Izuku used to hate Tuesdays. Nowadays, he directed all of that hate towards Wednesdays.

Wednesday.

It wasn't even spelled the way it was pronounced.

What a shitty day…

In a sleep-deprived daze, Izuku fumbled around the mess of pillows and blankets in the back of the van for his watch. Everything was so warm and soft and… quiet. Although he woke with quite a jolt, he didn't wake the others. Tsu and Ochako were sleeping next to each other on the opposite side of the crammed and cramped back. Kenji and Katsuki were nowhere to be found.

The sun was shining bright through the old, dirty windows. Izuku waved his tired hands through the dustlight, watching the particles splash and float away in the air.

Judging by how high the sun had gotten, he'd guess it was close to 9 AM.

The watch had to be somewhere… maybe in his bag. Izuku reached for the blue duffel bag All-Might had given him. He was realizing now just how worn it had gotten in the last two years, three months and howevermany trials.

On a second thought, Izuku stopped his reach short. Then on a third, he reached out again. The makeshift bed was already pulling him back to it. However much sleep he got last night was not nearly enough.

Finally undoing a zipper and finding the watch surprisingly quickly, he found it to be 10:23 AM.

Now that that was out of the way, he could still get a little rest… but what about the others? And then, his dam hippocampus broke and flooded the rest of his head with memories. There had to be some word or phrase to describe it… when you suddenly remember all the things you did the day or night before.

The mystery had technically been solved with the arrests made but there were still many things that Izuku wanted the answers to. So many questions… a headache-inducing amount.

What exactly did Dr. Ujiko do to Oboro Shirakumo? How much of his story was true? Was the whole blue truck thing actually a coincidence? Was there anything that Kenji Hikiishi was hiding? Where did the suit of armor come from? What exactly was Dr. Ujiko hoping to accomplish?

There's that headache.

Mentally barreling through it, Izuku tried grabbing the memories of last night out of the brain fluid.

He remembered answering all the police's questions, seeing the Class B gang retreat to their van, and leaning against the van watching cars come in and out. Dread, exhaustion. Would he even be allowed to sleep?

At some point he opened the back of the van and crawled in. Tsu and Ochako got in too at some point. They said nothing to each other and drifted off to sleep.

Then he recalled seeing an ambulance… in some state between sleep and waking. It was one of those nights where he just couldn't fall asleep despite being so tired.

I…

Izuku couldn't think. All he could see in his mind's eye was an ominous dark cloud covering the night sky. A rolling thunder. He tried reaching for words but could only grab… "guilt."

Why?

He was supposed to feel something… like accomplishment. If it weren't for him and Kousei Tsuburaba, the events of last night would not have transpired as they had. Their reasons for pursuing that blue truck… and was it still just a coincidence? Perhaps. A lot of the time, heroes find danger and save the day on accident. It happened before. There was that chance encounter with Gentle… and how did that happen?

If he could recall correctly, it was Mina who suggested the dance for the festival. Izuku was supposed to hoist Yuga up with a rope for his disco ball routine. But after so much use, that rope would need to be replaced. Momo could have easily made a new one but at that particular time, she happened to be sleeping. No bother, Izuku needed to go out for some things anyway. There was a hardware store on the way. The morning of the festival, Mei showed up with the Air Force Gloves she made for Izuku. He got so caught up in practicing with them that he lost track of time… he didn't even bother taking the gloves off. Izuku found himself on his way out of the hardware store at 8:30 AM, just as Gentle and La Brava left the cafe right next door…

And probably most important of all… that special tea. Gold Tips Imperial.

If any of those events had gone differently… maybe Gentle's infiltration scheme would have succeeded, and ruined the festival for everyone. Eri…

A shiver ran down Izuku's spine. How cruel could the universe be? A butterfly flaps its wings…

Turning away from the thought, Izuku's gaze landed on the front window. In the yellow late morning glow he saw the gnats and bees on their way to work and home and wherever else they needed to be. The Class B gang's van was still there… who's van exactly was it?

