The next morning, Himiko pulled herself out of bed much earlier than preferred and made her way down to the kitchen space. When she got there she saw that the fridge had been stocked with additional cartons of blood, filling her with warmth. Even though she had gotten used to people accommodating her quirk, it still served as a pleasant reminder that this is how things always should have been.

"I hope that's enough for the rest of the week," Ryukyu said from behind her. Startled, Himiko spun around and saw the Dragon hero standing in the doorway.

"Yes! At least, based on how much I needed yesterday," Himiko responded.

Ryukyu smiled and gave her a satisfied nod before she walked to a cupboard and retrieved an energy bar for herself. "Good. I was serious that I want to know how far you can push your quirk. It's important to know."

"I tried to find my limits with my brother and friends, but we haven't pushed it to the level you are making me," Himiko admitted.

"Well, hopefully after this week you will know exactly what your limits are. And then you can learn how to overcome them," Ryukyu smiled at her before she walked to the dining table and sat down.

"Are we going on patrol again today?" Himiko asked as she pulled out a carton of blood.

"Of course. Today, the plan is for you to transform into Hado for the first half, so you'll want to prepare yourself."

"Himi-chan's going to be me?" Nejire asked, just as surprised as Himiko at the news.

"Not only do we need to push both of your limits, but Midoriya's quirk depends on her ability to learn how her opponent uses their quirk as quickly as she can. Or failing that, to have a wide variety of blood on hand so that she can transform into someone with an appropriate quirk for the situation."

"But my spiral waves aren't the easiest to use," Nejire admits, "It's taken me years to work out how to aim and use them properly."

"That's why it's a good test for Midoriya. If she can work out how to use your quirk on even a basic level, that experience can be applied to a quirk that's easier to use.

Nejire put her index finger to her mouth as she thought about that. "That makes sense! Ryukyu-sensei has thought a lot about this!"

While she agreed with the older girl, Himiko wasn't about to vocalize that fact. Instead, she pulled out a carton of blood and a bottle of orange juice, as well as two glasses from the cupboard. As she placed everything on the counter, she calculated how much blood she should drink based on yesterday's events and began pouring herself drinks.

The three ate in silence, and after cleaning up from breakfast made their way to the roof. It was time to begin their second patrol of the week.

"Ok Himi-chan, I'm ready!" Nejire cheerfully announced as she rolled the sleeve of her costume up, exposing her arm.

Carefully, Himiko extracted two vials of blood from the older girl before putting a bandage on the wound. Once Nejire was patched up, she drank both of the vials of red liquid.

"How are you feeling Hado?" Ryukyu asked softly.

"A little blood loss isn't going to stop me!" Nejire smiled and gave a thumbs up. "I can't save people if I let a wound like that slow me down!"

"Good. Now then, Himiko?"

Nodding, Himiko transformed, turning into the older girl. "So now what?"

"Well, my attacks are pretty complicated," Nejire began, "since my quirk doesn't shoot in a straight line, but floating doesn't use precision, so that makes it easy!" She demonstrated by floating upwards a few feet before she gave a little twirl. "You just need to use my quirk out of your feet! And then use short blasts from your hands to maneuver!"

"I need a little more information than that." Himiko pointed out, slightly annoyed that Nejire seemingly forgot about her explanation from yesterday.

"Oh! Right! Um, how do I explain?" Nejire tilted her head and put a finger on her lip as she thought about how to describe her quirk in words. "Oh! I know! Imagine your body's circulatory system, except instead of blood, it's your energy! So like, glowy blood? Then try directing that to your hands and feet!"

Himiko blinked a couple of times as she tried to work out what Nejire was saying. "So if I do something like this…" She held her arm towards the sky and tried imagining the veins that ran through her arms. Frowning, she tried thinking about it in several ways, before she finally yelped in surprise as a spiral beam shot out of her hand.

"Yay! You did it!"

"You're not kidding, your quirk is hard!"

"All the better to practice with," Ryukyu said with a satisfied look on her face. "Now then, see if you can fly the same way Nejire can."

It took almost fifteen minutes and a lot of coaching from Nejire before Himiko was finally airborne, and able to float around the top of the rooftop.

"Yay! That's my kouhai!"

"K-kouhai!?" Himiko practically shouted.

"Yep! I'm your senior at school, and now I'm teaching you how to use my quirk, which means I'm your senpai. That makes you my kouhai!" Nejire explained it as if it was the simplest idea in the world.

Himiko groaned. "I'm not allowed to change internships now, am I?"

"Nope!" Nejire exclaimed happily. "You're my kouhai now!"

