Going to start writing this down when I still have time. Let's see how much I can fit into a single chapter before my brain tells me it's enough. Or my lack of sleep finally catches up with me. Who knows? If anything else, I'm enjoying this little break from my regular stories. Of course, I'm going to go back once the Shattered!AU reaches its conclusion. And yes, as badass and awesome Midoriya is...he's not going to get a good ending. Maybe a bittersweet one. But not a good one. Now I'm sad…

It was odd to present the medals without the individual in first place. Of course, not many were surprised when the podium for Midoriya Izuku was left empty, while more were concerned about the way Bakugou was literally shackled and muzzled. Another thing that drew their attention away from the absence of the boy who had won the Sports Festival without using his Quirk was how All Might had shown up to give out the medals. Todoroki watched impassively from his bed in the infirmary, resting and recovering from the injuries Midoriya had given him like he was passing out party favours. For the first time in a long time, someone who wasn't his bastard of a father had been the one to damage him, and severely if Recovery Girl's muttering as she hovered over Midoriya's unconscious body was to be believed(cracked ribs, more bruises than she could count, a concussion, bruised windpipe from the choke-slam that had been pulled off). His classmate wasn't doing much better. Every time his eyes wandered away from the screen since the beginning of the awards ceremony, he would get another glance at how using the full extent of his Quirk had left Midoriya barely able to walk, even with Recovery Girl healing him just enough to keep him conscious for the final match.

Several patches of his classmate's skin were a different shade of colour, a reminder of how he had thrown flames at Midoriya while he was standing still. There was a thick layer of bandages around each arm, resembling the way he had bound them with his own reinforced version to use over and over again on Todoroki, the same items that had managed to keep him from exiting the arena's boundaries via explosion like he had, at the cost of his arms. When Todoroki had woken up, the first thing he had done was to watch the final scene of their fight. Seeing how his last desperate move had kept Midoriya in the game by being used as an anchor, he wondered how much of their battle had been anticipated by the green-haired teenager. Had he purposefully unravelled his bandages so that Todoroki would attack them? He had a feeling that the answer was yes, but it wasn't exactly something he could confirm with the mastermind currently lying comatose next to him. He returned his attention to the screen, and his relatively decent mood at finally being able to let loose thanks to Midoriya soured when Bakugou started snapping at All Might. That was another problem entirely.

It was clear that Midoriya had somehow managed to grab the attention of the school. With the way he had cemented his strength with and without his Quirk within the first week of school, and the fact that he had been called out of class to talk with Principal Nedzu more times than a first-year student should have to talk to their school's ruling authority figure, made for an unsettling combination. Take into account his posture in UA, always tense and ready to fight back, whether with words(after the sixth or seventh time he had delivered a tongue-lashing to the unfortunate member of class 1-A, they were starting to avoid him entirely rather than risk him wielding words like a sledgehammer to the face) or with his actions in Battle Trials. No matter what, he held himself like a person with a plan, and each time he went up against one of his classmates in combat just continued to reinforce that idea, with elaborate traps designed specifically for his current opponents and the almost experienced way he took apart the strategies of others. Then there was the air of hostility he surrounded himself with and the light in his eyes, something that Todoroki sometimes chose to focus on whenever he was bored. Insanity flickered in them, but it was always lingering like a shadow, hiding. If the way his mother had looked when she poured boiling water on his face hadn't been engraved into his mind, Todoroki probably would have chalked it up to the eccentricities of his classmates(as if there weren't enough oddballs in class already). And then there was the rage. On occasions when someone touched a nerve, mostly when people compared him to a Quirkless individual, the curtain veiling his insanity would be thrown aside, and with it came unbridled anger. Anger that made his words sting like a snake bite and transformed his precise fighting style to something more intimidating.

A simple example would have been the way he faced off against Kirishima in a sparring match, Quirks allowed. The red-haired boy was pleased, because his opponent wasn't one to use his Quirk unless it meant the difference between life and death, and a powerful one that literally destroyed Midoriya's bones like they were made of glass would not be turned onto another living opponent for fear of reducing him or her to paste. He had declared, rather loudly, that Midoriya was going to lose because he was as good as Quirkless against his Hardening Quirk. The green-haired boy had just smiled that unnatural smile of his, one that screamed "I know something you don't" and told Kirishima that he was going to beg for mercy by the end of the fight.

It turned out that either Midoriya had more control over his Quirk than they gave him credit for, or he was just that good of a fighter. For the first half of the match, he constantly dodged out of the way of Kirishima's blows, weaving in and out of punches while ensuring to sweep his opponent's legs out from underneath him whenever the opportunity presented itself. After what was probably the tenth time the shark-toothed teenager had been sent crashing into the ground, it was almost like Midoriya had flipped a switch in his brain. No longer defending, he went for a blistering assault, throwing punches as fast as he could with the occasional palm strike and kick added into the mix. Kirishima had hardened himself as soon as it was clear that his opponent was going to attempt to wear him down, and everyone had expected the first blow to result in a fractured wrist or something along those lines.

The first punch thrown appeared to break through Kirishima's Hardening, snapping his head to the side so quickly that Todoroki had been concerned about the whiplash. Not giving a single inch, Midoriya forced his opponent to weather a flurry of attacks, and kept it up until he could no longer hold on to his Quirk. By then, the greenette's knuckles were bloodied and bruised, but his face remained impassive as he landed punch after punch after punch, only stopping when his red-haired opponent dropped to his knees and started pleading for it to end. It was a sight straight out of a comic, the hero putting up a valiant effort against the villain stronger than him, only to be annihilated. The freckled boy had loosened his fists as soon as Kirishima yielded, flicking his blood onto the ground before binding his injuries with a roll of medicinal tape similar to the bandages he had used today. His parting words were delivered simply, like it was a fact. He had spat "I told you so" at his opponent, not even bothering to check what he had done to him before stalking off to sit and watch the next fight. Needless to say, no one treated Midoriya lightly after that. It was one thing to counter an electricity Quirk by wearing a suit with insulation. It was another to dismantle a Quirk suited for defense through sheer brute force. Still, he had pulled through in the Sports Festival. More importantly, he had done it all without a Quirk. That was where his suspicions came into play.

