Hello, again! Thank you for continuing with this fic.

If it's not too much to ask, if you like the story so far, would you be so kind as to leave a review? It hurts the ego to get zero reviews for almost two chapters. T.T But anyway, I hope you like this one. Wrapping up season 1.

"Well, if there is anything wrong with you, it's not something I can help you with."

Sat in Recovery Girl's examining room, I cast my eyes to my lap, embarrassed even though the medic had told me to come. "Sorry to waste your time. I'm sure you're busy." I pushed off the bed to stand. Other than several levels of exhaustion and a surprisingly sore back from swinging my staff, I felt fine. Plenty of bruises, but nothing serious.

She raised a brow. "I meant that to be good news. Shock is quite serious, and you absolutely did the right thing by getting checked. I'm just glad it seems that you're not having long-lasting side effects." I smiled at her kindness, but I was still a little ashamed.

Recovery Girl noticed it on my face and placed her tiny hand over mine. "Chin up, Ryuuzaki-chan. From what I hear, you all fought very bravely."

I sighed. I wouldn't exactly call what I did at the USJ 'brave'. More like, 'desperate'.

The older woman frowned, raising her brows to ask me to explain.

"It's just…I feel like I was the only one who was scared." I looked away, gripping the fabric of my skirt. "During the battle, everyone else seemed so ready. They made all the fighting look easy. But after that Shigaraki almost killed me…" I sighed. "I was so useless."

She listened until I was done, paused for a moment, then hummed. "We all deal with these things differently. Some of us cry, some of us get angry. Some of us freeze up and go numb. But I'm willing to bet that you were not the only one who was frightened. And I promise you, you're not the only one who still feels anxious about what you went through."

I blinked the tears away before they fell. Even though she hadn't been there to see how bad it had been, her experience spoke to her credibility, right?

"We all feel weak sometimes. Even All Might. What makes us strong is what we decided to do about it."

Letting myself believe her made me feel marginally better. I gave a weak smile.

The school day was over, even though the whole attack had taken under an hour. Most of the others had gone home or had their parents pick them up already. I needed to get home before my parents heard about what happened before I could tell them about it myself.

That would not go well.

I pulled my uniform jacket back over my blouse and buttoned it. "Is Midoriya allowed to have visitors?" I had heard him earlier in the other room. I really wanted to speak to him about what had happened. And to see if he was alright.

Recovery Girl stiffened. "I'm afraid he's gone to sleep. My healing ability takes a lot out of a person and they typically need their rest."

I nodded glumly but grabbed my things, making sure to thank her properly with a bow before leaving. Something fishy was going on, but I was too tired to press it. Besides, I could talk to Midoriya any time. Perks of being in the same class.

I arrived home without incident. It felt odd to just be off on my own after everything that had happened, but a lot of that was just my paranoia. The police had arrested nearly two hundred villains today, and Shigaraki Tomura had been severely injured. It would take him a while to recover, assuming he even would, and his forces were demolished, so another attack on the same night was less than likely.

Tiredly, I opened the front door. "I'm home."

Immediately, my mom's head popped up from the kitchen table. It turned out that I was already too late to be the one to give them the news. The story was all over television, which I could see from the entryway.

"Hotaru!" My mom rushed forward, tripping on her slippers. She pulled me into a tight hug. I relished it, finally able to breathe freely, as if something heavy had been taken off my shoulders. My dad heard the door close rushed over seconds after.

"Are you okay?"

I took a deep breath. Then I nodded. It was so much easier to believe I was strong with them there. "I'm completely fine."

They smooshed me back up in the hug and swept me inside, making sure I had dinner. I had to reassure them several times that I'd been given a clean bill of health and that none of my classmates were hurt.

"Well, Midoriya was, but it was from his own quirk," I explained quickly, realizing it would probably be reported on. "He just got it, so his body isn't used to it yet."

They asked me what happened, and as I retold the abridged, parent-friendly version, they listened silently. My mom kept turning her wedding band, a nervous habit. They could probably tell I was underplaying a few pieces (no way in hell would I tell them how close Shigaraki got to actually offing me), but I wasn't exactly a seasoned liar.

I needed to channel some confidence. What would Bakugou say?

"Honestly, our simulation training was harder than the battle." I rubbed the back of my neck as though I was uncomfortable with my lack of humbleness, but couldn't avoid it since it was the truth.

"And this 'League of Villains'," Dad said, throwing up quotation marks with his hands. "Will they still be a problem?"

I almost bit my lip but stopped myself. "The police have most of them in custody right now. I'd imagine that kind of loss would be hard to come back from." I slurped up my soup, because now that I had a sense of safety and home, my eyelids were getting very heavy and I knew they weren't going to let me go to bed without finishing. "If you don't mind, can I tell you the rest tomorrow? It's getting pretty late, and we still have school tomorrow."

