Izuku got up. He wanted to talk to someone, right now. "Who should I call right now?" Izuku asked himself. Ochako came to mind. "No, no, no. All Might needs his sleep. I—I'll call Tsu." He called her.

"Who is it?!" Tsuyu bellowed. "You just woke me up. It's two in the morning!"

"Sorry! It's me, Midoriya!" Izuku cried as he realized what he had just done. "I—I just … wanted to know who else survived. You said Ochako survived, right? Or was I just imagining things…"

Tsuyu thought to herself. She had told him that Ochako was alive, but she also knew that she had gone missing hours before. "Well, she has gone missing now, but yesterday morning she was alive and well."

"Are you serious?! No! I don't know if I can bear this anymore!"

"Bear what?"

"Being apart from her… Ever since her and I parted ways, and before that, actually, I have become fixated on her. It doesn't really make any logical sense, but I really want to see her again, more than the others."

"Oh."

"Shoot, I shouldn't have said that. I know I shouldn't be feeling these feelings…"

"How odd. Maybe it's the effects of a quirk." Tsuyu was very cunning when she needed to be, but was still quite dense. "Otherwise, though, that sounds kind of heartless, dude. You should be sad for our whole class, not just one person."

"No, I mean, I am sad for all of them, but every time I think about Ochako, I feel like I'm going insane!"

"That's really creepy. Just saying."

"It is?" Izuku croaked. His insecurity was only getting worse.

"Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want to be a part of that."

"Oh." Izuku felt so condemned.

"But yeah, Bakugo texted Momo an angry text about all of the things she's ever done that he didn't like, thinking she was dead, and when Momo responded, he apologized. So, he's alive too, along with Todoroki, Momo, and I. And hopefully, Ochako is alive too."

"Hopefully?!"

"If I had to guess, the villains are probably angling to use her against you."

"What?!"

"Are you ready for a grinning Shigaraki with four fingers around Ochako's neck?"

"Why…"

"You know that he wants you dead. He probably wants you to give up your life to save hers."

"How would you know that?!"

"Well, it's obviously what they'd do."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so you have several options. The best one would be if you could somehow convince them that you firmly believe that it couldn't be Ochako, because you think she's dead. That takes away their leverage. That one's kind of a long shot, though…"

"No, I know Himiko Toga is part of the League of Villains. I can say that it must be her instead of Ochako, because her quirk allows her to look like other people."

"Okay, but you have to own the bluff. If they put a knife to her neck, and you flinch, they won't believe that you think it's not Ochako. You just have to try to escape after they make their threat without regard to Ochako, preferably without facing Ochako."

"But what will she think of me if I do that?!"

"As long as she believes that you believe she's dead too, she shouldn't hold it against you. If you see her after that, be suspicious of her, not because she'd be fake, but she'd think you'd think she was fake."

"I don't like that option, even if it guarantees her safety. What are the other options?"

"You could try to take her from them before they kill her. She'll probably die if you do that, though."

"I am not doing that."

"You could give up your life to save her, though you'd die, and they'd probably kill her too afterwards."

"Absolutely not."

"You could also try to avoid the situation in the first second of coming across them, before they can voice their threat."

"That's not reliable."

"Then bluffing on it is probably the best option you have."

"Thanks, Tsu. I'm so glad I called you."

"It's two in the morning. Take that back."

"No, but I'm sorry to be of inconvenience."

"Eh, fair enough. Good night!" Tsuyu hung up.

Now Izuku couldn't sleep at all. Thoughts about Ochako flooded through his mind.

"I'll save you," he assured. "I promise."

"Good morning!" Inawara greeted.

"Man, who knew something like this would end up happening?" Kotori asked.

"Not me. I just want to get back home at this point," Saiseki remarked.

"Same here."

"Man, what a bead-head, Midoriya. I can't believe it, but I think your hair is even messier than usual!" Wakadou stated. "What do you do to get it like that?"

"He probably houses rats in that thing when the unforgiving night commences," Tori theorized.

"That's not nice, Tori!" Inawara responded.

"Really, why is it like that?" Wakadou repeated.

"Well, I have a lot on my mind…" Izuku started.

"Like rats!" Tori interjected.

"No, it's something else," he responded, his face turning red.

"It's that girl!" Wakadou guessed, watching to see if he got a reaction.

"How did you know?!" Izuku erupted.

"I got mad skills with sensing girl-stress. What was her name again? Ochako? That's weird for a last name; usually that would be a first name, right?"

"It is her first name!" Izuku was blushing more than ever.

"Woah!" Wakadou responded. "You—you call her by her first name…? And, and I said it too… Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I don't know! Things were hard when I thought she was dead."

