It's starting to drive him a little bit insane that Izuku still hasn't seen All Might despite the fact that it's already Friday of the first week. He clearly wasn't having any luck trying to track the man after school so he figures he'd try early in the morning since he wasn't allowed to train until Sunday.

Izuku spent almost 45 minutes hiding near the teacher's lounge, hoping he'd catch a peek at All Might. While the Number One was nowhere to be seen; he did get to see Present Mic talking loudly to an exhausted looking man in a scarf. Midnight was in and out a few times and he even managed to see Ectoplasm. But still no All Might.

Izuku wanders away from the teacher's area before someone notices his stalking and pulls out his hero notebook, now up to volume 14, and analyzes his updated All Might page in annoyance. He underlines elusive twice with his pencil before slamming the book shut. He still has half an hour before homeroom starts; there were a couple of things he wants to add to his notebook about the pros he saw today.

Izuku walks the halls by memory, muttering to himself about how Midnight was taller than she seemed on TV and a mental note to look up that scruffy man he'd seen with Present Mic. Was he another pro? Despite being lost in thought, some deep-seeded survival instinct has Izuku stopping and leaning around the corner near his classroom.

When Izuku peers around, he sees a couple of older kids hovering around a boy with gravity defying purple hair. Just seeing Shinsou makes Izuku a bit uncomfortable and he almost considers just leaving until Shinsou turns slightly and Izuku can see he looks unhappy. Before he can even think about it, Izuku is stalking forward.

"Hey, leave him alone," Izuku says before he can think otherwise, parting the group and standing in front of Shinsou who looks just as stunned as he is. Just once, Izuku would like to control his idiotic impulses.

"Oh look, the villain kid has a partner in crime," One of the older kids sneers down at him. The villain kid? Izuku looks back at Shinsou who's glaring at his shoes with a dark look on his face. "Better watch your step brat; don't you know the only reason they let him into Yuuei is so the heroes could keep an eye on him?"

"That's not true," Izuku interjects, a little uncertain but these guys are nothing compared to Kaachan. "If anything, they accepted him because he's smart and he's got an amazing quirk that will save a lot of people." He takes a step forward. "Shinsou hasn't done anything wrong and aren't the real villains the ones who bully other people for no reason?" One of the boys winces and another gives an uneasy glance towards their leader.

"I don't know who you think he is but he sure isn't a hero, I'll leave you to figure that one out on your own. Come on guys, I don't want to catch his naivety." With that said, the boy stalks off with his two cronies following awkwardly behind. Izuku watches them go with a frown; bullies can be found everywhere, even at a prestigious school like Yuuei.

"Are you oka-" Izuku asks, turning around to face Shinsou only to be met with a light push that puts him back a few steps. Shinsou's face is still turned to the ground and his fists are trembling slightly.

"I didn't ask for your help, who the hell are you to interfere in my business?" Shinsou demands in a tight, angry voice.

"I'm sorry, I-I was just trying to help," Izuku says, his confidence gone with an almost visible pop as he tries to fix whatever it was he did wrong. "Those guys had no right to speak to you that way."

"Oh yeah and what do you know? You don't know anything about me," Shinsou hisses.

"I know you want to be a hero," Izuku responds quietly. "You mentioned it on the first day of school. You're right, I don't know much about you but that alone tells me that you'd never be a villain." Shinsou seems to freeze at that, just for a moment before he's moving again.

"You really don't know anything, just leave me alone." Shinsou says as he shoves his hands deep into his pockets and stalks off.

Izuku lets out the breath he'd been holding and rubs at his head. Why is it he always says the wrong thing around this kid? He has no idea what to do but a part of him can't help but empathize a bit with Shinsou. No matter how distant and hostile he acts; Izuku can see that the other boy is hurting. He wonders if there is anything he can do to help; he wonders if Shinsou would let him.

