:)

After the second awkward interaction with Todoroki— in just a few hours too— Izuku got ready as quick as he could. He drank the rest of the amazing tea that Yaoyorozu had gotten him before dressing in his uniform. He took his phone with him before walking out.

The house was dead quiet and so Izuku didn't have to worry about bumping into anyone— or at least that's what he had been hoping for. Instead, he ended up bumping into Bakugou just before he got to the bottom floor.

"Watch where you're going, Deku," Bakugou spat once he recognised Izuku. Bakugou gave Izuku a quick look over and he frowned as he saw that Izuku was fully dressed in his school uniform. Izuku tried to walk past and be diplomatic, but unfortunately, unsurprisingly, that didn't work for Bakugou.

"Where the hell are you going?" Bakugou demanded as he blocked Izuku's way, "School doesn't start for a few more hours, you nerd."

Izuku had always found it deeply ironic that Bakugou called him a nerd. They got the same marks usually. Hell, Bakugou beat Izuku more than Izuku beat Bakugou. It was an insult that made no sense and was just to throw Izuku off and make him feel awful.

Before being friends with Kendou, it would have made Izuku nervous, but as it were Izuku had bigger things to deal with. Kendou was waiting for him and if they were late to this thing then it would be catastrophic.

"Good morning. I just have plans, Kacchan," Izuku said and he tried to walk the other way, but Bakugou blocked him off again, "Can't we do this later? I don't want to make Kendou wait any longer..."

"So, you're meeting with carrot top, huh?" Bakugou frowned as he crossed his arms, "You've been weird since you started going to her gym. It's like you've forgotten where you stand in the world, Deku. Is it because of her?"

Izuku took a breath as he tried not to let Bakugou's nickname for Kendou bother him, "What's it to you? You've never cared about what I did before... Just ignore me like you used to for the past ten years."

Izuku wished he could take those words back immediately. They were filled with spite and accusations and most of all truth. Izuku had always tried to diffuse and deflect whenever it came to Bakugou, but that was getting harder and harder for him to do. Especially when Bakugou brought other people into it like he'd done with Izuku's mom and Kendou.

Either way, Izuku realised he should have de-escalated instead as Bakugou's nostrils flared.

"I guess little Deku has manned up," Bakugou sneered and his voice rose a few notches, "Ever since that stupid accident on that stupid island at that stupid resort, you've been acting like you're above me, Deku. I hate it. Is it because all those reporters blew hot air up your ass?"

"Keep it down—"

"Shut up, Deku!" Bakugou growled before he pinned Izuku to the wall, "What the hell do you want from me? Should I be grateful that you never mentioned why you fell into the stupid river in the first place? Is that why you're acting so different now?!"

"What?" Confusion saturated Izuku's voice, "I don't care about—"

"That's exactly it!" Bakugou growled as he cut Izuku off, "Why don't you care? I could have killed you and you act all nice to me?! You just ignored everyone at school and went to that carrot's gym! Then I find out you actually do have a Quirk after all this time! You could have saved yourself, but you still hid it. Why? To make me feel guilty or something? Or was it so you could finally beat me in a fight?! You must feel so great that you fluked a win yesterday—"

Bakugou's rant was getting very loud before it was cut off by a third person's voice.

"Yo, Bakugou, shut up," Camie said through a yawn from the bottom of the stairs, "It's way too early for you to start shouting. Yaomomo is trying to teach me how to cook and you're, like, way too loud. Just chill out, bro."

Izuku turned to Camie and sure enough, Yaoyorozu was there too. She frowned as she took in the scene before them. She didn't say anything, but he could tell that she was a few seconds away from intervening. Izuku just shook his head and she seemed to get his message as her posture relaxed just a touch.

Okay, that was good. Bakugou would not have reacted to her stepping well at all.

Was that what Yaoyorozu's plans were? Teaching Camie how to cook? Izuku would have guessed that Camie already knew how to cook, but apparently not. Then again, both Izuku and Kendou had needed extra lessons from their moms before coming here. Before those lessons, Izuku's cooking had been passable at best.

"So, are you guys gonna just stand there—"

"I don't remember asking you a goddamn thing!" Bakugou spat at Camie with a venomous look. It looked like Bakugou was about to say something else, but Izuku cut him off as he broke free from Bakugou's hold.

In all honesty, he probably should have done that a bit sooner.

"Can't we do this later, Kacchan?" Izuku all but begged, "People are asleep and you're gonna wake them up and I've really got to go."

"Tch, whatever. I don't care," Bakugou said as he finally let Izuku past him, "Next time we fight, I'll get you. You were lucky to get that hit in! I had you and if—!"

"Dude, you're still being way too loud," Camie interrupted once more, "Is this like your thing? Being super loud in the morning? Cause that's gonna suck for the rest of us..."

Bakugou looked all, but ready to blow a gasket at Camie's words before he calmed down. With noticeable effort, Bakugou turned away from Camie. He took a few calming breaths and the anger bled away from his face.

His voice was finally at a normal volume as he said to Izuku, "We'll finish this later, Deku. I won't do this in front of these extras..."

With that said, Bakugou walked off. Izuku watched him go for a second before he remembered he had to meet Kendou. Camie and Yaoyorozu must have had something on the stove as Camie rushed back towards it now that the show was over. Izuku nodded as he walked past Yaoyorozu, but he froze as she held onto his shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Yaoyorozu asked and her eyes had a flicker of concern in them, "That seemed...personal."

"It's nothing I'm not used to," Izuku said as he gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but it didn't quite feel he'd achieved it as Yaoyorozu's face dropped further, "Seriously. It's nothing. Kacchan and I have just kinda always been like this."

Yaoyorozu stared at him for the longest time before she lifted her hand off his shoulder.

"Alright," she conceded with an unsteady nod, "I will not pry. I just—"

"What is it?"

Izuku could read the conflict on her face clear as day.

"Never mind," Yaoyorozu said instead as she stepped back, "I have to get back into the kitchen. Enjoy your day."

"...Thank you," Izuku said after a pause as he walked off, "Oh! I'll get your flask back to you later, Momo. I just need to clean it first."

Oddly, that seemed enough to dispel the gloomy look Yaoyorozu had, "That's okay. Thank you, Izuku."

Izuku was running to Kendou's dorm after that as he realised it was almost time for them to was only after Izuku was halfway there that he realised something.

"I called her Momo again!" Izuku yelled to himself, "That's so rude! She wouldn't go back to hating me, would she? I'll tell her it was just an accident!"

If Izuku hadn't been so stressed, he might have remembered that Yaoyorozu had also called him by his first name. Instead, he kept running to the 1-B dorm and as if the universe were shining on him, Kendou chose that exact moment to exit the house.

"Hello," Kendou said as he slowed to a stop, "I've brought along my laptop and phone just in case. Ready to go?"

"Yes, I am," Izuku said his breathing only a touch heavier, "How did you sleep?"

The air was rather chilly and so Izuku used the fire chakra warming exercise he'd thought of before. Immediately, a toasty warmth spread across his body relaxing him a bit.

"Pretty well actually," Kendou said as she stretched her limbs, "Well at least after Tokage stopped pestering me...uh...What about you?"

"I had a really weird dream, but yeah I did sleep well," Izuku said as they began to head towards the main building, "It's too bad we couldn't train this morning. You'd have had to visit Recovery Girl two mornings in a row."

Kendou seemed to be a bit nervous so Izuku wanted to try and calm her down. And for Kendou, the best way to do that was to distract her whether it was with jokes, insults or whatever.

Kendou snorted, "As opposed to visiting her twice in one day? I don't think you have a leg to stand on."

"That's a pretty arrogant thing to say for someone who lost—"

"I did not lose! Shiozaki interfered!"

"My punch destroyed your back garden. You couldn't handle that."

"Oh, man. Next time we fight, I'm putting you through a tree. Mostly because of that stupid headbutt."

"It's a valid move!"

"Yeah, for weaklings who get trapped."

The only "problem" was that Kendou got him riled up way too easily too. He wasn't truly annoyed by it in all honesty. If anything, it was good to see that they could still have their usual back and forth. Either way, by the time they were walking into UA's main building, any anxiety and worry they'd both been feeling had been flushed away.

"This place is way too big," Kendou groaned as they climbed another set of stairs, "It's kinda evil of them to make Principal Nezu's office right on the top floor. Whatever happened to elevators, huh?"

Izuku couldn't help but agree with Kendou. First his flat, then his room at the dorms and now Nezu's office. Was he just destined to climb flight after flight after flight of stairs? Is that what this was? Technically, he could use chakra to run up the side of the wall, but if he'd done that he might as well check himself into Tartarus.

"We're almost done," Izuku said as he pointed ahead of them and sure enough they climbed one last set of stairs before reaching the top floor, "I'm just glad we didn't take long with those stairs. That could count as exercise, right? We did jog most of the way here..."

"Yeah," Kendou chirped brightly as they walked towards the massive oak door before them, "I guess that could count as—"

*DING*

Izuku froze as heard a hauntingly familiar sound. As one, both he and Kendou turned towards the source of the sound. It was exactly as they feared. An elevator. Off to the left, the doors opened and out walked Midnight. She was holding a cup of coffee that she took a massive swig off. She didn't even notice them until she was right in front of them.

"Oh. Good morning, kids," Kayama-sensei drawled as she smiled at them, "What are you two doing here? Oh, wait I've got it... You know... Recovery Girl has exactly what you need."

Did she know what they were here for or was she just guessing? Just the tone in her voice made Izuku feel a bit...under the weather? Yeah, that was it. Kendou, fortunately, didn't seem to realise how Izuku felt, but unfortunately, Kayama-sensei did...

"We're actually not here to get healed up," Kendou said as Midnight leaned against a desk, "We just needed to speak to Principal Nezu about something."

"Oh, I see," Kayama-sensei said as she peered at them over her glasses, "The last time I saw the two of you, you guys were in rather rough shape. No sparring this morning?"

"No," Kendou smiled before she flashed Izuku a mischievous look, "I was up for it, but Izuku said I couldn't handle what he'd throw at me."

"What?" Izuku choked on his spit, "D-Don't say it like that! I was being honest. I've gone softer on you before and you said you felt sore for weeks."

"That was before we knew someone with a healing Quirk! I can totally take it! Come on...just once?"

"You say that, but you'll hold it over my head if I end up hurting you! Plus, I never hold it against you when you hurt me while we spar!"

