A.N.
Sorry for the unexpected wait everyone. First things got busy with the holidays, and then I got sick for a while (not with Covid) and then I decided I might as well take a little extra time to write ahead to make sure I could get through the last of this arc without another break. Thanks for sticking with the story and for your comments and concern. Onto the story!
The episode started right where the last had ended. Ashido asked if they were really planning to get a receiver from Momo to go after Bakugo themselves. Kirishima confirmed they were. Todoroki said that the villains might kill Bakugo eventually, especially since they planned to kill some of them, so they were going to go after him.
"The fact that the villains are willing to kill you and possibly Bakugo is precisely the reason you should leave this to the pros." Aizawa ground out. Forget getting gray hairs, this class was going to leave him bald from making him want to tear his own hair out.
Iida started shouting at them not to mess around. Shoji stepped in to try and calm things down. He said he understood Kirishima and Todoroki's frustration, he felt it too, but this wasn't a situation where they should act on emotion. Aoyama said they should let All Might handle this, especially since Aizawa's permission to fight no longer applied. Tokoyami agreed with him. Tsuyu did too, saying they had to think things through calmly. She said if they broke the rules like that then they'd be like the villains.
"I don't think I'd go quite that far." Mic said. "There's a difference between bad decisions and malicious ones. Breaking the rules in a situation like this would be a dumb decision, but not an evil one."
"That's a good point." Tsuyu admitted. She turned to look at Todoroki and Kirishima. "Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were like villains for wanting to save Bakugo."
"It's cool, I knew you didn't mean it like that." Kirishima said.
Todoroki nodded once in agreement.
Meanwhile, Aizawa was relieved to see that the other members of the class were stepping in to try and get Kirishima and Todoroki not to do anything foolish. He wasn't confident it would work, but it was good to know that the whole class hadn't gone mad.
For a minute, the class could only stand there, stewing in their own helpless frustration at the situation. There was a knock on the door, and a doctor said it was time for Midoriya to be examined. The class filed out to go check on Jirou and Hagakure, giving subdued farewells as they went.
"This sucks." Sato said.
No one could deny that. They weren't even in that situation, their Bakugo was safe and sound, but even they felt useless and frustrated by all this. The students couldn't imagine how much worse it must have been for those actually living through it.
"Hey, doesn't that doctor kind of look like Shinsou?" Kaminari asked.
Sero tilted his head in thought. "I guess his hair sticks out in kinda the same way, and his eyes are just as tired."
"You think their related?"
"Just because they're both tired and have poofy hair doesn't mean their related, this isn't the Todoroki conspiracy theory hour."
Todoroki shot them a look that shut them both up.
Kirishima lingered as the class went out the door. He quietly told Midoriya that they'd already talked to Yoayorozu, and that they'd be going tonight if they were going at all. He wanted to invite Midoriya, even if he wasn't sure he'd be able to come along due to his injuries, since he knew he'd probably be feeling the worst about the whole thing. Iida was shown overhearing the invitation.
Aizawa sighed and rubbed his temples. He knew it. Despite the other students' words he knew Todoroki and Kirishima, and likely Midoriya, were too stubborn and too gosh darned heroic to give up that easily. Still, with Iida having overheard, he held onto some hope that they would be stopped before things went too far.
After a small time skip, Midoriya was shown with his casts removed. The doctor explained that, while Recovery Girl had healed him enough for him to move his arms, his arms were still pretty messed up. It was bad enough that he'd injured them so frequently over a short amount of time, but the severity of these last injuries didn't even come close to the previous damage. The doctor explained that Midoriya had pushed past his body's own limits due to the crisis he was in, tapping into hysterical strength.
Midoriya flinched when the doctor likened the bone breaks to having a firecracker go off inside them. Having felt the pain of those injuries without any cushion, he thought the descriptions was pretty accurate. He was also becoming more and more worried the longer the doctor went on. He remembered what All Might said about how much anguish he felt due to being permanently injured, and it holding him back from helping people. Had he done something similar? Had he pushed himself so far that he'd hampered his own ability to save others? He wasn't sure he could handle that, not on top of also losing Kacchan to the villains.
"Ah, so it seems my theory was correct! It's always nice to get confirmation of such things."
Nedzu's bright voice contrasted with the unease the rest of the room was feeling. Students and teachers alike wished the doctor would get to the point, and tell them if Midoriya would face lasting affects from his fight with Muscular.
The doctor said that the bone damage was already bad enough, but that such damage was even worse for his ligaments. He said it was likely that, if Midoriya got injured like this just a couple more times, he would no longer be able to use his arms.
If the sound of shocked and horrified gasps hadn't been so loud, one likely would have been able to hear several jaws hitting the floor at that pronouncement.
Midoriya's face tinged green. This wasn't exactly what he'd feared, but it was close enough. He could still be a hero, even if he couldn't use his arms. A number of pros functioned well enough with prosthetics, Ectoplasm was one of them, but it would still hamper things greatly for him. He wouldn't be able to use his quirk to it's fullest if he lost the use of his arms, and if he couldn't do that then people could die. He'd be unable to reach people who he could have reached otherwise. He'd already failed to reach Kacchan due to his injuries, if that became the norm then-
"I'm sorry, my boy." All Might's solemn words cut off Izuku's panicked thoughts. "I should have taught you better from the beginning, or brought in Gran Torino sooner. If I had, then your fight with Muscular would not have cost you so dearly."
"It's not your fault, it's..."
"Please, do not say it is your fault either. You were forced into some of the situations that resulted in you injuring yourself. As for the others, they may not have been necessary, and you may need to think more carefully about what is and is not worth breaking yourself over. However, it is still my responsibility as your mentor to help you learn how to use One for All safely, and I failed in that for so long that this last fight nearly disabled you." 'Not to mention the time I nearly did that myself during the final exam.' Yagi thought, his mood coming to a whole new low.
