A.N.

Here we go USJ! Hope you all enjoy!

Also, I saw the comments about 13's gender. I tried to do better with it this chapter, and I'll try to get around to editing chapter 9 sometime soon.


Down in the center of the plaza, the mist villain, Kurogiri, mentioned the two teachers present, and wondered why All Might wasn't there.

Students and teachers alike looked at each other, anger and worry made clear by their expressions. It was one thing to think that villains had somehow managed to sneak classified information, and another thing entirely to have it confirmed.

Shigaraki voiced his disappointment in All Might not being there, and wondered if the man would come if they killed some kids.

"Well, there goes any hope we had that our deaths weren't on the agenda." Sato muttered. "Trying to kill us was always the 'back up' plan."

"It's strange that nobody died despite that instruction though." Ojiro pointed out. "I mean, we are first year students. Even if we're talented for our age, you'd think that more of us would have gotten hurt."

"Jeez, Ojiro, you sound like you wanted more of us to get our butts kicked." Hagakure complained.

"I didn't mean it like that. I just find it weird that, if they were really trying to kill us, that so few of us got seriously injured."

"Perhaps in their arrogance they were blinded by our dazzling brilliance." Aoyama declared. Several looks of confusion were shot his way.

"Uh...I think he means they didn't do their best because they underestimated us." Mineta proposed.

"That could be." Ojiro admitted.

"It's also possible the kill order threw them off." Tsuyu theorized. "They were really after All Might the whole time, so some of them might have gotten psyched out when told to fight kids to the death."

"Perhaps. Even the darkest shadows may cease if surprised by the light." Tokoyami mused.

"It would be nice to think that at least some villains had standards." Shoji agreed.

Guilt squirmed in the place Yagi's stomach should have been. The whole attack had been because of him; the kids were put in danger just because the villains wanted to draw him out. Yet he didn't even have the strength to come protect them until it was nearly too late, and then he just barely managed to do it.

As the hoard of villains continued to approach, the students wondered how they could have gotten into the school. Momo questioned 13 about the censors, and 13 admitted that they should have been going off but weren't. Todoroki surmised that one of them must have a quirk interfering with the sensors, and that their timing and chosen location meant that this was a carefully planned attack.

"That was very well put, young Todoroki. You deduced much with a few facts and got all the relevant information across quickly." All Might said. Shouto looked at him for a moment, then merely nodded in response to the praise.

Aizawa ordered 13 to start evacuating students, and told Kaminari to see if his quirk could do anything about the possible interference. Izuku asked if Aizawa was planning to fight the entire group of villains on his own, reminding the hero that his fighting style was much better suited for one on one battles. Aizawa dismissed his worry, saying that every good hero had more than one trick, before leaping into the fray.

"Jumping in like that was so manly." Kirishima proclaimed, his eyes glistening.

There was a chorus of quiet agreement from the class. They were still tense about what was coming, but were unable to deny how amazingly their teacher had fought. They would never be able to forget how Aizawa hadn't hesitated to take on an entire hoard of villains to protect them. In that moment, Aizawa had unknowingly gained a high amount of gratitude, and unending loyalty, from his students.

A villain in the crowd called for the shooting squad to get ready.

"That's further evidence that a good amount of preparation occurred. The villains that came had been organized into smaller groups with specific jobs." Izuku muttered.

One of the shooting squad villains said that their info had only mentioned 13 and All Might, and demanded to know who was coming at them. When Aizawa reached them, his quirk canceled theirs, much to their surprise, and soon they were being tossed through the air by Aizawa's capture weapon.

"They didn't know he'd be there or who he was, yet they had the class schedule. I didn't realize that Mr. Aizawa censored his identity even within the school records." Momo mused. 'Nor did I think about how helpful it would be in battles for villains not to be able to recognize you. Perhaps I should look into underground hero work more.'

"Gotta admit, that's some dedication." Jirou agreed.

One of the villains recognized Aizawa and called out what his quirk was. A villain with a mutation quirk ran up, challenging Aizawa to erase his. Aizawa admitted he couldn't, but explained how he'd figured out how to combat those types anyway, all while dodging blows and sending the mutation quirk villain crashing into 3 others.

The class cheered when the villain landed. Aizawa would forever deny that the sound gave him a bit of a thrill.

"Eraserhead is so cool!" Midoriya said, looking at the screen with shining eyes. It was a lot easier to admire the pro's skills when he wasn't in fear for his own life, or his teachers'.