That was a massive lie and judging by Kendou's face she knew it too.

"What?! You—"

"I see Snipe was right about you two," Midnight said as she cut into their conversation, "You two seem rather...spirited. It's a bit odd that you had this conversation in front of me, but I'll just take it as a sign of trust."

"Huh?"

"Sensei? What do you—"

"I can read through the lines, kids," Kayama-sensei laughed as she fanned herself, "You're talking about sparring, correct?"

Izuku and Kendou nodded.

"See?" Kayama-sensei clapped her hands together, "You just need to use adequate preparation and no one will be hurt! No matter how rough you are on each other. Use protection and always stretch first, trust me. That's a golden tip."

"See," Kendou said as she elbowed him, "We'll be fine! How does tomorrow work for you?"

"It's still a no," Izuku said vehemently, "I really don't think protection is the issue here. I mean you were the one that said we shouldn't use it ever—"

"She said what?"

Kayama-sensei was ignored for the time being.

"It gets in the way!"

"—and I don't think it would help in this case anyways!" Izuku said before he turned to Kayama-sensei, "Kayama-sensei, please make her see reason. No amount of protection can help against it. I don't even think you could handle it all that well and you're a Pro."

"...I— you what?" Kayama-sensei tilted her in genuine confusion, "Before we jump to any conclusions here...what are we talking about?"

The argument between Kendou and Izuku was stopped in its track. They looked at each other in confusion before looking back at their sensei.

"What do you mean, Kayama-sensei?" Kendou mirrored their teacher's head tilt, "You were there too... don't you remember?"

"That's the thing. I'd definitely remember something like that..."

Izuku blinked, "You don't remember the teachers interrupting our spar? You guys said you thought it was some sort of invasion or something?"

Kayama-sensei blinked once, twice, three times, "Huh. We weren't on the same wavelength at all."

Pretty weird of her, Izuku had to admit.

"What did you think we were talking about, sensei?"

"Well, I thought you were talking about—"

Kayama-sensei was cut off as the door to Principal Nezu's office was opened, "Good morning, everyone! I'm guessing you are all here to see me?"

"Yes, sir," Izuku and Kendou said as one before he added, "Sorry for not going through the proper channels, but this is important. We can wait for Kayama-sensei first, though! Oh and good morning!"

It was only the second time that Izuku was speaking to UA's principal so he was still pretty nervous around him. It had been easier with Kayama-sensei since he had thought she was giving them useful advice. Now, though, he had no idea what they'd actually been talking about.

"Oh, no. You two can go on ahead," Kayama-sensei said as she waved them forward, "I need a few minutes to...process..."

Okay?

"Thank you, Kayama-sensei," Kendou said and Izuku mirrored her bow.

Maybe all Pro Heroes had a screw loose...or maybe just all adults? People?

"No problem. Just be sure to have another talk just like this in front of Aizawa and Vlad, okay? Oooh. Throw Mic in there too. That should be fun."

"Okay?" Izuku said in response before they were ushered in by Principal Nezu, "We'll do that. I guess?"

The "what" was still a little unclear. Talk?

"That's all I ask."

Izuku didn't have much time to dwell on Kayama-sensei's words as he and Kendou made their way into Nezu's office. It was quite nice actually. The furniture was made of glossy wood and the windows behind Nezu's desk gave a wonderful view of UA and Musutafu as well.

"Please take a seat," Nezu offered as he took a seat of his own...on his desk, "Now, tell me what is it that you two need? Did you destroy some more trees?"

Izuku and Kendou sat down opposite Nezu and they glanced at each other. Both were trying to figure out who would begin. They had a short standoff before Izuku sighed. He just hoped he didn't make a fool out of himself. But Kendou was feeling nervy so he had to be a good friend and take the plunge for them both.

"Well, sir, it's about the attack on Edgeshot..."

Izuku trailed off as he tried to muster up the courage to speak his mind.

"That was quite the unfortunate incident," Nezu said and his voice was far too cheery for what he was saying, "I hear that he's well on the road to recovery so you have nothing to fear when it comes to that."

"That's good to know, but, uh, that's actually not why we're here," Izuku said and he let one of his hands dangle off the armrest, "It's just that I noticed something...odd about the villains that attacked him."

Nezu's face didn't change, "You did? What did you see?"

"The Hero Commission would've probably figured this out already, but uhm, I guess it just seemed as though those villains were too suited to fight Edgeshot?"

For one agonising second, Izuku expected Nezu to laugh them out of his office. Either for stating the obvious or for coming up with an outlandish theory that no one could ever believe. Yet, none of that happened and all Nezu did was lean in a touch.

It gave Izuku the confidence to continue.

"From what I've seen in about sixty of his fights, Edgeshot's Quirk allows him to manipulate his body and even attach himself to other people's bodies, but he needs to make direct skin contact first," Izuku rattled off as memories of watching heroes surged to the fore, "Practically none of those villains had their skin exposed. They all had a variety of Quirks that made that an impossibility. Plus, there were a few long-range fighters which is another good way to fight against Edgeshot. Between the armoured villains and the ranged fighters as well as how the villains didn't seem to care about the festival all that much, I have a feeling that the attack was solely meant to focus on Edgeshot. Especially since Edgeshot is a bit elusive and hardly spends any time at his own agency according to reports."

Izuku took a deep breath as he finished the mother of all info dumps. He hadn't meant to say so much so quickly, but it had all just kinda come out. He had been speaking so quickly that he wondered just how much the others had understood what he'd said. Kendou rapped her knuckles against him and he took that as a positive. She was already used to his motor mouth so he wasn't surprised she understood what he was saying.

"I see. Well, I agree with your assessment, Midoriya."

Now, that was a surprise.

"You do?!" Izuku asked and he got a nod in response, "What? Why? It's just a hunch and I haven't had much time to go over it—"

Nezu raised a hand(paw?) and shushed Izuku, "As I've already said, I agree with you, Midoriya. In fact, after witnessing the attack myself, I sent an email to the Hero Commission stating just about what you just told me. However, I also have some knowledge about the attack that I think would interest you."

Izuku glanced toward a confused Kendou before he said, "What is it?"

"Well, some artefacts from the site you discovered were rumoured to be making an appearance. That was the biggest attraction of the festival, after all," Nezu said as he set off a bomb in Izuku's head, "Unfortunately, the Yaoyorozu Company had a delay, but the villains didn't get the memo. I imagine they were hoping to make off with the artefacts."

"I see, well that's, uh, good to know."

It really was. Sakura's warning was vivid in his head. He had to stop the spread of those artefacts as soon as possible. He had no idea if people were somehow harnessing chakra off of them, but on some level, he knew that they were. It was the only thing that could explain the scramble for them.

Well, either that or all these people were really avid history buffs.

"Now, Kendou, I assume you also had something to say?"

Kendou blinked, "Yes! I do. Uhm, this is hard to explain, but a few months ago my family's gym got attacked by a gang of criminals."

"Ah yes," Nezu nodded rapidly, "One of the only times the vigilante Kage was caught on camera, correct?"

A bolt of panic shot down Izuku's spine as he heard Nezu's response. His lips felt super dry all of a sudden and he licked them as he sat a bit straighter in his seat. Thankfully, Kendou didn't seem to notice his fidgeting as she nodded.

"Yes," Kendou said as she pulled out her laptop and it was already on the video, "This is the night I got rescued by Kage. Though, that isn't really important. What is important is about this guy— Fuzui Nirami."

"Fuzui Nirami? Hm. His Quirk was a sort of paralyzing gaze, correct? If I remember correctly he was sentenced to five years in Hoshi Prison— you were not the first person he went after unfortunately... Why is he relevant?"

Kendou looked toward him and all Izuku could do was give her a nod. Izuku didn't feel he had been all that convincing, but for whatever reason Kendou did seem to gain more confidence as she sat straighter and her voice became firmer. More assured.

"He was one of the assailants that attacked Edgeshot," Kendou said as she tapped away at her laptop and brought the video of the festival attack up, "He's the one that uses the long-range beam to paralyse Edgeshot. See, right there. He's a bit thinner, but that's him. His Quirk is a little different, but even so, I know it's him."

As opposed to before, Nezu didn't answer back with a smile. Instead, he watched the video of Edgeshot's attack over and over as he took control of Kendou's laptop. He put the gym surveillance video and the festival attack before letting them play. Nezu must have repeated this ten times before he sighed.

"I see," Nezu said and there was no longer any levity in his demeanour, "I did not catch this detail yesterday. I remember the vast majority of people I read about, but my brain did not make the connection. Perhaps because I did not expect a villain to have escaped one of the most secure prisons in Japan."

He...believed them? Just like that?

"Wait? You don't think we're crazy?" Izuku blurted out, "We barely believed it ourselves because an escaped prisoner is big news. I mean I guess it's not that unbelievable since they have someone with a warp Quirk on their side. Though that must mean that someone broke Fuzui out on purpose which all but confirms that the attack on Edgeshot was premeditated. Even more than just the selection of Quirks his opponents had—"

Izuku blinked as he remembered where he was. Nezu gave him a blank look (or maybe Izuku just thought it was blank because animals didn't really have facial expressions?) while Kendou was motioning with her hand for him to carry on

"—ahem. Itsuka and I were just wondering if the Commission had mentioned anything about this. We both believe it's in the public's best interests to be aware of someone breaking villains out of prison. I'm sure heroes have already been made aware unless—"

Izuku paused. He couldn't read Nezu's face all that well, but judging from Nezu's posture he was not happy. Still, Izuku voiced the treacherous thought aloud.

"—Unless the Commission hasn't made heroes aware of this specific prison break?"

It didn't need to be said why that was a bad thing. They were all thinking the same thing. If they said nothing about this one breakout then the obvious follow-up was how many were they keeping quiet about? The follow up to that was what other things were the Hero Commission hiding?

Izuku could think of a few things that would fit the bill. All of which he really shouldn't say.

In the end, Nezu didn't answer Izuku's question, "Thank you for coming in, you two. I must say that this meeting has been rather...illuminating."

There was a glint in Nezu's eyes that neither Izuku nor Kendou decided to bring up.

"No problem, sir," Kendou said as they got out of their seats, "I do feel a lot better now knowing I wasn't going crazy."

"Well, you weren't. It was smart of you to come to me with this," Nezu said as his foul mood abated, "Do you have any more questions? Well other than your compensation of course."

"Compensation?"

"Why, yes. You didn't think I wouldn't reward you for this did you?"

