Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

17. Aftermath

The following twenty minutes standing outside of the USJ, hearing the manic shrieks of the Trigger henchmen as they engaged the arriving heroes, was the longest twenty minutes of the students' entire lives.

Once Midnight and Hound Dog had ushered them out of the USJ following the Villain Consortium's escape through the warp gate, Midnight supporting both Itsuka and Ochako and Hound Dog carrying the unconscious Izuku, they quickly moved to the bus that had just arrived, hearing the sound of loud sirens quickly approaching them as several police cars raced down the path towards them through the storm, the window wipers working furiously to let them see where they were going. The presence of the police didn't surprise them, of course - it was obvious that Nezu, once he got word of what was happening, would summon the police to assist.

What did surprise them, however, was the blast of fire that soared right over their heads as a familiar hero flew directly into the facility, and from there came a few more pro heroes - a rabbit hero eagerly leaping through the door, a familiar tree man swinging threw the entrance, and several other major heroes running in to back up the teachers. It appeared that when Nezu had called in reinforcements, he really went all in on getting the big guns to come assist.

In the cold rain, Class 1A didn't dare to move as the battle raged inside, staring into the dark entrance of the USJ and shivering from the unrelenting storm as police officers wrapped blankets around them, and several ambulances pulled up to get them all sorted. Recovery Girl hopped out of the first ambulance to arrive and hurried to the most injured, from Izuku, Aizawa, Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire still unconscious in Mezo's arms, and Hound Dog lowered Izuku's unconscious form for Recovery Girl to inspect. During that time, without Nine there to keep the storm rampaging on, the weather around them slowly began to calm down, the wind no longer howling, the rain gradually slowing, and lightning and thunder no longer flickering above them.

By the time the rain finally stopped beating over their heads , they heard the shrieks and howls from the Trigger villains inside begin to quiet down as the heroes fought against them, until finally, their sounds completely died out, leaving the USJ in silence.

After a few tense moments stretching into a minute, with police standing prepared to storm in and the students staring fearfully inside in case one of the maniacs got through, they saw a flicker of flame within the darkness, and then the pro hero stomped out of the facility, huffing as he looked around at the crowd gathered around the entrance as his flame beard settled back down into a more tempered blaze.

"The villains have been defeated," Endeavor informed them, not bothering to look around as the police quickly began hurrying inside to detain the remaining villains, "they're currently going through withdrawal now that the drug is no longer in their system. My agency will be taking over the Trigger case from here on out - send the profiles of the villains once they've been processed to my tower."

With that, the Number Two Hero stomped away, turning to the other police officers as they got ready to storm the facility and arrest the Trigger henchmen. As they moved in, the rest of the heroes who had arrived to help the teachers followed Endeavor out, allowing the police to take over. It was clear that whatever power the Trigger villains had, it had been nothing compared to the combined might of the UA teachers and the heroes who had come to assist them.

While they weren't as badly cut or bruised as the students, however, it was clear that the heroes had been put through quite the fight in the last ten minutes - Kamui Wood's bark was a bit broken, and he was holding his ribs tenderly, but he seemed relatively alright regardless; Edgeshot was adjusting his mask, looking a bit ruffled but still dignified; and Miruko was wiping some blood off her forehead, although if it was hers or someone else's would remain a mystery (and judging from the wide, vicious grin still on her face, they were betting on the latter). The other teachers, meanwhile, looked as bruised as the top pros that had come to assist, from Present Mic disgruntedly tossing his broken glasses into the bin to Snipe checking his gun for any major cracks, but they seemed alright as well.

The students' attention, however, was drawn to another hero exiting the facility behind them, grumbling at the small stains of dirt or mud on his white armor, and who was looking around towards the students. They faltered at his appearance, blinking a bit - there was something familiar about this pro hero, for some reason, looking like a futuristic knight with engines coming out of his elbows -

"Brother!" Tenya gasped, and quickly broke away from the group. Everyone blinked in surprise and looked around as he quickly skidded to a stop before the other armored guy, looking shocked as he quickly gestured to him with a chop of the arm, "You - you're here?! I thought you had an assignment in Hosu!"

"Well, I did," The armored guy nodded, and quickly moved his hands up, unstiff and unblock-ey unlike his brother, to remove his helmet to show a … well, a guy who looked pretty much like Tenya, square-jawed with short blue hair, but older, with his hair being slightly messy and no glasses on his face, "but I was giving my report to the HPSC over the Hero Killer case when I heard what was going on here, and came running as soon as I could. You okay, Tenya?"

"I am!" Tenya nodded affirmatively, wincing a bit and reaching up to pat the cut on his cheek, "I did get a little beaten up while attempting to help Tokoyami calm down his quirk, but I am relatively unharmed despite that."

"Good … that's good, Tenya."

"Class 1A!"