"Well, then I guess it's a good thing we're seeing this now. When we get out of here, we can both do better."
"Indeed." Yagi nodded, agreeing with the boys quiet resolve. He would call up Gran Torino as soon as he got out of here, and make sure that his boy learned how to control his strength before the Sports Festival at least.
Midoriya looked devastated at the news. The doctor told Midoriya to focus on getting better and doing physical therapy. He told him to keep working at it, even if it hurt.
"Heh, no need to worry about that. If he can run through the forest with those injuries, I think I can handle some physical therapy." Kaminari joked, trying to ease the dark mood that was still present after the doctor's diagnosis.
It wasn't very successful, but those who worried could at least be grateful that Midoriya's ridiculous pain tolerance would be useful in things other than getting through a fight.
The doctor said UA would take over from now on, so Midoriya would be discharged from the hospital today. Midoriya thanked him without looking at him. The doctor smiled lightly while saying that Recovery Girl had been fed up with him, but that there was someone he had saved too. He took a folded up note out of his pocket and handed it to Midoriya. He also told Midoriya that healing began with the mind, so he should try and stay positive.
Recovery Girl nodded along with the doctor's words. People always did seem to heal better and faster when they were hopeful about their situation, and got plenty of support. A part of her had always wondered if Yagi himself might have healed a bit better if he'd gotten more of that after his own injury, since he seemed to lose some of his biggest supporters just after it happened.
She was also contemplating the idea of using her unique position of authority to put Midoriya on a sort of specialized medical leave until he'd trained with Yagi and Gran Torino to ensure he could use his quirk without hurting himself. That might stop this diagnosis from ever having to be made.
Midoriya was shown on the roof, having gone there to read the letter, which turned out to be from Kota. The boy apologized for punching him in the balls, then thanked him for saving him anyway. Kota wrote for Midoriya to get better soon so that he could thank him in person.
The letter finally dispelled some of the gloomy atmosphere that had overtaken the room. The first line got several people giggling, and the short but sincere thanks made others smile warmly.
Izuku himself was among the latter. All Might had been right. Even though they'd lost Kacchan, he couldn't count the night as a complete loss, not when he'd saved Kota. Possibly in more ways than one.
The scene skipped ahead to later in the day, as the sun was setting. Midoriya called his mother, and explained he'd been discharged, but that he needed to do something so he wouldn't be heading home just yet.
"Midoriya." Aizawa spoke the name lowly, in a tone filled with warning. "Please tell me this 'thing' you have to do isn't sneaking out to join Kirishima and Todoroki."
"Uh, well, I can't say for sure...since it's the future and all..." He had a feeling it was though, and he honestly felt bad about it. As much as he wanted to be a part of saving Kacchan, there was so much else going on too. His mother had just gone through so much again, and now he was probably running off without even telling her the truth, and that wasn't even touching on the diagnosis he just got. If he hurt his arms badly during the rescue, it could hinder his hero career forever.
Izuku continued to talk on the phone with his mom. He said something about UA wanting to keep the students close and protected. Inko hesitantly asked if he had to go to UA.
Izuku's stomach dropped. He sincerely hoped that his mother wouldn't try to withdraw him from the school to try and protect him. He could understand why she would, and wouldn't entirely blame her if she did, since she always went on about how it was her job to take care of him. But he needed this. Maybe he'd be physically safer if he was pulled out, though even that was debatable given his involvement with AfO and OfA, but he couldn't stop being a hero. Not now, not after he'd gotten a taste of truly saving people the way he'd always dreamed.
He was even starting to get the feeling that he might be needed by someone other than his mom, which was certainly a novel concept for him.
The scene switched to Endeavor's agency, where the hero was informed he had a phone call. It was Tsukauchi, who was asking him to join in on a job.
Given what had been going on, everyone was felt sure that the mission must be the one to save Bakugo.
"They must truly be making this a high priority if they are recruiting both the number one and number two pro heroes." Momo pointed out. She turned to Todoroki. "Do you think your father will cause problems once he knows that All Might will also be there?"
"I don't think so, not major ones anyway. He'll go on and on about beating All Might in private, like he does at home or in that stairwell at the Sports Festival, but he knows better than to do it in front of a bunch of other heroes." Being so openly hostile to the beloved number one hero in places where it could get back to the media wouldn't do Endeavor's own reputation any favors after all.
Other heroes were also shown being gathered. First Best Jeanist, then Edgeshot, then Gang Orca. Gran Torino was shown, then Tiger from the WWP. Kamui Woods and Mt Lady rode in a car together, clearly going to the same place.
Midoriya, despite the dread he felt during the last scene, was practically salivating as he saw all the heroes that were being gathered. Iida felt even less hopeful that Midoriya might decline Kirishima and Todoroki's invite now. Even if he could suppress the need to rescue a friend, Midoriya might very well be drawn to the conflict simply to see so many top ranking heroes.
"Dang, they're getting pros from the top ten and well known up and coming heroes, plus Gran Torino who almost belongs in a league all his own from experience. Kinda surprised Tiger is the only one going from the Wild Wild Pussycats though." Jirou said.
"They probably want to go too, but someone has to take care of their team's usual hero work too. That area probably depends on them being around in case anything goes wrong. Plus someone needs to look after Kota." Ojiro pointed out.
A part of Bakugo's mind snarled at the idea of needing so many powerful pros to save him, but he wrangled it into submission. This wasn't just about him after all, it was about going after the League, which had all those Noumus laying around. They'd need heavy hitters if they hoped do deal with all those overpowered patchwork monstrosities.
The scene changed to evening, where Todoroki and Kirishima waited in front of the hospital. They remembered asking Momo about another transceiver, and she said she'd have to think about it. The boys wondered what she decided.
If Aizawa were the superstitious type he'd be crossing his fingers in the hopes of making it so that Momo had enough sense to say 'no'.