It was clear that Midoriya and All Might had some sort of a relationship, albeit one that was getting even more strained with each day that passed. The awkward look the Number One Hero had given his classmate when he declared that he would fight alone. The way Midoriya refused to even look in his general direction for a couple of days after the USJ incident. The mask that he used as part of his hero costume was a mockery of the smile that All Might constantly wore to reassure the world. Their Quirks were eerily similar. And Todoroki could see the signs of someone who had been beaten down, clear as day, every time someone pushed one of Midoriya's many buttons. At first, he had dismissed it as a sign of an anxious teenager trying to recover from some past trauma(plus being attacked by villains). But the way he seemed to slip into another personality during combat spoke of more than just some childhood issues with bullying. So after watching All Might's awkward attempts to talk to Midoriya plus the almost callous way he was rebuffed each and every time, a stray thought had caught in his head and begun festering. If the Number Two Hero was a monster to his family in private, what stopped the Number One Hero from being the same?

It made sense. The similarities between their Quirks. The way Midoriya's was so strong that his body shattered under the strain of it. It reminded him too much of his siblings, the "failed experiments", who couldn't control their abilities without harm to their bodies. His refusal to use the strength that caused grievous injuries to himself unless it could save him from death. Still, there was something off about the way he acted. He treated All Might with something like disdain, rather than fear. No injuries except the ones that he inflicted on himself to deliver violent bursts of power. Todoroki had reached the conclusion that All Might was probably less of Midoriya's Endeavour, and more likely to be a negligent father. Or perhaps he had been as bad as his own sperm donor, but had suddenly decided to "be a good person" because he was afraid his son would spill their secrets to the world when he was studying at UA. Which was why he had been one of the few that weren't surprised when Midoriya had walked onto stage and declared his intent to win the Sports Festival without a Quirk. Admittedly, the reference to some guy who attempted to bomb Parliament back in the pre-Quirk era was not what he was expecting(and thinking about it, the implications that he was demonstrating his "Gunpowder Plot" had some unsettling implications), and the fact that he managed to pull it off in the end was admirable. Awe-inspiring. Looking around, the only heroes he could think of that didn't use their Quirk and still managed to match up against others using theirs came up to a grand total of zero. Sure, Aizawa-sensei could arguably be considered a Quirkless fighter just like Midoriya, but he had the advantage of a Quirk that levelled the playing field. Although he still had his suspicions that Midoriya was using his Quirk, or at least a support item or two(the craters his feet left in the ground, the last punch that ended Bakugou), he hadn't expected his classmate to stick to his promise even when he launched glacier after glacier at him. Midoriya Izuku was a force of nature.

He looked over to where the comatose form of his classmate was located, and blinked in surprise when the bed was empty. He sat straight up, noting how the IV drip was absent as well, plus the spots of blood leading to the door that was now swinging shut. He blinked again before pressing the call button to summon Recovery Girl. A minute or two later, the elderly Pro-Heroine hobbled in with a concerned look on her face, which was quickly dropped for something that was a mix between anger and horror when she noticed the empty bed which once housed the winner of the Sports Festival. She let out a string of curses that would have sounded better coming out of Bakugou's mouth, before a sudden uproar from the television screen attracted their gazes. He heard Recovery Girl's head hit the wall with a dull thunk as Midoriya staggered out of the entrance of the building, with only his IV drip for support. The spectators roared at the appearance of their missing winner, and the pinkette that his classmate had called his soul clambered down from the podium in order to offer him a shoulder. He grabbed onto it with an expression of gratitude, still dragging his IV drip along. With some effort(and refusing All Might's help along the way), he carefully stepped around the shackled form of Mr Second Place who was attempting to...bite(?) Midoriya as he went by. All Might's smile was frozen on his face as Midoriya finally took his place on the top of the podium, sitting down instead of standing. The girl in third place(her name was Hatsume?) was still hovering over him, but reluctantly got back onto her own place on the podium when he gently waved her off. He raised his arm to the sky, showing how much it was trembling as it did so. Still, there was no heckling or whispers about his weakness. No one had expected him to be up and running after his dismal state in the final fight.

Unlike his signal of victory so far in the form of a finger pointing to the sky like he was challenging whatever divine being resided up there, this time he settled for a thumbs up. There was a brief moment of silence, before the shouting and cheering from the crowd resumed, soon evolving into a single chant of Midoriya's name. The camera zoomed in on his pale face, but despite the fact that he should be unconscious and recovering, he managed to slap on a smile(albeit one that was a little weak compared to his regular grins), waving as the Symbol of Peace bestowed upon him his gold medal. As soon as he did, Midoriya raised it so that everyone watching could see it, mouthing some words. Todoroki wasn't exactly the best at lip reading, but with each word carefully enunciated, anyone with a working pair of eyes could read the message.

"Look ma, I made it."

Minutes later, after the camera panned away to reveal the entire podium, and All Might thanked everyone for their hard work while everyone else shouted Plus Ultra, much to Todoroki's amusement, Midoriya slumped over. He was still sitting, but unconscious. By that time, Recovery Girl had somehow hustled a team of medical robots with a stretcher onto the field, and with Hatsume's help, they started transporting his body away from the podium. Soon enough, the infirmary door was almost kicked down by an irate elderly nurse, and Midoriya was practically thrown onto the bed which he had escaped from. A few quiet words were exchanged between Hatsume and Recovery Girl, the latter putting a hand on the former's shoulder before leaving the room. She made sure to address both her and Todoroki, warning them that Midoriya needed to stay in that bed for at least the rest of the day and that if she found him missing again when she came back later, she would have both their hides. Unsure of how to respond to that, he nodded while Hatsume gave a nonchalant salute, and Recovery Girl closed the door on the infirmary. While Todoroki contemplated whether or not social interaction was something he had to do, Hatsume drew up a chair with what seemed to be practiced ease, shifting slightly before leaning forward and resting her head next to Midoriya's bicep. For some reason, he felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. She looked like this wasn't the first time that she had to sit beside Midoriya's unconscious form, and upon reflection, he realized how many times his classmate had been sent to the infirmary within the first month of school. If the two of them were as close as the green-haired tenager had confidently stated, then he had put his soulmate under a huge amount of stress in a short amount of time. After all, if he had to watch his mother or his siblings constantly throw themselves into danger and get more and more injured each time, he would rather lock them in a room full of everything they needed and smother them with love and affection until they promised never to harm themselves ever again. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a quiet question.

"Was it worth it?" he blinked in confusion, turning his gaze onto Hatsume. She wasn't even looking at him, choosing to focus her attention on running a hand through Midoriya's hair. When he said nothing, she turned to give him a look of what appeared to be disdain, but was much more unsettling coupled with the almost insane light in her eyes, a direct copy to the usual darkness in Midoriya's gaze, before elaborating.

