Be The Hero, Like A Wizard!

by MaskedEngineer

Having a Quirk that allows complete control over a mundane, ordinary object is hardly an ideal power. To one Yosuke Nendo however, it is all he needs to achieve his childhood dream. With video game expertise, unchecked delusions and unwilling friends, nothing shall stop Nendo on his quest to become the greatest wizard of all time! Rated M for future events.

3. The Heroes of Tomorrow

Chapter 3: The Heroes of Tomorrow

The harsh, almost scorching light of the summer sun shines through the metal bars that function as most of the windows around the juvenile detention center. The signature buzzing of cicadas that is only ever heard during the heat of the day further hammers home how feverishly hot it is. That, combined with the crowded state of the center, makes for a truly unbearable environment that would be difficult to do just about anything that doesn't involve sitting in one place, stripping and letting your mind wander to relieve as much pressure as possible on one's overheated brain...

Let alone being able to learn. As it is currently study hours in the Musutafu Juvenile Training School, one of the city's oldest reformatories, rows upon rows of incarcerated youths gathered inside a room and were forced to sit uncomfortably close to each other while having to solve mind-numbing questions about social studies, with the smell of sweaty armpits permeate the air. Amongst the criminal teens is a young man whose shaved head laid flat against the table with his papers laid neatly on one side, seemingly sleeping.

"Mr. Nendo? Mr. Nendo!" Bellowed the supervising teacher, lightly smacking his metal ruler against the noirette's back. "Until you have finished your work, do please refrain from sleeping in class."

The painful stimulus snaps Nendo out of his heat-induced bout of unconsciousness, looking up at the stern man. "Sleeping? Oh, it's not like that! It was a bit too hot today, so I just kinda passed out. Apologies, sir!" Nendo wipes away the sweat glistening on his forehead and nose, before picking up his pen and continues doing his quiz.

The teacher simply huffed and walked away. "Better get used to it, because you're still going have to work off seven more months."

Despite the ceiling fans running at full capacity, they hardly make much of an impact on the temperature, as all they do is blowing hot air around. Still, Nendo wasn't going to let that stop him from finishing the geography quiz the teacher have set out for him. Diligently, he reads the given questions before thinking over it and writing down his answers.

When he first arrived at the center, the last thing he expected to receive here was proper education. After dropping out of middle school to help keeping his father's business alive, Nendo had forgotten what being in a classroom, surrounded by classmates feels like. It's odd...but not unpleasant.

Eventually, Nendo reaches the last question which is concerned with the geographical layout of Musutafu itself, more specifically...about Penny-Filter District! The insides of his mind exploded with cheers and confetti as if struck gold. Thus, with complete confidence, Nendo quickly fills in the missing spots. Satisfied with his answers, Nendo leaned back to his chair. Looking back, it has only been a month ever since he got admitted here. Not the most horrible experience yet, but he does miss the sweet, savoury taste of beef bowls.

That is, until the person sitting next to him pushed their worksheet towards his side of the table. Eyes narrowing, Nendo glanced to his left. A intimidating-looking older guy who appears to be a year or two older with one hell of a mean scar on his lip stared right back at him, all while passing more of his undone papers to Nendo's side. If the movies have taught Nendo anything, is that never make yourself look weak when surrounded by people like him. As such, his face becomes steely.

The older teen maintains his death glare, not all that impressed with Nendo's attempts at looking tough. "These are yours too, rookie. Do 'em, and I'm gonna let you off without a hitch for the rest of the day."

Nendo looked down the empty worksheets, before returning to the guy. A tense minute went by as the two stared down each other, not willing to give either an inch. Nendo knew better than to start feuds; doing so will only earn him more time. He still has uncle Ushio, uncle Yoshino and Izuku waiting for him. He can't disappoint them.

Still keeping his grimace and defiant glare, Nendo raises his hand and stood up. "Teacher! I've finished my work. Can I go for a bathroom break, sir?" Said Nendo matter-of-factly.

"Hey, didn't you hear what I just-" The older teen, surprised, tries to get Nendo to sit down by pulling his shirt, but releases it the moment the stern, suited-up educator turns around and walks to their table. The teacher readjusts his string-attached spectacles as he peeks over Nendo's finished papers, before collecting them.

"Very well. But make it quick." The grey-haired man gave Nendo his nod of approval, and the noirette went on his way, oblivious and equally uncaring to the amount of eyes staring holes into the back of his head.

Reaching the bathroom, Nendo opened the tap on one of the sinks and washes his face with a cold splash of water. Once his head is sufficiently cooled down, Nendo moves on to inspect his uniform. Dark, damp patches of sweat can be seen around his grey shirt, as a result of staying in that hot, humid room for an extended period of time. Even though the ceiling fans were running at full power, all they do is blow hot wind around, so it hardly makes any difference in temperature.

After drying up and making himself feel less icky with the help of copious amounts of tissue paper, Nendo was preparing the leave the bathroom when three more individuals walked in. One guy has slanted eyes and muscular arms, while the other one has buck teeth and a lanky figure. And last but not least, one of them was the scarred guy from earlier. From the way two of them stand to guard the door while the older guy he trade heated glares with crosses his arms, Nendo could see the writing on the wall.

"So...what is this about?" The noirette initiated the conversation, throwing the used tissues into the sink. "Just so you know, the wardens probably wouldn't want us to stir up trouble."

A light smirk appeared on the older deliquent, before it is replaced by a more grim frown. "You think you can get away with stonewallin' me, punk?" With a snap of a finger, his pair of henchmen immediately apprehend Nendo, with the muscular guy behind him and the one with buck teeth in front of him. In an instant, the deliquent behind Nendo sprouted an extra pair of arms from his armpits and restrain him, with his original arms tightly wound around Nendo's shoulders. "Keep beating him till I said stop."

Nodding, the lankier of the two reels back his fist and swing it at the struggling Nendo with such sheer speed that the noirette could barely see a single frame of the punch before it hits him square in the stomach, knocking the wind out of Nendo and nearly causing him to upchuck his breakfast.

Not letting Nendo any window to recover, the lanky guy takes another swing. Despite there not being much weight behind each strike, the superhumanly fast rate at which these punches are being delivered is more than enough to make Nendo feel like he was hit with a speeding motorbike.

With a punch to his ribs, Nendo could felt each bone physically snapping in half or bending out of place. Another punch to his stomach, he felt his organs getting rearranged around the fist as does his flesh. And if all of that wasn't enough, Nendo nearly dislocates his lower jaw when a blow was dealt to his face. He struggled even more vigorously against his captor's hold, but it was all for naught. With one person holding both his arms and his legs back, and another one punching him hard enough to jostle his brain around like a pinball, Nendo simply isn't in a position to do anything other than being a literal punching bag.

This cruel process went on for at least another minute, and is quite possibly the most agonizing minute Nendo ever has to go through. Just before the buck-toothed guy is about to throw another punch, the older deliquent, who leaning agains the wall and watching the entire time, raised his palm. "Stop." The two cronies, as if having a switch flipped, lets go of Nendo without wasting any more time.

"Yes, big bro Takeda." Said the duo.

Nendo, already beaten within an inch of his life, unceremoniously drops on the ground like a sack of potatoes, retching and coughing up a combination of blood and spit in the process. The scarred punk walked over to the noirette, before squatting down to face level with him. "Is it true? Heard this is your first time in juvie."

The injuries should have incapacitated Nendo for the time being, but out of pure determination, he braves through the pain and kneels up, not saying anything while giving his torturers a look that further solidifies his non-compliance to whatever they might want to do to him.

"That makes sense. You wanna crawl out of here fast, so you start being a boy scout and brown nose your way out of things. Ya think you're too good for us, huh?" The deliquent named Takeda mused sarcastically as he raised his leg and stomps down on Nendo's head, flooring the teen yet again. "Just so you know...even on good behavior, you still gotta be around for a bit before you get parole for battery."

Not hearing a response from Nendo, Takeda keeps on talking, still thinking that they can brutalize Nendo into submission and turns him into another downtrodden goon. "Eight months is a long time. 'Til then, I'd suggest you try and get along with us. That's in your long term interest, don't you think so?" Just like before, Nendo refuses to bend, opting to remain silent.

Frustrated, Takeda clicks his tongue. "Man of a few words, aren't you? Hey, you tryin' to stonewall me?" But then, his face suddenly takes a turn for the friendly, mellowing out somewhat. "Oh, right. What are you in for? That's a simple enough question to answer, ain't it? Besides, I don't think we've gotten properly introduced yet."

Nendo knew the guy was being sarcastic about the whole meet-and-greet, but he decides to roll along with it anyway. "...I put someone in the hospital."

"Hang on...you mean, you're the one everyone talked about before?" Unsurprisingly, Takeda lets out a low chuckle that descends into a full-blown laughing fit, slapping his thigh. "Oh man, what a letdown! Here I was, expecting the kid that manage to fight a villain and send some poor fucker in a coma at least have enough balls to stand up! Jeez, being a pussy must have run in your dad's side of the family!"

That last sentence instantaneously has Nendo forcing himself back to his feet without even showing any signs of pain, left eye dangerously twitching. "What did you just say?" He said, voice now sounding several degrees more icy.

"Didn't ya hear? I'm saying your dad must have been a pretty big coward if his son is like what you are." Takeda repeats himself, his cruel smirk growing bigger by the second. "You managed to beat someone hard enough to put him down for the count, and one month in juvie is all it takes to turn you into a little bitch? Can't blame your mom, so must have been your dad's genes. Pretty pathetic if you ask me."

