Kaira and Tora stumbled back into the observation room. Kaira's eyes were dull. Her Quirk had overheated her body, she was exhausted and leaning on Saotama to keep standing upright. Her partner tried supporting her, but was holding the shoulder with which he'd thrown her at the robot. She guessed he'd sprained something.

When they pushed through the door, they were immediately swarmed by their fellow students.

"Holy crap, that was cool!"

"That was so tense. I thought you were goners for a moment!"

Sero intervened, pushing everyone aside and standing in front of the exhausted students to shield them.

"Everyone, everyone, calm down. They are drained. Let them recover before we start asking them questions."

The students took a step back, giving their teacher and the returning heroes space to breathe.

"Now, first of all," the teacher turned towards his last two successful students, "congratulations! I was ready to call off the test, but you came out on top with an interesting strategy. This shows promise for you. Being able to think on the fly like that is a good trait to have and something that will come in handy in your upcoming career."

Tora didn't respond. He was looking at the floor and his eyes were obscured by his goggles, which made it hard to read his face.

"But, like everyone else, there's room for improvement." Sero turned back to the rest of the class, "Any suggestions?"

"I was reckless."

Tora spoke up before anyone could answer. The teacher look at his pupil. His smile was somewhat faded and he had raised an eyebrow.

"The throw was a dangerous move," Tora continued. His jaw was clenched and he was holding his shoulder a lot tighter, turning his knuckles white. "If my aim was off, Netsuka could've collided with a wall or fallen to her death. If the robot could move, it could've just ducked away and I would've missed even if my aim was spot on. It was an impulsive, reckless move that had to many variables to be pull off safely."

"Tora..."

"Saotama..."

Yui wanted to reach for Tora and comfort him, but Netsuka was first. She gave his uninjured shoulder a squeeze, making him look at her. She still looked exhausted. She was drenched in sweat, but her face was filled with compassion.

"I agreed to the plan. I knew the risks and went along with it. Stop beating yourself up."

"A bit harsher than I would have put it, but a good observation. Don't worry, though. You're here to learn and knowing what you did wrong is the first step in that process, so you're on the right path already." Sero gave the two students a thumbs up.

"Can… Can I go to the nurse's office?" Tora had a weak smile on his face and some shine had returned to his eyes. The comforting words seemed to have worked. "I think I dislocated my shoulder with that throw."

Tora removed his hand to show his shoulder. The class visibly cringed when they saw the damage. His shoulder was pushed unnaturally forward and was jutting out, like it was trying to break through his skin.

"Yes! Of course! Get that looked at immediately!" Sero was visibly distraught. He was surprised Saotama had held on this long and was able to speak so fluently with a dislocated shoulder.

"Netsuka, you go with him. You need to be looked after as well."

Netsuka nodded. "Yes, sir."


Netsuka and Saotama walked to the nurse's office in silence. Now that the adrenaline was leaving his body, Tora's breathing became more laborious and the pain in his body was making itself evident as well.

They nearly fell into the school nursery. Kaira managed to just grab hold of a desk and keep Saotama standing.

From behind a computer, a young woman with wavy, silver-white hair and a lab coat looked up and rushed towards the two students.

"Oh dear, oh dear. I've got him. Please sit down, young lady. I'll take it from here."

The nurse carried Tora to a hospital bed, gingerly helped him crawl into it and placed her hands on his shoulder.

Kaira, meanwhile, found a chair to sit on and observed what the nurse was doing with Saotama.

"This is going to hurt for a moment. Try not to move. It will feel a lot better afterwards than if I put it back without my Quirk."

She closed her eyes and her hands started to glow. A cry of pain escaped Tora's mouth as his shoulder popped back into place. Thankfully the pain didn't last long. Tora panted. Another rush of adrenaline had surged through his brain, but it was already ebbing away.

He looked at his shoulder. It was back in its socket, like it had never moved from there. He turned towards the nurse to thank her, but waited and took in her features while she was still investigating his shoulder.

She looked to be in her mid-twenties. Her face had soft features, large, red eyes, her mouth slightly opened while she was concentrating on Tora's shoulder. Her sleeves were rolled up, showing her arms had many, long scars running along them. On the right side of her forehead, a small horn jutted out. It had glowed while her Quirk was active, but now it was back to its initial state.

"There. It should be all good again. How do you feel?"