At the sound of another voice calling out to them, the group turned to see a man quickly approaching them with his hand in the air, wearing a long tan overcoat over his suit accompanied by a fedora, quickly taking it off to show them his short dark hair and friendly face.

"I'm Detective Tsukauchi," He quickly introduced himself, "I've been assigned to question you all once we get back to the school. Before that, though, we'll need to make sure that everyone who needs to be looked at by Recovery Girl is on their way, so please line up so I can do a quick headcount!"

Nodding, everyone quickly lined up, with the paramedics in the ambulance that Recovery Girl had arrived in quickly jumping out with a few stretchers to load the injured into the vehicle. As Hound Dog put Izuku down onto one of the stretchers and Midnight helped Itsuka and Ochako into the ambulance, Aizawa and Thirteen were loaded into their own ambulance to be taken directly to the hospital, with Aizawa gaining enough consciousness to demand Recovery Girl look after his students first while Present Mic attempted to keep the bloody and wounded from attempting to climb out of the vehicle to yell at the elderly nurse, who had nodded with an eyeroll and assured him that she'd be prioritizing the students before even thinking of healing him.

After a quick inspection, Recovery Girl made a small plan for prioritizing her quirk's effectiveness - Izuku needed most of her power, so Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire, the last girl being put carefully inside the ambulence by Mezo, would get their injuries treated first so that she could get them out of the way, and then concentrate on the most injured. As she moved back to the other students to check for their injuries, Itsuka and Ochako settled in, looking over Izuku's unconscious body with worry - he'd lost consciousness sometime after hitting Nine directly in the chest with a lightning bolt, probably from the pain of using his quirk again, and his breathing was coming out in small rasps, as though he was having difficulty inhaling and exhaling - probably a result of broken ribs, Itsuka thought to herself, having seen such injuries at her grandfather's dojo.

As Ochako leaned over him, trying to see if there was any way she could help him breathe a bit easier (and not really having any idea how), a familiar voice suddenly spoke up from outside the ambulance.

"Wait … isn't that the kid who jumped between us fighting that sludge villain last year?"

Blinking, she quickly looked around outside the ambulance. Standing there while wiping his bloody nose was Death Arms, crinkling his brow as he looked down at Izuku with an air of recognition, while Kamui Woods likewise looked around. She tensed as Death Arms walked forwards, tilting his head as he studied Izuku's broken face briefly - and then he sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms.

"Damn," He grumbled, "looks like I was right. Kid's some kind of attention junkie."

Ochako's eyes widened at that callous comment as Death Arms scoffed to himself - and then, grunting a bit as she lifted herself out of her seat, moved to grab the door to the back of the ambulance with her good hand and swing it shut, surprising the hero and making him quickly move back before he would be hit by the door, and slammed it shut with a lot more force than what probably was deemed necessary.

Flopping back in her seat, Ochako fumed, crossing her arm across her chest while carefully keeping her broken one to her side (although some tears of pain had escaped her eyes when she had jumped up to close the door so suddenly and swung the broken arm around), and Itsuka used her good arm to pat her friend's shoulder to soothe her, while likewise frowning at what Death Arms had said.

Once everyone else in the class had been quickly confirmed as - well, injured, but not injured enough to need Recovery Girl's immediate assistance - the smaller woman told them that Himiko would soon be around to pass out her health gummy bears to them in order to soothe any scratches, bruises or bumps they may have picked up during the attack, and once Himiko had climbed into the ambulance with her, adjusting her black and red hero costume while grumbling about her hair getting wet, the vehicle took off towards UA, with the other ambulance with Aizawa, Thirteen, Present Mic and Tenko pulled away to head off to the hospital, the teaching assistant having climbed in to accompany his senior with a worried look.

As soon as the ambulances were on their way, Tsukauchi quickly pulled out a clipboard with a copy of the roll call on it, and began counting down the remaining bruised students to make sure that the rest were still there, crossing Izuku, Nejire, Ochako and Itsuka off it automatically.

"... fourteen, fifteen, sixteen," He muttered to himself, pointing at the student he was double checking with the schedule in his other hand before nodding to himself, "alright. Other than the four that were sent back to the school, everyone else is here. So while we still have a few paramedics here, is everyone sure that they have injuries that don't need to be looked at?"

His eyes scanned the students again, feeling his brow furrow with sympathy. They were all somewhat bruised and scratched up, some more than others, and dripping wet from the storm that was now beginning to fade from the skies now that Nine wasn't around to keep it rampaging - but it was the expressions on their faces that drew his worry.