"Izuku and Ochako, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Kotori sang. Dageki sang along with him for the "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" part.

Izuku looked like his brain had melted down internally.

"I think you guys broke him," Saiseki remarked. "Fried his circuitry."

"Is he even conscious?" Inawara questioned.

"Yes!" Tori rejoiced.

"He is?"

"Oh, I don't know. We can sure have a lot of fun with him when he comes to, though."

"Don't mess him up more! He's already a mess as he is! Just look at him! That horrified look on his face! It's like you flash-petrified him!"

Meanwhile, Izuku was having a panic attack. He was imagining a scene where he had just kissed her. "Midoriya, you pervert!" imaginary Ochako said to him. "Stay away from me! I can't believe you! You're worse than Mineta!" He started to cry.

"That's not good. Hey, Tori, lay off on the girl-pressure, okay? We don't want him going all weakling on us, do we? I hate weaklings. Just hearing him cry makes me mad at him. If I didn't know how strong he can be, I'd punch him in the face right now!"

"You have a lot of growing to do before you become a father, Wakadou," Inawara responded.

"Who needs kids?"

"Wow, who's talking? A human offspring!"

"Okay, okay."

"Weak people should be supported, not cast down. Someday, when you're ancient, you'll probably be weak too, like we'll all be."

"Nope, I'll always be strong."

"Not as strong as I'll be!" Dageki responded. "But losing my quirk to Midoriya really sucks. I can't train as much as I'm used to, and I have to be more careful."

"I don't even know if it's possible to get that buff without a quirk like yours, Dageki," Saiseki commented.

"It's not," Dageki responded, proud of his muscles.

Mr. Kyouiki came into the room with breakfast. "Good morning! I have important news: We're still going to continue your strength training here. I have a spare set of curricula to work off of. And here's breakfast."

"Midoriya, it's time for breakfast!" Wakadou sang to Midoriya, pushing his spoon on Midoriya's cheek.

"Huh?" Midoriya awoke. His thoughts went from forlorn thoughts about Ochako to confusion.

"Brekky-brekky! Time for breakfast!" Wakadou repeated, pushing his spoon into Midoriya's cheek a couple more times.

"Oh, it's that time of the day already?!"

Everyone busted up into laughter. His statement was stupid on its face. Breakfast was the first meal of the day, which came shortly after waking up.

"Oh. I just said that, didn't I? Sorry, guys, I'm not feeling too well."

"Izuku and—" Tori repeated.

"Enough!" Inawara interrupted. "You're going to give Midoriya a heart attack at this rate."

"This is good sandwich," Wakadou stated, voice muffled by the food in his mouth.

"Thank you, Mr. Kyouiki, for making breakfast," Saiseki thanked.

"Glad to do it this time," Mr. Kyouiki responded. "I'm not going to fix every meal though. That is for you all to do."

"Who here's a good cook?" Wakadou asked.

No one raised their hand, except for Saiseki who did so warily. "Maybe a little bit?" Saiseki responded. "I'm no master."

"Saiseki it is!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just because I have a little bit of skill doesn't mean I'm going to cook all of time."

"Yes, it does, slave."

Saiseki had no idea how to respond to that.

"I'm kidding; I'm kidding. We'll share the duty. It'll be 90% you, 10% the rest of us."

"That's hardly better!"

"Kidding again. How about we each cook for the day once a week?"

"There's six of us. What about the seventh day?"

"The seventh day, we'll get food for ourselves."

"Or maybe eat leftovers?" Midoriya proposed.

"Sure, why not?"

They started their first day training.

"This time, I have a different exercise for us to do. We will be doing some basic arm wrestling. I'd like to caution you, Dageki, from using your full power, because you'd tear up your body. Same goes for you, Midoriya, but because you'd probably snap the other person's arm clean off, not your own."

"Is this it?" Inawara asked.

"Yes. I still have what I need to teach you through the year, but are plans are a little … different now."

"Let's get this ball rolling! Whoever I'm up against is going to lose, unless your name is Izuku Midoriya, in which case, ****, I'm going to lose," Wakadou beckoned.

"Wakadou, you'll be going up against Kotori. Saiseki, you'll be up against Dageki. Inawara, that leaves you with Midoriya."

They sat down on opposite sides of a table.

Inawara felt tense.

"Don't worry, Inawara, I won't use my power. It'll be my raw strength against yours."

"Would you mind if I used mine?"

"That's fine."

Inawara shrunk slightly.

They started.

Katarai almost won at the very beginning, but Izuku pushed her back to center.

Suddenly, Izuku activated his quirk partially. He slowly overpowered her. He hadn't even realized he had activated his quirk until he had almost one, at which point he got terribly distracted, losing instantaneously.

