willfully call Aizawa a "Sleepy Boogeyman", or something similar.

Oh well, it was endearingly acceptable.

"Out of my way, extras!" Bakugo vociferated as he stormed away.

Inside the classroom, Iida and Midoriya's first instinctive reaction was indignation. Hearing such blasphemous comments and disgraceful language, even from Bakugo, should have angered them beyond sanity. But their smart classmate had just successfully made Mineta believe the classroom was empty, with no one to hear him.

Had Bakugo sensed Mineta was on the verge of opening up about his unspoken pains, all in the face of Shinso? If the Explosive Boy's understanding of his classmates was as clear as it was with "Damn Deku", he actually knew they would do all they could to help Mineta, should they find out the truth. The one and only truth, which had to be heard from him in its plain form.

Silence prevailed. The main talking voice that mattered the most was outside.

Mineta and Shinso faced each other again. The grape dwarf considered Bakugo's words. So you pretend Shinso does not deserve to enter this classroom because it's for heroes, huh? Personally, I think I don't either. Oh well…let's keep the both of us no-heroes outside then.

The Class 1-C student was still determined to confront his Class 1-A counterpart. The latter immediately sought to draw him away, tiptoeing his way out whenever Shinso blinked for a split second. To no avail.

"That's some great conversation skills you've got here." he ironically called him out. "Is that the way you treat a fellow hero? Even that scumbag Bakugo was better than you!"

"Stop me if I'm wrong, but technically speaking, only students from Class 1-A and B will become heroes. I don't remember seeing your name on the list. Aren't you from the General Department?" Mineta replied caustically.

Up to this day, the small dwarf had always used sarcasm and bluntness against someone out of fear, or for lack of self-confidence. Now that he truly spoke his heart out, he felt relieved and turned his back on Shinso. That was to reckon without the latter's energetic stubbornness.

"You are right about this…detail." Shinso admitted, while moving across Mineta's way to block him from leaving. "But it does not exempt you from showing some respect. I'm from the same school as you, remember? The least you could is looking at me when I'm talking to you. Denying me this right makes you, a so-called hero, less heroic than I am."

Yet another lecture about respect to get hated on. Mineta took it to heart and saw red. Having learned from getting incinerated because of his past communication blunders, he would let Shinso know about how offended he was in a more clever way that would not backfire.

"You know, my friend…saying I'm unheroic is like calling a spade a spade. Right now, you are talking to the ugliest, most controversial and infamous student at U.A. this year. Suffice to say, I don't even understand why you bother begging me for respect, since I don't even earn it myself."

"Wait, what? That's not what I sa–"

"I wasn't finished. I've never been quite heroic since I came here and doing better than me is not so complicated, is it? If you truly want to show the world what you're made of and put your heroicness to the test, you should start by choosing a more appropriate rival to look up and compare to. Choosing me over, basically, anyone else is a terrible choice. Unless your ambitions lost their splendor and your standards of success dropped in quality?"

To further rub it in, the grape boy took a step forward and started turning around Shinso like a police investigator examining – and interrogating a suspect. Or a victim. His gloomy eyes scrutinized the indigo-haired student with a fine-tooth comb. Although clearly hostile to this chaotic behavioral twist, Shinso kept a cool head. As grim-faced as Mineta could be, he looked devoid of any ulterior or hidden motives. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with him.

What game was he playing?

"Who am I fooling…" Mineta falsely pretended to be caught off-guard. "Your ambitions are still the same. It's not a secret anymore. You want to enter this class at all cost, establish yourself as a true hero and stand atop the podium. Everybody knows that since the Sports Festival and it's obvious you came here to brag about it. But why me, Shinso? I participated in this tournament and saw who you were capable of. What else could you teach me about yourself?"

Straight to the point. So much the better! Such a lugubrious and austere person was not worth losing time arguing with.

"As you know it already, I'm not here to scout but to declare war. Already in junior school, I was constantly told my Quirk was leading me down a path to becoming a villain. Despite all these drawbacks, I kept my dream intact. My application to the Hero Course was unfairly rejected, whereas I was up to it and deserved a chance. As I fought back, I became especially resentful of Midoriya's Quirk, deemed more "fit for heroic lifestyle" according to standards nowadays. He was the incarnation of that favoritism from birth and I hated him for that. But after all this time, I think I took on the wrong target."