The majority of them looked shell shocked, as though unsure that what had happened had really happened; Pony's eyes were downcast, staring blankly at the ground; Mina was sniffling, wringing her hands tightly together; Katsuki was staring up at the USJ with a scowl on his face, clenching his fists; Setsuna wasn't looking at anyone, staring down at the ground as well with her long green hair dripping in front of her face; Eijirou was clearly frustrated, clenching his jaw slightly; and Kyouka was absently rubbing the red line around her throat from where Chimera had choked her, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"Everyone," Tsukauchi said in a soft voice, looking around at the teenagers with sympathy while Tensei, who had been standing nearby, reached over to gently take his younger brother's shoulder, "I know what happened today … it's cruel that you were forced to go through with it, and it's cruel that we will have to ask you more about it. You've all shown remarkable bravery, and … as much as I hate to say it, we may need you to show it once more. We need to know more about the perpetrators of this invasion, so we may need to ask you a few detailed questions. If you guys need to ask me anything …"

He let that hang in the air, glancing around again as everyone avoided his gaze - and then Pony timidly raised her hand.

"Um … detective," She still stared at the ground, guilt all over her face but trying to remain calm to ask her question, "if I can ask … what's gonna happen to Aizawa-teacher? And Thirteen?"

From the side, Tensei's eyes turned downcast, but he still turned to face the class, everyone glancing at him as he raised his phone.

"I've been texting with Tenko - uh, if you guys don't know him, he's the one who got in the ambulance with your teachers, he's Thirteen's teaching assistant," He quickly explained, "and he says that the paramedics did a quick analysis for both of them. Aizawa has fractures in both his arms and face, but fortunately doesn't have any serious brain damage from what those villains did to him. He's just going to need a bit of bed rest while we work to repair the damage, but … well, mostly, they'll need to work on … well, his eyes sockets were pulverized by that thing, so there's a chance he may suffer long-term loss of vision."

"Kero …" Tsuyu teared up a bit, and Yui reached over and rubbed her shoulder.

"As for Thirteen, she's expected, at the very least, to make a full recovery - she has terrible lacerations across her back and upper arms, and she'll probably need a bit of bed rest as well, but she's going to be alright."

Everyone sagged a bit in relief at that - it was good to hear that at least one of their teachers would be up and running in no time, even if Aizawa needed a bit of time to recover and … hopefully he'd be able to teach them again soon.

"All Might is also expected to make a full recovery," Tsukauchi took over for Tensei, looking around at the students as he slid the clipboard under his arm, "he got a bit beat up by the villains during the fight, but he's comfortable waiting for Recovery Girl to be finished with your classmates. Her quirk will be enough to treat him, but it may take a bit of time to get around to him, so he'll just be in the nurse's office until then."

"And - and what about our classmates?" Momo asked in a quiet voice, teary eyed and requiring Kyouka to rub her arm to soothe her, "Midoriya and Uraraka and Kendou and - and Hadou. Will they be alright?"

"Kendou and Uraraka were beaten up pretty bad, but they'll be alright," Tensei assured her, smiling at Tenya as he likewise looked worried, "they don't have any injuries that Recovery Girl hasn't used her quirk on before, especially at the sports festival - she'll get them treated right away. They'll probably be exhausted afterwards, though. And Hadou will be alright as well - she's run out of stamina, which is apparently what her quirk relies on, and Recovery Girl will let her rest a bit before she tries to get her back on her feet."

"And … what about Mido-bro?" Eijirou asked quietly, "Will he be okay too?"

The entire class faltered, several of them wincing slightly while tears came to their eyes. It was hard to get the image of the horrific state he had been in while they were escaping the USJ out of their heads, how beaten he had looked being held up by Hound Dog. Pony and Mezo felt guilt rising in their hearts as they remembered prioritizing Aizawa's survival over Izuku's, and Yosetsu clenched his fist tightly. Katsuki, meanwhile, kept his face blank.

"Midoriya was beaten pretty heavily," Tensei sighed, keeping his hand firmly on Tenya's shoulder as his younger brother clenched his teeth in frustration, "and for a while there seemed to be hanging on a thread. Recovery Girl is certain that she can get him to fully recover in a few sessions if we keep him in the nurse's office, but … well, it may be possible that there'll be scarring, at the very least. Just … be ready to support him, alright? Getting beaten like that to the brink of death … it might have some impact on his psyche, so be gentle with him, and try not to ask him any questions about what happened."

"Yes, sir," Came the class's quiet affirmation.

"Now then," Tsukauchi turned back to one of the officers, a man with a cat head who quickly saluted him, "we should head back to the main building so that you all can get cleaned up - you've all been in the rain and wet for so long, we'll need to make sure that you don't get sick. After that, though, we may need you to return to class so we can question you about this Villain Consortium's ringleader and his associates."

Nodding, the students silently followed Tensei back to the bus to take them back to UA's main campus. Sitting down, they all looked out the windows to see the former Trigger henchmen, depowered and sticking their now black tongues out of their mouths, being escorted out of the USJ either in chains or on stretchers carried by police officers, while Endeavor crossed his arms and watched them go with a warning eye as they twitched and scratched at themselves. From the bushes, several police officers led Nomu out while strapped securely into a harness to be escorted into a Maiden, the monster surprisingly docile.