Izuku and Kendou looked at each other. An unspoken conversation was had between the two before as one they nodded.

"Could we settle that later?" Kendou asked which drew a quick nod from Izuku, "We really didn't want or expect any compensation here..."

"There's nothing wrong with being rewarded for a job well done, you know?" Nezu said as he rose to his feet, "Are you sure there's nothing you want?"

"For now, we're sure," Izuku affirmed and Kendou nodded at his words, "I'm sure we may need that favour later, but it just doesn't feel right asking for something now...uh...not that we aren't grateful, but—"

Kendou kicked his foot causing Izuku to let out a small yelp.

"It's alright. I understand," Nezu said as he put his hands behind his back, "Now, run along kids. Let's go and see Kayama-sensei. She has been out there for quite some time now."

Izuku was about to leave when he remembered something, "Uh, sir, if you don't mind me asking when could we speak with All Might about this? I'm sure he's busy since he's still an active Pro, but he's the only teacher that I haven't seen yet. Well, him and Thirteen actually..."

It was a bit embarrassing to ask this of Nezu especially since he could definitely put some pressure on the Commission. In all honesty, though, Izuku both wanted and needed this. Meeting All Might under any circumstances was good for Izuku, but this was critical.

If he could get confirmation that even All Might didn't know about this situation then he'd have a better idea of what they were working with. They essentially had their answer since Nezu hadn't been aware of Fuzui's escape which was something All Might definitely would have told him,.

Even so, you could never be too sure.

"All Might is currently working with the third years as well as his normal hero work. A chance for a meeting may open up in the coming weeks. I'll tell Aizawa and Vlad to keep you posted," Nezu said and thankfully he didn't sound offended at all, "Now, I saw you complain about the stairs. I'd offer the staff elevator, but I'm afraid that would attract a lot of untoward attention."

Kendou and Izuku exchanged looks. So, it was a staff elevator that Kayama-sensei had used. No wonder they hadn't seen it anywhere. The access was probably in the teachers' lounge or something. It was a bit annoying that the students had to use the stairs again, but there was no use crying about it now.

"No problem, sir and thank you for listening to us," Kendou said, but she was waved off by Nezu.

"I should be thanking the two of you. From what I've seen and heard from your teachers, you two had already piqued my interest, but now you have my attention."

Izuku licked his lips nervously. That was a compliment quite clearly...so why did it feel like a threat? He couldn't sense any true malice in what Nezu had said, but he sensed just enough to tell that this would be a problem in future.

After all, Nezu would've seen his Entrance Exam and probably other stuff Aizawa-sensei would've mentioned about him. And now they were blowing open a likely cover-up by the Hero Commission.

Izuku would watch himself closely too, in all honesty.

"We won't let you down!"

Naturally, Kendou was either oblivious or welcoming to the underlying threat in Nezu's tone.

They walked out of the office and Kayama-sensei looked up as she rose, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Nezu said as they walked out, "Just gather the staff, Midnight. We need to have an earlier start to our morning meeting."

Midnight. Not Kayama-sensei.

Izuku looked at Kendou and her face mirrored his. The severity of the situation was unknown, but they now knew they were privy to something rather important. They bit their tongues as Midnight—clearly no longer Kayama-sensei— made for the elevator with controlled haste.

"Midoriya. Kendou," Nezu called after them, "I trust you'll be able to keep this between us for now. There's no need to cause any unnecessary...panic amongst your peers."

Kendou nodded as Izuku stepped forward, "We understand, sir."

Izuku would honour the faith Nezu was showing in them and wouldn't tell another soul. Mostly because Sumire already knew if he were being honest. He doubted he could have kept such a straight face otherwise.

"Well, run along now," Nezu said as his cheery mood returned, "Class 1-B is running the same trial one 1-A did this week, correct?"

"Oh, yes!" Kendou nodded before she turned to Izuku, "I think we have to do it in another venue because of damages. Vlad-sensei didn't want to elaborate."

Yesterday and today had been so crazy that Izuku just realised he hadn't told Kendou all that much about yesterday's trial.

"Yes, that's true. Midoriya and Todoroki certainly did a lot of damage. I hope your class will be different! Bye!"

Nezu waved and he walked away with a pep in his step as if he hadn't just thrown Izuku under the bus.

"You destroyed a training room?! That's awesome!" Kendou yelled as she grabbed him by the shoulders, "You're telling me everything. Let's go! We're taking the scenic route for this!"

Izuku didn't bother letting Kendou know that it was a team effort between him, Bakugou and Todoroki. Instead, he let Kendou drag him along as he began to run through the fights from top to bottom.

They did indeed take the scenic route and Kendou was enthusiastic about everything as she asked question after question and made comment upon comment. It was the furthest thing from annoying, though. In fact, it was the perfect balm for his nerves.

"Shoving it in your mouth is an option? Hm."

"Iida tanked an explosion?!"

"You broke someone's jaw? Kinda mean of you."

"Someone broke your jaw? Ha!"

If Kendou could remain the same after all that then so could Izuku.

Izuku wrapped his story up as they came up to the 1-A house. They had taken a path that led them away from the school buildings so Izuku could be dropped off first for a change. There was a large truck parked in 1-A's parking lot, but he was too far away to see any useful details.

"So after Todoroki got me, Yaoyorozu and I both needed medical attention and I don't know what happened after that," Izuku said as he wrapped the story up, "I had to carry Yaoyorozu to the infirmary caused I kinda busted her leg. And Todoroki apparently won really quick— knowing him he probably glaciered the whole arena. Twice."

Was that even a word? Glaciered? He wasn't sure, but it was just something he could see Todoroki doing.

"Your class has some really awesome Quirks," Kendou said as she continued to walk while also doing a few punches, "I hope my class is full of as many nutters. You've got me so revved up, right now!"

It wasn't news that Kendou wanted to get hit. It was still a bit odd, but Izuku didn't have a leg to stand on there. He'd punched way too many washing machines to be thought of as normal. And fridges. And cars. And trees. And criminals.

"Bakugou must be pissed at Aizawa-sensei, though, right?" Kendou said as she did a few shadow punches and kicks to her imaginary opponent, "I'm sure you could've tanked his attack if your sensei didn't get involved."

Izuku blinked.

"What do you mean?"

Kendou stopped her shadow boxing as she turned to him— confused.

"You said Bakugou's attack flickered out abruptly, right?" Kendou asked as a frown grew on her face, "He isn't the type to hold back. Let alone against you so I guess Aizawa-sensei must have tried to cancel both your Quirks, but you were just quicker to the punch."

Oh. Oh. Oh, no. Oh, no. This was bad.

That was why Bakugou had backed out. It was thanks to Aizawa-sensei's intervention. It also explained how his battlescarf had caught Bakugou so quickly— because Aizawa's Quirk was already active! Izuku just didn't notice because Erasure didn't work on him.

And that was something that Aizawa-sensei most likely knew now, but for whatever reason chose not to bring up.

"Izuku?" Kendou put her hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay? You seem kinda off... Is it because of Bakugou? Did he say something to piss you off? I knew I hated that—"

"No," Izuku lied through his teeth as he forced a smile, "Sorry. It's just been a hectic few days is all. I kinda feel like I'm drowning."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," Kendou said before her eyes lit up, "We should go out this weekend!"

"Who? Us?"

"Yeah!" Kendou said as if he were stupid, "We used to go out all the time and just have fun. Now, we don't really do any of that anymore."

"We went out last week, though? Plus, I have plans for this weekend, already."

"Oh... I guess you're just bored of me, then. I understand..."

Izuku choked on his spit as Kendou walked away. In a flash, he turned her around and grabbed onto her hands, "What?! No, that's not it! That actually sounds great. I think I do need to let off some steam."

Genuinely, he did need to relax despite it only being two days into the semester. He just didn't want to blow off Yaoyorozu and undo any progress they'd made in their friendship.

"Great!" Kendou said as her smile returned in full force, "Do whatever you planned first, though. We can go out at any time you want, really."

Much like this morning with Todoroki, Izuku got a strong feeling of deja vu.

"Alright," Izuku grumbled as he let go of Kendou and continued down the road, "You know you make it really hard to say no when you pull that sad act."

"I know," Kendou said far too smugly, "Anyways, I've gotta run. Tetsutetsu said he'd cook today so yeah... I should be there, just in case. I can't let my class get hurt. Unless it's by my fists! I need to do better than you did in the battle exercise."

That was a terrible motive, but wisely Izuku didn't voice that. Or so he thought.

"Yeah, it is, but it's allowed so who cares?" Kendou agreed with his spoken thoughts, "Anyways, let me know what time you want to go, okay? I'll figure out what we can do. My treat. Sound good?"

They were now right in front of the 1-A house. Izuku could see someone was busy in the back of the moving truck and there were already a few stuff on the lawn. Curiously, despite the van, there were no movers and there was a lot of stuff that needed to be moved.

"Perfect," Izuku replied to Kendou whose phone rang as she walked off. She waved goodbye as she answered only to scream out a very loud 'WHAT?!' before sprinting down the road to her dorm.

Izuku felt he owed Tetsutetsu a gift.

Izuku was about to go inside when he heard a voice talking/cursing from inside the moving van. The person sounded absolutely drained and it was still early in the day. It was very understandable, though, considering the amount of stuff that needed to be moved.

Who in the world had or needed such a huge mattress?

"Yes, mother. I know she's busy, but Tomiko definitely did this just to spite me. I—oh!" Yaoyorozu walked out the back of the van carrying a large box.

It began to tip forward so Izuku dashed forward and caught it using some chakra as insurance. The box was heavy, but thankfully it didn't fall. Izuku looked up at Yaoyorozu's shocked face and all he could was smile— a bit embarrassed.

"Need a hand?"

Yaoyorozu didn't answer. She had a wireless headset in her ear and there was sweat pouring from her face and even through her uniform. She stared at him for a while longer before she snapped out of her daze.

"I will call you back later, mother... I need to move all my stuff alone thanks to Tomiko...Enjoy your day...Thank you," Yaoyorozu said before she ended the call. She stepped out of the van and held out her hands to take the box he'd caught.

"Thank you for that," Yaoyorozu said her voice holding a touch of exhaustion, "I can take it from here."

She stepped forward to take it, but Izuku stepped away, "You don't have any movers? Does that mean you moved all your stuff out there on your own? What about the driver?"

Izuku looked at the driver and he blinked as he saw a rather old man who was asleep behind the wheel.