Izuku spends the time before homeroom writing in his hero notebook but he finds he can't concentrate on the words. Instead, he thinks about how resigned Shinsou had looked before Izuku had intervened. Like he'd accepted the fact that no one else believed him capable of being a hero with his quirk.

It was sad in a way that way that Izuku completely understood having been in the same situation for most of his life. Shinsou is probably similar to how Izuku would have turned out if he'd let his anger and bitterness overwhelm him. It made him want to help his classmate. He's thinking over to approach Shinsou when there's a light tap on his hand. He looks up to Motome's empty eyed stare.

"I see you had another run-in with our class's most mysterious member," Motome says quietly, presumably so the others don't hear. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," she says referring to the use of her quirk to look into his past as if the invasion of his privacy wasn't that big of a deal. "You just looked deep in thought and I thought I'd see what I could do."

"Yeah," Izuku hums as an answer, not really sure what to think of the unwanted intrusion. Despite how nice most of his class was, Izuku sometimes found himself frustrated by their casual, usually unwelcome, quirk use on him. But he had been thinking about what to do with Shinsou. Motome wanted to be a detective someday, maybe she could help.

"I just don't know what to do about Shinsou. You know that we've had some bad encounters but he doesn't really seem like a mean person. I wish there was something I could do to make him feel more comfortable but I don't know how to go about it." Izuku elaborates as he loses himself to his thoughts.

"Maybe if I just confronted him directly, told him that I don't care about what happened in the past? But I also don't want him to think he can just walk all over me. He doesn't seem to have any other people he talks to, maybe he just doesn't want to talk to anyone…" he mutters to himself until Motome quietly knocks on his desk with an amused smile.

"You're quite a character Midoriya; you just don't stop do you?" she says fondly.

"Stop what?" Izuku asks as Korudo and Taketsu walk in and he raises his hand to greet them.

"Helping people," Motome elaborates. "I don't know what you should do; all I know is that there are rumors going around about him, mostly related to his brainwashing quirk. Honestly, those rumors don't seem to match up what I've seen from him. Jerk he may be but I haven't seen him really do anything other than keep to himself."

As Taketsu and Korudo walk over, Motome pushes herself away from his desk. "It's up to you what you do, though. Just be careful and keep yourself out of trouble, you hear? Don't make us worry anymore than we already do."

"I will," Izuku said, unable to stop the eye roll. If he'd known his confrontation with Kacchan would cause everyone to coddle him, he would have just punched his former friend in the face. He hates that everyone seems to think they need to intervene in his life. Speaking of which... "Oh and Motome?"

She turns back to look at him as she makes her way to her seat. "I don't really have anything to hide but maybe ask next time before using your quirk?" Izuku says quietly, like it's something rude he's asking. Motome doesn't seem angry though and instead she looks a little embarrassed.

"Right, sorry about that, I kind of have a habit of poking my nose where it doesn't belong. Let me know if I go too far again, okay?" She smiles before quickly sitting back down as Chiura-sensei enters the room.

"Alright, in your seats, homeroom has now begun," Chiura-sensei announces as he sets down his bag. "I hope you're getting settled and preparing yourself because it will only get tougher as the term continues." He intones with a stern look before going through the daily announcements.

Izuku sighs a little bit, letting himself be a bit distracted as he glances out of the corner of his eye to where Shinsou was sitting. He's wondering how the other boy was faring after his bullying incident and, if he was being honest, Izuku is a bit curious about the quiet, bitter boy who wanted to be a hero.

When his eyes land in Shinsou's direction, he squeaks and quickly rights himself when he sees the other boy is openly glaring at him. Izuku squirms a bit in his seat, happy when homeroom ends so he can find some relief.

In the end he doesn't get it.

Every time for the rest of the morning whenever he dares to turn around and check, he would find purple haired boy still staring him down. First, then second, third and fourth period came and went and Izuku thought he was going to bust out of his skin from discomfort and anxiety.