As Hound Dog, Snipe and Midnight joined Nezu in reentering the USJ to inspect the damage, and more police officers began to organize parties to start investigating the school grounds to make sure the Consortium weren't lurking anywhere else on the campus, the bus began pulling away, leaving behind the battle damaged USJ and bringing Class 1A back to the main campus.

---

A searing, burning pain.

That was all Nine felt as he landed onto his face with a pathetic grunt through the warp gate that Kurogiri had created to evacuate them from the USJ, emerging into a dark room with the majority of the light coming from several TV monitors lining the walls. The pain he felt in his chest flared as it was pressed into the ground, making him cry out briefly in pain as he rolled onto his side, slamming his palm against the concrete floor as he gritted his teeth tightly.

In addition to the intense electrical burn on his chest and stomach, he could feel the Trigger drop that he had just taken lessen its impact, and the side effects, along with the pain from his quirk, immediately made themselves known, forcing him to stick out his tongue as it turned black and made his body shiver and shake, unable to support his own weight as a layer of sweat lined his skin, unable to move off the ground as several lines of glowing purple light flared under his skin.

"Nine!" He heard a familiar panicked voice above him, and managed to move his head slightly to see Slice kneeling beside him, grabbing his shoulders and trying to ignore the pain of the slash on her arm from that blonde heroine, soaking her sleeve with blood, and began to gently pull him up onto his knees. Nine let out a small grunt of pain as he was hoisted up, cringing at the hole burnt through his cloak and into his chest as his fists clenched tightly, and Slice was quick to undo the slightly burning cloak and toss it away to properly inspect his injury.

"What the fuck?!" From above them, Chimera suddenly dropped down to a knee, staring at Nine in shock and outrage. "What the fuck happened?! Did All Might -?!"

"It was the lightning brat," Slice growled through her teeth, shaking with rage, "he hit Nine when he wasn't looking."

"That little …" Mummy shook his head, kneeling down beside them as he hit his fist against the ground. "I knew that one would be trouble. If I had -"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The four villains jumped at the loud bellow of rage behind them as Kurogiri slowly solidified into a normal size, a dark suit appearing from within the shadows as his physical body reappeared. They quickly looked around to see the hooded man flipping a table, sending the various vials and liquids smashing against the ground as he let out another shriek of manic rage, and threw out his fist, stretching it out with a horrifying crunch. The various TV monitors lining the walls of the room they had been warped to exploded into large sparks of electricity, glass shattering to the ground as the hooded man's glowing yellow eyes widened in complete and utter fury.

"I - I CAN - STILL - F-FIGHT!"He bellowed, throwing his fist out and launching it straight into the shadows - and then something shifted from within, and an enlarged hand emerged, catching the fist easily and in a tight grip.

For a moment, Slice and Nine thought that the damned orange-haired girl had somehow followed them through the portal - but then the hand pushed out, and the hooded man was shoved backwards right off his feet, flying through the air and crashing into another wall. The impact of the throw smashed more of the monitors and electrocuted the villain, making him grit his sharp teeth and try to get back up - but before he could even rise to his feet, several black tendrils with glowing red lines shot out from within the shadows, stabbing straight into the monster's body.

At once, the hooded man's entire body seized, his eyes widening as he trembled, before he toppled forwards and collapsed onto his face, panting raggedly as his hood finally came off and showed the other villains his deformed features, the skin patched awkwardly together as the scar on the left side of his face pulsed around his one deformed eye, the patches of blonde hair left there looking shrivelled and dirty. He was still struggling to rise, though, trying to overcome whatever the tendrils had done to paralyze his body while letting out several more pants of anger and desperation.

"My, my," Came a deep, amused voice from within the darkness, "are you still struggling to get up?"

Emerging from the shadows at long last, the tall man with white hair and subtly glowing red eyes let out a small 'tsk' as he hopped onto the hooded man's back with a grunt, able to easily stay there due to how large the monster had become, and knelt down on his shoulder blades. Keeping the tendrils secured in the hooded man's limbs, he regrew his other hand to a larger size, never minding his suit jacket's ripped sleeve, and grabbed the monster's head, keeping it pinned to the floor as he leaned over.

"I - I CAN - FIGHT -" The hooded man's eyes went to the man on top of him, one looking normal and the other bulging from a previous injury.

"No," Their benefactor chuckled, using the enlarged hand to keep the monster pinned to the ground while slowly bringing his other hand towards his face, "you can't. Just look at you … you're ripping your skin and it's not healing back at all. Only a few minutes of battle, and your regeneration is already taking a nosedive. You're far from being the perfect killing machine, I'm afraid."

"I ... I ..."

"There was a part of me that was hoping that you would keep yourself under control, Imasuji, and use the martial arts skills that we transferred to you from our other villain to get the job done - but I'm afraid that I missed the mark there."