"I feel great! Thank you, nurse…"

"Eri. Just Eri is fine."

"Thank you, miss Eri. I feel ready to go." Before Eri could protest Tora jumped out of the bed.

"Woah!"

The moment his feet hit the ground, however, his legs buckled and he fell to his hands and knees. His head was woozy and his breathing ragged

"You are not ready to go. Your body is still adjusting to your shoulder being wound back in time. Please get back into bed. I'll tell you when you're ready to go."

Eri grabbed Saotama and pulled him back into the bed, just as gently as before.

"Please rest while I take a look at your friend." Despite Tora's carelessness to get out of bed as soon as possible, the nurse's voice stayed calm and caring. She understood these children, especially freshmen, were eager to get back into the fray, but they needed their rest just like everyone else. Even if they didn't feel like it.

She turned to take a look at Netsuka.

"You are Netsuka, correct?" Her patient nodded while she bent down and put her hand on Netsuka's forehead.

"I didn't take any serious damage. I just need to cool down. Teach wanted me to come get checked out anyway.

Eri didn't respond, merely nodded. "You may have no outward injuries, but if your record is correct, these temperatures can still damage your body if you keep them up for extended periods of time. I still believe it is better that we cool you down as fast as possible.

Eri walked to a small freezer in the corner of the office, grabbed several cooling packs and gave them to Netsuka.

"Press these against whatever body part feels warmest. If they become tepid, I have many more ready."

Kaira grabbed the ice packs and pressed them against her head and shoulders. She let out a sigh of relief as the stifling heat began to leave her body.

The look of satisfaction made their nurse smile, happy that her treatment was received so well. She gave Tora's shoulder another check-up and then returned to her desk to file more paperwork.

Both students stayed in the office for about half an hour. Tora just rested and let his body adjust as Eri had said and Kaira pressed as my ice packs against her body as she could, switching them out regularly.

While they were resting up, the two students had taken off some off their gear. Tora removed his helmet and goggles and put on his glasses again for comfort while Kaira took off her gloves and boots to allow for more airing and packs to be placed on her body. She was more ice packs than skin at this point.

Her body had heated up a lot during the fight. She had wanted to show Saotama up and her Quirk had responded in kind. It was the one thing she disliked about her Quirk. Just warming up would've been fine, but the fire that raged within her when she started heating up was something else entirely. It tried to claw its way out of her, making her feel like her insides were burning up. Fighting gave her temporary release from that feeling, but the moment she slowed down, the burning sensation came back even stronger.

"Netsuka dear, how are you feeling now? Do I need to take your temperature again?" Eri bent over Netsuka and again pressed her hand against her patient's forehead. "You still feel warm, but that's standard for you, no?"

"Yes, ma'am. My core temperature lies higher even at rest. I feel fine now, thanks."

Eri nodded, satisfied with Netsuka's response and turned to Saotama. "You should have recovered as well. You can both go back to your classroom, but no more physical activity for today. If the teachers disagree, they answer to me."

The sudden sternness in her voice caught both students off guard. They stiffened at the hardening of Eri's voice and nodded before running out of her office.

Tora carefully moved his shoulder around, checking if everything was still working correctly.

"Wow, she works wonders! It feels like my shoulders never dislocated at all."

"That's good. Imagine if they didn't have someone with some sort of healing Quirk. You'd be out of commission for months. With the classes they give here, something like a nasty fall happens all too often I think."

When Kaira looked back, she noticed Tora had stopped walking. He was looking down again with the same expression on his face as at the observation deck after their test.

"Saotama? What's wrong?"

It was quiet for a few moments before Tora spoke.

"I'm sorry."

"Not again… I already told you it's fine. I knew– "

"It's not fine!" Tora's yelling made Kaira jump. "You could've died! If my aim had been off by just a bit, you would've plummeted to your death. I was again stupid and impulsive. Just like when we met at the dormitory… I keep trying to do what I think is right, but I keep making the wrong decisions."

Kaira walked up to him. Comforting him now was going to feel like pitying him. He didn't need that. She had to get him out of his own head some other way.

"Will you just stop moping already!"

Tora turned his head up in surprise. Netsuka stood before him, her arms crossed and a defiant glare in her eyes.

