Chapter 23

"Iida's a fucking idiot." Were the first words that Kurono said after Izuku narrated the events of the night over their phone call. And honestly, Izuku agreed with Kurono, and by the looks of it so did everyone else that had been present that day. Hell, probably even god was in agreement with them at this point, "So, any idea what punishment you're getting?" Izuku groaned, remembering the shit Stain had just pulled not even an hour ago.

"No idea. If it hadn't been for Stain snitching, we'd probably get off mostly Scott free. But now that, well, Stain snitched, we don't really know what's gonna happen." Izuku replied. Kurono hummed for a moment before he spoke again.

"Well, if you get arrested, just remember I am now legally a terrorist and can easily break you out of jail!" Kurono said enthusiastically. Oh, right, Izuku kind of forgot that Kurono had done that.

"You still haven't told me who this terrorist group is." Izuku deadpanned, which elicited a chuckle from Kurono.

"Ha! If I told you, they'd kill both of us!" Kurono joked, but Izuku felt that he was being dead serious when he said that but he just said it in a joking tone. Izuku sighed and said goodbye before ending the call, returning his phone to his pocket, and returning to the room he was sharing with Kendo and Iida (they'd tried to separate them, but upon Kendo saying she's a lesbian they just shrugged and let them be), where the two of them were waiting. As soon as Izuku opened the door, Iida marched towards him.

"Midoriya!" Iida exclaimed, bowing in front of Izuku, "Once again, thank you for saving me from my idiocy! Now may we please visit my brother?" Before Izuku could reply, Iida was already walking out of the room, leaving Izuku to catch up.

"You're still an idiot." Izuku stated as they walked side by side.

"I am aware, and I will endeavor to change that." Iida replied, causing Izuku to smile.

"Well, at least you're willing to accept your flaws." Izuku chuckled. Already, they had reached a room, and when Iida opened it Izuku almost though there was some magic bullshit going on because there was a second Iida on the hospital bed. It took him a moment to realize it was Iida's brother, but when he did, he walked up to the side of his bed, meeting the older man's eyes.

"Oh, you're that Midoriya kid, right?" Ingenium asked, a tired smile on his face, "Tenya told me a lot about you!" Iida blushed and stammered a denial of such events ever occurring, which renewed Izuku's smile.

"Yeah, that's me," Izuku replied, "Anyways, I'm here to heal you, Ingenium-San-,"

"Bah! Just call me Tensei! Everyone does!" Tensei insisted. Izuku cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Er, yeah. Anyways, I've come to heal you, by Iid- uh, Tenya's request." It was surprisingly awkward for Izuku to have such a chill conversation with Iida's brother. Tenya 'stick up ass' Iida. Tenya 'stickler for rules' Iida. Tenya 'attempted serial killer killer' Iida. Out of all the things Izuku had expected, the last thing on that list had been Iida's brother being so cool and relaxed.

"Don't you need a doctor's permission for that?" Tensei asked seriously, making Iida and Izuku freeze up. A moment of silence passed before Tensei laughed a laugh that was so loud and enthusiastic that Izuku would have never guessed he and Tenya were related if it hadn't been for their physical similarities, "Just kidding! As a Pro Hero, I give you permission to use your quirk on me!" Tensei declared, giving a thumbs up, Izuku smiled shakily in response and put his hand on Tensei's leg.

"Oh, by the way, this'll probably hurt." And without any further warning, Izuku blasted Tensei's legs apart, pulling a strangled cry of pain from the man for a moment before his legs were repaired and the pain was gone, leaving a shocked Tensei behind.

"That, uh…jesus fuck you weren't lying kid." Tensei muttered, which embarrassed Izuku a bit. Why would he lie about it hurting? That just made no logical sense at all!

"Is everything alright in here?" A doctor yelled as he slammed through the door, causing Izuku and Tenya to jump. Tensei simply smiled and waved before lifting his leg up.

"Everything's fine, doc! Just got a little help!" Tensei replied. The doctor looked at Tensei's leg, then at Izuku, then back at Tensei's leg, a look of shock on his face even more intense that Tensei's had been mere moments ago.

"I- are you- did you heal him?" The doctor asked, looking at Izuku while pointing at Tensei, a look of awe in his eyes. When Izuku nodded slowly. The doctor waved his arms high in the sky before letting out an excited 'yes!'

'Oh, dear lord! Finally, a hero who can actually heal people! We won't be fucked 0.3 seconds after Recovery Girl is gone!" He exclaimed, seemingly oblivious to the room around him, "And here I was worried that Ingenium-San would never walk again, and yet you've done what every other doctor in Japan couldn't!" The doctor then seemed to abruptly calm down, a serious look in his eyes, "Now, I am supposed to tell you about not using quirks on people and that, but I see no reason not to allow it." He shrugged before leaving the room, everyone silent.