"Uh oh, does All Might have competition?" Uraraka teased. Yagi overheard and playfully raised an eyebrow at Midoriya.

"W-what?! No! N-nothing like that! All Might will always be the best!" Izuku declared. "I just have a new appreciation for Eraserhead's skill set. That's all!"

Uraraka laughed. "I'm just teasing, Deku."

"Indeed, I'm sure All Might knows he'll always be your number 1." Iida said with a smirk.

"Not you too!" Izuku groaned while the other three laughed.

While Aizawa fought, Shigaraki's voice was heard, breaking down the pro's fighting style. Then he said that he hated heroes, since the masses don't stand a chance against them.

"What does that matter? Heroes are around to fight villains, not the masses." Ashido said.

"Yeah! Heroes are around to protect the 'masses'. So if you didn't want to get attacked by pros maybe you shouldn't go around attacking people." Hagakure said, crossing her arms with a huff.

"I'm willing to bet that's not his real reason for hating heroes." Izuku interjected. "Or at least, it's not his only reason." Internally, Izuku was feeling a bit disturbed. 'The way he talked about Eraserhead's moves, it almost sounded like something I would writer in one of my notebooks...'

The scene switched back to the class running toward the entrance.

"Dang, Eraserhead really took down that many people even before we got stopped by the mist guy? Dude's fast." Kaminari said.

Koda nodded his head rapidly. Their teacher's reflexes seemed to be faster than even some animals', and that was saying something.

On screen Izuku was also admiring Aizawa's work. So much so that Iida had to remind him they were evacuating.

"Not that it ended up mattering this time, but you'll have to be careful about that in the future." Tsuyu noted.

"Yeah, I know I've gotta work on keeping myself from getting lost in my own head." Izuku admitted.

The way to the exit was suddenly cut off by Kurogiri. Aizawa noticed that the mist villain had escaped his gaze and tried to get back to the class, but was cut off by the other villains.

Aizawa opened and closed his hands. His knuckles already had a familiar sting in them from the on screen version of himself punching villains. If the sensations were this accurate then he really wasn't looking forward to the rest of this battle. But right now, it hurt more that he hadn't been able to protect the class from one of the most dangerous villains, hadn't been able to prevent them from getting caught and forced to fight for their lives.

Kurogiri sounded polite as he introduced himself and the League of Villains, and that tone carried over into declaring their intention to kill All Might.

Yagi looked down, once again feeling ashamed that he couldn't even muster the power to show up until they had threatened every student and nearly killed Aizawa and 13. If only he'd been able to pace himself and get to class on time. Surely that would have made a difference...

Kurogiri started to make his move against the class. 13 prepared to use their quirk, but was interrupted by Kirishima and Bakugo leaping at Kurogiri.

Aizawa sent them a glare. "Just what part of me telling you all to evacuate while 13 protected the class did the two of you not understand?"

Kirishima fidgeted nervously and Bakugo scowled.

"What's that look for, huh? We were trying to get that asshole out of the way so everybody else could get out. Beating up villains is what heroes do!"

"You aren't heroes, you're students." Aizawa shot back. "Which means you trust your teachers to get you out of situations like this and only go on the attack yourself if there's no other option. Since 13 was still healthy and in charge at the time you had no reason to go charging in front of her. Especially after she just made a speech about how dangerous her own quirk can be."

Bakugo continued to scowl, but didn't argue further. Kirishima ducked his head. Present Mic nudged Aizawa in the side.

"You could assign them a paper that makes them detail what all they did wrong, or give them a bunch of extra clean up duties."

"Or have them do lines. Someone as fiery as those two would hate doing something so pointless." Nedzu added.

Aizawa looked over at the pair. Kirishima seemed to have gotten the message already, but he wasn't so sure Bakugo had. "We'll see."

Bakugo set off an explosion, filling the area with smoke. When it cleared, it showed that they had done no damage to the villain. 13 urged the two to move, but they didn't have time to before Kurogiri surrounded them. Soon the whole class was engulfed, and only the combined efforts of Iida and Shoji stopped the whole class from being scattered.

"Thanks for that Iida, I don't think I had a chance to say that before." Uraraka said, bowing to him slightly.

"Yeah man, that was some quick thinking, thanks." Sato joined her.

"Your thanks are most welcome but unnecessary. I'm glad I was able to do anything at all to help you."

"Same to you Shoji, thanks for keeping us grounded." Sero said with a grin.

