The day finally came. It was time for Bakugou and I to begin our remedial training.

I'd listened sadly to Midoriya and Iida all night Thursday and Friday, as they chatted about the work studies they were trying for (Midoriya was aiming for All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, while Iida was planning to return to Manual's agency. Nothing new, but I'd chosen my father's agency, so I couldn't judge).

In any case, I found myself waiting at the doorway of Heights Alliance for Bakugou, as everyone else was just getting down for breakfast, feeling terribly, horribly alone.

Well, except for him.

"Hey…" I started. He immediately pushed past me, as always in a terrible mood.

"Move it."

I caught up with him, feeling increasingly annoyed with this attitude. Why did I have to fail with him?

"You're lucky the teachers are even letting you do this. You got caught fighting with Midoriya."

"Ah, shut up! And walk behind me, you IcyHot bastard!"

All Might was waiting for us at the bus, trying to smile and somehow make this seem normal, like we weren't being judged. The ride was nearly silent, as Bakugou refused to sit by me. I wished again that I'd failed with someone else. Yaoyorozu, perhaps, or Midoriya. Though if it were one of them, I'd probably be wishing they'd stop talking.

All Might broke the awkward silence.

"We're here."

It was a massively impressive looking building, like our provisional license training center. I watched as All Might waved goodbye. It was hard seeing him up close now, that physical wreck he'd become. He should be sleeping in on a Saturday, not dealing with escorting us. Bakugou, stomping ahead of me, didn't seem to appreciate that at all. I caught up with him again.

"We've caused a lot of trouble for the teachers, and we're going to have to work hard to catch up to everyone else now. You do get that, right Bakugou?"

"You think I'm stupid?"

"No, I don't. Sorry…"

"Quit apologizing all the time!"

I suppose I do apologize too much. IT's become a habit. We changed in the locker room, still in awkward silence, but with other people now.

We headed into a training arena - a big open space with stadium seating. The doors swung open and we were suddenly looking at our new teacher.

Gang Orca.

"Well, well. If it isn't the pukestains underneath all other pukestains!"

I'm not a pukestain…

"You know why you're here? Why you aren't out getting work studies? Because you're all bottom feeders! Because you've all failed! And you intend to keep on failing!"

He stomped around, eight feet tall and glaring at us all.

"Today, you'll all be going to begin becoming, if at all possible, less of huge failures. Understood? You're going to do exactly as I say. Though I doubt it, given what mistakes you bottom feeders have made!"

Bottom feeders? Does he think we're literal sea creatures?

"You'll be divided into teams of two. You'll sit down and do exactly what I tell you to do together. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Shut up!" He started pointing to teams of two. I noticed Bakugou attempting to move away from me, and tried not to feel insulted. Why is he always avoiding working with me?

"You two! Bakugou! Todoroki! UA's two failures." He glared at me. "Do you know why you are here?"

"Because I got into a fight with Yoarashi instead of fighting you during the exam," I answered. I heard Bakugou laughing at me.

"And you!" Orca rounded on him. "Why are you here?"

"Cause I yelled at the dumb HUC creeps instead of rescuing em," I snapped. The rest of the class started at him. I sighed. I'd heard some version of the story, but hearing Bakugou recite it…"Really?"

"Like you did any better!" he snapped at me. Gang Orca boomed over us.

"Shut up! You two, team up. He stomped up to us. "You will take pen and notebooks. You will right down a list of every one of your failures that led you to be here. You will read them off to your partner and you will not make excuses. You will look your partner in the face and admit to being the screws you are! Understood?"

This is going to be heavy, I thought. But it seems a little counterproductive. Aren't we supposed to be moving past our weaknesses?

Well, you've got a lot of past failures to think over…

I didn't look at Bakugou as we headed to our corner. I picked up the pen and paper I'd been given and took a deep breath.

My failures…well, I suppose I'll have to mention failing the license exam. Even if that was mostly Yoarashi's fault…no, that was mine too. I made a mistake. I failed there. I failed to rescue Bakugou from the League of Villains. All Might wouldn't have had to fight that battle if I had been faster. I failed to stop the hero killer. I failed to win the Sports Festival. I failed to stop the villains at the USJ. I failed to prevent the damn old man destroying my mom.

I couldn't help Toy-

I suppose even being born, in some ways, for all the pain that caused…

"You finished?" Bakugou's voice shattered through the cloud of gloomy thoughts.

"Shouldn't you still be writing?" I asked him, guessing he'd probably written 'nothing, I'm perfect'.

"Shut up."

"We're supposed to be working together."

"Yeah, real team building exercise, scribbling shit on paper."

"I heard that!"

I jumped. Gang Orca was behind us. Like many pro heroes he'd succeeded in appearing as if from nowhere.

"You taking this seriously, scum?" He snapped at Bakugou. "Or is a hero license just a joke to you?"

"I -"

"You wanna be a hero?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Then take this first lesson." And h spoke even louder. "Real heroes don't deny when they've failed. They do not make excuses. They don't blame others. What makes a hero a great hero? What makes us better than villains? Because when heroes fail - when they do wrong - they admit to it. They look failure in the eye, learn from it what they can change, and turn every mistake into an opportunity to do better. Listen well, pond scum. The more you deny your failures the more you allow them to control you. And no great hero can be living in fear of their own failures!"

Oh. So that's the purpose. I see.

"Do you want me to go first?" I asked Bakugou as Gang Orca turned away.

"Doesn't matter." He wasn't looking at me. He clenched his jaw, then spoke. "Ok. Couple years back. There was a villain creep who went after me and Deku in middle school. Had some kind of sludge powers."

"I saw. On TV."

"Well, then you know already. Creep got me. And I couldn't fight him off. So Deku ran in like an idiot and almost got killed. And All Might had to bail us both out."

"You figure you should've been able to take him?"

"Damn right I should! My quirk's built to take down villain creeps. Such a lame damn boss! Can't believe I had to be saved from someone that useless."

"But you did."

"Whatever. I've copped. Now it's your turn."

I looked down at my list, choosing to ignore the obvious All Might reference.

"I suppose being born in the first place might count."

"What?"!

Oh, right. I guess he doesn't know. "I guess I've never told you. I almost wondered if Midoriya had…about why I was born."

"Oh, right."

Or maybe he does?

I nodded. "Well, I was - born with the perfect power combination. And that wasn't…great for my mom. Or anyone in my family."

"How in the hell is that a failure?" he snapped at me. "Like you had any damn control over being born with some strong quirk."

"Oh, like you had any control over being attacked by a villain?" I snapped back at him.

We sat in silence for a moment. I took a deep breath. Then I said, "It wasn't your fault."

"Well, being fucking born wasn't yours."

"I guess it wasn't the best example. I don't have much to learn from that. It wasn't deliberate. But I suppose I have blamed myself for it."

"Well, that's moronic. Blame your stupid parents for being screwed up."

"My mom's not - " I stopped myself. "Ok. You're right…it's not my fault." I couldn't believe it was happening, but I found myself looking at Bakugou and actually smiling. "And being attacked by a villain wasn't yours."

Long silence. Deep breaths.

"All right. What's next?"