Laughing softly as he and Kacchan worked to dig Kirishima-san out from under the pile of plushies that he'd sunk into after throwing himself onto it in an effort to climb over it, Izuku laughed harder as Kacchan turned to him with sarcastic, unamused expression.

"Hedgehog just can't seem to keep from leaping before he looks," Kacchan said, rolling his eyes as the pair of them finally managed to grab Kirishima-san's arms and haul him back to his feet.

Who does that remind me of, Izuku found himself musing fondly, chuckling under his breath. Still, even the fact that he hadn't actually said anything didn't stop Kacchan from giving him a light, brotherly punch to the arm as the three of them made their way over to the wall to pick up a shovel each; Kacchan claimed he'd "heard you thinking it, nerd". As he, Kacchan, and Kirishima-san joined up with the other thirteen students who'd been sent to dig their fellow classmates – the same kind of eclectic mix of 1-A and 1-B; with the notable exception of Monoma – out of the pseudo-rubble that had been placed in the room that the rest of their schoolmates were waiting for them in.

Of course, the fact that said other group had both Monoma and Momo-san gave them a better chance of organizing to escape on their own.

Still, they couldn't really call themselves heroes – much less Pros in training – if they left their fellow students to rescue themselves from even a simulated disaster like the one they were currently dealing with. As the sixteen of them all worked in shifts to clear the pile of plushies in the room between them and the rest of their schoolmates, Izuku narrowed his eyes as he called up a telescopic vision Quirk from within his stockpile. Sure enough, Momo-san had a shovel of her own, and was working to dig her own way out of the room that she and the other, larger group of their schoolmates had been put by… whoever had been playing the Villain that had captured them.

Even as he and the others all kept working, having split their large group in half so that they could work in shifts, Izuku found that the sense of unease that he'd found himself prey to for such a long time still lingered in his mind. Puffing his cheeks, Izuku determinedly forced the thought of what might be happening to Dad and Uncle Toshi while he and the rest of his schoolmates were all undergoing training to become Pro Heroes. He was going to focus, he was going to finish whatever work Aizawa-sensei and the Pussycats assigned him, and he was going to be happy for Dad and Uncle Toshi when the both of them made it back.

Waving to Momo-san as the pair of them caught sight of each other over the steadily-diminishing pile of plushies, Izuku couldn't quite stop himself from chuckling; of all the things they could have used the plushies that he and Momo-san had created while he'd been working to get a handle on the Quirk he'd copied from her, the Pussycats had decided to fill a whole room with them, in order to get them used to moving lighter debris. Izuku found himself wondering what else the Pussycats would end up doing with them, once he and the rest of their schoolmates had gotten through the room they were all in.

Once they'd all finished with the assignment, Monoma managing to pounce on him in spite of Kendo-san trying to yank him back before he landed on Izuku's back.

"Being stuck in that room without you was torture, partner," Monoma said, rubbing his right cheek against Izuku's; rolling his eyes, Izuku sighed.

"All right, knock it off," Kacchan said, dragging Monoma off of his back, tossing him at Kendo-san who quickly grabbed him with an oversized hand.

Before any of them could start talking about anything else that Aizawa-sensei or the Pussycats might have had planned for them, Mandalay came into the hall where all of them were standing. There was a look on her face that… Well, she seemed to have a lot on her mind, maybe even more than Izuku himself had been struggling with.

"There's been a new development, and they're just about to broadcast it on the news," she said, and the look Mandalay gave him when she said that…

He didn't know quite what to think, but Izuku could at least say that it didn't make him that uneasy.

~MHA~

When they'd all gathered together again, Toshi-kun had naturally been the first to call a press conference, so that the both of them – though Hisashi knew that he would be the one doing most of the talking; under the circumstances, he could hardly do anything less – would be able to inform the public at large what had occurred, as well as to calm them so that there wouldn't be too much upheaval caused by the revelation of the identity that he had kept secret for such a long time. At least, the identity of the Symbol of Hope; Nana-chan's nameless partner would continue to remain so, and the Immortal Shepherd would remain a thing of the past, as well.