Despite her cheery tone, Himiko also caught the undercurrent of the statement. One that told her that Nejire wasn't going to let her argue her way out of this. Himiko also realized that the other girl was proud of the fact that she claimed her as her kouhai. Which she thought was strange. As the top female student and member of the so-called "Big Three," she could mentor anyone she wanted to.

So why pick her?

Rather than dwell on the implications, Himiko instead gave a resigned sigh. "Fine, but I refuse to call you Nejire-sempai!"

"Yay! You said it once!" Nejire gave her a bright smile. "That's enough for me!"

Below them, the two heard a chuckle. "Well, if you two can banter while floating around like that, that means I'm not working you hard enough. Let's start our patrol." Stepping back, she transformed into her dragon form and took to the skies. "Follow me!"

Unlike yesterday, it took all of Himiko's effort to try and keep pace with Ryukyu and Nejire. While having a transformation quirk seemingly gave her some advantage in using Rukyu's quirk, the same couldn't be said about using Nejire's Wave Motion quirk. So when they approached the same car park as yesterday, Himiko was thankful that she could finally land, and immediately dropped her transformation.

"How are you feeling?" Nejire asked as she landed next to Himiko.

"Not great," Himiko admitted. She was feeling a headache coming on, but fortunately, it wasn't as bad as the one she dealt with yesterday.

Nejire put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "My quirk is exhausting to use! I can't imagine how strong Himi-chan is to use it like that."

"Nejire's right," Ryukyu said as she took a small bag off before she reverted to human form, carrying the bag to Himiko, "she's spent years building up her stamina to use her quirk for as long as she does, and you just used it for almost two hours just like that."

Himiko grabbed the bag and frantically dug through it, pulling out a thermos and downing the contents, letting the crimson liquid course through her. Even though she prepared beforehand, she still felt the effect of the blood loss and wondered if that meant different quirks had different strains on her body.

I'm sure Izu and Emmy will have a field day with this when I tell them.

She thought about the implications as she swirled the last drops of blood around in the thermos, mesmerizing herself by their beauty as she tried to organize her thoughts.

"When you two are ready, we can finish our patrol. Hado, do you think you can fly the second half today?"

"Yep!"

"Good, I let you off easily yesterday, but I'd like to see you complete the whole patrol if you can."

"I understand!" Nejire nodded emphatically, "Someday I'll have my own patrols and can't rely on others, right?"

"Exactly."

As Ryukyu watched, Himiko finished the last bits of blood from the thermos, before she shoved it back into the bag and removed her coat and boots. Donning the rest of her hero costume, she turned to the pro. "Ok, I'm ready!"

Ryukyu smiled. "Good, but you get to ride for the second half. I have something special planned for this afternoon and I need you fully recovered before then." She turned to Nejire. "Same for you Hado. If you get too tired during the patrol, land and I'll follow you down. You won't be able to nap this afternoon, so be sure to save some of your strength."

"Ok!"

After they returned to the Agency the three had a long lunch to give Himiko and Nejire a chance to recover, before their afternoon training began.

Ryukyu led the pair back down to the lobby, where they saw another pro hero standing there, along with two students who were likely interns of his.

"Shishido, it's been a long time," Ryukyu said as she entered the lobby.

"Ryukyu, it's a pleasure as always."

Stepping to the side, Ryukyu waved her hands at her interns. "And these are Nejire Hado and Himiko Midoriya, they will be my team for today's little exercise."

"Midoriya," the girl with pale blue hair said, before turning to Shishido, "you didn't tell us we were going against a shapeshifter!"

This caused the pro hero to emit a deep laugh, "But what's the point if it's not a challenge! But where are my manners?" The hero swept his arm. "Meet my interns, Kashiko Sekigai and Habuki Mongoose, from Isamu Academy."

"Yay new friends!" Nejire called. "This is going to be fun!"

"Now don't get ahead of yourself," Ryukyu cautioned, "This is an exercise, after all."

Himiko looked at the other two girls, trying to get a sense of their quirks. Mongoose was a partial snake mutant, which meant she could reasonably guess what she was capable of. But Sekigai was a total mystery. Finally, she turned to her mentor for the week. "So what is the exercise?"

"In short, we are going to be playing a little game of capture the flag," Ryukyu said, as she crossed her arms. "We are going to give Shishido a five-minute head start. Then your goal, assisted by Nejire, is to tail him and find where he plans the flag. After that, you must evade capture and return the flag here. Meanwhile, Mongoose and Sekigai will try to prevent you from returning the flag. If Shishido catches you following him, he can call Mongoose to begin her hunt early. Otherwise, Mongoose has to wait until after he plants the flag."