"That…was…HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE OF HIM!" Iida declared.

"Ok, Tenya 'revenge murder' Iida." Izuku replied. Oh, he was never going to get sick of this.

"We're not getting punished?" Kendo asked incredulously as the Chief of Police finished talking. All of them were surprised to hear that they would be receiving no punishment from the law, as if they did it would apparently be met with backlash, which made sense to Izuku, especially after learning someone, who was apparently trying to prove Hero Brutality was a problem, was filming Stain's arrest and caught the part where he admitted that it had been Izuku, Kendo and Miruko who stopped him.

"Mm, not by the law. Principal Nedzu, by all means, is out of our authority, and has the free will to punish you as he sees fit. Woof." The Chief replied, shrugging. Kendo let out a long breath as she took that information in.

"Meh, could have been worse." Izuku suggested, relatively chill with the given result of the night. All that was left was Iida, who had remained quiet the whole way through. His glasses were opaque from this angle, so they could only see his slight frown and furrowed eyebrows.

"I suppose that is fair," Iida finally spoke, glasses clearing to show remorseful and guilty eyes, "It would be wrong for me to receive no punishment after such blatant rule breaking, after all." The Chief nodded and turned to take his leave. As he was about to open the door, he paused, and he looked back at them.

"Oh, somebody is here to visit, Midoriya-San." And without any other warning, he opened the door to reveal the sullen faces of Ragdoll and Tiger. They hadn't even bothered to change out of their Hero Outfits, which made an interesting contrast between their expressions and their clothes. The Chief exited, leaving just the five of them in the room together.

"Where's Mandalay and Pixie-Bob?" Izuku asked. It was strange, as those two seemed to always be near Izuku, so something must be happening to cause them to leave. Ragdoll sighed, looking to the side, and Tiger took it upon himself to answer Izuku's question.

"Shino…she's dealing with…sigh, Water Hose are dead." Tiger explained in a monotone voice. Izuku could almost feel his heart shatter. He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain going through Mandalay's heart right now. If Kurono had just died minutes after he'd been talking to him…Izuku probably would have shut himself away for the rest of his life.

"I-I could try to heal them? I-I've n-never used my q-quirk on a…y'know…but it might work?" Izuku tried, already swinging his legs off the bed.

"Kitten, I appreciate you're trying to help, but they were flattened. It was…honestly, to put it bluntly, I think you got off easy fighting Stain." Ragdoll said monotonously, still looking at the ground. Izuku froze, his mind accepting what had happened far faster than he wanted to. Water Hose had died. Oh god, didn't they have a kid as well? What would be happening with them? Could…could Izuku have saved them if he had stayed behind? Yes, surely it would have gone better if he'd been there to heal them on the scene, right? It was all his fault they were dead; he was sure of it!

"Er, listen, kid," Tiger said, clapping a large hand on Izuku's shoulder. He barely registered it, "You're probably gonna have to head back to UA and cancel the internship early. We'll be busy handling paperwork and…other things, so we won't have time to train you. I'm sorry, I really wish we could have done the whole week, it's just…we didn't expect this to happen." Izuku was silent for a moment.

"That's fine." Was all he said. Tiger paused for a moment before wrapping his arms around Izuku, enveloping him in a warm hug.

"I see that look in your eyes," Tiger said soothingly in a voice he hadn't expected from the man, "You're blaming this on yourself, right? Well, it's not your fault. It isn't anybody's fault except the bastard who killed them. If you'd been there with them, I have no doubt you would have died, so don't let it get to you, okay?" Izuku felt a tear escape as he nodded. Tiger patted his back a bit before ending the hug.

"Good. Anyways, Tomoko and I should get back to Ryuko and Shino. Hopefully we can meet again in better times." And with that, Tiger and Ragdoll were gone, leaving the 3 UA students by themselves.

'It's not your fault'

'I have no doubt you would have died'

'It isn't anybody's fault but the bastard who killed them'

Izuku felt a blaze fill his heart. Not one of vengeance or justice, but one of resolve. He would train and train and train. He would train until he dropped and some more on top. He would train until he could finally save anyone and everyone from an undeserved death. As long as he was at a fight, nobody was going to die.

And he was going to make sure of it.

Endeavour was fuming.

He'd seen Shoto. He knew it. But he'd disappeared before he could grab him. And considering he hadn't heard anything about the boy not showing up at school, he was obviously still going to school, so why the hell wasn't he coming back to him? Shoto had no friends, that was a fact. And the chances he could make any were slim, seeing as his social skills had been stunted during his early years. So where was he going if he had nobody to go with?

