Izuku cornered a building, and the bullet following him ricocheted off the wall, letting out a sonic blast that assaulted his ears.

"AAAAARGH!" he cried out, crashing awkwardly and painfully onto an upper-floor balcony. He rolled up against the wall and tried to regain his bearings, the sound still reverberating through the street and against his head.

Bwoom, bwoom, bwoom…

Dissipating.

Dammit, I forgot she could do that. The frustration was getting to him. If he handled a few more shots that badly, one would likely find his flesh.

Izuku snarled, closing his fist, and hopped down to street level, exposing himself on purpose.

NINTH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING-

Lady Nagant appeared high above the rooftops, walking across the air, her purple dress billowing, backlit against the white, cloudy sky. She aimed her weapon down at him.

Izuku flooded the intersection with smoke, obscuring himself in the purple gloom…and waited.

No shots came.

He put more and more smoke out and around himself. It filled up the street and climbed up the walls of the buildings, curdling and leering.

What have I told you about using too much? scolded En. Now you can't see her either.

I don't need to. I know where she is. Izuku grunted and began to do repeated squats, building up Fa-jin in his legs.

Oh, are you actually going to use it properly this time? the third user asked dryly.

Exasperated, Izuku whirled around and punched the air, as if banishing the voices in his head. Is sarcasm all you old dead cranks have to offer?! You won't let me use your Quirks how I want, you won't help me parallel process, you won't help me figure out a way to use one hundred percent again…if you're not going to help me then just! SHUT! UP!

He felt an alarmed shock ring from the ghosts, and then…silence. Blissful silence. Thank God.

Izuku returned to what he was doing. Building up Fa-jin, hiding in the smoke. He had a plan now, a plan to end this quickly. He would get everything he needed from this infuriating sniper woman. He would get back to Nejire. He would keep her safe. He would keep All Might safe. He would keep everyone safe. And once Nagant's out of the picture, I can find Mustard and Shigaraki and All For One and finish this, once and for all!

Kaina Tsutsumi stood two hundred feet above the street, balanced gracefully atop the invisible platform generated by her new Quirk. It was still slightly unnerving to float like this, but she remained steady.

The gun emerging from her arm was pointed down into the growing cloud of smoke. The sight spiraled from her left eye, enabling her to watch closely and carefully for any signs of movement. She could not even see Deku's silhouette; the smoke was that thick.

He has nowhere to go. He would have to come out of the cloud eventually. And she was waiting.

With the underworld connections Kaina had, it had been simple enough to unlock the secrets of the phone left behind at their previous encounter. Then the waiting had begun. She'd been waiting for several days now - what was another few minutes? Tick, tock, Midoriya dear. You can only come out where I can see you.

He had been in quite the hurry upon arrival, and there'd been a young woman with him as well. A different one from before. He's certainly popular with girls.

Kaina's eye twitched, and her sight slightly trembled. Don't think about that.

Suddenly, a gap formed in the smoke, with movement from a small yellow cape and that glowing green outline that indicated the boy's whip Quirk -

Kaina fired, and then saw that it was just the cape and the whip residue, passing back into the smoke. A decoy?

Three more decoys appeared at different spots, remnants of his whips that disintegrated into the cloud. She reflexively fired at two of them and then shook her head with a sigh, regaining control of herself and reloading.

"Fakes don't do you any good with escaping when the real you is still stuck in there!" she shouted down into the purple fog.

In a split second, the roof of the building next to the cloud, just fifteen feet below and to the left of her, burst apart.

Deku was upon her in an instant, his legs sparkling red, his arms wrapping around her gun-arm and spinning her up and over in mid-air. "AS IF I MEANT TO ESCAPE!" he spat.

Time seemed to slow as Lady Nagant reeled in disbelief. He went straight up through the building - he found some way to increase his speed and power in a burst! She felt herself get yanked about by his strength, as the two of them, after all their many encounters, got within close quarters for the first time ever.

Izuku was so full of adrenaline from the blast of Fa-jin + One For All, not to mention breaking straight through multiple floors of solid concrete with his body, that he barely had a plan for what he'd do next as he finally got a physical grip on his constantly-pursuing enemy. Her arm was firm and muscular and more difficult to pull around than he'd expected. She was staring up at him, shocked and afraid and perhaps even dazzled at his unanticipated gap-closing move. They seemed to hang in the moment, time freezing, the two of them closer than they'd ever been.

The adrenaline rushing through him seemed to pause, with his frustration pouring out - he saw his own reflection in her dark purple eyes.

No, no, no, I refuse to accept this. This woman, this woman who seemed unable to just leave him alone, she who became a villain in the first place to escape an authoritarian system…why did she want him dead so badly? Why didn't she understand? What was HE not understanding?

Her eyes…her face…the way she carried herself…there was something…

By all rights, he should have just knocked her unconscious mercilessly. She had done nothing but try to cripple him and deliver him to All For One like a pig to a slaughterhouse. And yet…and yet…

I just can't do it! She's too…damn…

"PRETTY!" he shouted, annoyed at himself, annoyed at her, annoyed at everything. "THERE'S NO WAY YOU CAN BE A VILLAIN IN YOUR HEART WHEN YOU LOOK LIKE THAT ON THE OUTSIDE!"