"Izuku was determined to show to the world what happened when you discarded people like they were trash. But for some reason, he decided to coax your fire out of you instead of using your weakness to get an easy win. It almost cost him all the preparation of the past two weeks and even his life. So tell me, was it worth it?" Todoroki mulled over her words, trying not to show how deeply they cut into him. She was right after all. Her partner beat the everloving crap out of him for about five minutes, before taunting him by saying that he was going to go and beat up his mother afterwards. In his rage, he had ignited his flames, and the relief he felt when the frostbite clinging to his bones was immediately cleansed snapped him back to reality. Midoriya had almost thrown away his chances of winning just to break the chains his father had used to shackle him. He curled his hand into a fist, wondering if he was always going to destroy the things around him.

"I told Midoriya about what my father had done to my family. And that I would not use my fire to win the Sports Festival to prove him wrong. At first, I thought that because we had similar motivations," that got a snort and a chuckle from Hatsume, "but now I can see that I couldn't be more wrong. He managed to get me to break my promise, and I understand what he means now. I owe him a debt I don't think I can ever repay. So yes, it was worth it." she nodded slowly, before attempting a smile and returning her gaze to her unconscious partner. She sighs, looking at Midoriya with an uncomfortable amount of affection(for Todoroki, that is), before forming a pillow with her arms and closing her eyes, ending the short-lived conversation. Not knowing what else to do, Todoroki did the same, almost groaning in relief as his sore muscles twinged. Endeavour would most likely punish him for not even getting a place on the podium. But with Midoriya's earlier declaration that he would bring the Number Two Hero down from his pedestal and the way Hatsume's eyes seemed to burn with the same fire that drove his classmate to do the impossible…

The future didn't seem so daunting anymore.

He was abruptly brought back to the land of those who were awake by the feeling of a mild electrical shock. His first instinct was to grab whatever was zapping him, but paused when the sound of arguing reached his ears. Slowly craning open an eye(oh god everything hurt), he was treated to the unpleasant sight of Endeavour arguing with his son. Scanning the infirmary(he really needed to stop getting injured so easily), he noticed with a pang of guilt that Mei was once again sleeping by his side. However, the small taser half-concealed in her hand indicated that it was her that had woken him up, and for good reason considering the way Endeavour's flames seemed to be getting hotter. He weighed the pros and cons of fighting the Number Two Hero while recuperating from his injuries, then decided to do the smart thing and subtly reach for the call button by the side of his head. He waited, hoping that Recovery Girl would arrive before things could get any worse, but when he started sweating from the heat of the flames, Midoriya decided to bite the bullet. He unwound the remnants of the bandage around his hand(and carefully dropped the fried kinetic batteries into a pocket) and tied a knot to create a small loop. Pulling it back like a rubber band, he fired it straight at the back of Endeavour's head. It bounced off softly, but the impact was enough to give him a reason to pause and something else to direct his anger at. Todoroki looked like he had just seen someone throw themself in front of a moving train. Midoriya gave a jaunty salute, adding a smirk to trigger Endeavour further. The older man growled like he was a rabid dog, striding forward and reaching to grab him by the collar(what was with people he angered and his collar?), before lifting him into the air and shouting in his face about how he needed to know his place. He tried to look sufficiently cowed as the Eagle Eyes recorded everything along with his implanted audio recorder(although the one in his left eye appeared to be malfunctioning). Todoroki watched with abject horror but Midoriya kept the smug look on his face.

Mei pretended to be startled into waking up, eyes darting around frantically before landing on the sight before her. She snarled, and now with a valid reason to explain what she was about to do, she lunged forward and tazed Endeavour. Also with a higher voltage, according to the visible arcs of electricity racing across the adult's skin. Thankfully, his fingers weren't exactly brushing any of Midoriya's skin, or he would have experienced(for the umpteenth time) how it was like to be electrocuted while hanging in the air. Their spectator watched with a mixture of shock and awe, the taser running out of juice just in time for Recovery Girl to slam open the door. Her face went through the five stages of grief before a familiar capture weapon encircled the Number Two Hero and pulled him away. Reflexively, Endeavour dropped Midoriya and he fell on his back, onto the bed. Mei immediately latched onto him, still holding the taser even though it was out of juice. A stray thought that they would make excellent actors almost made him laugh. Aizawa-sensei stepped into the room, Quirk activated and practically seething with fury.

"Get out." the Number Two Hero opened his mouth, probably to protest that these kids were disrespecting him or something along those lines, but the threatening aura around Aizawa-sensei just intensified, punctuated by how his capture weapon tightened further around the fire-user.

"Get out."

And for what was probably the first time in his life, Endeavour listened to the person telling him to back off. He growled, but walked past Aizawa-sensei while shrugging off the capture weapon. He slammed the door behind him, and there was a brief moment of silence as everyone looked at the closed door with varying degrees of shock and anger. After the adult's footsteps finally receded down the hallway, Recovery Girl turned to Midoriya and cracked her knuckles threateningly. He gulped, all the bravado from the long day of fighting finally falling apart. Mei turned to bury her face in the crook of his neck, shoulders shaking with repressed laughter. He sighed, immediately knowing that he wasn't going to get any assistance when Todoroki avoided his gaze, whistling to himself. Both members of the staff of UA closed the short distance between themselves and his bed, one on each side of the bed he was lying on.

This was probably how he was going to die.

On the bright side, he was going to live another day. However, he had to endure about twenty minutes of lecturing from Aizawa-sensei and Recovery Girl about the importance of taking care of yourself and when you were unconscious due to your injuries, you're supposed to stay unconscious, not escape and grab a medal that was ultimately worth nothing. He nodded and made noises of agreement at the correct intervals, but his goals had not changed. For the first time, he had made his mark on the world(then again, you could consider his infamy from his encounter with Tsukauchi-san and the verbal sparring sessions he had with Nedzu) and he had made sure no one watching would ever forget him. People might have considered him a fraud if his only shining moment during the entire Sports Festival was letting his legs give out beneath him and sending Bakugou out of the arena's boundaries with the aid of his kinetic batteries(he used one to push himself to his feet and the other to punch Bakugou, which had given him the win but gave him two starburst scars on his hands), but he had taken first place in every single event in the most dramatic ways possible. From the impromptu slingshot in the Obstacle Course to raining down hell on his unfortunate competitors during the Cavalry Battle, and finally the very dangerous fight against Todoroki(he could have died at least three times during that entire match), no one would be able to say that he hadn't fulfilled his promise. Of course, in order for the universe to continue its trend of spitting in his face whenever he did something good with his life, he had managed to get a permanent injury to his right arm. Turns out, his last ditch effort to anchor himself via a giant block of ice worked better than he had expected. Even with both arms bound to distribute the force exerted on his body while he resisted a literal explosion(he probably could have cancelled it by sacrificing a few fingers, but that was cheating), he had managed to dislocate both of them. To add insult to injury(pun intended), his right arm had not undergone a clean dislocation, and thus had practically shattered the socket when the bone was wrenched out of it. Of course, because he had used a kinetic blast to defeat Bakugou, with his right arm, the already damaged appendage got the delightful treatment of experiencing how it was like to have bone shards forced where bone shards were not supposed to go.