Whether the deliquent was just making his point or actively goading Nendo into fighting him, if his intentions were the latter, it worked. An unusually pissed-off Nendo miraculously shrugs off his injuries and lunges at Takeda, only for the muscular hooligan to brandish his extra arms again and held him back. "You fucking-!" Nendo twists and turns even more furiously, to the point that his restrainer is visibly making an effort to keep him in place. "Say that one more time...and I swear, I'll kill you."

"Oh really? Well then, why don't you give me your best shot, you little bitch?" The scarred teen taunted, his confident eyes matching Nendo's ones of pulsing, burning hatred. To further provoke the noirette, Takeda finds it humorous to mockingly pinches Nendo's left cheek, similar to what a father might do to his unruly child.

Naturally, Nendo thrusts his head forwards and butted the deliquent right in the nose, making him stumble back a few steps. Before any more attempts could be made, Nendo finds an arm wrapped around his neck, immobilizing his head movement as the muscular goon pulls him back.

"You son of a..." Takeda seethes with a nasally voice, clutching his bruised nose. Wiping away the thin stream of blood running down his nostril, the deliquent cracks his knuckles. "Fine. You wanna do this the hard way? Your funeral."

Nendo bares his teeth at him, growling like a rabid animal as his anger reaches its peak as of yet. Mustering up whatever strength he had, he used his own two hands to try and pry off the arm. It wasn't of much use, but he did send a clear message to the trio that he's not backing down or taking any of their crap without a fight.

Staring at Takeda with a fierce loathing in his grey eyes, time seems to slow down for him as the older deliquent's fist gets closer and closer to him by the second.

But instead of Nendo's face, Takeda's knuckles was instead met with the solid resistance of a brick, frozen in the air and not even affected in the least by the force of his punch. A sickening crunch comparable to dry leaves cracking is heard, and mere seconds later, a crimson liquid leaks out and drips off the edges of the brick. The deliquent shakily brought up his bleeding, ruined hand as he stared at Nendo in slow realization.

While the two cronies were still in shock of their leader's severe injury, Nendo has taken the time to summon dozens more bricks and surround his tormentors with them. The bricks float ominously around Takeda and his goons, all primed and ready. Feeling a hateful bile rising in his throat, Nendo commanded the bricks with a battle cry that channels all of the indignation and anger he has been holding in the entire time.

And with that, the bricks move in to their unfortunate targets.

-0-

"Ugh..." Grunted Nendo, laying on the cold, barren concrete ground. His eyes saw only pitch blackness at first, but after a few hard blinks, his sight eventually readjusts to the bright, searing light of the hot lamp attached to the ceiling, shining down on him.

Sitting up cross-legged, Nendo clutches his stomach and chest as a burning pain tears through his muscles, feeling as if he was ran over by a rhino. Biting down the pain and moving around more gently, Nendo took a brief observation of his surroundings before realizing that he was no longer in his cell. Unlike his cell, this one is much smaller, with a toilet, sink and bed on each side of the room, and the walls are lined with rubber-bound cushions. Also, the door appears to be more reinforced, with numerous metal plates compensating each other.

With a desolate look on his face, the revelation slowly dawns upon Nendo as he pieces together the tidbits of detail that clued him to his current location. Just then, the noirette felt that something was bind around his throat, and his hand shot up to grab it. While he couldn't look down to see the thing around his neck, he could tell through his fingers that it is some kind of collar. Thick, bulky and with plenty of technical doodads making up the outline.

If having a collar so large around his neck that he couldn't even look down wasn't bad enough, his troubles were further compounded by a sudden sting of migraine hitting his brain at the worst possible moments. Massaging his throbbing temples, Nendo entered a trance of trying and failing the null the hammering pain before snapping out of it with the metallic clanking of his cell door opening.

The guard of his sector walks in, holding a food tray. Getting down on one knee, the guard places the tray in front of the sitting Nendo, his wrinkled face marred with disappointment. The food was unremarkably plain and non-luxurious, consisting of a piece of sweet bread, a lonely carton of semi-skimmed milk, a plastic spoon and rice with a yellow slop on top of it. It was, for lack of better words, a tedious meal.

Fitting for someone in solitary confinement.

Picking up the spoon, Nendo scooped up a small chunk of the rice and slop, before bringing it to his mouth. In contrast to popular belief, prison food isn't quite as inedible as it is rumored to be, but Nendo would still vastly prefer eating something else.

"You were doing so well for an entire month. Why fight now?" Asked the guard, getting to eye level with Nendo. "Those kids have to be sent to the infirmary, for crying it out loud. One got every bone in his hand crushed, and the other two got all their front teeth knocked out. What pushed you that far?"

The noirette rubbed his cleanly shaven head, a surge of memories returning to him. Most of the details were blurry owing to his rage blinding him, but Nendo could definitely remember that there was a great deal of crying, blood on the floor, teeth flying through the air and culminating with the guards rushing in and knocking him out with a precise strike to the back of the head. "They started it. I told them I want no trouble, but they keep pushing on."

"So I've heard. But the thing is, what you did to them was far worse than what they did to you. Hell, the warden even wanted to put that thing around your neck to suppress your Quirk. I didn't agree to it, but the rest of them did." The guard calmly, but firmly admonishes Nendo, keeping a neutral frown. "Anything else?"

Nendo becomes unresponsive for a second, before willing himself to keep the conversation going. "They talked shit about my dad."

"Your dad waiting for you on the outside?"

"Erm...not exactly waiting, no." Said Nendo cryptically, putting another spoonful of rice and slop in his mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"He's gone, okay?!" He snapped, before simmering down immediately after, fumbling around with the number tag on his shirt. "Sorry...I-I mean, he passed away. Long ago."

The guard looks surprised for a moment, but quickly recomposes himself with a theatrical cough. "Never speak ill of the dead, huh?"

"It doesn't matter if he's alive or not. Nobody talk smack about my dad and gets away with it!" Nendo raised his voice, angrily chomping down another spoon. "They were calling him weak. And spewing all this bullshit about how he makes me weak too. I just couldn't stand there and take it all in."

"Okay...anyone else? Alive, perhaps?"

Nendo raised an eyebrow at the question, but answers it nonetheless. "I got a friend...and my uncles. Why'd you ask that?"

"Well, what do you think they're going to say when they hear the bad news?" The guard asked with a phlegmatic, but strangely...saddened tone of voice. Nendo never heard the man use this voice before, so it had no small part in unnerving him.

"What are you saying?" Nendo scooped up another spoonful, looking at the guard with a confused expression. "Just get on with it."

"If you insist." The guard bites his lip and hesitates for a bit, before continuing. "...I'm talking about your sentence getting extended. Two more months."

The spoon stopped just before his mouth as Nendo tries, and ultimately fails, to process this alarming revelation. Eating much more slowly this time, Nendo's eyes looked down on the floor, almost like he was lost in a trance, with all the life rapidly leaking out of the windows of his soul. Dropping the spoon on the tray, the teen solemnly rubs his beaten-up face, an absolutely crushed feeling wreaking havoc in his heart. It was a horrible feeling, and Nendo hoped that he never would have to felt it again after his dad's passing.

"I've read your file. You're as clean as they come, so I don't really get why one day, you just decided to snap and beat someone into a coma." Said the guard, standing back up to his full height. "But all I'm saying is, if there are people out there waiting for you, maybe you should suck it up and behave yourself. As for anyone who wants to pick a fight, you got us guards to deal with it."

Nendo's breathing shortly becomes ragged as he desperately stifles back the tears welling up his eyes. "If someone believes in you...try not to disappoint them." The guard fixes his hat, before turning around and leave through the reinforced door.

The metallic slam of the door, followed by electronic whirring on the automatic locks activating are the only things Nendo heard as he stews over his own turbulent thoughts, the biting feeling of remorse eating away at him.

Soon after, the lights went out.

-Six months later...

The constant, loud chirping of crickets and the ghostly howling of wind can be heard throughout the correction center once the darkness of the night looms over. Aside from the guards patrolling the hallways, shining at every nook and cranny with their flashlights, the facility's population is asleep, snoozing peacefully and without a thought inside their heads.

Well, most of them anyway, as Nendo is still fully awake, staring absentmindedly at the fly buzzing and flying in circles above him while his cellmates were sleeping soundly, unfazed by the noise. There was no emotion in his face, since by this point in time, Nendo has passed through all the stages of misery endured by anyone who is locked away and forgotten for the duration of their sentence.

He began with pride, a result of hope and the confidence of innocence. After all, he is taking the rap for his uncle. Then, he begin to doubt even his own innocence. Eventually, his pride collapsed and the dark, sinister seeds of regret were sown into the fertile soils of his mind. "Why did I do that?" He would ask himself. He could have walked away, no sweat. He could have convinced his uncle to turn himself in and get a reduced sentence. His uncle's family could have easily been taken care of by the government. Thus, his mind was filled with a single thought: he destroyed his own happiness for a reason that could have been easily solved.

His despondency soon gave way to wrath. He roared vulgarities which made his cellmates recoil in terror and the guards banging on his door to tell him to keep the noise down. Not only that, Nendo would often dashed himself furiously against the walls of his cell, not because he was angry against the world, but rather against himself. He cursed his own stupidity, letting himself get locked up and not even caring about how those who care for him would feel. And once the rage boils over...despair makes a return.

And despair, after a long time, turns into acceptance. Nendo figured out that throwing a tantrum like a three-year-old wouldn't get him out of juvie any sooner, so he remained quiet for the remainder of his time here. His dull, grey eyes following the fly's every movement, the noirette has nothing better to do other than to remind himself of everything that has happened up until this point.

