Disclaimer: The intellectual property rights to Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 belong to Atlus and its respective creative directors, as does the My Hero Academia series, with Kohei Horikoshi.

Author's Notes: It sucks that some readers saw the last update as a non-chapter, but they're a necessary evil. As an olive branch, I'm releasing this chapter ahead of schedule.

Do take note that I've updated the genre tags for this story. Everything should be hunky-dory now.

0.0

"Yu…"

Takeyama Yu felt a nudge on her arm. In response, she retreated deeper into the futon and dug her head under her pillow. That small act only served to remind her of the sharp ache throbbing in the back of her skull. Yu squeezed her eyes shut and whined mutely.

"I'm going to school. There's onigiri in the fridge. I also bought you vitamin water. Drink it."

Blearily, she peeked at the shadow looming over her.

"Keys are on the table," the person said plainly. "Lock up when you're leaving. Oh… and I kept your stuff in the closet."

"'mm'kay," she mumbled.

The voice sighed.

Yu heard more rummaging in the background, which was followed by a hollow clatter.

"Aspirin is next to the keys."

"You da best, Minato."

Yu only dared to move once she heard the door to the apartment close shut behind him. With a heavy heart and a heavy everything else, she willed herself to an upright position. It was hard to leave the unimaginable comforts of the futon she had apparently stolen; every fibre of her being begged her to sink back under the covers.

Unfortunately, directly opposite her was a full-length mirror.

Catching her current state of self only made her groan into her hands. "You suck," she told herself. "You suck so much right now." She was sure that her reflection was nodding along to her words.

This was beyond mortifying.

She had to make it up to him later. Fishing for her phone, which had conveniently been relocated beside her—fully charged to boot—Yu rattled off a quick text to Minato.

You: Owe you big time… (sweat drop)

You: You'll prolly learn about it in school, but we're gonna have a thing together in the afternoons from now on…

You: So I'll be waiting for you once you're done with classes

You: Let's do lunch

His reply wasn't immediate, but she waited patiently for one, seeing that he had appeared online right after she sent it.

Mount Laddie: K

Minato promptly went offline.

"K?!" she said, incredulous.

Yu flopped back down on his futon and groaned for the umpteenth time that morning. "Rock bottom, Yu." She patted the quilted covers, adding, "Sure feels nice though…"

0.0

The door to the faculty's office slid open even before Arisato Minato had the forethought to knock. Tired blue eyes blinked slowly at him. He blinked back. The woman, with long spiky purple hair, readjusted the folders in her arms and tapped her temple absently.

He bowed in greeting. "Good morning, Midnight-sensei."

"Morning, Arisato-kun," Midnight said pleasantly. "It totally slipped my mind that we had a meeting. I forgot to mention that there's been a change in schedule this morning. We're having a school assembly in lieu of our homeroom period, so I'm afraid we don't have time to rush for our meeting right now."

He nodded by way of understanding. "I'll take my leave first, sensei."

"None of that now. I tell all my little slaves to use my given name when we're in school." Her smile was earnest when she said, "You're officially one of mine now, Arisato-kun. So call me Kayama-sensei."

His ears twitched. Had he misheard?

"Of course."

He made to walk ahead.

"Don't run off just yet. I wouldn't mind some company along the way." With that, his new homeroom teacher escorted him down the corridor, towards the school's P.E. grounds. "How are you feeling, Arisato-kun? I heard you were injured during the incident."

"It was nothing serious. Recovery Girl said I just needed to rest."

"That's good. Sorry, I didn't come around and visit. The last two days have been somewhat hectic." At his questioning look, Kayama explained, "It's the normal procedure we have whenever our students are injured, especially in an official capacity."

"I see… How are things here in school?"

"Terrible."

His eyebrows rose at her honesty.

"You kids are anything but sheltered," she said. "While I understand it's not part of the General Education's curriculum, being aware of the current political climate comes with the territory of attending a school like UA. It's not hard to infer the backlash our dear Principal Nezu is facing."

That would explain the sudden appearance of those autonomous security bots running around campus. On his way into the main building, he had been accosted by one, although it had merely scanned him before shuttling away.

"Will he be asked to step down?"

"Nezu still has some pull, so don't worry about him. Let the grownups handle the political infighting. You kids just need to focus on your studies. That goes double for you, Arisato-kun. You've been given a lot of leeway to be able to transfer during the semester. So please don't abuse the faith we've shown you."

