"What's wrong, Ryuko."

"Nothing."

"Come on, you can tell me, bestie!"

"No."

"I'm sure if you tell me, you'll feel better!"

"I said it's nothing," at some point between fourth and sixth period, it had rained. And she knew it rained because she, one, had eyes and, two, Aizawa rescheduled outdoor training to tomorrow. It hadn't rained long, just enough to leave everything smelling faintly of mildew and burying the mugginess that had built over the last several days. The storm, brief as it was, coated Musutafu in a shimmer. Everything looked and sounded wet. But it wasn't currently raining, which was the only thing that actually mattered as rush hour slammed into the city with the weight of All Might's punch.

"Don't nothing me when I know it's more than nothing," ignorant of the dark thoughts roiling her best friend, Mako Mankanshoku leaned onto her heels, focused not on the countless cars and trucks speeding inches from the curb but something significantly more important, "You've been super grumpy since lunch. Did the principal punish you or something?"

Ryuko tried ignoring the question.

Backpack slung over her shoulder, mood somewhere south of irritation, the top of her grey jacket unbuttoned and wanting nothing more than to go home and collapse onto her bed for the foreseeable future, she impatiently watched the crosswalk change before stepping off the curb. But ignoring Mako was no less possible that brushing aside one of All Might's infamous smashes. After four months she should've known better. Because by the time her foot touched the road and her hair stopped bouncing from the impact, Mako had already moved, "Is that why your face looks like a grumpy lemon?"

The sheer inanity – far weirder than Mako's normal weirdness – snapped her out of her funk.

"A lemon?"

"Because it's scrunched up and wrinkled like a lemon," honesty poured from Mako's heart, whether it was appropriate or not.

"It's nothing," ignoring people staring at Mako, Ryuko counted her footsteps, watching the painted lines on the street give way to concrete and sidewalk. If Mako said her face looked like a grumpy lemon, it was only because she couldn't stop thinking about what All Might told her. She shared the same Quirk with that psycho!? That was bullshit. And yet, no matter how much she wanted to scream in All Might's face, tell him he was wrong, she hadn't. She'd simply left without saying a word, ate lunch in silence while Tsuyu and Mina tried prying into why she'd been called to the principal's office and spent the rest of the day pretending nothing happened.

Yeah, she wanted to hit something, work it out of her system, but as much as wanted to deny sharing anything with Couturier, it made her think.

Maybe she'd been half-assing her Quirk all this time without knowing.

"I'm just thinking," but she couldn't tell Mako that, "Your mom's cooking is really something."

"That's because of her Quirk!"

The sheer enthusiasm gushing from Mako drew more unwanted attention, "Her Quirk?"

"Oh, it's nothing special. Not like yours," a cheerful sigh covered Mako's strangely wistful demeanor, which abruptly shifted right back into normal territory, "Anything she cooks with love and affection will contain all the essential vitamins and minerals! It's why her food tastes so much better than Lunch Rush's. Not that I'm picky. They're both super delicious and nutritious," as Mako talked, Ryuko nodded along. She couldn't argue with that logic. There was something special about her mom's cooking. And a Quirk explained it, "Of course, that doesn't cover calories, so I've gotta eat as much as possible whenever possible if I'm going to grow up big and strong!"

Ryuko blinked.

At some point, they'd stopped to stare into a pet store.

Or rather, Mako stopped in front of her to gush over the kittens and puppies, "And your dad?" her hand slipped further into her pocket as she dragged Mako away from the pet store before she bought something, "What about him?"

"Huh?"

Dozens of cars passed in the streets before Mako regained her train of thought and picked up where she'd left off, "Oh, dad? Yeah, his Quirk's super boring. And useless. Well, not as useless as my Quirk, but still pretty useless," planting one foot in front of the other, Mako stretched her arms, "Once dad gets started on some crazy scheme, it's impossible to change his mind. Remember last week when he picked me up from school?"

Ryuko shifted around a middle-aged, balding man with flecks of grey in his dull blue hair.

"Yeah," the city shook as somewhere in the distance, Mount Lady clashed with another villain, "He wanted All Might's autograph. Or something."

