A/N: Last chapter was absolutely nuts for a reaction and blew up completely. Wow. Was not expecting that, so thank you so much!

In a return to normal service, we now have an Izuku chapter! Time to go to school...

(***)

"Today's the day."

Tenko looked over at Izuku as he said that, stood beside him in front of the imposing sight before them, and placed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Izuku? You've said that twice now."

"H-Huh? Y-Yeah, I'm okay." Izuku swallowed, taking a deep breath and nodding to Tenko, inwardly cursing that he couldn't keep the wobble of trepidation and excitement out of his voice. "I just... I never thought I'd make it here. Not after everything growing up."

"You'd have found a way to be a Hero whatever happened," Tenko said, squeezing his best friend's shoulder. "I know you too well to know that anything would have stopped you from getting here."

"What he means," Setsuna said, stood on Izuku's left and shooting a teasing glance at her cousin and his best friend, "is you're too stubborn to have been stopped anyway."

"H-Hey!" Izuku looked at Tenko for validation, only to see his best friend smirking in his usual dark way. "Don't say that, it's mean."

"She's not wrong." Tenko shook his head, shaggy blue hair shaking like a medusa. "Although I was trying to be nice. There's no way any other character class would fit you. And I'm sure they'll see it too."

"I hope so..." Izuku gulped, putting his hands into the pockets of his green hoodie. "I just hope we all get in. I don't know what I'd do without either of you."

Setsuna cracked her knuckles, as she looked up too with a grin. "We'll get in, Zuzu. We'll show them all we can be the next best Heroes."

"They're not gonna be ready for our party," Tenko agreed, balling his hands into fists now and nodding with a determined look. "What is it they say here? Go beyond?"

Izuku looked up at the gates in front of him, at the logo he had dreamed of seeing his entire life, and nodded with determination. Finally, he got to say it. "Plus Ultra..."

Today was the day he tried to get into UA.

Time had flown since Izuku, Tenko and Setsuna had found out that they had been accepted to attend the Entrance Exam at UA, one of the greatest days of Izuku's life to date. The few days between their letters coming and the big day itself had been packed with preparation- Inko and Setsuna's mom had insisted that they threw a proper party with a massive meal on the night they all knew, but Izuku had no intention of letting the chance he had dreamed of for years slip by him.

Every little opportunity he could find to hone his skills, to practice the fluidity of switching between the blasts of his Air Force Quirk and integrating the pull of the Steal Quirk into it seamlessly, he had taken. Every chance he and Tenko had to scour the Internet for hero videos and research on the school, he had made the most of, and every time Setsuna had come up with some crazy idea for teamwork moves that usually resulted in shenanigans (this was Setsuna's planning, after all), he had relished. He was not going to miss out on getting into UA, the alma mater of All Might, the almost-holy birthplace of modern Heroics. Not on his watch.

Inko had dropped them off at the entrance of the school, high on the hills above Musutafu and shrouded in dense forest that had at times overgrown the old roads up to Japan's finest hero academy. The tidal wave of proud tears from his mother as she watched her son and his friends stand outside one of the most prestigious gates in the world hadn't drowned Izuku, miraculously, and even more miraculously he hadn't cried yet himself. But this was UA! The one and only UA! As terrified as he was that he may not pass the exam, he was going to savour every moment of being here. It would always have a place in his fanboy heart, after all.

Needs a lick of paint.

The brief passing thought jolted Izuku out of his reverie before he could descend into a cascade of Hero-inspired muttering, or pull a notebook out of his backpack where he had stashed the costume made for him by Inko and Tenko. As jarring at the thought was, it wasn't wrong. UA's iconic tower stood firm, early morning sunlight glinting orange off of the windows and throwing long shadows across the grounds, but the outside wall where they stood had seen much better days. A sign of the times, perhaps, that graffiti and angry anti-Hero sentiments seemed to clutter up every available inch of the beige concrete wall outside. It appeared that if UA had ground staff, they hadn't been brave enough to venture outside to scrub the slogans off, or replace the heads on the once-white marble statues which stood timeless guard over the entrance, or clear out the weeds that had started to sprout through the slabs of the pavement in front of the massive gate.