Unbeknownst to anyone else, Bakugo was hoping for the same thing.
Momo walked out of the hospital doors, followed closely by Midoriya. They both wore serious expressions as they approached. Kirishima anxiously asked what Momo had decided.
The students leaned forward as they watched the scene, wanting to know what this group would decide to do, and whether or not they'd get caught. They felt torn about what they wanted. Logically pretty much everyone knew that going out and trying to save Bakugo themselves would be a very bad idea, especially since the pros and police were already working on it, but they couldn't help but want to know what their classmates would do in the attempt. Both to see so many talented friends in action, and to relieve some of their own stress about not being able to do anything themselves. A few wondered if they were living vicariously through their friends right now.
"Young man if you don't get yourself back in that hospital or back home to start your therapy then so help me..." Recovery Girl muttered to herself.
She started to answer, but was cut off by the arrival of an angry Iida. He demanded to know why the people who had helped stop him when he was acting reckless and selfish before were now making the same mistake he did back then. Kirishima asked what he was talking about.
The teachers paid close attention. Aizawa hadn't been the only one among them lamenting the fact that Iida seemed to be the only one who remembered the lesson he learned after fighting Stain, and they wanted to know how the other two involved then were justifying their actions now.
Guilt sat heavy in Midoriya's chest, both from the conversation he'd seen with his Mom, and now from Iida's words. Just like the others, he knew deep down that this probably wasn't a good choice. But he also couldn't see himself making another, not in these circumstances, not with what his other self had seen and done. Maybe if his other self had seen what he had, seen all the heroes gathering and the police working on things like he himself had, maybe then he would be able to convince himself to leave it be. Another part of him knew he'd never been able to just leave it be, especially not when it came to Kacchan.
Todoroki just watched the scene intently. He knew their small group alone wouldn't be able to take on the whole League, and felt his other self should know that too. He wanted to know what kind of argument his other self would make for this plan.
The other students were reminded that their other selves wouldn't know about what really happened with Stain, so Kirishima and Momo wouldn't have thought of any connection between the two events.
Iida reminded them that they were minors. How could they take actions that would reflect poorly on UA when it was already in such a bad position?! Midoriya walked forward, saying that it wasn't like that and that they didn't think it was okay to break the rules. Iida punched him mid sentence. The others stared in shock.
"Ow!" Midoriya yelped. That hit wasn't nearly as bad as the hits he'd taken recently, but the other him was still injured in various ways, plus it had taken him completely off guard. Iida wasn't exactly a lightweight either.
"M-my apologies Midoriya!" Iida stammered. "No matter how I am feeling, I should not take it out on you with physical violence!"
No one else said anything, they were still too stunned by Iida's outburst.
Iida yelled that he was also frustrated and worried! Of course he was! But Bakugo wasn't the only classmate he was worried about! When he'd seen Midoriya's injuries, he'd also seen Tensei in his hospital bed! What if they got permanently hurt just like his brother did?! Were they saying they didn't care about any of those worries, or about how he felt?
"Oh..." Izuku said softly, as the comparison sank in. "I didn't even think about that side of it. I'm sorry Iida, I don't blame you for reacting like that."
Todoroki grimaced. He hadn't thought of that either. He wasn't very good at figuring out what other people were thinking or feeling, and wanted to get better at it for the sake of his new friends. He was a little comforted that Midoriya missed that parallel too, since the other boy was normally a lot better at thinking of those kinds of things. "I am sorry that we didn't think to take that into account."
Iida bowed his head. "I know how worried and frustrated you must both be, but I also know that my feelings are not the only ones to take into account here. It isn't just me who is worried about all of you getting hurt, I know the rest of the class must be too, as well as the teachers and your families. Seeing my brother like that, I don't want any of you to have to experience that pain he went through, and I don't want the others to feel the pain I went through by seeing you like that."
Todoroki stepped in and said that they didn't plan saving Bakugo by confronting the League directly. Kirishima agreed that it would be a covert operation. They could toe the line of the rules that way.
Todoroki nodded to himself. He was right, his other self did know a direct retaliation wouldn't be wise, so he was approaching things from another angle. That was good.
Bakugo let out a derisive laugh. "You two plus Deku on a stealth mission? You're gonna get caught in five minutes."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kirishima asked.
"It means you're about as stealthy as a bag of bricks and Icy Hot is about as subtle as a stadium sized glacier. Not to mention the nerd fucking glows when he uses his quirk."
"I'm not that bad..." Kirishima's face tinted red. Todoroki glared at the blonde.
"I have very precise control of my ice when I want to."
"And your fire, dumb ass?"
The glare intensified.
"I guess we'll count that as additional incentive for me not to use One for All during this." Midoriya said.
"I would really prefer it if you listened to Iida and stayed away from any reason to use it at all for while, my boy. At least until you recover some more."
Midoriya ducked his head at All Might's light condemnation.
Momo said she trusted Todoroki, and that she would accompany them to help keep things from going wrong.
"Okay, I can see Ponytail doing a stealth mission." Bakugo conceded. "Doesn't mean she can make up for the rest of you though."
"Seriously, we aren't that bad!" Kirishima whined.
Todoroki decided to ignore Bakugo in favor of looking at Yoayorozu with a mixture of surprise and gratitude. He'd felt their other selves had bonded during the final exam, but he hadn't expected such a sincere declaration from her. He wondered if she felt anything close to that same level of trust for his current self.
Aizawa face palmed. He'd really had hope for her! Yoayorozu deciding to go with them as a sort of tempering force wasn't the worst option, but he would have been much happier if she'd refused to go and told a teacher about this whole thing.
Present Mic gave Aizawa a comforting pat on the back.