"Yeah! You were awesome! Those arms are something else!" Ashido cheered.

"I'm just glad that worked. I hardly knew what was going on, and just tried to hunker down as best I could." He voice was matter of fact, but the blush dusting his cheeks showed how much the thanks meant to him.

The scene changed, and a portal opened up high in the air elsewhere in the USJ. A moment later, Midoriya fell out of it, screaming as he plunged into the water below.

Izuku yelped, the impact of the water's surface snapping against his skin. "I'm okay." He rushed to assure everyone. "I'm okay."

"Dang man, you fell from that high?" Kirishima cried.

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty disorienting. I um, I assume that didn't happen to you guys? I mean, that landing would have gone a lot different over ground..."

The students that had been scattered flinched at the thought.

"Nah, me and Bakugo appeared right on the ground."

"I was a bit higher up, but it was nothing that bracing for a fall couldn't counter." Todoroki admitted. "Which is rather strange. If they truly wanted to kill us, Kurogiri could have simply dropped us all from the ceiling. That would have resulted in major injuries, if not death."

Students shivered, and the teachers wore grave expressions. That was a good point. Why hadn't he done that?

"Well, maybe Kurogiri actually does have standards." Shoji suggested.

"Or at least a sense of sportsmanship." Iida suggested.

It was the best explanation they had for now, so people returned their attention to the screen.

Midoriya oriented himself in the water and started swimming up. While he did, he tried to figure out what was going on based on what Kurogiri said.

'You're mind just never stops going, does it young Midoriya.' Yagi mused.

Suddenly, a shark-like villain appeared. He zoomed toward Midoriya, but was stopped at the last second by Tsuyu slamming into him. She was already carrying Mineta in her arms, and she quickly wrapped her tongue around Izuku and swam away.

The class cheered.

"Yeah! Go Tsuyu! You show that villain whose boss!" Uraraka yelled.

"Never thought I'd call an ambush manly, but I'd say that counts." Kirishima said with a grin.

"Truly a most timely rescue, well done Tsuyu!" Iida clapped loudly.

"Nicely done." Jirou said with smile.

"I wish I could move that fast in water. Think you could do swimming lessons?" Hagakure asked.

"Thanks everyone, but it was no big deal." Tsuyu brushed off the praise. "I'm just really good in water. Which I think is mainly due to my body type, so I'm not sure swimming lessons from me would help."

"Awwww..."

"But we could give it a shot and see if it helps."

"Yay!"

Tsuyu broke the surface of the water right next to the boat in the shipwreck zone. She lowered Izuku to the deck gently. Mineta, still in her arms, commented on the size of her breasts and rubbed his head against them. She promptly threw him on the deck, hard.

Aizawa scowled, and made another note in his notebook. Present Mic's expression matched his.

"Really? She saves his life and that's what she gets from him?"

"He did look rather out of it, so he might not have been thinking clearly." Yagi said, trying to see the best in people as always. "Still, that was very inappropriate."

"If you would like to quote the portions of the student handbook detailing our policy on harassment, simply let me know." Nedzu chimed in, looking at Aizawa. "I have it all memorized."

"I might take you up on that."

Meanwhile, with the students, Jirou was looking back and forth between Tsuyu and Mineta. "What, no tongue lashing this time?"

"I already threw him on the deck for that. More would just be redundant." Tsuyu said, eyeing how real time Mineta was rubbing the back of his head.

"That hurt." Mineta whined.

"Gotta admit dude, you really had it coming that time. Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Kaminari said.

Izuku thanked Asui as she climbed into the boat. She reminded him to call her 'Tsu' while she got her own close up quirk explanation. They started talking about the situation and how much the villains knew, and Izuku deduced that these villains must have caused the earlier break in.

"That's a good extrapolation, especially considering we tried to remove the evidence of the barrier being severely damaged before any students could see it." Nedzu noted with a smile.

"Th-thank you sir!"

Mineta argued about the villains' claims to be after All Might, proclaiming that the #1 hero would clear everything up once he got there. Tsuyu pointed out that with the villains trying so hard, it was likely that they had a way to beat All Might, and she wondered if they would be able to hold out until he arrived. The more she talked the more distressed Mineta looked.

"Tsu, I know you were just stating the obvious, but with the look on his face might have wanted to tone it down a notch." Uraraka said.

"I wasn't in much of a mood to care about how Mineta felt, kero."

"Okay, that's fair."

"Still, I suppose it would have been better to look at the bigger picture, and at least try to keep him from panicking."