Lady Nagant's eyebrows shot up. "Why, you little-" She faltered for a second, but so had he, and the woman managed to regain her feet using Air Walk. She retracted her rifle back into the arm that Izuku had grabbed, and leaned into the momentum of the spin, regrowing the gun out of her other arm and driving her elbow toward Izuku's torso, slamming the barrel into him, knocking the wind out of him.

Izuku fell back and away from her, the pain from breaking through all that concrete catching up to him now along with the fresh agony of that blow.

"Such a shallow way to think!" Nagant shrieked, wide-eyed, red-faced. She seemed completely panicked. "You think I can't do what needs to be done just because I'm…pretty?"

It's more than that. Izuku thought of Toga, undoubtedly cute, but a villain through and through. And then he thought about seeing female heroines in action. Mirko. Mandalay. Nejire. They all…they all carried themselves with an inner strength of morality that reflected back on their outer beauty, as natural as cherry blossoms in spring. It was impossible to explain, and impossible to elaborate upon, but his brain knew it was true, and he bet that if he asked every other straight guy from Class A about it, they'd say the exact same thing. It was something Toga was missing, despite being cute…and Lady Nagant was not missing it.

Of course, he couldn't be bothered to explain all that to her. All he wanted to do was throw her off her game, and so he threw right back, "YEAH! THAT'S WHAT I THINK!"

Then, he activated Float to narrowly avoid crashing into a wall. Camie's words came back to him. She advised me to flirt with Nagant. That it flustered her last time. Well, Camie, by virtue of being the only person in the last week to give him advice and not kind of piss him off, was the one whose strategy he was going with. Screw it.

"I KNOW YOU STILL HAVE THE HEART OF A HERO!" he called. "IT'S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOU!"

"Would a hero do this?" she snapped, and fired at him again.

Izuku zigged and zagged beneath her, dodging. He needed a minute to recover from the impacts he'd sustained, and needed to build up movements again to use Fa-jin, so for now he dodged, but remained close to her, refusing to back up further down the street. Nagant hopped through the air, reorienting herself and firing down at him repeatedly.

Two bullets came at him from either side. Izuku deactivated Float and plummeted, letting them crash into each other just above his head, and then yanked himself back up toward her with a Blackwhip anchor against the side of a building.

They remained within speaking distance, despite their deadly dance.

"Last time you called me a weapon. What did you mean by that?" he asked.

"As if I'd tell you! If you think you're clever enough to be the next number one hero, then you figure it out!"

"A nuke, I think you said. Last time I checked, a nuke beats a gun."

"What the hell are you getting at?!"

No, that angle sucks. His own brain was screaming at him that he was bad at flirting, but he knew he could do it. She was already off-balance.

"How did you find me this time?" he asked, using a flick of Air Force to slow a bullet down enough to punch it into the wall.

"Easy! That phone you and the girl left behind? It was a matter of routine to get into it and figure out where it's been used! You're after a villain in this area! And you just can't let anyone else handle a villain once you're after them, can you? All I had to do was wait around that amusement park for you to show up!"

Izuku despaired slightly. She has more resources than the heroes do. They had needed a live signal to track Mustard here, but Nagant had done it with a phone that he'd abandoned, possibly days or weeks beforehand. How deep does this underworld go? And other than that, she had read him like a book - he'd never even considered that coming out here was an obvious thing to do, that anyone targeting him was likely just waiting for him to impulsively emerge from Kijimi at the first sign of trouble.

"So you saw the kid's video, then. A bomber working separately from your precious boss All For One. It didn't even occur to you that he's bad news?"

"I've been here for days and haven't seen the little prick once! And if I had, I wouldn't say so! I'm not interested in him. JUST. YOU." She fired again.

Izuku dodged easily; her shots were becoming more predictable, though the lack of distance made things difficult. "Just interested in me, huh. Now it makes sense why you won't leave me be."

"Sh…shut up, brat! I didn't mean it like that!"

"Or maybe you just like the challenge of it. Are you using our fights to work out? That was some cake I just felt on that arm of yours."

"I've always been this fit, you-" She was forced to hop backward to dodge Blackwhip, and fired again. Izuku timed his kick perfectly, and the bullet drove into the steel toe of his boot with a clang, but did not harm him. The armor held.

"You're being awfully liberal with those. It'd be a shame to use up all your hair." Her two-toned hair currently fell around her face as far as Mandalay's, though Nagant's was curlier. "It looks so perfect at this length."

"I heard a lot about you, but no one told me you were this insufferable!" Her blush had spread to her ears.

Izuku closed the distance. He was point-blank, easy to shoot, and not even pursuing her at full speed as she retreated frantically through the air. Yet she hesitated.

He stared into her eyes as he chased. "Go ahead! Why won't you do it?!"