Momo's declaration made Kirishima hopeful and Iida distressed. Midoriya spoke up then, confessing that he didn't know if this was the best thing to do either, but that he couldn't sit still after hearing there was still a chance for him to reach Kacchan. He couldn't help wanting to save him!
"Oh, so this is Kirishima's fault then." Tsuyu said.
"Huh?! Why is it my fault?"
"He said he couldn't stay still because he found out there was a chance for him to do something, and you're the one that told him about the plan still going forward. So he's here because of what you said."
"I, well, maybe..." Kirishima spluttered. He thought about saying that he wouldn't have told Midoriya about the plan if he knew how injured he was, but he wasn't sure that was true. His other self was pretty confident they were going to keep it a stealth mission, so he might not have thought that would matter.
"No, that's on me, I'm the one that decided to go. No one forced me." Midoriya agreed.
Still, this got a few people thinking that they should be careful about what they say to Midoriya. If he ran off every time he heard he could help someone, he'd spread himself way to thin! And possibly break his arms some more.
Once again the line came back, about how great heroes all had stories about how they moved before they had a chance to think. Despite his earlier words, Iida now declared that if they were set on going, then he would go with them.
Aizawa really wished there was a desk he could bang his head against. He settled for burying his face in his hands.
"I guess even Iida's usually useful traits can backfire on us, huh?" Mic noted.
"Hizashi, what am I going to do with them?"
"Help them learn and grow, like you always do, just with the added benefit of foresight to help you out this time. You can have a little faith in them too, they seem to be learning as we go along too."
Aizawa took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He put his hands back down and nodded once, acknowledging Hizashi's words. "I'll try, but that won't stop me from giving every one of them a lecture once we reach a break."
While the two teachers talked, the students just stared at the screen, briefly shocked by Iida's sudden change of heart.
Bakugo grit his teeth. He didn't need this! Not when everything was already so...it was already too much dammit!
The scene changed briefly to a meeting being held among the police and heroes to plan Bakugo's rescue. Before anything could be heard, the scene changed to the villains at their bar. Shigaraki said he would give Bakugo one more chance to agree and join them. Bakugo said he should go die, which made Shigaraki look displeased. Izuku's voice said that the 'major incident' he referred to after the USJ incident was about to begin.
The emotions in the room fluctuated a lot in a very brief span of time. There was excitement and hopefulness when the meeting was shown, which was soon dashed into wariness and hostility when the scene switched to Shigaraki. There was a flare of righteous anger when Bakugo replied, then when Izuku's voice was heard, the wariness returned, accompanied by confusion.
"Wait, does that mean something is going to go wrong during the rescue?" Ashido asked. Sero shrugged.
"I don't know, I mean, 'incidents' aren't always bad right?"
"Incidents may not always be bad, but it seems like all the ones involving us are." Mineta pointed out.
"Mon ami, we mustn't jump to such awful conclusions, perhaps the heroes will meet just enough adversity to truly shine!" Aoyama said hopefully.
After seeing a group of 1A students getting ready to go investigate on their own, the teachers did not share in that feeling.
"All that aside, I love seeing Bakugo back talk Shigaraki." Kaminari said.
"I wanted to see the times he asked before that, just to see how many times I managed to tell him to fuck off and die to his face, and in how many ways." Bakugo said.
The small group of students was shown leaving the hospital. Iida apologized for getting violent with Midoriya. Momo said Iida's reason for joining wasn't convincing, and Iida explained that he was going along because he didn't think they would behave themselves. He declared that there was even the slightest sign of combat, he'd force them all to leave. Todoroki muttered 'watchman Iida', and Momo said she was going to do the same as Iida. The actual rescue was the job of the pros. She was just doing this as a compromise, since she knew how they felt.
Listening to Iida and Momo, Aizawa began to relax a little. Maybe he wouldn't have to give the two of them as much of a lecture. If the other three were going to go no matter what, he felt better having two more cautious students going with them to try and keep things from going too far rather than have the three run off on their own. Still, he wished one of them had thought to send a message to him or one of the other teachers about what was happening.
Students giggled at Todoroki's deadpan words, while Kirishima sighed.
"Come on, I already said that we would keep it stealth, it's like you don't trust us at all!"
"Considering all that's happened, I don't exactly blame them for worrying that something is going to go wrong." Ojiro said.
"Yeah, it seems like everything that's been a group activity for us that was supposed to be normal and safe ended up being a villain infested nightmare instead. Except for the Sports Festival, but even then the villains were shown to be watching." Jirou agreed.
"Not even the internships were safe, and that part most affected three of the people going with you." Shoji added.
"Plus we only have a location to go off of, no information on how many villains are there or where they are stationed or if there are Noumus or what kind of set up is being used to detain Bakugo." Momo rattled off.
"...you may have a point." Kirishima grudgingly admitted. Truth be told, he was starting to feel pretty anxious. His other self was doing this out of a desire to go help Bakugo, but what if they got in the way by accident? What if they really did just end up making it worse?
Kirishima and Todoroki said that they understood that, and the group continued walking. Still, Momo thought to herself that a rescue without combat was highly unlikely. The others weren't as objective and couldn't realize that. She was banking on the idea that, once things got going they would realize how unrealistic their plans were.
"I think you may be underestimating how stubborn some of our classmates can be." Jirou said. Momo sighed.
"You may be right."
"Why did you look at me as well while thinking that? I'm of the same mindset as you." Iida said, protesting being lumped in with the others. Momo shrugged.
"Better safe than sorry. You were also showing a lot of emotions before, and that can lead to rash decisions."
Iida couldn't exactly argue that, given his hunt for Stain. Still, he'd like to think he'd learned better than that, even in this other timeline.
The scene skipped to them on a train, where Momo was explaining that it would take them about 2 hrs to get where the signal was coming from. Midoriya asked if they'd told the rest of the class about their plan, and Todoroki confirmed they had. The class had tried hard to persuade them not to do it, and Uraraka had said that she thought everyone going to save Bakugo would only embarrass Bakugo.