Izuku was not deterred. Nothing in his wannabe-Hero heart would be. Of course he was upset to read what some people had daubed on the walls of this temple to heroism; of course reading the outcry and anger of people who wrote messages like 'A tyrant with a cape is not a hero', in jagged kanji for all the world to see, made him wish the world was a better place. But this was why he was here, why Tenko and Setsuna were here. He wanted to be the sort of Hero people could be proud of, so that people wouldn't be splashing their rage in smeared red paint on those hallowed walls, like signatures of blood objecting to the new age of Heroes,

He swallowed, and for just one moment in the middle of it, he was numb to the rest of the world. All that mattered was the gate in front of his big green eyes, the gateway to a brighter future, and the words he was about to murmur in a hushed tone under his breath, the words that just felt right. "I am here."

"Say," Setsuna wondered aloud, her head tilted in confusion as she stared at the gate, "wasn't someone supposed to come and let us in? I don't see anyone else here, so they've gotta have been let in, right?"

Tenko stepped up before Izuku could say anything and walked up to the gate, somehow the one piece of the outside wall which had survived unblemished from the resentment of UA's neighbours. For a moment the Decay user ran a gloved hand over the painted-blue concrete, and for some reason Izuku's brain flashed with an image of the gateway corroding in Tenko's hands, before he spotted something and stopped. "There's an intercom here. Wanna ring the doorbell and find out what it does?"

"Somehow that makes me feel like a kid on Halloween," Setsuna said, raising an eyebrow. "It's like we're gonna ask them trick or treat."

Tenko smirked. "You can chuck your head at them for the trick if you like."

"Oh sure. That'll definitely get us into UA with a good first impression."

"Whatever. Everyone saved their progress?"

Izuku shook his head with a little laugh- Tenko would never change. "Just ring the bell, Tenko."

"Jeez, someone's impatient." Reaching forward with his gloved hand, Tenko dusted it off -quite a lot had had accumulated- and thumbed the lone switch, stepping back as he heard the buzz.

It was a good job he did.

"HELL~LO THERE!" screamed a voice so energetic the owner undoubtedly drank espresso like water, and the wave of sound that rolled out of the small speaker nearly laid Izuku and his friends flat on their backs. "WELCOME TO UA HIGH, LITTLE LISTENERS!"

Izuku blinked, managing to calm his racing heart a few paces as his inner fanboy kicked in. "Is- is that Present Mic?"

Tenko grumbled, shaking his head as if to clear his ears of the ringing. "Nobody else screams like that in the world."

"If you're hearing my lovely voice," continued the voice, and somehow the inflection of his tone alone managed to make it perfectly clear that he had winked, "then you must be prospective UA students here for the exams!"

"That or Girl Scouts bringing cookies," Setsuna snarked behind them, not missing the opportunity for a joke.

"Cookies always go down well, but I'm afraid it'll take more than that to get through our Entrance Exam, Miss Tokage!"

The response from Present Mic nearly floored Izuku more than the initial outburst of Voice over the speakers. "H-He can hear us?!"

"And see you too, young Mister Midoriya!" As if to demonstrate, a buzz from overhead signified the wiggling of a security camera covered in paint and rust, that had looked utterly defunct until a moment ago. "How else do you think I'm letting only loyal subscribers through these gates?"

"Suppose I should have expected it from UA," Setsuna said with a wry smile, waving to the camera. "No cookies for you, Present Mic. Sorry!"

"Oh my god!" Izuku began reaching for his backpack and his notebook, his eyes wide with excitement. "It really is Present Mic, I can't believe you're still teaching at UA! I love your radio show, I'm a huge-MRMPH!"

Out of a sense of mercy to the teacher and knowing what was coming, Tenko had clamped a gloved hand over Izuku's mouth to silence him before they lost a whole day. "Yeah he's a fanboy, sorry about that. He's gonna probably beg you to sign his notebook when we get in, he's relentless."

On the other end of the speaker, Present Mic chuckled. "No sweat, Tenko Shimura! I'll sign whatever he wants when we're done with the exams." As Izuku squealed underneath Tenko's glove, he continued. "You three are actually some of the last to arrive, and I can see on my north camera our last caller of the day is just coming up on the door. You might wanna hold there so she doesn't panic she's late. Then I can let you all through together! You can thank me later for helping you make friends, YEAHHHH!"

"Another caller..." Izuku spun to face north. "Then it's another applicant! This is great, we..." He trailed off, frowned, squinted, as the person came in sight. "No way..."