"You…this is a trick…"

"I know you're not afraid of killing me by accident. The great Lady Nagant doesn't miss. You hit your targets, don't you, Tsutsumi-san?"

"Shut up-"

"So go ahead! You're the best sharpshooter in the world! Hit me in the leg and take me back to your employer!"

Nagant growled, and took aim, but her shot was telegraphed, and Izuku had time to create a solid shield-nest of Blackwhips in front of himself, which caught the bullet and threw it toward the ground below.

"Why? You've been so persistent in taking me out. It can't be that your ideals are shaky. No, your ideals are rock-solid! You've got everything figured out, right?"

"If you don't-"

"So why else would you follow me around so keenly yet show me mercy when the chips are down?" Izuku laughed, unable to help himself. I think I'm going insane. "It must be that you're madly in love with me. It's the only explanation!"

"ENOUGH!" Kaina Tsutsumi yelled. Her voice was full of venom, but her blush told a different story. "This is why you have to die! I've lost count of the men I've met who think they can change the world with their own strength, and I've lost count of the men I've met who think they can pull me! And you have the nerve to think you're the guy who can do both?"

"I don't think I'm that guy." Fa-jin fully charged. Izuku's legs growed hot red, and he blasted himself up and over Tsutsumi, getting Blackwhip wrapped around her arms and legs, and grabbing her jaw with both hands, upside down over her.

He tilted her head up to stare straight into his face. "I know I'm him."

A half dozen whips reared out of his body to constrict her fully and finish the job…and then Lady Nagant's arm grew in size.

Not up toward him, as he'd expected and had instinctively defended himself with the whips for, but out to the side. Her flesh swelled out grotesquely into a massive sniper rifle, aimed at a rooftop nearby…

Izuku's eyes flashed over there, and he froze.

Kai Chisaki was standing on that roof.

The former yakuza leader flailed his useless shirtsleeves about. He was screaming something Izuku could not hear.

And Nagant fired.

Izuku's decision took a millisecond. The first part: let Overhaul die. The second part: saving him now is exactly what Lady Nagant thinks I'm not strong enough to do. That's why she did that.

And even if he held no mercy in his heart for the man that had abused little Eri, spite was a more powerful motivator in him than it had ever been before. He was going to prove this woman wrong about him. He was going to make her obsessed with him if he had to!

Izuku took off in Chisaki's direction with forty percent of One for All, as fast as he could go without Fa-jin charged up. A blast of air ejected out behind him and pushed Nagant up into the sky.

Kaina stopped herself with Air Walk, her hair throwing itself back across her face, as the green streak of lightning that was Izuku Midoriya raced to catch up to her bullet as it hurtled toward Chisaki. And he was doing it. He was catching up.

How…?

No. No, all these feelings, they were ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! He's infuriating!

In a fit of instinct, Kaina used her curving control on the bullet. Midoriya was about to go past it, just a few feet from saving Chisaki…

…And she let the bullet curve off toward the boy, and fall back through him instead.

ZZZZZZZZZEW!

She had removed a lot of its velocity, but none of Midoriya's.

His body simply passed right through, the sharp strands of her hair tearing through his flesh by virtue of simply being in the way.

A small spray of blood misted the air past his left thigh.

He cried out…

…But powered through it and remained on his course, picking up Chisaki and leaping away in an emerald flash.

Disbelieving, Kaina chased.

She bound across the sky above the roof, following her target, who had now taken her hostage from her.

He was getting away too fast. A green streak hopped over one building, then another further away, and then a third even further away. He was fleeing. She could not keep up.

"LADY NAGANT!" someone screamed.

She whirled about and looked down at the street, heart racing. An armored black car was speeding closer, and a man had flown up out of it. A blonde man with red wings. AFO warned me about this guy. A young hero. My replacement at the Commission. Of course he was working with Midoriya.

Feathers came hurtling up toward her. She quickly crafted a splitting bullet and fired it, breaking her projectile into smaller parts and tearing through the enemy projectiles. And then she noticed a flash of flame from the car, and realized that Endeavor was now getting out.

Nope. Time to go.

She made her escape.

Izuku landed sooner than he would have liked, coming to a skidding stop on the road beside the amusement park. One for All deactivated. His head and shoulders were flooded with a dull ache. His abdomen stung from where Nagant had jabbed him, and his thigh was leaking blood.

He lowered his arms and spilled Chisaki onto the pavement, not particularly carefully. The man scrambled to his feet and tried to run for it. Izuku lazily constricted him with a whip.

Overhaul looked around with almost feral eyes. "You got shot," he tittered.

"Shut up." Izuku heard an engine and turned. A normal police car, sirens off, approached and parked abruptly against the curb.

Tsukauchi and All Might jumped out of it.

"Young Midoriya! Are you-" All Might cut himself off, and Tsukauchi's hand went to his gun in alarm when he saw who Izuku had captured.

"He's harmless," Izuku said wearily. "Shigaraki amputated him, remember?"

