Their Hero Academia – Chapter 80: Get Up Again

Katsuki's fist hit Boost-Rush's faceplate hard enough to leave cracks. It made a very satisfying crack and drove the younger man backwards. The gloves of his costume had enough shock absorption built into them that it didn't even hurt his hand all that much. Not that he minded. The pain just helped keep him angry.

He'd had years of therapy. He had always been an angry child and he had grown into an angry adult. "Ground Zero Temper Tantrum" was, unfortunately, an internet meme no matter how much he yelled at his lawyers to get it all taken down; the video from that time he went to Russia on some international cooperation job and punched some political flunky in the face after he'd lobbed a homophobic slur was still in circulation. He was still banned from Russia for that.

Not that he minded either of those last two things.

But he fought very hard to use his anger instead of letting it use him. He directed it. But now, all of that threatened to boil out of like a pressure cooker about to explode.

Of course, he blamed the girl, Park. She'd been the one who'd actually laid into Katsumi like that. And he blamed her teachers at Shiketsu, who seemed to have done nothing to rein in this budding psychopath. Not that his own teachers, he realized, had been much better. How many times had he tried to maim or kill Izuku during the first term, only to be swatted or chastised without any real repercussions? He'd tried to beat an unconscious IcyHot and only gotten chained to a podium for it.

But right now, he couldn't do anything about Park or her teachers. But Boost-Rush, well, Daichi Monoma was right here…

It had been a damned good thing he hadn't been there when it had happened. He wasn't sure what he would have done. There might well have been a crater and one less student. The thought of losing control like that sickened him, even as some small, buried part reveled in it.

He'd been good about this one, though. He'd asked, very politely, and in his absolutely least threatening tone of voice, that Boost-Rush step inside the Rookies' compound with him for a conversation.

He'd let his fists do the talking. They were very communicative.

"C'mon," he snarled. "Get the helmet off so I can punch you in the face!"

Boost-Rush released his helmet, letting it drop on the floor. He still wore a shocked expression. "Still solving things with violence. No wonder you needed remedial training."

Katsuki felt and heard little explosions popping along his hands. He definitely wasn't keeping his Quirk under tight control. "Oh, you're one to talk."

Boost-Rush brought his hands up, putting on that damned sneer that seemed so common in his family. Katsuiki's lips pulled back in a snarl. "What the hell were you thinking? That little Shiketsu punk damn near crippled my daughter! Did you not get the fucking memo about those brats?"

He let out a low growl, throwing a punch. Boost-Rush was good though, firing the boosters in his arms to dodge out of the way. He didn't fight back, but repeated the move several times, always just ahead of his punches.

"Bakugo." Boost-Rush spoke up at last, actually standing still. Katsuki held off on the punches for a moment. He definitely wanted to hear whatever sorry excuse the other man had. Boost-Rush somehow managed to look contrite and smug at the same time. "I'm not going to try and dismiss your pain or anger, not as a teacher nor as a father. And I am extremely regretful for what happened. I read the files, butI didn't expect things to escalate that quickly or that violently. I assumed I'd be able to step in before things got to that point."

Katsuki had to hand it to him, he did look genuinely remorseful. But it didn't change the fact that he'd allowed all of it to happen in the first place.

"I stand by our teaching methods and our training regimen," Boost-Rush went on. "Sometimes, a violent outlet is needed, to get everything out there before we can start building things back up. And we are dealing with Park." A smirk started in his eyes and then spread to his lips. "You of all people should know this. I hear you had quite a few… explosions during your own school years."

White hot rage burned inside him and demanded release. And right now… he was okay with letting it all out. "Oh, that's it!" Katsuki roared. He threw his hand forward and called up forth his Quirk… only for nothing to happen. Undaunted, he charged forward, only to be slammed to a sudden stop as something coiled around his arms and midsection. Boost-Rush though, had been expecting the explosion and had started to throw himself backward, only to find himself suspended in the air.

"Really, gentlemen?" Katsuki turned and saw Aizawa, now reeling in his Capture Cloth, his hair falling back down, along with Takagi and another Rookie in black, silver, and green. They were androgynous enough, with a mask covering the lower half of their face, that he couldn't immediately tell their gender.