Izuku shook his head. "To be honest Tsu, I'm not sure anything short of All Might bursting through the doors right then would have prevented that."

The students talking was interrupted by the heads of numerous villains braking the water. While Mineta looked on in fear, Midoriya began to think. He realized Tsuyu must be right about the villains having a plan to kill All Might. He tried to think of what their reasoning might be, but as he thought about how much All Might had done for him, he decided he didn't care about their reasons. Izuku got the attention of the other two, and declared that if the villains had a way to kill All Might, then they should fight and try to stop it.

Sero whistled. "Dang, Midoriya went from survival mode to victory mode just like that." he snapped his fingers.

Kaminari nodded. "No kidding. Talk about being filled with determination."

"Wouldn't have thought the bastard had it in him." Bakugo muttered, while Kirishima declared how manly that proclamation was.

'To Izuku, this isn't just about saving the Symbol of Peace.' Iida realized. 'It's about saving his mentor, his idol, the person he most admires in the world.' he imagined he'd feel the same way if Tensei's life was threatened.

Yagi himself felt conflicted. It warmed him beyond belief to see proof of how much Midoriya valued their time together, but it should be him worrying about keeping Midoriya safe, not the other way around.

The scene shifted to the landslide zone, where Todoroki sent out a wave of ice that captured all the nearby villains. Todoroki told them they were pathetic for losing to a him, and that they should get a hold of themselves.

"Dang! Look at Todoroki go!" Kaminari yelled in excitement.

"The sparkle of the ice is simply breathtaking!"

"He was pretty cool!" Hagakure giggled.

"I know he froze a building and all, but seeing him go that far on real people is pretty intimidating." Sero admitted.

Ojiro nodded, remembering how he had felt when Todoroki's ice had covered him a fraction as much.

"Uh, Todoroki, did you just scold the villains for not being good enough to hurt you?" Momo questioned. He gave her a deadpan look.

"They had one job, Yaoyorozu. One job, and they failed."

"...I suppose that is true."

The scene started to shift rabidly, showing different groupings of students in different zones, all preparing to face off against the villains there. Aizawa was shown, still fighting in the plaza, before the scene came back to the shipwreck zone, the boat now completely surrounded.

"A part of me still can't believe we all made it out of there in one piece." Sato said softly. "Looks like the only group that had things even slightly in their favor was ours, with several students and a teacher against one villain, and even we had a hard time. "

Koda heard him, and nodded vigorously. He certainly hadn't liked his and Tokoyami's odds when it all started. "Still...ours were...weaker villains...and you guys...you had one of the big three."

Tokoyami nodded. "Indeed. Koda and I faced more villains, but they were of lower caliber, and we had more to work with in our environment. I assume the same holds true for the others. Meanwhile, your group was out in the open and had to face a very over-powered quirk. Your own survival is just as impressive."

The scene changed again, showing a de-powered All Might in the teacher's lounge. He tried and failed to get through to 13 and Aizawa, and bemoaned that fact that he'd been foolish enough to exhaust himself before class started.

'Everythin's clearer in hindsight.' Aizawa thought. 'Still, at least he acknowledges it was foolish.'

He thought about going to say something during the last minutes, knowing he had about 10 minutes left.

That alarmed class 1-A quite a bit, making several people gape at the screen. Ten minutes? During that whole final fight All Might had been running on ten minutes?!

"It'd be even less than that if you factor in travel time..." Momo muttered in shock.

Midoriya's freckles stood out against his suddenly pale skin.

All Might turned on his quirk, only for blood to spurt out of his mouth.

The class flinched at the sight. All Might kept himself from vocalizing his pain with practiced ease.

The door to the room opened, and All Might was brought up short by the arrival of Principal Nedzu. All Might crouched down so that he could tell Nedzu how good his fur was looking.

The silly image of All Might trying to make himself so small got a few giggles and breathy laughs out of the tense students.

Nedzu thanked him for the compliment, but didn't beat around the bush and showed All Might a news article that revealed how much he'd done before coming to the school. Nedzu started lecturing him about his responsibilities, saying that it was mostly the villains fault, but that All Might couldn't just follow every cry he heard.

"Well, if I'd known Nedzu had already given him a talking to I would have gone easier on him during the last 'episode'." Present Mic admitted. Aizawa didn't argue. The principal's lectures were a punishment all on their own, if for no other reason than for how long they ran.