Slowly sliding his other hand towards the hooded man's face, the small black tendrils with glowing red lines quickly stabbed into his face, making the hooded man freeze with his eyes wide open, the prosthetic one installed to keep the damaged eyeball open pulsing.

"Such a letdown," All for One tsked again, his red eyes narrowing slightly, "it's clear that you're capable, but the process to mesh the memories of the villain we combined you with is still crippling you. Your commitment to brawling is a worthy trait, I'll give you that, but your natural muscle fibre quirk meshes poorly with the shapeshifting quirk that I gave you. Bulking yourself up from the very start might've been the best way to crush them, but … well, what's done is done."

Finally withdrawing the tendrils from the monster's body, sure that his creation would not be getting up again, All for One sighed as he stood up on top of the villain, watching as the hooded man slumped to the ground, drool escaping his wide mouth and pooling on the floor. Chuckling, he shrunk down his other hand and raised it to brush through his hair as he turned his eyes back to the remaining members of the Villain Consortium on the floor, seeing Nine slumped forward, Slice supporting him, and Chimera and Mummy watching him with clear apprehension.

"My apologies about our friend here," He grunted as he hopped off the hooded man and back down onto the floor, straightening himself up as he gave a smile to the other villains, "we constructed him using two of our most bloodthirsty underlings. Mixing a cage fighter with a psychopath like Imasuji is bound to have a few messy bumps, but we did warn you about bringing him onto the battlefield, after all."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hm. A very downplayed mood, I see. I take it that things didn't go very well at UA. Kurogiri," He turned to the warp villain as he moved forward, away from the other four members of the Villain Consortium, "send Hood back to the doctor for me. The remaining modifications will take a bit more time and effort to complete."

"Understood, master."

"Yeah, no shit things didn't go well at the USJ," Chimera growled, baring his teeth as All for One moved back around to his desk, Kurogiri covering the hooded man with his black mist to warp him away, "we got our asses handed to us! The rat you said you had there wasn't anywhere in sight, and All Might humiliated your little monster! He wasn't weakened at all, you set us up to fail!"

"Well, you are incorrect on two of those accusations," All for One shook his head, "my initial informant failed to get into UA during the entrance exam, which forced me to … improvise. Rest assured, the Aoyamas have learned what happens when they don't live up to my expectations. As for my new young friend, I specifically instructed them to act as though nothing was amiss, so you shouldn't be surprised if they ended up fighting against you - they were simply doing their job. Secondly, I did not lie to you - All Might has been weakened. It's hardly my fault if he proves himself to be a far more resilient cockroach than you anticipated."

Chimera huffed.

"In any case, I suppose that there's no cause for alarm," Their benefactor shrugged as he sat down in the leather chair behind the desk, sitting in the darkness so that they couldn't quite make out his features, "none of you were captured, and the thugs you left behind will not know anything that would lead the police or the heroes back to us. Nomu's loss will set us back, of course, considering how much time and effort we put into him to make him as strong as All Might, but I suppose that it cannot be helped, no matter how unfortunate it is. You may have been defeated, but you've no doubt made an impression on All Might."

"Are you joking?" Mummy scoffed. "We were humiliated by a bunch of snot nosed brats. You were wrong about this being easy."

"No, I wasn't," All for One's smile was the only thing they could see through the shadows, "we just weren't prepared enough. We underestimated them. Fortunately, this will work both ways - you may have been defeated by All Might, but he wasn't able to capture any of you. While it may not be exactly what you wanted, the fact that you four escaped the Symbol of Peace will send ripples through the underbelly of society, and any villain lurking behind the scenes will hear the name 'Villain Consortium' and take you all a bit more seriously."

Mummy furrowed his brow and Chimera merely huffed, fishing for another cigar in his pocket and growling under his breath when he realized he had smoked them all. With a smile, All for One turned his gaze to Nine, still flopped over on his side and being supported by Slice as he breathed in rasping breaths, while All for One tilted his head with that frozen, unnatural smile on his face.

"As for you, Nine," he tapped his finger against his desk, "you shouldn't feel frustrated that your three quirks didn't get the job done. We did offer you the chance to complete the surgery all the way, but you insisted on taking the modifications one at a time. Your body may be compatible with my quirk factor, but it can only take five more quirks before your mind would be overloaded. We wanted to complete the tests to ensure that specific outcome is less likely to happen, but you refused."

"Sorry," Nine coughed, purple veins continuing to crawl under is skin as Slice lowered him to rest in her lap, "but I'm not - *cough* - interested in being your guinea pig for however long you want. I have things to do."

"Fair enough. That injury … hm, looks like an electrical burn." All for One's smirk rose, "Accidentally shock yourself with a lightning bolt?"

"It was one of those brats," Nine growled, shaking as the Trigger drop he injected was purged from his system, making his stomach clench in revolt and the shakes increase as he threw his head back, cringing in pain, "he - he got me as I was trying to finish off All Might. It was those … it was those three brats that interfered with my plan the most today. If it hadn't been for him … and that little floating girl … and the girl that looked like she had two quirks … I would've been able to kill All Might!"