"I won't," Minato said. "Is that why you called for a meeting?"

"Part of it. I've ironed out your personal schedule for the rest of the semester, but there's quite a bit more that I need to discuss with you personally." Kayama handed him his timetable. "This will be a crash course in Heroics unlike anything we've done here in UA."

Minato inwardly winced when he gave his schedule a once-over.

"Normally, the curriculum for third-year students is quite lax," Kayama explained. "We still have a few mandatory subjects that are held here on campus, but in your third year, the focus shifts to field work assessments with the various Pro Hero agencies."

Minato gestured at the uniform block that had been highlighted on his schedule. "Is this my field work for this term?"

On and off, his field work was a solid six-hour stretch that had been set aside in the afternoons; some of it had even replaced his regular allotted classes, meaning that he only had to attend school in the morning.

"Yes, your learning will be officially supervised by Mount Lady's agency. Well, partly. Yours is a special case, Arisato-kun. Given that you've missed pretty much all the foundation classes that underpins our Heroics programme, Principal Nezu has deemed it fit to… improvise. So while the rest of your peers are going through their own internships, you'll be doubling down by participating in supplementary classes with your juniors, on top of the internship duties Mount Lady requires of you. Of course, we still need to finalise your provisional license requirements with the Public Safety Commission."

His mind spun like a broken record.

"Supplementary classes with my juniors?"

"You'll be joining their classes here and there." Kayama shrugged, adding, "Like I said, it's a crash course. No one ever said it was easy becoming a Pro Hero, much less having to do it in under a year. I naturally assumed you have masochistic tendencies."

He was blinking. "I don't."

"Far be it from me to judge. Maybe you're into humiliation-play or getting trussed up and spanked by schoolgirls."

A lot now.

"No—"

She continued on regardless, grinning wildly, "You're an adult now. I accept all my students regardless of their sexual proclivities. I just want you to know that I'll be there with you every step of the way, just watching and getting of—"

"It's the old hag!"

"Morning, Kayama…"

His homeroom teacher turned to the interlopers, her manic smile having died in her mouth. She produced a whip and snapped it at a familiar face, snaring it around Hado Nejire's modest frame.

"Who the hell," Kayama hissed dangerously, yanking the whip back, "are you calling an old hag?"

The blue-haired girl was pulled forward, zipping towards them as if she was weightless. At the last second, Nejire released a spiralling wave of energy from the soles of her feet and did an intricate sequence of flips and twists in mid-air to slow her momentum.

"Yahallo, sensei!" she chirped happily, now floating aimlessly around them like an oversized balloon. "Yahallo, Arisato!"

Minato could only muster a wave in reply.

The other girl who had been accompanying Nejire joined their awkward circle; the other students still streaming in were giving them a wide berth. She was petite, with short cropped hair that framed her small face. Despite wearing the school's uniform, she had given it her own twist and styled herself appropriately. It was hard to describe her look; almost like a rebel that stayed within the rules, given the tiny dash of black eyeliner that lined her monolid eyes.

"Hey, new guy… Haya Yuyu," she introduced herself simply.

Minato bowed in return. "Arisato Minato."

"You kids were a lot more respectful before puberty struck. It all went to shit in your second year," Kayama grumbled stiffly, undoing her hold over Nejire. "Anyway, it's good that you two know each other. Arisato-kun, I'm leaving you in the capable hands of our class representative, Hado Nejire. She'll be helping you get settled in class."

That was all Minato heard before he was immediately beset by his new class representative.

Nejire had gotten uncomfortably close, so close that their noses were almost touching. She then leaned her head against his and draped his hair against hers. "Yuyu, do you think this shade of blue would look nice on me?"

Minato wasn't sure if he welcomed this new change of pace. Then again, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Kayama give him a saucy wink as she left.

Maybe it wasn't as bad…

"Not really, no," Yuyu said. "Nejire, he's freaking out."

She regarded him for an instant before taking hold of his wrist. "Let's go find the rest." At the drop of a hat, Nejire switched gears and pulled him alongside her. He didn't object. "Ne, Arisato… Can I ask you something? Are you listening? I heard that you don't have a Quirk. How could you not have a Quirk and be a hero at the same time? Isn't that hard?"

