Alright, so this is the last chapter before UA. The bad news is that, well, Familiar and Raikou had to get delayed until just before/after they deploy to UA (though since Izuku was only supposed to resummon Raikou after getting out of the chair, that's probably for the best). The good news is the next chapter I release will, short of me doing a side chapter based around Erice and Voyager's trip to Tokyo (which I currently don't have plans to do), we will start next chapter with them packing their last things for UA and heading off to the Entrance Exam.

— X Anastasia X—

Anastasia watched Oda Nobunaga finish setting up the final stages of the prank, the diminutive warlord laughing to herself.

"You're in a good mood,' she said.

"I've waited almost a year for the prank, Stasia," Nobu said, hopping down from the ladder and sliding into the corner.

"I asked you to do it yester- whatever," Anastasia sighed, used to Nobu's bizarre behavior after so long as her friend.

You wouldn't think they would be friends at a thought, but the truth was that they were both pranksters. Anastasia could cause Marble Phantasm for the sake of her pranks. The two of them got along like a house of fire.

"Yes, but this is Nobu's triumphant appearance! The audience has waited months for this cameo!" Nobu laughed, gripping the cord as hard as she could and grinning. Anastasia looked out the nearly closed doorway, before nodding to Nobu and ducking out of the way. Here they went… "Show your corpse to the Three Thousand Worlds!"

"Wha-?" Jeanne Alter got out before the three thousand mystic code paintball guns Anastasia had made hammered into her faster than her A rank agility could save her. The black dress and purple jacket she had on was stained bright baby blue, as was her silver hair. Golden eyes snapped to the laughing pair of Servants, and Anastasia quietly visualized a wall of ice between her and Jalter. She had already experienced burning alive once, she didn't want to do it again.

Instead, Jalter lifted both her arms, eyes promising murder… and pressed the button on her communicator that sent a message immediately to Izuku. Oh, "You bitch."

"You're the one who fired the first shot, Ice Queen," Jalter grinned a grin that was all teeth, blue dripping into her mouth and staining it fluorescent. Anastasia ground her teeth, fists gripping tight at her side as Viy rose around her. Jalter reached to her side, gripping the blackened form of the Sword of Saint Catherine. Flames burst along it as she drew it with her right hand, the paint being swallowed by licking tendrils.

No, that would have been Jeanne Alter yesterday. Hoarfrost gathered around her as Viy's Mystic Eyes of Penetration began to open and glow, "It's Grand Duchess, actually, Dragon Witch."

"Oh, good," The flames built further, the fumes of the paint igniting as the paint itself burnt off and left Jeanne Alter looking like some sort of demon from hell, "I was worried your title wasn't conceited enough."

Anastasia raised her hand, palm facing the ground, as Jeanne Alter shifted her grip on the Sword of Saint Catherine, left hand coming down to draw a nameless katana from her hip.

Before either attack could go off, Izuku's voice came over the loudspeaker,."Okita, I need you on floor four. An, Nobu, that wasn't funny. Jeanne… I'll be right there."

Somehow, the exhaustion in his voice hurt more than any attack Jeanne Alter could have thrown her way. Embers and Frost clashed for a second before dying down from both Servants. Jeanne Alter sheathed both swords at her hip and Anastasia leaned into Viy's embrace, both sides glaring at each other.

"Bringing Izuku into this was a low blow," Anastasia hissed.

"Sad your crush is angry at you?" Jeanne Alter mocked.

"Like you're one to talk about crushes, 'let me cuddle with you while we watch anime'."

Jeanne Alter locked up, an explosion of blush flaring across her face. "How do you- don't go telling anyone about that, you- is that what this stupid prank was about? How childish can you be?"

"It can't be helped, Stasia," Nobu laughed, drawing attention back to her… and revealing that she was standing there with a matchlock across her shoulders and a second resting barrel first on the ground, even as she watched them both warily, "Izuku was gonna find out sooner or later!"

"What's going on here?" Okita walked in through the blue stained door.

— X Izuku X—

Izuku was wheeled into the room with an exhausted sigh, looking between Anastasia and Jeanne. They were staring daggers at each other, and Viy was out, but otherwise… "Why did I get called if you two were just gonna sort things out before I even got here?'

Both girls just grumbled under their breath, refusing to meet his eye. Izuku rolled his eyes with a sigh, tilting his head enough to look at Nemo Adjutant, "Left side, third pouch down please?'

"Let's see, let's see," the Nemo said, pulling out a pill bottle, "one, up to four times a day for… headaches?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Thanks," Izuku said with a smile, taking the chocolate tablet and sucking on it before pulling out a pair of chocolate bars from the side pouch and offering them to Nobu and Okita, who were sitting off to the side. Nobu grabbed them both, handing one to Okita a second later after the incredulous look the sakura haired girl gave her. Izuku finished letting the tablet dissolve and then sighed, "Alright, what's going on?"