The worst part about this fiasco was how it wasn't as if he didn't know where to find Shoto. No, he knew exactly where he could find Shoto at most hours: UA. The problem was that he couldn't think of any way that he could enter the school to take Shoto back without revealing anything, because the last thing he wanted was for it to get out that the son of Endeavour was purposely not coming home. That would surely make it near impossible to ever reach the number 1 spot with that kind of drama.

So, instead, he relied on other means of bringing his stolen masterpiece home.

"Himura, how is your investigation going?" Endeavour asked the teen sitting across from him. In truth, he'd never wanted to take him as an intern. In fact, he'd completely ignored him the first time they met. Eventually, however, he just gave in and decided to take him on for a day and then fire him for some random reason so he'd go away.

And then, Endeavour had been surprised.

Himura worked efficiently, swiftly, and creatively, always innovating with his quirk. Even with the clear disadvantage he was working with due to his close proximity to a fire quirk as hot as Hellflame, he managed to consistently outperform his expectations. On the first day they were working together, there was a massive fire in the building. While Endeavour rushed in to save people by relying on his heat resistance, Himura used his quirk to put out fires by releasing thin sheets of ice, which only took seconds to melt into water. Such ingenuity had been enough to convince Endeavour that this boy was special.

Hell, even though their quirks were polar opposites, Endeavour still managed to teach Himura many things. Of course, these were things that any hero could use, such as multitasking effectively and knowing the limits of the human body and how to exploit them, but no matter what Himura took to it like a fish in water. When Endeavour heard that the teen was considered one of the strongest in his year level, Endeavour had no difficulties seeing why he was considered so powerful.

And now, Endeavour was really glad he'd kept the boy, as he functioned as his primary telescope into UA. Curriculum changes, potential talent, Endeavour had found out so many things before the other heroes simply by having a single UA student as an intern.

"I reckon he's going home with someone." Kyōsaku replied, quick and to the point, nothing but seriousness in his voice. Endeavour felt his eyebrows raise. That…was unexpected. Honestly, he'd been expecting the boy was homeless, or going to live with his brother. To hear that Shoto had supposedly become good enough friends with someone to be comfortable going home with them was…concerning.

"Do you have any suspects?" Endeavour prodded, leaning forward in his chair. Kyōsaku shook his head in shame, not meeting Endeavour's eyes. Endeavour hummed and looked at the wood of his desk. In that case, who could it have been? Surely nobody at UA would even dream of helping the son of Endeavour run away, right? Who in their right mind would even…

Endeavour stood up roughly, the flames of his outfit flaring even hotter than before causing Himura to lean back in his chair to avoid the heat.

"Himura, I want you to investigate Izuku Midoriya and Itsuka Kendo," Endeavour ordered, a fury in his eyes, "I have reason to believe they may be harboring my Shoto." And with that said, Endeavour stomped towards the elevator, leaving a stupefied Himura behind.

"W-Wait! Where are you going?" Himura asked, stumbling out of his chair. The elevator door opened and Endeavour walked in, turning around to look at Himura.

"I need to punch something." The doors shut, leaving Himura alone.

It had been a few days since Hosu, and with regular classes back in session, Izuku found himself standing uncertainly outside the door to the Support Studio. Kurono had randomly texted him after class to meet him at a studio, and even after Izuku had texted him incessantly afterwards he received no further information. And so, he reluctantly followed Kurono's directions, leading him to the gates of hell itself.

"Fuck it, not doing me any good standing out here." Izuku muttered. He slid the door opened and stepped forwards, just barely dodging a hammer that had been flung right at his head.

"Hatsume, stop throwing hammers." A long-suffering voice sounded out from within the room. Immediately afterwards, a white blur entered Izuku's vision, revealing Kurono who was wearing most of his outfit from the Sports Festival, just without the mask and the hood was down.

"Izuku, you made it!" Kurono cheered, dragging Izuku in, "And you didn't die!"

"You say that like it's an achievement." Izuku deadpanned.

"It's an achievement around these parts!" Kurono replied obliviously, "Anyways, follow me!" Izuku did as Kurono asked, and he looked to the side as he entered, revealing the pink devil herself Mei Hatsume along with a tall, lanky boy with black hair tied up into a messy bun. Izuku didn't get much time to look at them, however, as he had business with Kurono. Kurono walked him over to a cluttered desk, on which he could just barely see a nameplate reading 'Kuronatsume Incorporated: Co-CEO Hari Kurono.' There was also a bunch of empty instant ramen cups, graphs, and blueprints, and on the left were a large amount of monitors displaying…stocks?