"So I'm not allowed to intervene?" Nejire asked.

"Correct. You are Himiko's eyes in the sky, as it were. But you also have to watch out - if Shishido catches you, he will call it in and his interns will be able to start early, same as if he catches Midoriya."

"And the same applies to those two?" Himiko asked.

"Precisely," Shishido explained, "In a similar vein to you two, Sekigai will guide Mongoose, while Mongoose will be the one actively trying to catch you."

Sekigai raised her hands and a holographic map appeared in front of them. "While I can't fly, I can use my quirk to monitor the movements of the two of you, and feed that information to Mongoose."

"So Mongoose and I have the hard jobs," Himiko gave the other girl a predatory look.

"Indeed, I can't wait to see what you can do." The other girl gave a deadly stare in response.

Shishido guffawed. "Such enthusiasm! I can't wait to see who comes out on top."

Ryukyu smiled at her interns. "So do you two have any questions?"

"Nope! I just have to track Shishido for Himi-chan and then help her evade Mongoose-chan!"

Himiko nodded in agreement. "And I just have to follow him and get back here, it'll be easy!"

"Shishido is about half a kilometer away, but he's starting to slow down."

Twenty minutes later, Himiko was weaving through crowds, trying to tail the pro hero while Nejire was hopping from rooftop to rooftop to keep her eye on the Lion hero.

"Just let me know if he changes direction, but I need silence for a minute," Himiko replies. She was about to pass through a large crowd and wanted to get a blood sample, so she needed to concentrate.

As she was passing through, she reached out with her nails and scratched the arm of a middle-aged woman, only to immediately use her blanking technique when she saw the woman recoil from the pain. As much as she wanted to laugh at her confusion, she had a job to do. Instead, she quietly raised the droplet of blood to her lips and swallowed it. It wouldn't give her more than a few minutes, but she knew that may as well be a lifetime when trying to evade capture.

"That's three," Himiko quietly announced.

"Himi-chan is good at this!"

Himiko couldn't help but feel herself smirking. "Of course I am, I had to set myself apart somehow."

"Oh! Shishido just went left, he's going down a back alley."

Himiko dropped her smirk. Time for her to be in hero mode. "Just tell me where I need to turn."

"About 70 meters ahead, right before the waffle shop."

"Ok, then where?" Himiko was worried by the silence as the older girl took too long to respond. "Nejire?"

"I can't find him on the next street! He may have stopped in the alleyway?"

Himiko continued past the alleyway, before ducking into the next one. She stripped off her coat and boots, stashing them behind a dumpster, before activating her quirk, transforming into a salaryman. Retrieving her belt, she put that back on, hiding it underneath the jacket her transformation came with.

"Ok, time to investigate."

Changing her mannerisms, Himiko stepped back out of the alley and peered down the one where Shishido disappeared. As she stepped in, she saw a door slightly ajar, and several others that were closed.

First things first - test the closed doors. While two of the three were locked, she smiled as the third one clicked open, and she carefully opened it, peering inside.

It appeared to be a storage room of some sort. Stepping inside, she eased the door shut, leaving it open just a crack before she gave her eyes a moment to adjust. Thankfully, whatever secondary mutation caused her catlike eyes also made it easier for her to see in the dark. It looked like a storage room for whichever shop she had entered. She made a mental note to avoid making too much noise - she didn't want to cause an incident, after all.

A few minutes of searching later, she found what she was looking for - a large neon orange flag with Shishido's face on it. Why he would have such a thing she didn't know, but it made for a good target for their little exercise. Wrapping it up as tightly as she could, she held it in her hand and quietly opened the back door, slipping back out.

"Going somewhere?"

Hearing Mongoose's voice above her, Himiko reacted by leaping forward, tucking into a roll to dodge the snake-headed girl's attack. Unfortunately, she misjudged how wide the alley was and slammed into the wall.

"Crap! Mongoose is here!"

Scrambling up, Himiko dodged out of the way and sprinted out of the alleyway, attempting to activate her blanking while on the move.

"Himi-chan, Mongoose-chan is still following you!"

Of course, her blanking move wouldn't work on Sekigai, and she was feeding directions to Mongoose, which meant that even if Himiko got a lead, it wouldn't take long for the other girl to catch up. Although, given the rules of the exercise, Himiko just needed to gain enough of a lead so that she could escape.