Mineta was not in the mood for time-consuming tasks neither.

"Just spit it out already."

"I think some heroes are worthier than others. No one's equal in nobleness of heart and intentions. Midoriya has nothing to be ashamed of in that field. Others, however…"

Mineta looked disappointed. He smiled sinisterly; arms raised with his palms up.

"Come on, Shinso! My name's not so hard to pronounce. Unless my ears are playing a trick on me, there is a reason why you chose to tell me that while I was alone."

"The truth is, Mineta, that I suspect you of not having honorable intentions to become a hero."

Suspicions that were veridical. As he had once himself put it, Mineta's petty views on heroism and self-centered interpretation of being a hero came down to the rock-bottom goal of being cool. Mineta's selfish motivations sent a messed-up message to aspiring generations of students – Bakugo being another example. Not all quests were equal as a matter of greatness.

Mineta was the only one to hold information about himself that had a minor chance of curving people's terrible opinion of him. Beneath the introverted shield was a self-conscious but insecure child, inadequate with himself and with no light at the end of the tunnel, waiting to blossom into a fine adult but ending up feeling the essence of present failure.

Perhaps, Mineta would at least feel like talking his insecurities to whoever would listen to it.

"Blame's on the rumors, for the most part, but as your adorable Explosion McSploder of a classmate just said, it's your lucky day." Shinso continued. "I've learned lessons from my losses during the festival, among them the importance of not judging on appearances. Give your thanks to Midoriya for that."

"I will. Anything else?"

"I want to give you a chance to explain yourself and prove the rumors wrong, before I make a permanent opinion. Once and for all…why did you want to become a hero? And how will you achieve it?"

Mineta saw right through him. Shinso considered himself worthy of earning a spot in Class 1-A, a position Mineta held but did not wish to maintain. His latest attempt to defend himself had led to complete disaster. Since people from as far as Class 1-C wanted to see him crawl, conceding defeat would be his most painless way to walk out of the picture.

"I want to touch a woman's body." Mineta put all his cards on the table, seemingly unashamed. "And be popular with the ladies. A dream both easier and harder to reach than yours."

During the Final Exam, Recovery Girl had heard him without judging, or him knowing. Not this time.

"Is that all?"

"Mainly."

"What else?" Shinso insisted, his tone not resembling a famous Hollywood actor's voice.

"I don't like Nespresso. If I looked like George Clooney, I'd do other things with my balls."

Unbeknown to them, a couple of nervous people behind the inquisitive wall had to cover their mouths in emergency. There once was a time when such a juicy joke would have triggered collective nausea. Now that Mineta's character was taken more seriously, it had become funny and an impromptu fit of laugher could blow their cover.

It's even worse than I thought…Shinso lamented, once again unmindful of Mineta's dark humor.

"Truth is, it all belongs to the past now." Mineta added.

"Got a new objective?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Because I'm no hero."

"What do you mean?"

Mineta was not used to answering so many questions. He took a deep breath.

"I've recently had a change of heart and realized that…I was being an asshole all his time. I hurt a lot of people. People who trusted me, who could have liked me. I'm a big pervert who can't control himself. Because of that, both U.A. and heroic professions might have to bear the consequences of the negative publicity I caused. And I'm sorry for that."

The grape-haired boy got carried away by his own game of self-depreciation, through hilarious acting and thoughtless humor. Concerned as he was to put more emphasis on how absurd his life was, Mineta bowed down like Inasa Yoarashi, comically slamming his head into the ground.

Shinso did not adhere to this "pathetic display of false modesty". Mineta was just craving for leniency, awkwardly hiding his shame of having finally been shown up and uncovered like the traitor to heroism he was. Exactly what Shinso wanted. It all went according to plan.

"I've never seen such a pitiful behavior before. You've got the face of an abused child who's never been hugged. Is that the reason why you're acting like a 3-year-old throwing a tantrum?"

"That's quite intuitive from you. Congrats, Detective Brainwasher!"