After he was released from solitary confinement, six lengthy months went by without a hitch. Despite finding it to be dreadfully tedious at times, Nendo felt a huge weight being lifted off his shoulders when Takeda and his thugs no longer harass him. If anything, the trio always turn away or straight-up fled the scene whenever he is nearby. With the older deliquent staying away, there were very few that dare to seek trouble with Nendo.

His recollections done, Nendo's mind soon wander towards those he considered his family. Uncle Ushio, he wondered about his state of being and how he was dealing with the lingering guilt of having his friend's adoptive son to make a false confession for him. Uncle Yoshino, he pondered if the man consoled Ushio during his time of plight. And finally, and arguably the most important of them all, Izuku. Not a single day went by that he isn't worried for his friend. Did All Might's training unlocked his hidden Quirk? Does Katsuki still bully him? Does he knew that he was arrested and send to juvie?

Knowing the greenette's pathological drive to become a hero, does Izuku hate him for admitting to a crime he (didn't) commit and decided to cut off all ties with him? So many questions, yet so little that is answered. And all this thinking only breeds more unanswered questions. What about his mom? The woman cared about him as much as she does to Izuku, and he would hate upset her. And his shop? Considering that seven months have passed, it's likely that they have already-

"Number 439! Number 439, wake up!" Comes the voice of a guard who knocked on the cell door, interrupting his private thoughts. "A letter for you."

Spending months inside a juvenile prison camp has had Nendo starved for outside contact, and the moment he heard that it was something for him, the noirette wastes no time leaping out of bed and went for the door. "Yes?" He said, peeking through the vision panel.

"Here. Apparently, it's from someone who knows you." The guard slides the envelope through a small gap under the door, and Nendo snatches it. Dusting the envelope off, Nendo looked at the address and sender...and couldn't help but gasp.

"It's Izu-chan!" He said to himself, swiftly tearing the envelope open and unfolded the letter. Sitting down on his bed again, Nendo leisurely reads through what his only friend has got to say.

"Dear Nen-chan,"

"The moment I heard you got arrested, I came to the police station as quickly as I can. But you were already carried away. They told me to avoid writing to you when you're in juvenile detention, but I couldn't care less. My pen just called to me, and I started writing."

"If it wasn't for my training with All Might, I would be planning a big welcome-back party for you right now. On the other hand, the training has been great so far! Of course, it's not an easy skip down the field of daisies, but hey, no pain no gain. He even taught me some fighting moves as well!"

"But what does that matter if you're not there to see me doing it? Man, I can't tell you how sad I am, every time I walked past your shop...and you're not there. The days have been so lonely without you. Sometimes I imagined that you'll jump out of a corner and try to spook me, then we both have a good laugh about it. But I always peeked around, and nobody is there. Only a friend could tell how truly empty doing anything can feel..."

"Without who he is friends with."

"I'm anxiously waiting for the day, when I will turn around and see your laughing face again."

"Sincerely, Izuku."

Nendo laid flat on his stomach, completely speechless as he finishes the letter. His grip tightened with emotion around the letter, crumpling it. Feeling his eyes watering up, Nendo covers them with his hand, quietly weeping to himself. "Goddamn it, Izu..."

Folding the letter and putting it back into the envelope, Nendo held it to his chest for dear life, pulling his blanket up in the process to shield the letter. Seven months in juvie has pretty much sucked all the optimism out of him, and to see that Izuku is still looking out for him from the outside is a breath of fresh air he needed to revitalize his outlook on life.

The next few days go on as normal, with Nendo doing class work under the scorching sun and exercising in the courtyard, while simultaneously getting picked on by several newcomers who didn't know any better. Passing insults soon become the young deliquents' favorite pastime, and even if some of them were aimed at his adoptive father, Nendo swallowed his urge to lash out and tuned the voices out by imagining himself playing Arcane Quest with Izuku instead.

Because he knew, he has to get out of here as soon as possible. He can't just keep his buddy waiting.

-Three more months pass by...

Today, is the day.

The day he finally regains his freedom. No more microwaved meals. No more mocking from his 'fellow' deliquents.

And last but not least, no more wasting time. He has never been so excited about meeting his green-haired friend again. No longer shall they be separated.

Sitting up on his bed and patiently staring at the door, Nendo waited for a guard to come and give him the good news.

Eventually, after much anticipation and bulging eyes, the cell door slightly opens with the head of a guard peeking through. "Yosuke Nendo?"

"Yes sir!" Nendo exclaimed militaristically, jumping out of bed and landing with his legs and back upright, his overgrown mop of black hair rising and falling down in the process. Just a month before this fateful day, the guards didn't pull him out for a mandatory shave anymore, both to save the effort of cleaning more hair up and because one month doesn't really warrant a cleanliness check. As such, his hair got the chance to grow, and boy did they grow.

The guard looked a tad weirded out by Nendo's jumpiness, but walks in regardless, carrying what looks like a pair of neatly folded clothes and placing them down on the floor. "Here. Once you're done changing, follow me."

Curious, Nendo picks up the clothes, before realizing that they were the very same clothes he wore when he first arrived: his red hoodie and cap of the same color, a pair grey jeans and his phone, along with a hairtie to presumably bundle his hair into a more presentable appearance. Once he has donned back on his casual outfit and tied his hair back into his classic ponytail, a freshened Nendo emerges from his former cell and tailed after the correction officer, who guides him to the main entrance.

Reaching the entrance, the noirette couldn't contain the excitement and anxiousness rising steadily within him as his heart pounds against his chest cavity. On one hand, he's obviously pumped to see the world again. But in contrast, he's also afraid if the world is willing let him back into its embrace again. For all his dreams of becoming a hero-wait, not that. For all his dreams of becoming a wizard, no one is just going to accept an ex-juve who committed a felon back into society without any repercussions.

Would they? He had no way of knowing. But what he did know though, was that Izuku could very well be behind these massive walls. Tightening his fists, Nendo decided to take his chances and march steadfastly. While the guard is opening the gate, Nendo pulled out the letter he has kept by his side all this time, and unfolds it again to read the postscript.

"P.S."

"The day you get out of there, let's get those noodles we missed."

Smiling to himself, Nendo puts the letter away and looked up. The gargantuan gates have already began to slide open, slowly letting more and more light from the outside world to seep in. Nendo felt as if he was standing in front of the gates of heaven, with the way the light of the sun feeling almost ethereal when it touched his skin.

Putting on his cap and fixing it, Nendo gave the door a single long stare...and walks through it. Immediately upon exiting the juvenile detention center and officially becoming free again, his first course of action was bow down sorrowfully before his green-haired friend. "Izu...I'm so sorry! When I got into that fight, I wasn't even thinking about how long you had already been waiting for me!"

"An extra two months I've made you wait, just because I did something without my brain in it!" He said in the most genuine, profound manner he could muster, still bowing down before his friend. "I'm sorry I failed you...I held you up for so long! But I'm out now. I'm finally back!"

But the thing is, the only response he gets after such a heartfelt apology is the tone-deaf squawking of crows and an empty can getting tumbled around by a gust of wind. After keeping his head down for an uncomfortably long period, a confused Nendo looks up, and there was no Izuku. In fact, there wasn't anybody within earshot at all, save for an old lady with a walking stick who smiled and waved at him, thinking that this young man just greeted her.

Flustered beyond words, Nendo darted his head left and right, searching for someone who never came like a lost puppy. Whether it is out of pity or understanding of his situation, the guard that opened the gate for him placed a supportive hand on Nendo's shoulder. "No family to pick you up? Though, I shouldn't be surprised if they decided to disown you after this."

"I..." Nendo, tongue-tied and deflated, pulls out the letter Izuku wrote to him again. "In the letter, he said he'd come for me..."

"Who knows? Maybe your friend is just busy. That, or he doesn't want anyone to know that an associate of his is an ex-felon." Replied the guard, being entirely unhelpful to Nendo's increasing worries that Izuku abandoned him. "Anyway, you go on your way now, kid. And stay out of trouble next time." And with that, the guard returned inside, automatically closing the gate in the process.

"Uh...yeah. Thanks for everything." Nendo awkwardly bids his goodbyes to the guard, before inhaling deeply, taking in a large amount of the sweet, cool air of freedom. With no money in his pocket and his phone still uncharged, Nendo begins his long haul back to his shop.

Upon reaching that ever-familiar sign of Penny-Filter District, the sight of the district invoked a mixture of nostalgia and melancholia in Nendo. Despite him being gone for almost an entire year, things...have hardly changed. The little kids are still frolicking on the streets as normal, either stealing some snacks or playing tag with each other, and the shopkeepers and sellers still drawing in more unsuspecting customers, who were attracted by the enticing offers like moths to a light. A light decorated with overpriced lucky charms and miscellaneous items of dubious origins.

In spite of everything looking as it should be, Nendo felt almost like an alien walking amongst the people here again. He mentally brace himself for the incoming stigma that the passerbys are about to lob at him...

But it never came. Not a single soul gave Nendo anything even resembling a sideways glance, and just continued on their day, leaving the noirette to stare at them in utter confusion. How come they didn't notice that he was the same guy who fought a villain and getting arrested a day after? Not that he wasn't glad they ignored him, but Nendo had expected a more...spiteful reception from his home district.

Shrugging, Nendo puts his hands back into the pockets of his hoodie and takes a relaxed stroll towards where he believes his shop is. Turning around a corner, he arrives at the empty lot. To put things simply, he is not terribly excited about what he saw.

