Eijiro awoke with a jolt, the sheets of Mina's bed wrapping themselves around his naked and flailing legs. Disoriented and totally unaware of his surroundings, he scrambled to free himself from the entanglement as another series of knocks came at the door.

"Hold on!" the boy called, very much unprepared to answer the door in his unclothed state. "Who is it?"

"Shoto Todoroki," came the reply. "I need to you to come with me. It's important."

Eijiro looked around frantically for his boxers, only to find that they had disappeared from the pile of clothing on the floor, as had Mina Ashido. In fact, all of his clothes were missing, and only hers remained. Upon taking a second glance, he realized that only one of Mina's garments had been left behind, and with a sinking heart, Eijiro knew what he had to do.

Shoto Todoroki simply stared, unblinking and his expression rigid as the door opened to the sight of Eijiro Kirishima wearing a pair of red panties that were far too tight on him. The 1-A student's cheeks were as scarlet as the undergarments and his own hair, and he refused to look at the 1-B class lead.

"…can I head back to my dorm first and get some clothes?" Eijiro asked sheepishly. "I don't think I can get up the steps wearing a whole sheet, and Mina stole my clothes…"

"…wait here," Shoto ordered before he disappeared from the doorframe. Eijiro pulled the door closed once again as he waited for several minutes, wondering if Shoto would return with paperwork saying that he would be kicked out of U.A. or some other such horror. Instead, he simply came back with a pair of deep blue university-branded basketball shorts and thrust them in Eijiro's direction. "Borrow these for now."

Eijiro let out a massive sigh of relief and accepted the gift while pulling at the elastic band of Mina's ill-fitting underwear.

"Hey, uh, if I wash these for ya, could I just… free-ball it for a bit? These are really uncom-"

"No," Shoto interrupted without breaking his stare. "Please don't."

"…gotcha. Sorry," Eijiro said with small laugh as he pulled on the basketball shorts. "Where are we headed?"

"The room I share with Midoriya," Shoto answered as he turned around and walked back out into the hallway. "The two of us have a message for you, and the rest of the crew that went to Uraraka's house the other day. It's about what Midoriya and Bakugo were doing while we were worried about them after that phone call."

"Oh?" Eijiro asked as he followed Shoto. "Oh! Right! I've been wondering about that. Glad to hear it's nothing terrible…"

"…have you not heard the news?" Shoto asked, looking over his shoulder.

"The news…?" Eijiro replied, clearly confused. He earned a heavy sigh for his question and scratched at the back of his head, feeling guilty. "Sorry. I just woke up…"

"Sir Nighteye was murdered," Shoto explained as they made their way down the hall to the room opposite the bathroom. "This is connected to that."

"Sir… no way…" Eijiro said in disbelief. "But he's… he was one of the greats!"

"He was," Shoto agreed. "But that alone was not enough to protect him. We're all… feeling the loss in different ways. Be mindful of that and be careful who you're so blasé around."

"I'm not… trying to be blasé…" Eijiro protested as they approached the dorm room. "Sorry if I did, man. I'm not feeling great either…"

"Hm," was all Shoto said as the girls' bathroom door opened beside him.

"Mina!"

"Hey Eiji," the freshly showered, pink-skinned hero in training replied with a tired wave. She was indeed wearing his outfit from the day prior, though any playfulness associated with the act was entirely gone from her features. She somehow looked exhausted despite their long sleep, as though 'the news' had crushed her spirit entirely. "You hear about Sir Nighteye?"

"Yeah, I…" Eijiro began, only to notice Shoto standing with one hand on the dormitory door and giving him an exasperated look. "Should Mina come, too? I told her about Uraraka's house and everything…"

Again, Shoto let out a labored sigh and shook his head. With an annoyed frown, he shrugged his shoulders.

"…I suppose so. Come."

Eijiro and Mina followed Shoto into the shared dorm room, and upon doing so, both knew immediately which section of the room belonged to him and which belonged to Midoriya. One side was plastered with All Might memorabilia ranging from posters to books to bobbleheads, and the accompanying bed was decorated with red, white, blue, and yellow patterned sheets. The other side was rather plain in contrast to the loud colors, and the only things that could qualify as "decorations" were the various books on academic subjects neatly organized upon the shelves. Nothing at all seemed personal to Shoto Todoroki, as though he was unfamiliar with the concept of personalizing one's room.

Gathered around the room sitting upon the beds, leaning on the back of the couch, and simply sitting on the floor were five other individuals- Izuku Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, Tsuyu Asui, Tenya Iida, and Hanta Sero. No one looked particularly enthused to be there, and Tsuyu had a box of tissues in her lap as she sat alone on the floor. A small pile of dampened sheets was scattered next to her.

"So…" Shoto said as he pulled the door closed behind Eijiro and Mina, "I called you here today because I think it best not to keep secrets between us, regardless of class affiliation. Everyone here bar Ashido was present at the gathering at the mall and Uraraka's house afterward. Midoriya… when you and Bakugo left after receiving that call from All Might, we became… suspicious as to why you two were being contacted so directly."

Midoriya nodded along, signaling that he and Shoto had already had such a conversation in private.

"Which is totally understandable. Kacchan and I have been talking to All Might for quite a while, before we all got to U.A., for several reasons. I can't talk about all of them, but one of the big ones had to do with Sir Nighteye. Kacchan and I were both close with him, and we met All Might through his agency. The news you all heard this morning is why we got the call at the mall… and we couldn't explain it to you because the hero community wanted to do an investigation before things went public."