"What the absolute fuck? Did you both get brain damage?" They tapped two fingers against their forehead for emphasis. "Bad enough we've got those sorry excuses for Hero students out there, you have to go and take stupid pills too?" The voice was probably female.

Okay, whoever the other Rookie was—there were so damn many of them, who could keep track?—he did like her attitude. At least, he liked it when it was directed at Boost-Rush.

"How about letting me down, Takagi?" Boost-Rush groaned from where he was floating.

"Depends. You going to be keep fighting Ground Zero?" Tagaki asked, but he still snapped his fingers and released whatever kind of lock mojo he'd put on Boost-Rush. The smug bastard hit the ground with a thud.

"I'm disappointed, Bakugo," Aizawa said, giving him a level glare.

"You know what this idiot let happen," Katsuki growled. He started to raise a fist, but stopped when he saw Aizawa's Capture Cloth twitch.

"We're dealing with it," Aizawa said. "We'll bring them back to working with our students eventually, but it's a big compound, so we're temporarily segregating the Shiketsu students."

"And then we're letting Hokori take charge of them," Takagi said. He shuddered visibly.

"I do like the yelling part," the other Rookie- Hokori -said. She(?) rubbed her hands together almost gleefully.

Katsuki gave Boost-Rush his best glare and the other man flinched. Good. Sometimes, being scary was all right. "This isn't over."

Dad met her by the med station. His glare could have burned a hole through steel. He crossed his arms. "First question: Are you okay?"

Katsumi frowned and crossed her own arms. This wasn't a back down time. "Bioshock fixed me right up. Still a little sore, but what're you gonna do?" She definitely didn't feel like she'd gone six rounds with a truck anymore, at least. Physical wounds healed pretty easy.

The shock, the shame, those took longer to fade.

Dad's glare didn't lessen. "Good," he said. His voice softened a few notches. "So Park's being dealt with. Some of the Rookies are going to take the Shiketsu kids for separate training. I don't know what they think they're going to say to her." His eyes shifted a little, like when he didn't want to tell Papa something.

He knew something and couldn't tell her. Of course.

"Bitch tried to cripple me," Katsumi growled. That was it? A slap on the wrist and some separate training? Her and that giant, acting like they were better than them from the moment they'd gotten off the bus, and nobody was going to fucking do anything about it? "Pretty sure that's grounds for expulsion."

She didn't say that if Park had really wanted to cripple her, she would have. Katsumi had gotten off easy and she knew it, as much as it hurt her pride to admit. Park had wanted to hurt her and humiliate her, but that was the real extent of it. She almost had a feeling like Park had backed off…

She didn't know if that made it better or worse. Crazy enough to beat the shit out of her, not enough guts to finish the job.

"Not my call to make," Dad said. He didn't look happy about it. "Trust me, I'm mad as hell. But we're not going to pretend you're blameless in all this either."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Her? Sure, she'd wanted to put one of those Shiketsu snobs in their place, but that was just defending herself, her class, and U.A.'s honor!

"From what Mahoro says, you were trying to pick a fight with Tatsuma."

"She deserved it! She was looking down on us!"

"Are you out of your damned mind?" Dad snapped. He was getting louder now. "What have I told you about picking fights?!"

"Make sure they deserve it! And she deserved it!" They absolutely had! She didn't put up with that talk from anyone! And anybody that arrogant absolutely deserved to be taken down a page! Why couldn't Dad see that?!

Dad's face got all scrunched up, and he started gesturing wildly. "Insulting you isn't a reason to punch people! If that was the case, I'd have slugged Copycat Ba—Monoma years ago!"

Was he serious? Did he not remember all the stories about himself in school that he, Papa, and all her "aunts" and "uncles" had told her? Or hell, even the Hag's stories of raising him?

"You did! You used to beat the crap out of people all the time! You slugged a Russian politician! I'm the one who got her ass beat! Why are you yelling at me?!"

"It's my job to worry about you! I'm your father!"

"Then stop blaming me for them being idiots!"

"Why are you like this?!"

"I had a pretty good teacher!"

"Don't hit me, you old bat! I'll send you into the ceiling!"