Letting his eyes linger through the sunlight a little longer, Izuku spotted a human figure. Someone leaning against the van. It was Kousei Tsuburaba.

After being swarmed by police and paramedics last night, he never got a chance to really let him know he did a good job.

Not wanting to wake the others, Izuku climbed into the front and got out the front driver's door—

"Izuku?" he heard Tsu say in a soft, sleepy voice.

Izuku tensed up a moment, then felt relieved. Now she wouldn't mind him closing the door. But Ochako might, if she was still sleeping. He turned around to meet her eyes. She had her head up, like she was about to sneeze. Her eyes were more than half closed. Ochako was still sleeping.

It was weird. Izuku thought Tsu looked really cute when she was tired, and felt like he could just stare at her all morning.

"What're you doing, ribbit?"

"Uh," Izuku whispered, "I, nothing… the door?"

He pointed to Ochako, but Tsu didn't seem to see it. Thoroughly giving up, Izuku left the car. They all needed to get up anyway, Ochako probably wouldn't be mad about the door slamming.

Kousei Tsuburaba looked half asleep so why exactly he was outside and standing up was a mystery. And one Izuku didn't really care to solve, even if he could do it with a single question.

For a second, he hesitated to approach the taller boy. Maybe he could take a quick walk to wake himself up. But it was too late—

"Hey," Kousei said, "uh… good morning?"

"I guess," Izuku said.

He idled there awkwardly, hoping Kousei would say something quickly.

"So… Bakugou? Any idea where he went?"

That wasn't perfect, but it would have to do.

"I don't know," Izuku said, "but… good job, last night."

Kousei's eyes widened.

"Oh, uh, thanks," he rubbed the back of his neck, "you too, all of you."

Izuku tried not to smile, but he couldn't stop it.

"You think I should ask out Kodai?"

"Uh… I don't know."

"Oh yeah, you're not really the romantic type. Guess I should ask Bakugou?"

"Ask me what?"

They both turned to find him, Katsuki Bakugou, out of the blue. Did he just materialize when he heard his name? Well, the second time, like Beetlejuice but you only have to say his name twice instead of thrice—

"Uh-uh-uh, n-nothing!" Izuku babbled out.

"Um, where were you?"

"None of your business, that's where. Now let's get the hell out of here."

"Wait, wait, wait," Kousei got up from the van and faced him, "what the hell happened last night? Where did you go? Where's Tsuragamae and that hippie?"

"It's all boring stuff you wouldn't give a shit about, so don't worry about it. We're going now. Aiming for Hiroshima."

With that, he went for the driver's door.

"Heh," Izuku tried to find a delicate way to end this, "I guess we're going now, uh, see you at the… place."

"Yeah," Kousei looked down, "guess so, see ya, Midoriya."

Izuku turned around quickly to hide his face. Tsuburaba sounded… sad? Disappointed? Izuku was never that good at figuring out how people were feeling. Plus, it wasn't really his business.

Prepared for the inevitable horn honking from Katsuki, Izuku walked around the front of the van to the passenger door. The horn honking never came, but he never questioned it. He got in the van and almost fell asleep again in the absolute silence.

Then a thought crossed his mind and he nodded…

"Oh, uh, where's Kenji Tsuragamae-sensei? And Hikiishi?"

When Katsuki was tired, not just physically, but mentally and spiritually, he tended to make a very specific face. It was so much worse than his 'revenge-filled resting angry face.' Those were always full of determination and power. This face was devoid of them. Devoid of anything.

Izuku's heart began to race in his chest, daring to climb through his skin and fall onto his lap. Staring straight out the window did nothing to help.

He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the two girls. Ochako was reading a magazine and Tsu was—

"Yeah," she said, "where are they?"

Ochako looked up and over at Izuku.

"Did the others leave already?" she asked.

"No," Izuku said, "they're still here."

Katsuki finally moved his head, right, to the other van. Neito Monoma was in the driver's seat, parallel with Katsuki. After about three seconds, he turned his head and nodded. Katsuki didn't even sigh or groan.