The detective sighed and relaxed as All Might stepped forward.

"It's only amputation if it's surgical," muttered Chisaki, almost to himself. "What they did to me was plain disfigurement."

"You're injured!" All Might yelped to Izuku, eyes the size of dinner plates. "Your leg…Tsukauchi, the med kit!"

The detective was already scrambling through the back seat. "On it…Midoriya, stay put!"

"Nagant might be coming for me-"

"Endeavor, Hawks, and Jeanist are on her. Don't worry."

I'm not worried. Just miffed.

The detective passed the med kit to All Might, who then began to quickly tend to his student's injury. Izuku's eye twitched, but he patiently let himself be worried over, releasing the whip on Overhaul and letting Tsukauchi detain him.

"At least her shots never leave anything in the wound," muttered Toshinori Yagi. He used a special spray developed by Recovery Girl to halt the bleeding, creating a temporary molecular wall over the bullet's entry point in Izuku's thigh. Then he reached for the wrap. Izuku grabbed his hand. "I can do that."

"But you're-"

"I can do that," he repeated. "Take a step back and calm down, sir."

"I'm…calm." All Might lifted up his hands in concession and let Izuku tend to himself. He backed away. "I'm calm," he repeated.

Best Jeanist's car appeared a couple of minutes later, Hawks and Endeavor flying along just above it.

"Lady Nagant got away!" Hawks yelled as he landed. "I probed everywhere with my feathers to make sure she didn't hide in a building, but-"

"If it was an open field, she couldn't have escaped," Endeavor growled, landing next to him and putting out his flames. "There's no way she's faster than us. She's just too slippery."

Best Jeanist stopped his car and got out of it. "Are you alright, Deku?"

"Fine. You three should have kept up the chase."

"We wanted to make sure you weren't-" Hawks' eyes widened at the gunshot wound, which Izuku was methodically wrapping up. The younger hero's eyes only flickered up for a second, and then returned to what he was doing, his mouth tight with discomfort and concentration.

"Fine," Izuku muttered, "if that's your priority."

Endeavor narrowed his eyes. "Don't even think about going after her yourself, when she's already shot you today."

"I wasn't planning on it. I have to go help Hado-senpai. Was on my way before I was so rudely interrupted."

"Oh!" All Might made as if to reach for Izuku's backpack. "She needed medicine, right? Where is she? Is she safe? I can take it to her if you-"

Izuku turned away from him, keeping his bag out of reach. "It's personal stuff. She trusted me with it."

"Ah…oh." Something crossed his mentor's face, and Izuku guessed that All Might had probably just figured out what the medicine was for. "...Yes, if she trusted you, then you'd better get it to her."

Slowly, Izuku stood. Five pairs of concerned eyes (and one pair of insane ones) watched him do so.

"Well, we caught one big name criminal, at least," said Endeavor. "Even if he's not good for much."

"Such a pleasant thing to say," Chisaki muttered, on his knees with Tsukauchi looming behind him.

Izuku turned toward Overhaul. "What were you doing with her?" he asked.

"She was dragging me around…promised to take me to the boss if I helped her identify you…of course, that didn't happen. I'll never get to apologize to the old man at this rate. And if I can't do that, I may as well die…"

"Apologize…to the old man? You mean the former head of your yakuza outfit?"

"The boss." Chisaki nodded emphatically, his forehead drenched in sweat. "I owe him everything…"

"Do you remember Eri?"

"Eri." Overhaul's face twitched. "She…yeah. If only she was here. If only I still had her power…without it, I've got nothing…I've gone insane…"

Izuku stared. He'd been considering offering the broken man a deal, but now decided against it. "You deserve worse than that," he said aloud, and pulled his hood back on, preparing for takeoff. The power station's on the far side of the amusement park. "Take him in," he told the other heroes. "I doubt he knows anything useful. Do whatever you want."

"Midoriya-"

"Deku-"

"I'll bring Hado back to you. Take her to Kijimi. Don't try to follow me." He left them.

Nejire Hado rushed through the backroads of the area as fast as her pain would allow, putting distance between herself and the power station.

She figured that there was no way things had gone as wrong for Midoriya as they had for her while they'd been separated, but when she suddenly saw the sniper villain that had attacked the convoy the other week, that assumption went out the window.

Nejire quickly hid behind a wall, clutching her abdomen and trying to slow her breaths. The sniper woman was about thirty yards away, and getting closer. She was heading for the through-alley that was in front of Nejire's hiding spot, trying to get to the more residential area across the way, which was divided from the taller buildings by a sewage ditch.

Should I fight her? Kidding herself with that question. She was in no condition to fight anyone.

Then again…it looked as if the older woman was fleeing from something, too, though she did not appear outwardly injured in any way.

As the villain got closer, Nejire could hear her muttering. "...stupid…man…NO. Not a man. A boy. Stop thinking of him as a man."

Nejire turned away briefly, putting her back to the wall again to take a deep breath, but then she heard a light slapping noise, and her curiosity got the better of her. She whipped back around to peer from behind the wall. Did she just hit herself?