""SHADDAP! When you get down to it, you got taken and inconvenienced everybody because you're so weak!"

Dad went through a very fast facial journey, from angry to shocked to depressed to determined in something like under five seconds. He closed his eyes, took in a breath, and seemed to be counting.

"Okay," he said after a long moment. "I know a lot of those old stories are funny. And hell, some of the people I went berserk on definitely deserved it. But I really hope you realized how much of that I'm not proud of."

Okay, yeah, he had a point. Dad had always been open about the amount of therapy he'd had and how there was a lot he regretted. But…

She wasn't sure how to finish that thought.

"And what would your papa say if he'd seen you acting like that?" Dad demanded.

"…Crap." That was a lot blow. But revenge wasn't exactly Womanly behavior. And neither was picking a fight just because she could. And sure, she liked putting the fear of her into people. Most of them definitely deserved it when they were acting like idiots.

But to do it just because of a few insults? Because something about them set her teeth on edge?

Maybe she'd been wrong incorrect not right at fault not been thinking clearly. Fighting just to prove her superiority? Because of some perceived slight? Because she wanted to prove her class was better than somebody else?

…She's been acting like Monoma.

Fuck.

Her stunned expression must have shown on her face, because Dad pulled her into a hug. "C'mhere, Firecracker. You're a good kid. Smart, loyal, I'm lucky you turned out all right, given your genetic material. But I guess you really do have too much of me in you sometimes. And you're not the only one at fault here. You're not blameless, but you're not the one who took it too far. But maybe don't pick quite so many battles? You're making me look bad in front of the hobo."

That did get a laugh out of her. "It's weird having you here," she said when he let her go. And there must have been too much pollen in the air, because her eyes were getting misty. "But good too. Let's me keep an eye on you."

He ruffled her hair. "Pretty sure that's my job, kid."

She looked down at the ground. She'd admitted this to Izzy. She could admit it to Dad. "She… she hurt me, Dad. I'm good. But she's damn good. How the hell does someone my age know how to fight like that?"

Like it was actual life or death.

Dad shook his head. "I wish I could tell you. But I've got an idea… and I'm going to find out."

The mood in the camp had distinctly changed since the morning, since Park had beaten Kirishima-Bakugo so badly that the other girl could barely stand. When she closed her eyes, Akaya could still see the violence play out, with the cold, unfeeling expression on Park's face as she vented her rage on Akaya's classmate. She must have been unable to keep the horror off her face as she watched, for Park had only stopped when she'd locked eyes on her.

"I am not as good a Christian as I should be." Park had told her that. She hadn't believed it at the time. People often magnified their own faults or held themselves to too high of a standard. Now, she almost felt as though Park had been right.

She had not seen Park since the girl had walked out of the ring. In fact, she had not seen any of the Shiketsu students since this morning. All of them, including Mika's boyfriend Shinji, had been rather quickly hurried away by members of the Rookies when the U.A. students had been dispatched to different training assignments. Come to think of it, she had not seen Aizawa-sensei in some time either. If she knew their teacher, then he was likely giving someone or perhaps several someones any earful.

Even now that it had become lunchtime, they still had not seen them. The U.A. students had been put in charge of preparing their own food. Fortunately, Midoriya, Tokoyami, Kana, and Awase had quickly taken charge and organized things so that the process went very smoothly. Though she still spared a thought for the Shikestu students and hoped they were being well fed.

The only small mercy from this morning was that all the chaos had distracted her from her own problems. And for that, she felt tremendously guilty. One of her classmates had been badly injured and she was happy it took her mind off the romantic entanglements she seemed to have found herself in? Though perhaps it had distracted Mika and her gaggle of would-be romancers as well. All the more she should feel guilty for.

"Are you all right, Koda?" Shoji asked, shaking her loose from her moment of introspection. Concern wrinkled his otherwise handsome features.

"I'm all right," she told him quickly.

He seemed to be weighing her words before he spoke again. She was sure he didn't believe her. But Shoji was also a private person and respected the privacy of others. "If you say so," he said finally. "You know I'm here if you need to talk, right?"

"Of course," she replied. "Thank you."