"He's too old for that," Yaoyorozu said drily before she sighed, "Come on, just pass me the box. It's the last one."

Yaoyorozu made another lunge that Izuku dodged.

"Sorry, I can't do that," Izuku said after easily avoiding her grab, "Why is your stuff so late anyway? I thought you had everything you needed?"

"My sister's secretary got my stuff lost in transit," Yaoyorozu said as she crossed her arms, "I guess she was too busy with other stuff to solve this sooner. In any case, it does not matter. I can handle this."

Yaoyorozu's tone was neutral, but her fingers were digging into her arms— any more force would probably shred her blazer. Izuku put the box down before he checked the inside of the truck. He confirmed it was empty before he shut it.

"I'm moving your stuff," Izuku said, no, told Yaoyorozu, "You should've asked someone for help once you saw there were no movers. I don't care that you think you can handle this alone. I mean we both know you can, but you don't have to."

Yaoyorozu was quiet for a bit before she sighed, "I— thank you. I was worried I would not have had enough time to move it all and I did not want to wake anyone after the day we had yesterday."

It was a terrible excuse. Especially since Yaoyorozu had had the worst day aside from Iida and Bakugou. It was really nice of her, though. It was a side of Yaoyorozu that had always been present, but one he hadn't learned to appreciate until recently. She seemed aloof and cold, but she was really nice at her core.

It was why she had risked her health to save everyone at the Entrance Exam and left herself too weak to hold onto a rope— which led to her getting rather hurt.

It was why she prepared so many meals for their dorm without ever asking for a word of thanks or praise.

It was why she'd calmed Izuku down from his anxiety attack and still thought she owed him something for getting a bit of blood on a shuriken.

Yup. Really, really, really nice.

Maybe that was why Izuku had felt just a little drawn to her? Like he had with Kendou and Sumire and above all, All Might. There was something in Izuku that just responded to genuine goodness. The same trait was shared by many in his class. After just a few days, he truly considered a few of them to be friends already.

"Friends don't let their friends suffer alone, Yaoyorozu," Izuku said before he picked up the box and smiled, "Shall we?"

Yaoyorozu stared at him for a bit before she returned a blazing smile, "Yes! I'll walk in front of you so I can warn you of any girls walking around. They should start waking up fairly soon. Camie and I already made food, though so that will not be a problem."

"That sounds good," Izuku said before he paused, "Where is Camie? Wasn't she awake too?"

"She got bored after we finished and went to sleep, not long after you left," Yaoyorozu said with a sigh, "I didn't even think to ask her..."

Izuku smiled as Yaoyorozu picked up a few bags, "That sounds like her. You stay on the top floor—"

Yaoyorozu turned to him as his words trailed off, "What's wrong?"

"That bed is a lot bigger up close."

"Really? I brought the smallest mattress we had at home..."

Smallest? Suddenly, Izuku felt about ten times poorer than a few seconds ago. Maybe, twenty times.

He shook those sobering thoughts off, "Let's go, Yaoyorozu. I doubt Aizawa-sensei would accept us being late."

Yaoyorozu chewed on her lip for a moment before—

"Momo."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked.

"Just call me, Momo," she said before turning away sharply, "I introduced myself like that to you at the Exam so it just makes sense! Plus, I noticed you kept switching between my name and surname so this is just to help you. Actually, I have no preference either way and it's preposterous of you to think otherwise. So, in short, you can call me Momo if you want to."

Izuku blinked at Momo's unexpected and verbose rant. There was a flash of pink from one of Momo's legs before a small firetruck fell to the floor

"Did you mean to do that?" Izuku asked as he peered at the toy firetruck.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Izuku," Momo said as she charged off, "Now, let's go. We need to make haste."

She was never going to bring the fire truck up again, was she?

"...Okay."

It didn't take them long to move everything upstairs— even the gigantic mattress. Momo had given him another generous helping of her fancy tea which Izuku would probably need another helping of later on. They lived on the same floor so once they moved everything, Izuku just had to cross the divide to get back to his.

Neither of them mentioned the fire truck. Not even when Momo failed at stealthily picking it up.

As opposed to his first few days in UA, the next three weeks were very quotidian. There hadn't been any major happenings in his life or in Japan in general. It was relieving in a way to Izuku. He had been able to focus on school and harnessing his chakra as well as getting used to using kunai and shuriken.

The weeks of nothingness had been immensely helpful to him. He had even gotten around to using chakra strings and while he could make them now, he couldn't quite use them, but he was getting there. They seemed to stick to anything which was super helpful when he was too lazy to get up and get a pen.

Unfortunately, half the time he'd end up throwing the pen away instead of bringing it closer...

Like he said, he'd get there.

As for the kunai and shuriken, they came fairly quickly to Izuku. Momo had been surprised at his learning speed and in truth, Izuku wasn't sure where it came from. He wasn't quite as accurate as Momo was, but she said he was probably able to use them in a fight now which was a big deal.

He wondered if the chakra fruit had anything to do with it. Did he have a bit of an innate sense of how to use them because they were laced with chakra? Or perhaps it was the instincts and skills of thousands of shinobi coming to the fore? Or maybe he just had good aim? Either way, Izuku was glad for the rapid progress. He'd even come a far way with using a few jutsu— elemental jutsu!

That being said, things were far too quiet for his liking. The proposed meeting with All Might had not happened yet, but he had been sighted around the school apparently which was a start. On the other hand, the news had still made no mention of Fuzui being out of prison.

Sumire had agreed that there was something larger going on and she needed some capital to get things started. Thankfully, they had plenty of Miraculum kunai to spare. He had given her just the one which they both felt was plenty. How much was one worth anyway? Probably not too much.

Sumire was going to use it to try and lure Fuzui in particular out of hiding. Principal Nezu's tip-off about the reason for the Edgeshot attack had inspired this plan. However, despite exhausting her sources, Sumire had made no progress. And that was probably why she had decided to do something unbelievably stupid about all of that.

He thought back to the message that Sumire had sent him just earlier that day.

[Sumire: I'm going to meet with this guy who apparently knows how to set things up. It cost me a lot just to find out where the guy is, but apparently, he's the go-to guy for these things. I leave all my passwords in the clock in my living room. I just want you to know in case I die :)]

Izuku had called her immediately after she'd sent that. Unfortunately, Sumire had declined all his calls. The worst part was that Izuku had been at school. So he hadn't been able to fly over to Sumire and provide her with some protection.

As a result, this left Izuku rather distracted for the majority of lessons. Even during the rescue exercises they had done at the USJ— which was admittedly a spectacular place— he hadn't done so well. When it was all said and done, Izuku wanted to get back on the bus and then touch base with Sumire.

"Midoriya, please stay behind."

Unfortunately, Aizawa-sensei had other plans.

Izuku ignored the looks he got from the rest of his class as they were escorted to the bus by Thirteen. Momo gave him a questioning look, but he waved it off. He could only hope it was something mundane like choosing their class representatives like how Kendou's class had done.

Kendou loved gloating that she'd been made 1-B's representative which was so childish and definitely not class rep material in his books... He truly felt that. Really. It totally wasn't because he was jealous or anything. Him jealous? Never.

It's not like he was worried that Kendou would have an edge on him if he wasn't made 1-A's rep. No, Kendou was mature enough to not bring something like that up. Especially with how Aizawa-sensei seemed to have it in for him. He doubted he'd ever be made class rep and Kendou would definitely be 100% empathetic and kind-hearted about the whole thing.

Yeah...he was screwed, wasn't he?

"Y-Yes, sensei?" Izuku asked and he winced at the stutter, "What is it?"

He had gotten a lot better at the stuttering thing— truly. He didn't even feel that nervous around girls anymore. Yeah sure Hagakure and Ashido had about zero care for personal space, but he was gonna get past that eventually. He'd done it before, but this was different.

Ever since Kendou had speculated that Aizawa-sensei had interrupted his and Bakugou's fight, everything seemed all too obvious now. Izuku was always the one to run through exercises first, he got terrible matchups all the time and any drop in performance was chastised. Harshly.

It was terrifying and aggravating, but it didn't feel malicious which was why Izuku accepted it. This treatment was leagues better than the cold indifference that he was used to at Aldera. Plus, Aizawa-sensei definitely spread some misery around for them all. He had given Hagakure and Mineta harsher fitness regiments than everyone else. He was also quick to shut down any excessive boasting done by Bakugou, Kaminari and once again Mineta— just to name examples.

He had even criticised Todoroki for not using his fire and that had been all everyone had spoken about for two whole days...while Todoroki wasn't around of course. No one was dumb enough to say that to his face. No one wanted to get glaciered, after all.

All in all, Aizawa-sensei was a slave driver to them all. It was for their own good but even so, Izuku still felt like he was being singled out by his teacher. He could be right or maybe it was just in his head. It was possible that he was panicking because Kendou had planted the idea that his sensei was watching his every move.

"Your performance was subpar today," Aizawa-sensei crawled as he went through his notes, "I know you want to specialise in frontline combat, but rescue is just as important. Do you only care about fighting?"

Izuku held back a wince at the cutting criticism. Brutal as it was accurate. It was hard to feel truly aggrieved when Izuku himself couldn't disagree with any of what his sensei said.

"Sorry, sensei. I do value rescue work. I know how important it is," Izuku bowed his head out of a mix of shame and fear, "I just— I've just had a lot on my mind today. I shouldn't have let that distract me, though. I'm sorry, sensei. I'll do better tomorrow."

Usually, these talks ended with a silent dismissal and a part of Izuku was hoping for that.

"Midoriya."

Izuku looked up at his sensei— his hopes for a quick dismissal up in smoke.

"What's on your mind?" Aizawa-sensei asked as he crossed his arms, "It's not good enough to bottle these things up. A worried mind is a distracted mind and in our business that could be deadly."

Oh? This was different.

Aizawa-sensei was asking about his...feelings? No. That couldn't be it. This was Eraserhead. There had to be another play that he just wasn't seeing. Then again, what if he was trying to get through to Izuku. What was the best response in a situation like this?

"It's, uh, it's no big deal," Izuku said and even he didn't believe his own words, "I'll handle it and won't get any more distractions."

Aizawa-sensei sighed, "Look, Midoriya. Principal Nezu told me what you and Kendou from 1-B had discovered. If that is what is bothering you then know that some of the best are on that case as we speak."

"Some of the best? You mean Pros are investigating our tip-off?"

