Just in case I need to, if you are an Anime Only friend, then I suggest you turn away, because in this house, we use SPOILERS! That's right, there are spoilers for the anime, and if you aren't up to date with the manga (or at least a little ahead) you'll be mad. Warning made from here on out.

Upon waking, the first thing that Ashido realized was that she was not very comfortable. Her stomach was empty, her bladder seemed oddly full, the skin around her arm felt kind of itchy, and the sheets she had wrapped around her body were far from soft. There was also a stray beam of sunlight that was flickering in and out of sight, periodically lining up perfectly to hit her in the face, which was fairly aggravating to wake up to.

She groaned, shimmied down the bed ever so slightly, and sighed when she was relieved of the glaring sunlight.

One problem solved, only about four left.

It was then she realized - she wasn't at the camp. In fact, she wasn't really sure where she was.

Her eyes opened suddenly, and she felt her heart rate quicken as she frantically looked around the room, trying to identify at least one telling sign of where she was. She paused her search as her eyes landed on her backpack, along with her school uniform, and a few balloons that hung silently in the air, red, blue and pink in color, reminder her of her birthdays as a child.

But why... why were there balloons? And why...

Why was she in a hospital bed...?

At least twenty questions danced through her head as she carefully examined her room, looking for any additional hints that might explain why she was bed-bound and in a freaking hospital, instead of being at the summer camp!

There was another bed in the room with her, separated by what appeared to be a curtain, although it was drawn back, reducing any privacy she might have had. Mina shuddered; she really hoped her room companion was another girl - or, at the very least, not Mineta. She doubted he'd do anything to her in her sleep - he was leechy and pervy, but he wasn't a complete asshole - but she didn't want to take any chances, either. Plus, now that she was awake, there'd be nothing stopping him.

A flush from the attached bathroom gave Mina a sudden idea of where her bunkmate was, and she debated feigning sleep so that she would be able to get an idea of who she was with, but before she could, the door opened, and the pink girl found herself gazing into the surprised, wide eyes of Asui Tsuyu. It might have seemed weird to Tsuyu, but she sighed in relief; it wasn't Mineta.

"Gero. You're awake."

Mina smiled, trying to sit up, without having the sun blast her in the face again. "Yeah; I just woke up. How long have we been here...?"

"Not long. The attack was last night."

"Attack...?"

And suddenly, it all came rushing back to Mina. The Courage Test. The sudden gas that spread throughout the forest. The mysterious flaming man that appeared before Aizawa, and conveniently avoided capture. The declaration of war against the invading villains.

Midoriya.

If Mina could have thrown up, it was debatable whether or not she would have. Her stomach lurched as she recalled the mangled sight of Midoriya's arms, the blood that dripped down his shattered appendages like it was water flowing from the tap, the way if you looked close enough, you might have been able to spy where the bone protruded against the surface of the skin...

Honestly, out of anything Ashido had ever witnessed, the mere sight of her classmate's body was enough to send wave after wave of nausea throughout her body, and she was sure she'd almost heaved then, too. But as soon as the sensation came and went, she began to panic - where the fuck was Midoriya now?! Was he in the hospital with them?! Surely he hadn't...

He hadn't died, right?

"Ashido." Tsuyu's flat, calm voice broke through Mina's hyperventilating - she was hyperventilating? - and, slowly, the pink girl began to slow her breathing, the torrid of thoughts slowing to a turtle's pace, giving her time to think evenly. "It's okay."

Was it, though? Was it really okay?

"I... yeah. Yeah. It's okay." Ashido said, more to herself than anything else. It was debatable whether things were truly okay or not, but without a basis of knowledge, she couldn't exactly fight her friend on the matter. Not to mention, if Tsuyu was this calm, it probably meant that everyone was alive, and somewhere within the hospital... probably not on critical life support, or anything horrific like that.

But that didn't mean that she wanted to remain in the dark any longer.

"How is everyone...?" Mina asked quietly.