The messy-haired hero's eyes opened wide, stretching the dark bags located under them like over-inflated tires about to blow up. Mineta was wearing his patience out.

"You're not funny. I hope you know that."

"I'm sincere, Shinso. Hugs are nonexistent to me and my mom actually used to abuse me many, many times. Mostly verbally, although her hand occasionally landed on the top of my skull. These nice lil' bumps didn't grow on their own!" he pretended almost haughtily, pointing at the balls his Quirk had replaced his hair with. "It mostly depended on the blood alcohol level, especially when it was high. Happened all the time."

Mineta's confessions discomfited Shinso.

The hero wannabe had come all this way with the sole purpose of letting off steam by taking on an easy target, to better forget about his own misfortune. Now he was digging out another soul's misery without wanting it. Many heroes actually came back from the brink, dragging along personal issues they had yet to leave behind. Learning it from someone whom everyone described as a potential rapist was a slap in the face.

"I probably deserved it though." Mineta added without looking so convinced himself. "What doesn't kill you can still make you a bad person. Now, I regret that my mom wasn't actually a villain. If she was to beat me, she'd have hit hard enough to kill me."

Shinso's hand embraced his expression in a facepalm. Suicidal thoughts, now? Worse and worse.

Unlike Shinso, some other listeners were clearly alarmed to learn of such a flagrant demonstration of self-hatred. They still couldn't say or do a thing, for they needed to hear it all.

"For a hero, you seem pretty keen on talking about violence."

"I draw inspiration from my own experience."

For lack of true friends to learn social diplomacy and basic interacting etiquette from, Shinso was just as awkward in his attempt to trigger a reaction from Mineta and make him stop wallowing in defeatism.

"Poor you!" he mocked him. "This regrettable speech about self-pity disgusts me. We've all been through hardships in our respective lives, but it doesn't mean we will use it to excuse our wrongdoings and lament like crybabies! How could you possibly move on with your life, if you keep feeling sorry for yourself like this?"

"It's the only thing I'm good at." Mineta confessed, looking sadder as he spoke. "Everyone is good at something. My mom is an insult champion, especially when she uses drinking to enhance her performances. And my father is a hide-and-seek master."

"Hide-and-seek?" Shinso incredulously repeated.

"Yep. And guess what? He was so good at it that he found the ultimate place to hide, where no one would come for him. A coffin."

Shinso got seriously irritated at Mineta's gibberish. What had gotten into him all of a sudden? Why was he pouring his heart out and unbosoming himself to someone he hardly knew, like he was doing an appalling presentation about his painful past to a stranger?

The situation was getting out of control.

On a first hand, each new word out of the grape boy's mouth further disappointed Shinso, and bolstered the belief that his negative preconceptions of Mineta were justified. The boy was such a good example of what heroes weren't meant to be. On another hand, Shinso found himself "inadvertently" compassionate. Mineta's story couldn't be plainly ignored.

From a cold-hearted student who took no interest in coming out of his shell and opening up to others, it felt weirder than expected.

"I'm done with this conversation." Shinso bluntly said, out of spite in appearance but sadness closer to his heart. "Why are you telling me all this?"

He felt his heart picking up the pace. As if the Class 1-C Student was making a mistake, by refusing to show Mineta this understanding Shinso had never shown to anyone.

"Because you inquired about my motivations to be a hero. I told you I wasn't one and explained to you why."

"Explanations were not necessa–"

"Yes, they were!" Mineta interrupted him, taking a small and slow step toward his interlocutor. "You needed a good reason to replace me as the twentieth Class 1-A student, without getting your hands dirty and burdening your conscience. And you got it."

"What the–"

"But you better remember this: at school, they don't teach you that one cannot simply become a hero because he wants it. You have to be born a hero. For my part, I didn't have to wait until I was accepted into a Hero Course to be told I wasn't fit for the job. I knew it already from the day I was born, but was too stupid to accept the truth. As far as you're concerned, you've got some work to do as well, but you can make it if you are careful. Life can be a bitch, sometimes. Don't let it be a bitch to you, like I was to my classmates…"

Mineta's charges against Shinso hit a nerve. He couldn't take it anymore.