The others at their table, the ebon-skinned and serious Chizue Kuroiro and the extra-large Kentaro Fukui, both of them among her Class 1-B friends, were likewise not ones to pry, though Fukui did give her an extra look of concern. For all his tremendous size and build, he was a kind soul, and likely worried about her.

Akaya knew she had worn her distracted state of mind on her sleeve this morning, and that it had not been helped at all by the other events. Though not all had been there to witness it, word had rather quickly spread, the story told multiple times in multiple ways by multiple people, no doubt corrupted down the line like some game of telephone. There was a definite disharmony now, a mood hanging in the air that threatened to boil over if something wasn't done.

Across the room, she spotted Midoriya, Tokoyami, Awase, and Kana occupying a table, locked in hushed conversation. No doubt the Class Representatives were trying to come up with some plan to keep the peace and prevent future conflict. She'd pray for their success, just as she'd pray for Tatsuma and Park's hearts to be less hardened.

One particularly crowded table was occupied by Mika, Shiro, Anime, Kaminari, Ojiro, Sero, and Kenta. Mika was talking rapidly, though she couldn't make out what was being said. Condiments and utensils were being used as props. Kaminari had her head in her hands, while Shiro and Kenta kept trying to interrupt and were getting silenced instead.

This did not bode well.

"Have you seen Aoyama?" she asked Shoji. She scanned the room, but did not immediately see him. But Shoji's powers of observation were second only to those with actual Quirks that aided their senses.

"Over there," Shoji said, pointing with the fingers on his top-right Extendo-Arm. She followed the pointing over to the corner of the room, where Aoyama was sitting by himself, occasionally casting furtive glances in the direction of Mika's table. Had he been forewarned somehow about what was coming? She would not rule out the possibility of Shiro doing that if he knew.

Akaya stood. She was a Hero student, was she not? A Hero did not simply wait for things to happen to them. They took matters into their own hands.

It was time to prove she had the heart of a hero.

"And with that," Mineta said, clapping her hands together, "they'll fall in love! Or at least lust. Or even mild attraction. At this point, I'm setting the bar pretty low."

"I love it!" Fukidashi bubbled, joining in the applause. "It's just like season 5 of Dating in the Dungeon!"

"Eeeee," Kimiko squealed, clapping her hands together. "I've never caused a ship to happen before!"

"Okay, explain this to me again," Takuma said. "Do we not like Koda now? Is that way we're setting her up with Aoyama?"

Kimiko, naturally, reached out and smacked him upside the head. "Don't be so mean, Takuma! Aoyama's my gossip-buddy! Besides… the two of them are clearly crazy about each other!"

"Okay," Takuma said, rubbing his head where she'd smacked him. He suddenly perked up, a look spreading across his face that Kenta recognized as his "good idea" expression. It usually meant that whatever he was planning, it would get them in trouble.

Kenta frowned slightly. He could have sworn he saw Mineta and Kaminari look guilty for a second. He couldn't pursue that line of thinking any further though, because Monoma starting talking. And Monoma was being positively civil, which was definitely new. But apparently he was dating Kaminari now? There was still a shell-shocked look behind his eyes too. He seemed to have taken the outcome of Kirishima-Bakugo's fight hard.

Kenta felt so, so lost.

"You all do realize that any plan that Mika and Fukidashi agree on is doomed to failure and probably makes negative sense?" Monoma said.

"See, that's what I said too," Kaminari added. Her Cords sagged. "But they didn't listen to me."

"Ladies… and Takuma, this is a really bad idea," Kenta agreed. Akaya was a longtime friend of his. Their dads were close. Heck, her little brother was named after his dad. And sure, they didn't talk as much as they used to, but he still cared about her. She definitely didn't deserve to be roped into some zany scheme, even if she probably could use some cheering up lately.

"Do you have a better plan, Kenta?" Kimiko asked, turning to look at him. She was wearing a pair of pink bows in her hair today, having cited that "you can't train if you aren't cute."

"No," he said. "But it's all about to be a moot point, I think."

He pointed over to where Akaya had approached Aoyama and joined him at his table.