"Gero." Tsuyu looked skeptical, as if the answer would be too much. And, admittedly, Mina wasn't exactly sure if it would be, or not. She was still reeling from the memory of her classmate looking like he'd gone several rounds with an enraged All Might. "There were a lot of injuries. I heard that Pixie-Bob is still recovering from hers. Jirou and Hagakure... have not woken up from their exposure to the gas, but they're stable."

"Mmm." While she was glad that a majority of her classmates remained unscathed, she couldn't help how her heart seemed to sink when she heard that two of her closer friends were unconscious, and presumably hurt from the toxic gas they were exposed to. While Ashido hadn't been allowed in the fight, that hadn't stopped her from trying.

"Mina."

The pink girl looked up, having become distracted by her thoughts.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah... I'm okay..."

Tsuyu croaked again. "You're here because you fainted. This was a traumatic experience. It's okay to not be alright."

She knew that.

The stress of everything - paired on top of the rather gruesome sight of Midoriya's injuries - had been enough to cause her body to shut down, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of fear. It was... embarrassing, but she knew that she wasn't the only person to be overcome by emotion, and she would hardly be the last. Nobody would be bouncing back from these events anytime soon.

"What about Midoriya?"

The frog-like girl froze.

"Mina..." However, seeing the firm stance the pink-girl had adopted, Tsuyu stopped what she was going to say, and bowed her head. "He was hurt badly. He's still recovering. Bakugou... is also missing."

What...?

Ice seemed to freeze within her veins. The news about Midoriya was... roughly, expected. His condition had been what had driven her - and probably many others - over the edge. But Bakugou had been captured? Despite the Pussycat Heroes... and Aizawa's presence? What about Blood King? Had he just been dwaddling around?! How had they lost someone?!

She couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors that were running through his parent's heads... the terror they were probably feeling...

Bakugou had never been a pleasant guy, there was no sugarcoating that. She disliked his attitude, she disliked his stance on pretty much everything he stood for, and she certainly disliked his treatment of his fellow classmates. But... she didn't hate him. He was just as much of a mystery as many of her classmates, and until she knew what made him tick, she wouldn't - and couldn't - properly judge him. He was a tenacious person, with plenty of drive, and that dedication was the same dedication that had helped her through the tournament during the Sports Festival.

She couldn't help but admire it.

His power was nothing to scoff at. He'd truly taken his quirk and made it the most complete version it could be. It almost made her jealous of how refined it seemed. For something as abrasive as an explosion, it seemed to radiate control and precision - which were two words that Ashido would never have thought she'd paired with something as raging as an explosion.

But yet, he'd displayed the utmost control over his devastating quirk, and she had to respect him for that.

"Is he...?" Mina trailed off. Was he... what? Alive? How would Tsuyu know? How would anyone know?

"He was unharmed when he was taken. That's what Shoji said, at least," Asui said calmly. Mina would admit, the frog-girl was taking this significantly better than anyone else would've. Maybe it was because she was properly acclimated to the news? Then again, she had always been something of a pillar - able to keep the people around her in a stable mindset, despite the turmoil that might be raging around them.

Though, it was clear that she was uneasy, as if she was concerned with how Mina would react. The pink girl wanted to scoff; sure, she was emotional, but who wouldn't be? These were her classmates - her friends! Their pain was her pain, and their... disappearance was concerning, no matter who it was. Hell, she would've been scared for even someone like Mineta! It didn't matter who - they mattered, all the same.

But being emotional wouldn't help, would it? Thinking logically, there was nothing she could do - at least, not stuck in her room like this. Her own problems were take precedence, and until she was let loose, she'd just be locked away, unable to help. And once she was able to see her classmates, bombarding them with questions wouldn't really help either. They were probably already scared. The last thing they needed was a reminder of what they'd lost...

She wanted to be with her friends. To help them.

