"Alright, the wound on your right arm seems to be healing quite nicely and your ankle will stay in a cast for maybe another week. You should be out of here soon." The pointed-ear nurse said. Her name, I had finally figured out, was Miyamoto Narusu. She had been at the hospital every day and had cared for me. I admired the love and dedication she had to her job.

"Mrs. Miyamoto, do you know if anyone is coming today to visit?" I asked. Surely there had to be someone else and something to cover.

"Yes, I believe they should be here around ten, so you shouldn't have to wait long." With that, she left the room. It was 9:36 according to the clock on my bedside table. They should be here soon, whoever they are.

As Miyamoto had said, at 10:02, I heard a knock on my door. "Come in," I said. The door slid open to reveal three figures. "Mr. Aizawa, the Principal of UA, and… All Might?" Right in front of me stood those three. The hero that had been watching over me; furry, small, and white creature; and the fallen No. 1. It didn't take me long to piece together a common thread between them.

"You can't be serious. Me? UA? That would not go down well with the press." UA was the only thing that linked that tied all three of them together. And I was only assuming they wanted me at the school, but it was the only reason I could assume they were in the room I was.

"Ah! So I see that you're a sharp one!" The principal said as he hopped up onto the chair. "Yes, I do have a proposition to make for you about UA. As you've already figured, I want to enroll you in our school and become a student. To start off, I want to ask you a very simple question, Kirika. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I- well… um…" I contemplated his question immensely. I wasn't expecting to answer something like that so soon. What do I say? A teacher? A doctor? A nurse might work; I have really grown to admire their work… But I couldn't seem to shake one option: A hero? No. I can't say that. A was just a villain! So, I gave the only answer I could. "I… I don't know."

"Hmm, I see. Another reason you should join is that UA is now switching to a dorm system, so you don't have to worry about finding a new home or family."

"And you can keep an eye on me…" I finished for him.

The principal didn't fade in voice or expression he continued. "If you want to see it that way, yes. We could send you into a general studies class and you would do just fine there. I requested to see the results from the test you took yesterday. Kirika, you passed with flying colors. You have an astonishing amount of intellect for someone who has been missing for six years and for your age, at that. I talked to your child service agent, Ms. Kaigo. She told me about this textbook here." He pointed to the book on my bedside table. "You have a drive to learn, Kirika. That's very hard to find."

"Forgive me for being blunt, but what does that have to connect me to UA?" The principal wasn't getting to the point very fast. It was almost like he was trying to "butter me up" as the expression goes.

"Right to the point, of course! What I'm trying to get at is that the teachers at UA can fuel that drive you have for learning and you'll also be in a place with students with a similar drive. You can continue both your education and life at UA, but it's all your choice."

"This is a once in a lifetime kind of thing, kid," Aizawa joined in. "Don't be hasty."

UA was a school for heroes and that's why kids enroll in the establishment. I just got back from villainy and I would go there? It seemed impossible. Then, I remembered. The promise!

"A hero," I said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" The principal said. Each of the men had confused looks on their faces.

"You asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up. I made a promise a long time ago to someone a loved very much. I told them I'd become a hero. So, to answer your question, when I grow up, I want to become a hero. And you're wrong about my drive to learn. It's not for learning at all, actually. It's a drive to not be left behind. I guess you could say it's a drive to win."

Aizawa scoffed and shook his head. "You would fit right in with my class. Some of those kids just don't know how to lose."

"Speaking of which," I said. "Let's make a deal."

"I'm all ears," the principal said.

"You give me the same written exam that class 1-A took and if I get in the top ten, then I get to to a more practical exam. Whatever design you want, as long as class 1-A gets to see or be a part of it."

"And what if you don't score in the top ten?" The principal sipped on his cup of tea. Where did he- Oh, why do I even ask anymore?

"Then I'm not coming to UA. I can find another school to go to. But you best be sure that I'm not going to be gazing from the bottom when I could have a view from up top."

"If I may ask," All Might finally said. "How confident are you that you'll get in the top ten?"

"Well, I wouldn't have made an all or nothing deal if I wasn't sure I'd get in. High stakes just make it a little more fun, ya know? Some more motivation." I gave them a smile.

"W-well then," All Might stuttered.

"If I may ask, how do you think the public, and more specifically students' parents, will react to hearing that UA may get a new student that—oh, I dunno… was in the League of Villains?!" It wasn't something you just mention on the side. This was pretty big.

"I will not deny any child who seeks knowledge their own education," the principal said. "You haven't been allowed education in six years. You are no longer a villain, nor were you ever really in the first place, as you say. Yes, the press will seek to break down UA if they hear about you, but we can cross the bridge when we get to it. As for the parents, Mr. Aizawa and All Might will be going to each 1-A student's households later today to talk to them about the new dorms system I explained to you. And, in these discussions, the possibility of you will be spoken about. Is that enough to suffice you?"

"Well, one more thing," I said. "If any of the parents or students whole-heartedly disagree with me being in 1-A, please tell me.

Because I will not be going to your school if anyone objects."

~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~

WAIT WAIT WAIT! Before you go questioning what the heck just happened, let me explain! I get it, this makes no sense that UA would just randomly accept this once-was villain, right? Wrong. This is the best course of action in the eyes of UA. With the new dorm system, they can keep a close eye on Asuga and make sure she both gets a good education and doesn't return to her villain history. Yeah, yeah you can call me lazy but this isn't the only scenario I've thought about writing. I've spent hours thinking about ways to put Asuga into UA without sounding like a crazy author and, believe it or not, this was the best way I thought to add her in. I'm thinking of including a small 3rd-person chapter to explain this later but I'm not sure.

BTW! I realize I haven't been publishing as much! This will, sadly, become more regular. I'm thinking my publishing schedule will end up being Wednesdays and Saturdays, but that may change and/or vary. And, as one last note, I've been reading a lot of Webtoons (look it up if you don't know what Webtoon is) lately and I found a really awesome one! It's called Room of Swords and it is THE BEST. The art is great, the characters are great, and the plot is the best thing I have ever seen! I encourage all of you to go check it out! (And the "wait wait wait" at the beginning is referencing the Micheal with a B vine and, yes, I know it's actually "stop" and not "wait")

So this chapter was supposed to go out on Tuesday... but I forgot to publish it... OOPS. I was actually going to publish chapter 18 but then I realized I hadn't even published 17 so here we are. I'm still going to keep up my schedule so chapter 18 will instead be up on Wednesday!

Peace!