All Might started to steam while Nedzu talked, and he was unable to keep up his form. When he turned back to his thin form, Nedzu insisted All Might stay longer.

"In retrospect, it may have been wise to let him go earlier. However, there was no way to know that at the time." Nedzu mused.

Nedzu said he might as well talk to All Might while he was there. He started pouring tea, which seemed to worry All Might.

"No...not the tea...tea is never a good sign." Present Mic whispered dramatically.

"What was that, Yamada?" Nedzu asked with a pleasant smile.

"Nothing!" Present Mic yelled.

The students looked at each other in confusion.

All Might's thoughts revealed that he thought the principal had always been long winded.

The principal's smile gained an edge. "I suppose I do go on..."

"Not at all!" Yagi hurried to say. "I mean, you do tend to speak a long time, but always about something interesting, so it's completely fine."

"Are you sure, I'd hate to think I was boring you..."

"Not at all! I love having tea with you!"

"Ah, that's very good to hear!"

"Is the principal really that scary?" Uraraka whispered.

"Apparently." Izuku murmured.

But that he was also worried about his calls not going through.

'I should have listened to my instincts. Or at least expressed my worries to the principal.' All Might chided himself. Hindsight really was 20/20.

The principal's voice trailed off as the scene switched back to the USJ. They were shown the group at the entrance. Shoji's use of his dupli-arms made it so he could confirm that all of their classmates were still in the USJ.

"Good to see that Iida's got his priorities straight." Aizawa said approvingly. Present Mic nodded.

"Yeah, getting Shoji to tell them if their classmates were accounted for helps lower some of the tension and gets the rest of the group to focus on their main problem, Kurogiri."

13 got Iida's attention, and ordered him to run out of the USJ and back to the school at the first opportunity, saying it will be easier to do that then try and find whoever is interfering with the alarm.

"That's a good plan." Izuku muttered. "Depending on how the interference quirk works the person might not even be in the USJ, they could be somewhere further away. And even if you assume they are there, searching the place could take ages, and who knows what other villains you'd run into along the way-"

Iida lay a had on Izuku's shoulder, breaking the boy out of his muttering and reminding him that the 'show' was still moving forward.

Iida tried to protest, saying he couldn't leave everyone else behind. His classmates encouraged though, and told him that the villain's plan counted on all of them staying within the USJ. 13 told him to use his quirk to save lives. Iida didn't argue anymore and got ready to run.

"It's important to remember that not all battles are solved by fighting the enemy directly." Nedzu reminded. "Front line fighters are important, but they would fall quickly without people to fill the support roles."

Recovery Girl nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Even heroes call the ambulance, or the nurse in UA's case, before trying to apply first aid themselves."

Kurogiri reached for them, saying they were stupid for discussing their plans in front of the enemy.

"Where else should we have discussed them? Even he admitted we didn't have much of a choice in that." Iida muttered. Izuku rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I suppose some of you could have huddled together and whispered while a few kept an eye on Kurogiri...but then you'd have the problem of not having the whole group knowing what you are doing. That's pretty important in a situation like that."

Before Kurogiri could get to the students, 13 used her quirk. The scene suddenly changed back to the shipwreck zone, where Mineta was panicking and saying they should wait for rescue rather than fight.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that was an option, even for the three of you." Momo said. "The villains in our area showed little hesitation in attacking us. It's possible that the villains in the shipwreck zone might wait longer, since they seem to prefer staying in the water, but I doubt they would have waited as long as it took for the teachers to arrive."

"That pretty much sums it up." Izuku admitted. Mineta nodded glumly.

"Yeah, we got proof how impatient they were in just a few minutes."

Midoriya ignored Mineta's panic, and pointed out that, since the villains went out of their way to bring a bunch of water based villains specifically for that area, then the group must have had knowledge about the USJ layout. Which made it weird that Tsu was sent to the shipwreck zone. Tsuyu agreed, saying that if the villains knew their quirks then she would have been put in the fire zone. Midoriya used this to conclude that the villains planned to outnumber them, and that their best chance at winning lay in taking advantage of their enemies lack of knowledge about their quirks.

Aizawa's eyebrows were raised. Considering the extreme situation and how young they were, Midoriya and Asui were keeping their heads remarkably well. The USJ didn't have cameras like the mock city did, because it was built open enough for direct observation. The only thing he'd really known about the students performance during this event was that they had managed to make it out mostly uninjured, which spoke volumes already, and that Iida had been the one to run and get help.