"Yes," Aizawa-sensei nodded as he held up his phone, "This is confidential, but I think you deserve to know. I got a request on the Hero Network from someone who has a lead. Apparently, my Quirk would be well-suited to handling the person we're tracking down."

Izuku wasn't sure who Eraserhead wouldn't be well-suited to hunting down. Even if the person had a Mutant Quirk, Eraserhead was still extremely adept with his battlescarf. If Izuku were a hero, he'd always try to get Eraserhead to work with him on larger operations. It just made sense.

"If it's confidential why would you tell me this?" Izuku chose to ask instead of mentioning any of that, "Isn't that against protocol? Not that I'm not grateful, but—"

"It is," Aizawa-sensei confirmed immediately, "However, as you are the one who tipped us off I think an exception can be made. You're only a first-year student. You should only be worried about performing well in class and not about jailbreaks."

For one painstaking moment, Izuku wanted to let it all out. He wanted to tell his teacher about everything from the chakra fruit to the Miraculum to Sumire to Kage and everything. Just vent and let it all out at once. He could see that Aizawa-sensei much like Sumire and much like Principal Nezu wanted the best for him.

It was so so obvious.

And yet after he'd caught out the Iwatani Three, Izuku wasn't sure if that was enough anymore. Appearances were deceiving. Three of the best heroes in Japan could be co-operating with heinous villains right under your nose. That didn't apply here, though. Aizawa-sensei was definitely a good person.

Izuku was the problem if he were honest.

Aizawa-sensei had no want for fame or riches. That was how most underground heroes operated, after all. After three weeks, Izuku had a good bead on the genuineness of Aizawa-sensei no matter how harsh his criticism was. There was exactly zero chance that Aizawa-sensei was on the wrong side here.

The only reason Izuku kept quiet was because he was scared of the fallout.

In the current climate, heroes had to do everything right. Following the terror attack, Edgeshot had been slated for losing his fight. It was bordering on a smear campaign that was being ran by many media outlets and platforms including Starlight News— unsurprisingly. It was clearer by the day just how twisted that channel along with Masukomi Sousa was.

Even Miruko hadn't faced this type of an onslaught after the fire at her nightclub. A fire that had only been started thanks to some of her colleagues collaborating with Dabi and Muscular. Not that many even knew that. It was a bit of a hard time to be a hero. Approval ratings were still plummeting and the public and media seemed eager to jump on any failures made by heroes.

Which wasn't wrong per se, but it did sometimes feel incredibly unfair to those on the receiving end of those criticisms and frustrations.

UA couldn't afford the drama that having a vigilante student would bring. Let alone one of the most prominent vigilantes in recent days. As true and righteous as the teachers were, Izuku could not and would not expect them to let him off the hook.

Not when UA's flawless image was key to a lot of the funding it got. It was how UA managed to be a free hero course and still be the best one. Asking UA for such help could screw things up for current students and immeasurably more students and civilians in the future. Plus the effect it would have on the reputation of the teachers— something they would've spent many hard years building— would be devastating.

So, it was a twisted form of cowardice and practicality that kept Izuku's mouth shut. In a way, Izuku was glad that he hadn't met All Might again. He doubted that All Might would look upon his actions and thought process positively.

And that realisation hurt more than a giant uppercut from Kendou.

"Sensei!" Izuku turned to see Hagakure not too far away from them, "Thirteen was asking if we could leave now. Everyone's waiting for you guys."

Hagakure, much like Camie, had appeared out of nowhere. Or maybe it was obvious that she was there and he just hadn't noticed? She was in her "costume" after all so that couldn't have helped. Either way, Izuku was too relieved to care about it too much.

"Don't worry. We're done here," Aizawa-sensei said to Hagakure before he turned to Midoriya, "I hope you understand that I just want what's best for you, Midoriya. My door is always open if you need extra help."

Izuku nodded.

He knew that already. For whatever reason, he just couldn't take that leap of faith. Not yet. Not when he still had unfinished business as Kage. It was bordering on self-punishment, but sometimes sacrifices had to be made. If Izuku had to deal with anxiety and stress and dread and worry and pain until this was solved then so be it.

He'd just have to endure it.

The three of them walked back to the bus in silence. As soon as Izuku was seated, he was swarmed by questions, but he forced a smile and waved off everyone's concerns— he liked to think it worked. It was only once they were back at their dorm that Izuku was able to get enough respite to check his phone.

Sumire had responded.

[Sumire: I got a tip-off from the broker that a massive Miraculum deal is going down tonight at the Crasher Wake Waterpark. It's gonna be after hours. Apparently, one of the people has an in with the owners. You want in?]

A worrying glee filled Izuku.

[Me: I'll go there. I'll meet up at yours first.]

Crasher Wake was pretty far away, but it would only take a train ride to get there. And probably quite a few Body Flickers if he wanted to get all that stuff out of there...unless he could finally use some of the stuff he'd gotten from the Iwatani Three's deal with Dabi.

Izuku was about to charge upstairs, but he was held up as a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to see Momo and her face was set in a bit of a frown. Their classmates filtered past them and were paying virtually no attention to them.

"Come with me," Momo said and there was no room for negotiation, "I need to talk to you."

Izuku stalled for a bit before he nodded. He followed Momo to the elevator— which was thankfully empty. It let out on their floor and oddly instead of going to his room they went to hers. Momo invited him inside and Izuku took in the look of her room.

Her entirely too massive bed took up a large chunk of the room, but that wasn't even the best part of it. She had a bevy of books all placed on bookshelves. From the book covers, he could see that they ranged from textbooks to encyclopedias to manuals to even...romance books? Huh. He even spotted the toy firetruck that Momo had accidentally made resting on her window sill. Its coat as glossy as ever.

There were also a lot of failed and/or decommissioned creations that Momo had taken apart. The hoverboard from the Quirk Aptitude Test and also the blunderbuss he had seen her use at the Entrance Exam. He had helped her get her stuff here, but he actually hadn't been in here since then nor had he helped her unpack. They usually met downstairs before training and split up once the elevator got them to their floor.

So seeing all of Momo's room like this was...

"Awesome," Izuku breathed out as he carefully picked up a matryoshka doll that was empty on the inside, "Your room is great. Did you put something in here before?"

"Yes, I put smoke bombs," Momo answered as a hesitant smile grew on her face, "Do you actually like it? This is how it was always like at home. My mother and sister always said it was too disorganised. I try to clean everything, but it always ends up like this somehow..."

"It is...busy," Izuku conceded before he added, "But it's you. A blunderbuss next to a bookshelf filled with books on physics and chemistry? I've never seen anything like it but that's a good thing. We all have our quirks, right? At least it's not All Might figurines and shuriken."

The room somehow fit Momo perfectly and it reminded him that he had to go and see Kendou's room. Usually, they met outside the dorms or in his room. It probably wasn't fair of him to let Kendou keep trekking between the two dorms.

"...Thank you. And I already told you I liked your room," Momo said with a more assured smile, "I still think mine is a bit cramped, though."

The organised chaos of Momo's room was remarkable to him. There wasn't all that much space to move around, true, but only because Momo's very essence seemed to fill the room. Confusingly, that also seemed to make the room so big that Izuku could probably get lost in it.

Maybe this was how Momo had seen his room? It was quite something to see a full-on visual representation of who someone was as a person. Despite all the conversations, weapons training and such that they had this still felt a bit more personal.

It was weird...It also wasn't why he was here.

"Why did you call me here?"

Momo straightened at his question, "I forgot about that, apologies. I wanted to know if you are okay. You have seemed a bit...out of sorts recently."

"I have?"

"In class, yes," Momo confirmed with a nod, "You seem distracted and tired. I have no idea if it is due to all the early and late training you do—"

She knew about those?

"—so I just want to make sure you're okay," Momo finished with a nervous smile, "As your friend."

A conflicting storm of emotions crashed through his mind.

"These past few weeks have been hard, but things are looking up, I think," Izuku admitted as he recalled Sumire's last message, "I'm sorry if I worried you...and the extra training is just something I do either on my own or with Kendou from 1-B. If anything all the extra training I've been doing has been keeping me centred."

The obvious implication was that Izuku included the few training sessions he'd had with Momo. Momo, being Momo, seemed to get the hint as she turned away in embarrassment. He almost felt like doing the same, but honestly, nothing could surpass him having a panic attack in front of Momo.

That had been awkward. Hauntingly so, but it had inured him against most of the awkwardness that being around Momo seemed to generate.

"You seem close to Kendou," Momo said as she zeroed in on his words, "Are you guys friends?"

"Best friends. She's a lot of things, but she's just the best..." Izuku said before frowning, "You're not gonna tell her I said that, right?"

That would be almost as bad as him showing Bakugou up in literally anything.

"No," Momo said her brow scrunched up, "Aren't best friends supposed to hear nice stuff like that? That's in all the books I've read."

"I've read those books too and Kendou isn't anything like the people in them," Izuku said and he was only half-serious, "In a good way, of course. Most of the time. She is a great person. I should introduce you two. She'd love you."

"You think so?"

"Definitely. She likes that you broke my jaw in our fight."

"...Really?"

Izuku nodded.

"It's like I said. Nothing like the people in the books. She'll probably try to fight you, actually."

"Me?" Momo exclaimed as she pointed at herself, "Why? What did I do?"

"Nothing really. Kendou just likes fighting strong people," Izuku shrugged as he made his way to the door, "She's a fantastic teacher though— just like you. Once I finish with my stuff I'll introduce you to each other."

This would be good for both Kendou and Momo, right? It did feel that way.

If Momo had read the same books Izuku had on making friends then she probably struggled with doing that. Just like Kendou and he both had before meeting each other. One thing the books got right was that all sorts of people struggled with making friends.

On paper, Kendou and Momo both seemed like the type to have a whole coterie of friends to call on. In reality, that clearly wasn't the case for either of them.

Plus, it would give Kendou another friend. After the horror show that was Kendou's middle school, she definitely could do with more good people in her life. Momo more than fit the bill for that despite the...rocky start she and Izuku had had.

"I didn't expect to make too many friends here," Momo said and her reluctance was painfully prominent, "You're sure she won't hate me? Our class has been fine but..."

It was strange.

Looking at Momo now reminded him of Kendou. When she had been super hesitant to even acquaint herself with the rest of 1-B. And yet they now trusted her enough to make class rep. It made his plan to introduce them even more of a priority. Their desire to make friends was hamstrung by their reluctance to open up to anyone. There was definitely more to Momo's reluctance than she was letting on.