"What you insinuate is ridiculous. I did not come here to take your place, as it is NOT up to ME to decide."

"Then why did you come to me?!" Mineta suddenly spoke up.

His change of tone – from neutral to moderate hostile – alerted Shinso.

"To try and understand how, and especially why a human being so bizarre, tormented and shady like you could succeed where I failed! I have the right to know."

He was lying to himself. Regardless of his own imperfections, Mineta still had the lucidity to be right about Shinso. His indigo-haired opponent was looking forward to taking possession of his seat in the Hero Course classroom. However, if one of them actually was surplus to requirements, Mineta would have to be expelled from high school to restore balance. Shinso was a fierce, determined soul that would fight to the bitter end until victory was his. But never had he realized he could be that cold-hearted. Coming to Mineta with such a heartless intention, and insensitively admitting it to his face, made him become fully aware of how ruthless Shinso could be.

Hence the sensation of disgust in his mouth, aimed at the vision of his failed self as a human being, that he thought Mineta reflected so well.

"You have to understand, Mineta, that after all these things you just said to me, it feels like a real waste of talent that you were chosen over me. It's unfair!"

Now he was the toddler throwing a hissy fit. Mineta unexplainably chuckled in an antagonistic manner, as an immediate answer to Shinso's plea for justice. It then turned into an uncontrollable, Joker-like laugh, as the grape boy thought back on all the dirty tricks life had played on him.

"Isn't that what I just said? Life is a fucking bitch, man!" he screamed hysterically.

"Keep your voice down, damnit!"

"Why should I? There's not a living soul here."

"And that's another good reason NOT to attract unwanted attenti–"

Life had already prepared Shinso for a lot of surprises, but certainly not for what ensued. Without prior warning, Mineta dauntlessly pulled off a ball and tossed it at Shinso's mouth, effectively sealing it and cutting his vocal defense. With only his nose left to breathe, and no usable Quirk to defend himself, the Class 1-C student found himself trapped at Mineta's mercy.

"If you don't want other people to hear us, why don't you shut the fuck up, open your damn ears and have the decency of listening to what I have to say? Since you came all this way to remind me of that dirty piece of crap I was – no hurt feelings, dude - that's the least you could do!"

Mineta had become so frightening and intimating that Shinso backed off, walked backward at an increasing pace as he grew further fazed and overawed. Now pushed back to the wall, his shaky arms, unable to remove the ball for fear of getting stuck in turn, he looked at Mineta right in the eyes. The latter wore his unfriendliest facial expression to date.

On the other side of that same wall, nobody moved. Midoriya barely refrained himself.

"Let's make things clear once and for all." Mineta started. "I am NOT a hero. I am nothing. Nothing but a fucking, despicable, corrupted monster. Got it?"

Shinso instinctively nodded in agreement, although he couldn't disagree more. He then twisted on the spot, in a panicked attempt to correct this reckless reaction, but the angry purple sheep took no offense. His head was packed with remorse, all the way to his humid eyes.

"I hurt so many people, Shinso. So, so many…" he pointed a finger, then retracted it to rub two teary orbits. "My lack of morality made me do horrible things. I've been behaving in a shameful way; I became an unredeemable, vicious perverted scumbag! If you still don't believe me, just go ask the girls. And the boys. They know about all my crimes. I disrespected, harassed, touched, groped. It never was consensual, it never was wanted, it never was right. I should have been expelled, sentenced to national indignity and sent to jail."

As paradoxical as could be, what Shinso heard confessed before his uncredulous ears sounded gravely exaggerated. Such incidents had been mentioned in the school more than once, but Shinso didn't regard the grape boy as a sexual offender. Mineta himself knew it; rarely had he actually touched or groped people, much to his disappointment at the time. Words, attitudes and his peeping eyes had been his only weapons of attack. In all honesty, girls had more often physically-chastised him for his wrongdoing – "wrong-saying", in fact – than he had laid hands on them. Bitter irony.

Hearing from him that he treated himself like a sex criminal was even worse.