"You know what would've happened if you weren't there with your 'reckless idea'? I would've been knocked out, either by one of the robots or the constant hail of bullets by the turrets. Unlike me, you were still thinking. You took cover and came up with a plan. So in the end, I trusted you, because you have a level head on your shoulders. Stop moping about what happened and use that head of yours to come up with a plan that won't involve throwing me at your target!"

"B-but..."

"No buts! I don't care if you feel sorry. Feeling sorry is not gonna solve anything. Think about what we're gonna do next time, got it?"

"O-okay… Sorry…"

"Stop saying you're sorry, dammit!"

"Right, so- I mean, got it. Thanks."

Tora rubbed his arm and averted his eyes. She was right. He was just whining now. This wasn't going to get him anywhere. Now he just felt like a child for how he was behaving.

Kaira's gaze softened. Looks like she got through.

"Come on. We still gotta get changed."

Saotama nodded and walked beside her in silence.

"Did you mean all that?" Tora spoke up after a few minutes.

"Of course I did. You really think I'm gonna make things up just to make you feel better?" Netsuka looked almost insulted.

Tora chuckled. It's true. That wasn't her way of doing things.

"So you really trust me then?"

Kaira's eyes widened for a moment, but she didn't immediately respond. Had she told him that? She did, didn't she? But did she really feel like she could trust him? She'd trusted him to throw her at a turret, didn't she? And he'd trusted her to be able to take it out.

"Yeah, I guess I do, but don't make me regret it."

Saotama's face, that was still somewhat pensive and downcast until now, grew into a big smile. "You won't! Your trust is a treasure I'm going to cherish."

Kaira felt her face heat up and quickly looked ahead, so the boy next to her wouldn't see. Was he aware of what he had just said?

When Netsuka and Saotama entered their classroom, they were once again swarmed by their friends asking them all kinds of questions.

Thankfully, Sero, once again, pulled everyone away from them so they could look over the footage of the battles everyone had just fought and analyse them in-depth together.


Teiden stared wistfully out the window, his chin resting in his hand. The analysis of all the fights this afternoon had ended and 1-A got the last hour as homeroom to process what they'd learned, ask classmates or the teacher for more clarification on suggestions and comments or just wind down from the fights.

Teiden's mind wasn't on any of those possibilities. He was thinking about a certain girl in class.

For a week now, he'd been trying to get closer to Kikai. For a week, he'd taken every opportunity to try and talk to her. And for a week, she hadn't said a word to him.

Most of the time she cowered away like a puppy that got yelled at by their owner, sometimes she didn't run off, but stood nailed to the ground like a deer caught in the headlights. Regardless of the situation, getting anything out of her was an exercise in futility.

He was ready to give up. If she wasn't even going to talk to him, he should focus on other things. Things that actually had a chance of succeeding.

"D-d-denkyuu…?"

Teiden turned around to look at whoever had addressed him. He didn't recognize her voice, a rarity with how social he was.

Next to his desk stood the girl he was about to give up on. Kikai looked determined for a moment, but when Teiden looked at her, she averted her eyes and her hands started fidgeting.

Teiden quickly sat upright in his chair and answered the shy girl.

"Hey Kikai. What's up?"

Kikai looked surprised that he actually answered. She let out a small gasp and stuttered for a bit longer, trying to figure out the words to say or at least get the words out in a comprehensive manner. All the while her eyes flitted between Teiden, her feet and Kagaku, who was reading a book at her own desk. Finally the words coalesced into a coherent sentence

"I-I-I wanted to apologize. Y-y-you've been really t-t-trying to… talk and be n-nice to me, b-b-but I haven't been able share in y-your enthusiasm and I…" Kikai took a deep breath and quickly rattled off the last few words. "I want to make it up to you."

Unbeknownst to himself, a smile had crept on Teiden's face. Looks like he didn't have to give up just yet.

"That's great! You wanna, like, hang out after school?"

"F-Father wants me go home right after classes," Kikai looked dejected, "He believes I s-s-should focus on studies and n-not get distracted."

"Really? Tough dad..." Teiden rubbed his chin and thought for a while. "How about you just come sit with us for lunch next week. You already know Tora, right? I'll figure something out to bring you along after class at some point."

He gave his shy crush a wink, causing her cheeks to glow. To hide her blush, she bowed.

"I'm sorry for inconveniencing you!"

"It's not your fault your father is such a hard-ass. I'll come up with something. I'm just happy you came to talk to me after all."