"... It's nothing," Jeanne insisted after a moment, "We had a disagreement about something earlier and Grand Duchess over there decided to prank me over it. That's all."

"So take it to floor 12 and fight it out," Izuku said, already feeling the effects of the tablet kicking in. Ah, sweet alchemy, was there nothing you couldn't do? "That's what it's there for. Now Nemo's gonna have to clean up all of… this."

Izuku gestured emphatically to the surrounding mess. The bright blue, the exact same shade as the outside of Anastasia's cape, he noticed, paint staining the black carpeting and white walls, the burned hole in the same carpeting that revealed the metal floor underneath.

"Yeah!" Nemo Adjutant interjected, "Do you know how annoying it's gonna be! You're gonna want it done today, Jeanne Alter, which means we're gonna need a new carpet made, and to make sure the electronics didn't get damaged by condensation, and to move everything out of the room, which means unbolting everything and, and, and-"

"We appreciate the hard work you do, Nemo, we really do," Izuku said, patting the Nemo on the head, "even if some of us can be really bad at showing it."

Izuku jerked his head to give a meaningful look at the three in trouble. Nobu finished swallowing her chocolate bar, nodding, "You're the reason we can do so much fun stuff, Nemo! Just because we do it in places that mean you're gonna have to do work doesn't mean we don't appreciate you. It just means we think you're good enough to fix whatever we break!"

"I honestly can't tell if that was meant to be backhanded or not," Izuku said.

"I don't think it was," Nemo said, offering a watery smile at Nobu, who grinned back.

"Alright, Okita, just… make sure she doesn't cause any other messes for the rest of the day, ok?"

"You can count on me maste- ah," the last word was cut off by one of Okita's signature coughing fits, splattering the black carpeting with red blood that caused another small wail from Nemo.

"And you two?" Izuku said, eyes shifting to Jeanne and Anastasia.

"Sorry," Jeanne grumbled, toing the hole she had burned in the carpeting, "It's my room, you can take a couple of days to get everything fixed up, I'll find somewhere else to crash until then."

The Nemo grumbled at that, and Izuku shifted his gaze to Anastasia. She bowed, "Sorry, Nemo. It seemed like a good idea at the time…"

"Now that is definitely backhanded. Wanna try again?" Izuku asked, snark entering his voice for the first time since he entered the room. Anastasia winced.

"I'm sorry, Nemo, I won't do it again."

Well that was good for about three weeks, unless she specifically meant "I won't use an army's worth of paintball guns" again. Like, he wouldn't trade her for the world, if he could avoid it, but he had absolutely no trust that Anastasia was gonna not prank people going forwards.

"Next on my schedule is," Izuku muttered tapping the communicator and pulling up the List, "Right, me and Mash were gonna go out into Mustafu-"

"I'm coming!" Anastasia yelped immediately.

"You're in trouble," Izuku shot back.

"Please?" Anastasia shot him with her best puppy dog eyes, which Izuku stressfastly ignored. Or at least tried to, "C'mon Izuku, they wouldn't let me leave while you were unconscious and said I could go when you got up!"

"We… did, kinda say that, didn't we?" Jeanne muttered.

…

"Fine, fine. Go get changed into something that won't stand out," Izuku sighed, throwing up his hands, "I'll be waiting outside the Border when you're done. Mash?"

"Yes, Senpai?" Mash's voice came out of the communicator.

"We're gonna go into Mustafu with An, meet me outside the Border when you're ready to go."

"Ok!" Mash chriped, "What are we gonna do?"

"Visit downtown and stop by my Mom's apartment," Izuku said as Nemo wheeled him out.

— X Erice X—

Erice was sitting in the water, stirring it with one leg when the Border breached the surface. A long ramp extended from the ship until it was in the sand behind her and Erice watched Izuku wheel himself down the ramp. Climbing to her feet, she walked towards her Master.

"Hey."

"Hi," Izuku said, glancing over and smiling at her, "What are you doing out here?"

"Thinking about going for a swim," Erice said, before throwing a look at the water, "of course, the way the beach is, I'd probably end up hitting something. This place is a mess."

"Yeah," Izuku said, unwrapping a chocolate shaped like a cigarette and popping it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully, "Where's V'ger?"

"Somewhere in there, with Tesla," Erice nodded to the piles of trash on the beach, "I might hate it, but you got to admit, the trash is good for the Casters to scrounge up QP from."

"We'll get it cleaned up sooner or later. I don't want our front lawn to be a landfill," Izuku said, before swapping to accenting English, "Voyager! What are ya making?"

Voyager's head popped out over a pile of trash, a minute later, "We're making a rocket, Mr. Izuku! Now that we don't need to worry about the Foreign God shooting it down, me and Mr. Tesla want to try out a design we've had for a while!"