"Ignore those," Kurono said, covering them with a sheet of fabric, "Jeez, my office is a mess." Izuku raised an eyebrow at that.

"Office?"

"Yeah, Nedzu gave this room to Mei and I for our company, Kuronatsume Incorporated! She works on building, while I work on designing stuff and…other stuff." Izuku decided not to press his burning desire to know what the hell 'other stuff' alluded to.

"So, why did you invite me here?" Izuku asked. Kurono forcibly turned Izuku around.

"You see Mei over there?" He asked, keeping a steel grip on Izuku's shoulder.

"Uh, yeah?" Izuku replied, uneasy.

"Yeah, well, I'm trying to figure out where to take her on a date." Kurono explained.

"You know her best, right? Why are you asking-."

"She'll tear apart any machines she sees to improve them."

"Oh, that makes sense now you mention it," Izuku paused before his eyes narrowed, "Hey, aren't you dating Shio- GAH!" Izuku yelped as his arm stung for a moment, and he twisted around to see Kurono holding some weird device, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Kurono chuckled nervously and dropped the thing in the bin.

"Just, uh, implanted a tracking chip in your arm?" Kurono replied, hands held up.

"You WHAT?!" Izuku yelled, causing Kurono to take a step back.

"Listen, that Nomu almost got you at Hosu. If it hadn't been for Edgeshot you might already be dead. If that ever happens again, or you're kidnapped, I wanna be able to know exactly where you are." Kurono spoke, a serious edge to his voice, "I may have two girlfriends, plenty of money, and am being taught by Nedzu himself, but I would rather lose all that and more than lose you, Izuku. Nothing, and I mean nothing means more to you than me. You're like a- no, you are a brother to me." Any anger in Izuku quickly left him at those words, and he began to tear up as he wrapped Kurono in a bearhug.

"I-I forgive y-you!" Izuku cried out in between sobs, "J-Just tell me next time y-you wanna do something like that!" Izuku let out a torrent of tears, and Kurono patted his back, "Oh, and what the hell do you mean by 2 girlfriends?"

"I think it's time you met Suru-Senpai!" Kurono abruptly exclaimed, dragging Izuku over to Mei and the supposed Suru-Senpai, who looked interested with Izuku.

"Hey, I'm Sokutei Suru!" Suru stated, waving a bit, third year Support Student, and tasked with making sure these guys don't blow up the world with whatever they make in here. My quirk is called Measurement, and it allows me to measure the measurements of anything I look at! Length, width, height, depth, volume, anything! Also, my favourite food is dates, they're just so damn good!" Sokutei rattled off in quick succession, only breathing after he was finished talking. Izuku's eyes lit up at the prospect of a new quirk, and he returned fire with an equally fast paced list of questions.

"That's so cool! Does it change if it's moving away? Does it work in the dark? Is there a set distance before it stops working? Is it an emitter or heteromorphic? DO you see the measurements in your eyes or do you just know? What would happen if you looked in a mirror? If you-," Izuku didn't even realize he was being dragged out until he was back in the hallway, and he looked around in confusion before turning to look at Kurono, "Huh? Why'd you put me outside?" Kurono looked at him with a deadpan stare.

"You were scaring him." Kurono replied. Izuku blanched.

"Oh." He replied simply.

"Maybe come back with a written list of questions tomorrow," Kurono suggested before closing the door and reentering the studio. Then the door slid open again and he poked his head out, "No more than a page!" He closed the door again, only for it to open back up immediately to reveal Kurono once more, "12pt Helvetica." The door shut once more, and this time it didn't open again. Izuku sighed before stretching.

"Ah, good afternoon Izuku, Kendo informed me that you would be here." Izuku was startled to hear Reiko's voice, and as he looked at her, he became painfully aware of the fact that Reiko looked beautiful with the afternoon sun beaming down upon her from the windows.

"R-Reiko! Do you need something from support?" Izuku spluttered out, cursing whatever upper power was making him blush. Reiko hummed, and it was now that Izuku took note of how she looked oddly nervous about something, as if she were afraid that the thing she was about to say would receive massive backlash.

"I, uh, I actually require a service of you, Izuku," Reiko replied, her fingers fiddling with each other, "As you know, the final exams are approaching us at rapid pace, and I find that I am in need of a tutor…w-would you be so hospitable as to assist me with my studying?" Izuku froze at that, eyes widening. Reiko…wanted his help? For studying? But why not go to Momo's like everyone else had (even Kendo had, even though she was firmly in seventh place), surely Momo was better suited to teaching than Izuku, right? Or…of course! Reiko probably just didn't work well in large study groups! He had always gotten the feeling she was more of a lone wolf kind of person.