"Huh, she actually figured that out. Can't believe she did that but you didn't." Bakugo grumbled.
"Excuse me for being more concerned with your safety than your pride." Kirishima huffed. Bakugo glared at him.
"It's bad enough that I got my ass captured in the first place, and now I have to have a punch of top ten pros sent after me! The idea of all of you coming along is just-" Bakugo cut himself off then, apparently to angry or frustrated to form further words.
Midoriya couldn't blame him for that. If he'd been the one captured, and forced a bunch of pros and/or his classmates to risk their lives for him, he'd feel awful too.
Aizawa had started to calm down a bit, his hope being rekindled after Momo's thoughts made it clear she was only going forward because she thought this venture wouldn't lead anywhere. That hope died when he saw that the whole class had been told about this plan and they, apparently hadn't said anything either. A tiny ember of it remained, representing Aizawa's hope that someone had alerted the proper authorities and the screen just hadn't shown that part yet.
Midoriya's mind flashed back to the last time he'd seen Bakugo, how the boy had told him not to follow. Seeing how pensive Midoriya was, Todoroki asked if everyone was aware that what they were doing was selfish and that nobody wanted them to do it.
"If you all know that then why on earth are you doing it?" Recovery Girl asked with a sigh. The students winced to varying degrees, and Kirishima mustered up the courage to ask:
"But, didn't All Might say that being a hero was about putting your nose in where it wasn't wanted?"
"No advice can be applied to all situations the same way! Learn to put things in context!"
"Ah, to be clear, I mainly meant that advice to be applied when no one else was looking into a situation, or you had reason to believe that those that were had missed something." Yagi explained awkwardly.
Bakugo wanted to sigh, which was weird since he'd normally rage about this sort of thing. In either case, he should have known that saying that wouldn't be enough to keep Deku from trying to go after him. That was just how Deku worked; only way to make him not want to save you would be to never be in trouble in the first place.
Todoroki said there was still a chance to turn back. Kirishima said that he couldn't do that, because Bakugo wouldn't just let the villains do whatever the wanted with him, so he couldn't either. All Might's advice about meddling came back to Midoriya. Since All Might gave him everything, he couldn't turn back now.
All Might sighed softly. They really needed to work on this feeling Midoriya seemed to have about how he owes him for choosing him. If anything, All Might felt he owed Midoriya for being there, for giving him such a wonderful person to pass One for All onto. Knowing that someone so heroic would carry on the legacy filled him with pride, and a sense of peace, that he hadn't felt since his near fatal injury. Well, he felt peace when the boy wasn't in danger at least.
Bakugo found it harder to hold onto his anger after hearing Kirishima's words. It was definitely still there, but it faded a bit when Kirishima showed he understood him better than he'd given him credit for earlier.
The scene followed the train for a bit before they were shown standing in the streets of Camino Ward. After they confirmed they were in the right city, Kirishima started running forward and yelling for Yoayorozu to tell them where the villains were. He only stopped when Momo called for him to wait.
The students snorted and laughed.
"Oh yeah, it's gonna be totally stealth guys!" Hagakure said between her giggles.
"Absolutely no one will know we're here!" Ashido said, breathless from her own wheezing laugh.
"Not gonna draw any attention!"
Iida and Momo both face palmed. Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck, while Todoroki turned to Kirishima with a single eyebrow raised. Bakugo gave his friend a smirk that practically screamed 'I told you so'.
"Okay, yeah, I deserve this." Kirishima admitted.
"We should really get them some stealth training huh?" Mic asked.
"I'll put it on the list." Aizawa said tiredly.
Momo went on to say that they had to be very careful from now on, since the villains knew what they all looked like. Midoriya made an 'X' with his arms, saying they had to be covert. Todoroki pointed out that Midoriya was just making himself stand out.
A fresh wave of giggles spread at the silly display. Izuku blushed, but laughed along with them.
"You've got a good sense of humor once you let your guard down a bit Todoroki. Very deadpan, it's fun." Uraraka complimented.
"Thank you...I think."
The group wondered how they could go about scouting, and Momo pointed out a store near them. This lead to a montage of each group member coming out of a changing room with a 'disguise' on.
Midoriya appeared first, and his outfit made the class go from giggles to roaring laughter. The laughter flared again every time a new person came out.
"Oh my gosh, the facial hair! And the shades! The necklace!" Sero wheezed.
"Are you trying to mimic Bakugo again?" Sato asked when Midoriya started talking loudly and defensively, like he was in character.
"Ah, maybe? I can definitely see where you'd get that idea."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?! I have way more style than that!" Bakugo protested.
Todoroki appeared next.
"Oh, you found a way to cover up your scar. I was wondering how you'd handle that, and the hair's not a bad way to do it." Tsuyu said.
"Thank you." Todoroki said. "I imagine the goal was to cover my hair up as well."
"Two birds, one stone." she agreed with a nod.
"Your outfit though...were you just picking out the same things as Midoriya?" Kaminari asked with a smirk.
"Probably." Todoroki admitted. It's not like he normally paid attention to how people dressed, so it wouldn't surprise him if he followed Midoriya's lead.
Momo appeared next.
"Oh my gosh I love that dress on you!" Hagakure gushed.
"Not bad for such a cheap store, and the glasses aren't bad either." Jirou allowed. "Might have wanted to put your hair down though. You hardly ever have it down around school, so the villains probably wouldn't recognize that as easily."
"Hm, I didn't think about that."
"Why are you holding a can of hair spray?" Ojiro asked.
"...I'm not sure. Maybe I just used it for the change in hairstyle."
Iida came after her.
Sero once again started laughing about the facial hair, and he wasn't the only one. That mustache was something else.
"...you're wearing suspenders." Tokoyami noted in disbelief.