"Good to hear! Just be careful, ok, Kiddo? We don't want you getting buried under all that trash!"

"I'm a Servant, Mr. Izuku!" Voyager giggled, "if I get covered, I can just astralize to get out!"

"Yeah, but it'd be scary until you thought to do that, wouldn't it?" Izuku asked, leaning forwards and smiling as he rested his elbows on the armrests of the wheelchair.

"That's true," Voyager nodded, "I'll be careful!"

"Good to hear. Wanna go out for ice cream at some point with Jack and Jeanne?"

Voyager's eyes lit up, and he nodded.

"Right, it's a promise. I'll add it to the list of things I need to do," Izuku said, pulling up his schedule, which was fully blocked in, *let's see… that can't move back. That can't either… that can wait a week or two."

"While you're at it," Erice said, "I want some time off."

"For what reason?" Izuku said, "because time off implies you're doing something that isn't just relaxing on the Border."

"I want to head into Mosaic- Tokyo," Erice started before correcting herself. Mosaic City didn't exist here.

"Yeah?" Izuku said, pulling up a different app on his communicator and typing in something with his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth.

"I know it's petty, but I want to see what Akihabara looks like."

"Heck of a lot different," Izuku said, "it's a major part of otaku culture here, not a resort town."

"I know, but… I need to see it with my own eyes. How it's different, how Shinjuku's changed, and-"

"Right, three to one vote. You're authorized to deploy as soon as you want."

"-Shi -bwah?"

"What, did you think I was gonna keep you from going?" Izuku asked, closing the app that she now realized was a chat with Goredolf, Da Vinci-Chan and Sherlock, "If you need to go see how the world's changed from the one you know, go then. We have plenty of Servants here, Erice. We can afford to have you gone for… what, a few days, max? The biggest problem is finding a place for you to stay while you're not with us, and even that just requires us getting some yen. Are you gonna take Voyager with you?"

"Probably, yeah," Erice said, still feeling a bit poleaxed by the swiftness at which her request had been accepted.

"Cool," Izuku said as the Border, opened up, letting Mash and Anastasia out into the beach, "I'll see you when you get back, ok, Erice?"

"Yeah," Erice said.

It was hard to remember that Izuku viewed himself as their friend first, Master second, sometimes. This was one of those, who just let their Servant head off to another City without a care in the world?

"Who voted against me going?"

"Goredolf, and even he just doesn't think it's a good idea to deploy a Servant so far out when we haven't locked down the immediate area."

— X Inko X—

Inko looked up at the polite knock on her roped up door, standing up and undoing the rope (and old All Might jump rope from when Izuku was small) holding it shut. The minute it fell to the ground, the door swung open, leaving Izuku staring at the hand shaped indenture in the wood with a tilted head. He was wearing a pair of white pants, a dark blue jacket that's sleeves stopped just below his elbows and a short orange scarf around his neck. Behind him was Mash in the same white and grey sweatshirt over black dress she had been wearing the first time they had met and Anastasia wearing a white and slightly translucent sundress, a straw sunhat on her head even though it was early spring.

"What happened here?" Izuku asked, laying his fingers over the indents in the door. Inko looked at them, blushing in embarrassment.

"I tried to shut the door on your… ah, friends, yesterday, and Artoria decided to keep me from doing that."

"Makes sense," Izuku mumbled, before devolving further, "I'll get Nemo to send a coupleofmarinesoutheretoreplacethedoor-"

"Breath," Anastasia deadpanned, causing Izuku to blink and laugh.

"I'll get it fixed, Mom," Izuku said, "Real easy."

"Thank you," Inko said, stepping aside, "come in!"

Mash grabbed the handles, wheeling Izuku into the apartment. Anastasia looked around as they did, muttering something under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like "my room at Servfest was bigger than this."

"Sorry? I didn't catch that."

"Just surprised about how small it is is all," Anastasia said with a sheepish smile, "I'm sure it's modestly sized for the time and place, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't used to more spacious accommodations. There was obviously far more space at the… places, I stayed in life, Chaldea was cavernous in its size, and you've already experienced the Border yourself."

"Ah," Inko stared at her, "I suppose, being a princess would make this feel slightly claustrophobic. It's about the size of an apartment of this cost-"

"Izuku!" Anastasia switched languages, volleying words at high speeds. Izuku was quiet for a second, then responded with.

"Sorry, could you try that again at a speed I might actually be able to understand? Russian still isn't my strong suit."

Anastasia repeated what she said, slower but still Incomprehensible to Inko's ear. Izuku nodded, stuttering out a response where he seemed to second guess every second or third word.

"Don't ask me," Mash said with a sheepish smile, stopping as she noticed something down the hall and walked towards it, "I don't speak Russia- Izuku, is this your room?"