"May I join you, Aoyama?" Akaya asked. He looked up and she would swear that she saw a blush behind the glow that suffused his skin. Was that because of her? No, that couldn't possibly be it. No matter how he reached out to her or anything else, he couldn't possibly have feelings for her beyond friendship.

"Of course, Mademoiselle Koda," he replied. She was a little surprised. Usually, he made his accent thicker to pour on the charm with whomever he was talking to. But she knew that he was Japanese by birth and culturally French. Here, though the words were still French, there was precious little of his usual accent in them.

"Thank you," she said, before sitting across from him. His lunch was only half-finished, but he'd pushed it away from himself. Akaya frowned. "Are you not hungry?" she asked.

"Too distracted to eat, I suppose," he said. Distracted? By what?

"It has been quite the time," she agreed. "This morning was very unpleasant."

"Mmm." Aoyama nodded. He waved a hand through the air, striking a brief pose. "Très horrible. So brutal. No sense of style at all."

In spite of herself, Akaya almost smiled. She managed to successfully hide that behind her hand. Of course, Aoyama would focus on that. Or at the very least, he wanted her to think that was what he was focusing on. She was never entirely sure how much of how he presented himself to others was a performance.

"Horrible," she agreed, and their conversation fell silent, both of them just sitting their awkwardly. What had happened to the courage she had summoned to walk over here? Was it so quickly banished?

Akaya looked down, staring at her rocky hands. Was she such a fool as to think their might be something more between the two of them? She had not allowed herself to consider it before. Had, in fact, used a very strong amount of denial not to even see it. But when the others had decided to take matters into their own hands, she'd been forced to confront it.

And now she was running from that confrontation.

Some part of her, even knowing others in her family had found love, had always thought that no one would find her attractive. What might be cute on a boy did not translate to the same standard for a girl. She'd accepted it. Tried to make peace with it, then buried the thoughts so deep that she did not have to ever even dwell on them. Until the events of her Internship had brought them back to the surface.

She had tried to push them down again. But this time… she could not. And then to dangle a glimmer of hope in front of her eyes… And now, of all times…

Truly, the Lord worked in mysterious ways.

"Aoyama, I…"

Koharu found herself sitting with Haimawari, the Iida twins, and Shinso. The mood was dour, even from the normally excitable Shinso. But by mutual and unspoken agreement, none of them were talking about the events of this morning. No one wanted to dwell on it too much.

Her wings were stiff, aching to spread and fly. With the morning's training having been focused on fighting without their Quirks, she hadn't had any chance to fly yet today. Even when she'd been in General Education, she'd found time to take to the air at least once during the school day. All Quirks demanded to be used, but physical mutations like hers seemed especially so.

At least the Rookies had been true to their word about the food. Even if she'd had to make her own smoothies today. But there'd been plenty of fruits and other foods she could blend up, so that was something.

"Soooo," Haimawari began. He looked as uncomfortable with the silence as she felt. "Shinso, they're gonna be doing the Official Hero Billboards in a couple months. How do you think that's going to shake o…. Oh, crap, I shouldn't have asked that, should I, sorry, I didn't mean to bring up…."

Shinso gave him a small smile. Most of it reached his eyes. "It's okay, Haimawari," the purple-haired boy said. "I've been thinking about it too."

They did a lot of smaller rank adjustments throughout the year, of course, but there were still a couple of "big" times every year that were considered the main event. Ceremonies, interviews, the whole thing. Koharu always enjoyed watching them. Of course, that was before she'd befriended the children of so many highly-ranked Heroes.

"Pretty sure Uncle Deku's a lock for Number One," Shinso said. "He's been having a really good year, and after he saved everybody… while we were… on our Internships…" His voice trailed off for a second and he closed his eyes tightly.

Just as suddenly, he opened his eyes and went on. "Lemillion's been doing really good too, but he hasn't had as many high profile cases lately. But he's still really popular, especially with kids, and that counts for a whole lot!"

"He really is as cheerful as he seems," Koharu agreed. Though she'd mostly been "interning" with Deku and the Voice, she'd also spent a good amount of time around Lemillion. The man was exceedingly upbeat and more than a little goofy. He'd also tried to set up her up with his son, David, but had instantly demurred when she'd told him she was a lesbian. From what Midoriya had said, that was pretty common. He was apparently a shipper.