The woman's face was quite red, she noticed as the distance between them shrunk. "Could that have been listed in a file somewhere as a weakness of mine? No, that's ridiculous. There's no way he…unless he really meant it." Her face grew even redder, and then she shook her head hard, her pretty hair whipping about. That's where she gets the bullets from. Her Quirk is so cool. If only she wasn't a villain, then I could ask her a bunch of questions.

"Pretty…perfect hair…muscular arms…heard it all before. He's gonna need better material than that if he thinks…"

If Nejire didn't know any better, she would say that it seemed like the villain was reacting to someone flirting with her. But who…?

Suddenly, the woman was also clutching her chest, just like Nejire was. "Leave…me be," she breathed.

She's not talking to herself anymore. She's talking to someone else. Goosebumps crawled up Nejire's arms, and, suddenly frightened, she ducked back behind the wall, staying out of sight.

"You can't…read my heart. My intentions are still to…finish the job. I swear. I won't let Midoriya…mess around like that. Again."

Midoriya?! Nejire threw a hand over her mouth to stop from making a squeak. Her heart skipped a beat. She had no idea if this villain was capable of detecting her presence, or if she was even interested in anyone else besides Deku. But, as weak as she was, there was no need to risk it.

As weak as we BOTH are. The other woman crossed the sewage ditch and went behind another building, still muttering.

Nejire stayed put for another minute, then two.

When she finally gathered the courage to start moving again, her mind was racing.

There were at least three villains in this area today. Were they all working together? Was…was All For One involved?

Midoriya had clearly been held up by having to fight that lady. And he'd…tried to flirt with her?

Several visuals flashed through her head. Private event room 5. Midoriya and Mandalay. The ruined hospital. Midoriya and Rei Todoroki. The first safehouse. Midoriya and Iruka.

No, I'm being stupid. I only saw one thing actually happen in those three places, and he was forced into it. Midoriya isn't like that.

It took her about twenty minutes, but she slowly wrapped wide around the amusement park area, coming back toward the power station.

Keeping her distance, she watched its numerous dark doors and windows for any signs of movement.

And her ears remained primed as well, listening for any more…singing.

Five minutes passed. Nothing.

It was well past midday now, and her stomach was hollow. That katsudon kept me going for almost sixteen hours, though. She limped out of the shade and toward the open sidewalk, preparing to risk it, when suddenly…

…Midoriya landed next to her. "Hado-senpai! There you are! I'm so sorry, I went to the power station and no one was there, but I found your-"

Wordlessly, she fell into his chest.

"Ah…whoa." The boy cut himself off and slowly returned her half-hug, then gently pried her off and sat her down on the curb.

"Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to make you worry." As he rummaged through his bag, she noticed the white wrap around his leg. "What's that?"

"Oh, umm…Lady Nagant shot me."

"Ah. That's her name."

He had been about to hand her the medicine, but paused. "Did you see her?"

"I, ahh…saw her escaping. Sorry. I was too weak to do anything."

"That's okay," Midoriya mumbled. He handed her the box, and then his water bottle, so she could wash the pills down. "I didn't weaken her as much as I should have, so I'm glad you stayed safe. Is that why you moved from where I left you?"

"Ah…yes," Nejire lied reflexively. Without even really knowing why. If I told him about Akira, he might…she had no idea how he'd react.

This medication was not her normal pain relief medication, but she read the instructions on the box and took the recommended amount, before taking a swig of Midoriya's water. She put her mouth directly to the rim of the bottle uncaringly. The boy did not comment.

Then, he looked down at her torso. Latently, Nejire realized that some of the blows she'd sustained from the sharp music notes had torn at her costume a bit, and she was now nursing some fresh-looking, angry bruises.

"I…fell," she lied again. "While trying to move. Don't worry about it. I'll get it seen to when we're back at base."

"Ah…yeah. About that. The top three and All Might are nearby. They're gonna take you back."

"Are you…not coming, too?"

He averted his gaze. She could tell he was trying to be more stoic than he was really feeling on the inside. "I was already planning on leaving this morning."

"I know, but…"

"Lady Nagant was waiting for us here. For me, here."

"Was she working with Mustard?!"

"No. But she was here because of him. The phone that Camie and I left behind…she picked it up and got someone to hack it, I think. She must have figured out that it was used in this area, meaning this is Mustard's territory…and guessed that I would come after him." Midoriya took a deep breath through his nose. "The villains are throwing me around like a ping-pong ball. I need to focus. I need to stay out here and stay fluid."

"Midoriya-kun, that doesn't make any sense. You'd be better off just sticking with the group. Look around; this whole place is evacuated and empty." She gestured to the abandoned buildings, the amusement park…all quiet and dark under the overcast white sky. "Most of the country who aren't villains or super stubborn and annoying are evacuated by now. We should be preparing for the next big battle."

"I can't let Nagant go. While she's out here, there's still a chance to catch Shigaraki and All For One off guard. None of the other assassins have been as persistent as her. If anyone got the real instructions…the ones that would actually involve a location…it's her."