"Y-yeah! I can do that!" Izuku said, smiling wobblily. Reiko breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Izuku." And Izuku couldn't breathe because Reiko was smiling. And not her usual small smile that creeped up on her face. This was a wide and cheerful smile, her teeth just barely showing and her eyes crinkling a little. If Reiko's laugh was his favourite sound in the world, then her smile was easily his favourite sight.

"N-No problem!" Izuku replied, giving a thumbs up, "Anyways, where should we study? And what day?"

"Uhm, would it bother you at all if we were to commence my tutelage within the confines of my own abode? Perhaps on Sunday?" Reiko suggested casually, a light blush on her face as she looked down nervously. When she received no reply, she looked up to see that Izuku had bluescreened, completely frozen in place. The door to the Support Studio slid open, and Kurono popped his head out.

"Aw, you broke him Yanagi!" Kurono called out. Yanagi let out an 'eep!' which was very uncharacteristic of her and stumbled a bit before running away, a blush on her face. Kurono stepped out of the doorway and took a good look at Izuku.

"Wow…you must be really dense if you don't get it now!"

The door to the roof opened and closed quickly, and swift steps walked across to the nearest bench, where a boy with a bird head, a girl with ginger hair in a side ponytail, and a girl with black hair tied back in a massive bun all looked at a massive newspaper while wearing beige trench coats, sunglasses, and fedoras.

"How'd it go?" Kendo asked, not looking up from the newspaper. Reiko breathed in and out, panic in her eyes.

"I-I broke him." She admitted, which raised a snort from Kendo.

"Of course you broke him! You can break him just by wearing a specific outfit!" Kendo laughed, which made Reiko raise an eyebrow.

"Whatever do you mean?" She questioned. Tokoyami cleared his throat.

"As the sole male representative present currently for Operation IzuReiko, let's just say that boys can get entranced by the dark magic that is female hero costumes," Tokoyami stated, "I've seen Midoriya try especially hard to look anywhere but at you when you don your heroic shroud, which leads me to believe that he finds you, er, how do I say this…" Tokoyami blushed as he scratched the side of his head, "He finds you…easy on the eyes, I believe the phrase is." It took Reiko a moment to understand what he meant, and when she did her eyes widened as she realized that the reason Izuku didn't look at her wasn't because he didn't like looking at her, but because he liked looking at her too much.

"But you set up the meeting, correct?" Momo asked, looking at Reiko over her sunglasses.

"Yes. Sunday at my place." Reiko confirmed. There was silence, "What?"

"What time are you meeting up on Sunday?" Kendo asked. Reiko froze as her face paled even more than it naturally was, and she bolted upwards.

"D-Damn! It slipped my mind at the time!" And at record speeds, Reiko flung herself through the door and down the hallway. Momo and Kendo quickly gave chase, Kendo picking Momo up bridal style to go faster, leaving just Tokoyami alone. The door slammed shut, and Tokoyami sighed.

"What a mad banquet of darkness." He muttered.

Extra 1

"So, anyways, Ibara said she was 'willing to share me with someone.' I don't know if I should be excited or scared, but at least it means Mei, Ibara and I can all openly date!" Kurono explained as they were stuck in traffic in the heart of Musutafu. Izuku perked up at this, the edges of a plan forming.

"Like, anyone?" Izuku prodded. Kurono hummed.

"I guess so. She didn't really specify." He hummed, scratching his cheek as they sat there. On the inside, Izuku was grinning like a madman, but on the outside, he looked as he usually did: politely interested.

"You know, there's this really lonely blonde I know that would probably be up to share. Her name's Ryuko Tsuchikawa…"

Extra 2

"Hey, Yaomomo, I've been thinking of trying some new names for super moves." Kendo said as she and Momo walked towards the train station.

"Really? What names have you come up with?" Momo asked, curiosity getting the better of her. Kendo grinned and lit up One for All at 1%, just to make the sparks appear.

"I've been thinking of using historical nations as names! Scotland Smash!" Kendo yelled, jumping in the air with an uppercut, "Francia Flip!" Kendo did a high backflip, doing an axe kick on the way down, "Persian Punch!" Kendo simply did a regular punch for that one, "Ottoman-," suddenly, Kendo felt her body seemingly grow dense as she fell to the ground.

"DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" A familiar voice yelled in the distance before Kendo finally felt she was able to stand up again. She looked at Momo and back down at her feet.

"…Maybe I'll find a different naming scheme." Kendo conceded