Various heavy machinery have long started the process of smashing and tearing things down and pushing away large tracks of dirt in order to make place for the supposed mall Nendo heard about. And one of the targets reserved for smashing and tearing down...was his shop. The lonely little building was in a state of disrepair, as is expected from not being cleaned or maintained for ten long months. The windows were gray and muddy with dried rainwater, the front porch was riddled with dust from all the construction around it, and some of the letters on the sign have already fallen off, now nonsensically spelling 'NEN COFETONRY'. A newer, more polished sign was pasted on top of it, with 'FORECLOSED' written in red, emboldened letters. But then, a man dressed in a construction vest stretched out a ladder and removed the sign.

After he leaves the vicinity with the sign, his shop finally met its doom as a big, scary excavator turns around to work on the place, its great metal teeth digging into the right side of the shop, ripping through the walls of concrete like a knife through wet paper. As the excavator further and further ravages the infrastructure of the shop, the roof collapses in on itself.

Nendo turned away, no longer able to bear witnessing the destruction of his beloved home anymore. But there was little else he can do but watch, and so...Nendo did exactly that. With a bitter taste in his mouth, Nendo sat down the pavement, watching and completely helpless to do anything as the excavator finishes tearing his shop down and reducing what's left of the sign to splinters. Then, the bulldozer trundles over and mop up the remaining debris.

His dad's shop, his lifeblood and legacy, all gone, just like that. No fanfare or even a dramatic speech, just a dinky little establishment unable to catch up with society and were underneath its wheels. More depressed now than he has ever been before, a glumly Nendo hugged his knees while giving a devastated stare towards the wreckage that used to be his home. "Dammit..."

He would have probably stare for another hour at least, if not for a rusty grey truck stopping by the pavement he is sitting on. The door swings open, and a thin, tall figure hopped down from the driver's seat. "Nendo? Hey, you're out! I was looking for ya."

Hearing the distinctive, raspy voice that is the result of chain-smoking with a specific kind of dryness to it, Nendo looked to his right. "Uncle Yoshino?"

"Who else? By the way, what are ya looking at?" Yoshino follows Nendo's gaze, before quickly backpedals once realizing the sheer amount of anguish such sight have caused Nendo. "Ah. Well...that's a kick in the dick. I, uh, sorry, Nendo."

"I-It's alright. I suppose I should have seen it coming." Nendo deadpanned, still staring at the construction site with his face drooping like a sad fish. "Still...yeah, it feels exactly like what you said."

"A kick in the dick?" Yoshino repeated his analogy for mental pain. A little nod is all the response he gets.

A deafening silence dawns upon the conversation. Whistling with his hands behind his back like he got something to hide, Yoshino sneaks to the back of his truck. "But anyway, that's not what I'm here for." Said the thin man, heaving a massive cardboard box out from the back and plops it in front of Nendo.

Much to the noirette's surprise, the contents were all his stuffs. Aside from the mismatched pile of clothes, there were also his mangas, books, the charger for his phone, even his entire game console and their accompanying discs. Rummaging through the things to see if there is any missing, Nendo gave his uncle a grateful look. "I thought they threw all my stuff away!"

"They...actually are going to. I know they were going to do that, so I swooped in, tell them that they were mine, sign some papers and they're mine. I know how much you loved those games of yours." Yoshino said amusedly, before going back to the truck again and produced a whole TV, placing it on top of the box. "It's the least I could have done for ya, what with you taking the blame for Ushio and all that."

Nendo nuzzled his box of joy like a kitten would to its mother, before perking up from hearing the name of his other uncle. "Oh, uncle Ushio! Pray tell, where is he? I gotta let him know I'm out!"

Yoshino's grinning face suddenly falls flat. "About that...well, he booked it."

Nendo remains absolutely still, not sure if his ears were hearing properly. "...What?"

"He booked it. After you went to court instead of him, the guy's been acting way crazier than normal. Always talking about the police coming over or knocking on his doors and all that." Yoshino explained, revealing the depths of Ushio's declining sanity to Nendo in his absence. "Eventually his paranoid ass got the better of him. He packed his shit, closes his shop, grabs his kid and his mom before disappearing, never to be seen again. By the time we're talking..." Yoshino pulls back the sleeve of his shirt to take a peek at his watch.

"He's probably out of the country by now."

"But...why would he do such a thing?" Ask a bewildered Nendo, not entirely getting why his honorary uncle would just up and left like this. "Uncle Ushio is many things, but a runaway chicken isn't one of them!"

Yoshino tiredly rubs his eyebrows, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Yosuke...I know you always see the best in people, but haven't you noticed?" Yoshino insinuates, looking down on Nendo with a slightly more sympathetic glint in his eyes. "All that time you spend in juvie, and not once does he make any contact with you. No letters, not even a call. All that time he was spending looking after his own ass, even though cases like battery usually doesn't get all that much attention from the police. If he does care about you, he would at least stick around till you're out. But nope. Even after you're arrested, he already began making plans to sold off your furniture to get some more money for the trip." Said Yoshino, his voice laced with a hint of disgust.

"So...you mean, uncle Ushio...?" A dejected Nendo casts his eyes downwards. He didn't want to say the word. He could never.

"Used you and ditches you when it fits him? Pretty much. I'm not in a position to call him that, but you can. Bet Jiro's turning in his grave." The thin man made a remark about Nendo's late father, maintaining a visage of indifference. "But hey, no use crying over spilled milk. Ushio fled the damn city, and tracking him down now would just be unneccessary. I say...forget about him and live your life, Nendo."

It's not everyday that he heard Yoshino, easily the more cynical of his two uncles, giving honest advice. Taking it to heart, Nendo stood up and gave his uncle a knowing look. "I see...well, what are we going to do, now that uncle Ushio's gone?"

"How should I know? That's up to you. As for me..." The older male turns on his heels and leap back onto the truck. "I'm out."

"Wait, what?" Nendo leaped and cling onto the door's windowsill, gripping onto it with his fingers. "B-But why aren't you staying? I mean, uncle Ushio has his reason, but you! You can stay here with me!"

"Listen, Nendo. Ushio come to me first, and I didn't say anything to anyone about it. What does that make me?"

"...An accomplice?"

"Exactly! And believe me, I ain't about to stick around just to get slammed. At least, I stick around long enough to give you the latest news and hand over your things." Yoshino said as he inserted the key and turned his truck back on, with the engine grumbling to life. "My parents are waiting back at home. Can't keep 'em waiting, right?"

Nendo keeps holding onto the truck door, before letting go once he knew there is no convincing Yoshino. Besides, it is his uncle's life, what right does he have to dictate what he can and can't do?

Looking at his honorary nephew, Yoshino rapidly taps the steering wheel of his truck. Working up his jaw muscles, he finally opened to mouth to say something. "One last thing. For what it's worth, Nendo...you're a good kid. And for one, I'm glad to see you out of juvie."

Nendo remained silent, not really knowing what to say in return. His lack of response indicate not a feeling of shock, but rather to see if Yoshino is truthful with his words. If he is, then Nendo is anything but sad. If he isn't...well, then he won't be disappointed as much. "Do you mean it?"

"What kind of question is that? Me and your dad are pals, after all." Yoshino reaffirms himself. "I'll try to keep in touch, Nendo. Right after I got myself a new identity and a face change, of course, but still. You got my number, right?" Seeing Nendo fumbling around in his pocket, the thin ex-salesman soon got impatient and pulled out his own instead.

"I have yours, so that's good enough." Yoshino juggled his phone around, before stuffing it elsewhere inside the many comportments of the dashboard. "I think you'll do just fine, Nendo. So...this is goodbye."

Nendo pensively twirled his thumbs, before waving a hand with great reluctance to his uncle. "See you later, uncle Yoshino." Yoshino's only reply was a knowing nod, before the man locks the doors and step on the pedal. In no time, the truck was but a fleeting memory, speeding away into the horizon. Now with both of his uncles gone, there was only one place left he can go to. The last bastion of humanity where he has a meaningful relationship. The place that he, as a dutiful wizard, should have visited in the first place.

The castle of the Hero.

Spawning a levitating platform made of bricks, Nendo placed his box of belongings on top before ordering it to follow him, though he noted himself to look back every now and then to make sure the TV hasn't fell off mid-trip. With a determined, yet hopeful gaze, the brickmancer settles for the set of apartment blocks where his green-haired compatriot resides.

-0-

Inko Midoriya, a short, plump woman in her forties and the ever-doting mother to Izuku Midoriya was staying at home like always, cooking and cleaning up their home. Her son has left since breakfast and hasn't come back since, but given that it is Sunday, she hardly has any reason to hold him back other than to tell him to finish his classwork, thinking that Izuku might be ignoring them in favor for this 'training' of his. And every time, she was proven wrong by her son showing his notebooks, with homework done so clean and tidy that it practically glows with perfection. As such, he is currently out to, by his own admission, working out to gain what she believes to just be a toned physique.

Even though the reason sounds plausible enough, Inko couldn't help but feel slightly odd about the whole affair. Nearly a year ago, her son never showed any signs of wanting to improve himself physically, always eating his favorite foods and generally being a meek little boy she had always knew him as. And then, out of the blue, her Izuku starts exercising and working up as much sweat as possible, slaps a dietary menu in her face (metaphorically speaking), leaving home at the crack of dawn then coming back looking like a ghost with all the life sucked out of it, if that is even possible. The most surprising change, however, was that her son began to grow out of his shell of timidity and generally act and behave more resolutely and...confidently?

Not to say that this wasn't a pleasant sight for Inko to be seeing her only child growing up, but the sudden change was far too abrupt to be normal. The primal instinct that every parent possesses tells her that Izuku is hiding something, from the way he leaves at six in the morning with machine precision to how he spaces out in the middle of mealtime every now and then. However, her intuition as a mother may be correct, but not foolproof. Her son definitely has secrets, it's just that she hasn't been able to put a finger on it yet.