Hisashi Shigaraki was, after all, a name that belonged to history.

Toshi-kun was, naturally, the most attentive to him while he and the other Pro Heroes were making their way into the news helicopter that had landed before their group when the front-line of their group had returned from their abortive attack on Kai Chisaki and his Shie Hassaikai. Folding himself neatly into the seat that was offered to him by the news anchor, an offer that was quickly echoed by the pilot. Smiling as he thanked the news anchor for her generous offer, Hisashi settled in next to Toshi-kun as the helicopter began taking off again.

~MHA~

During their flight, All Might had begun to find himself more and more aware of the tension stretched between Hisashi and Endeavor – one-sided as it was, since Hisashi wasn't the kind of person to let tension of any kind get to him – with the Flame Hero frowning steadily more severely at Hisashi, even as Hisashi smirked back in turn. All Might found himself almost wanting to sigh; given the look on Hisashi's face, his old friend – the man that was pretty much his adopted father, a fact that Hisashi was more than eager to tease him about whenever he brought it up – had spotted the seething annoyance on Endeavor's face, and like a shark smelling blood in the water his old friend was more than ready to pounce. Leaning in slightly, still wearing the smile that Nana had inspired him to wear during those times when he would act as the Symbol of Peace, All Might leaned in slightly so that he could speak to Hisashi privately.

At least as privately anyone in the close confines of a news helicopter, of course.

"Could you at least try to behave yourself while we're all stuck here, Hisashi?" he asked, leaning in just enough so that he could talk to his old friend without so much risk of being overheard by any of their fellow Pros.

"I suppose, if it would make you happy," Hisashi said, the sly look in his old friend's eyes letting All Might know that his old friend was bound to find one of his infamous loopholes.

And also that his old friend had just barely refrained from calling All Might by his civilian name right then and there; really, Hisashi had always enjoyed pushing whatever boundaries that he found himself coming up against. Sure, it made him a bit harder to deal with, especially on the days when he was feeling playful – which given his temperament was more often than not – but All Might still enjoyed spending time with his old friend. In that light, having Hisashi beside him as a Pro Hero was probably one of the best outcomes of the battle they'd all just participated in.

No one had died, and while it was true that they hadn't been able to save Young Niseko and Young Eri from Kai Chisaki and his Shie Hassaikai, they would have the chance to make a new plan to save the both of them later.

~MHA~

When all of them had been gathered together to watch a news broadcast, Izuku couldn't help but wonder what kind of news they were all going to be hearing. With all forty of them – the combined classes of 1-A and 1-B – sitting together in the large media room that the Pussycats presumably used to stay informed about whatever was going on in the world around them, there wasn't all that much room to fit in anyone else. Still, having a room large enough to fit forty people in the first place, mild crowding or not, was kind of strange.

Izuku only had a couple of minutes to wonder what the room itself was actually used for, before a very familiar person came on the news.

"Midoriya, is that your Dad?" Kirishima-san asked, leaning over with an expression of mixed curiosity and approval.

"Yeah," he said, wondering just why Dad had chosen to reveal himself, after so doing so much to keep himself and their family out of the spotlight that would now inevitably fall on them.

Not just because Dad had unmasked himself on national television, but because he was so clearly and closely affiliated with Uncle Toshi in his guise as All Might.

As the interview continued, the inevitable question of just why Dad – considering his work as Councilman Midoriya – had not only been willing to risk himself acting as a Pro Hero, but also why he'd concealed his identity for so long while he was operating as the Symbol of Hope.

"Wow, Midoriya, your dad is so manly!" Kirishima-san said, turning back to him with a plainly approving expression on his face. "He wanted to help people, but he didn't want you guys to end up being harassed by those reporters and all those other people, so he kept his identity secret!"

"Looks like he decided to step into the spotlight now," Kacchan said, narrowing his eyes at the screen, a contemplative air about him.

It was kind of strange, since Dad wasn't really that fond of dealing with the media, even once removed the way he had to when Uncle Toshi would find himself accosted by the media.