The thought having set in her mind, Mina began to fuddle around, trying to wriggle her way out of bed. She felt a yanking on her arm, glancing over to see an IV attached to her arm, and she grimaced; leaving wasn't going to be easy.

"If you want to get out, you'll have to wait for your parents to sign you out. Gero."

She groaned; that was going to take forever.

To Mina's relief, her discharge did not take forever, and she was out of the room in less than a few hours. The nurses were pleased to see her bounding around, jumping with her limitless energy replenished, although Mina wasn't sure how much of it was real, and how much was forced.

There wasn't much reason to be excited.

First, and foremost, Ashido decided to stop in and see Hagakure. As she'd been informed by Tsuyu, the invisible girl was (presumably) unconscious, and the heart monitor that was set up had a bunch of different numbers on it. There was no noise, contrary to what the movies had led the pink girl to believe. There was no beeping. There was no clicking of machines. There was just silence.

And it was unnerving.

Hagakure's father and mother were both in the room, and greeted Mina as she walked in, but that was as far as the conversation went. It was clear that neither parent had much to say as they eagerly awaited their daughter's return to consciousness. It was always a bit strange; Toru was a very social person, but her parents were complete opposites. That wasn't to say they were unfriendly or anything like that, but perhaps it was because of their jobs, or maybe it was just who they were, but they were fairly quiet people who managed to speak more through their expressions than their words. Which, looking at Toru, Mina realized how hard it must have been, growing up.

She had to be the complete opposite, and - if nature versus nurture had any say - she probably struggled to express herself immensely as a child, because her parents never taught her otherwise. It wasn't their fault - after all, who could've guessed their child would just become invisible...? According to Hagakure, she hadn't just been born invisible, otherwise being an infant might have ended much differently...

Secretly, Ashido admired Toru's ability to express herself, despite her... obvious transparency. Of course, it was clear that the girl was struggling with her invisibility, and often sought out various ways of standing out further, but mostly, she was doing her best, and finding ways to stand out. It was that sort of dedication that Mina appreciated.

When the silence became too much, Ashido excused herself from the room, and tried to appear as if she wasn't rushing from the room.

It was too much; the silence, the lack of movement...

The reality of everything.

With a sigh, Mina made her way through the halls of the hospital, trying to keep the downcast expression from her face, but yet, when she glanced at the screen of her phone, she could see her reflection. She grimaced; she wasn't having much luck on that front, it seemed.

She played around with the idea of visiting Jirou, but decided against that idea as she saw Jirou's entire family had accumulated in the room, leaving little room to maneuver. She'd pay the earjack-hero a visit later on, once a bit of her family left the premise. She had also stopped by Yaoyorozu's room, however, there was a bit of a commotion inside, with more than a few police officers inside, conversing with the tall girl. What that was about, Mina didn't know - and, she didn't particularly want to know.

There was already enough drama in her life; she didn't need more.

Just as her phone buzzed, Mina looked up, and caught an eyeful or red-hair turning the corner, lifting her mood instantly. She rushed over the corner she'd seen her friend walk around, and picked up her pace, spying out the hard-headed teenager, with his hands lodged firmly in his pockets.

"Hey, Kirishima, wait up!" She called.

He paused, but didn't quite turn around to meet her. She slowed her pace as she approached, a few visual queues giving her subtle warnings about the mood he was in. "Kirishima...?"

"Hm." He grunted.

It wasn't exactly a scowl, but his face was far from the jovial smile he typically wore. "Are you... okay?"

"I'm fine," he responded shortly.

Slowly, she shook her head. "You don't seem fine."

He snorted, but remained silent otherwise. His eyes focused forward, as if set on some invisible goal that hung there, calling out to him. She glanced ahead, making sure she wasn't missing anything, frowning when she saw nothing, before turning back to her friend. "Talk to me. What's on your mind?"

The grimace on his face told her exactly what she was suspecting; he wasn't talking. Maybe it was the stress of everything, or maybe something had happened - she didn't quite know which. But she could tell he was internally torn up over something, and whatever that something was, it had him clammed up tight.