"I do have one," Minato said. "I just don't know what it is."

"Ehhh~~?" Nejire quirked her head to the side and pressed a finger to her lips. "That's so strange. How can you know that you have a Quirk without knowing what it is?" Angling her body, she peeked around him, spying the plain utility bag he was carrying. "What's that?"

"It's a bokken."

"Is that what you use to fight? Are you secretly a samurai? A ninja?"

"Yes, and… Yes."

Nejire clasped her hands together and laughed. "Nin, nin!"

"Please don't encourage her," Yuyu said.

"Hado! Haya! Over here!" He saw Mirio step out from the crowd and wave them over. "You brought Minato-san with you! That's great!" It wasn't long before he was engulfed in another group huddle, courtesy of Mirio.

"Ossu! Introductions are in order." Mirio slapped the back of the black-haired teen next to him. It looked for all the world that his friend would rather be anywhere else than here. "Minato-san, this is Amajiki Tamaki. Tamaki, this is our new classmate, Arisato Mina—"

"Hurk!"

Collectively, they all stopped and stared as Amajiki scuttled away to the school building and planted his head against a pillar, his back towards them. Thankfully, being in their third-year, their cohort was situated closer to the school rather than in the middle of the grounds; although it was still a fair distance away.

Yuyu hummed under her breath. "That wasn't unexpected."

"Ah, my apologies, Minato-san."

Nejire had taken it upon herself to explain, raising a finger at him, "Amajiki may act like a chicken-hearted person, but did you know he's one of the strongest students here in UA? That's so strange, right? Heroes are meant to be like whoaaa~~ but he's all ughhh~~"

"Please don't take it personally," Mirio said. "Tamaki's just a little shy. It takes time for him to warm up to new faces."

"I understand," Minato said. "It's not an issue."

"Oiii, Togata! Why are you hogging the new guy all for yourself?"

Peering around the taller teen, Minato saw a myriad of new faces smiling back at him. Seeing the need for another introduction, Mirio had put him front and centre, only to stop suddenly. There was a notable hush as the tiny mammalian form of their principal took to the stage. Flanked before him were the various faculty members, their features stern.

"Students, please settle down," Nezu said, his voice projected over the school's PA system. He coughed primly and settled a paw behind his back. "It was not that long ago that I stood at this very stage, passing you our well-wishes for the coming semester. Now, look around you.

"Did your eyes linger over an empty space? Is there a familiar face missing? I want you all to remember that sense of loss. That is exactly what your teachers and I are feeling at this very moment. In the last month alone, we have suffered not one, but two senseless tragedies within these very walls. As educators and the ones charged with your safety, we have failed you and humbly ask for your forgiveness."

As one, they bowed.

Angry murmurs broke out amongst the assembled students; there were more than its fair share pleading for them to lift their heads up. Around him, the mood was subdued. Their anger was reserved, yet still evident. Even the hyperactive Nejire had her head bowed.

"Ahhh, such remarkable students we have. Your sincerity has touched my heart," Nezu said finally, righting himself. "For some, this may seem as nothing more than a token apology. However, this is not a matter of our pride being slighted, but the sense of duty that we have towards each and every single one of you. Your parents, our society, even yourselves have entrusted your safety unto us. This is not something we take lightly."

Nezu began to pace up and down the stage.

"Make no mistake. We have all taken the peace we have had for granted. In such trying times, it is natural to look towards the symbol that has endured through it all." He chuckled, saying, "No, it is not All Might alone. It is the men, the women, the cute furry rodents, and all the various walks of life that choose to stand together with him.

"A hero perseveres in battle only through the support they receives from those around them. UA represents this ideal down to its very essence. So look around you once more. Then, look inwards, and take my words to heart…"

His tiny, beady gaze was far-searching.

"All of you here will be the ones to succeed us, to inherit our wisdom and lead us into the coming age. Armed with that knowledge, you must do better and be better. Do not be limited by the examples that we have set." Nezu raised his paw, holding it upright. "Break through those barriers! Go beyond! Plus— "

As one, their voices rose into a steady rumble that reverberated around the grounds, building into a crescendo that sent a tiny shiver down Minato's spine.

The school roared its reply:

"—Ultra!"

Nezu brought down his paw and placed it over his chest. "I am truly heartened by your conviction. Let me then offer you these final words to consider: fur maintenance."