Shinso felt deep shock in his guts, more put off by the evil Mineta said about himself than what had actually happened. Through the grape boy's eyes, Shinso perceived the despair of someone drowned in negativity, who had given up on asking for help, spitefully convinced that he deserved no support and wouldn't be anywhere near welcomed on the entire planet.

As far as he knew, Shinso hated judgmental people from experience. Mineta had fallen into the trap. Through his own mouth, foreigners were talking. The boy blurted out artificial thoughts about him like a broken record, without realizing he was accepting what others wanted him to think at face value.

"I know I'm a worthless shit who's gone too far, Shinso. I-I know it, Shinso!" he spoke erratically, like his alcoholic mother's soul was haunting him. "They all said it."

His mom, his bullies, his teachers, people in the street. Everyone had torn into him at some point. Rejected from a young age, an outcast ever since.

"I don't belong here and you are right to think it, but rest assured that it's only temporary." he promised, wiping another tear. "Soon enough, I'll be expelled and removed. If they don't do it now, they'll do it another time. And guess what's awesome about it? You, my friend, shall benefit from it. You, the one who's going to replace me. What most people are waiting for."

Shinso vigorously shook his head, visibly disgruntled, to express his condemnation of these harsh words. A jot of accusation tainted Mineta's voice.

"Don't play the innocent, Shinso. I perfectly know why you're here!" he contradicted the silent disapproval. "You heard about what happened to me. Everybody knows the entire Class 1-A went completely nuts on me. I have no friends. Everybody hates me, you as well. But you still have a bright future ahead. In spite of how unfairly U.A. treated you, it all changed at the Sports Festival. You received high praise from Pro-Heroes, and your classmates too. People greeted you as a hero. Man, were you all the rage! All you have to do, now, is take what's yours and use some patience for the time being. I won't be here for so long. In the near future, someone will kick me out or blast me into the sun if I overstay. I brought it upon myself anyway. My fate is sealed."

Upon these words, Mineta detached the sticky ball off Shinso's mouth. His smile vanished, so did his tears. He was back to his calm, emotionally-neutral self in a record-breaking short amount of time. Asui would be proud. Shinso said absolutely nothing, far too excessively hooked on Mineta's backstory to ever dare interrupt it. Using his proximity with the brainwashing hero's ears as an excuse, the grape boy murmured something.

"In a worst-case scenario, should I manage to evade justice…you could report me for using my Quirk on you. That way, you won't need to use yours to manipulate me into lifting a skirt and watching underneath it. Sucker punches below the belt are my specialties, not yours."

Hands withdrawn into his pockets, Mineta cynically walked away from Shinso as the latter still struggled to collect himself. He stopped, without turning back.

"Your glory day is coming, Shinso." he said before resuming his walk. "Home straight, final push. Just hang on! Justice is coming. We both deserve to go where we're going."

And he was gone, leaving a devastated Shinso with a sorer heartache and a vivid scar in his certainty. He couldn't vent his spite on someone Shinso himself started having genuine qualms about, after throwing crap at him. His world was collapsing and it hurt like hell. Justice is coming, huh?

Was it? This so-called justice Shinso had in mind, minutes beforehand, as he was to confront Mineta and enforce it himself? Was it still a wish to be granted?

Things had taken a turn for the unexpected. Anger-driven Shinso had come before an easy target for an easy revanche, even symbolic, hoping that it would ease his pain and put his own mind at rest until he could move on. What was he expecting? Symbolic relief? Grief-stricken Mineta did not need someone like him to do himself justice, and not only as a symbol. The grape terror would actually take the matter into his own hands, with all due severity, and punish the bad seed in a worse manner than Shinso could have ever dreamed of.

The worst way. It wasn't a dream-come-true anymore, but a living nightmare.

Shinso wasn't feeling so good. He rushed to the toilets. The moment after, he was vomiting all his misplaced grudge out. It was relaxing and felt awful. I fucked up…

05:00 p.m.

Shinso was gone, not to be seen again for a while. Mineta was gone too, presumably to a democratic place where tears enjoyed freedom of speech.