Korudo and Kyoshi kept mouthing to him if he was okay but he kept waving them off. He tells himself he does it because he doesn't want to involve them in another situation but Izuku knows that he just doesn't want to turn to face them and see Shinsou's penetrating gaze out of the corner of his eye again.

By the time lunch comes, Izuku is contemplating going to Recovery Girl for a note so he could excuse himself home. He certainly feels like he's sick anyway. He rubs at his forehead as he continues to deflect questions and change topics all during lunch. The first week isn't even over and already he has people after him when he hasn't done anything wrong.

The thought catches him, like a hangnail on an old shirt, making him pause with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. That's right; he hasn't done anything to deserve this. All he's done is do his best to fit in and keep working towards his dream. Does that mean he deserves people to laugh at him? to have cruel notes placed on his desk? To be glared at? He scowls as his anxiety turns to anger, going up like a campfire doused in gasoline.

"Yo, are you gonna finish that or are you gonna leave your rice hanging," Patrick teases before the brown haired boy glances at his face. Izuku doesn't know what his expression looks like but it must be bad judging by Patrick's reaction. "Woah man, you okay? You look like you need to deck someone. I personally volunteer Kamoto because that guy is a jerk also he doesn't realize the pompadour went out of style like 50 years ago."

"I'm fine," Izuku says in a voice that, even to him, does not sound fine. He clears his throat and tries again with a smile that feels like a grimace. "It'll be alright, there's just something I just realized I need to take care of. Excuse me." He scans the hall for Shinsou and finds him in his usual spot on the outer edges of the cafeteria, sitting by himself.

"Be careful," Motome says with an unhappy frown, clearly seeing where he plans on going. Korudo just gives him a thumbs up with a grin.

"I don't know what's going on but you have my support. You know where we are if you need any backup." Izuku just nods but he isn't really listening as he puts his shoulders back and walks towards Shinsou.

All his anger and nervousness seem far away when compared to his frustration that he can't enjoy his high school experience in peace. He dealt with it all through middle and primary school and he's not going to let it follow him here. He's different now. Izuku reaches the table and looms over the other boy who looks up at him with an annoyed expression.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my way," Shinsou mutters as he takes another bite from his pudding.

"Look, I don't know what your problem is but I'm not going to let you treat me like this." Shinsou gives him a droll look and saps some of Izuku's confidence, he swallows and presses on anyway. "Look, I'm sorry if I upset you earlier but I don't regret stepping in when those other kids were giving you a hard time. You don't deserve to be treated that way just like I don't deserve everything that happens to me because I'm quirkless." Shinsou scoffs and breaks eye contact to play with his pudding.

"Is that what you think this is about?" Shinsou asks dully and the dismissiveness of the statement rekindles the spark of anger in Izuku's chest that he slams a hand down on the table and startles Shinsou enough to make him look up again.

"I have no idea what this is about because you won't tell me," Izuku hisses. "Maybe if you had an actual conversation with me, we could work things out so you can find better things to do than glare at the back of my head for 4 hours straight."

"Alright, you want to talk? Let's talk. Meet me in the gym on the west side of campus after school, wear your gym uniform and don't bring your little group." Shinsou turns away and glares into his pudding. "Sensei ended our spar early the other day, we'll get this settled once and for all."

"I'll be there," Izuku nods.

It's amazing how much more quickly the afternoon passes than the morning. There's an itch under his skin as he sits through those last couple of classes that he first thinks is the resurgence of his anxiety but he later recognizes it as something similar to what he feels before a training session with Rikimaru-shishou.

Beneath his desk, his leg bounces in nervous anticipation as he watches the clock and thinks about what's to come. He mutters quietly to himself as he thinks about what he's going to do, what he'll say as he counts down the hours. Not once does he look behind him to see if Shinsou is still glaring. Whatever is going on between them is going to be addressed soon enough.

If the first half of the day seemed to drag on endlessly then the second half speeds by like a bullet. Izuku wasn't sure if he was relieved or nauseous when the final bell rang. Either way, he couldn't back out now so it was best just to get this over with.