So, to wrap up the two weeks before(and including) the Sports Festival, he had goaded a policeman into physical violence(twice!), committed an act of terrorism in order to deliver recordings of the violence that he had practically begged for, discovered that he had accidentally created an organisation of people dedicated to serving him in order to repay debts that he didn't even mean to create when he helped them, and then used them on the day of the Sports Festival to conduct another act of terrorism just to spite the police force. If that wasn't enough, he had roped Mei into coordinating "his forces" and had also used her inventions to help his people escape capture. Midoriya didn't want to think about the Sports Festival. He almost laughed at the thought of what his life would look like to an outsider looking in. They'd probably lock him in the nearest asylum. Nevertheless, he had succeeded, and even managed to fulfill a secondary objective in the process(exposing a fraction of the corruption in the Hero industry). He would have to refrain from using that arm for any desperate blows at 100% power, but with enough physiotherapy(and perhaps an illegal surgery or two), he would be back to full strength. Of course, there were a few ideas for support items rattling around in his head, but if he relied too much on them his body would never get used to the power coursing through his veins. That meant no rest for the wicked. He needed to train, and he couldn't exactly do that while confined to a hospital bed. Todoroki had left a while ago, cleared of any lingering injuries and with the second smile Midoriya had ever seen on his face. Mei left about thirty minutes afterwards, giving him one last hug before reluctantly leaving in order to "make her babies better". Probably trying to keep him confined to the bed, Recovery Girl had gently coerced(read:forced) him to handcuff himself to the bed's railing, tight enough to ensure he couldn't just slide his trapped hand out of the loop but loose enough to ensure he still had circulation in the appendage. He tried not to think about why she had a pair of handcuffs in her drawer, just thankful that they weren't Quirk-suppressing ones. It still gave him time to practice.

So while Recovery Girl busied herself with the long list of what was probably reports, writing with clinical efficiency and looking over from time to time to make sure that he was still there(one who didn't know the situation would have called her paranoid, but the elderly nurse would most likely bring up how he had slipped out of the room without Todoroki noticing in order to make an appearance on live television). He feigned being asleep, searching in his mind for that little pocket containing One for All and practicing. He would flood specific parts of his body with as much power as he could before it started feeling like the specific appendage was a soda can waiting to explode. His arms could take about twenty percent comfortably, and close to thirty percent if he concentrated solely on them. Each finger took only five percent if he wanted to chain flicks without shattering his bones, and ten if he focused. Legs were even stronger, most likely because he hadn't broken them just yet(if you ignored the minor fractures from the USJ incident and kinetic impacts), holding thirty-five comfortably but maxing out at forty. In all honesty, the surprising amount of control he had over his Quirk considering he had it for maybe a month was due to a combination of how much he pushed himself to clear the beach(it would actually have been done in sixth months instead of the ten if Mei hadn't dragged him to self-defence class) and the help of Shimura-san during the rare times he woke up in the mindscape.

While none of the other users had come forth to help him(they would show up one day, he had been told, but only when One for All got more synchronised with his body), Shimura-san was more than enough. Midoriya sometimes wondered how such a dedicated, quick-witted individual could have taught All Might all he knew. As much battle instinct as the Number One Hero had, just like Bakugou, he was a terrible teacher and an even worse mentor. He didn't voice his thoughts out loud, but he had noticed how Shimura-san slowly stopped talking about "Toshi", as she called him, without any form of prompting. Of course, the final bits of humanity in him felt bad about how someone he barely knew kept her mouth shut about who was probably her pride and joy just because he couldn't stomach another person praising the one who had sent him over the edge. Thus, after a particularly gruelling session of training with her, he would take the time to coax stories about early-Might out of her because he had a feeling that the long years of heroing and the mystery individual that had killed the previous users were at least partially responsible for his belief that the Quirkless couldn't do anything. Eventually, she started talking.

It turned out that Yagi Toshinori was much different from All Might, just like the him of today was a completely separate person from the kid who worshipped heroes all those years ago. He even had a mental list of the parallels between Yagi Toshinori and Midoriya Izuku. Shimura-san seemed to light up, her smiles becoming a little more genuine and her voice a little more carefree, whenever she talked about her protege. How could he take that away from her? So, he put on another mask, locking away his feelings about the Symbol of Hope and his shortcomings, encouraging the woman to talk more about her life. While the first few conversations were all about how she had found and trained Yagi-san, they started moving on to other more personal details. She would reveal details about her life(god, she had put her son into the foster system just to make sure he was safe) and then pester him about his. For some inane reason, she wasn't exactly fazed by the fact that he was quickly becoming a teenage terrorist. The night after he had walked out of Hokkaido, plunging the region into darkness, he had awoken in the mindscape. For once, Shimura-san hadn't been smiling. She had asked him about his reasons and motivations. With no reason to deny her request, he had explained everything. From the day his mind had fractured to the day when he had decided that he would take no more abuse from the world. He had expected her to protest and fight him. Midoriya had been ready to use whatever control he had over his own mindscape to make sure that no harm would come to him. But much to his surprise, the former Pro-Heroine merely nodded, before sitting down and telling him a story about what the hero industry used to be like. And the stories she had heard from the previous generations of heroes.

It was almost ironic, how the vigilante community today was the most similar to the hero community during what she called the Bronze Age(in which Quirks had just begun to become more prevalent) and how the definition of hero as "one who saved others" warped and twisted into "one who fights villains" during the Silver Age(the age in which Shimura-san spent the last years of her life experiencing and the beginnings of All Might's rise to fame). Now, in what was largely considered the Golden Age of Heroism, All Might was the Symbol of Peace, a seemingly unbreakable barrier standing between villains and the rest of the world. To all except a certain group of people, All Might's reign was still as strong as ever. Shimura-san confessed that while All Might's idea to be a Symbol of Peace was something she had whole-heartedly supported in an age where civilians constantly lived in fear of villain attacks, she still believed that he had gone about it the wrong way. If All Might had ever taken the time to actually channel his Quirk, she would have told him just that. But he hadn't and thus she would never be able to tell him.