"Kirishima." This time, there was no question. "Look at me."

Red eyes lazily met amber eyes.

"This isn't your fault."

His jaw tightened. Bingo.

"Who said it was?" He asked, though there was more than a little strain in his voice.

Ashido folded her arms across her chest. "You think I can't see the guilt in your eyes?"

It was a little too obvious, she thought. Kirishima had become a prideful person once he adopted his new look, but not in an arrogant sense, or even prideful like Bakugou. He didn't radiate confidence, he didn't put complete faith in his abilities, and he didn't fight for pride alone. But he did believe in 'being a man', or whatever it was that he insisted on - and some small voice told her that losing one of your close friends wasn't manly.

"So what?" Kirishima finally admitted, barely keeping the rage from his voice. "He was taken from us, Ashido! Midoriya was nearly killed!" The pink-girl winced at that. "And, all while most of our class fought for their lives, what was I doing...? I'll tell you... nothing..." He seemed to deflate as he finished speaking, looking forward once more.

"If you're to blame, then so am I."

Kirishima stiffened, and sharply turned his head so that he could look Ashido directly in her eye. "W-what?"

"You heard me." Defiance clearly stuck in her tone.

"That's not true. It wasn't your fault."

"What kind of hypocrite are you?" All traces of patience had evaporated from Mina's words. The red-head winced as her words sharply cut across his frustration like a hot knife through butter. "We were stuck in the training class for the same reason. What the fuck do you mean it's not my fault?"

Clearly, Kirishima was surprised at Ashido's crass words, and his posture spoke more than any word could have meant. "I... I just..."

Mina huffed, but with her sigh, she felt her frustration ebb away. "Look, I know you're mad. I'm mad, too. But... that doesn't give you the right to assign blame to yourself for something you had absolutely no control over. You didn't know the villains were going to attack, and you definitely didn't know that things were going to go the way they did. If you did know, then sure, blame yourself all you want. But you know Aizawa wasn't going to let you leave, nor was Blood King. And... while I don't agree with Blood King staying behind... he was just doing his job."

"But what about Bakugou... what about Midoriya? What about Tokoyami, Shoji, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu...? What about our class?" Kirishima asked quietly.

Mina's gaze turned downward. "I guess... that's just part of our job..."

"It's not right," He growled. "It's not fair."

Part of her wanted to laugh, but she knew it would sound hollow.

Of course it wasn't fair. Nothing about heroics was meant to be fair. They were fighting people - men and women, who had the same gifts they did - that were trying to hurt, kill, steal, and kidnap innocent people, all because they could. Sometimes, the villains were left with nothing; a result of tragedy. Sometimes, life dealt them a shitty hand, and the only way they felt that they could play the game, was to fight back with lethal force. Sometimes, people were just psychotic.

But the whole purpose of heroes fighting back was to try and undo the unjust - the right the wrong. Where there was wrong, there was something that was unfair. Heroes tried to be that source of fair... but that just made their job all the harder.

"Yeah... I know..."

A moment passed, neither teenager speaking as they absorbed the chilling reality that they'd been exposed to. Twice, now, they'd been forced to fight for their lives, while older and stronger individuals tried to kill them for no reason, other than to send a message. They weren't being hunted because of who they were - they were being hunted, because deranged villains wanted U.A. to know that they were vulnerable.

It made Mina want to hurl; how fucking insane was that? Killing... to send a message? Wasn't that the same thing that Stain was doing? Was that really how people came to understand messages nowadays? Through aimless murder?

"L-listen... I'm going to see Midoriya. Maybe see if he's awake; do you want to come...?"

For the first time since she'd woken up, she felt a genuine smile cross her lips.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

He wasn't awake, to Mina's disappointment.

In fact, with the way he was wrapped up, something akin to a mummy, there was a very quiet, lingering voice in Mina's mind that whispered, 'will he ever wake up...?', and it took her entire willpower (and then some) to not walk up her green-haired classmate and shake him until he began to stammer and blubber in the way only he could.