"Huh? Who's the NPC?" Tenko turned and stared in the same direction, a stunned look passing on his face as he caught sight of the clothes they were wearing and recognised them. "You're kidding. Is that-"

"Aw man." Setsuna chuckled to herself as the individual sprang towards them, light on her feet as she ran and with such a familiar smile on her face. "You've really gone and done it now, Zuzu."

Well isn't this cute.

"Hey Izuku!"

"H-H..." Izuku was speechless for a second as his brain caught up with the site in front of him, as she skidded to a halt besides the group and beamed at him with that fanged smile he couldn't mistake for anyone else. "H-Himiko?! What are you-"

"Doing at UA? I know, right?" She clicked her heels together as if saluting and grinned wildly at him. "I can't believe I got a place at the Exam either! Heh, I kinda left it late to apply. But it all worked out!"

"Well look at this, my listeners all know each other already!" Present Mic chimed in from the PA. "I feel like a proud parent! Welcome to UA, Miss Toga, YEAAAAAH-"

"Hell yeah!" Himiko punched the air besides Izuku, the enthusiasm of Mic apparently infectious, before a mock look of shock passed over face. "Don't tell me I'm the last one here?! You all waited for little old me?"

"I thought you might want some friends to come in with!" crackled the voice of the Hero and teacher. "I didn't know you already knew 'em- even better! No reason to keep you all waiting outside now!"

The gate buzzed now, and with the clanking of machinery which sounded at least a hundred years too old for the job it was doing, it swung open to reveal the campus on the other side. "You'll wanna head straight up the main drive, keep going past that fountain and the fallen tree, and head into the main building! From there, it's the second door on your right, with the big old UA logo painted orange on it. One of my lovely colleagues will be there to greet you and help me explain the exam when I get in there- she can't wait to meet you all!"

"GO BEYOND, kids, and welcome to UA High! I'll see you in your exams! PRESENT MIC OUT!"

With a final burst of feedback, the voice of the man that gave sound technicians across the world nightmares cut out, and left Izuku and co standing stunned with a grinning Himiko in front of the long drive up to the main college building. Izuku wasn't blown away by the view though, by the spectacular colours of the trees as they lined the path, by the crystal clear water that danced on the fountain halfway up the path. He was blown away by the company besides him and his group, the girl who had arrived at the last minute.

"Himiko..." He walked through the gate behind her as she sprang through, humming to herself with her cardigan flying out behind her like a cape. "How... what... why-"

"I'll ask, for my broken cousin," Setsuna interrupted, digging a detached elbow into his side as she and Tenko followed. "How did you end up applying here? From all you told us... I thought you didn't like Heroes."

"I still don't."

"Huh?" Tenko asked, confused at the immediate and blunt response from the blonde girl. "Then why-"

"Because of Izuku!" Himiko spun to face him, and Izuku was taken aback for a second by the smile on the blonde girl's face. It wasn't the toothy grin of her usual self, the mocking look- it was small, and framed with a vivid blush on her cheeks as yellow eyes met green. "You always kept saying about how you wanted to be a better Hero than the others, and I wanna see what you can do. But... it's more than that. You told me when that Yakuza came after us that I could be one too... nobody has ever told me that."

She blinked, and wrapped her arm through his to cling to his side as they continued to walk; Izuku felt his own face flushing red at the feel of her on his arm. "If you believe in me that I could be one, with no hesitation, no doubt I could be a Hero... then I'm gonna try. I'm gonna do what I can to help you, Izuku. And make you proud."

Izuku heard a squeal from Setsuna behind him which he did his best to ignore. "You don't have to do anything like this to make me proud, but, for what it's worth... that's amazing, Himiko. You really did help us out, so if you wanna become a Hero with us..." He smiled at her, and his heart leaped a little as the blush widened. "Then I can't wait to do this with you too."

Her eyes gleamed with something, a sense of pure joy. "They're not gonna know what hit 'em, Izuku."

"Doesn't it warm your heart, Tenko?"

Izuku looked behind him at Setsuna's voice to see that his cousin had wrapped her own arm through Tenko's as they walked, one hand dramatically clutched to her chest as if overcome with emotion. "Sh-shut up guys-"

"Young love!" Setsuna cried, with an exaggerated flourish. "Star-crossed lovers reunited at last, but wait, is there a twist? Will they have to face each other for a place at this established school! Oh, the horror-"

"He wasn't flustered until you pointed it out," Tenko groaned, trying his best to shut the reptile-loving girl up as Izuku and Himiko both went practically crimson. "I didn't sign up for this shit today. Himiko?"