That was when Inko made a promise to herself. The moment Izuku gets back home, he will take a bath, then they would have a meal, then she and him would sit down and have a conversation like mother and son, and she would gently poke and prod him in a way that will get the most information out of him. Whatever the secret might be, she will accept it wholeheartedly.

And speak of the devil, a rhythmic knocking is heard on the door. Turning the stove off to avoid accidentally burning the food, Inko mentally readies herself for the talk as she walks towards the entrance. Twisting the handle, she opened the door to meet Izuku...

Only that it's anything but him. Unlike her son's short stature and messy curls of green hair, this figure stands a full head taller than her, has black hair tied into a small ponytail and doesn't look sweaty. Upon closer inspection, Inko's eyes widen when the realization as to who it is sets in.

"Er...hey, Mrs. Midoriya. How're you doing?" Spoke Nendo, equally gobsmacked to see her instead of Izuku. Considering that the two of them haven't properly talked to one another for years, owing to Nendo having to run his dad's business, the atmosphere soon becomes rather awkward and uncomfortable as neither party knew what to say to each other, only really trading stutters, pauses and one-word replies of acknowledgement.

That is, until Inko finally finds it in herself to give a coherent reply. "O-Oh! Yosuke, what a surprise! I haven't seen you since you were little!" She said cheerfully, temporarily forgetting that Nendo prefers to be on last-name basis with people he is acquainted with. "Come in, come in! It's been so long."

"Yeah...you haven't changed much yourself. Still look as beautiful as ever, Mrs. Midoriya!" Nendo praised her with utmost sincerity, politely taking off his shoes and placing them neatly on the side of the entrance. Sure, she may have visibly gained some weight and wrinkles here and there have manifested as a result of her mature age, but Inko's pleasant personality shone out like sunbeams and she still looks lovely to him.

"W-What? Please, you're just exaggerating!" Inko spluttered, a vibrant red blush slowly creeping onto her face. She was unused to being subjected to having her looks praised by anyone other than her son and her husband, and even then, such flattery was uncommon, much less from another male. Regaining her composure, Inko kept the door open for his floating brick platform to enter as well, as weird a sight that may be.

Psychically ordering the platform to dissolve itself, Nendo placed his box down before turning to the green-haired woman, hoping to get an answer for his important question. "If I may ask, is Izu home?"

"Izuku, you mean? He left since morning, and usually won't be back until lunch, at least." Inko idly muses, resting her head on her right shoulder. "Do you need something?"

"Ah. Must have been that training with All Might." Nendo thought to himself, reminiscing the day before his arrest.

"Well?"

The noirette almost jumped when Inko speaks up again. "Oh! Um...not really, I just missed him that's all. Absence makes the heart goes yonder, as the saying goes. Ten months in-" Nendo said before instantly cutting himself off, then lowered his voice by a significant degree, barely speaking louder than a whisper. "In the, uh...well, you know..." Nendo trailed off, trying to find the correct words for it.

Little did he know, she has already figured it out a long time ago. With a sympathetic look in her eyes, Inko crosses her arms and speak up. "You were in detention, weren't you?"

To say that Nendo was embarrassed would be an understatement. At this very moment, all he ever wanted was to wall himself off with bricks, and he can do just that. "B-But! How did you-?"

"Every day for two months, Izuku keep talking on and on about you. It's not hard to figure out what happened. Besides, your shop was closed, so..."

Seeing that there's no denying the truth, and that lying to someone as good-hearted as Inko would just be a colossal dick move from him, so Nendo picked the least worst option and get down on his knees, profusely prostrating and apologizing to her. "I'm sorry! I should have known better! I was Izuku's friend and I failed both him and you! As a friend to your son, I should have acted as a good influence! Please...have my utmost apologies!" He said, going as far as to smack his head against the floor.

Inko was both nonplussed and amused by the excessive gesture, mostly the former, and quickly bends down to help Nendo up, as well as to stop him from potentially giving himself a concussion. "Nendo, it's okay! Please, don't bring yourself down so low like this." Said Inko with a motherly tone, affectionately patting his head. "You don't have to. Now, I'm not mad at all...to be honest, I'm actually more confused than anything."

"Huh?" She was confused? Considering how Izuku often tells him myths and legends of how protective Inko can get, he was expecting to either get an earful or just be told to never approach the green-haired boy again within a hundred-meter radius. "But...why?"

"Because I find it strange. People don't just go from happy to beating someone to near-death the next day after." Inko's unnervingly correct deduction nearly made his heart skipped a beat. Quietly clapping his hands together, Nendo prayed to whatever guardian angel there is to stop her from questioning him.

"Please don't ask please don't ask please don't ask..." Nendo repeatedly chanted those words in his mind, pooling together all of his willpower to be able to somehow psychically bend her mind the other way. Nendo thinks that, as long as he believes hard enough, the random number generator of the universe will slightly favor him a bit more and give him a favorable roll of chance.

Unfortunately for our poor wizard, his Quirk doesn't include mind control with anything other than bricks. "It all sounds a bit too contrived to me. Can you explain what exactly happened?"

Nendo looked at Inko, his eyes full of self-conflict. He doesn't know if he should risk ratting out his uncle. While it might sound plausible now that uncle Ushio is gone, the laws of extradition still exists, and he isn't immune to it just because he isn't subjected to the laws of Japan anymore. This was a massive gamble, and the last thing he wanted is for Ushio to serve extra time on top of what would be his sentence for not only causing grievous bodily harm, but also made someone else take the fall for him. "I...I don't know, Mrs. Midoriya."

"We can stop if you wanted to." Inko cooed, walking over to the family table and brought out her tea set. As she returns to the kitchen to put on the kettle, she continues. "I know guilt isn't something that is easy to get rid of, but if talking about it makes you feel uncomfortable, then I won't push the subject." She finishes, just as the kettle began to hiss with steam.

Her soft, but almost disappointed-sounding tone of voice has its (un)intended effect on Nendo, resulting in the noirette recoiling and bending over with a hand over his heart, as if physically struck there. Due to the absence of a mother figure in Nendo's life, he has come to see Inko as one, even all the way back when he was a little kid thanks to her being a regular customer at the shop and often greeted him warmly. This maternal imprinting only further solidifies once he learns that she is the mom of his first ever friend. As such, the thought of merely letting her down is an excruciatingly painful punch in the guts for him, let alone her surmising that he actually did break the law and isn't willing to face it.

With a shuddering sigh, Nendo licked his dry lips and opens his mouth, though words would not come out until a moment later. "If, I tell you...can you please, please PLEASE keep it a secret? Because this is really, really serious." Nendo pleaded in the most respectful way he can, closing his eyes and bowing to her with his hands clasped together.

Much to his relief, Inko responded in kind by performing a zipping motion on her lips and winking. "Your secrets are safe with me, Nendo. Just sit down by the table and we can talk it out. I made some tea, if you don't mind."

Nendo brightens up considerably, his troubled expression now replaced with the usual happy-go-lucky one as he summoned two bricks underneath his feet and commanded them to levitate him to one of the chairs around the table. "Not at all! I do consider myself something of a tea connoisseur, after all. What is it? Chamomile? Earl gray?"

"Sencha, actually." She replied, gracefully pouring the light green liquid into a pair of teacups before serving them on a tray. Giving one to Nendo, Inko took a tiny sip from her own cup before placing it down and lock eyes with him. "Now...spill the tea, Nendo. Get it? Spill the 'tea?'" The older dame delivered the pun with all the subtlety of a rock, but Nendo chuckled mirthily nonetheless. He assumed that dorkiness must have been a family trait of the Midoriyas.

"Heh. Well, here goes nothing. Buckle up, Mrs. Midoriya, cause you're in for a ride." Nendo fesses up, breathing in larger-than-normal intake of air as he mentally rehearses everything he's about to say. Speaking slowly and methodically, but still choked with emotion, he illustrates with his words about the events that had led up to his arrest, including his meeting with uncle Ushio... "He called me that afternoon, saying that he wants to meet me. He told me to be discreet..."

His subsequent confession at the police station... "...So I walked in, and told the desk guy that I got a confession to make. They cuffed me, and threw me in a tiny room, with only a table and two chairs..."

And some tidbits about his juvie life in general. "...The food isn't quite as horrible as you would think. Not saying that it's strictly 'delicious', but it's still food and I still need it to live, so I ain't complaining. My fellow juveniles, on the other hand..."

There were times when Nendo couldn't find any more words to speak of, but continues on once he remembers that Inko was his audience. A showman never disappoints his audience, and so Nendo went on. Once his side of the story is done, Nendo can be seen with his hands anxiously shaking. "And, uh...I guess that's it. I got out today, and my shop got shafted. Had nowhere else to go, so I figured that this is the last place to visit."

For unknown reasons, Inko was completely still and poker-faced, not making a single peep other than the sound of her calm breathing. The fact that her tea has long since gone cold was a clear indication of how much time has passed. Feeling the choking silence getting to him, Nendo tried to catch her attention by spawning a brick and telekinetically moving it left and right in front of her, while himself maintaining a respectable distance away. "Mrs. Midoriya? Are you there? Hello? The realm of Earth to Mrs-"

Out of the blue, Inko's hands crush her teacup sending pieces of ceramic flying through the air, the tea from her broken cup spilling onto the table. This unprovokedly aggressive act made Nendo jumped and fell back to his chair with a thud, his arms flailing around. "I-Is everything alright, Mrs. Midoriya? You looked a bit..." He looked at her darkened eyes, before curling into a fetal position, looking away. What's the correct word for describing someone as 'pissed off beyond all reasoning' again?