"There must have been some enemy he couldn't defeat without revealing himself," Kirishima-san said, clenching his fists even as he turned back to watch Dad as the interview with him – and occasionally Uncle Toshi, when he had something to say, or else just when the crowd of reporters inevitably recalled that the Symbol of Peace was right there in the room with them – continued.

"Yes," Iida-san said, arms folded across his chest as he contemplated the interview being broadcast in front of them. "That does seem to be the kind of man he is."

"What's your take on this, Midoriya?" Kirishima-san asked, turning to look back at him.

"Dad probably did end up running into someone he couldn't deal with any other way," Izuku said, turning to smile briefly at Kacchan as his long-time friend wrapped his right arm around his shoulders.

~MHA~

Swallowing chuckles as he continued speaking, Hisashi used Panoception to keep an eye on Toshi-kun while he did so. He'd often found himself wondering just how it was that Nana-chan's adopted son handled himself so well when he found himself placed before the reporters that swarmed about those who had chosen to take up the title of Pro Hero like the proverbial flock of mewling seagulls, and now finding himself faced with them, Hisashi found that they were both more annoying and more amusing than they had ever been when he'd merely been viewing them second-hand through Toshi-kun's recollections. Still, the fact that he was essentially sacrificing the peace and happiness of his own family on the altar of public opinion was rather troublesome.

On the other hand, finding himself freed of a great many of the constraints that he had previously been operating under somewhat made up for such a prospect; still, there were other constraints that he was going to be operating under from this point on…

"However, in light of the new responsibilities that openly being a Pro Hero entails, I suppose I should take this chance to announce my formal resignation as a Councilman," he continued, smiling calmly as he watched the reactions of the veritable sea of reporters that he and Toshi-kun – alongside the other Pro Heroes who had been working alongside the pair of them, of course – were facing down during these very moments.

~MHA~

Holding his grin in place as best as he could, reminding himself once again of what Nana-sensei had said: a Hero should smile, no matter what, to put the people they were trying to save at ease. And sure, they weren't facing down Villains at the moment, but they were trying to reassure the public after everything that had happened. Turning his eyes toward Hisashi, finding himself more than a little curious about just what his old friend was planning, All Might tried to gauge his old friend's mood.

Sure, he probably wouldn't have the time to take care of all of the responsibilities of a Councilman, now that he'd revealed himself as a Hero, but he'd done a lot of good. His advocacy for the remaining Quirkless population had managed to influence enough people that the reforms that he had proposed would probably go through, and at least the influence Hisashi had built up within the House of Councilors would remain. Really, revealing himself as the Symbol of Hope would probably help the reforms that he and the people he'd gotten close to during the time he'd spent working in the House of Councilors had worked to pass.

Keeping his grin firmly on his face, All Might stepped forward to take the mic as one of the reporters called upon him.

"I'm glad you asked!" he said, grinning all the wider as he wrapped his left arm around Hisashi's shoulders. "I've been supporting Sensei here ever since the two of us met, six years ago," he said, delicately sidestepping the particular events that had brought them together, since it wasn't as though anyone who had lived through the Rosaru Massacre could actually forget it. "He wanted to keep his identity a secret for the sake of his family, so of course I was willing to respect that."

Wondering for a moment if he was going to be called on to say anything else, but finding himself shifted aside as Hisashi retook his place at the microphone again, All Might settled himself down and waited for this conference to be over; more than anything, he wanted to get back to his students.

~MHA~

As soon as word of the broadcast had come in, Skeptic had informed him that there was something of interest to him in particular, and so ReDestro had set aside his work for the moment. Finding that Harvest had at last chosen to reveal himself to the world at large, ReDestro began composing an invitation for Harvest to bring his family to visit Deika city again. With Harvest taking his first proper steps onto the world's stage – small as they ultimately were, but even small steps could add up to something large, given enough time and the right direction – ReDestro hoped that he would finally be able to convince Harvest to take his true place in the world.