"Yessir?"

"Don't call me that. Are you ready for this today? I know you didn't train as much as we did when we were in that warehouse-"

"And yet I still saved your ass from that Yakuza," she replied, sticking her tongue out at him. "I've got this."

"Right answer." Tenko nodded, a determined look suddenly on his face. "We can all do it, and whatever happens, we stick together, got it? We'll show them what we're made of."

"Tenko..." As he and Himiko came to a stop outside the big glass door at the front of the main building, Izuku took a moment to close his eyes and breathe, grateful for his friend's interruption to steady him and get him back on track to do the best he could. He turned to his best friend and smiled. "Thank you."

"Anytime... Small Might."

Izuku tried not to laugh and failed. "I told you I'm not using that as a hero name." For just a moment he opened his eyes and looked at the little crew they had formed, standing on the front doorstep of UA High- the wide-eyed and bouncing Himiko, the self-assured smirking Setsuna, the determined and resolute Tenko, and him, smile on his face ready to face whatever they threw at him. Look how far they had come and what they could do. Time to show UA just what they'd be getting. "Are you ready, everyone?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Born ready, Zuzu."

"Let's show them what we can do."

"Alright." He nodded to himself to steel his nerves, straightened himself, and pushed the door forward, his inner fanboy jumping for joy at the sight of the famous halls and the giant class doors with the inimitable logo of the world's most celebrated Heroics institution.

The world had changed drastically in his lifetime, and society's opinions on Heroes had been battered and bruised after years of failures, cuts, legislative rollbacks and negative headlines. The world no longer had the Symbol of Peace, the most famous graduate of this remarkable institution, and UA itself had gone reclusive and private in the face of hostile attempts to take control of it for a supposed greater good. But this was the UA of his dreams still, polished and ready to teach the next generation of Heroes as it always had done, and now he could realise every single dream he had ever had.

He stared up in awe at the school's corridors as his friends filtered in behind him. His breath was take away by it all, the photographs of famous alumni winning their Sports Festivals, pictures of its most famous graduates and illustrious staff in their finest moments of their Hero careers. It was everything he had ever hoped for. "Wow... this place really is Plus Ultra."

"I'm glad you still think so," a female voice called out, and Izuku turned to see a black-haired woman with glasses leaning out of the door to the classroom where they would all be gathering. In her dark grey blazer and skirt, with a purple shirt and school tie on, she looked the epitome of professional and cool. "We've had to change a few things around here, but it's still something that takes your breath away every day you walk in the front door."

"Hey..." Setsuna's eyebrows shot up in recognition. "You're... Midnight, right! I didn't know you taught here?!"

She shot the group a coy smile, and Izuku's eyes widened as he realised he had somehow missed the infamous R-Rated Hero standing right in front of him, one of Japan's most recognisable and revolutionary heroines of the modern era. Teaching them at UA! "Surprise, honey. It's my true love besides my Hero work, being a teacher. The passion of you youngsters, the fire within you to do the right thing..." She shuddered, and Izuku recognised the hungry look he had seen on her face on countless Hero commercials and post-fight videos. "I wouldn't miss teaching here for the world."

"R-Rated, huh..." Tenko looked at the teacher, seemingly unfazed by the slightly flirtatious edge in her tone. "That costume's kinda PEGI 12, if you ask me. What, do they not let you get away with much in a school?"

"Oh, I don't know about that." Midnight smirked at him, and Izuku gulped as he saw the fire flash in her eyes. "I can always get the whip out if you'd prefer me to put you in your place, gamer boy."

Rather against the survival instinct of most, Tenko laughed, as Setsuna backed away from him slightly. "Like you actually have a whip."

Wordlessly, Midnight brushed her fingertips at the buttons of her shirt, then delved a hand inside between her breasts. When she withdrew her hand, lo and behold, there was a rather well kept flogger-whip in her hands. With a flick of her wrist, a snap rang out in the corridor as she flicked it in the direction of Tenko, who jumped back with a squawk and snapped straight up to attention in response.

Gripping both ends of the whip with authority now, Midnight's eyes were full of mirth; she had clearly enjoyed being challenged. "Good boy. I knew you'd get the picture."

Setsuna chuckled, nudging Tenko with an elbow. "You have the survival instincts of a lemming, dude. Sometimes I just don't know what I see in you."

