Dear Mother,

I was relieved to hear from Fuyumi that you were feeling better. Is it true that they may discharge you this year? If you need anything to ensure that happens, let me know. Your safety and health mean everything to us. We will be there to support you.

You told me that hearing news about my life in school is helpful to you, so I thought I would share some of what has been happening at UA and with me and my friends. Our dorm was visited today by a TV Reporter interested in doing a candid story about life with Class 1A, a friendly man from a rather prominent station. I expect you'll see the story. He took photographs of us living our daily experiences, doing mundane things like eating dinner and walking to class. I find it hard to imagine anyone will find it all that interesting. He seemed to take a special interest in Midoriya, apparently they talked a good deal outside apart from the rest of us. Midoriya does seem to command interest like that.

My classwork at UA remains as rigorous as ever. We are still going six days a week, and Bakugou and I have our remedial courses on our days off. I expect I won't have an actual day off for a very long time. However, you do not need to worry. I have made the firm resolve to become a truly great hero, and in that quest there is no room for taking it easy. None of my classmates are resting on their laurels either. Everyone that can is seeking out work study programs, getting ahead of Bakugou and myself thanks to their provisional licenses. I would be lying if I said I wasn't envious. But it is the price I have to pay for the mistakes I made in the License Exam.

Our remedial training class is with Gang Orca. He is a very strict and demanding instructor, and does not give us an inch of slack. He is determined to ensure that we do not make the same mistakes again once we are out in the field. Each session so far has been demanding both physically and emotionally, as we have been required to make both intense physical training without our quirks and confess our emotional problems to our teammates. I have been teamed up with Bakugou.

I haven't talked to you as much about Bakugou in the past, because he is difficult to explain if you haven't met him. He comes across as a difficult, belligerent, and mean-spirited person, even a violent one. He can be very hard to work with, aggravating beyond belief when he's being stubborn or refusing to listen. However, he does possess a kinder side, and a capacity to look after others. He has assisted me occasionally in our team-building exercises and sometimes been almost gracious, which pleasantly surprised me. His temper is an eternal problem, but I hope we will make progress together, and perhaps even become friends some day.

I feel distinctly, however, my failures in the licensing exam. It is hard not to look longingly at the lives my classmates are living. I hear them in the common area, I can't avoid that, and inevitably it comes up - how Midoriya has been given a work study under All Might's sidekick himself, Sir Nighteye. Yaoyorozu has started working on a high-profile case with the Magic Hero Majestic, and Uraraka and Asui are with the Number eleven pro hero Ryukyu. All of this success from my classmates shows me a glimpse of the pro-hero life - the one I've aspired to since I was four and we watched All Might together - that I have been barred from, at least for now.

I know I have to be patient. One good thing that has come from this experience is that - and I apologize for reminding you of him - it is possible to be a pro-hero without losing one's humanity. I live closely now with brilliant and hard-working pro-heroes of all kinds who come home at the end of a hard day's work and treat the ones they loved with kindness and attention. I am glad to think that my classmates and I will not fall the same way.

I will continue working hard, remain patient, and remain hopeful. I am beginning to develop the ability to hope, oddly, despite how desolate everything seems on the news right now (I hope you're not watching too much of it.) I never used to be particularly optimistic, but something of my classmates' hope has seeped into me. Now I find it increasingly difficult not to hope for the best.

And I hope for the best for you.

Sincerely,

Shoto