"Sir Nighteye died that long ago?" Ochaco asked, sounding shocked. "The news made it sound recent…"

"The professional circuit can be… very secretive," Shoto answered. "Even Endeavor wasn't aware of Sir Nighteye's passing before we made a call to him to investigate. The information we're sharing with you now is… somewhat sensitive, even if it seems relatively inconsequential. We're lucky to have a direct line to two pro heroes between 1-A and 1-B. I won't be able to use my connection to Endeavor for much, but when I can, I will."

"Kan has given us a lot of insider information," Tsuya acknowledged with a sniffle. "I think we're all grateful for it… but I think I speak for everyone when I say none of us want you or Kan to get in trouble over sharing secrets."

"Well, this should be the last of them on my end," Shoto offered. "Midoriya and I are only sharing this with you now to ease your minds and any suspicion about that unresolved thread at the mall. What else has Kan told you?"

All eyes turned to either Tsuyu or Eijiro, looking for answers. Tenya in particular gave Eijiro a hard glare, and upon looking to Tsuyu for help and receiving a quick shake of the head, he swallowed hard.

"Uh… I-I mean, I've been down here all night with Mina, so if she said anything yesterday, I didn't catch it…"

"She didn't say anything new," Tsuyu lied. "I meant, about the hostages at the entrance exam. She didn't know about them directly. Kan just proposed that the entrance tests usually have some twist or aren't entirely what they seem."

"I hope she doesn't say much more," Tenya said. "Some things should stay secret, up to and including knowledge that would provide an unfair advantage to some parties over others."

It was Shoto and Izuku's turn to exchange a look unseen by the others in the room.

"Oh, come on," Hanta said with a typical huge grin. "What's the harm? We all earned our way in, and things are tough right now. As heroes, we're supposed to be using all of our resources effectively, right? Vlad King and Endeavor can be resources, whether they know it or not."

"I'm with Sero," Mina agreed. "Besides- I hear Professor Aizawa is brutal. Brutal to the point of kicking people out who don't meet expectations without a shred of guilt. I hear last year, he booted someone before day one of classes was over…"

"That much is true," Tenya agreed. "He warned Hagakure and I to expect to lose several students over the course of the year, and he asked us to keep an eye on anyone stepping out of line. Perhaps she and I will have words with Kan soon for her own safety."

"Hey, come on," Hanta pleaded. "I don't really know Kan at all yet, but she's probably just excited to be here and feel useful to us all by helping out. Don't come down on her like that."

"Yeah," Eijiro agreed. "Please, Iida? No rules have really been broken yet. Can we at least wait until that happens before doing things that could cause a division?"

Tenya pinched his nose and closed his eyes while letting out a sigh. Slowly, he removed his glasses and buffed them on his shirt.

"…very well. Perhaps…I am also just… 'excited' to exercise the rights and adhere to the responsibilities of my station by nipping anything questionable in the bud. I will make an attempt to ease up, until I have direct reason not to do so. The last thing I want is boundaries between us. I believe we all had enough experience with cliques in high school."

"You can say that again," Eijiro muttered.

"…we should all strive to be heroes to each other, as well as the civilians outside of the academy," Izuku suggested. "The pro circuit is going to come together to support each other in times like these… at least, I hope. There's no reason we shouldn't all come together to support each other through school. It'd make staying in touch afterward, teaming up, and running missions that much easier if we all stay friendly, right?"

"…right," Shoto said hesitantly. "Friendly…"

"Maybe a little too friendly, sometimes," Hanta grinned as he nodded toward Eijiro. "Nice panties, my man."

Eijiro looked down to see the lacy edges of Mina's garments peeking up over one side of his shorts. He hastily tucked them back in with a nervous chuckle.

"H-hey, you all know Mina and I are a thing. That's not a secret!"

"…but it is cute," Ochaco added with a soft smile. "Any other couples in our classes that anyone knows of?"

"I don't think so," Tsuyu replied as she began to gather up her used tissues. "None that I've noticed yet, anyway."

"Let's not get into relationship gossip," Shoto suggested. "I couldn't be less interested."

"Agreed," Tenya followed up. "If there's nothing else… well, thank you Todoroki and Midoriya for calling us together to clear things up. It's best not to let theories and rumors linger… and you have my apologies for all of us intruding. We were simply trying to look out for you."

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" Midoriya reassured. "I totally get it. I would've been curious, too. On that note- Iida, would you mind hanging back for a bit?"

Shoto shot Izuku a curious look, but the other boy avoided his eyes.

"I suppose I could, yes," Tenya acknowledged. "The rest of you, I'm sure we'll talk soon."

Well wishes and goodbyes were said over a period of a minute or two as Eijiro, Mina, Tsuyu, Ochaco, and Hanta filed out of the room. When only three students remained, Izuku moved to lock the door before turning to face Iida once again.

"Midoriya…" Shoto said with a tone of warning. "You're not thinking of telling Iida…?"

"Yeah," Izuku said defiantly. "I am. He's a class lead, and we'll be working together a lot. What if he and Hagakure are assigned to work with 1-A and something happens? They should know… and so should Yaoyorozu."

Tenya looked back and forth between the two boys before he finally put his glasses back on.

"What is it that we should know…?"

Author's Note:

Another link added to the chain.

-RD