And again, as one, the school groaned.

Just like that, normalcy resumed.

"You see, in such uneven weather, it is a given that the sheen of one's fur begins to dull and lose its lustre. The question then remains: how does one maintain…"

So used to their principal's meanderings, the general chatter of those around him rose. Minato was unprepared however, when a body leaned against him. Mirio had clasped him by his shoulders, looking ahead.

"You're taking the first step of many, Minato-san!" he said brightly. "Welcome to Class 3-A!"

0.0

"Think of the impact—the implications—on yourselves, as students, future Pro Heroes, and as members of society," Kayama said. She looked up just as the school bell chimed.

Arisato Minato could only manage a quiet sigh of relief when it did. Some of his classes today had been an excruciating affair in catching up to the current syllable. He disliked World History. Having to suddenly take up Modern Hero Sociology after transferring departments was a whole other thing. It would have been worse had it not been for his temporary seating partner.

Strangely, despite coming off as an 'airhead', Nejire proved to be more than a pretty face. It would have been easy to misjudge her purely on that alone, but her boundless curiosity translated well into her studies.

"Class, stand~~ Bow~~"

Class 3-A intoned together, "Please get married soon, Kayama-sensei!"

Minato cut himself short and sat back down before anyone else. He blinked a few times to clear the fatigue from his eyes.

He must have misheard again.

The wooden ruler Kayama was carrying snapped in her hands. It went largely unnoticed. She stared blankly at them, which belied how much her hands were shaking. Her smile was strained as she said, "I'm super committed to my job."

The varying degrees of pity directed her way made Kayama wilt.

"It's hard to find a half-decent guy in this city who can cope with a career-driven woman like myself. Traditional gender roles are still hard to overcome at this day and age. T-The guys I meet are 'manboy' losers with bad haircuts!"

"Don't give up hope, sensei!" someone shouted from the back. "He's out there! Maybe lower your standards a bit!"

Kayama visibly deflated and made for the door.

Around him, his new classmates were preparing to leave. He could get the sense that despite the smiles and easy-going chatter buzzing around him, an undercurrent of tension went unsaid in the aftermath of the UA Sports Festival.

It showed in their eyes—in their demeanour.

From what Minato had been able to glean from Kayama-sensei's class, the National Diet were in the midst of discussing a proposal for an organisational restructure of the Pro Hero agencies across Japan.

This came as a result of an unrest that was unprecedented in the current 'All Might Era'. Villainy was on the rise, not just in terms of statistics, but the scale of their audacity and malevolence. Emboldened by that small spark, it had burned into a tiny ember, and what had carelessly been dismissed as inconsequential, had now roared into an incandescent wildfire.

This growing threat saw a greater need for Pro Heroes.

Most of the seniors in UA had already been called upon to assist with their respective agencies. A small number were even approved for an extended leave in view of their internship commitments. One, like the brash shark-human hybrid seated at the back of the class, would tour with a specialised Pro Hero team patrolling the waters of the Sea of Japan.

The teen, Tomoyuki Dan, or… 'Sharknado' as he had adamantly asked Minato to refer to him as, was in the throes of a boisterous farewell with their class representative.

"Wanna bro it out?"

Nejire's face froze into an 'O'. "Let's~~" she said happily, punching her knuckles into the other.

"Aragaki! Help us out!"

"C-Coming!"

Another boy in uniform rushed over. He was mousy, almost child-like in stature, with short brown hair that covered his forehead in messy clumps. His eyes, bright and lively, were focused. He held his hand stretched out before him, and with his other, mimed a circle with a finger that spun clockwise. A translucent cylindrical barrier shimmered into existence around the pair.

The boy, Aragaki Kyosuke, nodded. "T-Ten seconds."

"Hadoken! Our lovable genius-slash-idiot! I'll miss you!" Tomoyuki wrapped the girl in a loose hug, which she happily reciprocated and tightened. It elicited a series of pained cries and laughs.

"Me~~guhhh~~too!"

When Tomoyuki released her, Nejire's exposed skin was raw and bloodied; rivulets of blood dribbled freely onto her once pristine uniform. She hid her face behind her hands, gingerly dabbing at her eyes, as her hair coiled and uncoiled seemingly in distress.

"Aragaki! Release it, man!"

"I-It's not time yet!"