Just as well she'd only started crushing on one of her new classmates after that. He'd have probably found a way to pry it out of her and then she'd have never heard the end of it. She was also damn sure it was unrequited and never would be requited. She was such a useless lesbian sometimes!

"He closes a lot of cases too," Haimawari said. "Not always high profile there, but he's a good investigator. So he's got that too."

"Right, right," Shinso agreed. "Which is really important. Even if it doesn't have the whole wow thing."

"Okay," Haimawari went on, "so we know the top few don't really move much. I think Shoto even said in an interview once that he didn't want to get any higher than Three. So what about the Number Five spot on?"

Koharu noticed he was very carefully diverting the discussion away from Ground Zero. That was probably a touchy subject for Shinso, she realized. Though he seemed okay with having him for a teacher, at least.

"Five is Nejire-Chan and Suneater, right?" she asked. Nejire-Chan was a favorite of hers. Of course, Nejire-Chan was very popular among lesbians, she found, even if she herself wasn't one.

"Right," both of them said. Shinso's head bobbed like one of those drinking birds.

"They're probably gonna drop," Shinso said. "They didn't do a whole lot during the big thing, and a lot of people say it's mostly Nejire-Chan holding them up, since she's really friendly and has a really cool Quirk. Lots of people don't really think Suneater's all that approachable, and they think his Quirk is really weird, even though it's actually really cool, especially with how he…"

"Toshi would remind you to breathe, if he was here," Sora Iida interrupted.

Shinso stopped talking for a second to suck in a breath. "Right, but it's really cool and he can do all kinds of stuff with it! But some people think the stuff like the tentacles are really gross. But Mineta says that that's why Nejire-Chan is a lucky woman. I don't know what she means by that though."

Nope, she definitely wasn't explaining that.

"Your dad's probably going to go up," Shinso said to the twins. "Team Iidaten did really good during everything and he's always catching all kinds of bad guys! Everybody really likes him!"

"Father has always said that he is happy to serve, regardless of his ranking," Tensei Iida said.

"However, he does recognize that the rankings do bring him ample opportunity to lead by example, and provide that example for other Heroes," Sora Iida added. "Though I am starting to wonder if they are worth the emphasis we place on them."

Shinso frowned. "You mean what Tatsuma said," he said. "I get why she's upset…"

"That's putting it mildly," Haimawari said. "She got scary."

Koharu was aware she was missing something, but Tensei seemed to be missing it as well, so she wasn't entirely alone in that.

"She may not have been entirely wrong," Haimawari said after a moment. "But I don't think she was completely right either. Most of you guys, you're basically Hero royalty, but me and my dad, we always used to watch and look forward to the Billboard Charts. Folks like your parents, getting to see who was watching out for us, that was something special. And watching the rise and fall, well, it made them human too. Seeing them try, it was inspiring. And we felt for the ones who fell. Sure, it's partly a popularity contest… but it's a way to connect with them too, on some level."

"Same, really," Koharu said, nodding in agreement. "And when people like Froppy made it, it was always a big deal in my house. We all went nuts when Rodeo made it in a few months ago. Mutant-types in the Top Ten isn't rare rare, people like Gang Orca and Mirko and Hawks hung onto their spots for ages, but it's still a lot less common. And Hawks and Mirko are still traditionally attractive." She looked over at the twins. "And, sorry, you dad doesn't count. He might be a Mutant-Type, but he's passing and he's never spoken up that much about it."

She wasn't especially bitter about that. But it was still a point worth opening.

Sora raised a hand to protest, one finger pointing in the air, her mouth starting to open. But then she closed her mouth and snapped the hand to her chin, where she appeared to be giving the matter serious thought. "A fair point," she conceded.

"Indeed," Tensei agreed, though he didn't look entirely happy about it. The Twins were Mutant-types too, of course, with their Jetpack Quirks causing pipe-like growths on their backs, but they were also otherwise normal looking (Or close enough. Tensei's hair was a little weird.) and very rich. They didn't have the same issues people like her did.

"Rodeo's probably going to go up," Shinso added. "She and Aunt Momo did a lot of good work when everything was going on. Aunt Momo might even make it back up into the Top Ten."