"Dang, I've only seen a little bit and I'm already impressed with your class, Shouta." Present Mic commented.

Aizawa fully agreed. He hadn't considered before, how useful seeing the past this way would be in getting an idea for how his students handled things like this. He unconsciously sat forward a bit, ready to see how this group managed to get away, and see how the other groups were handling the crisis.

"Getting all flustered over saying a girl's name right in the middle of a villain attack." Uraraka shook her head fondly. "Only you Deku."

"But you gotta admit it's pretty cute!" Ashido said with a grin.

"W-well, I mean, I wasn't, she just told us to use it, and I messed it up, and I- I didn't want to insult her!" Izuku stammered.

"It's okay, Midoriya. I didn't expect everyone to get it right away, kero. You actually didn't make it as big a deal as some people, which was nice."

Izuku let out a sigh of relief, and was even more relieved when Iida ended the topic by saying how impressive Izuku's 'deductions under pressure' were.

"It wasn't that big a deal, I mean, they weren't even attacking right then." Izuku tried to contradict him. Uraraka patted his hand.

"So modest."

Since they had to rely on their quirks to surprise the enemy, Tsuyu took the opportunity to explain her quirk in detail. Izuku complimented her on her strength, and reminded them what his own quirks uses and limits were. Mineta then explained his quirk. When he was done, the other two stared at him for a long minute, which caused Mineta to start panicking again and saying his quirk was unfit for battle. Izuku rushed to reassure him that it was a good quirk.

"Sorry again, Mineta, I didn't mean to make you think your quirk was useless, I just got distracted trying to think about how we could use all our quirks together to get out of there."

Mineta waved away Izuku's apology. "I get it now, I just didn't then. It was just scary then, because I never pictured myself as a front line fighter."

"You were gunning for a support role?" Kaminari asked. Bakugo scoffed, but he was ignored.

"Basically, yeah. My quirk works better by laying traps and sneaking, so I figured I'd be better at that."

"I definitely see your point." Izuku conceded. "You should probably work on some strategies for if you do have to fight one on one though; if you only work on support then you won't be much use if you ever have to work alone. Like our teacher said, no hero gets by on just one trick."

"Hmm, I guess you have a point. I'll have to work on it." Mineta said, though he sounded uncomfortable with the idea.

"So," Jirou drawled "Mineta is actually capable of holding a conversation that doesn't include gross comments. Interesting." Momo sighed.

"Now if only we could get him to do that with us."

Izuku's words were cut off by one of the villains suddenly slicing the boat in half, and it started sinking fast.

There were a few gasps, and several people leaned forward. Others stayed still, but they were definitely paying more attention now. Among the students, any knowledge of what the other groups did was scattered and fragmented. Most of them hadn't been able to get full stories while being checked over for injuries and questioned by the police after all. The teachers were about the same, so concerned with dealing with the aftermath that they only got the basic details about what happened to the students.

When the boat began to sink Mineta's panic was renewed, and he started to throw his sphere's into the water at random. Izuku worried that they would figure out his quirk, but saw instead that the villains were scared to touch them. Mineta continued to panic, and Tsuyu asked if he'd really entered UA to be a hero.

"I'm sure you aren't the only one whose wondered that." Uraraka sighed.

"I know she isn't." Hagakure muttered. She wasn't really blaming him for panicking now, she'd be really scared too if she was on a sinking ship surrounded by villains. But his previous actions made her wonder.

Mineta yelled back it was weirder not to be scared. And that they shouldn't have to worry about dying just after entering high school.

"Just because I wasn't yelling doesn't mean I wasn't scared, kero. I just didn't let it control me."

"An excellent rebuttal." Nedzu proclaimed. "After all, the true meaning of courage is doing what is needed despite how frightened you are."

"I got scared plenty when I was first starting out, and that was with more years under my belt. But the only thing a hero can do is push through it." Recovery Girl added. Aizawa nodded.

"That's about it. We hardly expect you to get to that level right away, but you should know that's what you'll have to do before graduation."

Mineta nodded along to what they were saying. Seeing this scene again reminded him of how humbled and inspired he'd been by Midoriya's courage as they fled the flood zone, and he reminded himself to try and be more like him in the future.

"You should try and have it at least a little under control before internships though. Freaking out during the internships can get you a bit of a reputation." Present Mic warned the class. "Trust me, I'd know."

"Right, I remember that." Aizawa grinned. "Pretty sure there's still a few active pros who have hearing loss from that."

"Shut up."