Tomoyuki fretted nervously around their class representative. "Are you okay, Hado?"

Trembling, Nejire moved her hands away and smiled. Gentle yet horrifying in the whole, it never once wavered.

That was until Minato realised that the duo had effectively been put on pause. Aragaki mimed his finger in an anti-clockwise direction, and like a slideshow reel in reverse, the events jerkily unplayed itself before his eyes, as did her injuries.

As the translucent barrier fell, Tomoyuki was red-eyed as he stared down at the still smiling Nejire. "Don't ever change," he said quietly. "Swear it."

"Okay~~"

Shortly after, Tomoyuki exchanged a more muted farewell with Minato before moving on. Missing however was the kind of kinship Tomoyuki shared with Nejire.

"It is a by-product of Tomoyuki's Quirk. Due to his heritage, his skin is—"

"—naturally abrasive; to the point that it becomes a danger to those who touch him."

He found two pairs of eyes staring at him blankly. It was the twin sisters seated in front of him and Nejire.

Identical down to the bone, Shiraishi Eresa and Erise were both fair-skinned girls with ashen hair that trailed down to their shoulders. That only made their eyes, red in the shade of rubies, stand out all the more. The one thing that set them apart however was the non-standard issued name tags affixed above the breast pocket of their uniforms.

"Nejire-san was the first in our class to initiate… 'skinship'."

Eresa placed a hand over her lips, miming a silent laughter. It was something her sister mirrored a beat later. "She wanted to touch his fin. She did not understand why it was so highly-valued."

"She tore off all the skin on her hand."

"It was quite a sight."

Both shivered, their expressions freezing in mild delight.

Glancing around, Minato had to admit that it was disconcerting having to surround himself with a sea of new faces once more. It evoked a sense of familiarity; one that ached within his heart. In that blurry haze, obscuring threadbare memories, he half-expected familiar faces where there were none. Try as he might, he could never forget everyone from his past life.

But things were different for him now. He had friends to call his own in this world as well.

Momo had been the first—a steady companionship, albeit a reluctant one on his part initially, that had shown him what had been lost. Yu was the second—a hurricane he had unfortunately been swept in, and in the eye of that storm, unearthed what lay beneath.

Would there be—

Someone was poking his cheek. Incessantly.

"Arisato, stop spacing out~~"

He absently swatted Nejire's finger away and looked up. "Yes?"

"Would you care to—"

"—join us for lunch?"

"Let's have yakiniku!" Nejire said.

Minato shook his head, appearing apologetic. "I'm sorry. Not today."

The twins frowned. They were soon joined in by Nejire as she scooched behind them and mashed their three heads together in an attempt at synchronised pouting. Neither of the twins seemed concerned, almost like it was a common occurrence.

"Yo!" The top of Mirio's head suddenly phased through the desk beside his; Minato tried not to act startled. "What's this I hear about yakiniku? There's this great place I know around the area. Cheap too!"

"I can't. I made plans with Mount Lady."

He had found himself in this position far too many times. Yet, the same choice lay before him now as it did then. The fear and the pain lingered, but he couldn't let it fester.

Elizabeth, his friends… They wouldn't want that for him.

In that void, hope rekindled.

"How about tomorrow?"

0.0

Exiting the passenger cabin and onto the platform proper, Arisato Minato heaved a quiet sigh of relief as he extracted himself from the mass of onrushing salarymen and their ilk. Such was life in the capital, like a hive of worker bees returning to their queen; it was a veritable ecosystem unto itself.

He found Yu further ahead, just off the exit to the station, idly playing with her phone. Without her costume, she looked like a normal university student—her clothes fashionable yet practical for the season. In her free hand was a plastic carrier from the nearby J-Mart convenience store.

Without looking up from her phone, Yu held it out to him as he approached her.

"Lunch?" Minato asked.

"Yeap, I even got us desserts. Hope you like store-bought dorayaki," Yu said, motioning him along. "I figured since it's the first day of your internship, we'd take it easy. So we're eating in today. It's about time I showed you the new digs."

"New digs?"

The pep returned in her step. "My—Our," she caught herself and stressed, "new office, dummy."

Silence lingered thereafter. It was unlike Yu, given how she was, but it wasn't a silence he'd called uncomfortable. The further they walked from the station, the more the crowd thinned. While they weren't necessarily in the city centre, Kita ward was situated near the outskirts of Tokyo; in terms of proximity, it was closer to Musutafu than Shibuya. As such, the crowd density was naturally lesser during the day, with the ward's only notable attractions being its metropolitan parks.