The two of them shared a look that gave me pause.

I frowned. "What?"

Dad sighed. "Hotaru, before you got home, your mom and I were talking. You were attacked by villains. It's a really big deal."

"Yeah," I furrowed my brow in confusion. "I never said it wasn't. But it was handled, you know?"

"We're worried about what this will mean for the school."

I blinked, taken aback. "UA? It wasn't their fault, the bad guys had a warp quirk. And we had two teachers with us, plus All Might. You should have seen them."

Mom pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're not hearing us. It's still early in the year. Now's the best time to transfer."

My mouth went dry.

"We knew it means a lot that you got in, but clearly it's more dangerous than we were ready for. There are plenty of schools out there, and with your grades—"

"No." I had never raised my voice at them before. They looked about as shocked as I felt. I took a deep breath to calm myself. "I know you were scared about what happened, but—"

"Scared?" Mom's voice was raw. "Hotaru, we were terrified. I don't want to go through that again."

I stared, thoughts jarred and sluggish. "What do you think it will be like when I actually become a pro?" Hadn't they considered this when they helped me train, when they celebrated my acceptance into UA?

My mom's mouth was set in a hard line. The face she made when she was putting her foot down. "You're right. It won't be any different. We just didn't realize until now that we weren't prepared for that kind of life."

I realized then that she was said 'schools' instead of 'hero schools'. "You want me to quit the hero track?"

My mom nodded. Dad stared firmly at the table, hand on her shoulder.

"That's not a decision for you to make!"

"While you're still a minor, yes, it is."

I shot out of my seat.

"Hotaru, get back here!"

"I'm going on a walk," I said shortly. I didn't want to speak to them while I was fuming. I've never felt this way around them before and I knew I needed to remove myself from the situation before I blew up.

This wasn't just about friends and a dream job for me. This was about my purpose. The reason I was back here, the reason my quirk worked the way it did. I needed to stick by Midoriya. Usually, my parents helped me do that. Without realizing it, of course. They had always just supported my goals. I didn't know how to cope with this yet.

Or how to convince them that I needed to continue on this path despite the risks.

"Don't go out by yourself!" Mom fretted, running around the table to follow.

I huffed, a little exasperated at the concern, and shrugged on my jacket. "I literally have a built-in danger detector, I'll be fine."

I stomped out and left them in the kitchen, not caring that it all felt very immature.

It was still Spring in Japan, and even though the sun was setting, the air was warm and humid. I shoved my hands in my pockets and just walked. By my second time around the neighborhood, I realized that it wasn't helping. I was just as frustrated as before.

Letting out a pathetic grunt. I kicked a pebble on the sidewalk. It clanked away and rolled into someone's yard. Sheepishly, I shuffled over and picked it up. It would probably do a number on their lawnmower.

I dropped it into my skirt pocket with a heavy sigh. How was I going to get out of this one? I had actually been feeling better after watching the villains get their asses handed to them and talking with Recovery Girl, but now I was back to feeling a little sick to my stomach. I had so much work I still had to do. I couldn't quit. I hadn't even had a chance to speak to Midoriya about the attack yet, hadn't yet uncovered why he and others were acting so strangely.

I paused. Speaking of Midoriya, he was probably home by now since it had been a couple of hours. I could probably drop by and ask why he jumped in to help All Might and ask for advice about what to say to my parents. He was smart, and our moms were friends, so he knew my family. It would kill two birds with one stone. At the very least, it would help me calm down.

I didn't want to go empty-handed, so I stopped by a dango shop and bought some as a gift. Then I headed for his apartment complex, cutting back through the a residential area.

"Hotaru-chan?"

I glanced up from the sidewalk, then did a double-take. I knew where the Bakugous lived, had seen their house before apparently because I recognized it as soon as I saw it, but I hadn't realized I would be passing by on my way.

Mitsuki Bakugou was watering the bushes surrounding her patio. I waved awkwardly.

Seeing Bakugou's house again reminded me that his family was actually kinda loaded. Now I understood why my mom always seemed embarrassed when we had people over. While we could afford more than an apartment, what we had was definitely on the small side. And I knew that we still struggled with the mortgage every month.

Mitsuki set the hose down, drying her hands on her jeans. Apparently, she was in a chatty mood. "I haven't seen you in so long! Look at you!"

Even knowing what I looked like, I glanced down at myself. I was probably taller, and I don't think she'd seen me since I changed me hair. I was still in my school uniform.

Suddenly, her expression softened. "How are you?"