Koharu recalled that Creati had been pushed from the Number Ten spot to Number Eleven with Rodeo had jumped up to Number Seven. Not a big fall, but still a noteworthy one. It was always good to see more women in the Top Ten.

It was also, she admitted, more than a little disconcerting with how casually Shinso referred to A-list Heroes as his extended family. Haimawari didn't seem bothered by it.

"Gale Force has been doing pretty good lately," the purple-haired boy went on. "And he mostly operates on the other side of the country. So he's got good stats over there. Popular too. Everybody likes him. So he'll probably at least keep his spot, if he doesn't go up."

"I don't know about Aunt Tsu," Shinso went on. "She's really popular, especially with kids, but she's usually doing stuff out at sea that people don't get to see… But she's also really big on rescues and other stuff, so even without a lot of Villains, she gets good press…

"And, of course, everybody likes Red Riot and Real Steel! They're so tough and manly! And really funny too! They're always saying stuff that makes the late night shows!"

"And how do you know about that?" Sora asked. She gave him something of a stern look. "Toshi says you've been going to bed on time. Was he incorrect?"

"…Clips the next day?" Shinso tried weakly.

Somehow, Koharu doubted that.

"I would like to speak frankly," Akaya said, finally. "If you do not mind?"

Aoyama went quiet for a moment and for once, she had difficulty reading him. There seemed to be a lengthy conversation going on behind his eyes, though she could only guess as to the topic. She didn't dare hope as to what it might be.

"Non," Aoyama said finally. "Please do. I think, perhaps, it best we speak. Before others speak for us."

"Mika means well," Akaya said. He gave her an incredulous look. "Most of the time," she amended. "Anime and Ojiro may be doing things for their own amusement though."

"Ojiro is… silly," Aoyama replied. "But she does believe in l'amour and romance. She takes it quite seriously, in her own way."

Awkward silence again suffused the table, threatening to choke any chance of conversation like a kudzo vine choked out any other plant. There were so many ways to avoid talking about what was now clearly on both their minds.

She looked around the room and saw that Mika and the others at her table were watching them. A quick glance showed her that Aoyama was aware of it too. It looked a bit like Kenta, Shiro, and Kaminari were trying to control the others, without much success.

"Plainly, then," she repeated, returning her attention to Aoyama. "You are my friend, Aoyama. I believe that. I value that friendship."

"And I yours," he replied. "I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with. I probably think too highly of myself."

"'Probably,'" Akaya said, casting as much disbelief as she could muster into the one word.

"'Probably,'" he repeated, a bit more firmly. "But thank you. For treating me with kindness and putting up with me. Even when I didn't deserve it."

At this, she did let herself smile. "You are welcome," Akaya said. "And thank you, for being my friend as well. I know you don't reach out to others often, so I am grateful you chose to reach out to me."

She drew in a breath and let it out. "You know what they are scheming, correct?"

Aoyama nodded. "Oui. Monoma told me. Or warned me, in his words."

"Chiasa overheard them and told me," Akaya added. Technically, Chiasa had been spying on them using her Swarm Quirk, but that was beside the current point.

Uncertainty danced in front of Aoyama's eyes. "Mineta and Fukidashi, I can understand them coming up with some scheme without regard for the facts. But not Ojiro. She would not support such a plan if she did not think it had a basis in reality."

This was true. Ojiro was perceptive, if prone to focusing on romantic matters. It was another nail of evidence in the coffin of her feelings for Aoyama. And, she realized, in his feelings for her. There was little use in trying to deny it. Or even in being coy about confirming it. She had told herself she was going to act with the courage of a Hero. And she had told Aoyama they would speak plainly.

She had not truly been doing either of those things.

"She is correct," she said finally. "I do have feelings for you. I don't know how deeply they run, but I know that they run beyond just friendship. I've been living a lot in my own head lately, Aoayama. Old fears and feelings have risen to the surface, no matter how much I try to push them down. So this is me, being honest. I understand if you think of me only as a friend. If you do not return those feelings. I know… I know I'm not pretty like other girls… or even you, for that matter. So I also understand if you do not find me attract—"

"Koda." None of his usual flair, no French titles before it. He had spoken as plainly as he possibly could to get her attention. Aoyama reached out and touched her hand with his. Her hands were bigger than his by no small amount. And his skin was soft, much softer than her own. It wasn't just the difference in texture, he had to moisturize. She felt her stony cheeks reddened at his touch.