Yu breathed a happy sigh, looking up. "This is it."

She stopped before a nondescript building that loomed over them—all three stories of it. It was, in short, underwhelming. The small window sign publicising the presence of Mount Lady's agency was eclipsed by the massive advert of the popular cram school chain situated just next to her office.

"You had a larger billboard outside UA."

"Marketing is about strategic placement," she said matter-of-factly. "It's a bit redundant to build awareness here in Kita, don't you think?"

He shrugged. "It's a bit sad."

Yu grumbled unintelligibly, entering the building ahead of him. She bypassed the elevator completely and took to the stairs two steps at a time. "It's good exercise. Elevators make you lazy."

"Does it have anything to do with that 'out-of-order' sign?"

"This place is a fixer-upper, Minato," Yu said, patting a pillar as they reached the third floor landing. "In its own way, it's kinda charming, adds character to the building."

She led him down a narrow corridor, walking past her nearest workplace competitor, and stood before an opaque glass door towards the end, right by the emergency exit. There wasn't an elaborate sign, just a small 'Hero Agency of Mount Lady' scored across the frosted glass panel. Slender fingers trailed underneath each character longingly.

"I'm proud of it," Yu said faintly, the barest hint of a smile reaching her lips. It was a rare sight to see her so soft-spoken; it actually gave him pause. "I'm proud of myself for having accomplished this, and I'm proud that I have you here with me, Minato."

He didn't know how to react.

Thankfully, Yu was already moving, unlocking the door and ushering him inside.

A blast of stale air greeted him the moment he entered. Looking around, Minato idly realised that her office was larger than it let on from the exterior of the building, but it was a simple room with four walls and nothing more.

Empty workstations, six to be exact, dominated the centre of the office. A singular wooden desk, sturdy and aged, was situated in the far corner, overlooking a reception area with a pair of couches sat in between a coffee table. There was a row of built-in bookshelves that lined the wall behind it, but in contrast, most of the space went unused except for a mess-laden nook filled with documents that was the very definition of ordered chaos.

It made him ill.

Worse, there were some obvious signs that the place looked lived in. A loose garment rack was placed along the side, flanked by a pair of heavy-set luggage and stacks of carton moving boxes.

Minato frowned, eyeing the small pillow and blanket draped haphazardly over one of the couches.

"Well, what do you think? I know it ain't much, but it's ours," Yu said. "Our home away from home. Oh, speaking of which…" She dug into her jeans, snugly fishing out a pair of keys from the pocket. 'Here's your apartment key."

"Keep it. It's a spare."

The blonde quirked a delicate eyebrow and pawed closer. "Oh? One would think this to be an indecent proposal, Minato. A boy on the cusp of adulthood…" She fluttered her eyelashes at him and leaned in close, her tone breathy as she punctuated each syllable, "An older, knowledgeable, irresistible—"

Minato brushed past her, setting his stuff down on one of the empty workstations. He then sidled over to the reception area to pick up and unfurl the unkempt blanket. He patted it down and tapered the visible creases before folding it neatly into a pile back onto the couch.

"Gawd~~ You're so sexy right now…"

He ignored her and started to putter around the office. "The keys are a precaution. So you won't wake up half the building next time."

Yu winced and sucked in a breath. "Yeah, that's what the dorayaki is for—an apology dessert."

"Is everything alright?" he asked her. "I wasn't expecting you last night."

"It was a bad day compounded by a terrible night of drinking. Stop trying to read into it, Minato," she said. "Besides, I know what you're doing. I'm not moving in with you. So don't look at me like I'm some homeless cat lady and take back your keys."

"You spent the last two nights at my place. I don't mind either way. It's your decision." Minato fiddled with the window latch and released the lock, allowing some fresh air and sunlight into the office. He paused to examine the view. "But if you decide otherwise, bring your own futon… and some rent money."

She scowled. "Mina—"

"Consider it a home away from home," Minato cut her off. "What's in here?" He gestured to a separate door within the room.

"It's just a utility closet. W-Wait! Don't open it!"

Unfortunately, he did. Minato took a moment to process what it was that he was seeing.