"No one normal would hate you," Izuku assured her which made Momo relax before she looked away, "Trust me. You guys will get on great. I'm almost sure of it!"

"Almost?"

Izuku's phone beeped and he checked it to see it was a message from Sumire. His improved mood took a bit of a hit as he shot a reply back before putting it away. Momo was watching him with a keen eye. She clearly had something on her mind, but in the end, she let it go.

"Sorry, but I need to go," Izuku said and his tone was a bit more serious, "I'll probably be back around the dorms late at night. Please let the others know in case anyone's looking for me."

The tonal shift was a bit unintentional on his part, but it did seem to resonate with Momo who nodded her understanding.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Izuku shook his head immediately, "No. This is just something I have to do. I'll see you later, Momo."

"O-Okay."

His good mood faded a bit at Momo's reproachful look and flinch away. Izuku felt rather awful for his quick dismissal of Momo. It was actually rich of him to push her aid aside so casually. Especially considering how much help Momo had been offering him. Yet, that was exactly why he didn't want her or Kendou or Iida or anyone involved.

This was his burden. He was responsible for the burgeoning Miraculum trade so naturally, he had to put a stop to it all. Not just because it was illegal, but also because of Sakira's warning. It had been on an infinite loop in his mind. Its volume in his head could only be dimmed, but never fully silenced.

A furious need to fix this mess drove Izuku to get this out of the way. He was now better than he had been three weeks ago and he hoped that would be enough to take on whatever came his way.

It had to be.

Before he knew it, Izuku was in his room and he locked the door behind him before also drawing the curtains shut. Izuku extracted a scroll and he unfurled it before channelling chakra into it. There was a burst of smoke before he saw it.

His mask.

Izuku picked it up and the ceramic was cool to his touch. The animal decal on it was the same as ever as was to be expected. Hiruzen's scroll was next to it, but there was a third and last item that drew the eye. It was clearly a handle of some sort and yet there was no blade.

He had seen it many times since he'd gotten it from the Iwatani Three, but he'd never actually used it— if there even was a use for it. It looked like a hilt of some sort, but beyond that, he had no idea. Still, though, today was as good a day as any to use it.

He just hoped he could figure out how it worked.

After night had fallen, Izuku had flown on over to Sumire's. Much like the last time, he hadn't faced any issues and so while he was going through some stretches. Calm and anticipation were at war within him as the time to leave drew nearer and nearer.

"Are you ready for this?" Sumire asked as he began to stretch his legs, "It's been a while and the last time we got involved with Miraculum was...chaotic to say the least."

"I'm better than I was back then," Izuku replied to Sumire's very valid point, "I'm prepared for this whole thing to go sideways, but I've got a few things going for me too, you know?"

Izuku believed in himself. He had to. After all, any doubt or hesitation could be disastrous. It had always been easy for him to believe in others, but believing in himself? That was something he had learned to do way too late. Kendou was a big reason for this. She was currently one of the best teachers he'd ever had— this included the UA staff who were all superb in their own right.

"I know," Sumire conceded immediately before sighing, "I think my meeting with that broker guy just has me pretty messed up."

Izuku paused, "Why is that?"

Sumire's face scrunched up in confusion, "The thing is I remember starting our meeting, but the rest of it is just...gone... My Quirk was on and even after looking back at the video nothing resonates within me. I only recognise his face because I've seen that video."

"A memory-erasing Quirk?" Izuku pondered with a frown, "That's a useful Quirk for a criminal. It's a good thing you had your Quirk on. Wait, but if he made you forget the meeting how did you find out about the meeting? And what did he want in return?"

"I found details notepad in my own writing," Sumire held up the aforementioned notepad, "That was what prompted me to rewatch that tape back. From what that broker said, Fuzui should be there. If you can interrogate Fuzui or find something out about how he escaped then that would be huge for us."

Stopping Miraculum trade was of the utmost importance, but Fuzui being there would be major news. There was just something of a snag.

"Won't this broker know it was you that led me to Fuzui if he's there?" Izuku asked and he bit back a frown as Sumire avoided his gaze, "What if he gives you up?"

"That won't happen."

Izuku dismissed her curt answer immediately, "Why not? How can you be so sure?"

Sumire tried to walk away, but Izuku leapt across the room to cut off her escape. She was taller than him, but if anything she seemed to shrink in towards herself.

"I gave him a Miraculum kunai to have him on retainer. That's why."

"On retainer?" Izuku asked his voice breathless, "You can't go meet him again! Are you crazy? Once is enough!"

"No, it's not!" Sumire yelled right back in his face, "This guy...he knows things. A lot of things... None of my sources are anywhere as good as he is. None of them knew anything about Fuzui, but this guy did."

Izuku sighed, "I understand that, but don't you see that there's a reason for that? This guy is bad news. Who knows what he'll pull if we ruin something he's involved in?"

"Look, Izuku," Sumire said as she settled her hands on his shoulders, "Don't worry about that. I know the risks of what I'm doing. You do too which is why I try my best not to hassle you about being an underage vigilante."

"That's different—"

"Is it?" Sumire cut him off, "Because you have a godlike power? Or because you are the only one allowed to put yourself in harm's way?"

With that, the roles were reversed and Izuku couldn't quite meet Sumire's eyes.

"You put yourself in far more danger than I do— chakra be damned," Sumire said as she pulled him into a hug, "I know you'd never stop willingly so if we work together at least I have an idea of what you're doing. You're far too reckless with your own safety."

The hug was warm and calming. Izuku wrapped his arms around Sumire as he felt the worry he'd been feeling flicker away for just a bit. His words were mumbled into her shoulder and barely audible.

"I can't help it. I know I'm being stupid, but—"

"You can't just let something bad happen if you think you can do something to stop it?" Sumire asked and her tone was chiding and yet understanding, "Trust me. I know."

The hug lasted a bit longer before they had to separate. This time Izuku was able to focus in on the task that laid ahead. He had his chakra rods at the ready and also the odd hilt/handle that he hadn't quite gotten to work. He also had a sealing scroll which immediately drew Sumire's attention.

"This thing has unlimited space inside, right?"

"That does seem to be the case," Izuku nodded as he rolled it up tightly, "I once sealed everything in my room in it and there was no sign of it being full. It's empty now though so I'll be able to seal the Miraculum away in here and catch a train back to here."

It would've been a tall order to peel off with the stolen goods otherwise.

Izuku transformed into Kage and immediately the billowing cloak covered his entire body. He chanced a look in the mirror and stared at the face that stared back at him. It was a completely random and unfamiliar face with a different hairstyle and facial features.

Just in case, his mask ever got knocked off.

Speaking of which, Izuku put the mask on and it fit him like a glove. He put the scroll in his back pocket and reached for his chakra rods as well as the strange handle. He was about to pocket it when Sumire stopped him.

"What does that thing do? Have you figured it out yet?"

"...No," Izuku admitted as he held it up, "I'm guessing I just have to channel chakra into it, though. That usually works for me."

"Uhhh, please don't do that in here," Sumire said waving her hand frantically, "What if that thing is like an exploding sword or something? We'd be very dead."

Izuku snorted loudly, "An exploding sword? Kacchan wishes something that weird existed. I highly doubt shinobi would bother making a sword that exploded. How would that even work? It would just destroy the sword and send shrapnel everywhere."

And Izuku thought he got crazy with some of his theories...

"You can walk on water and dodge bullets!" Sumire blurted out as she crossed her arms, "An exploding sword isn't that crazy in comparison. Maybe the chakra swordmakers made a sword that had unlimited explosions? ...Stop giving me that look."

"I'm wearing a mask."

"I can feel you judging me," Sumire groused and Izuku just tilted his head, "I hate you."

"Harsh," Izuku's answer was garbled and distorted, but you could still hear his smile, "I should be able to get to the water park by eight. The meeting is at nine-ish so I'll push to be back at eleven latest. It depends on how many people there are."

"You know I could probably find a hero to work with you," Sumire suggested as she paced back and forth, "They could help you grow and become better?"

It was a good offer, but it only made Izuku think of a Pro that was both teaching him and likely to come across Fuzui at some point in the future. Perhaps even tonight. Oh, wait. That reminded him.

"Eraserhead is apparently on Fuzui's trail," Izuku blurted out which made Sumire freeze, "I don't even know who he's working with, but since it's him—"

"They're definitely the real deal," Sumire finished before she sighed, "I wish you'd told me that earlier, but it's fine. Just make sure you get out of there if it gets to be too much. Even if you don't get the kunai."

"I will," Izuku said and he was surprised at how smoothly the lie flowed from his lips, "I'll contact you once it's safe for me to do so. Wish me luck, please."

He had a feeling he'd need it for tonight.

Sumire's reply was lost as Izuku took off in a powerful Body Flicker. He let out a scream of excitement as he soared through the air and towards the nearest train station. Cars and people and buildings flashed below him and Izuku enjoyed the sights for a little bit before eventually focusing in.

He landed in a nearby— and thankfully empty— alley before switching Transformations. He was now another nondescript office worker who was rushing home. He paid for his ticket and soon he was on his way to a water park of all places.

All to stop a deal that could contribute to an invasion by multidimensional aliens.

No big deal.

It was official.

Of all the water parks in Japan, Crasher Wake was definitely one of them. Nothing good about it really stood out to Izuku— if anything its flaws were painfully obvious. He was crouched on the roof of a building that was opposite the entrance to the water park. The signage was rather faded and the fencing showed a fair amount of wear and tear. The grass outside was yellow and overgrown.

It was a bit of a dump.

The only thing it had going for it was its size which was nothing to scoff at really. It was a fair way out of the city and honestly, Izuku had no idea how popular the business was. Based on the outside, it had definitely seen some better days, but maybe the inside was nicer?

He wasn't holding out too much hope, though.

Izuku tensed up as a car pulled up from across the street. The buildings in the area were mostly non-residential so any sign of life had his attention immediately. Sure enough, the car turned towards the entrance of Crasher Wake and parked. After some time, the gates were opened by someone Izuku couldn't discern.

Izuku Transformed into a bird and trailed the car from up above as it wove its way through the water park's winding road. Thanks to the enhanced vision being a bird gave him, he was able to spot one of the people in the car. A large man with a shaved head was leaning out of the window as he took in the meagre sights of Crasher Wake.

Izuku couldn't see too much about the man's features as he had a mask covering his face— which was to be expected. Izuku caught glimpses of cameras all around and they actually seemed to be fully functional and widespread.