All for One went silent for a moment, his face framed in shadow as Kurogiri stood behind his chair. The room was silent, other than Nine's angry and pained breathing while Slice muttered assurances to him as she smoothed out his hair, until All for One tapped his finger against his desk again.

"You're frustrated," He spoke in a quiet voice, drawing the attention of the four villains back to him as he folded his fingers together, "and you have regrets. But this was not a futile endeavor - we've learned many things. And I am a man of my word, Nine - I will figure out a way for you to overcome your illness, and take my throne when the time comes. As long as our plans coincide, I'll honor my end of the bargain. For now, recover - go into hiding and begin building your forces. The heroes will be looking for you four now, and our partnership never mentioned anything about me having to shelter you - although I don't see how you would want such pity. Recover from that wound, and we will reach back out to you when we are ready to continue working on the duplicate All for One quirk I gave you. But before that …"

Leaning forward, All for One grinned.

"... tell me about the girl with two quirks."

---

Unsurprisingly, showering took a lot longer to get through than usual, but no one in Class 1A was begrudging anyone for needing a moment alone in the stalls. The changing rooms were silent except for the sound of water running or the occasional sniffle, and the girls had to try not to call out to Pony as they heard her quietly breaking down in her own shower, muffling her noises so as not to disturb anyone, and all of them got out at the same time and redressed before Tsuyu pulled her into a much needed hug.

Returning to the classroom without bothering to dry or comb their hair (the guys would hardly blame them, what with Eijirou's normally spiky hair being down and Yosetsu not having his bandana at all due to having wrapped it around one of Aizawa's injuries), they were soon greeted by Tensei and Tsukauchi with officers ready for questioning. Thankfully, the police had been gentle and patient with their questions, with Tensei acting as a cool and comforting presence, holding their hands and gently telling them how brave they were being as the police asked them for details on Nine, Slice, Mummy, Chimera and Kurogiri. He was such a comforting presence that Setsuna, Momo and Yui, the only girls in the classroom that had been there for their conversation with Tenya about his brother a few days ago, knew why he looked up to his brother so much, and felt grateful for the older man as he moved past Tenya, ruffling his hair and giving him a smile.

Once the interviews with the police had concluded, Himiko had swung by as promised, holding a big bag full of gummy bears and medicine subscribed by Recovery Girl, and began going around to each desk, sorting out the medicine that was needed to be passed out to each student while Tsukauchi and Tensei left to go talk to Ochako and Itsuka, who were back at the nurse's office with the rest of the injured and were probably waiting to be treated. Finally, once Himiko left again to head back to the office and help Recovery Girl, the police officer that had been left there, Sansa, told them that it would be alright to go home - seeing as school had let out a while ago, and every other student hearing rumors passing by of what happened had already left at high speeds - but advised them to go home in groups just to be safe, and to call their parents to let them know that they were on their way - the police had already made calls to the parents explaining what had happened, and the students could feel their phones vibrating in their pockets - and that if they needed a police escort, to just speak with him so that he would arrange them a ride.

Finally, when he gently shut the door to Class 1A's homeroom, the entire classroom fell into silence, absently bringing out their phones to text their parents that they were fine and that they would call them soon. Setsuna, staring blankly at her desk for a moment, slowly rose to her feet, grabbing her backpack beside the desk, and quietly left through the back door, not aware of Yui and Hanta giving her a worried look as she moved through the door and vanished from sight. Katsuki, meanwhile, leaned back in his seat, continuing to scowl as he tapped his foot against the ground.

For several minutes, no one else moved from their spots, staring at their desks or out the window as the sun began setting in the distance. It was clear that the events of the afternoon were catching up to them - they had all nearly died at the hands of a madman who had wanted to make All Might a martyr, and some of them nearly did die to monsters and freaks and other creatures that wanted them dead for no other reason than it would give them amusement. Those at the top of the stairs felt guilt for thinking that there had been nothing they could've done against the hooded man, because that line of thought had nearly resulted in the death of their classmate. Those who had helped out with Momo's plan felt horrible that their efforts had been for naught, with Nine easily getting his comrades out of their trap and out of the USJ. As they all sat there and stared at their desks, Katsuki kept tapping his foot against the ground, deep in his thoughts as he frowned, and Yui pulled back out her phone to read a text message that had just been sent to her.

And that was when the door to the classroom suddenly slammed open with a small crash, jolting everyone out of their depressive funks and quickly looking around at the newcomer.

"Whew … well, that sucked!" Nejire giggled, stretching one arm above her head as she strolled back into the classroom and slid the door shut with her foot, lowering her hand so she could suppress a yawn and put down what looked like an energy drink on her desk. At the moment she was back in her school uniform, like the rest of them, but had her blazer wrapped around her waist and her white dress shirt rolled up to her elbows, looking far more relaxed than anyone else with her tie absent and a button popped open. "Like - seriously, that one hundred percent sucked. Drowning sucks. Would rate it three out of ten, wouldn't try again."