Maybe she would've done it... if he hadn't looked so... fragile.

The way his arms were bound, thickly wrapped and kept firmly to his sides, seemed almost like overkill, but then she remembered the horrific sight of his mangled appendages, and she suddenly wondered if that was enough bandage. Kirishima had been hesitant to approach Midoriya's still form, and for once, Mina didn't comment. It was only sensible, she reasoned.

There was no telling what was running through his head, but if his thoughts were anything similar to her's, then she couldn't blame him at all.

A small burst of courage had pushed her to walk over to the edge of his bed, just so that she could see him a little closer. She whimpered mutely as she traced her fingers along his bandaged arm, feeling the wrappings brush against the tips of her fingers. It wasn't right, seeing him like this. He'd been hurt before, absolutely. But this...

This was a whole new level.

"He's been running a high fever..." Kirishima broke the thick silence, drawing Mina's attention to him, but only momentarily. "They think he'll be fine, but..."

But... anything can happen.

Mina knew that. She'd never seen anyone die. She'd never lost a family member, or grandparent, and for that, she considered herself blessed. But she'd seen movies, and she'd watched television shows, and she'd even read online journals and books - all of which had instances of people dying. She knew it was very real... but there was one thing that those forms of media had failed to do for her.

They'd never prepared her for the chance of it happening.

It was like there was a weight in her stomach, pulling her heart down with it, and the light that glimmered into the hospital room somehow seemed dark. The spark of energy she typically felt was gone, and with it, the motivation she'd felt going into the training camp. With Midoriya in bed, completely unresponsive, she felt...

Broken.

"H-he has awoken once, though."

She blinked.

"He... has?" She craned her head to look at Kirishma, before looking back at Midoriya's still body. Her fingers lightly ran across his shoulder - a part of him that wasn't bandaged - and again, she felt a whimper rise up at the back of her throat.

Kirishima cleared his throat weakly, almost afraid to speak. "He was... kinda out of it, from what I heard. Delusional, I guess. Probably had something to do with the fever..."

It made sense, not that Mina knew much about medicine. She glanced over at his heart monitor, trying to make something out of the various numbers that were on the screen, but like Toru's room, she couldn't really decipher what all the lines and numbers meant. She had a general idea for some of them... like his blood pressure (which seemed a little low), and his heart rate, which coincidentally seemed high.

But others, such as 98 that seemed isolated from everything else, along with the rising and falling line, which Mina knew was the rhythm of his heart, meant less to her. She wasn't sure what a good heart rate looked like, and what a bad heart rate looked like. Honestly, guessing from the stuff she'd seen, his looked fast, but otherwise, normal?

"I can't believe he was able to stand all this pain..." Mina murmured.

"He did it to save that Kota kid."

Mina froze. The pussycat heroes kid...?

"W-what...?"

Kirshima rubbed his knuckle with his other hand, pursing his lips momentarily, before speaking again. "Kota; you know, that kid? I... I heard from someone that Midoriya saved him. I guess some really strong villain cornered Kota away from everyone else, but Midoriya knew where to go, and... yeah. They had a huge fight. Midoriya ended up shattering his upper body, but... he beat the villain, and saved Kota."

Mina gaped. "He saved Kota?!"

She remembered Aizawa delivering the small boy, who had seemed paralyzed by fear upon arrival. At the time, Mina hadn't really thought much of him - there was a bit of blood on his clothes, but he didn't appear to have any open wounds, and he seemed rather alert, so it must have come from someone else, she'd reasoned. But never... had she imagined that Midoriya had saved him...

She'd only caught a passing glance of him, and even then, he'd looked awful. The source of the blood suddenly made sense, but... what kind of villain had driven him to such lengths...?

Kirishima snorted softly, and Ashido instantly looked over at the boy, curious of the cause. "Remember how close he was to bein' suspended...?"