"Oh my, young romance among my students?" The speed at which Midnight switched from sadistic enjoyment to shooting looks of adoration over Tenko and his cousin took Izuku by surprise. "How exciting! You'll have to tell me more later."

"Any time." Setsuna grinned a toothy grin. "You're one of my biggest idols, Miss Midnight. It's a pleasure to meet ya."

"Figures, the way she flirts with me," Tenko muttered under his breath, at a volume only Izuku could pick up on.

"I'm flattered, Miss Tokage," Midnight replied, stashing her whip away. "I'll do my best to live up to it as your teacher... provided you get in, of course."

"YOOOO NEMURI!" The shout from behind Midnight was deafening even without a Quirk being activated, and Izuku's eyes widened at the unmistakable sight of the Voice Hero, Present Mic, sidling up to join Midnight. While a few heroes tried to rock leather jackets and cool sunglasses, nobody else combined it with a giant blonde tuft of hair that rose like a gelled-up cliff to pierce the heavens. "Are we gonna spend all day chatting outside, or are we gonna get this party started? We've got twenty kids to examine and only one day to do it, ya dig?"

"Wait," Izuku asked, thrown by that last comment. "What do you mean, twenty to examine? What happened to the others?"

Midnight threw Present Mic what could only be described as an old-fashioned look, and sighed. "You heard right from my loudmouth friend-"

"HEY!"

"- But I'll explain when we're in." She paused as Present Mic scribbled something on a clipboard he was holding, which appeared to be some sort of register, and then gestured to the open door. "If we're all here, we'll start now... I hope you're ready."

Izuku tried not to gulp at her tone as he and his friends were ushered into the classroom, but as heads turned towards them and other students chimed their greetings, the little part of his personality which appreciated Quirks in all their forms soon overruled any other emotion, and in his excitement he didn't quite know how to even begin to describe just how cool some of these other students looked. His eyes flirted from a girl with pink skin and horns, waving at them from besides a guy with a wide grin and spiky red hair, to another girl whose whole head was covered in a writhing mass of vines for hair, to the stoic young man sat on a desk with the jet-black head of a raven, and even to someone who appeared to be completely invisible, only identifiable due to the T-shirt and skirt she was wearing.

They were the distinctive ones, but even so, Izuku could tell he was surrounded by young people with power at their fingertips. This wasn't just a class of youngsters who wanted to change the world; this was a class that could.

He waved awkwardly to the pink-skinned girl and her redhead friend as he and Himiko slid into seats at the back of the room, Setsuna resting her elbows on his shoulders and her chin in his messy green hair. Tenko scoffed at them and leaned against the wall, lounging as Present Mic and Midnight made their way to the front.

Midnight coughed, and in a moment she had the attention of the room; Izuku had half been expecting Mic to yell at everyone. "Good afternoon. Glad to see you've all taken interest in being heroes."

She gestured elegantly to herself. "My name is Nemuri Kayama and I'll be one of your assessors for the exam today." With a wink, she added, "but you may know me better as Midnight. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Just in front of him, Izuku heard a boy mutter to another person. "Well well... the R-Rated Hero is still teaching."

He looked at the speaker, a blonde boy with wide eyes and a sarcastic smirk on his face, muttering to a skinny young man with spiky black hair held up by a bandana. Bandana boy chuckled, his feet up on a chair in front of him. "Heh. Still don't get how she's appropriate for a school."

Midnight coughed again, slightly more pointedly this time, and Izuku resisted the urge to laugh as the boys shut up immediately- it wasn't just Tenko she had the better of. "On behalf of Principal Nezu and the rest of the staff at UA, I'm grateful to you all for coming. We appreciate that since a few years ago, UA has taken itself out of the public spotlight, and we know that there is significant pressure on young students to attend elsewhere. In spite of this, you have all applied, and made it through our application process."

Present Mic winked at the gathered students, and spread his arms wide. "Good job on that too, little listeners! You're the only ones who made it here, after all!"

"Eh?" Setsuna asked, in a whisper only Izuku could hear. "What does he mean by that?"

Present Mic appeared to read her mind. "Normally you all would be the first of a few classes of students we would assess, and pick from that group who we want to take forward. In the past we would have matches against training robots, or team exercises we would have a little view of! In times like these though, we've gotta think outside the box, you get me?"

"So we don't get robots..." Himiko trailed off, and Izuku was alarmed to see some of the colour rush from her face. "Oh no."