The only truly fitting place for a man whose Meta Ability allowed him to strip Abilities from those who had been deemed unworthy, and in turn to grant them to those who had – like poor, flightless birds – not been born with Meta Abilities of their own: the very crown of the world. Harvest, the man who had been born with the most powerful Meta Ability in the world, was hence the only one truly fit to reign over the world. Even young Genesis, the son of Harvest who had doubtless been trained to follow in his footsteps, was far too gentle to take up such a task.

ReDestro had sometimes found himself wondering just what had drawn Harvest's gaze to Genesis' mother in the first place; it was the reason that he intended to invite not only Harvest but the rest of the man's family, as well. It was possible that the woman's Meta Ability had drawn Harvest's eye, but ReDestro hadn't been able to determine just what the woman's Meta Ability was, not without first obtaining the name she went by. There was another reason, as well: ReDestro had found himself curious about the man who seemed to have made a home for himself beside Harvest.

First and foremost, ReDestro wished to know if Harvest had granted the man a Meta Ability of his own; poor, flightless bird that he was, the last time the pair of them had met.

~MHA~

"All right," Aizawa-sensei said, making his way to the front of the room, turning the TV off as he stepped in front of it. "I know this is a strange situation for all of you, but you're all here to train and improve your Quirks," Aizawa-sensei continued, sweeping all of them with a firm, unimpressed gaze. "I expect all of you to keep working as hard as you have been, but for now it's time for dinner."

Their group broke up after that, though the conversations remained on the announcement that had just gone out. Once both his fellow students in class 1-A and class 1-B had finished dinner – both fixing it and eating it, though Bambaa-chan and Kota-kun didn't have to participate in the preparation phase, since both of them were guests – they all split up to make their way to their respective dorms.

"Looks like things are going to be getting annoying soon," Kacchan grumbled, making his way over to where their sleeping bags had been laid out next to each other.

"I guess," he said, unzipping his sleeping bag so that he could climb in.

"Come on, nerd," Kacchan grumbled, shoving him so he fell down into his unzipped sleeping bag. "You, Uncle 'Sashi, and Auntie are going to be buried under a damn avalanche of reporters, now that Uncle 'Sashi had to tell everyone about what he's been doing since the night you guys brought Sis home," Kacchan said, carefully talking around what had actually happened on the night that Dad had taken Bambaa-chan into their home.

It was what pretty much everyone did, sure, but there were times when Izuku found himself wondering if that was really a good thing.

"Yeah, we probably are," he said, sighing softly.

There wasn't much question that Dad was going to call on Gigantomachia, now that their family had been forced so completely into the public sphere. As he and Kacchan settled down into their respective sleeping bags, Izuku found himself drifting off into what looked like the same kind of black, foggy space that he'd seen once before, back when he'd first been given one of Uncle Toshi's hairs, to see if he could maybe make a copy of One For All.

Looking around, Izuku thought for a moment that he could see a crowd of shadowy figures with bright, glowing eyes, before a familiar, white haired form drew his attention.

"Uncle Shiro!" he exclaimed, grinning as Dad's little brother made his way over to where he'd found himself standing, nearly as soon as he'd managed to fall asleep.

He didn't quite know if it was because he'd been thinking about what else might happen, now that everyone knew that Dad had been the Symbol of Hope from the very beginning, or if there was something about the interaction of One For All and his own All For One.

"I'm glad to see you again, Izuku," Uncle Shiro said, smiling as he made his way to sit down on what looked like a bench, beckoning Izuku to sit down next to him.

It looked like a shadowy bench that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, but Izuku knew that he was dreaming, and so he didn't think that kind of thing was too weird.

Once he'd settled down next to Uncle Shiro, Izuku felt a familiar pair of hands settling on his shoulders for a moment, before sliding down over his shoulders as Dad gave him a hug.

"Hi, Dad," he said, leaning back as his father kissed him on the head.

"You still haven't told him my name, Hisashi," Uncle Shiro grumbled, though there was a certain air of playfulness that lingered between him and Dad.

"It's what I've always called you, Shiro," Dad said, chuckling.