He excuses himself easily from his friends, mentioning that he was going to get some extra training in. It's too much for him to hope that they'd forgotten about earlier but at least they're letting him deal with it on his own. They probably think he's just going to talk to Shinsou instead of fight him. Given how protective they could be, Izuku didn't enlighten them.

Izuku warms himself up briefly in the locker room as he changes into his gym uniform. He's no All Might but there's a refined strength in his muscles that wasn't there at this time last year. He's come a long way in a short period of time and he thinks that will be enough for whatever Shinsou has planned. It has to be.

He strolls into the deserted gym 20 minutes after the final bell to find his opponent working out with a punching bag. Izuku can't help the wince. The other boy not only is working without gloves or proper wrapping but the bag he'd punching is far too heavy for a beginner. Izuku can see some blood and bruising on his knuckles in between punches.

"I wasn't sure you were going to show," Shinsou says as he rolls his shoulders and walks away from the punching bag. He looks just as tired and frustrated as he did earlier.

"I told you I would," Izuku responds. "I don't want a repeat of our spar on Tuesday. I just want to work out whatever issues you have with me so that we can have a better relationship. We both want to be heroes, right? We should be working together not against each other."

"You're so naïve," Shinsou spits out viciously. "That's exactly why we can't be friends. Now get on over to the mat and we'll see once and for all who the better hero is going to be."

"This is stupid, you're not an experienced fighter and I can't get around your quirk. Can't we try talking this time?" Izuku asks even as he steps onto the mat opposite the purple haired boy. "Shinsou, please, I want to help you. You always look so angry but I think that you're really just lonely. I know because I've been in the same position."

"Stop pretending like you know me," Shinsou says as he charges forward with his hands reaching out to tackle him. Izuku dodges the attack with ease, resisting the urge to make his own move. "Come on, you're not an idiot. You know why I called you here so fight me. I know you can since you insisted on humiliating me in gym the other day."

"I wasn't trying to humiliate you." Izuku hisses as Shinsou manages to get close enough to give him a glancing punch to the shoulder which knocks him off balance. "Why won't you talk to me? What could I have possibly done to make you so angry with me?" Izuku asks as he rights himself and speeds forward to grab ahold of Shinsou's wrist and wrench it behind his back.

"You really want to know?" Shinsou asks, squirming in his hold until he brings his foot down on Izuku's own which causes him to curse and let go of his hold on the other boy. "I've had to fight every step of the way to get here. I've had to endure teachers and classmates and even my own family telling me I can't be a hero with my quirk. Do you know what that's like to be shot down no matter how hard you try?" Shinsou practically screams, his voice filled with rage but his face looks so sad.

"When I got accepted to Yuuei, I thought that maybe I could do this. I could prove myself and transfer into the hero department and get everyone to stop whispering behind my back every day." He pauses long enough to throw a sloppy swing Izuku's way which Izuku sidesteps but just barely.

"And then I get here and I find my main competition is this smiley idiot who acts like he can just walk on into the hero program without a quirk. Do you know how infuriating that is? Even when I think my dream is within reach, I get it tugged away by someone who can't possibly know what I've been through."

"That's so stupid! You don't think I know what it's like to have your dream mocked?" Izuku yells back, taking note of Shinsou's increasingly more erratic attacks, feeling both annoyed and sympathetic for the other boy. "I've been bullied and teased since the day I was diagnosed and I know how much that hurts. I lived with that hurt every day until I decided that I was done letting other people tell me what to do." Shinsou tries to grab him but Izuku bats away his hands.

"You're taking your frustration out on the wrong person, Shinsou. I'm not the one holding you back, you are. You're so determined to be angry at the people who've beaten you down that you don't see that their opinions don't matter. I worked hard to get to this point, what have you done besides be angry at the things you can't change?" Izuku ducks low under a punch and quickly swipes Shinsou's feet from underneath him. Shinsou looks surprised as he hits the mat.