Daring to glance behind her, Himiko saw Mongoose was a good 20 meters back, as she ducked into a crowd she ripped off her belt and held it in her hands as she dropped her transformation and activated another one, turning into a middle-aged woman out for a stroll. Given the reaction from the crowd, she cursed, as she realized she may have made things worse.

"Nejire, where can I go?"

"There's an alleyway across the street. It leads to another busy street on the other side."

Himiko looked across the road and saw it. Weaving her way through the stopped cars, she practically dove into the alleyway, changing form once again - this time to an elderly grandmother. Putting the belt back on, she emerged on the street and mingled with the crowd.

"I only have one more transformation before I have to use something more obvious," Himiko announced as she looked at the pouch on her belt, pulling out a vial of Inko's blood. She both loved and hated transforming into her mom. It felt so comforting to be transformed into her, which is why she hated using it during a high-stress situation. But she has burned through all of the blood she was able to collect, and she suspected Mongoose was at least aware of her classmates.

Putting the vial to her lips, she drank the liquid, feeling the warmth of love as the liquid trickled down her throat. Just as quickly she put the vial away, before shuffling towards Ryukyu's agency.

"Mongoose is on the street now, but she hasn't seen your current form. I'm sure she's looking for your belt and flag."

Himiko grumbled about the obviousness of a grandmother with a utility belt and orange flag as she walked, trying to get as much distance as she could before ducking into a tea house.

Once inside, she activated her quirk again, allowing herself a moment as she was wrapped in Inko's form. It felt like a hug, and she wasn't about to let the feeling go to waste. Always supportive, her mom even helped her by letting Himiko dress her up one day, wearing an outfit specifically designed to hide Himiko's support equipment while transformed.

Once again putting the belt on, Himiko tried her best to shove the flag into a pouch, before stepping out. Mongoose was close, but looking in the wrong direction as she slipped away.

She had about thirty seconds before Nejire spoke again. "Mongoose-chan is following you again."

Himiko let out a sigh. That was probably her best shot of escaping and it only bought her that much time. "How much further do I need to go?"

"About one kilometer."

"I guess it's time to see how good she is at running."

Giving up all pretenses, Himiko broke into a sprint, letting Inko's form slide off of her so that she could move unhindered. She heard the girl shout from behind her as she was running, but she refused to turn around. Instead, she simply pumped her legs as hard as she could, making it back to the hero agency minutes later.

"Looks like my team won," Ryukyu announced as Himiko burst into the doors of the agency, panting from the exertion.

"I must say, that was impressive considering the advantage Sekigai gave Mongoose," Shishido said.

Mongoose burst into the door a few seconds later, hissing at the girl. "Damn it, I couldn't even smell you while you were transformed!"

Himiko stuck her tongue out at the snake girl. "Of course! My quirk is awesome."

Sekigai collapsed the hologram she was looking at in the corner of the room and walked over to her fellow intern. "I'm sorry, I tried my best."

"It's not your fault," Mongoose assured here, "I'd have lost her immediately without you."

Finally, Nejire landed outside the agency and pushed the doors open. "We did it Himi-chan!" Without asking she pulled Himiko into a deep hug.

"Well, I'm happy with how that turned out," Ryukyu turned towards the other hero. "What do you say?"

"Aye." Shishido turned toward his own interns. "You two had the odds against you, and you still forced her to use quite a few tricks to make it back before you caught her."

Ryukyu finally turned toward her interns. "Well, I'm impressed by what I saw. Nejire - your coordination and Himiko - your stealth worked quite well together. The real reason I asked Shishido to help today was to test the two of you, and you both passed. I want both of you to help with tomorrow's operation."

"Operation?" Nejire tilted her head sideways in confusion.

"My sources tell me that there's a large shipment of Trigger coming through the port tomorrow. We were originally planning on intercepting it and shutting down the operation. However, Midoriya's given me a new idea. I want to let it through, and see where it's going," Ryukyu turned towards Himiko, "and Midoriya's the key to making that happen."

Himiko just stared wide-eyed at the hero. She doesn't even have her provisional license yet, and Ryukyu is telling her she is key for a real mission?

How did she ever think her quirk was a curse?

Kurogiri and Tomura turned as they heard the knock on the door, a familiar pattern letting them know it was Giran. A moment later, the information broker entered the bar, with a lanky individual covered in tattered clothing and armed with a variety of blades following him.

"You don't know how hard it was for me to track him down, but here's the guy you wanted to talk to." Giran stepped aside and swept his arm to indicate his companion. "The Hero Killer himself, Stain."

"Hmph, and what do people like you want with me?" Stain asked, looking at the two judgmentally.

"I'm here to interview you. You see, I need more party members, and you come highly recommended, given your line of work."