He stepped around the door and opened it fully, allowing the woman to view her secret shame in all its entirety. There were rows upon rows of opened boxes that contained shampoos and conditioners lining the width of the utility closet; all modelled in the same motif as her Mount Lady costume. At the far corner, hidden behind more paraphernalia, he spied something better; a life-sized cut-out of Mount Lady promoting her named brand product.

He promptly took it out for her to see.

"Guhhh…"

"Lady Hair." Minato rolled his eyes. The title was purposefully made in English to make it sound fancy, but it was anything but. "For the beautiful you… Highlighting your outer beauty to reflect the inner you," he continued, reading the slogan aloud. "I've never seen this before."

Yu was hesitant.

"When I first started out, I was desperate, okay? My old business manager said that they'd pay good money to use my likeness, but the company tanked before they could even start distribution. To compensate me, well… Long story short, I pretty much have a lifetime supply of shampoo and conditioner." Yu snatched the bottle he was examining. "For what it's worth, it's actually a really good product," she said begrudgingly. "You can take a box if you want. I've been giving it away to whoever that'll take it."

Minato turned to peer into the mess that was her utility closet and then back at the office. He hid a sigh.

"We're cleaning your office."

"Our office!"

Minato rolled his eyes at her.

0.0

It was a more arduous task than Arisato Minato first imagined.

By the time they were done with their spring cleaning, the skies above had lost its colour, and in its place, faded to black. What had been their lunch instead became their dinner. Cold as it was, it was a fine reward for their efforts today.

A step lower than an orderly office, but a welcomed one nonetheless.

Both of them had situated themselves at Yu's desk in the far corner, with Minato having planted himself on her seat and Yu taking one of the other chairs from the empty workstations. In between sorting the mountain of documents piled atop her desk, he munched on Yu's apology dessert of red bean dorayaki and pointedly tried to ignore his boss.

"Yeah, I mean the design is similar, but there are nuances to your costume, Minato." Yu gestured wildly at the sketchpad she was shoving in his face. "Nuances to make it looks more masculine. We're maintaining the same colour palette, but the hues will be darker. It will look amazing!"

As annoyed as he was with her right now, Minato couldn't deny that Yu had a talent for the arts. It was actually an impressive sketch of him—content notwithstanding.

"I will not," he stressed again slowly, "dress up like you and call myself Mount Laddie."

"Minato, I will love you forever if you do this for me, like 'buy you lunch and dinner everyday' kinda love. This is our only chance at forming a Pro Hero dynasty."

"No."

"Just the name then?"

"Yu…"

She let out a lip-trill and retreated into the crook of her arm in apparent dejection. "Then you gotta fill this out on your own," she told him, blindly handing him a form.

Minato gave it a cursory read-through and reached for a pen. It was an application for his Provisional Hero License. Most of the details had already been pre-filled for him. The only exception being his hero name and costume. Strangely, his Quirk was listed as TBA.

Given the recent turn of events, he hadn't given his chosen profession much thought. A costume was simple. He worked best fitted with a set-up similar to how he operated during his SEES days; armour, preferably light, that favoured mobility.

Minato wrote down as much.

His hand lingered over the name column. He made to write something, but Yu stopped him.

"Whoa!" she said, reaching over to tap him on the wrist. "Wanna run it by me first? Hero names aren't permanent, but the first one tends to stick."

"I was going to put my name."

Yu shook her head, frowning. "I'd rather you didn't. Your Pro Hero name is important. It carries weight, it defines who you are, but most importantly, it won't drive you batshit insane."

Minato blinked. "What?"

"I'm not joking," she said, as she leaned back into her seat. "Pro Heroes are public figures. Some people may see it as a job or a calling, but there's no escaping the hang ups that come with being in the public eye; it's part and parcel of the job. That's why we hide our identities."

"But it's not hard to figure out who you are, Yu."

"Minato, I lived in a small resort town in Hokkaido. Everyone back home knows who I am. My Quirk isn't something that's easy to hide; I wasn't actively hiding it either."

"Then is there really a point?"

"I'm not saying I have the right answers," Yu explained with a huff. "It's complicated. I'm just giving you my take on it. Mount Lady, the Pro Hero, is a mask and a costume. She's not Takeyama Yu, but Takeyama Yu is Mount Lady. You need that distinction. Do you get what I mean? I know it sounds insincere coming from me, but a Pro Hero cannot be allowed to be anything less than perfect. This is the perception society has of our role. We have to be the embodiment of justice, of righteousness, of everything good that humanity stands for. We are that ideal," she emphasised with her hands. "But embodying that ideal, it's… to become something beyond human."