"Is that the only reason why?"

Midoriya blinked. "I'm…not sure what you mean."

He's not blushing. He hadn't acknowledged the medicine, either, even though he obviously had to know that she'd needed it for her period, since he'd brought her a completely different product that accomplished the same thing without her telling him to do so.

It was like he was…all grown up.

Nejire stood.

"Ready to go, then," she said, not elaborating further on her previous inquiry. "I'll see you on the fourteenth?"

He hesitated, as if unhappy with the things left unsaid between them, and then nodded.

A day later.

Tamaki Amajiki waved the last of the civilians through the passageway, leading them from the outside of UA's immense dark wall to the inside.

"Thank you, sir!" an old woman called, waving to him as her in-laws guided her into the safe zone. Tamaki nodded and smiled nervously, continuing to wave.

Nejire was at the back of the group, protecting their rear and shepherding the stragglers through. Tamaki made eye contact with her by accident, and then purposefully looked away. Her eyes were sad.

Maybe I shouldn't have shouted at her. But he'd been so stressed and worried all day yesterday…an important day, when they were supposed to evacuate one of the last groups of civilians! And she had jetted off with…with Midoriya.

It had been late afternoon when she finally returned, and Tamaki had been practically pulling his hair out. I CAN'T DO THIS BY MYSELF, he recalled screaming at her, impulsively.

He regretted losing his temper, but also because Nejire had seemed injured, and scared of something to boot. I won't leave Kijimi again anytime soon, she'd promised, and for some reason, Tamaki felt that there was some other reason she had said that besides him. Like she encountered something out there that spooked her real bad. She wouldn't talk about it, though, so now they were just being…stiffly professional, as they escorted these civilians to safety.

When they were all through, she came up beside him and said with an awkward inhale, "Let's go…report to Nezu."

The small principal finished typing on his pad, humming to himself. "Alright then…seventy-four more from Kijimi…based on the most recent census, that only leaves a mere thirteen percent of the district's population unaccounted for."

"All criminals, I'd guess," said Nejire.

"You'd guess mostly correct, my dear. There are still people to be saved, but you two have done very well. I foresee you closing up shop before the end of the month." Nezu's smile faded. "Barring a direct attack from our enemy prior."

"Any news on All For One?" Tamaki blurted. He wondered if whatever Nejire had seen out there had anything to do with him, since she was with Deku. But the heroine had not budged or really reacted to hearing the name.

Nezu shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. The yakuza boss Kai Chisaki, whom you two moved against last fall, was recently captured, but he was functionally Quirkless already, so we cannot count it a great victory. Nevertheless! There are patches of good news. Seventy-nine percent of the country is sheltered and accounted for. All of the survivors of the Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu bombings have now been safely sheltered here or in other designated areas, and our construction robots are almost finished on the full underground transportation network. Shiketsu's system will be back up and running in just a couple of weeks."

The principal was referring to the technology that allowed them to transport entire sections of the buildings underground in the event of an attack. It was going to allow us to link up with Shiketsu, but after the bombing, that was delayed until now. "Will the system activate if the bomber comes here?" Tamaki asked.

Nezu's smile seemed even faker than usual. "The system activates for grave danger. A weapon of the magnitude that damaged the other two schools would absolutely be considered such."

But first you have to detect him. UA's security was likely a notch above the other schools', but Tamaki was still nervous. Those explosives at the casino vanished into thin air, and we still have no idea how he manages to plant them.

"Head up, Suneater! The management of you two, as well as our other hero leaders around the country, will push our side over the finish line. Just a little more work is all that's required. In the north, Edgeshot's group are securing the Hokkaido train line to transport those in threatened rural areas to safety. The international heroes will be here at the end of the month as well. You just focus on those criminal outfits, and we will be golden."

"Yes, sir," said Tamaki.

"Yes, sir!" Nejire echoed.

I'm not a snitch. It would be easy to linger behind and tell Nezu about Nejire's streak of…stretching the rules. I can't do that to her.

But he was keeping so much inside. He had to tell someone.

Nejire swung through one of UA's now-multiple cafeterias, grabbing a plastic-wrapped sandwich and an energy drink without much thought. The high-ceilinged, airy space was filled with people. Clinks of plates and glasses and silverware echoed on the walls. She headed back for the double doors, intending to eat on the go, when-

"Nejire!"

It was her old friend Yuyu Haya, pink hair still as short as ever, sitting at a corner table and waving her over. She was not alone, either - the giant mutant girl, Iruka Kitsune, was sitting there as well.

"Hey!" Nejire practically skipped over, happy to talk to a couple of girls she knew for a change. Happy to feel happy, even if it was just for a minute. "So you two met, huh?"

Iruka finished chewing, swallowed, and cleared her throat. "Yes. Haya-san has been very welcoming…along with most of the young people, haha."

"That's UA for you!" Yuyu put in, a glint in her eye as she twirled her chopsticks. "We welcome all sorts."