"That's what they said."

"Shouta!"

Mineta yelled that he wished he'd gotten a chance to touch Yaoyorozu's boobs before dying.

Momo went red, and hunched in on herself. Jirou glared at him.

"Keep dreaming, munchkin."

-Smack!-

"Ow!"

"Should have done that earlier, kero. Was a bit distracted by the villains at the time." Tsuyu explained.

"I don't blame you." Momo muttered.

"My tongue is going to start tasting like him." Tsuyu complained.

"I'll get you some water." Ashido said, and rushed to the food table.

Aizawa sighed, and pushed himself up off the couch. Mineta watched his teacher approach with almost as much panic as his on-screen counterpart was experiencing.

"I understand you were very stressed at the time, but this isn't the first time this kind of behavior has cropped up with you. After this episode, we're going to have a very long talk about how to respectfully interact with your peers. Understood?" Aizawa asked, glaring down at him the whole time.

"Y-yes, s-sir."

Midoriya's voice cut off Mineta's crying. Midoriya quoted All Might, saying that when the enemy was certain of victory is when they would have a chance. The scene switched to the villains in the water, they talked for a bit, and were cut off by Izuku stepping onto the ship's railing and screaming.

"Well, that's one way to get their attention." Sato commented.

"It was more about getting into character than getting their attention." Izuku admitted.

"What do you mean?"

Izuku told himself to act like Bakugo, then threw himself off the side of the boat yelling "Die!"

"Oh, now it makes sense." Sato said with a laugh.

"What the hell were you doing Deku?" Bakugo demanded.

"A strange form of inspiration, yet you found exactly the right time to use it, quite admirable." Iida's hand chopped through the air, and Aoyama nodded.

"Imitation is the highest form of flattery is it not?"

"Don't ignore me extras!"

Izuku thought about how he couldn't get them all in one smash, and couldn't sacrifice a whole arm so early, so he'd have to compromise. Mineta watched on, wondering how Midoriya could do something so brave when he was also scared. Izuku used two fingers to do a smash, just before he hit the water.

Izuku yelled in pain, instinctively grasping his wrist and gritting his teeth.

"Just your fingers this time, right? You gonna be okay?" Uraraka asked worriedly. Izuku smiled tightly and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Do you want this?" Iida held up the spare notebook. Izuku shook his head.

"Not yet, thanks guys." 'Our encounter with Shigaraki and Nomou is coming soon though, I should probably move onto the floor before then.'

"Did, did he just use his strength to make a whirlpool?!" Sero demanded in awe.

"He did! That's so awesome!" Ashido cheered.

"It's not really a whirlpool, but the affect is close enough." Momo explained. "He knew enough about the physics of water to know that even a smaller 'smash' would displace and disorient them. A very clever use of strength." She commented with a smile. Todoroki nodded slightly in agreement.

"He didn't stop the break, but he's remembering to keep himself functioning to help others. Good to see he hasn't forgotten." Aizawa muttered.

The force sent the water swirling and Midoriya shooting up. He yelled for Tsuyu, and she jumped off the ship with Mineta in her arms. She grabbed Izuku with her tongue so he'd be brought along with them. Inspired by Izuku's courage, Mineta started throwing his sphere's into the pool, not even caring that the amount was making him bleed.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Mineta cried, rubbing his scalp.

"You okay man?" Kaminari asked. Mineta nodded miserably.

"I will be. It only really hurts when I'm pulling them off, and I stop that soon."

Aoyama patted Mineta's back, hoping that the comforting gesture might help with the boy's pain in some small way.

The balls stuck to the villains, and that made the villains stick to each other, incapacitating them all at once. Tsuyu declared that they had passed the first obstacle, and that both Izuku and Mineta were amazing.

Izuku blushed. "Th-thanks Tsuyu, but we couldn't have gotten out of there like that without you. So don't count yourself out."

"I didn't, but thanks for the reminder, kero."

"You...do you really think I'm amazing?" Mineta asked, his pain temporarily forgotten.

Tsuyu put her finger to her chin. "Your use of your quirk there was pretty cool, so it was mostly about that. But you're honestly not bad to talk to when you aren't being weird and talking about boobs."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, if you stopped entirely then I might like hanging out with you sometimes."

Mineta stared off into the distance, the beginnings of a revelation percolating in his mind. She'd spend more time with him if he kept those things to himself? Was that true of all girls? Come to think of it, the girls in class hung out with the other boys a decent amount, and he never heard them say the kind of stuff he did...except for Kaminari but he never said it in public.