"The world needed a shining example of what it was like to be a hero," she had stated while the mindscape shifted around them to show a smiling figure standing on top of a pedestal and a cheering, faceless crowd surrounding it, "but Toshi took it too far. He was a Symbol, yes, but he turned out to be a crutch. You told me about your life and your reasons for everything you've done, a prime example of what this 'Golden Age' has done to the world." the scene shifted again to show a figure in green running towards a demon holding someone in its grasp as the same faceless crowd surrounded them. More importantly, there were three figures highlighted in the colours of the three heroes that had been there during the Sludge villain incident, discarded weapons lying at their feet as they looked around. If he squinted, he could see a fourth one that stood apart from the masses, glowing dimly and turning away from the carnage.

"All Might was incredibly powerful. He never revealed his Quirk, because he dared not. Nevertheless, everyone inferred that it was powerful, drawing the conclusion that strong Quirks made strong heroes. Nothing out of place in your generation kid, especially with the Public Safety Commission encouraging such a mindset. Because it was easier to train the gifted and talented rather than build people up from scratch. Quirks became everything. And worst of all, the Symbol of Peace became a crutch," she paused to sigh and her hands curled into fists, "people believe that All Might will save them. People forgot how to save themselves. Now their beacon of hope is running on fumes. What do you think will happen when their unbeatable Symbol of Peace fails?" she pointed as a new scene formed. Yagi Toshinori was being held in the grasp of a faceless villain, the terrain around them little more than smouldering wreckage. The struggling hero went limp with a wet snap, and the villain laughed. All Might's true form was discarded like a broken doll. The scene changed once more to show the mystery villain barrelling into a crowd, sending civilians and heroes alike flying in all directions. Midoriya swallowed, but he wasn't exactly surprised considering this was exactly what he had been expecting. Shimura-san reached out to place a hand on his head, and he flinched despite how comforting the gesture was. It had been a long time since someone other than Mei had shown such affection.

"I don't agree with your methods kid. But this world needs to change. Either you turn your back on heroics or you dismantle the system from within. Call it the whims of an old woman, but I'm getting tired of watching people turn their backs on you no matter how brightly you shine. So, well," Shimura-san pulled him against her side and tousled his hair, smiling gently with a hint of sadness, "do what you have to do. But I have to warn you, this path you're taking? I can only see it ending in blood." Midoriya chuckled almost bitterly at that, patting the hand of the arm wrapped around him.

He probably said the words "I know" out loud. Shimura-san didn't pry any further, but the next time they met, she was a little more lenient during training. He appreciated the silent support.

In any case, his body was still not adjusted to bear the full power of One for All. If the power he got with each percentage he added increased exponentially, so would his rate of improvement. If it was a linear increase, then his job would be much easier. While he focused his Quirk into specific parts of his body, his ultimate goal was still to be able to circulate it throughout his entire body at once. Right now he was at fifteen percent if he pushed it. By the end of the first term, he could probably raise that bar to thirty. Thus, if everything went well and the world didn't decide to fall apart, he would be able to perhaps raise it to sixty or seventy percent. He was hoping for at least fifty. Using One for All in quick bursts and focusing it in certain appendages would be his best bet for now. He tried not to sigh. At the rate at which he was going and how the world was watching him, he might not even make it to the end of the year without facing expulsion.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a light blow to the head. His eyes snapped open to see Recovery Girl's disapproving face. He blinked, before looking down to see what she was glaring at and sighed.

There were sparks of green lightning spurting at random intervals from his body. Letting go of his grasp of One for All immediately caused them to cease. He met the Pro-Heroine's eyes and tried to look sorry. When she bonked him on the head again with her cane, he knew that he had failed.

Once again, he spent a day in the infirmary. Once again, his mother never showed up. The only notice that he had gotten from her to indicate that she had been watching the Sports Festival and had received his message was a single text message. Two words. I'm sorry. He almost snarled when the screen of his phone displayed those blinking, taunting words. He didn't want his mother to be sorry. He wanted his mother to be here, to shower him with the love and affection that she had once given freely. Recovery Girl had confiscated his phone as soon as it was clear he was contemplating throwing it against a wall. She had switched out the regular handcuffs for Quirk-suppressing ones, so his practicing would have to wait. The silver lining to that cloud was he had spent a couple of hours getting used to the sensation of something crawling under his skin, something repressed that begged for release. He had a feeling that the stronger the Quirk, the more irritating that sensation would be. To someone like his mother, it would most likely just be a faint buzzing or a mild itch. To someone like the Number Two Bastard, it would probably feel worse than the sensation he was experiencing right now. Maybe something burrowing beneath his skin rather than the restrained current that felt like One for All was trying to break free of the shackles placed onto it. He used the time after that to get some rest. His body was still aching all over, the last dregs of strength he had already used up by the confrontation with Endeavour. With no caffeine or adrenaline surge to help him ignore the constant dull pain, or the almost comforting hum of electricity coursing through his veins, Midoriya had to devote most of his remaining reserves of energy to blocking out the agony. Thankfully, Recovery Girl forced him to sleep instead of organising his thoughts, even giving a mild sedative as encouragement. It did its job, making him drowsy that is, but it took probably an hour for sleep to claim him.

He just hoped that she hadn't taken advantage of his state of delirium in order to question him about certain things he would rather people not question him about.

Thankfully, he had gotten the next two days off(well, everyone had gotten the next two days off), so that was two whole days dedicated to recuperating...if improving and creating more of Mei's babies could be considered recuperating. His mother had been at home when he finally managed to hobble all the way back from UA with the assistance of a surprisingly fashionable cane that Recovery Girl had lent him, but they had exchanged only two strained conversations before she had gotten a phone call and rushed off to work(although she looked very relieved about it), leaving him in an empty house once again. Naturally, the first thing he had done was call Mei and invite her over to make the silence a little more bearable, leaving the spare key he had created for her in the keyhole as he took a long shower to block out the voices in his head. Midoriya contemplated whether or not he should have picked the locks on the Quirk-suppressing handcuffs and taken them home. Almost concerningly, the whispering stopped(or was at least muffled enough for pain to block out the rest) when his Quirk usage was blocked.