After taking a moment to nod to herself, satisfied with that rating, she looked back around with a smile - and blinked when she saw that she had the entire attention of the class on her, everyone blinking at her in shock as their jaws dropped slightly.

"Uh … what's up, guys?" Nejire tilted her head, poking her cheek in curiousity, "Is there something in my teeth? Ah, man, I thought I had done a pretty good job washing my mouth out after puking up all that water and a little bit of my lunch, but -"

"You're okay?!" Pony squeaked, jumping out of her seat, and that seemed to be the cue for everyone to do the same.

Nejire looked around in surprise as everyone jumped to their feet, with the exception of Katsuki merely huffing and moving to grab his bag from beside his chair to pack up his stuff, as everyone hurried quickly around the desks to where Nejire was standing, the blue-haired girl feeling surprised as everyone quickly circled her and gave her a once over.

"Girl, we thought you'd still be unconscious!" Mina teared up as she stared up at the blue fairy. "But - but you're okay! You're up!"

"Hadou, are you sure that you're alright?" Mezo put a hand down on her shoulder, looking concerned as he grew out a mouth to speak to her, "You were passed out for a really long time, after all."

"Mm-hm! I'm a-okay!" She quickly saluted him, looking around and patting Mina's hair as she smiled. "I'm still really tired, but Yuuyu -"

As though Nejire had summoned her just by uttering her name, there was the sound of feet moving quickly towards their class, and suddenly the door slammed open again. They all turned to see Yuuyu panting as she stared down briefly at her shoes, huffing and puffing as she tried to catch her breath and resting her hands on both sides of the doorway - and then she whipped her gaze up, glaring at Nejire.

"Oh! Hey, Yuuyu!" The blue-haired girl cheerfully waved to her, unaware of the students nervously backing up just in case as small flickers of electricity appeared in Yuuyu's hands. "I was just telling my friends about -"

ZAP

Nejire yelped as Yuuyu suddenly moved forward, looking very thunderous, and poked her right in the arm, a small zapping noise sounding out and making her jump in surprise and pain. Yuuyu didn't relent in the assault, however, using her fingers to poke Nejire as small flickers of electricity attacked the blue-haired girl, not enough to be overtly painful but enough to be uncomfortable as her big blue hair began standing up and sticking up in some places, Nejire quickly retreating and beginning to run around the classroom as Yuuyu gave chase, and eventually cornered her, continuing to give her tiny zaps as Nejire whined.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Yuuyu!"

"Do -"

ZAP

"- not -"

ZAP

"- run -"

ZAP

"- away -"

ZAP

"- from -"

ZAP

"- me -"

ZAP

"- after -"

ZAP

"- being -"

ZAP

"- unconscious -"

ZAP

"- for -"

ZAP

"- two -"

ZAP

"- hours -"

ZAP

"- you -"

ZAP

"- dummy!" Yuuyu finished yelling, punctuating each word with a shock and pouting down at Nejire as she raised her hands in surrender. "You do not get shocked back to life and then immediately run away, Nej! I was pretty much racing through the halls trying to find out where you went!"

"Sorry, Yuuyu! I just wanted to see if everyone was okay!" Nejire whined, giving a similar pout to her best friend, "And I had to take a shower! And brush my teeth! Because I puked, and my breath was stinky!"

"Then tell me that before you suddenly sprint off! I'd at least have gone with you!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

With a sigh, Yuuyu finally relented in her assault, taking Nejire's hands and lifting her back up. Pausing to give Nejire a glare when the blue-haired girl gave her the puppy eyes, as though that would get her out of trouble, Yuuyu sighed as she looked back around at the rest of Class 1A, who had been watching the strange interaction wtih raised eyebrows and a bit of nervousness.

"Yeah, hi, it's nice to meet you all," She waved sheepishly, going a bit red, "I'm Haya, I'm the class rep from over in Class 1B. This idiot's my responsibility."

"That I am!" Nejire cheerfully saluted the pink-haired girl again. "Yuuyu apparently heard that I was unconscious after nearly dying - if I use my quirk so much it makes me coma myself until I get enough stamina back - so she came running to the medical room to shock me back to life! Well, I say 'back to life' but I wasn't technically dead, just sleeping. But you guys know what I mean! And then she made me drink her soda so I'd stay awake -"

"It's an energy drink, Nej, not soda."

"- and now I'm super wired!" She began jumping up and down, everyone gulping nervously when they suddenly noticed how dilated her white pupils were. "I'm probably going to crash the moment I get home, but that's okay! I could use a little more sleep."

"I mean …" Eijirou grimaced helplessly while Nejire hopped up and down to try to burn off some of the sudden energy she had.