He shot her a big, toothy grin that made Kikai stutter even more. After a few more attempts at speaking, she walked away, with what Teiden guessed was an apology. Her face was completely red now. She plopped down in her chair, holding her cheeks, trying to hide her glowing visage.

Teiden suddenly felt a lot better going into the weekend. He'd finally made some progress. It wasn't much, Mr. Kikai had made sure of that, but it was a start. Now he had to come up with a plan to help Kikai convince her father to let her do things after school hours.


Tora lazily opened his eyes and looked at his clock. 2:36 AM. Of course he had to wake up in the middle of night. He turned in his bed and tried to go back to sleep.

Half an hour and much tossing and turning later, Tora was no closer to falling asleep than he was after drinking three cups of coffee. Maybe a nice glass of cold water would help him fall asleep. He could always make some tea. That could help him fall asleep as well.

Tora put on some clothes and bleary-eyed walked to the kitchen. Tea it was. Once downstairs, he put a kettle on the fire and flopped down in one of the couches in the common room, waiting for the water to boil.

The night had its charms, the bespectacled boy thought to himself. The quiet hours of the night weren't something he usually lived in, but he understood why some people preferred it. The serenity of the night was calming. It gave him some time to think.

Classes had been going on for a few weeks now. Teiden had finally managed to talk to Kikai and even brought her to their table during lunch to eat with them. She was still as quiet as ever, but Tora considered her sitting with them instead of on her own a big improvement. Teiden had confided in him that he wanted to do something after hours with as many people from class as possible to get Kikai out of her shell without putting her on the spot. Something fun to do with the whole class.

Teiden was a loudmouth. He could be brash and tactless, but when push came to shove he was probably one of the more considerate guys in class. He was really good at reading people and knew how far he could push everyone.

Tora, meanwhile, got along more and more with Yui. They'd been elected class president and vice-president respectively, forcing them to spend more time together as the middlemen between the class and the faculty. 1-A had also taken to calling them 'the parents of the class', referring to their caring natures and generally more mature behaviour.

His relationship with Netsuka, on the other hand, was going anything but smoothly. Now that she'd said she trusted him, he'd hoped that they could get to know each other better. Netsuka seemed to think otherwise. She didn't avoid him outright, but whenever he tried to strike up some casual conversation she had something else to do and ran off or she was already busy with something. When he then gave her space she seemed to warm up to him again, only to give him the cold shoulder when he tried getting close to her.

The serenity and Tora's train of thought this night was being disrupted by a rhythmic pounding sound from outside. Like a lonely machine hammering away. Tora got off the couch to go and look what made that sound. The school's security was too tight for anyone to break into school grounds, so it was either a teacher or a student and both options made equally little sense.

Outside, Tora saw a figure standing next to a tree, close to the dormitory and punching it at a set, metronomic pace. The moon was nearly full, so the curious student got a good look at the other sleepless person. It was definitely a student. They were too short to be a teacher. They had a short tail and long ears sticking out from under their hair and their body was glowing slightly in the moonlight.

"Netsuka? What are you doing up this late?"

The girl stiffened for a moment and turned her head while Tora walked up to her. Now that he was closer, he saw that his classmate was sweating heavily. She must've been here for a quite some time.

"I'm training. Isn't it obvious? I could ask you the same." Netsuka looked annoyed and turned back to the tree, giving it another punch.

"I couldn't sleep and was setting some tea when I heard you and came to investigate. Why are you training so late?"

"I need to make up for today. I was sloppy."

Kaira was wearing a tank top and a pair of short sweatpants. Her shoulders were heaving with every breath, but nothing else suggested she was tired. She still held her hands high and her eyes stood sharp.

"But you got a passing grade. Why are… you… Netsuka! Your hands!" Tora's attention was dragged towards Netsuka's hands, her knuckles more specifically. Most of the skin on her knuckles had been peeled off and they were bleeding profusely.

"How long have you been out here?!"

"What time is it now?"

"Around… 3:15 by now."

"Been her for about two hours then."

"You've been taking breaks, right?!"

Netsuka shrugged, "I lost track of time. Haven't stopped since I came out here."

Tora was getting increasingly worried about Netsuka. She was committed to becoming a hero, she'd told him as much and her dedication during classes, mostly the more practical ones, was admirable. But this was taking it too far. She was going to seriously get hurt if she kept this up and that was just going to hamper her progress more than it pushed her forward.