"What just happened?" Inawara asked.

"I just activated my quirk on accident," Izuku answered. "That's why I started winning."

Wakadou beat Kotori handily, because Kotori couldn't stand the feeling of dirt on his hands, more so than even Saiseki or Midoriya.

Dageki beat Saiseki without effort.

Then Shigaraki arose from the ground, with four fingers clenched around Uraraka's neck. Tsuyu's prediction was spot-on, too spot-on. It seemed as if the frog girl had the pulse of Shigaraki like no one else did.

What surprised Midoriya the most was how quickly this happened.

"Deku, or should I say Midoriya, because this is personal." Shigaraki would still never use his first name. "Here's the deal. You or your little princess here is going to die today. You get to choose which one."

"How could you do something so terrible to Toga when she's part of your crew? And why do you pretend that it's really Ochako, when I know for certain that she is dead?! You just want to trick me!"

Shigaraki looked at Midoriya like he was an idiot. "Fine, I can give her to you now and kidnap her again later! Have it your way! You'll see that she's real."

Midoriya couldn't bend. "Ha, you want me to trust Himiko Toga, your minion, so she can murder me in my sleep."

"Why don't you prove to your prince that you are indeed Ochako Uraraka?" Shigaraki prompted Uraraka.

"Remember that time when we were doing stuff?" She was falling apart. She couldn't think of anything.

"Wow, that's a liar if I've ever heard one. Now, Shigaraki, die!" Midoriya shouted, shooting a small beam of energy at Shigaraki, who blocked it with his powers.

Shigaraki sunk into the ground, leaving Uraraka with the others. Uraraka laid on the ground shaken.

"At least he didn't kill any of us this time," Inawara reminded.

Now Midoriya was honestly starting to suspect that it was Toga. "Hey, really, I don't want to put any pressure on you, but prove your identity."

"Remember that time when you slipped on the wet floor at the mall? Sorry, that's the first thing that came to mind. I mean—"

"So, it is you, Uraraka…" Midoriya stated. He reached out a hand for her.

She took it and he pulled her up.

Then he hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay."

In the background, Inawara had her hands covering Kotori's mouth.

Ochako broke down. She had so much she wanted to say, but in this moment, she couldn't say a word. He was her hero, and she expected him to die to save her. She hadn't considered that she'd have the luxury of being by his side again.

Izuku followed suit. Standing up to Shigaraki was the most nerve-wracking experience he had ever gone through. He didn't deserve this, after how stupid he had been separating from her. He poured his tears out like he was anointing with oil.

They stood like this for a little while longer. Most of the others felt awkward.

"Damn…" Wakadou whispered in Dageki's ear. "Now that's a cute couple."

"She is really cute, isn't she?" Dageki responded in whisper. "I call dibs on her!"

"Whoa, now, can't you see she's already taken?" Wakadou continued in whisper.

"Midoriya took my quirk, so you can't say I can't take his girlfriend."

"If you say so…"

The embrace ended.

"Oh, you should probably introduce yourself," Midoriya suggested.

"Hi, I'm Ochako Uraraka! I used to be Deku's classmate when we attended UA High."

"I'm Mr. Kyouiki. Nice to meet you! I teach strength quirk curriculum. These are my students! The rest of the school kind of got destroyed, but here we are, training at a remote cabin now! Speaking of which, was that villain connected to the ones that destroyed the school?"

"I'd bet so," Midoriya responded.

"I can't have them knowing where we train. How are they always catching us? Wait… They might have a tracker on you, Izuku."

"A tracker?" Izuku asked. "I guess that must be it."

"We're relocating again, guys, as soon as we find the tracker," Mr. Kyouiki stated.

Then a small plane landed in the nearby clearing.

"Not again…"

A bright figure got out. His messy expanse of blond hair seemed to sprout up from his head. He had the number 60 on his chest. He took about thirty seconds to walk towards them. "Hey! Do you folks happen to know about the sudden decay trails that appeared here recently?"

"Shigaraki…" Midoriya blurted.

"What did you just say?"

"N—Nothing!"

"I don't know why I ought to be asking you folks anyway. Don't mind me. I'll just be taking some soil samples here."

"Tomura Shigaraki."

The man's disposition snapped in an instant. "How do you know that name?!"

"You just missed him."

The man shot a long-range taser at Midoriya.

Saiseki drew Midoriya out of the way.

Midoriya's right arm glowed brightly. "What business do you have with him?"

The man spoke into his radio. "Reinforcements needed, Vector 5528. Hostile group related to Tomura Shigaraki. Over."

Midoriya was struck speechless.

Another wonderful chapter for my wonderful readers! (flattery) :3 But really, thanks for reading! Pop a review in at your leisure.