After dousing himself in hot water on the verge of boiling for maybe half an hour because of the sheer relief it brought with it, he towelled himself off and walked out of the bathroom. Stumbling into the dining room in order to grab the shirt he had haphazardly thrown onto one of the chairs, he stopped in the doorway when he found Mei tinkering at the table. He must have made some sort of noise, because she looked up from whatever she was doing(and if he remembered correctly, teh markings on her eyes meant she had used her Quirk to zoom in on him). They stood in awkward silence for a minute or two before he reached for his shirt and donned it, slightly flustered by the way her eyes followed him across the room. Midoriya ignored the almost silent noise of disappointment she made when he fully clothed himself, choosing to suppress the implications of what that entitled. Rubbing his wrists despite the fact that they weren't handcuffed, he sat down next to her in order to get a better look at what she was doing. By the time the sun had set, Mei finished modifying the impact shoes(affectionately called DubSteps, which was a terrible pun) so that they didn't do as much damage to his bones as they originally did, and put the final touches on the other piece of the "Bone Hurting Juice" set she had started creating. Originally, she had called them the Air Force Gloves, but Mei agreed that calling them SnapDragons was far more hilarious, especially since no one outside of those who had seen him break his fingers would understand the joke until the origin of the name was explained. The Eagle Eyes would probably need a new name in order to keep up with the puns, but he had grown used to how they addressed it, especially since it had already been used so extensively. Afterwards, she had migrated to the couch, patting the space next to her and pinning him with a glare when he protested that they needed to check on everyone he had enlisted for his storming of the media. Sighing, Izuku sat next to her and was completely unprepared for Mei to flop onto his lap. She stared up at him, one of the few times that he was unable to read her feelings from watching her face. A little daunting, especially since Mei wore her heart upon her sleeve, something that he had relished after years of switching personas in order to fly under the radar. Carefully, he started running a hand through her hair, and felt the stone in his stomach lighten when she hummed in contentment and closed her eyes, turning over to press her face into his stomach. They stayed like that for another few minutes, enjoying the sheer normality of it all, before Mei broke the silence with a question.

"Why do you choose to continue doing this?" Izuku took a deep breath, but managed to control the flinch he could feel building. After all, he had been expecting the question. Shimura-san had already asked it, but Mei deserved a proper answer rather than a self-deprecating one. He mulled over his answer, wondering if it really reflected what he was thinking.

"Because no one is going to get the chances that I have. I somehow got All Might to give me his Quirk, one that constantly changes and evolves the longer I possess it, and even managed to get into UA. The first originally Quirkless student of the school. I'm so tired Mei. The world won't change on its own, and you've seen what I mean, haven't you. It turned me into a cold and callous machine," he could feel the beginnings of a protest building in Mei's throat, and stopped her by putting a finger over her lips, "don't try to say otherwise. You're pretty much the only one I care about. Mom decided that it was better to cut ties with me. Nedzu thinks I'm some oddity to dissect. After the stunt I pulled at the Sports Festival, I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the class just blocked out my existence entirely. So, if you think about it logically, I'm expendable. If I fail, I get removed from the stage. If I succeed, the world won't be able to forget me even if it wanted to. I have to do this. Not for me, but for those that will never get the chances I have gotten. This is bigger than us Mei. I can't just sit still and do nothing anymore." he feels his partner tremble, whether it was with rage or with sadness, he didn't know. He fell silent, continuing to run his fingers through her hair. Waiting for her response.

He blinked when Mei abruptly sat up, then leaned forward to trap him in a hug on the edge of suffocating him. She muttered the word "no" over and over again, shaking violently. Hesitantly, he placed a hand on her back and started rubbing circles into it as a form of reassurance. As abruptly as she had sat up, Mei broke the embrace in order to pull at his cheeks. He winced, but did nothing. Mei never did things for no reason, so she was clearly trying to do something. She spoke soon after, the determination and strength in her voice caused the enthusiasm she usually had for her babies to pale in comparison to the way she was talking now.

"I know I can't convince you to stop. I get it. I really do. We've seen the world at its best and at its worst. So, in a sense, we're bound by duty, aren't we?" she laughed bitterly, releasing his cheeks to bring him into another hug. He chose not to question it, leaning into the embrace and closing his eyes.

"Whatever it is, I think you already know that this path leads only to tragedy. And I know you've made your peace with that. But I haven't. I won't let you just throw your life away while I watch. I've said this before, and I'll say this again. Wherever you go, I go as well. We're in this together. Come hell or high water." Izuku hummed softly, reaching over to embrace her in return.

"You're too good for me Mei."

"I could say the same about you."

Of course, just because it was gradually becoming an everyday occurrence to have conversations about the darker aspects of life, they had quickly returned to modifying equipment and sketching ideas for new ones. Not wanting to experience what was practically the equivalent of someone opening up his head and poking his brain with a finger before attaching wires to the parts that twitched for the second time, he had firmly told Mei that he was going to keep his current augmented vision. In order to make sure that he didn't only have half of his sight while the Eagle Eyes were activated(and preventing any possible chances of brain damage), his partner had quickly gone to work on the damaged left lens, rigging up a makeshift diamond cutter using a plasma torch plus a magnifying glass in order to attempt to restore it. There was a crack in the lens that couldn't be fixed, but it didn't hinder his vision, a reminder of what he had done. They were placed back into their carrying case to charge(working with microtechnology was always a touch-and-go kind of thing) and then the duo got to work on a few other weapons for Mei. They finished up by putting the final touches on the new and improved version of his suit, before testing out the SnapDragons.

The theory put into them was that by funnelling the burst of air from using one of his finger flicks into a small hole, it would allow him to essentially shoot bullets made from compressed air. Similar to toy guns, but with much more power behind it. They were, of course, reinforced and insulated, and while they didn't need targeting sights due to his neural connection to his equipment, it would come in handy in the off chance that he had to face a person with an EMP Quirk that could overpower the dampeners fitted into every bit of technology he had(paranoia at its finest). He would destroy his weapons before anyone got a chance to use them against him. Of course, as much as it pained Mei to add the function, there were kill switches on all his support items, accessible if he did certain gestures or spoke certain key phrases. They tested it by setting up a few household items on the dining table and firing off air blasts to knock them over(one percent was more than enough). They could probably refine the mechanisms involved, but for now it was enough. Plus, it wasn't as bulky as the original design, and the targeting bracers used to manipulate the direction of air flow were reduced to wristbands until activated, so he could wear them and no one would be the wiser. By then, it was probably around eleven at night, and while it may have been a combination of spite and goodwill, he coerced Mei into staying over. Once again, he had to wrangle her into a shower and in retaliation, she wrangled him into sharing a bed with her.