"Expelled..." Mina correctly quietly, remembering their first day. Even remembering that day - a day in which she didn't particularly care about, knowing she'd be able to place in the upper echelon - the corners of her lips turned upward in a smile. "He really taught us something, didn't he...?"

"He was the first guy to really embody 'Plus Ultra', huh?" Kirishima echoed.

There was no denying the truth - she hadn't cared about anyone on that first day of class. It wasn't because she was being snobby, or because she didn't care what happened to them, but in retrospect, she also didn't know anyone, either. Hagakure was just an invisible voice. Asui was a girl who looked like a frog. Aoyama was just a strange boy who spoke French occasionally. Midoriya was a skittish teenager. The list went on and on.

But even in that first day, everyone managed to break that baseline impression in their own unique ways.

Shoji was no longer just a tall, multi-armed teenager - he was a quiet, gentle person, whose strength was impressive, but his versatility of his quirk was even more impressive. And, he was relatively kind, if not a tad bit mischievous.

Kaminari became more than just a kid with yellow hair. Despite the drawback to his quirk - and his attempts to flirt with her on the first day - he proved he was kind, if not a little strange. He didn't seem overly enthusiastic in heroics, but then, he was there all the same, and Mina began to realize that everyone was there for different reasons.

Bakugou was no longer just a loud-mouth. He was a vulgar loud-mouth, with very little self-restraint, and even less humility.

Then there was Midoriya...

The way he changed was staggering. He had never lost that quiet, bashful personality, and every single time Mina glanced over at him - before and after she discovered his secret - he was stammering and quaking, with Uraraka invading his large personal bubble. Then, she saw something in him that changed the very way he appeared. The explosion of confidence, the sudden blooming of defiance... the glint that appeared in his eye when he stared down one of the presumed strongest students in the class, with no quirk yet to speak of.

They'd only seen it once - and it was a doozy.

But yet, his reluctance to wield its fierce power left everyone a bit confused. How could someone hold that much power, and not be the strongest in the class? How could someone - who was already drawing comparisons with All Might, of all people, not be a confident, borderline arrogant person?! How could Midoriya... settle for being so... plain?

She needed to stand out, personally. Maybe it was because of her skin, and she knew that deep down, she'd never really blend into the background, no matter how hard she tried. It was ingrained in her, from birth, that she'd be standing out, one way or another. And, for awhile, she was on the fence about it, but once she realized the rush that came with being in the spotlight, she drank it all in. It was almost intoxicating, and it became just another part of her - center stage was where she belonged.

Yet, Midoriya was the total opposite.

He wanted to be as far in the back as humanly possible - the closest to the exit, so to speak. He didn't care about the attention, or the glory. He was content with fading away. He probably would've lived in everyone's shadow... but, there was one single thing that kept him away from the safety of the shadows.

The one thing he desired above all else... to save people.

And he found a way to go above and beyond. Butchering himself against Todoroki, practically sacrificing himself for All Might during the USJ, now this? It seemed like he lived a double-standard, because as long as he kept shattering the sky like he was, he'd never really fall into the safe, familiar confines of the background. He'd be forced into the limelight.

Mina respected that, though.

She had no problem sharing the spotlight, and something had told her that once she'd arrived at U.A., she'd have to get acclimated toward losing her place in the center of the stage. There would be more powerful people, with more charisma (unlikely, but still possible), and at the end of the day, they'd just... belong there. People like Bakugou and Todoroki were made for the spotlight, but they didn't quite fit the entire picture... someone like Midoriya did. But he didn't want to be there, which surprised Mina, but at the same time, she still respected it.

"He has to be okay..." Kirishima mumbled to himself.

Somehow, Mina found herself thinking the same, despite the lingering, whispering voice of her self-doubt saying he wouldn't be. She touched his curly hair, resisting the temptation to run her hand through it, and felt the corners of her mouth tug upward.

"You don't get to quit on us yet, dude..." She drew her hand back, ignoring how cold she suddenly felt without the little physical contact. "There's a lot of questions I have."

