Everyone else's damn work studies were coming along well, and it was pissing me off. Kirishima made the headlines doing his work study with Fatgum, for one. Which Kaminari made sure to rub in everyone's faces.

"Your name! Your hero name's in the news!" he called out to Kirishima that night.

"Tsuyu, Uraraka! This is too cool! Your names' here too!" added Raccoon Eyes "New recruits at the Ryukyu agency"

"Heh - pretty exciting I guess!" blushed Uraraka.

"Where'd they get that picture from?" asked Frog Face.

"I love it! Bet you've already got hordes of fans, just like Mt Lady!" smiled Raccoon Eyes.

"Provisional licenses or not, we are now heroes when we step onto those mean streets. Wonderful job!" Glasses told them. "But a student's primary concern is academics! No slacking off now!"

"Gotcha, Iida!" said Kirishima, who this was mainly directed at. "We're ready to learn and all that."

"Yeah!" added Deku.

"You suck at school, though," Kaminari told Kirishima. "You gonna be ok?"

"Sensei's gonna be giving me some extra lessons," Kirishima explained. "Maybe I should join you?" added Tape Arms. "Keeping up this doulbe life is tough."

"Everyone learns at their own pace," Ponytail interjected.

"You always know just what to say!" Kaminari smiled at her.

I thought about offering to tutor Kirishima again. But I remembered that he'd apparently decided he was too good to talk to me anymore, and stomped off.

To make things worse, Deku was just getting moodier and weirder every day, and other people were noticing. On the way to our license course that weekend, IcyHot asked me out of nowhere, "Any idea what's up with Midoriya?"

"NO FREAKING CLUE. AND WALK BEHIND ME ALREADY!"

"He's been very quiet lately. Doesn't that bother you?"

"What the hell makes you think he'd tell me?"

"Sorry. I just get the impression you two tell each other things. He must have told you about me and my father."

Silence. Oh. I guess I'd better clear Deku's name. "He didn't say anything. I found out about your family drama on my own."

"Oh. I see. Does Midoriya seem - down to you? He's seemed a bit down ever since his work study started. Do you think it has anything to do with working with All Might's former sidekick?"

I froze. "Why the hell should that have anything to do with it?"

"Midoriya's such a big fan of All Might...and they seem to have some kind of connection."

"And what the fuck makes you think that?"

"C'mon, you must have noticed. They have private conversations together, All Might pays attention to him and grants him favors no one else gets...not to mention how similar their quirks are. I'd assume they were related if Midoriya hadn't already told me they weren't."

I rolled my eyes; I wanted to laugh with relief. "THAT'S what you thought? Yeah, sure IcyHot."

"And I could tell when I asked Midoriya that there was something," he started, then stopped talking. He'd even stopped walking, and when I turned around, he was staring at me. Crap. Did I just slip up? He can be damn perceptive when he wants to be.

"What're you staring at, IcyHot?" I asked him. I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to hear the answer. His face was funny for a minute, then he srugged.

"Nothing. I guess it's just coincidence."

"Damn right it's coincidence." Thank god.

I avoided IcyHot's gaze the whole way there. Do a better job hiding your secret, Deku.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" demanded Gang Orca as we trained that afternoon. "WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A HERO? ASK THESE QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IT IS TIME FOR THE SHEER WALL ROCK CLIMB EXERCISE! CAN YOU OVERCOME THESE OBSTACLES? ASK YOURSELF! WITHOUT A QUIRK WHO ARE YOU?!"

Stupid probing questions