While he couldn't deny that she was a nice heater, Mei was also a person who grabbed the nearest object while sleeping and never let go. Izuku was lucky she didn't just strangle him while sleeping. Waking up the next morning brought with it a host of new muscle pains, and he tried not to groan too loudly when her arms tightened around sore ribs. Untangling himself from her iron grip was only going to wake her up as well, so he was content to stay in bed and use the Eagle Eyes to ensure those that he had used as extensions of himself were alright. None had been injured or arrested, so he chalked that up as a win while sending them a message that they now had a favour they could call in at any time. After twenty minutes of trying to fall asleep, he decided to do the reckless thing and started to busy himself with cooking, Mei still clinging onto his back like a demented koala. He also made sure to brew coffee(making sure to add the energy drinks he knew she downed like water), setting up the dining table for breakfast after crumpling the note that his mother had left him and tossing it away. Izuku was tired of accepting excuses. He didn't know when their relationship had splintered, but he was long past the time when he would try to fix everything like it was his fault they were broken. The doorbell rang, and he carefully slipped on the SnapDragons because he didn't have any friends or acquaintances that conducted house calls, especially since no one should have his address. Peeking through the eyehole so that Mei wouldn't kill him if she was woken up due to some random salesman, he blinked with surprise when he saw Aizawa-sensei outside the door, flanked by Yamada-sensei and Kayama-sensei. Contemplating whether giving his teachers the wrong impression was more harmful than waking Mei up, he decided that living another day sounded nice and opened the door.

Aizawa Shouta thought that after whatever he had managed to see Midoriya Izuku do since he had dropped into his life and class, kicking and screaming since the first day of school, especially after the villain attack on the USJ and the UA Sports Festiival, he couldn't be surprised for anything anymore. But when his student opened the door to his house with a disgruntled look on his face, gloves that looked suspiciously like support items and Hatsume Mei clinging onto his back, still asleep, he was not ashamed to admit that his first instinct was to rub his eyes to ensure he wasn't seeing things. Hizashi, like the immature adult that he was, was already spluttering and struggling to string coherent sentences while Nemuri was rapidly taking photos. Midoriya looked as tired as he felt about his friends' antics(and more suspiciously, his eyes were gold instead of green), not even bothering to speak before disappearing back into his house and leaving the door ajar. Taking that as a sign that they could come in, he stepped through the doorway after removing his shoes, his companions following his actions.

While Midoriya acted cold and clinical(not exactly as disturbing as the rage he sometimes displayed, but not far off), his house was warm and inviting. Two plates of what looked like standard American breakfasts were left forgotten on the table, as were two cups of coffee(one appeared to be...green?). His student was in the kitchen, showing an impressive amount of coordination and control considering he was cooking with another person weighing him down. When asked what he was doing, he replied without looking away from the sizzling pan that it was only polite of him to offer them a meal since they had taken the time to show up at his doorstep. Although he did mention off-handedly that it was odd for teachers to do house calls, and Aizawa could hear the unsaid accusation in those words. Not knowing what else to say, he thanked the boy before leaving to make sure his friends weren't destroying the house while he wasn't looking. Hizashi was looking into the questionable coffee mug, raising it to his nose to sniff it and blanching before passing it to him. He did the same, but was more impressed by the fact that the Problem Child could even stomach something like that than the implications of such a concoction being part of his daily meals. Nemuri was wandering around the living room, looking at the pictures on the walls. He decided that it was best not to ask her what she was doing. Soon enough, Midoriya had three other plates ready for them(Hatsume was still asleep on his back) and even a fresh pot of coffee. Aizawa was starting to consider telling the Problem Child to bring a thermos every morning, it was much better than the instant stuff that he downed because he couldn't be bothered to crawl out of bed in order to brew a pot for himself.

They dined in relative silence after Midoriya woke his friend up(she proceeded to trap him in a chokehold before noticing that they had spectators). Aizawa wasn't exactly annoyed by the quiet, but he was annoyed by the fact that Hizashi and Nemuri were constantly trying to start conversations. The attempts usually ended up falling flat, until Hizashi managed to get Midoriya started on a rant about support items, accompanied by a powerpoint presentation by Hatsume. It seemed like this wasn't the first time the topic had been brought up. As abrupt and unusual the speech was, the points brought up did bring some merit. Then he almost snorted into his coffee when Hizashi carried on to ask about the gloves his student was wearing and got the deadpan answer that they were meant to help him direct the force of his attacks(SnapDragons was an interesting pun, and Nemuri sent him a concerned look when he almost choked when Hatsume revealed the name with a gleam in her eyes). Afterwards, they were confined to the living room while the duo cleaned up, and he chose to pretend Nemuri wasn't muttering about what she would do if Midoriya was ten years older, picking up a picture of what was probably Midoriya and his mother while the two teenagers began loudly discussing the best way to hack a complex system. He glanced at it briefly, wondering what had happened to his student to turn him from a bright-eyed child to the one he saw in class before putting it back where it came from. Soon enough, Midoriya ushered Hatsume out of the house before pulling a chair from the dining room in order to sit facing them. He expected an answer. So Aizawa gave one.

He explained that with the publicity he had gotten from his stunts during the Sports Festival(his student snorted at the word), UA was currently experiencing the most mixed messages over a student that they had ever gotten in a long time. Some like Endeavour(he noted the way Midoriya's lips curled with disgust) wanted him to be expelled for insinuating that the hero system was flawed, while others were clamouring to secure him early for an internship. And to that piece of information, the Problem Child merely waved a hand, stating that he didn't exactly care about any of that and the world could think what it wanted to think. Aizawa nodded although he felt that the bad publicity would catch up with his student eventually and moved on to the next thing. With his clear stance on the Quirkless/Weak Quirks vs Strong Quirks conundrum, UA was already starting to receive threats and demands from those who believed someone like him shouldn't exist, or that his victories during the Sports Festival were due to a combination of luck and weak opponents. Midoriya's face was unreadable, but he would swear that the corner of his mouth had twitched upwards for the briefest moment before it settled back into a thin line. The green-haired teenager shrugged once more, saying that they were just proving his point if they reacted in such an adverse manner. Aizawa contemplated what his life had become before telling him that he would need to live at UA in order for them to be able to guarantee his safety. Midoriya laughed, before stating with a glint of steel in his eyes that he would rather die than allow himself to be constantly watched by "the rat", and that his house was sufficiently protected. This was the point when Nemuri raised the concern that anyone who knew his address would be able to break in. The teenager grinned, shaking his head before leaning forward and telling them that he would show them something. His eyes flickered between gold and green before he raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

The door's lock clicked and a series of steel bands made their appearance, spanning the horizontal length of the entrance as security shutters rolled down the windows. Several panels in the walls opened up to reveal tiny robots toting weapons, and a sentry gun replaced the ceiling fan. He extended his hand and a futuristic looking rifle dropped into his grasp and a section of the wall opened up to reveal a secret room. He raised his eyebrows, impressed by the modifications. Not knowing what else to say, he conceded the point, causing Midoriya's eyes to flicker once more and the apartment to revert to its original condition. Even with the security measures his student had put in place, Aizawa still had a feeling that when push came to shove, there was a high chance that all the preparation would be torn apart by a single person with the right Quirk. The teenager seemed to sense his doubts, because he offered a smile and a promise that in the event anything worse than a street thug decided to attack him while he was at home, he would immediately move to UA. This was probably the best possible thing that could have come out of the entire confrontation, so he stood up to leave. Midoriya escorted them to the door, thanking them for bothering to check on him. Before they could leave, he seemed to hesitate, before sighing softly and producing a small, tattered notebook. Flipping to a fresh page and handing Aizawa a pen, he asked almost sheepishly if he could have their signatures as a memento. Not seeing what he would do with them, he signed the paper before passing it on to Hizashi and Nemuri. When the book returned to his student's hand, he traced the ink almost reverently. For the briefest moment, he saw a different Midoriya, one without fire in his eyes and the determination to back up his resolve.