The episode was over after that. They likely would have continued on after that, eager to get the USJ episodes done and over with. But Aizawa was determined to make good on his promise to talk to Mineta about his attitude and actions, and wanted to do it before he had to go through all the pain of the upcoming episodes. To many people's surprise though, he brought All Might with him.

"If I give him this talk alone, he might just assume I'm doing it out of obligation, or may keep his behavior on the down low while I'm around and then go back to his usual ways when I'm not. But if he has the knowledge that even the renowned Symbol of Peace finds his actions disappointing and distasteful..."

"Then he'll most likely have more conviction in changing his ways even when authority figures aren't around. I see, I see, I'll do what I can."

Before he joined Aizawa though, he consulted Recovery Girl.

"I've seen plenty of his type over the years, and I agree with Aizawa, he's more likely to listen to you than Aizawa or me when it comes to something like this. I could give you a couple pointers if you like, since I can take a good guess at some of the arguments the boy might try to make."


Nobody knew for certain what all Mineta and the two teachers talked about, but the boy looked very solemn when they came out of one of the side rooms. He glanced at Aizawa, who nodded at him, before going up in front of the class.

Aizawa had said his first step toward not getting expelled would be an apology to the class, one that he actually meant. So Mineta thought carefully about what he wanted to say. The two pro heroes had covered a lot of material in their talk, which had surprised Mineta. His past teacher had just given him a quick 'don't do it again' that had almost no bite behind it. He'd expected worse from Aizawa of course, Aizawa was amazing and terrifying in equal measure, but he still hadn't expected the topics to range so broadly. He hadn't really thought about how far reaching his behavior could be in the future if he continued, affecting both him and others.

"Why do you want to be a hero?" All Might had asked at one point.

"I want to be cool!" Mineta said, after some deep thought.

Aizawa had pinched the bridge of his nose, but All Might had looked thoughtful.

"Do you think making those kinds of comments and touching your classmates without their consent is cool?"

That actually gave Mineta pause. "W-well, now that I think about it, probably not the touching. But come on, what girl doesn't want to hear she has a great rack? That's a compliment! Girls just act like their mad about it because they like to play hard to get and stuff."

This time Aizawa's palm slapped against his forehead. All Might managed to press on though.

"I know media can make it seem that way, but I assure you that most real life women would never take that as a compliment."

Mineta had been confused by that, so All Might continued, detailing exactly why it wasn't a compliment and how most girls would actually feel about those sorts of comments. He still had a lot to process and think about, but that part of the talk, plus what Tsuyu had said to him earlier, helped him figure out what to say for now.

"Um, I, well, I want to apologize. Mostly to the girls, but also to anyone else I made uncomfortable. I want to be the kind of hero who is cool, and it's not cool to make the people around you feel unsafe, or sad, or nervous, or anything else like that. So I'm sorry I did that, and I'll try not to be such a dick in the future."

No one said anything for a minute. Jirou was the one to break the silence.

"We'll hold you to that."

"Indeed we will." Momo added. "I do appreciate the promise, and sincerely hope you are able to keep it."

There were murmurs of agreement from the other girls, and Mineta made his way back to his seat.

"Did, uh, did that count as manly?" Mineta asked Kirishima as he went by. Kirishima's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Getting up in front of the whole class to apologize is a good start, even if it was prompted by the teachers. What will make it really manly is keeping your word."

Mineta nodded and continued walking. Once he was seated, the next episode started.


A.N.

A word on my feelings for Mineta as a character here. In general, I don't like him at all. It seems like his sole purpose in the show is to provide 'comic relief' via sexual harassment, and that's a terrible reason to have a character. So, since I feel the show doesn't punish him enough, I find it cathartic to punish him here for things the show doesn't and to have more of the characters actually acknowledge how terrible he's being.

On the other hand, I feel like his character got short changed to some degree. His performance at the USJ and the Sports festival show that's he's got some good intelligence and can apply it in clever ways when he wants to. Plus his team up with Tsuyu during the sports festival shows that he is capable of teaming up with a girl without being gross the whole time. So I figure that maybe he and Bakugo are in a similar boat, where both have the potential to be decent people if nurtured properly. Also, for the sake of my sanity, we're going with the interpretation that Mineta's actions come more from ignorance than malice. So, hopefully with the combo of that ignorance being addressed and getting consequences for his actions, he will grow to be a better person here.