Izuku was pretty sure he'd seen banks with less security than this place. Another fight of his would probably end up on the internet, then. Oh, well. That was the least worrying thing right now.

The inside of Crasher Wake wasn't really anything special. There were worn down picnic areas and unkempt and ruined lawns all over the place. Not to mention the litter that Izuku was able to pick out. Clearly, the water park was down on hard times.

It was probably very close to closing down if it wasn't already there. The owners were probably prioritising the water rides over everything else as a way of cutting costs. Izuku was no businessman, but he wasn't sure if that was the best idea.

Aesthetics and presentation were key for places like this, after all.

The car finally came to a stop outside the water park proper— where a vast variety of attractions awaited. The car was shut off and Izuku tried to remain calm as he counted how many people got out of the car.

In the end, three people left the car. One being the big bald man and the other being the driver— a thin blond man who also had some sort of mask on, but instead of it being a medical mask this one seemed more like... a beak?

The third and last man was a man with silver hair and what appeared to be a mutant Quirk of some sort judging from his appearance. If Izuku had to guess then it was probably some sort of Shark Quirk.

It would be wise of him to avoid getting bit by that guy.

There was still no sign of Fuzui, but crucially there was no sign of other heroes. That would've been a headache that Izuku didn't need. Izuku watched as the driver took out a large duffel bag before following Shark Man as they went on a walk.

He had no idea of what Quirks the others had so he figured it was safest if he trailed them in bird form. It was a little odd that they were going into the actual part of the park where all the aquatic rides were, but that was just the advantage that the Shark Man had.

After a while, Izuku settled on a ledge that had a variety overlooked a fake beach complete with what Izuku was sure was a wave pool. There were regular pools of various sizes scattered down below him. Izuku was certain that the ledge he was on was probably a food court during operational hours, but the buildings behind were all shuttered close.

Finally, they were the stairs that led to two massive water slides to his right. They all started a little away from the ledge Izuku was on, but they continued off all across the water park. They were more like roller coasters than slides from Izuku's perspective.

Honestly, the inside of Crasher Wake looked to be a blast. He would have loved to come here with Kendou, Momo and his other classmates if it wasn't the location of a Miraculum deal. He had a feeling he'd never get an opportunity to go on any of the rides once all was said and done.

The three men(and likely criminals) settled on the fake beachfront as Shark Man typed away on his phone. A little later, there was a bell sound as a man came pushing...an ice cream cart? Izuku's enhanced vision skipped over that as he took in the man's features. Sumire's source had been right.

Fuzui.

So, Sumire's source had been right. Somehow that man knew the location and activities of a man that had escaped from prison. And not just in a general sense, either. Fuzui rolled the cart to a stop in front of his accomplices before pulling the top open.

"What's your poison? I've got kunai, kunai and oh more kunai!" Fuzui grinned as he held up a handful of kunai, "This to your liking?"

Silence.

"Don't mind the ice cream cart," Fuzui said to fill the void of talking, "This is a lot easier to push through sand than a trolley and I wasn't in the mood to carry anything so—"

"Let me look at them," said the bald man his tone irate, "I wouldn't have cared if you used a dinosaur skull to carry those. The boss wants this wrapped up quickly so let's get to it already."

The bald man's aggressive tone wiped away the relaxed mood of the trade-off immediately.

"Hold it!" Fuzui said as his eyes gleamed dangerous pink, "Fuka, I thought you said these birdies weren't gonna be a problem."

Shark Man or rather Fuka sighed, "There isn't a problem— you're just annoying us all with your theatrics. Our payment is in the duffel bag over there. No need to fight."

"I've been locked in prison for months," Fuzui replied immediately with a shrug, "Is a little drama so bad? Besides...even if we fought I don't think these two birdies could stop us, Fuka."

That seemed to set the bald man off, "Why you—"

"Calm down, Hojo," said the lean blonde man as he brought the duffel bag forward, "The Boss wouldn't be pleased if we screwed this up."

"Setsuno—"

The blonde man, Setsuno, pointed a hand towards Hojo who immediately cowered back, "That's what I thought. Now, then back to business. The money is all in there— in dollars of course. You promised 20 kilos of that stuff and the going rate for Miraculum is about $500 000 per 100 grams so—"

Izuku almost fell off his chair once he heard that. The kunai he had all weighed around 100g and Izuku had hundreds of them. He knew that certain metals like rhodium and other super rare metal were expensive, but this was a whole new level of absurdity.

Chakra metal could very well be the most valuable substance on Earth, right now. The question was why?

"There you go," Setsuno said as Fuka finished counting, "25% of what we owe you in cash. The rest will be accessible to you through shadow identities and offshore accounts which we'll only give you once we verify this is in fact Miraculum."

Fuka immediately snatched away the bag and clutched onto as if it were his firstborn. An engine sputtered in the distance as a car zoomed off in the distance. Setsuno and Hojo didn't even seem slightly bothered by giving away an eye-watering amount of money all at once. It was really strange to Izuku. How on Earth did a few criminal types have so much money laying around in cash?

"How do we know you'll keep your end of the bargain up?" Fuzui asked looking both giddy and yet cautious, "That's a lot of money."

"Not for the Shie Hassaikai," Setsuno assured him, "Miraculum was the best thing to happen to us in ages and don't worry about verifying. Hojo over here can do that immediately...you might wanna step back. Things are about to get messy."

Izuku watched as everyone huddled behind Hojo who reached into his pocket before he took out a syringe. Of the criminals down below, only Fuka seemed to be confused— a mirror of Izuku's own feelings. Thankfully, he let his confusion be known.

"What is that?" Fuka asked as Hojo injected himself, "What's going on?"

"You're seeing one of the uses for Miraculum," Setsuno said as Hojo began to groan and mutter under his breath, "I'm sure you've heard of Trigger— a drug designed to supercharge Quirks. It has a myriad of short-term and long-term downsides even if it can give you power at the level of a trained Pro for a few minutes."

The crystals on Hojo began to grow and morph with loud crackling. There was an ethereal glow from within the crystals that illuminated the beach and the surrounding pools. Blue energy began to stream off of him in waves and as soon as the first wave shot past Izuku he felt it.

Chakra.

"The Shie Hassaikai's new version of Trigger has none of those defaults," Setsuno said as Hojo rose to his feet and took aim at the ice cream cart, "And once we perfect it, the world will not be ready. We will ascend right to the top of this world's food chain. No one from Endeavor to Crust to All Might himself can stop us!"

Hojo's transformation stopped as he pointed his hands towards the ice cream cart. The light show died down, but another spectacle followed it as a storm of diamonds were fired at the ice cream cart. The diamonds moved at the speed of bullets and Izuku had trouble keeping track of them all. The screech of tearing metal and colliding Crystal's tore through the night and it was all done within a matter of seconds.

The beach glimmered with diamonds that reflected the moonlight. The quiet lapping of waves was the only other sound as Setsuno inspected the desiccated remains of the ice cream cart. Despite the speed and cutting power of Hojo's diamonds— there wasn't even a single scratch or blemish on any of the kunai.

"Amazing isn't it?" Setsuno asked to Fuka who was in stunned silence, "A beach full of diamonds and we care most about the gardening tools on them. What a world. This is just one of the many uses Miraculum has. If you doubt us, you can ask Fuzui over here. How else could a loser like him take the fight to Edgeshot?"

Izuku had heard enough.

Fuka had no idea that things were this crazy.

His water park had already begun to fall into disrepair once his parents had handed it to him. It wasn't their fault nor was it his that he couldn't slow the decay that was spreading through it. This had been the sight of a battle between Yoroi Musha and two villains with corrosive Quirks— one that affected metals and the other that poisoned water and plant life.

The villains had escaped custody from a nearby hero agency and for whatever reason, they thought Crasher Wake was their best shot at getting away. It was only after their capture that the plan was to hold the park hostage through the use of the water poisoning Quirk.

The water park had never really stood a chance. Especially with how Yoroi had a strong defensive fighting style. The collateral damage was immense and by the time, the fight was over the countdown to the demise of Crasher Wake had begun.

They had not been insured against high-level villain attacks and the Hero Commission wasn't all that sympathetic to the case. After all, there had been no loss of life and a water park was hardly at the top of anyone's list of important places. Let alone one that had almost made the Commission look painfully foolish.

They did give some money out but it was a pittance.

It was enough to undo most of the damage to the water park itself, but beyond that was different. He had tried to fight for more, enough to fully restore the park, and had gone from lawyer to lawyer to lawyer. He squandered his payout chasing after a case where the perpetrator was also the judge.

Lawyers would string him along or defer to the Hero Commission unwilling to be on their bad side. Others would swear up and down he had a phenomenal case before suddenly changing face about his chance. The situation was a riptide that was drowning him beneath its power. Without fail, his next lawyer was always a bit more greedy and yet also a touch worse than the last and even less willing to truly fight his case.

By the time his appeal was heard, he was under the care of an overworked graduate doing pro bono work for experience. Fuka wasn't surprised when a snooty Commission lawyer crushed them after they made it to court. The ruling should have been obvious to him. Yet, his hope that someone or something would help him kept his dream alive.

Adequate.

"The court finds the compensation amount to be adequate," the judge said as she banged her gavel, "Fuka Kouen, I would like to remind you that collateral damage is an unfortunate reality of our day and age. I cannot in good conscience give you more money when there are infinitely better places for that money to go. The most I can do is ensure you only pay for your own legal fees. And also advise you to get insurance— something you already should have had, mind you."

Fuka had been playing in a rigged game and despite warnings from lawyers, he never saw it until he was escorted out of the courtroom. The ruling had almost ruined Fuka as well as the park. He was content with wasting away until he'd been given a lease of life through Hanran.

Hanran had paid for the rest of the repairs to the water equipment which actually allowed Fuka to begin saving for the rest of the repairs to the grounds. Business was picking up slowly as time went on and the only thing Hanran had asked for was a few favours. Acting as muscle for meetings, which was laughable— Hanran could beat Fuka with supreme ease.

Outside of his hero costume, though, it was impossible to tell.

Fuka had never been the fighting type, but his Quirk was certainly suited for it— Shark. He could have made a formidable hero if he had ever felt the need, but he hadn't. All he ever wanted was to run his family's water park. Perhaps, in an ideal future, he would move to a beachside town where he could reap the full benefits of his Quirk.