"Oh, silly me! Don't worry Nendo, I'm fine. Say, where is this uncle of yours? I would love to have a talk with him...about ways to behave around family." Despite her sounding as cheerful as ever, there is an undeniably venomous edge to her voice, like a pit viper. You don't know danger until it bit you in the face. "After all, a man who is willing to make his own nephew to go to court just to save his own heinie deserves nothing more than a good talking to. So tell me, Nendo..." With her increasingly deepening voice and eyes that seem to shone red like a demon's, Inko makes it blatantly obvious than talking isn't the only thing she'll do to his uncle, even if she does talk in the first place.

"Where. Is. He?" Inko punctuated every word for extra emphasis, her temper rising as she is filled with protective anger. Nendo, however, shrunk into his chair. Shaking like a blancmange, the noirette couldn't believe that Inko somehow went from a sweet, kind woman to this terrifying bringer of the apocalypse he is watching before his very eyes. There was so much killing intent and tangible scorn emitting from her that even the brick he summoned flew back to his embrace. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as the saying goes, but he wasn't aware that her wrath was palpable to the point that it works on objects as well.

After Inko spends several minutes fuming to herself, Nendo finally gathers back enough of his wits to answer her question. "H-He's, um...gone. As in, he left the city. But it's okay! I'm not the type to hold grudges, so I don't really have anything against him for doing that. He's afraid for his own family, that's all." Nendo said in hopes to curb, or at least makes Inko's wrath simmer down before it reaches the boiling point. And when that happens, he fully expects his uncle's name to appear on the obituary section of the newspaper. "You don't have to do this for me, Mrs. Midoriya. It was my choice in the end, so it wouldn't be fair to blame it all on uncle Ushio."

And with that, Inko Midoriya suddenly returns to her usual sunny disposition, her rage subsiding as quickly as it has flared up. "Is that so? What a shame. I would've love to have a conversation with him. But anyway..." She said sweetly, placing a hand on Nendo's cheek, surprising the noirette. "I can't even begin to imagine how terrible that must be for you, Nendo. A boy like you should never have to went through something like that. And about the shop...I'm so sorry."

A doleful Nendo looked at her caressing hand for a moment before accepting the warm, fuzzy feeling of her palm on his face. Wonderfully soft, but still have an underlying firmness to it, like silk hiding steel. "Thanks, Mrs. Midoriya. I...appreciate your concerns, I really do. It means a lot for you to say that."

"Not a problem, Nendo. Now, more tea?" She said, and then proceeds to realize that her cup has been reduced to nothingness from sheer force of anger alone. "OH NO! How could this have happen?! Hang on a second, I need to clean it up!" Inko quickly gets out of her chair and disappeared into the kitchen in search for a rag.

Nendo blankly stares at the puddle of spilled tea, low-key amazed by the woman's nigh-superhuman grip strength. "She must have had some kind of rage meter that lets her do double damage once it's filled up, like some of my beat 'em up games." Shrugging, he takes his first sip of tea and was pleased with how beautifully astringent it tastes: a sour-sweet flavor, empowered by the fresh aroma of grass.

He brought the cup up to his lips again for another delectable sip, but was interrupted at the last second when the handle of the door turns downwards and swings open. Nendo covered his eyes at what he thinks is the blinding lights of the sun. Oh, Nendo never felt so right to be wrong.

It wasn't the sun. It was, in fact, the imaginary lights coming from the arbiter of pure heroism, the chosen one destined to save the word one day, the one and only...Izuku Midoriya, dressed in a tracksuit and wiping his face with a towel. Words can't even come close to describing how utterly ecstatic Nendo is. Looking at the figure of Izuku with a longing look, the noirette places his cup down and stood up, face lighting up with absolute joy. "Izu-chan!"

As for the greenette himself, he was, for lack of a better word, speechless. Three months. That's the time Izuku have to wait for Nendo to write anything back, and when he becomes more and more accepting of the fact that that his friend may never reply, combined with the pressure from All Might's backbreaking training and the vigorous preparation for the U.A Entrance Exam has largely pushed Nendo away from the center of his mind. As much as he wanted to deny that he forgot about Nendo, that is what ultimately happens.

And now, to see his best friend standing there, inside his house and smiling at him, it stirs up a deep-seated emotion within Izuku. Slowly but surely, tears well up in his eyes as several droplets roll down his cheeks, with Izuku completely powerless to stop the flow. He opens his mouth, voice shaky and only seconds away from breaking. "N-Nen-chan...?" Said Izuku with a hushed tone, almost choking with tears.

The brick-controlling teen outstretches his arms, still warmly beaming at Izuku. "Who else-"

"NENDO!" The dam holding back the massacre of sadness finally give out and Izuku drops his towel to tackle Nendo and hugging him as tightly as humanly possible, burying his weeping eyes into Nendo's chest, wanting to hold him so that he never goes away again. "You came back! Y-You came back..."

Feeling his hoodie dampening from the downright abnormal amount of tears Izuku is producing at the moment, Nendo wraps his arms around the sobbing greenette and embraced him just as firmly, rubbing Izuku's head like he always did. Even though Izuku's tracksuit was moist and his hair was reeking of sweat, Nendo couldn't give less of a thought about. All that matters to him now is Izuku. "I miss you too, man. There, there..." He said, steadily patting him in the back.

While the two friends hug it out after nearly a year without each other's presence, Inko, in the meantime, has finally acquired a rag to clean up the tea spillage. Lively humming to herself, she comes out of the back of the kitchen...and walked straight into the scene of Izuku and Nendo hugging in an overly-intimate way. Quietly, she puts a hand over her mouth out of stupefaction. She understands that her son and Nendo are very good friends, but never this friendly! Their hug looked less like friends and more long-lost lovers to poor Inko. "Oh dear! Could my baby be swinging the other way?"

His mother's gaze did not go undetected by Izuku, who briskly dispatches himself from Nendo and scurried around to face her. "M-Mom!" He exclaimed, wiping away the remaining tears from his eyes. Noticing the look his mom is giving him, an increasingly red-faced Izuku waves his hands frantically, attempting to shoo away any suggestive thoughts. "I swear, this is not what it looks like! We're just...hugging, that's all! Like friends do." Meanwhile, Nendo stares innocently at her.

"Sure..." Thought a suspicious Inko, raising an eyebrow at just how much of that is true. Nevertheless, she abandons the thought in order to mop up the tea. "So, Izuku, how's your training today?"

"Went great, mom! I worked up a bit more sweat than usual, but hard work betrays none! At this rate, the practical exams would be a breeze!" Izuku replied without pause, going back out the door to pick up his discarded towel. The mention of Izuku's training with All Might sparked another thing inside of Nendo that he wanted to tell the greenette a long time ago.

"Yo, Izu. Remember what you asked me? About being a Pro and all?" Nendo started, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at Izuku with wary eyes, as if not entirely sure if he has his heart in it. "I've been thinking about it for a while, and uh...well, what can I say?"

Izuku's mouth was left slightly agape, the memories coming back to him. Giving his friend a genuinely hopeful look, he briefly stood still, waiting for what he might be saying next. "Could it be?"

"I'm pretty much at rock bottom. And I got nothing to write back home either. I guess, in a sense, I'm free to do whatever. And what I'm going to do..." Nendo ominously declared with a suspenseful timbre in his voice, putting his hand on where his heart is while pointing a finger at Izuku. "Is to walk this path with you, Izu. If you're willing to be the hero, then I shall be your faithful wizard, my friend!"

Unlike any other times when he would have been laughing at Nendo's flair for the overly-dramatic, this one, for reasons unknown, unironically entices Izuku. The sheer strength and power behind Nendo's declaration, compounded with dedication and commitment, has lost its comedic value and instead was replaced something much more...inspirational.

"T-That's awesome, Nendo!" Izuku said with peerless enthusiasm, nearly shaking with excitement that reminds the brickmancer of the greenette when he was little. "I-I-I just don't know what to say, I'm...I'm happy! For you and for me! Don't wanna sound too pushy, but that, is a very good choice on your part."

"Nah, Izu. I'm not the only deciding factor in this, but fate is too. Fate has entertwined our fates with each other, and when things aren't going as expected, it forces its hand and brought us ever closer together! You and I are destined to do this!" Nendo bombastically declares, putting an arm over Izuku's shoulders and drawing him close. "No matter how bad things get, the hero and the wizard shall brave through their dastardly foes and triumph at the end. Just you wait!"

"Yeah...probably." Izuku struggles to escape from Nendo's vice-like grasp, before suddenly perking up, as if remembering something of grave importance. "Um...Nendo?"

"Yes, my dear Izu?"

"You said you wanted to be a Pro Hero with me, right? Does that mean you'll be going to U.A as well?"

"Indeed, I will. Like I said, you and I are destined to share this path!"

"Okay? You do realize that this is Sunday, right?"

"I do. And?"

"The Entrance Exam starts next week."

Seeing how Nendo insists on grinning and acting like it's all fun and games, Izuku loses what little patience he had left and grabs the noirette by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth with great force. "THE EXAM IS LITERALLY TOMORROW!"

The shock induced by the vigorous shaking must have brought some of Nendo's higher senses back, as his eyes slowly began to widen to the size of dinner plates. "CRAP, YOU'RE RIGHT!" Panic sets in soon after, with Nendo running in random patterns like a headless chicken and Izuku mumbling loudly to himself about the possible ways he could help Nendo out.

Luckily for them both, a solution would come in the form of Inko, raising her hand and speaking once again after witnessing the antics of Nendo and her son without so much as moving a single muscle. Calmly walking into Izuku's room while the two teens were still bouncing around, she emerges, holding a piece of paper. Not just any piece of paper, but a very official-looking one emblazoned with flowery linings, symbols and sharply drawn lines for filling in details. "No need to overreact, Nendo. Here."