"And a bow tie." Mineta added in the same tone.
"I feel the need to point out that I also seem confused by my own attire." Iida said, bowing his head in an attempt to hide his blush.
Kirishima was last.
"Awww, are the horns inspired by me?" Ashido asked playfully.
Kirishima laughed, and admitted that was definitely a possibility.
"So does your hair naturally stay up, or down?" Momo asked.
"Down, why?"
"Then, how did you get it to lay flat just by going into a change room? Shouldn't you have needed to wash it or use different products?"
"...that's a good question actually."
The walked out of the store together, showing off their new styles. Kirishima coached Midoriya on how to do his 'Hey!' the right away, looking more ridiculous every time. Iida suddenly yelled that a lady had a great rack, and got a thumbs up from Kirishima. Momo said kids would stand out around here.
Various students were now falling over themselves laughing.
"I'm pretty sure Midoriya yelling like that would actually be weirder than a kid just walking around." Ojiro said with a grin.
"Iida no! That sounds so wrong, especially coming from you!" Hagakure wailed. Koda nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Wait, did you choose that mustache to make yourself look sleazy?" Sero asked in giddy disbelief.
Iida was starting to think Midoriya might have had the right idea that one time he tried to bury himself in the couch. Midoriya might even join him, based on how red he was turning himself.
Present Mic rubbed his chin. "Okay, I see what you were going for. You are dressed more 'maturely' than usual, and that's not a bad idea overall. It will help with people not immediately connecting you to the people they've seen on TV or on possible hit lists. Still, I'd recommend coordinating with each other more if you ever do this for real. Right now you guys are all dressed like you're going to different places, except for maybe Todoroki and Midoriya."
Aizawa was too busy trying to disappear into his scarf to say anything.
"I'd recommend more nondescript looks for the future." Nedzu chimed in. "If you don't stand out at all, then its more likely that people won't pay you any mind. You'd be amazed how much simple things like wearing a knit cap and adding a pair of glasses can do for making someone unrecognizable to passers by."
Todoroki asked Momo if she could have made all this stuff with her quirk so they didn't have to pay. Momo started going on about not messing up the economy with her quirk. Kirishima thought she just wanted to go in the store since it was likely that a rich girl like her had never been in one before.
"I- I'm sure it wasn't that!" Momo tried to deny. After everyone looked at her for a few seconds, she slumped slightly. "Okay, it wasn't just that. But I really have had the stuff about the economy driven into me by my parents; they started giving me lectures about it as soon I learned enough control to make things like money. They said I should only ever create money if it was an emergency and I didn't have any other way to pay for anything. And that I should tell them if I ever did that so they could pay people back and let the authorities know that fake bills were in circulation."
"You know, we could go somewhere like that just for the fun of it if you want." Jirou pointed out.
"Oooo, we could have a costume party! That would be so fun!" Hagakure cheered.
Momo breathed easier when the topic moved on. She didn't like thinking about the fact that she could technically crash the economy if she really wanted to.
The were about to go on their way, when they were startled by someone calling out 'UA!'. They turned and saw that Nedzu, Eraserhead, and Vlad King were doing a press conference on a nearby screen. On screen, Aizawa apologized for allowing the students to be endangered due to being unprepared, and for causing unease. They all bowed and apologized.
Students both on screen and off screen were surprised by Aizawa's appearance, both because of how much he professed to hate the media and due to how he looked during the conference.
"Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Mr. Aizawa dressed up before." Ashido commented, eyeing the image up and down. "He cleans up nice."
"It's definitely a change from his normal look." Momo admitted.
"It's a necessary evil, the press will have a field day if you show up without looking immaculate." Aizawa grumbled.
Most of the other students weren't quite brave enough to make comments on their teacher's appearance, but that didn't stop them from staring in awe. Who knew that Eraserhead could look like something other than a sleep deprived hobo when he put his mind to it?
"Do you think Present Mic helped him, or can he just do that whenever he wants?" Kaminari whispered to Sero, who shrugged.
"Whatever his appearance, it is admirable for our teacher to put himself in the spotlight he normally detests in order to make this apology." Iida declared.
"I'm just doing my job." Aizawa said.
Someone at the press conference asked how they responded to the families of the endangered students, and what specific counter measures they were implementing against the villains. Midoriya was upset that the teachers were being treated like the bad guys.
"It's not fair, you almost got killed defending us that the USJ, you and All Might both." Midoriya said softly, while the students nodded along.
"And this time you tried to keep everything hidden as much as you could, and somehow the attack still happened. The blame for that shouldn't go to you, not when you fought so hard to keep us safe." Uraraka said. She didn't notice the way Aoyama's lips pressed into a thin line in response to her words.
"It was our job to protect you, and we failed in doing so. The apology is the least we can do, as is going over our security measures once again." Aizawa said. "Still, your frustration with that is one of the reasons I dislike the media."
"Everyone is always looking for someone to blame when stuff like this happens, and for some reason blaming the villains who actually did the attacking isn't enough. They gotta find every single fault with the ones trying to fix things too." Present Mic said with a huff.
"I can understand the reasoning behind it." Nedzu said. "As heroes, we should be held to a high standard; and for those without the knowledge of what we're up against, and how everything is connected, it is very easy to see this as gross incompetence. Plus, I'm sure many would prefer to think that the ones in charge are just being neglectful, because the other option is to admit that the villains really are growing to be so powerful and cunning that we can't find a way to stop them, and that is a very frightening prospect."
Nedzu explained how they would do more patrols around the school and strengthen their security. The crowd watching the screen was far from satisfied with that though, and everyone started saying how the students weren't being protected at all and how hero schools shouldn't get overrun by villains. They said UA was just protecting themselves, and commented on how disappointing it was. The students looked around at the crowd in distress. Midoriya's voice said that results were everything.