Anastasia stopped in the middle of another sentence, head whipping towards where Mash was and gliding across the floor at breakneck speeds towards the room. Izuku winced, turning as best he could as he was left alone and sighing, "Here we go."

— X anastasia X—

Anastasia stared at the room in front of her with an open jaw, turning to look at Mash, who looked similarly poleaxed, before turning towards the resigned look on Izuku's face. He rolled his eyes good naturedly, shrugging. Anastasia latched a hand over her mouth as a snerk of laughter slipped out.

"Laugh it up you two, it's funny," Izuku said, and Anastasia stopped trying to hide her laughter, behind her, based on the giggling, Mash had done the same. Izuku wheeled himself closer, casting a look at the doorway, "I don't know why this surprises you guys. I said I was a huge All Might fanboy."

"Yeah, but this is… more than I thought, Senpai!" Mash giggled, before breathing in, "it still smells like you, though."

Yeah, that didn't irritate Anastasia at all. That Mash could identify Izuku based on smell alone.

"It does? Weird, even with me only missing for a few months, you'd think it'd start to smell like dust or something," Izuku stopped in front of the door, looking into the room affectionately, "Man, I had more stuff than I remember. Good God, how much did this stuff cost, Mom?"

Anastasia watched Izuku plant his hand on the doorframe, and he seemed to deage in front of her eyes. The exhaustion in his eyes lightened to fond amusement as his perpetual, small smile split into a wide grin, the slight hunch of his shoulders loosened. Even the grey in his hair seemed to vanish for a second.

"Fou?" And just like that, the spell was broken as a familiar yip came from behind them. Izuku's eyes snapped away from the room and towards Fou, though the amusement didn't fade.

"We did not leave the border with you, little guy," Izuku laughed.

"Kyu!"

"You wanna see the room? Come on over."

Fou moved with lightning speed, winding around Inko's legs, hopping up onto the wheelchair before leaping and jumping to land on Izuku's head, plopping down on the mass of fluff.

Anastasia took a picture of that in a heartbeat, just like she did every time Fou did that. Because it never stopped being adorable.

"Mom, this is Fou. He's kinda… our pet, I guess?"

"Fou!"

"I know buddy," Izuku said, reaching up to scratch Fou behind the ear, "but it's the easiest way to explain our relationship. You've been with us through hell and high water, I know. We're partners."

"Kyu. Fou."

"Love you too, buddy. Where have you been?"

"...Fou?"

"You didn't," Izuku said, sounding agast before grabbing his communicator, "Someone check my candy supply, I think Fou got into it."

Oh, that little.

"That's a yes," The Count's voice said, "want me to fry it?"

"FOU! KYU!"

"No," Izuku said, shooting a look up at Fou as best he could, "You're gonna kill yourself doing that someday, I swear."

"Fou… Fou kyu."

"I bet," Izuku said, before leaning against the doorway and turning his eyes back to the room, "I wonder how much this all would go for if we gave it to the Golden Rule Servants to sell."

"Izuku?" Inko said, sounding startled.

"Gotta give up this kind of stuff sooner or later," Izuku said, "All Might's awesome, don't get me wrong but… I've met a lot of awesome Heroes now, you know? Artoria, Jeanne, Karna, Arjuna, Galahad Alter, Mash… Musashi… Roman."

If the second to last one was said softly, with something verging on reverence, the last one was said almost inaudibly, with reverence. Mash clenched her eyes shut next to Izuku like she had just… just taken a bullet to the chest. Fou sagged in Izuku's hair, letting out a soft, "Kyu…"

"Roman?" Inko asked.

"It always comes back to him in the end, doesn't it?" Anastasia asked, not really sure how to sort the emotions tied to the name. One of the happiest days of her life… unlife… whatever being a Servant counted as, the day she was summoned and met Izuku for the first time… was one of the worst days of his life. The first day he had nearly killed himself desperately trying to summon someone who would never come.

The other name wasn't much easier. Anastasia wasn't delusional enough to not know she didn't play first fiddle in Izuku's heart, that position lay solely, and probably always would lay with, Mash. But it really stung knowing she didn't play second fiddle either. That position was for Musashi.

"Romani Archaman, the Mage-King Solomon," Izuku said, "He was like… Chaldea's dad…"

"Our perverted, goofball of a dad," Mash said.

"He'd raise hell if one of us was in trouble, but…"

"God, was he embarrassing sometimes."

"Remember when he found out Magi Mari was Merlin? I thought he was gonna have a stroke."

"You should have seen him when Gut was around."

"I did that one time," Izuku chuckled, "I don't think I've ever seen Roman more angry about anything… not even having to put up with Merlin or finding out about Goetia."

"Don't ask me," Anastasia said at the glance from Inko, "he was… gone, by the time I was summoned."