"We've changed the test this year," Midnight continued, "to reflect that we as a school can no longer afford to run a training program for the numbers we had before. Instead of examining over two hundred students for forty places... you twenty will be the only students we pick from this year."

"Excuse me!" Before the class could kick off a boy shot up in the front row, ramrod straight, and he appeared to chop the air as he spoke. "You say that you will pick from the twenty students assembled here to make a class. Do I take it to mean some of us won't make it into your class?"

Midnight's smirk was evil all of a sudden. "... That's right."

"But UA has always had classes of 20! Surely-"

"These are troubled times, listener," Present Mic interrupted, as the boy sat down abruptly out of deference to the teacher. "We've gotta make sure we're getting the best of the best, you hear me?"

"This is UA, after all, dear students." Midnight's aura had turned sadistic. "As a dear friend of mine would say, if you can't give it your all, you shouldn't be here. Go beyond, Plus Ultra, right?"

"You heard it from her! Plus Ultra all the way, YEAAAAH!"

"Do you wanna tell them how it goes," Midnight asked her fellow teacher with a wink, "while I go and set myself up?"

"Sure thing, Nemuri!" Present Mic, for some reason unknown to Izuku, shot her finger guns as she walked out of a door to the back of the classroom marked 'A' and left with the widest smirk on her face. "This year we aren't fighting robots, or showing off on big stage battles! Midnight loves it intimate, so we're getting up close and personal with a Quirk Assessment presentation! Bet you didn't see that coming, huhhh?"

"Quirk Assessment..." Himiko murmured, so faintly next to Izuku, and he was confused. Why was she now trembling?

"Here's how it works! When I call your name, two of you at a time will go to the back of the class and go through the magic doors of destiny over there!" Present Mic was hyping it up as best as he could to a class of very uncertain students. "Midnight will assess half of you through door A, and a special assessor from outside of UA will do the rest through door B. You'll have five minutes to show off your power and what you can do with it, and show us why you deserve to be a hero student at UA! The rest is up to you, my listeners! ARE YOU READYYYY?!"

Stony silence from a bunch of stunned and slightly petrified teenagers met the scream of their host with the most volume, and to his credit Present Mic didn't bat an eyelid. "It's okay, tough crowd, we'll get more into it as we go! Anyway, random selections for this one, not alphabetical, so first up..." Izuku leaned forward in anticipation. "Ibara Shiozaki!"

The vine-haired girl stood up and bowed her head, an aura of complete calm on her face. "Yes, sir?"

"I heard on the grapevine it's Room A with Midnight for you!" Shiozaki's stoic face didn't budge despite the awful pun, and she moved off towards the back of the room. "And let's see, first up for our special guest assessor... Tenko Shimura! You're the oldest applicant here, so go prove age is just a number, m'kay?"

Tenko rolled his eyes, and pushed off from the back of the wall. As he stopped at Izuku, he offered out one gloved hand to Izuku in a fist. "Guess this is it, huh? I'm about to unlock a whole new skill tree, or lose all my lives."

Izuku made a fist of his own to bump against Tenko's glove. "You're gonna do great, Tenko. Go show them what you're made of."

"Plus Ultra, right?" He swept his blue hair back and grinned at Izuku. "I'll show 'em all."

As Tenko dipped through door B with a nod to Setsuna, Izuku breathed out. "Okay. I guess we have some time to prepare for-" Himiko whirled up out of her chair all of a sudden and disappeared out of sight. "H-Huh? Himiko-"

"She's..." Setsuna looked stunned. "She did not look happy. Where do you think she's-"

Izuku stood up. "I'm going after her."

"Huh? What? Izuku? What gives?!"

"She's upset about something here, and the reason she's here is because I told her she could try." Izuku clenched a fist and made up his mind. "Whatever it is, I've got to try to help."

"Izuku she might not listen! She's not talked to us about stuff before, about her guardian or her Quirk, maybe it's not our business-"

"But maybe if it becomes our business we can help!" Izuku took off towards the door, ignoring the looks from his cousin and others in the class as he yelled over his shoulder. "Meddling in other's business is the essence of a Hero, Setsuna!"

Luckily for Izuku, as he took off out of the classroom door and shut it behind him, he didn't have to look far for Himiko. The blonde girl had fled only so far as the main entrance lobby, where she had crumpled into a heap against the wall on the opposite side, and lifted her head up as he came flying out of the door. "Huh? Izu-"

"Hey, it's okay." He scooted over across the hallway and slid down to sit beside her, offering an arm to sling around her shoulder and bring her in for a hug. "I'm here now."