Kirishima looked at her oddly, and it was then that she'd realized: she'd made a grave mistake. Her muscles stiffened under Kirishima's gaze, and a bead of sweat appeared on her temple, but she remained silent, hoping that, with her back to him, he wouldn't see the panic on her face. But she could see him from the corner of her eye - and he was confused.

"Questions...? Like, school stuff?" He asked slowly. "Isn't it a bit odd to be thinking of school right now?"

"Ha... yeah, I guess so. I just, I guess I'm getting ahead of myself, thinking of things going back to normal..." It was like dodging bullets, left and right. She'd never grown up an actress, and she'd never really involved herself in the visual arts like drama, but after this, she was tempted to give it a shot.

The red-haired boy's face gave her one last odd glance, before he clenched his fist. "You're right though; things will be normal again, soon." A low beep came from his pocket, and he removed his phone. "Damn, my ride's here. I gotta get goin', I guess."

He walked forward - remaining mindful of Midoriya's status - and placed a hand on Mina's shoulder. "What about you? You hangin' around here?"

She shook her head. "My parents are here - they're just talking to my mom's friend... she works here as a nurse. I guess I'll be going soon, too."

"Want me to walk you out?"

No. She thought. I... I don't want to leave him yet...

But she gave the green-haired boy one last glance, drinking in the broken appearance he adorned - a symbol of how far he was willing to go - and when she felt her breath quiver, she turned away, unable to look any longer.

"Yeah. Please."

She'd be back, and next time, he'd be awake.

She was sure of it.

Allow the canon-deviation to continue!

You're probably wondering: why didn't you write about the Summer Camp? And I'll tell you - Ashido was in the extra courses, for one. That made it so that she was unable to really have free time. Secondly, the students were separated - I know that for the sake of the story, I could've changed that, but I didn't really like any of the concepts I came up with, so instead, I went here.

The last two-to-three chapters have been a bit slow, and I apologize for that. I need to get things into a place where they can really develop, and right now, I want to establish a difference from the manga, without radically altering much. And, at the same time, I'm trying to demonstrate that Mina is more acclimated to the weight of the secret she holds. That's the reason for the jumping in time-frame.

Next chapter, we'll actually see some REAL developments, and there's a LOT that's going to begin happening. I, for one, would almost like to apologize for what I'm going to do to you guys soon... but, I mean, I don't like it, either. It's just something I think that would REALLY push development.

So yeah!

Onto the responses:

seether0001106: Is Lenny face appropriate here? Is that... is this... can I just place the Lenny face and we call it a day...?

Dragontitan: There's so much that can happen? But, of course, Jirou is out like a light, and that's not happening... yet.

Thegr8tn8t: Oh, I appreciate it! Get ready, the big things are coming!

michaeltop10: Thank you; I appreciate that! Interactions are the big thing for me, and I'm glad I could capture them.

Dorngok Sekker: I'm a slow-burn kinda guy. It makes it feel more natural, in a way. Thank you for reviewing!

QuirkQuartz : For long reviews, I always prefer PM'ing the response, but I also still like to make a little ditty here. Thanks for checking the story out - your own story helped determine how the pacing should be, and it really helps to know that people enjoy the things I do, especially when they are well-known for doing their own things. So I appreciate the view, and the kind words!

Disturbed911: It's kind of challenging to write her POV, no lie. It's a little masked, and since her history is unknown when it comes to family and all, I have to pull strings! Haha.

ultimate mayhem: Mmm, thank you!

dgj212: Isn't that how it always starts ;) Haha, kidding. But I think she's the type that would really investigate herself - and him - when it comes to romance.

WhenItCOUNTS: Oh my... oh my... GOODNESS! I forget and I'm actually disappointed in myself.

Oh yeah, and if you made it this far, the next chapter will be up within the next 7 days of this one being posted. Just a head's up. So if you want action and all, it's coming, no worries.