I smiled politely. "G-" I remembered the events at the USJ were the talk of the town at this point and faltered when I realized she wasn't just asking generally. "I'm okay."

She nodded knowingly. "Well, do you have a minute? Would you like to come in?"

I looked down at the bag in my hands. The dango would get cold.

And, well, it was Bakugou's house.

"I made some tea," she added suggestively. At that point, I had hesitated so long that it would be rude to refuse.

She ushered me in and I bowed several times to say thank you. "None of that, now. Here, there are some spare slippers in the corner." I swapped foot-coverings and padded after her inside. She sat me down at the kitchen table and went to go grab me a cup.

Glancing around made me nervous. I'd never actually seen the inside of the house, but it was even nicer than the exterior, with a clean, modern design. I knew his dad worked in fashion, so it was no surprise that things looked so sleek, but still, it was difficult to picture Bakugou living there. It was surreal. Logically, I knew he didn't live in a cave like a dragon, but that's just where I always imagined him bunkering down for the night.

I swallowed thickly. Speaking of which. "Is Bakugou-san home?" I didn't have it in me for another fight, and I especially didn't want to have one in front of his mom.

"'Bakugou-san'?" She sniggered. "He and Katsuki stepped out for a while." She placed a small ceramic cup in my hands and sat across from me. I laughed nervously, knowing that she knew I was asking about her son but was under the impression I only used his surname to be polite to her. She was letting me know it was okay to be less formal. The only problem was, her son and I weren't actually friends.

I never had anything against Mitsuki. She had never been anything but kind to me and my parents, and I knew bullies didn't just go up to their parents and admit they were dicks to other kids. She was abrasive, just like Bakugou, but she was living proof that the personality type wasn't the issue. It was definitely some sort of complex that made Bakugou the way he was. Call a kid a god his whole life, and it's not exactly his fault when he starts to actually believe it. In fact, I knew Mitsuki spent a heck of a lot of time telling him the opposite.

"I have some dango." I set the bag on the table. "Please, help yourself."

Dango was a dish best served warm, and Mitsuki frowned when she realized I had actually been headed somewhere. "Oh, shoot—"

I waved her off. I'd gotten enough for only Inko and Midoriya, so it was pocket change. I could grab some more later. She poured my tea and some for herself, and I smiled happily when she grabbed a stick of dango.

"You're not going to have any?"

"Ah, no," I said meekly. "I'm stuffed. I just had dinner."

"There's always room for dessert," she smiled but left it at that. "So, tell me all about school. How're you liking things?"

I let my genuine excitement show. "Oh, I love it at UA. We do something cool every day, and everyone is super nice." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to hide a fond smile. Asui and the other girls in class 1-A had quickly become some of the closest friends I had. Yaoyorozu and I had fought side-by-side, Uraraka shared her food with me at lunch, Hagakure bonded over shopping, Jirou and I liked the same music groups, Ashido had invited me out to Karaoke again—they didn't care that I used to be a loser in elementary school. We were bonding and having fun doing it.

And training with Eraserhead and All Might? It was any kid's pipe dream.

I went on about what our days were usually like a little longer than I normally would have because I had the sneaking suspicion that Bakugou never told her about any of it. She seemed to be eating it up.

"How nice it would be to have a girl. I love dirty details." She sighed dramatically. "Oh, and what about Midoriya? Is he doing alright?"

"Alright?" I took a sip of tea. "He's killing it. Everyone loves him. Did you know he was voted class rep, though he stepped down for someone else? And he does really well during training, which is awesome because All Might's there to see it. I'm sure he couldn't be happier."

She blinked as I gushed, then grinned sharply. I trailed off, wondering why.

"That's good to hear. I was a little worried about that boy. It can be difficult to go without a quirk for so long…"

She had to know what her son could be like. But I didn't think she knew how bad he had been, especially toward Midoriya.

"And Katsuki?"

I hesitated for only a second. "He's dominating all the training exercises, and he never slacks off. Everyone thinks he has great potential."

"I see." She took a moment to finish her tea and dango. "Well, let's hope the rest of the year is just a great, ne?"

I flinched. Mitsuki noticed something was off right away. "What? Did something happen?"

I chewed on my lip. It was one thing to chat about school. It was another to spill family drama with a classmate's mom. But, well, she would find out sooner or later. I sighed. "After what happened today, my parents don't want me going back."

She didn't look too surprised, in my opinion. "They want you to transfer?"

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah… to a non-hero school."

We sat in silence for a long moment, and then she leaned back. "I can't say I blame them, Hotaru-chan."

I blinked. "You can't? I mean—" I swallowed because that sounded wrong. "I mean, you're not making Bakugou transfer, are you? So you see the matter differently."