The students in the room were becoming distressed too. Not a single one of them blamed their teachers or the school itself for what happened, so why should all these random people get to do it? What did they know about what things had really been like and what both they and their teachers had been through? But they couldn't refute the words either, not entirely. The school really shouldn't be overrun by villains like this; it wasn't how things were supposed to be. But did that make it the teachers' fault? Why couldn't they just place the blame on the villains were it belonged? Was it just because the teachers were accessible and the villains weren't?
The scene switched to Shigaraki and the other League members talking to Bakugo, and Shigaraki asked the same questions that the students were thinking. Why were the heroes being criticized? Because it was their job to protect? Were they supposed to be perfect? Modern heroes really were too uptight.
"Bastards, this is exactly what they wanted isn't it?" Sato seethed.
"It does sound pretty similar to what that Dabi clone was talking about." Ojiro admitted. "Even down to what he said about it not mattering if they succeeded or failed. Because people would still be disappointed that an attack happened at all."
"They predicted this darkness with frightening accuracy." Tokoyami said.
That didn't surprise Yagi one bit. With how old All for One was, he'd had plenty of time to learn how people thought. It made sense he would know how to predict and manipulate public opinion.
Spinner said heroes weren't heroes anymore after they received compensation to protect people.
Jirou sighed. "We've been over that, heroes have to make a living. If they didn't get compensation then only really rich people would be able to afford to be heroes all the time, and I don't like the sound of that."
"Spinner probably wouldn't like that either, kero."
Yagi nodded. "There's a bunch of stories about heroes not being able to keep jobs before pro-heroes came into being, because they would have to run off to help someone or get hurt too often. I can confidently say that I wouldn't be nearly as effective as a hero if I wasn't paid well for my work."
Shigaraki said it was the villains' fight to question what a hero truly was, and what justice meant. Was society really just? They would get everyone thinking about that. They planned on winning. "You like winning too, don't you Bakugo?"
"I don't give a shit what you're questioning or whatever the hell society thinks! I don't need a bunch or philosophy shit telling me what a hero is! If I see a villain doing shit them I'm gonna blow them up! Winning is a big part of being a hero, and that means I'm going to win against all of you!" Bakugo yelled.
While some students eagerly agreed and Kirishima gave Bakugo a fist bump, others thought about Shigaraki's tactics.
"Causing people to question things like that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but doing it like this will cause things to destabilize if things keep going in this vein. It seems like Shigaraki is trying to apply that on a smaller scale with Bakugo." Recovery Girl noted.
"Based on what he just said though, I don't think that's going to work." Present Mic said.
"It's not a bad strategy in general, trying to get your captive to question things while also offering something that seems valuable to them." Nedzu said "He's misinterpreted Bakugo though. Bakugo doesn't care about the winning side, he cares about his own victory, and since they hold him captive he wants to win against them."
Aizawa nodded. In a way, it was actually fortunate that Shigaraki had chosen to focus on Bakugo out of all the students. Some of the other students might be rattled by Shigaraki's words, might actually start to question things just long enough to become vulnerable. Bakugo, for better or for worse, didn't think so deeply about such things.
Midoriya was glad to see Bakugo acting so lively here. Even if he didn't like being around when the blonde yelled, he preferred it to the strange quiet the one on screen had been displaying before.
Yagi felt rather satisfied that Bakugo called winning a 'part' of being a hero rather than the whole point. That felt like progress to him.
Shigaraki told Dabi to release the restraints. When Dabi protested Shigaraki said they needed to treat Bakugo like an equal. Plus he wanted to give Bakugo the chance to see if he really could win.
Bakugo grinned. He hoped he'd get to escape here, but at this point he'd settle on seeing his other self blow at least one villain's face off.
Dabi made Twice release the restraints instead. While Twice was working on that, Mr Compress apologized for the rough treatment and said that they weren't just a mob trying to commit crimes. They didn't kidnap him by accident.
"Wait, you can kidnap people by accident?" Kota asked, looking highly confused. Sato thought about that for a minute.
"I guess, I mean, if you stole a car and didn't know someone was in the back then that would count as an accidental kidnapping. But that's pretty specific..."
"Oh yeah, sure, 'not just a mob committing crimes'. It seems like half the time when we ask one of them why they're doing something they just say 'because I want to'. That sounds pretty mob-like to me." Uraraka grumbled.
"Shigaraki did seem to have that 'do whatever I want' philosophy for most of the time we've known him. He only seemed to come up with a solid goal after he held Midoriya hostage at the mall." Todoroki said. After a moment, he frowned and muttered to himself: "Since meeting there was a coincidence, does that make what Shigaraki did an accidental kidnapping?"
"Yeesh, a man gets a little bit of inspiration after he talks to his nemesis and suddenly he's a crusader." Mineta complained.
Shigaraki said that they're circumstances were different, but that everyone here had suffered under restrictions and suffered due to rules or people or heroes.
"Wow, they really don't get you at all, huh?" Sero said. Bakugo squinted at him.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I mean, based off of some stuff we saw earlier, you seemed pretty 'unrestricted' while growing up."
"You blew up a desk at your last school while threatening a classmate and people barely blinked." Shoji pointed out.
Bakugo grunted, acknowledging the words without directly agreeing or disagreeing.
Shigaraki started to say that Bakugo must have felt that too, but was cut off. Because once the restraints were off Bakugo elbowed Twice to the ground and fired an explosion nearly point blank at Shigaraki. The hand was shown falling off his face as the villain was forced back.
Some students immediately cheered and jumped up excitedly, delighted to see Bakugo fight back and deny the villains what they wanted. Others just became more on edge, worried that this would make the villains decide that Bakugo wasn't worth the trouble.
Bakugo said he'd listened to their endless talking, and complained about how long it took them to get to the point. He said what they were really saying was 'We wanna harass people so join us'. Bakugo flashed back to his childhood briefly, then declared that he wanted to win like All Might did, and that would never change!