Collective memory of what had just been cried out from his wounded heart was still fresh; time was ideal for a conversion close to the chest. A crushing majority of Class 1-A rushed to the dorms' first floor at Mineta's pursuit – overcrowding elevators, creating traffic jams in the stairs. They shook the whole building in the process, causing an earthquake barely covering up the tremors in their chests. So many people seeking to see him - in his own den - happened every once in a blue moon. Things were going in a direction that required exceptional measures.

They didn't know it yet, but the boy was not here anymore and his private quarters were vacant. A first student knocked on the bedroom door. No answers.

"Are we sure he's here?" Sero wondered.

"Where else could he be!" Midoriya said more apprehensively.

A second student gave it a try as well. Still no answers.

"Maybe he's sulking?" Ashido supposed. "Poor thing…"

"He must be really mad." Kirishima added.

They knocked again. Once, twice, three times. Silence was still silence.

"He needs time alone."

"He needs peace."

Knock, knock, knock. The spiral of fingers getting sore turned continuously.

"He needs rest."

"He needs to cry."

Over and over.

"He needs to spill his guts."

"He needs..."

While most of his classmates were debating whatever a missing person could be doing or thinking, Kaminari kept his thoughts for himself. I hope he's just jerking off...

It was a stupid thought, but a reassuring one to halt the loop of his worries.

Never had the electric boy so much wished things were back to the way they were, before all this nasty mess occurred. Mineta Minoru just being himself. A pervert, for sure, but a pervert in safety. Was his friend safe and sound at this moment? Could he be left alone? Kaminari doubted it. To all appearances, he was unable to acknowledge his own feelings, even less able to express them. Terror and guilt got in the way whenever he gathered the strength to face that silent door, grab the handle, turn it and open it.

Mineta would definitely reject him. He would be right to do so. It's my fault! It's my…

His train of remorse derailed when a loud, authoritative voice called for a general meeting downstairs, in the common areas. It was the Class Rep.

U.A. Hero Course students were not allowed to leave the dorms facilities, unless prior notice had been given to the teachers, and authorization subsequently granted. This was rarely the case for naughty-minded teenagers with horny urges that were easier to satisfy at night.

Mineta didn't care at all. He already was a student no more.

"I should have written a list. Let's hope I won't forget anything important!" he told himself between hot gasps, breathless from his speed-running through the streets.

He marked a first stop at a dumpster to throw away a huge, compact and overflowing trash bag. The content of years of perverted interests had been packed in smashed pieces. So long, old me.

He then reached the city center as the sun was setting. Firstly, he headed to the stationary.

"Years and years of using my computer to send mail. Thousands of Yens worth of school supplies at my disposal since I first wore a schoolbag. But on the only day I actually need paper to write letters, I run out of it for the last one. Fuck that!"

He bought enough to write an autobiography. Twice. Sorry trees but unlike me, you will be recycled.

Once out of the stationary, his backpack twice as heavy and double in size, he let out a sigh of relief. He was done shopping. Or maybe not. Damn, almost forgot! I need a few more things.

Mineta ran toward a neighboring street with his phone in hand, two fingers searching for an address on his GPS's feature map. As he arrived at his destination within a few minutes, the grape boy spotted, then entered another shop. Right on time before it closed. He ran through various sections flat out, picked items without a look for the prices and placed them on the counter. I think I have it all…wait, no!

Something had drawn his attention behind the seller.

"I need a bit of this, sir." he pointed out.

"What length?"

Enough for a death row inmate, Mineta thought. "About this size, please." he showed the owner with his palms spaced about a meter. "No, wait. Multiply this by six. One's barely enough for a head." he seemingly joked with a faked laugh.

Mineta paid the due amount, put his shopped goods inside his packed-out bag, thanked and left. Back on the street, the boy's satisfaction was full and complete.

"It probably won't be a problem, as my dear classmates are not supposed to give a fuck about a pervert. But just in case, I'll use my Quirk to climb the outside wall and pass through the window. They must not see me with THAT."

The item in question was not forbidden for use by a hero, but still posed a special threat: if misinterpreted, it was potential for arousing suspicions. As he thought back to his recent investment, Mineta couldn't hide his smugness and gloated gleefully.

"That rope looked nice. I'll make good use of it."

And he headed back to the dorms.