"No, I'm not making him transfer. But that doesn't mean I don't understand where your parents coming from. Your safety is their number one priority."

I rubbed my fingers. I was getting blisters, some from training, some from today. Soon, they would become callouses. "I know I'm not as strong as Bakugou, or as intelligent as Midoriya. But… I can do it too." Our eyes met, and I'm sure my expression was pitiful. "Why can't they believe in me?"

"This isn't about believing you can do something or not." She propped her chin on her hand. "Did you know Katsuki's quirk activated when he was four?"

I almost rolled my eyes. "Wow, that early, huh?" I deadpanned, and she laughed a little at herself.

"I'm sure he never let you all forget it. My point is that I've had since he was that old to come to terms with the idea that my son was going to be a hero someday. That's how long he's known it's what he wanted."

My gaze slid to my tea. I had only made the same decision a couple of years ago. Of course my parents didn't have time to really understand what that meant. And I hadn't considered how my decision would affect anyone besides myself.

"Today wasn't easy for me either, you know," Mitsuki admitted. I looked up, surprised. "I nearly went crazy I rearranged our living room, watered all the plants twice—" She shook her head. "Give them time. It's not easy being the parent of a hero."

I nodded.

I'd been a brat.

I took my cup into the kitchen with her to help clean up, but she snatched it away and shooed me out. I was left to my own devices in the living room and ended up snooping through the photos on the cabinet.

It was a little strange seeing photos of a younger Bakugou, but that was just because the change had been gradual enough that I hadn't noticed it before. "He used to be so scrawny."

"Heh," Mistuki scoffed behind me. "He was a little toothpick, wasn't he?"

Heat flushed my cheeks because I hadn't heard her come up.

I couldn't pass up on a joke. "More like a matchstick."

She gave a hearty laugh, clapping me on the back. "Good one!" She peered at the collection with me.

Then I saw something that brought up some really old memories. I picked up one of the frames to get a closer look. There was no way Bakugou realized this was one of the pictures that were out here. If he did, he probably would have burned it.

"Ah, look at the two of you! So cute," Mitsuki grinned. "Do you remember that?"

"I think so," I said. It was the photo my mom had taken of me and Bakugou on our first day of school. We still had our copy somewhere in a photo album, or maybe loose in a box in the attic. I wasn't sure. We looked so young. I was missing a front tooth. Bakugou wasn't even smiling.

I cleared my throat a little, pushing back a hurricane of sore emotions. The first day of school was also the first day I was called 'Chubby'. I didn't often look back on such a time and feel good about myself.

"It was the only picture he let me take that day. You've both grown up a little since then," she said fondly. "To be honest, I'm really glad he has you and Midoriya with him."

I stiffened. "O-oh? How come?"

She sighed. "Well, you know Katsuki. He has a hard time being sociable, and he doesn't really talk to Tsubasa and the others anymore. It's just nice that he has people there he knows. You can all look out for each other, you know?" There was a smile on her face, but still. Mitsuki seemed… sad. Maybe regretful. I didn't know her well enough anymore to read her.

I set the photo back.

"He protected me," I said quietly. "During the fighting today. There were a couple of close calls, and if he hadn't been there…"

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. "Then I'm glad he was there."

They must have had a grandfather clock somewhere in the house because I heard a chiming. I looked up and realized it was dark outside. Way later than I had planned to stay out.

I thanked Mitsuki for the tea but insisted I needed to leave, hustling for the door.

"Don't you want your dango?"

"Oh," I squeaked. "You can have it. My treat." I would go see Midoriya another day—it was too late, and I'm sure Inko wanted to spend the night with him.

"You sure?"

I smiled and nodded and rushed to get my shoes on.

That night, after I had a clear head, I sat down with mom and dad and had a discussion. First, I apologized for running out of the house after a very difficult day for all of us. Then I apologized for not taking into consideration what my dream would mean for the family.

"We're sorry, too," Dad said. "We got scared and disregarded your feelings."

I squeezed his hand. "You've always helped me fight for my dreams. I took that for granted."

"You still want to be a hero?" My mom asked, cupping my face in her hand.

"Yes."

She paused. "This isn't going to be the last time something like this happens."

I nodded in agreement. "It's only going to get worse from here on out."

After they agreed that I would be staying at UA, we hugged it out. And if my stomach hurt, telling me that I was setting off on a dangerous path, well, then that was for only me to know.

I have a question for y'all. While I am not a manga reader, I do know who the UA traitor is and have been planning to incorporate that into the story. However, I don't want to spoil anyone. My reasoning is that Hotaru's quirk would be able to pick up a traitor, but if you all want me to wait so you're not spoiled, I can wait.

What are your thoughts, should I write around it for a bit or just go for it?