"Yes, it would have been nice to go to this school." Iruka's eyes were nevertheless shifty. Nejire imagined that the girl was constantly conscious of people watching her, being so hard to miss.

"Sit down, girl. Your hair's growing back nicely," Yuyu told Nejire.

"Thanks. Yours is not."

Yuyu deadpanned. "Anyway, Kitsune-san was telling me all about how you and Amajiki helped her get here safely. She's practically an honorary UA student now, since there's so few other people our age coming in."

"Neither of us are UA students anymore," Nejire told her. "We're graduates, remember?"

The pink-haired girl shrugged. "I may not wear the uniform, but for those of us who didn't get outside hero assignments…it's like nothing's changed. Besides the lack of class."

"Well, this isn't a school anymore. It's like a whole country." Nejire took a bite of her sandwich and glanced around at the enormous cafeteria. "I didn't even bother looking for people I knew, since you guys could have been in any of the other jillion cafs they have open now."

"Yeah…easy to get lost in a crowd." Yuyu leaned forward and lowered her voice. "To tell the truth, I heard about some people trying to sneak out a couple nights ago."

"Well, the barrier makes it so…wait, did you say out? Not in?"

"Mmmmm-hmm." Her old friend wiggled her eyebrows. "A group of the survivors from Ketsubutsu."

"But…why? Why would you want to sneak out? That's so irresponsible."

"I heard they told security that they didn't feel safe here. That they'd just gone from a place that had blown up to a place that was going to blow up." Yuyu shrugged. "Of course, we've all been told to keep reasonably quiet about the fact that two of the other schools got bombed, but there's gonna be cracks and leaks."

Nejire's mind was astir. "But…UA is…different."

"Try telling them that. You have to admit it's not a good look for two of the other major shelters to have taken such big losses…and apparently the attacker isn't even associated with All For One."

"That's true, actually," Nejire blurted.

Both of the other girls' eyes widened.

"Spill." Yuyu put a fist on the table.

"Ah…well. Deku and I. Actually came kinda close to catching the bomber the other day." Nejire launched into an explanation of the pursuit of Mustard. Which turned into a retroactive explanation of Midoriya's ongoing quest, which turned into a retroactive explanation of the karaoke night. Then Nejire got to the casino operation, and almost stopped herself…but Yuyu and Iruka were hanging on to every word, and a few probing questions from both of them made her continue. And she told them…almost everything. She spilled more tea than she'd ever spilled before. I didn't realize I needed to do this. Yuyu was someone she could trust absolutely, and one got the sense that Iruka was too nice and shy to be able to spread gossip. I'm always the one asking questions, being curious…no one ever reciprocates. I hardly ever get to talk about myself.

She did leave out a few things. Mainly any mention of Akira, or how she got her ass kicked. She did bring up her period, but that was the extent of it.

"Midoriya-kun got some medicine for me, and then carried me out," she explained, circling back to the most recent events. "I was in a pretty bad state, though…I won't be leaving my patrol area again anytime soon." She laughed it off, but concealed the real reason.

"You sang…karaoke with Mirko, huh? That's so cool," said Iruka, a bit nervously.

Yuyu's eyes were narrow. "Nejire."

Nejire pushed a bit of lettuce into her mouth. "Hmm?"

"Do you have a crush on Midoriya?"

Iruka's eyes had been wandering the room again, but they snapped back now at unbelievable speed. A cold shiver traveled down Nejire's spine. I'm in danger.

She forced a smile, but knew Yuyu wouldn't fall for it. "What gives you that impression, haha?"

"Well, I won't say all those stories you just told didn't have their twists and turns. Seems like you got involved with tons of people and scary stuff and problems and…well. A lot. But you did seem to circle back to him a lot. Midoriya-kun this, Midoriya-kun that."

"It's just a coincidence!" Nejire said quickly. "I mean, the bomber…is wrapped up with the villains in my patrol area somehow. So he and I keep running into each other, since our missions are linked."

"That's an awful lot of coincidence. Maybe he's following you around. Wouldn't be the first guy to fall for you, or even the first kouhai."

"That's even sillier." Her eye twitched. "You haven't properly met Midoriya-kun. His brain literally does not have room to like a girl." That's not necessarily true.

"He got you cramp meds and then carried you?" Yuyu whistled. "I'm just calling it how I see it. Though he is two years younger than us."

Iruka, who had hardly contributed to the conversation, squeaked, "Maybe we shouldn't bother her about this. They're heroes on duty; they're stressed enough."

Yuyu sighed and stood up, her now-empty bowl in hand. "You're right. I gotta go help with all the bedsheets, anyway. Thousands of them, you would not believe…I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Nejire and Iruka said together, as the pink-haired girl departed.

…Leaving the two of them alone.

"All that you said about…" Iruka coughed. "Deku and…Mandalay, was it? The heroine with the cat ears? And what you overhead with that villain, the one who attacked us at the convoy. You really think that he was…flirting with her?"