"I like you as well, Koda," he said. Words which sent her heart aflutter. Did she dare to believe her own ears? "Seeing you retreat into yourself because of the words of some very stupid children has been painful. But I did not know the words to make you feel better. Words of comfort do not come easily to me. But you are beautiful. I will fight anyone who says otherwise."

Unconsciously, she had taken his hand in hers and felt him give her a reassuring squeeze.

"I… thank you," she said. "Do… do you wish to be more?"

Aoyama looked down. "I am… not always the best person, Koda. And I've got more than my own share of baggage. I'm damaged goods. Someone good like you, you deserve better than me."

She gave him a smile. "I am not so undamaged myself. Perhaps we can be damaged together."

A smile crossed his glowing features. "Perhaps we can."

The Rookies compound was huge, easily big enough that the Shiketsu students and U.A. classes wouldn't have to interact with each other during their training at all. Katsuki was certain it wouldn't last long. Heroes had to learn to work with each other, regardless of personal feelings and beliefs. Katsuki had certainly worked with some real assholes overs the years, like IcyHot's deadbeat dad and that Copycat Bastard. Hell, if he could learn to work with Deku, he could work with anyone. At the very least Pro-Heroes rarely publically brawled to demonstrate their grievances with each other. Behind closed doors was another matter, but still…

The Rookie from earlier— Hokori—was still working with the Shiketsu kids, each going through exercises to strengthen their Quirks. He saw Tatsuma and Park shattering increasingly larger boulders, Shinji using his wind Quirk to keep multiple boulders in the air, while Tsuchikawa was focused on agility training and Shida was unleashing the power of her spider-limbs.

"Okay, you little shits, stop what you're doing and line up!" the Rookie called out. Katsuki remembered now that her Hero name was Sandblast. Another one of those elementary school brats he'd had to babysit back during his 'remedial training.' He knew a bunch of them had been part of the initial group of Rookies, but hadn't bothered to keep track of them all.

Huh. It did give him an idea for a lesson when they got back to U.A. though…

"You're talented," Sandblast said as the Shiketsu students lined up. "All of you. Bunch of barely trained, sorry excuses, but you've got talent, and you're good with your Quirks. But that alone isn't good enough to make you a success or even keep you alive out there."

Sandblast folded her arms in front of her. If she was aware that Katsuki was behind her, she didn't show any sign of it. Shinji though, looked worried. Park's eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second, but she immediately corrected it with a carefully controlled neutral expression.

"Experience will get you far. So will talent and skill with your Quirk." She snapped her fingers, unleashing a small burst of sand. "And it can be gone just like that. My uncle was the Sand Hero: Snatch. He was a good man. And a damn good Hero. Still in the game at forty-five. Back then, not a lot of Heroes stayed that long in the game. All Might. Endeavor. Yoroi Musha. All old timers and all Top Ten Heroes. He might not have been as highly ranked, but he was absolutely on their level."

She snapped her fingers again, unleashing another cloud of dust. "And the League of Villains still killed him. Quirks, talent, rank, none of it is a damned guarantee of safety. The wrong Villain, the wrong Quirk, hell, even the damn guy robbing the bank who's just that scared of being arrested, and you could buy it right then, right there."

He could hear the scowl without even needing to see her face. "Which means we're going to do everything we damn well can to make less little shits out of you and give you every opportunity to survive. Still no guarantees. I'm a realist. But if you die, it won't be because we didn't train you right."

"Nice speech," Katsuki said. And he genuinely meant it. Once, the admission of the possibility of failure, of one bad day like that, it wouldn't have been something he could even consider. That didn't happen if you were good enough, strong enough. But now… He banished that thought.

"Mind if I borrow Park for a few?"

Paws stopped for a moment, snout sniffing the air furiously.

They were almost there, if the scent they were tracking was any indication.

And wouldn't the students be surprised to see them!