So, it was a no-brainer when Hanran had asked him to go meet some broker to set this whole thing up. It didn't matter that he had been set up with an escaped convict from prison. It didn't matter that Hanran probably saw him as disposable. All Fuka knew was that to get anywhere, he had to play and stop being played.

"Stop, right there. Nobody move."

Fuka whirled around and looked beneath the balcony. There stood a man with flowing black clothes and a gleaming white mask. The decals on his mask stood out from beneath the moonlight and only enhanced his eerie image. The man was bathed in shadows and his mask struck a chord within Fuka. The crystalline brute to his right took aim for The Mask who was immediately besieged by a storm of diamonds.

"Die, trash!"

The execution was as swift as it was brutal. Fuka expected to see the bloodied corpse of a hero on the ground, but instead, there was nothing of the sort. The dust settled and revealed nothing there other than a trashcan. The speed with which he had moved was inhuman. This was no ordinary Pro.

"Hanran," Fuka spoke into his radio, "Things are bad. We need to—"

Fuka was cut off as their assailant appeared right behind Hojo— the crystal giant. The Mask reared his fist back before punching the giant right in the centre of some diamond. In yet another worrying moment, instead of The Mask's hand breaking it was Hojo who was sent rocketing away and across the beach.

Hojo flew up and over the balcony and went on until Fuka heard him crash into one of the closed storefronts. Panic set in amongst them as The Mask shook his hand and turned to the rest of them.

"Miraculum, huh?" The Mask's garbled voice said as he looked at the kunai on the beach, "I'll be taking all of these, thank you. I've seen more than enough."

The Mask took out a strange black handle, but before he could put it to use the water park suddenly came to life. Water began to flow and surge all around them as the full might of Crasher Wake was awakened all at once. Fuka knew what this meant. Hanran was coming. He was safe, then. He just had to—

"Here, inject this," Setsuno said as he threw two syringes at Fuka that he caught, "I know you're a mutant type, but it'll work. Trust me. We'll need it against this guy. I've heard about him before."

"Who is he?"

Izuku's hand was throbbing with pain. The punch he'd thrown at Hojo should not have hurt this much and it was hard to figure out why it did hurt. Furthermore, the water park had decided to come to life and Izuku was having a hard time figuring out what this meant.

"Who is he?"

Izuku tightened his grip on the handle in his hand before channelling chakra into it. At first, nothing happened and worry began to settle in. He took a look at the crashing and flowing water around him and immediately felt the all too familiar sensation of a vision coming on.

Naruto watched as a wave of water was launched towards their target. It was so large that it blotted out the sky as it zeroed in towards its target. He watched as a myth, a legend, the Second Hokage himself rode the titanic wave as he held aloft a black handle. The man was undead and even so his fatigue was clear— the missing arm a perfect explanation for that.

"This is just the beginning. Feel the might of Tobirama Senju!" The man screamed before a large yellow blade jutted out from the handle forming a sword of lightning, "Sword of the Thunder God: Thunderflash!"

The lightning sword was plunged into the wave and electrified it as it shot towards the Tree. The attack was epic and amazing and inspiring and yet pointless. The Tree's controller let out a mad laugh as he pointed just one hand at it.

"That's not enough, Tobirama!" that man screamed as his purple eyes danced with vicious glee, "This is for Izuna, Tobirama! I only wish Hashirama could have seen this! Now then. Shinra Tensei!"

With those two words, the wave was gone.

Naruto tried to move as the Tree, that blasted Tree came to life. However before he could, an arm was wrapped around him and in a flash of yellow his surroundings were changed.

"There was nothing to be done, son. He's gone too now."

The faint sound of an engine roaring away brought Izuku back to life.

Izuku let out a harsh breath as he came back to life and it was no moment too soon as a water dragon ploughed into him and sent him in the exact direction he had punched Setsuno in. Izuku channelled wind chakra across his body and let it out in a burst of power.

Immediately, the water dragon collapsed and Izuku was free. He landed roughly on the ground— under a shower of water droplets— on the very balcony that he had been observing the villains from before. He sprang up to his feet and frowned as he traced the source of the water dragon.

This was the exact situation he was afraid of. If his attacker had been more violent then the vision would have cost him a whole lot more. As it was, Izuku was hurt but was still raring to go.

"You got him, Hanran!" shouted Fuka as he waved at Backdraft, "Let's finish him, here. Get him in the water and I'll handle the rest."

Well, that explained the location. Backdraft wasn't a combat hero by any means, but the advantage of fighting in a water park was impossible to ignore. Plus, with the scope of his last attack, Izuku could only assume that Backdraft had taken this New Trigger.

"Get in line, sharky!"

...No way.

Izuku looked over his shoulder as Hojo pulled himself free from the wreckage of the shuttered store he had been punched into. He looked remarkably uninjured and a black rage filled his eyes.

"That punch was good, but I've had worse from Rappa even before the new Trigger!" Hojo shouted as he gestured for Izuku to come at him.

He had to stay calm. Izuku heard far off engine noises that he pushed out of his mind.

Izuku channelled lightning chakra into the handle and there was a brilliant flash of yellow as a smaller version of Tobirama's Sword of the Thunder God was revealed. The only upside of his sudden vision was that he now knew what this weird handle was. It was a break of luck that Izuku had some experience using swords— he'd need to use it or else—

Izuku felt something grab onto the sword and he quickly grabbed it with chakra. To his horror, he wasn't quite quick enough and the sword flew out of his hands as it sailed through the air and right into the hand of a giddy-looking Setsuno.

"Oh man, The Boss will be ecstatic about something like this!" Setsuno exclaimed as he admired the still-active lightning sword, "Hojo, you handle Kage. I'll bring the car around. By the way, did you leave it on? I heard the engine—"

"I really don't care about all that, Setsuno!" Hojo shouted as he raised his hands towards Izuku in a firing position, "I don't know how I missed you the first time, but I won't this time. You ever hear about blood diamonds? If not let me tell you all about them!"

Ugh. So lame.

Izuku looked around for an adequate Substitution and there was nothing around. He began to channel Earth chakra as a last-ditch and went through a chain of handseals just as the first of Hojo's diamonds were fired towards him.

"Doton: Doryūheki(Earth Release: Earth Style Wall)!"

He knew there was no way that the Doryūheki would save him from it all, but it would give him a chance to Body Flicker away and regain control of this fight. To his relief, a concrete wall shot up out of the ground in front of him with no blemishes— his first time using an elemental jutsu in battle was a success.

Perhaps the weeks of nighttime training had been worth it.

However, there was no barrage of sharp diamonds that followed at all. In fact, other than the flowing water he realised that the once-quiet engine sounds were almost deafening now and Izuku had no idea what the sound was. Until he looked around the wall he had summoned.

It definitely wasn't Setsuno's car or someone driving past the water park.

"Villains, stand down!" a man in extremely familiar armour proclaimed, "I, Ingenium, along with my colleagues will take you down with swift justice! Iniuria, you're needed!"

Oh, no.

In another burst of engines, a blur stopped beside Ingenium, "How did you move so fast with him on your back?"

Iniuria was another speedster and a veteran hero from the Ingenium agency. The only question was who did he mean by "him?"

The wall in front of Izuku began to morph and Izuku was forced to flip away from it and land on a railing. He turned to where Ingenium and Iniuira had come from. Izuku frowned beneath his mask as he took in the crouched form of Cementoss.

Oh, no.

"Despite my appearances, I am not heavy," Cementoss said calmly before adding, "Perhaps, as those who rely on their speed you should be asking yourself how those two beat us here."

Izuku already knew who one of the two was. How could he not? It was the only thing that would make sense with what he knew of the current situation. He hadn't summoned an Earth wall, that had been Cementoss. Therefore, there had to be a reason for the lack of a diamond storm and the most likely answer was—

"Focus up, guys," Eraserhead said as he kept his gaze pinned on Hojo, "These guys are different, somehow. I'll have to let you take the lead on this one. You fine with that?"

"Oh, you bet I am!" the last figure shouted as she smashed a fist into her hand, "I'm glad this stupid team-up actually worked! Now let me do my thing, Eraser! And it looks like I might nab a vigilante too while I'm at it!"

"You're exhausting."

It was the last person that made Izuku worry quite a bit. It was bad enough that there were two speedsters here— both of whom could probably hang with him at 100%. It was bad enough that an expert long-range specialist was one of his opponents— something he still struggled to deal with. It was bad enough that his homeroom teacher was one of his opponents for tonight too.

That was all bad and yet things still got worse, somehow—

"Kage, huh? You don't look like much," the woman said as she crouched down her white rabbit ears twitched excitedly and her blood-red eyes drilled into him, "I really hope you're worth all the hype you've been getting."

—as he now had a top 5 hero gearing up to attack him.

"Now please don't break too easily," Miruko grinned as her legs tensed with power, "That would be really disappointing."

He was the odd one out here. The heroes and villains all hated him which meant that he couldn't rely on their help. This was pretty much a 9-on-1 situation for him which probably called for desperate measures. Izuku began rushing through handseals and he knew that he had done them perfect.

He jumped up to the skies narrowly avoiding Miruko's divebomb. Shards of concrete were fired up as Miruko crouched down— such was the force behind her attacks. His chakra-boosted leap save him a perfect view of the battlefield as he surged on with his attack.

"I'll try not to!" Izuku yelled out as he reached the apex of his jump. Miruko was already crouching down and preparing to gun for him again. Not had to get the chakra metal and escape. That was the priority. And to do that, he had to bring the heat.

His chest filled with flaming and burning power. There was no mistaking it, this time. He raised his fingers to his mouth in the tiger seal in preparation. As Backdraft launched a titanic wave at him. He let loose the name of his attack as he looked down at all nine of his opponents.

Dimly, Izuku was aware that this would only put a bigger target on his back.

He didn't care.

Not when the spread of these weapons could destroy the Earth itself.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball)!"

Author Notes:

Woo, finally got this one out. It was so much effort to get here and my life has been crazy, but here we are. And we finally get to see Izuku use a jutsu(kinda) and also more is revealed about Miraculum. And some more IzukuxMomo/Kendou moments which is always nice.

I almost split this thing into two separate chapters, but this feels better.

I don't know when the next update will be coz life is wild, but it all depends on how life goes.

I hope you enjoyed and with all the crazy shit going on, I hope everyone reading this is safe and healthy.

Next Chapter: 9 V 1.

EDIT:Got Hojo and Setsuno confused lol. Thanks, guys!