"...Huh? What's that for?" Nendo asked, scratching his head as he possess no prior knowledge of the thing. Izuku, on the other hand, has a very clear idea of what the paper is.

"The admission sheet! I took an extra one home when they passed them out." With his hopes renewed, Izuku meekly takes the sheet from his mother's hand before handing it over to Nendo. "You just need to fill in your name, age, Quirk, personal experiences, home address, academic level and background! Any other information is optional." The greenette proudly presents, exuding the same energy as a tour guide.

Nendo stared at the sheet for a solid three seconds before snatching and raising it above his head, having received a sacred item in his books. "Crucial Item of Plot Advancement acquired!" The words rang out in his head, though he wasn't sure where such words came from.

"YES! Mrs. Midoriya, you're a lifesaver! How could I ever repay you? And you too, Izu! Your peculiar habit have saved me!" Said Nendo, kissing the sheet. Stuffing it in his pocket, he went over to his box and fished out a pen. After licking the business end of the pen to see if the ink still flows, Nendo hightails straight into one of the two bathrooms of the apartment, closing the door to give himself some space to fill in the paper.

But then, less than a minute after he locks himself in the bathroom, Nendo peeks his head out, looking much more sheepish compared to earlier. "Uh...should I mention that I'm an ex-juve? I mean, they asked for background, and I get the feeling that they're gonna look up my government profile."

Izuku simply shrugs, hiding the fact that even his shining mind couldn't figure out an answer for that. "Honesty is the best policy?" The green-haired nerd suggested, cracking open a half-grin, half-smirk. Nendo contemplates his choices...before nodding.

"Yeah, let's be honest. Can't have lying on top of a criminal record as well." Nendo slinks back into the bathroom. After several minutes went by, he comes out, holding the rolled-up sheet, now all filled in, like a sword. "Here it is! The scroll that will decide my fate!"

"Well, you better go to their office right now. I'm not sure if they're taking admissions this late, but any second counts." Izuku noted, taking off his tracksuit to reveal his similarly sweaty shirt and cargo pants. What he didn't recognize was that he has successfully created yet another sense of urgency in Nendo, whose legs twist up to his hips once the realization fully sets in.

"Shit! Then I have no choice but to become speed. Bricks!" Roaring the command, multiple bricks puffs into existence and assembles together to form a floating mid-sized throne with Nendo as its host. Sitting in a position that is fitting for a king, the brick-controlling teen lifts a single finger. "Away! I'll see you guys later!"

As ordered, the brick armchair levitates slightly higher before flying out of the Midoriyas' home, making an U-turn...and promptly running into a wall, as evidenced by Nendo's comical cry of pain. "Ouch my bricks! Chair, go slightly slower this time." The recognizable 'ding' of the elevator is heard, and no more weird noises from Nendo were made.

Both Inko and Izuku were having difficulty processing what went through Nendo's head, with the former sighing heavily. "Sometimes, I wondered what Jiro taught him for him to be like this."

"Jiro? Who's that?"

"Nendo's dad! Izuku, are you meant to tell me that he's your best friend and you don't even know his father's name?" Questioned Inko with an uncharacteristically posh accent.

"N-Not like that, mom! I never even met him!" And thus, as the wizard was out to submit his scroll of destiny, the hero and his mother found themselves preoccupied with their newfound topic.

-An hour later...

Izuku had just finished his lengthy bath and was currently stepping out of his bathroom, drying his voluminous green hair. Inko was at the family table, placing an assortment of homecooked meals and looked down on them with pride. Izuku was standing far away, and he could still feel his mouth watering. "Mmm...what's for lunch, mom?"

"One of your favorites!" Said Inko, placing down a dish composed of an appetizing-looking piece of smoked fish.

"Salmon? Woohoo!" Izuku cheered, pumping his fists into the air. Quickly throwing his dirty clothes into the washing machine and closing the hatch, the greenette made a beeline towards his chair and sat down, picking his bowl and chopsticks up.

While waiting for his mother to sat down as well, a series of knocks struck their door yet again. Convinced that it is Nendo returning from his little 'quest', Izuku proactively stands up and opened the door for his friend. As expected, it is the noirette, bending over and huffing in air like no tomorrow. "I'm...I'm back!" Nendo spat out in between breaths.

"Oh? Welcome back, Nendo!" Inko welcomed him from the table, waving her hand.

"What took you so long? It's been more than an hour already." Izuku made a remark, looking at the bright sky with the sun setting at its highest and at its most heated. Nendo finally catches his breath and stood back up to his full height.

"Ah, about that. Well, I didn't know where the hell U.A was, so I have to ask around, and some of the people I asked..." Nendo explained, drawing up an invisible diagram of his trip with his fingers, while Izuku watches silently. "Were some of my, uh, folks back at juvie. So they wanted to start shit with me and I'm not in the mood to get right back into juvie, so I ran. Got chased all over the place, until I ran straight into U.A itself. The staff there shooed them away, so that's that."

Unable to contain his bemusement at Nendo's magnetism towards trouble, before ignoring all of the details in favor for one simple question. "But you did submit the admission paper, right?"

"Of course, duh! The people there keep giving me weird looks, wondered what's up with that? Like, sure, I'm an ex-juve. Nothing in the law said that you can't be a hero because of that." Nendo spoke confidently, like it is the most obvious thing in the world. Izuku visibly sweatdropped at the noirette's blatant disregard for common sense, but doesn't put any further thought into it.

"So...it's done? Cool!" Izuku smiled at Nendo, giving him a light pat on the shoulder, though the greenette has to slightly stand on his toes to get such a reach. "What're you going to do next?"

"Well...going back home, I guess." Replied Nendo, his cheerful voice faltering. However, he quickly hides his troubled look with his hood before Izuku could see it. "See ya, Izu."

Izuku was about to say his goodbyes as well, before the memory of a sight that he saw on his way home from the beach park suddenly intrudes his line of thought, and Izuku instead waved for Nendo to come back. "Wait!" His cries has its intended effect, as the hooded teen stops in his tracks and turns around. He muttered something incoherent under his breath, but Izuku could see that Nendo was mouthing a curse.

"When I was heading home, I saw the empty lot and...your shop wasn't there anymore." Izuku uttered slowly, all but outright implying that Nendo no longer have a place to stay. The greenette then rubs his arms, looking exceptionally pensive about what he just said.

Nendo pulls back his hood, before giving Izuku a wistful smile. "It's alright. I'm the master of bricks, remember? I can just build myself a comfy house. Believe me, a brick couch doesn't sound as bad once you get used to it." Izuku spotted all the cracks in Nendo's lighthearted facade. He considers it to be typical of Nendo: always acting as if things will get better, no matter how terrible it actually is. While he can see that it is meant to be uplifting, Izuku couldn't help but wonder if deep down, Nendo is hurt too. "Just get myself a few trash bags and I got a comfy pillow."

"Nendo..." Said Izuku sadly, looking at his feet.

"I'll be fine, Izu. Don't sweat it. I've sucked enough hospitality out of you and your mom already." Replied Nendo, still grinning while raising his uncharged phone as he walks away. "First thing tomorrow morning, give me a call, okay?"

Izuku looked hesitant to let Nendo leave, but he ultimately respected his friend's wishes. Well, that is, until a genius idea comes to mind. "Hold on a minute! Nendo, why don't you stay here with us?"

"...What?!" Nendo physically recoils from the offer, not because it was bad but because he wasn't sure if his heart could handle much more surprises in one day. Izuku isn't being serious...is he? "A-Are you sure? I mean, that'd be a huge help, but wouldn't your mom mind?"

"I don't mind." Inko sneaks up on the two young men, appearing behind Izuku himself with a demure smile. "Not to say that it isn't out of complete selflessness, but if you help around with chores, then I don't see any problem with you staying here Nendo. Izuku's room is large enough for two, so you can share it with him."

The noirette couldn't stop himself from gawking. "I-but why-? You guys don't have to go this far for me, really! I-I haven't done anything for you guys, so why would you-" Nendo stammered with every word, whatever semblance of composure he may have had getting tossed out of the window. His stuttering stops the moment Izuku places a hand on his shoulder.

"Because I'm your friend." The greenette flashed him a smile that tugs on his heartstrings in the most pleasant way. "And that's what friends do for each other, no? You protected me from Kacchan and his friends so many times...now let me help you."

That was the puff of air from the Big Bad Izu that brought down the brick house that Nendo has built around his heart. Feeling his resolve to politely decline wavering, Nendo kneels down before Izuku and Inko and prostrates himself as flat against his own legs as possible, his head touching the ground out of immense gratitude. "P-Please, accept my utmost gratitude! Thank you, Izuku and Inko Midoriya, for taking me in! I swear, 'til the end of times, I'll never, ever forget this kindness you have shown! I'll repay this debt, no matter what!" He stated with total deference, kneeling on even as the two people he swore an oath towards told him to keep his chin up.

And the scene that will forever have a place in Nendo's heart is Izuku, neither arrogant nor condescending to him, offering him a seat while Inko invites him in for a meal. Wiping away the water at the corner of his eyes with his sleeve, Nendo stood up and joined the mother and son.

He used to think that his day was bad...but all's well that ends well, he believes.

-0-

"Woah! This is your room?" Nendo asked as he walked in, before stepping aside to make way for Izuku and the brick platform that carries his box of belongings. When he thought of Izuku's room, he half-expected it to be some sort of cultist den for All Might, but the reality was surprisingly clean, save for a myriad of posters adorning the walls.

"Y-Yeah. Looks stupid, huh?" The greenette replied with a depressed tone, displaying a textbook case of self-deprecation. As is tradition, Nendo is having none of it.