"You say you want to be a hero but I don't see you doing anything about it. Train your body, improve your quirk and stop blaming other people for your problems!" Izuku emphasizes with annoyance.

"I'm not blaming anyone!" Shinsou says with a sneer.

"Then stand up and move forward! Do you want to be a hero because you want to prove everyone wrong? Or do you want to save people?" Izuku demands, ignoring the hypocrisy of the statement.

"I want to save people," Shinsou shouts angrily before seeming to calm down. "Of course I do."

"Then stop being so-" Izuku starts to answer only for a cloudy haze to fall over his mind. His brain slows down to a crawl and his muscles lock in place in his squat.

Shoot, he fell under Shinsou's brainwashing quirk again. How was it activated? Could it be counteracted? Izuku struggles to move, to do anything and finds he can't. On the ground, Shinsou rolls over onto his stomach before crawling back to his knees then to his feet. He studies Izuku for a moment, still frozen from his position near the floor.

"That looks uncomfortable, stand up," and just like that Izuku was on his feet but it wasn't his own power. It was a very distressing feeling. "You're more than an idiot, you're absolutely crazy. You know what I can do with my quirk but you didn't even hesitate to stand up for me today, didn't avoid meeting me here." Izuku takes in a deep breath as he feels control come back to him. "I still don't know what to do with you. I thought this would help but now I'm even more confused."

"You could stop being a jerk and be my friend," Izuku responds and the look of pure surprise on Shinsou's face encourages him to keep going. "We got off to a rough start but I'd like to try again. You can sit with us at lunch; the others might give you a hard time at first but they'll warm up quickly I'm sure. I can give you some tips on fighting techniques and you can show me how your quirk works."

"I just took control of your body against your will," Shinsou says quietly but full of some emotion Izuku can't place. "I could have made you do something terrible; had you bend your fingers back until they broke or forced you jump off the roof."

"No, you wouldn't," Izuku answers calmly because in some way, he gets it. He gets what it's like to be stuck in a bad mindset based on the people around you. And if he could claw his way out, then Shinsou can too. "You're not a villain just like I'm not as useless as everyone says."

"You don't know me," Shinsou says quietly, looking very lost.

"You're right, but I'd like to get to know you better," Izuku smiles. "So can we be friends now? Stop fighting each other and start fighting this terrible, corrupt system that made us feel this way in the first place?" Shinsou laughs a little at that, looking surprised even as he does, like Izuku had startled it out of him. He stares at Izuku with wide purple eyes for an extra few moments before breaking eye contact and stepping away awkwardly.

"I'll think about it," Shinsou mutters as he shoves his hands deep into his pockets and walks towards the exit. Izuku smiles wryly, thinking about how this is the second, no third, time Shinsou has left him in the dust. Oh well, Rome wasn't built in a day.

"Hey," Izuku looks up to see Shinsou hovering by the door. "Are you coming or are you going to sleep here?"

"O-oh! Yes! I'm coming, here, let me get my bag," Izuku says, running over and grabbed his backpack before practically skipping over to where the other boy was holding open the door. "Thanks!" He chirps which only makes Shinsou look more uncomfortable.

"I am sorry I guess, for uh for taking over your mind earlier and yelling at you, punching you too. I haven't really treated you fairly since school started, have I?" Shinsou mutters but Izuku waves him off as they walk down the hall.

"It's fine, this is new for both of us. I'm sorry for sending you to the mat. My master has put me through that enough times that I know it had to hurt. I can show you how to fall properly or even how to avoid an attack like that in the first place. Your quirk is handy but you'll need some combat skills if you want to transfer."

"You really are crazy, Midoriya," Shinsou scoffs but there's a small smile on his face and to Izuku, it feels like the start of a new beginning.

XxX

Inko is anxiously stirring the noodles in the pot when she hears Izuku walk through the door. She breathes a quick sigh of relief before turning around to scold her son with her spoon.