"Maybe." Nejire stared at the mutant girl. "What's it mean to you?"

"Nothing!" she squeaked…suspiciously. "I just mean, like…your friend is being silly. You said he kissed Mandalay as a distraction, and if he's flirting with a villain, then that's probably just a strategy, too…he's using romantic stuff as a way to win. Rather than actually liking anyone…so…I mean. I believe you when you say there's nothing going on between you two. That's all." She seemed sad, though.

Nejire leaned forward. "Iruka-chan, can I ask you something?"

"Err…yes? Do I have to answer honestly?"

"I'd like you to."

Iruka wilted, as if she knew what was coming. "Ask me," she mumbled dejectedly.

"That night at the safehouse. Did you and Midoriya-kun…?"

Eyes jammed shut…the mutant girl nodded. "We, uhh…we kissed…for a really long time. I think it was hours." Her eyelashes fluttered back open, and her expression suddenly became rather dreamy. "It was really nice."

Nejire could not help herself. In the light of one of her suspicions directly confirmed, she flushed a deep red. I need to start trusting my intuition. Wasn't Rei Todoroki somewhere here as well? No, there's no way THAT one's true.

"So…you don't actually like him, right?" Iruka rambled. "I would feel bad if…I mean…I can't lie that hearing about everything he's doing out there makes me feel…strange. Both scared for him and like…I wish I could…well. I'm sorry, I'm just babbling. The point is that I'm sorry if you do like him. Since I, uhh…made out with him."

"Don't feel bad." Nejire waved her hands frantically. "How would you have known? I mean, I didn't even like him yet when you-"

She clamped her palm over her mouth, her eyes growing to the size of planets.

Iruka had a similarly shocked expression. "I…won't tell Haya-san you said that."

Slowly, like a deer in headlights, Nejire broke her own paralysis and slowly lowered her hand from her treacherous lips. "I…appreciate that."

The two of them sat in a deadlocked silence for about five further seconds. Then they both started giggling.

"Hehehehe…"

"Pfft…"

"Hahahaha!"

"Ha…"

Nejire grinned despite herself, chuckling. Iruka sniffled, still giggling, and moved a furry hand through her hair, tucking that wavy blonde strand behind her pointy fox-ear.

"Well…this is weird."

"Yeah…I've never thought of this situation. I don't know what to do at all."

"I, umm…" Nejire took the cap off her energy drink bottle and flipped it over her fingers. "I told you about the karaoke night, and how he shared his meal with me…the feeling I got from that. I can't…ignore it. I can't…let someone else…" This was the first time she'd put words to any of this. "I won't give up on him. I'm sorry, Iruka, that's how I feel."

The mutant girl's mouth had fallen slightly open, revealing her sharp teeth. She was blushing. "It sounds like…well. Maybe I shouldn't tell you what that sounds like. But…I think I have to support you."

Oh, you sweet thing. There's hardly anything to support. My relationship with him is…what even is it? Meanwhile, you've already kissed him before. Or he's already kissed you. Her mind roiled with this information. Out loud, she only tried to make light of it. "Thank you…it'd be hard to compete with someone who can offer him as much woman as you can," she joked.

Iruka's blush deepened. "Oh my."

"Anyway, I gotta go. I'll…we'll definitely talk again." The heroine stood.

The mutant nodded. "Yes…of course."

Nejire left the cafeteria. It felt like leaving a reprieve, a safe zone. Everything in her life went back to the tense grey it had been before.

It was hard to reconcile the Midoriya she knew with the Midoriya that seemed to be hiding behind these moments she'd noticed the edges of, one of which had just had the blanket thrown off of it. A Midoriya who…made out with a civilian girl he might never see again. And she'd have no reason to be lying, so it must be true.

She flexed her fist. The burn on her face had a ghost tinge of pain. I cannot afford to be worried about this NOW of all times. Nezu was right; they were nearly over the finish line. She had an operation to lead.

And there were monsters in the woods.

Nejire took a different route through the corridors and went to the online records.

A few searches later brought her to a profile for a designated villain she recognized by his distinctive, silvery face.

Akira Asano. Formerly assassin-for-hire, now in the permanent employ of Renata Mitoma. Well, this needed updating. With the Skindancer defeated, he had undoubtedly returned to his first job.

And she was his target.

I guess the question is…does he have a personal vendetta, or is someone paying him? She supposed that she had picked a bone with an awful lot of villains recently. Maybe I do have a massive painted target on my back. That idea, that feeling…it had been flooding her for a day now. Was this how Midoriya felt all the time? The anxiety, the responsibility…

I cannot leave Kijimi again. Not just because of her duties there, but because…she felt safe there. Surrounded by fellow heroes and police and people…her crush notwithstanding, if she went on another jaunt with Midoriya into the wasteland…what would happen to her this time? The murky possibilities terrified her.

If that meant not seeing Midoriya for a long time, then that's what it meant.

Of course, the fourteenth is just around the corner. The arms deal. With Mitoma out of the picture, but the explosives still in play, that would be the next test.