Uraraka was surprised when Deku breathed in sharply, like he was in some kind of pain. She turned to look at him, and saw his jaw was clenched as he focused on the screen.
"Deku? What's wrong?"
"Not only did Bakugo just reject them, he said it was because he wanted to be like All Might. When Shigaraki threatened me at the mall, he decided that everything wrong in his life was because of All Might."
Uraraka's eyes widened "Oh...he's probably gonna take that really badly, isn't he?"
Deku nodded gravely, still not looking away from the screen. Uraraka's own worry made her fidget. She may have plenty of issues with Bakugo, but that didn't mean she wanted to see him badly hurt, and she definitely didn't want him to die.
Shigaraki didn't move or respond, he just stood there, staring down at the hand that had fallen to the ground.
"Father..."
the episode ended.
"He, uh, he seems pretty upset." Mineta noted warily.
The reality of the situation finally settled in for those who had cheered earlier. It was satisfying to see Bakugo say and do those things, but would it end well for him? It would be very hard to escape with Kurogiri there, and Bakugo was very much outnumbered...
"Well, note to self, don't touch the hands when fighting Shigaraki." Kaminari joked. "Or maybe you should? Looks like it distracts him a lot."
"Maybe we should wait and see how he reacts once he's over the shock of it before deciding that." Ojiro suggested, then he shivered. "Still not over how he calls it 'father'."
Everyone looked disturbed as they remembered the implications of giving the hand that title. Had Shigaraki killed his own father? Had All for One?
Despite everyone wanting to know what happened, a short break was called. As Nedzu reminded them, stretching one's legs occasionally was important. It was questionable whether or not that mattered here, but no one felt up to arguing about that.
As Aizawa had promised, he ended up giving a lecture to the kids who had been shown sneaking off to try and get involved in the rescue. It wasn't as long as he'd first thought he'd make it though.
After giving it some thought, he decided that the best way to address the problem would be to teach them, and the rest of the class, ways to deal with the emotions you got during situations like this. He'd added it to the list of things he planned to do after they got back, and had even talked to Nedzu about making it an official lesson for all the different classes, since it would be universally useful. Nedzu had agreed to talk to Hound Dog about implementing that. So for now, Aizawa settled on reminding them why interfering without telling anyone could end very badly for everyone involved, and a lighter reminder about how them getting caught up in this could make things worse for UA. That last scene they'd been in seemed to have gotten some of that across already after all. After telling them that addressing these things would become a part of the school curriculum, he let them leave.
Once he was let out of Aizawa's lecture, Midoriya found himself getting pulled aside by All Might.
"I wanted to talk to you about all this my boy."
"Mr. Aizawa just told us all about why this was a bad idea, and I know it is, I just couldn't-"
"I understand that my boy, truly I do. As you've seen, I also struggle with holding myself back when others are in trouble, even when it is detrimental to myself. What I wanted to speak to you about is more specific to your quirk."
That got Midoriya to stand up straighter. He focused on All Might more than he had before, listening intently. Yagi took a deep breath, then let it out.
"Midoriya, my boy. I...my own mentor died when I was still young, about your age. That's why Gran Torino was my teacher during my years at UA, to make up for her absence. As a result, finding a way to take on All for One also became my responsibility at a young age. It was...very painful, and difficult, and I never wanted that for you. When I passed on One for All, it was under the assumption that All for One was long dead. I never wanted that fight to become yours."
Midoriya opened his mouth to protest, and Yagi held up a hand.
"I say this not because I believe you are incapable of carrying that mantel, I wouldn't have passed on One for All to you if I believed that. But just because you can deal with something doesn't mean that you should have to." Yagi paused for a moment, thinking over his words. "Have you thought about what the doctor said in that other timeline, about your arms?"
Midoriya nodded. "I'm worried about it. If I get into another bad fight, it could really mess me up, keep me from saving people."
"Not to mention how difficult it would make things in your everyday life. It may be hard for you to imagine, but as someone whose dealt with chronic pain, I can tell you that that's just as much of a burden in its own way."
Midoriya nodded, remembering all the times he'd seen All Might cough up blood, both in real life and on the screen.
"We're going to make sure that doesn't happen, okay? Like I've said, we'll get a jump on things, do your training properly when we get back so that never becomes an issue."
"What about All for One?" Midoriya asked. "I know you said I shouldn't have to deal with it, but I want to! I want to help you!"
"You already are, my boy, just by being here." Yagi said with a fond smile. "But if you mean you want to help more actively, I am not opposed to that. I just want to make sure you're ready first, so you can help without risking a permanent injury. You'll be able to do more that way, and those that care about you won't have worry about you so much while you're doing it."
Midoriya thought about his mother leaving food for him at the hospital during the last episode, and nodded. It would be really nice to be able to save others without worrying her quite so much.
Yagi smiled at him, and ruffled his hair. Midoriya was surprised for a moment, then slowly stepped forward so he could hug All Might. For a brief moment, Midoriya feared the action would make All Might uncomfortable, but then he felt the man chuckle lightly and pat him on the back. Midoriya blushed but didn't pull away.
He wanted to keep this. It felt selfish, but he wanted to help All Might not just because of how great a hero he was, but because Midoriya didn't want to lose this. When he got back, he'd do everything he could to learn quickly from Gran Torino, so that All Might would let him stand by his side, and help keep him safe.
Keep All Might safe while he saved others. Save him, if need be, just like All Might had saved Izuku.
A.N.
All Might: My boy, you must learn to pick you're battles.
(canon happens)
All Might: Um, pick fewer battles than that.
(more canon happens)
All Might: Young Midoriya, put some battles back that's too many!
Aizawa: Like you're one to talk.
Present Mic: Shouta, I'm pretty sure you can't talk about that either.