"Izuku, where have you been?" Inko demands. "You told me you were going to be home early today and, look, it's almost five! You better not have been out there training-"

"Mom, I wasn't I promise," Izuku interjects, shedding his jacket and setting himself down at the kitchen chairs but Inko isn't done yet.

"-because I have your martial arts teacher's phone number and he said to call if you'd been exercising during your little break." She looks at him, there was some guilt on his face but not much. He'd been up to something all right but he doesn't look like he normally did after practice. "I know you want to be more independent but if you say you're going to come home at a certain time, I expect you home at that time. Or at least phone me if you're going to be late. You have no idea how worried I was."

Her son may be 15 and attending a prestigious high school but that doesn't mean he's all grown up yet. It's still her job to worry over him. He frowns up at her with big green eyes that she can't really stay mad at.

"I'm sorry Mom, it's been such a crazy day, a crazy week. Something happened after school today and I lost track of time. I promise I'll call home next time."

"Well can you at least tell me what it was?" She asks, going back to her cooking as she turns down the heat on the stove. "I know it's been a while but your mom still remembers how scary the first week of high school can be."

"I uh," Izuku stammers, "it's kind of weird and I don't even know how to explain it but uh I think I made another friend today." He pauses as she turns to face him again, "Maybe, it was... kind of unclear."

"Oh Izuku that's wonderful, I'm so glad." Inko says and she is, she's so happy she could cry. A boy making a new friend shouldn't be such a big deal but for someone who's been ostracized as much as Izuku has, it's a blessing. She hadn't been sure about Yuuei at first but clearly it's been nothing but good for her son. "Tell me about them, are they nice? Do they know your other friends?"

"Shinsou is," Izuku purses his lips and sets his chin down onto his folded arm across the table. "He's a bit like me, how I was before Yuuei. He wants to be a hero too, he got a great quirk but no one else can see it. Mom, you should've seen him today, he looked so sad. I tried to help and, I don't know, maybe I did a little... but I had to do something."

"Oh baby," she says stepping away from the stove to walk over to her son. "You're a good boy, I'm sure you did help your friend. Sometimes just having someone care is enough to make a difference. One small act of kindness can mean the world to someone."

"Yeah," Izuku replies softly behind her after a moment. "Hey Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I uh invite my friends over tomorrow? I sort of already invited Shinsou, you know, so he knows I'm genuine in my offer to be friends. But Taketsu, Patrick and Korudo and I talked about it earlier but I was thinking maybe ." He sits upright, "Uh I hope that's not too much, I know inviting four people over is a lot but I promise we'd be good and keep the noise down and-"

"Oh hush you," Inko says fondly, cutting her son off before he really gets worked up. "I think that's a lovely idea. I've been wanting to meet your friends anyway. But don't worry, I'll keep out of the way and not embarrass you." Izuku beams at her. "Go on, you give them a call and change out of your uniform. We're having pasta tonight and I don't you to spill."

"Okay! I'll do that now!" He says, bounding out of his chair with his usual well of energy. Before rushing off to call his friends, he runs over and gives her a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks Mom! You're the best!" And then he's off, cell phone already out.

Inko chuckles lightly to herself at her son's antics as she continues her dinner. Yes, raising Izuku hasn't been easy and she often wonders if there was more she could have done for her son. But looking at him now, some of those worries fall aside. There's been some stumbles along the way but there's no doubt that Inko brought up a strong, kind-hearted boy. She smiles to herself as she hears him talking in the other room. It's about time other children saw how wonderful her boy was.

So I'm uploading early as I'm busy tomorrow. Ta-da! A step forward with Shinsou who is now, potentially, a friend. Had a lot of fun writing the dialogue, to me, this is the first time we get to see how Izuku has grown over the past year. Also, for those keeping track, this ends the first week of school. It will go much faster now that the scene and characters are mostly set. Thank you again for your continued support.