Uncle Shiro sighed, shaking his head as he settled against Izuku's opposite side; somehow, Izuku had found himself sandwiched between the two of them, with Dad snuggling him from his right, and the more than slightly annoyed form of Uncle Shiro on his left.

"You're such a pain, Fluffy," Uncle Shiro said, though when Izuku looked back at his uncle, there was still an air of amusement about him. Sighing, Uncle Shiro turned to him, a small smile lingering on his face. "My name is Yuuichiro Shigaraki. It's good to properly meet you, Izuku."

"Ah," he said, feeling a bit silly and awkward. "Would you like me to call you Uncle Yuu from now on?"

His uncle chuckled, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "It's all right; I know you're not picking on me, unlike certain people."

Catching sight of the grin on Dad's face, Izuku huffed softly. "Dad, I don't think I managed to make a copy of One For All," he said, hoping both to distract his father from picking on his uncle, and also to find out what might have been going on with his Quirk.

"Yes, it seems as though One For All, in addition to its inability to be removed involuntarily by my own All For One, but is also unable to be copied by your All For One. However, it also seems as though you did manage to forge a connection to the vestiges within One For All."

"Yeah," Uncle Shiro said, smiling softly. "Daigoro-kun was really surprised when he and the rest of them all realized that there was someone else with us. Someone who wasn't the next holder of the Quirk," his uncle chucked, reaching over to ruffle his hair…

The next morning, once all of them had been basically kicked out of bed by Aizawa-sensei and Tiger of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, Izuku found himself brought out to the rocky plateau that he'd spent so much time in already.

"All right, kid," Tiger said – his gruff voice had always seemed to make it sound like he was grumbling in annoyance, or at least that was what Izuku thought – hands on his hips. "Don't think we're going to go easy on you, just because your Dad's the Symbol of Hope, kid."

He was just about to ask who else Tiger had called to help with whatever kind of work they were going to be doing on his Quirk, but then he looked back to see that Lynx was making her way up to where he and Tiger were waiting. Looking from Tiger to Lynx and then back again, Izuku found that he couldn't quite hold back a sigh.

"I'm surrounded by tall people," he grumbled, shaking his head.

~MHA~

Once he and Toshi-kun had managed to return home once more, Hisashi found himself rather amused by the way that Nedzu had been fully willing to contact him during the course of the press-conference itself, simply to offer him a new career as a U.A. history teacher. He'd of course accepted the offer, since it would allow him both to keep an eye on Izuku while his son was a school, and it would also allow him something of a break from the reporters who were now so amusingly eager to metaphorically dig through his life for nuggets of his past or his thoughts. Aside from that, of course, it would also give him time to speak with Gigantomachia as to how he was going to be required to handle the reporters that would inevitably be drawn to his home in an effort to speak with him in person.

As amusing as it would have been, to set his personal bodyguard on said reporters when they inevitably paid their visits, Hisashi was fully aware that such a course of action would have served to more than disrupt the peaceful life that he had built for himself and his family.

As he and Toshi-kun made their way into the halls of U.A. – both in the costumes that marked them as those who had chosen to use their Quirks to aid, guide, and protect the public; at least to hear Toshi-kun tell it – Hisashi found himself toying with the thought of altering the costume that he wore while acting as the Symbol of Hope. After all, he'd only added the armor and helmet to preserve his identity; to give the impression that, Panacea being the only Quirk that Sensei possessed, he needed the extra protection. However, now that he had stepped out of that particular cage, he now had the option of revealing just a bit more of himself.

It was certain to amuse Izuku, as well, Hisashi mused with a chuckle.

"Well, good luck in there," Toshi-kun said, and Hisashi smiled. "He can be a bit much, sometimes."

Chucking under his breath, Hisashi leaned in so that he could speak to his old friend without too much risk of being overheard. "Is that your way of saying that he reminds you of me?"

"Something like that," Toshi-kun said, smirking slightly.

Chuckling as he continued on his way to Nedzu's office, Hisashi took out his phone and sent off a text to David. After his meeting with Nedzu, he was going to speak to his and Toshi-kun's old friend. Now that he had revealed himself, it was time to update the image he presented to the world.