Her violet eyes were downcast, sombre.

"Honestly, I can't be that... I won't ever be that, but I want that for her—for Mount Lady—and to not just allow it to be wishful thinking. I think it's easier to reconcile who I am as a person and who I am as a Pro Hero. I mean, it's two sides of the same coin, but it helps."

Yu placed her hands over his and smiled softly. "I guess what I'm trying to say is Arisato Minato is a hero, but don't confuse him as a Pro Hero. Having to always live up to that ideal… It will break you in the end."

Minato opened his mouth to say something, anything, but not for a lack of trying, the words failed to reach him. In a world populated by heroes, he once believed that he understood what it meant to be one—better than anyone else. However, the choice he had made in the end, standing in the eclipse of The Fall…

It was selfless, but it wasn't altruistic.

He didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart, or for the sake of an impossible ideal. His was an act borne out of necessity—a necessity to protect the irreplaceable bonds he had forged.

Had it been anyone else in his position, wouldn't they have done the same?

"If you had a choice," Minato started, his voice faint, "to save the world from destroying itself, would you give up your life, knowing that in perpetuity, humanity would never change and they would never know of the sacrifice that you made?"

Yu drew her hands back and let out a breath like she had been punched. "Fuhhh~~ That's a toughie. I always hated these weird ethical dilemma questions, but what the heck…"

She stole his pen and started to sketch something on her sketchpad.

The first illustration was of a globe, with tiny people holding hands across the top of it. She cancelled one, violently striking him off the page, and circled the rest.

"Rationally speaking, trading one life for the entire world sounds like a no-brainer, but to devalue that life that has to be sacrificed, it's a disservice to the individual."

Yu then motioned to the face she had drawn, one with an exaggerated frown. Slowly, the face was given more details; long hair, styled like hers, a domino mask, and horns even.

"People are more willing and conscious to do good, if there's recognition attached to their actions. I was—I am—shamefully one of them, Minato. Is that necessarily a bad thing? I dunno… But doing good things for selfish reasons sounds like a weird paradox, you know? Then again, you just sacrificed yourself to save the world, does the motivation even matter at this point?"

Yu pulled back her sketchpad and started on something else. When she finally put her pen down, he bore witness to the globe imploding, with dozens of little people strewn across the world with tiny 'x' in place of their eyes.

"The world is going to end even if you didn't make that sacrifice, right?" she asked him.

"Yes."

Yu stared at him, her gaze inscrutable but sharp, as she rested her chin over her fingers. "The decision not to save the world becomes moot; it becomes illogical. Unless… you believe that the world should end, that humanity deserves their most obvious conclusion—inviting their own self-destruction."

The sharpness of her gaze dulled and she leaned back into her chair, staring at the ceiling.

"But since you're asking me personally… Yeah, I guess I would sacrifice myself. Would I be doing it for the right reasons? Partly, even unconsciously maybe. But in the end, I'd do it for the obvious one. I'd do it for the people I love—for the ones that I care about most. I'd do it for papa and mama, and for you, Minato."

Yu smiled devilishly. "Because even when I die, I'd have Mount Laddie to continue my legacy."

Minato sighed, shaking his head.

In the end, everyone had their reasons. What mattered most was their actions; if nothing else, actions beholden only to themselves. A legacy would have been built atop that sacrifice. Even if few—or none—remembered, that legacy would live on.

"Thank you," Minato said. "Things are… clearer now."

"I can't tell if you're just humouring me." Yu crinkled her nose, asking him, "You are, aren't you?"

Standing, Minato scribbled down his Pro Hero name and lightly tossed the pen back on the desk. With that, he started to collect their food waste for disposal.

Yu hurriedly snatched the application form. When she set it down, she gave him an indifferent look. "Well, it's not terrible. I could think of a few better. Mount Laddie being one of them."

"I like mine better," he said, smiling. "I think it suits me…"

"Seriously? What kind of name is—?"

Minor Arcana: Queen of Wands…

Side Note(s): The mystery lays hidden within the layers of the cake. Feedback and comments are always appreciated.