Despite the fact that her eyes were wide and a small tear had formed in the corner, Himiko snorted and leaned into his hug. "You're coming after me quoting All Might? You're such a dork."

"I'm serious, I'm not going anywhere. Not until I can make you feel better."

"Izuku, I..." She lifted her head to look at him, and he didn't flush at how close they were. "I'm sorry, I just... maybe I'm not cut out for this."

"But you are, Himiko!" He squeezed her shoulder with his hand. "You saved me and Tenko from that Yakuza, I know you can do this-"

"It's not that, I..." Her head fell. "It's just-"

"Is it about your Quirk?"

His blunt question surprised her nearly as much as it surprised him, and her head shot up. "W-What?"

He looked down at the floor, not making eye contact. "I... I know you've always shied away from telling us when we practiced with ours. And now we're here at UA and they want us all to show off. I... kinda guessed it might be to do with that."

Himiko seemed to slump in his hug, and clearly she felt there was no reason to deny it. "... I'm that obvious, huh?"

"H-Hey, it's not that. You're always really honest with us about anything, which sometimes makes me a mess because you can be far more open than we can. Your Quirk is one of the things you don't feel that way about."

"I guess..."

"I'm not gonna push you to say." He squeezed his arm tighter around her. "You... have your reasons, whatever it is for saying. I want you to be whatever you want to be, but I'm not gonna do anything to upset you. If you want to tell me what it is, or even why you don't want to say, I'll listen, but.."

"But?"

He nodded. "If I have to sit out here with you and stay like this until you're happier, I will."

For a moment he saw a blush form on her face and despite everything he couldn't help but smile, but it passed in the blink of an eye. For what seemed like an age, he just sat there in silence, feeling her breathe in and out and letting her get herself steady. He wasn't going to force anything from her- not one of his crew, one of his friends.

"Izuku?"

"Hmm?"

Himiko seemed to stabilise herself for a question, and when it came out her voice was as low as he'd heard it in a while. "What if... people would hate my Quirk?"

"Hate it?" He frowned. "Why would people hate it?"

"All my life..." Himiko wavered, but then she seemed to make up her mind as one of her hands squeezed his hand on her shoulder, and she soldiered on. "All my life, everyone who learned my Quirk does told me I was a monster. They told me I was evil, tried to change me. Nobody believed I could do what I want to do except my guardian and my big bro..."

She tilted her head to look up at him, and Izuku was taken aback by how deep and soulful those feline yellow eyes of her had become. "Izuku... you believe in me. You say the sweetest things I've heard and you're nothing but cute to me. But... can you still say that? Even knowing I have a monster's Quirk, can you be true and tell me that you like me, that you believe in me?"

"I can and I will."

She raised her eyebrows as he responded. "N-No hesitation-"

"I don't need to think about it, Himiko." He squeezed her hand back. "I believe in you, and that's final."

"But my Quirk-"

"Nobody is defined by their Quirk, Himiko." Izuku remembered the things that his mother had said, all that time ago when they first learned the truth of his power and what he could do. "What their Quirk or how it works... that doesn't matter. You could have a Quirk that people think is good used by the worst villain, and it wouldn't matter. The Quirk isn't important... it's the person who uses it and what they want to do."

"I don't know what your Quirk is, but..." Izuku tilted his head sideways, and leant his head against hers. "I believe in you."

For what seemed like an age, Himiko was quiet and her eyes were closed. "... Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah." She nudged his head with her own and turned to look at him, seeming to steel herself in a mighty effort that seemed to steady her breathing. "Izuku... I... wanna tell you something."

"A-About you?"

"Yeah..." Himiko looked down for a second. "I'm gonna tell you about me, and about my Quirk, and what it did to me, but only if you promise one thing."

"Anything."

"Okay..." Himiko moved his hand off her shoulder and squeezed it in her own. "If you hear it, and it changes how you feel about whether you believe in me, tell me. If you think I'm not cut out for being a hero, then say. I... I trust you. More than I've trusted anyone in a while. So I need to hear it from you, okay?"

Izuku wouldn't say what was in his heart- that he would never tell her that he didn't believe in her, or that she wasn't right for this. She didn't need to hear that, in case she thought he wasn't being honest. If she wanted to talk, then it had to be on her terms and she had to know she was being listened to genuinely. "Okay. I promise, Himiko."