"What? Come on, stop putting yourself down. Your room looks awesome! I mean, you got stuff that I'll never get in a lifetime." Said Nendo, pointing at the colorful posters and the array of toys, also of All Might's, neatly arranged on a shelf. "It's obsessive, but it's admirable. Like, who's better to ask about All Might than you?"

"O-Oh. I guess I never saw it that way..." A sheepish Izuku scratches his head, unused to praises directed towards his nigh-obsession with the Number One Hero.

Nendo nods at the greenette, before focusing on what truly matters to him. "But all of that fails in comparison to...THAT!" He melodramatically walks towards a complete set of bedding before him, laid on top of the tatami that makes up the floor of Izuku's room. "Look at it! Ain't it beautiful?"

"Uh...Nendo, that's just a futon." Izuku stated the obvious, unsure of why Nendo reacts in such a way to simple bedding, though he dismisses it as just another result of the brickmancer's flair for the dramatic.

"'Just', a futon? Yeah, that tone will change once you stayed at juvie for ten months." Nendo lightly socks Izuku in the arm, before opening the door and shouted. "THANKS, MRS. MIDORIYA!"

A small, echoed 'You welcome' emerged from the somewhere back in the kitchen.

"And now...hell yeah!" Exclaimed Nendo, taking the posture of a swimmer. With total dedication to enter the bed, Nendo dives belly-first into his futon which was positioned right beside Izuku's own bed. "Look, Izu! A bed! A real bed!" He presses his face against the mattress, taking in its soft texture while his hands squeeze and tug on the duvet.

"I'm sorry that this is all I can give you, Nendo. I mean, it's kinda demeaning to make you sleep on the floor." Izuku apologized, rolling left and right on his bed. "Still, you seem awfully happy about it."

"Are you kiddin'? This is freaking amazing, man!" Nendo exclaims with childlike wonder, turning over to face the ceiling which only has a single lamp turned on, illuminating the room in a dim orange light. "This is our castle! Technically yours, but still!"

"Castle? What, you're still calling my place that?" Izuku chimed along, snickering.

"Definitely! All of this beats the hell out of whatever juvie can offer me! I tell you, I'll take sleeping on rocks over another night in their beds. Just look at what we have!" Nendo then flips around again and buried his face into his cushioned mattress. "A roof over my head, four walls, no bars at the door and a soft throne..."

"Actually, this throne smells kind of funky." Nendo's face then hovers above the mattress, sniffing the fabric loudly. Izuku briefly blushes, before looking away.

"That's probably because it's my old mattress. When I was a kid. Mom took it out for a wash months ago, but...some of the stains are still there."

"Eh. Nothing wrong with that, is there?" Shrugged Nendo, lying down again and making himself comfortable.

"Pretty sure that's not water, Nen-chan..." Izuku meekly replied, his face turning into an even deeper shade of red.

"Well, the smell of piss isn't the worst thing I've ever experienced. Hell, you should have take a whiff of my bed. Compared to mold and body odor, I can drift off like a baby with your smell around." Nendo revealed some rather unclean facts about his previous residence, leading to Izuku to make a faintly disgusted face.

"Always a silver lining with you, isn't there?" Izuku mused, gazing vacantly at his various memorabilia of All Might and the accompanying merchandise. "Then again, I guess that's how you managed to put up with me all those years. Thank you...Nendo."

Blowing a raspberry, Nendo shoots up and smacks Izuku in the back. "Back with the sad talk already? Jeez, I should be thanking you, dumbass!" That made the green-haired teen looked up. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be sleeping in a trash can right now. On another note, why don't you use all that energy wasted into thinking sad things and turn it into, I don't know, good thoughts? You're gonna need those for the Entrance Exam."

Izuku chuckled a fair bit, but said nothing else for a moment. "...Yeah, you're right. Wish I had your outlook on life."

"Well then, why don't we cheer ourselves up over a nice glass of..." Nendo trailed off, crawling over to his box and rummage through the contents. Eventually, he turned around, holding two plastic cups and a large thermoflask. "Tea!"

Izuku stared at him with a face that is as flat as Nendo's pathetic attempts at making pancakes. "Really, Nendo? Tea?"

"What? It tastes good, and anything that tastes good makes for a good toast in my opinion." Nendo rebuffed instantly, opening the thermoflask and giving it a sniff, before pouring the honey-yellow liquid into each cup. "Besides, it's chamomile. Good for helping with sleep."

Before Izuku could argue that the point of a late night drink is often meant to keep oneself awake, he finds himself getting a cup of lukewarm tea. Gingerly raising and lowering the cup so that the liquid sloshes up and down, Izuku initiates another conversation. "So, Nendo...are you nervous for tomorrow?"

"Honestly? Yeah. But I can't let that stop me now, after through all that to get my paper in. And it's not like I'm entirely hopeless either. In juvie, they still teach you and give classes like normal, so I caught up pretty easily."

"No, not that. Are you afraid that people are going to hate you for, well, used to be in juvenile detention?" Izuku asked a valid question, which got Nendo to think to himself. "Criminals don't usually have much of a career in being heroes, you know? I mean, you're not one, but again, not everyone knows your secret."

"I guess that's something to be concerned about. But when it all comes down to it, I just couldn't give a damn." Nendo expressed his thoughts, earning an open-mouthed stare from Izuku. "Cause, when you're being a hero, shouldn't you be caring more about the people you're supposed to save than your reputation? I'm an ex-juve, so what? No laws in the book says that I can't become a Pro Hero."

"Well...having a good reputation isn't exactly bad. In fact, it can help you in some cases, like villains running away because they heard of your name. Which is pretty much eighty-percent of how All Might saves the day." Said Izuku, looking at another poster with a dreamy expression, but soon snaps out of it.

"Guess you're right. But hey, we'll see when tomorrow comes. Until then, let the primordial spirits of bricks will it." Nendo replied with a stoned-looking face, summoning two bricks and letting them orbit his hand.

"Heh...yeah." Izuku laughed in agreement, taking a sip from his cup of tea. "Hey Nendo, tell me this – you had your Quirk when you were eight, right? So how come I never heard you saying anything about it?"

"Oh, that...uh, you really wanna know?" Nendo suddenly becomes tense, awkwardly sniggering to himself.

"Come on, don't build it up. You can tell me anything." Izuku placed his cup down and lies flat on his bed, still staring at Nendo.

Nendo went silent for a while, before finally spitting it out. "Well, you see...when I was a kid, all I wanted was to be a wizard. Casting spells and all that. I waited for my Quirk to manifest, and when it does..." The noirette stops to drink his tea. "Let's just say, it was a pretty big letdown. I told myself, 'Wow, my Quirk sucks!'. When you got Quirks that actually let you cast lightning and fire, being able to control bricks and only bricks is pretty shitty in comparison."

"So I hide it. From my uncles, from the other kids, and even from you. Only Dad knows. I know that you would have a flashy Quirk, so I thought you would just laugh at mine. But as the years went on, I started to experiment with it, and...I figured that it's not so bad after all." Nendo fondly reminisces his past, smiling. "And when I hit puberty, I was pretty much convinced that my Quirk is the best thing that ever happened to me."

"At least you had a Quirk back then..." Izuku said with a despondent expression, letting out a heavy sigh. "I didn't, so I just got the worst of the crap Kacchan gave me."

"Why'd you say that? Of course you have a Quirk! It's just that it hasn't been properly awakened yet."

"C'mon Nendo, We've been through this. I don't have a Quirk." Though, considering the true nature of All Might's training with him, that might as well be a lie on Izuku's part. "Not even from birth."

"Izu, Izu, Izu. Sure, it's been proven by science that you don't have one...but why don't you look at it from my perspective? You're like a class's starter weapon in Arcane Quest." Nendo brought up his favorite game again, having long revered it as go-to source of advice. "The starter weapon is pretty cheap and weak, and it's often smart to just swap it out for a better weapon. But, if you took your time to grind with it, refine it and pool all your resources to upgrade it, then it transcends its stats and suddenly becomes the best weapon you can have, and would probably carry you though the endgame."

"...So you're saying, that-?"

"All I'm saying is, you just need to level up. And when push comes to shove...your Quirk will shine through, like a sword through a dragon!" Nendo mimicked an explosion with his arms. "If you destroy lots of slimes in a game, you level up fast, get it?"

"Leveling up in life..." Izuku rubbed his chin inquisitively, contemplating his thoughts. His ten months of pure training from hell in order to become All Might's successor, when put side-by-side with what Nendo said, makes sense. In a weird way, almost. "You know, that might just be the most genius thing you ever said. Alright then, I'm ready to level up!" The greenette declared, his tone now completely lacking in sarcasm just like Nendo.

"Now you're talking! My Quirk may be nothing much, but with this humble wizard by your side, we'll start a brand new age of heroes!" Nendo pumped his fists, grinning from ear to ear like a hyperactive child.

"I'm with you, Nendo!" Izuku cheered as well, raising his cup along with Nendo.

"A toast to our new era, and to give ourselves good luck for the Entrance Exam!" Their cups touching, the noirette and the greenette cheers for each other.

"To the heroes of tomorrow!" Said Izuku and Nendo, in unison as they both looked to the night sky.

-0-

And that is Chapter 3. First of all, I just want to apologize for taking longer than usual, as I struggled with some dialogues here and there. Also, the chapter is a bit shorter this time, mainly because I wanted to save the real meat and potatoes that is the Entrance Exam for a whole chapter, as well as Izuku and Nendo's first day.

That's all there is to say, so please enjoy this chapter. Like always, criticism of all kinds is welcomed. There's more to come, so stay tuned.