"Well," Ochako said, "where is Tsuragamae?"

"At Central Hospital," Katsuki said, "with Aizawa."

There was a pause that none of the other three felt comfortable breaking. Izuku looked down and fiddled with his hands. Kenji had left without even saying anything. But… it was important.

"And Ujiko?" Tsu asked.

"They don't know who he is, or if that's even his real name. But he's in custody."

Last free summer…

Izuku shuddered again, violently enough that everyone noticed.

"Come on," Katsuki growled, "we'll meet up with Tsuragamae in Fukuoka, don't—"

Knock, knock, knock.

Katsuki turned to look out his window. Neito Monoma. Not something you can just smear off the glass with your sleeve.

"Whaddya want now?!"

"Are you leaving?" Neito said, his voice muffled by the glass barrier.

"Yeah!" Katsuki grabbed the key.

"WAIT!" Ochako yelled, and got out the back of the van.

"Ugh… goddammit," Katsuki whispered with his head down.

He slowly turned to the window again and found that smug smirk that he could only describe as "Monoma." That would be a great word to add to the dictionary.

Katsuki could barely hear what Ochako and Itsuka Kendo were saying but recognized the tone and pitch of their voices. He'd much rather keep that window closed than try to hear what they were saying… possibly about him.

Neito turned his head to wherever the girls were, out of Katsuki's sight.

"We'll catch up there," he said, his smile fading, "no, take your time, I'm sorry if you don't find out soon."

Get out or stay in the van? Katsuki wiggled his fingers and gripped the wheel. He found some zen in the way his skin stuck to the hot leather… the way he could peel his hands away like a bandage. Over and over again.

There was another murmur that caught his attention for a flicker of a moment, and he subsided his attention when he found no words to latch onto…

"Well," Ochako said, "thanks again, both of you. Hopefully we can put all that bad stuff behind us. Not that I ever had any hard feelings, just… you know."

"Hm, yeah," Itsuka said, "I—we understand."

When Itsuka smiled, Ochako made sure to try to get Neito into focus. If only she had a camera. She didn't know if they were a 'thing,' if they ever were, or ever would be. But she did find them a little "cute."

Ochako smiled awkwardly and crawled back into the van.

"What?" Katsuki asked.

"Huh?"

"You look like you're thinking about something."

"I was just wondering… if those two ever… you know."

Katsuki's eyes narrowed in the rear-view mirror. He didn't seem particularly annoyed by the thought. He seemed to be trying to recall something. As much as Ochako could gather from his face, everything she knew about how he acted. Maybe Izuku had a better idea as to what he might be thinking or feeling.

He waited until Neito was far enough away that he might not hear him…

"He… said some bullshit about wanting to move on and, I guess, change for her. At least I think her, he's always around her like… you know."

Ochako couldn't be sure if Neito was clingy or shy. Maybe getting to know Class B better would be a good idea. Maybe future events were planned?

"Is Kenji Hikiishi in questioning?" Izuku asked out of nowhere.

Katsuki rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, we'll call her and Tsuragamae later," he sighed out and turned the key.

The engine sputtered to life and purred nervously.

"Alright, whose ready to have some fun in the sun?"

Katsuki flashed an uncharacteristic smile in a lame attempt to cheer the others up. His gaze landed first on Izuku beside him.

Izuku Midoriya. In some unbecoming state tantamount to defeat.

And there were those thousand thoughts again.

If this was what a hangover felt like, Katsuki would have to reconsider getting absolutely shit-face plastered at the concert—not that he would, that would be illegal. But hypothetically—

Katsuki remembered all of sudden just how big of a funky wrench that whole… thing… threw into their plans. He felt bad for admitting it, even to just himself, but Kenji Tsuragamae coming along probably had a lot to do with it.

And even after it all worked out, Izuku was still in a bad mood. Catching a villain should've made him feel so much better. So why didn't it?

This whole "road trip" thing was Ochako's idea in the first place—

"STOP THINKING AND DRIVE!" Ochako yelled.

And so he did; next destination undetermined.