She took a deep breath, blinked those yellow eyes and looked at him, and Izuku saw that the look on her face was something more serious than he'd ever seen. But this wasn't anger or rage that had made her serious- there was something deep and painful on her face, a sense of sadness and resignation. Whatever she was about to say was going to hurt her.

"Okay, here goes..."

(***)

"So you're the miniboss for this Quirk Assessment, huh? Gotta say you're not what I was expecting."

Whatever Tenko had been expecting in the next room, it was not the impeccably well-dressed man with the slicked and combed-over green hair. He didn't look like a teacher, with a very fancy suit and a weird spotty tie, and he certainly didn't look like a Pro Hero. He was exactly the sort of person Tenko would have expected to have seen standing on the train for his morning commute, or sat in the last seat in the row reading the headlines in a newspaper; in fact, as Tenko had walked into the assessment room, the man had been scouring the columns of today's paper and marking it up with, bizarrely, an All Might themed pen.

The man behind the desk pocketed his pen, and began to neatly fold the newspaper without looking up. "I presume you were expecting a recognised teacher of UA High when you walked through this door."

Something about the man's tone set Tenko on edge slightly. He hadn't asked it as a question, he was absolutely certain he knew how Tenko was thinking, and while he was correct, something about that made him wary. "If you're saying that then you're not a teacher here. In that case, why are you here to test me?"

"Good question," the man responded, not at all sounding offended by the confrontational tone Tenko had taken. "I am here at the personal invite of Principal Nezu. You will note that this year the student intake at this school is substantially reduced. The calibre of applications has diminished, but even among those deemed worthy of further examination, UA wish to make sure of certain... qualities among their applicants. As such, I was invited to assess these qualities and give my second opinion."

"And I'm one of the ones who has extra qualities?" Tenko grinned, with no humour behind it; this man's bluntness was getting to him. "I guess I should thank you for the special treatment."

"Perhaps. Although you may wish to hold back until you are certain you've passed." There was absolutely no humour in the man's voice as he scribbled a note on a piece of paper which looked like a report. "While my duties as a Pro Hero include combat, I specialise in analysis and investigation, and I leave no stone unturned. Forgive me if, in being forensic, you feel somewhat uncomfortable by my analysis. I assure you I only mean to learn the truth, Mister Shimura."

"Analysis..." Tenko ignored the emphasis the man put on his family name, and paused. He had just put some of the pieces together. "Hey... wait..."

"Is something the matter?"

"I... I think know who you are." Tenko frowned, taking a good look at the man as he steepled his fingers and looked down at the paper report in front of him. "Izuku talks about you, I've seen you in his movie collection and on his merchandise. You're... the sidekick, aren't you? All Might's former partner."

"Izuku..." The man looked at a separate sheet of paper, and nodded. "Izuku Midoriya, your friend, another applicant here today?"

"That's him. He's an All Might fanboy." Tenko snorted to himself. "All of his nerding out rubbed off on me after all."

"It would seem that way. If your friend is an All Might fanboy, then I'm sure I will have appeared in his video collection at some point."

The man stood up and looked Tenko in the eyes, piercing yellow meeting flashing red. "Forgive me, Tenko Shimura, for not introducing myself properly. My name is Sir Nighteye."

"I'm here to see what the future holds for you."

(***)

Izuku Midoriya, Himiko Toga, Setsuna Tokage. Aged: 15.

Tenko Shimura. Aged: 17.

Nemuri Kayama (Midnight) and Hizashi Yamada (Present Mic). Aged: 30.

Mirai Sasaki, Sir Nighteye. Aged: 38.

(***)

A/N: See those cliffs? We're hanging on them right now.

I really wanted to get Himiko revealing more about her Quirk because I love the idea of evil powers used for good- Shinso last chapter showed just how much I love that concept of what makes Quirks "good" or "evil". As for Tenko and Nighteye, well, this is not going to end well...

We are on some nuts statistics at the moment on this story for which I wanted to say thank you so much. You're all smashing reviews at the moment, and we went from just north of 600 followers to nearly 675 with just last chapter. That's absolutely nuts and I'm so grateful. If you enjoyed this week's chapter, please send me a review, and if you haven't please feel free to favourite or follow. It really does make my week seeing some of the responses.

Next week- Bakugo and Endeavor? Possibly. Stain? Absolutely.

Ya boy, out.