"To sell on the black market," unfazed by the distant explosion, contrary to everyone in the street with the exception of Ryuko, who merely glanced in the general direction before shrugging, Mako vigorously nodded, "But before he picked me up, I bet Shinsho he couldn't brainwash my dad," she smiled as the turned around a corner and moved away from the fighting, "You know, I thought it would work. Shinsho turning dad into a zombie, I mean. But since dad was focused on getting All Might's autograph, he'd pretty much brainwashed himself, so there was nothing for Shinso to brainwash. You know?"

The logic was sound and yet Ryuko snorted, "I bet he was annoyed."

"Who, Shinsho? Nah!" missing the point entirely, Mako waved a hand in front of her face, "He was more surprised than anything! The only other person who escaped his brainwashing was Midoriya. But he had to break a finger. Which is disturbing on so many levels."

"I meant your dad," Ryuko could feel herself crashing into that pit that was Mako's imagination. She knew Mako's dad. The guy was a creep who always had another scheme to make lots of money. The very first thing he said to her was if she was rich. But he loved Mako. And when Mako told him she was her first and bestest friend, the guy did an immediate one-eighty. Fast enough that she thought it was some sort of scam, "Bet he was pissed Shinsho tried turning him into a zombie."

"A little," Mako's eyes slowly crossed together, "But then I found a ten thousand yen note on the ground and he was happy again."

Ryuko didn't say anything because that was a very Mako thing to happen.

"Hey – Ryuko," Mako tilted her head towards the purplish clouds floating in the deepening red and orange skies, "You ever wonder if Midoriya and All Might are related?"

"Nope, the guy's single," she didn't bother thinking too deeply about the question. All Might had always been single. Something her dad pointed out once or twice, much to the hero's embarrassment, "Never had kids," that was the truth, "Or a girlfriend," but something about it irked her. All Might had never dated. Anyone, "Now that I think about it…"

"Then how come Midoriya's Quirk totally resembles All Might's?"

"Lots of Quirks look the same," Ryuko knew where this was going. It wasn't the first time Mako tried matching people based on Quirks. And it wouldn't be the last, "What, you gonna say Vlad King's my long-lost dad because of our Quirks?"

"…no?"

She didn't like how long it took Mako to answer.

"More like an uncle!" and there it was, Mako's brain finally catching up to reality. How she could crunch numbers without a calculator gave her a migraine, "So, Midoriya's not some secret love child All Might sent away to protect him from his enemies," Ryuko almost choked on the mental image, "Hmm, so I'm confused. If they're not father and son, what kinda Quirk is One for All?"

"One for All?" Ryuko glanced at Mako, one eyebrow higher than the other, "Where'd you hear that?"

"A few weeks ago, I fell asleep in the bathroom after helping the management course audit UA's finances. The principal wasn't too happy. Well, not until I pointed out UA could save fifty million yen every year by registering their robots as public property," Mako breathed in, "But that's not important. Well, it kinda is important to me, but not to you! Anyway! As I was saying! After I woke up on the toilet, I washed my hands and hurried home! Only because a door was locked, I had to take a detour and happened to overhear Midoriya talking to All Might in the teacher's lounge! I couldn't hear most of it, but I definitely heard All Might tell Midoriya his Quirk was One for All. Or maybe it was All for One. I wasn't really paying attention and – what's with the lemony face, Ryuko?"

"The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest French authors of all time."

"You, of all people, should know better than to judge a book by its cover."

"For all you know, you might actually find it enjoyable."

One for All.

All for One.

"All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall."

It had to be a coincidence. It couldn't be that obvious, "Have you been going through my things again?"

Mako blinked, "Did you not want me to?"

Or maybe Mako borrowed her book without permission and was conflating The Three Musketeers with her overactive imagination. She didn't doubt Mako heard All Might and Izuku talking. For some inexplicable reason, the 'symbol of peace and justice' had a soft spot for Izuku a kilometer wide. But considering the time Mako believed the League of Villains was masterminded by All Might's archenemy for no other reason than it made sense in her head, or that Quirks came from aliens in space as part of some grand experiment, it was probably for the best to take everything with a mountain of salt.

"Hey, you want to hit that teriyaki place?" as they stopped at another crosswalk, cars passing left and right and someone resembling Kamui Woods jumping overhead to the scene of yet another crime somewhere across town, Ryuko braced herself, "My treat."

And yet Mako's completely expected glomp still almost knocked her flat onto her ass.