"Party members?" Stain turns to Kurogiri. "What's he on about?"

The black mist gave what could only be taken as a sigh. "The young master enjoys video games in his free time. This has caused him to adopt some terminology for everyday activities. What he means to say is that we are recruiting."

"I see," As he stood there, Stain appeared to be evaluating Tomura. "Tell me… what are you fighting for?"

"What kind of question is that?" Tomura asked with disdain in his voice, causing Stain's eyes to narrow. "Not about loot or exp, but morality?"

"Yes. And if you want me to stay, you will answer the question."

"So it's that kind of dialogue tree," Tomura grumbled, "very well then. I hate heroes. I hate everything about them."

"On that, we mostly agree. There are too many false heroes in the world. What do you plan on doing to the fakes?"

"Oh, I am going to kill them." Stain appeared to be waiting for Tomura to elaborate further, eliciting a frustrated growl. "What else do you want me to say? I want to bring society to its knees. Sensei told me that I can destroy what I hate, and I hate this society and its worship of heroes."

This seemed to anger Stain. "I see, we are done here."

"Now wait just a minute!" Tomura protested, reaching out with his palm, only to feel Stain's sword pierce it, just enough to draw blood. Feeling his old wound, he pulled his hand back instinctively, anger overtaking him. "Damned hireling!"

Stain licked the blood off of his blade and activated his quirk, causing Tomura to slump onto the counter, while Kurogiri stood there impassively. Leaning into Tomura's face, Stain continued.

"Hatred without conviction is meaningless. It makes you a rabid animal. Nobody will follow you without belief, and a desire to follow through with it. My mission is to reform society by killing false heroes. If you merely want to kill heroes just to cause anarchy, then we will never see eye to eye." Standing to his full height, Stain turned to Kurogiri. "And I have work to do. Send me back to Hosu, as you promised. Tonight, I will finish leaving my mark on the city."

Kurogiri looked down at Tomura and back at Stain, before opening a portal, allowing Stain to leave.

"W-why did you do that?" Tomura blurted out as the portal closed.

The monitor behind him lit up, and he heard the voice of his Sensei coming through. "Even if he rejected your offer, that does not mean he is useful, nor does it mean he cannot be convinced in the future. It is rash to discard someone so easily."

"Grrr…." Tomura growled his frustration, "Fine, if he wants to show his ideals in Hosu, I can show him mine. How many Nomu are ready?"

The voice on the monitor replied. "Oh? You wish to use the Nomu again, instead of waiting for more party members?"

"They will be sufficient. It turns out that waiting for Giran isn't enough. I need something big to attract new party members. If they see what we can do…"

"I see. I have six ready, but I cannot tell you when the next batch will be ready, so choose carefully."

Tomura finally felt the effects of the quirk wear off as he managed to push himself up, before collapsing back into his chair. "Three then, and we will save the others for a future mission."

A long pause. "Very well then. Make your preparations, and the Nomu will be ready for Kurogiri to transport them."

Tomura picked up a glass, drinking the last of the water in it before he touched it with his pinky, completing the five points of contact and disintegrating it.

"Hero Killer. If you think my hatred is meaningless, I will show you what I can accomplish! When I am done, they will be so busy talking about me, that your little 'mark' on Hosu will merely be an afterthought!"

After cleaning up from dinner, Izuku and Emily were looking to retire to the common room and continue their quirk analysis homework, when Majestic entered the room.

"After a successful day of training, it's time to go on patrol!"

"Patrol?!" Both students exclaimed.

Majestic clapped his hands with a smile. "Yes! We haven't been out on patrol today, have we? I think a little trip to Tachikawa City is in order."

"Isn't that a little far?" Asked Emily, "Almost an hour away by train?"

"Yes. But!" Majestic spread his arms wide. "It is also one of the busiest cities in Japan, with constant hero and villain activity! It is the best chance for us to interact with heroes and lend your support."

Izuku pressed his thumb to his mouth as he thought about this. "He is right. Locally we may not even encounter a single villain over the next week, due to the presence of Majestic and Wash, not to mention the heroes further down in the charts. If we want to get hands-on experience, Tachikawa City would make a lot of sense."

"Precisely! Now then, time's wasting. Go change into your hero costumes and the show can begin!"

Izuku and Emily looked at each other and nodded before they followed the hero to the elevators and pushed the button to the dormitory floor.

AN: And things were going so smoothly, too.

I've been thinking about this for a few weeks, but I'm going to make it official - I'm shifting my release date from Sun night to Mon night. It just works out a little better for me