He shuddered and bid farewell. He could now understand why Nedzu was so determined to reduce Midoriya to a puzzle to solve instead of a human being. Because as much as the teenager seemed to want to turn the world to ashes, he was still just that. A teenager. Hizashi got a piece of paper that he refused to let Aizawa see, while Nemuri received a thumbdrive that she immediately pocketed. He turned to leave, before deciding to give in to his feelings and managed to apologize. He didn't say what for, but Midoriya was as perceptive as ever. He gave his teacher what was probably the first genuine smile that day, before handing him a folder that he somehow managed to produce from nowhere. Curiously, he flipped through it, almost dropping the documents when he realized the contents. He gave Midoriya one last glance before the boy closed the door behind them.

The smile he got in return to his unspoken question was nightmare fuel, but a clear answer. He shoved the folder into his jumpsuit.

It appeared that he had work to do.

After his teachers had left with the "care packages" that he had created for them, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. He finally caught up with the one television series that he actually set aside the time to watch, went over to Aunt Hatsume's dojo to see how she was doing(and got roped into teaching a bunch of wannabe gangsters what fighting in the real world looked like), sent a text to Mei in order to tell her she should probably get some "alone time" and she responded in the most Hatsume Mei way possible by turning up on his couch, having raided his kitchen for snacks. They spent the rest of the evening watching movies from the Pre-Quirk era while eating take-out. While the couch was big enough for three people, she ended up tucked under one of his arms. His mom still wasn't home by ten in the evening, and he was beginning to think that she had found somewhere else to live, so he suggested that they continue the movie marathon. After running through the very limited selection of Pre-Quirk movies they could access without hacking into national archives, they moved on to the sci-fi section to get a couple of ideas on what devices they could bring into reality next, and finally horror movies because it was one, amusing to see how far special effects had come, and two, Mei still refused to admit she was terrified by them. Another four hours passed before she stopped trembling enough for him to feel the vibration(but that was because she had fallen asleep) and he turned off everything unnecessary before doing another cursory check of "his organisation" and falling asleep.

He was kicked off the couch in the morning. That was not fun.

Mei had to leave the next day because of some last minute project for the Support Course that she had neglected in order to prepare for the Sports Festival, so he spent the morning wandering around and looking for anyone else to help. Managed to help a man with really bad burn scars run away from an irate shopkeeper by leading him down one of his shortcuts. After they had given the balding man the slip, Mr Crispy demanded to know his intentions, blue fire flickering along his arm. Midoriya had helpfully pointed out that he should stop using his Quirk if it did damage to his body, before answering that he was just a person who was tired of the way the world worked. As with his other cases, he gave a card. Unfortunately, his cash supplies weren't exactly at their best, so the best he could offer was one of his safehouses. They were little more than abandoned, damaged buildings that no one owned, but there was shelter and resources there. The burn victim eyed him suspiciously before running off. Midoriya shrugged to himself. He had tried. The afternoon was spent checking if Dagobah Beach was still pristine(and he made a mental note to look into who was starting to dump trash even as he cleared it). Unsurprisingly, some people noticed who he was and he got his first taste of the mixed reactions Aizawa-sensei had warned him about. Some clapped him on the back and told him to keep up the good work. Others glared at him and made an effort to bump him as he walked around lugging the trash. Even so, whenever someone thanked him for trying to make a difference, he got a pleasant reminder that he was doing the right thing. The evening was dedicated to monitoring the news(they were still fixated on the Sports Festival and arguing over what message he was trying to send. Only two news stations were talking about the second set of recordings he had given them, but that was actually more than he was expecting.

He fell asleep at the table and woke up with a blanket covering him. Midoriya smiled softly. Maybe their relationship could be salvaged after all.

School was, for lack of a better word, awkward. His classmates had stopped looking at him like he was a wild animal, but now they were eyeing him like he was a bomb waiting to go off. On a nicer note, Todoroki had greeted him with a smile and a word of thanks, surprising class 1-A and himself in the process. At least he had made a new ally in the process. After exchanging phone numbers with him, Aizawa-sensei shambled into the classroom. After a brief speech about how the Sports Festival was for them to gain the attention of Pro-Heroes, he showed the internship offers the class had gotten. Most went to Bakugou(2051) and Todoroki(3124), with a significant decrease after that. Probably out of frustration, Kaminari remarked on how surprising it was for Midoriya to not have gotten a single offer, but Aizawa-sensei quickly dismissed that notion by stating that Midoriya's internship offers were being looked through carefully to make sure he wasn't being selected by people who wanted to beat him into the ground. Most likely out of spite and a penchant for being dramatic, he pressed another button to show how many offers he had gotten, and Midoriya raised an eyebrow when his bar quickly reached double of Bakugou's and finally stopped at seven thousand and sixty-three. He hid a crooked smile behind a hand.

Kayama-sensei kicked the door open and announced that they were going to choose their hero names. It started off with the ludicrous ones like Aoyama, but quickly got better when Asui announced her name. A strange sense of contentment briefly overwhelmed him when Iida chose the name Ingenium, and he offered several names to Todoroki when he decided to go with Shoto. His newest ally quickly changed it to Absolute Zero, probably to piss off his father. He snickered when Bakugou called himself King Explosion Murder. Finally, when it was his turn on stage, he marched up confidently, mind made up from the start.

He displayed his whiteboard, making sure to smile as he did so.

"The Determined Hero, Deku."

Bakugou snarled at the usage of the slur he had created, and that only made Midoriya smile harder.

I was thinking of stretching this chapter to include the beginnings of the Internship Arc, but it was getting too long. So instead, you all get exposition! Yaaaay. I would make every chapter action-packed, but that would get old pretty quickly. Anyway, if anyone was thinking I would change Izuku's hero name, I didn't. Mainly because he won't be a hero for every long. Spoilers! This could have come out yesterday, but I wanted to add a little more. Anyway, see ya next chapter. These are getting longer...