"I'll grab the first-aid kit. That needs to be treated immediately. And you need to stop punching things for a while. If that doesn't get looked at, you're going to be set back more than this training is helping you."

Tora turned around to walk back inside, but stopped when he heard Netsuka whisper something.

"Stop doing that..."

"Stop doing what?"

"Stop treating me so nice!" Kaira was yelling all of a sudden. Her hands were balled into fists and she was gritting her teeth together. "You don't owe me anything anymore and I already trust you! What more do you want from me?!"

Tora was taken aback by her aggressive stance and yelling. He had seen Netsuka get angry several times. She had a short fuse, but was quick to calm down as well. This felt different somehow. This ran deeper, something she'd been holding in for a while.

"I don't… want anything from you?"

"Then why keep doing this? What do you gain from this?!"

"Why do I have to gain something from what I do? Can I just not help you because I want to?"

It was Tora's turn to yell now. Why did she assume the worst from him, like he was using her to further his own goals in some way. He felt hurt that she still doubted his integrity to such an extent.

"Why do you want to help me? If you don't gain anything from it, why put so much energy into me?"

"Because it's the right thing to do! We're supposed to be heroes! Helping and saving people is our job. Do you really think I'm in this for the fame and money?! I thought we could finally become friends, but if you think so lowly of me…"

Kaira's body relaxed and she felt her heart drop into her stomach. Tora looked angry, but in the faint light of the moon she could see tears glistening in his eyes. This wasn't the look of someone who was caught doing something. She saw a face filled with pain and anger.

"If you really think about me that way, then I was just an idiot for believing we could be friends! I'll let you be…"

Tora completely deflated when it fully sunk in what Netsuka thought of him. His shoulders dropped and his hands unclenched. He turned to the dorm and walked away, his head hung low and his arms listlessly dangling next to his body.

When he entered the dormitory, he heard the whistling of the tea kettle he'd forgotten. He picked it up from the stove and dumped the boiling liquid in the sink. Tossing the pot aside, he trudged back to his room.

Kaira still stood in the same spot, looking at her feet. Ever so slowly, tears rolled down her cheeks. She hadn't wanted things to go like this.

She didn't know what to think of Saotama, she still didn't. She'd hoped that keeping her distance from him, he would give up on her and spend more time with his friends, but he kept trying. He kept trying to talk to her and… He was so friendly. It baffled her. She didn't know why he kept trying and it frustrated her.

Most of her elementary and middle school 'friends' stayed with her for protection. Not from her, but because she was one of the few people in her school and beyond that stood up to bullies. They always had something to gain from staying close to her and repaid her in various ways.

Saotama did none of that. He gave her his time and effort and expected nothing in return. Often downright refusing repayment when offered. She'd wondered what his game was and now she knew that there was none, at the cost of hurting him with something he clearly held dear.

All fighting spirit had left her body, she fell to her knees and rested her face in her hands. She stopped holding back and let the tears flow, the salty droplets mixing with the blood still dripping from her knuckles, as her body shook in time with her quiet sobs. She'd finally found someone who genuinely cared about her and she'd ruined it. She'd hurt him and now he hated her.

She truly was a terrible person.

After the first two weeks and profuse apologizing, he'd been nothing but kind to her. He took it upon himself to cook for her, he went out of his way to try and talk to her and even helped her with subjects she struggled with despite needing all the study time he could get for himself. And through all that, she'd been distant and cold.

She liked him, she liked being with him. He had a way to make her feel comfortable, but her old instincts had kept telling her this was wrong. And now he was gone.

When the tears finally stopped, she sat on the ground for a while longer, sniffling every so often and staring at the dirt in front of her, as if it would reveal the answers she needed right now. When the ground didn't respond, she got up and dragged her feet back inside, her eyes puffy and red and her hands still bleeding.

In the common room, on a table, rested the communal first-aid kit. On top of it, unpacked and ready to be used, lay bandages, some cotton and a bottle of disinfectant.

Had Saotama laid this out for her? Did he still care about her? After what she'd said he still took the time to prepare this for her? She didn't want to hope, but her heart was telling her to hold on.

She grabbed the cotton and disinfectant and started treating her wounds. If he did still care, she wasn't going to let him down. She was going to take care of herself now. It's what he wanted her to do first. Tomorrow, she determined, she'd make it up to him… somehow.