"Anyway, what did I miss?" She looked around interestingly as Yuuyu reached out to grab her shoulder to stop her bouncing, "Is everyone else okay? I can see a lot of bumps on everyone - oooh, Pony, there's a big one right there! On your cheek! Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"Do I need to go to the nurse?!" Pony said a bit hysterically as she looked up at Nejire in terror, absently reaching up to grasp her horns in exasperation. "Don't you need to go to the nurse?!"

"I mean … I don't think so!" Nejire giggled bubbly, "Actually, I think it's in our best interest not to go back there - I got shocked back to life and Recovery Girl hit Yuuyu with her cane, so I think we should avoid the nurse's office for a while. We'll deal with boo-boos on our own."

Hadou, you were unconscious," Momo said in a worried voice, "so perhaps you shouldn't be -"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Katsuki finally snapped as he got up from his desk, making everyone crowding Nejire and Yuuyu look around at him as he turned his annoyed glare to them, "you're so fucking exhausting, Chatterbox. She's fucking fine, you extras, you can stop crowding around her like she came back from the fucking dead. She was just knocked out, you don't need to fucking baby her."

"'Knocked out'?" Tsuyu repeated, looking around at him with a frown, "You call being nearly drowned by those monsters 'knocked out', kero?"

"Yeah, I do," Katsuki scoffed, starting to head towards the door, "it's not my fault she was so weak that she got knocked out by a little water - she should've killed those guys if she -"

"She's the one who caused that tsunami," Yui raised an eyebrow, her eyes narrowing slightly, "and saved me and Asui. And she did that in an explosion a lot bigger than anything you can create. You call that weak?"

Katsuki stopped at that, staring blankly at nothing for a moment - and then he shook his head and moved to the door, gritting his teeth.

"Whatever," He grunted, sliding it open, "I don't fucking care. All I know is that those assholes got away, and it was all your guys' faults," His gaze snapped to Momo, seeing her blink at his attention on her as she straightened up, "I could've taken out the warp gate if you hadn't made me agree to your stupid fucking plan of keeping him restrained - I just had to fucking blow him up, and there would've been no way for them to get away when the pros arrived. They were pretty much fucking down by the time they arrived, but because you made me play nice, they got to run away with their fucking tails between their legs. Now those assholes are out there probably kicking back and celebrating that they got away with giving All Might a bloody nose. Just remember that the next time you useless extras wanna pat yourselves on the back."

"Now hold on a moment, Bakugou -" Tenya protested, straightening up while Momo looked stricken and half the class began glaring at the blonde boy, but he was interrupted whatever reprimand he was going to say when Katsuki whipped his gaze back around with a snarl.

"If you assholes wanna play at being heroes, that you can deal with the consequences," He spat out, glaring at each of them as they looked uncomfortable with his insults, "just like Deku and Round Face and Ponytail are right now. They fucked around and found out, and all that showed is how fucking useless they are. I would've been fine getting rid of the warp bastard, and I would've actually made sure the heroes captured those villains, but you worthless shits made me go along with your fucking plan. Instead they managed to get away, and now we're gonna have to look over our shoulders for now on. Good fucking going with that."

"That's not -!"

"So you assholes know what? If you wanna play around with friends and have a grand old time, go fucking somewhere else. Go to Shiketsu, or Seijin or Ketsubutsu, or anywhere fucking else that people would find you 'useful' for. I'm in this to become the number one hero, and if today taught me anything, it's that you lot are all fucking worthless. So this is a warning to all you fucks - don't get in my fucking way again!"

With that, Katsuki stomped out the door and slammed it closed behind him, the sound of it hitting the frame shaking the wall slightly. There was a long silence in the classroom, everyone staring blankly at where the blonde boy had vanished through while feeling themselves shrink slightly at his words - and then Kyouka swore under her breath and threw her fist aimlessly through the air, stepping away from the small circle of students with a look of fury on her face.

"Fucking asshole," She growled, shaking her head, "acting like his plan wouldn't have just made those fucking villains kill him … god, he's such a dick."

"Huh," Yuuyu crossed her arms, looking around at Yui, "I'm guessing he's the guy that Kendou was saying had small peepee energy. I can see it."

"Mm-hm."

"Please calm down, Jirou," Momo quickly stepped towards her, raising a hand to hold the rocker girl's shoulder while glancing back down at her feet, guilt and uncertainty on her face, "perhaps … perhaps Bakugou raised a good point. My plan didn't … well, he's right that it really didn't work, it didn't keep them down for long. If I didn't take so long to get us organized, maybe I would've had better time to think up a better plan …"

"Yaoyorozu, no!" Eijirou quickly shook his head while Nejire glanced confusedly between the students, "Your plan saved Mido-bro, Uraraka and Kendou! Plus, we managed to get All Might out of trouble!"

"Indeed," Reiko nodded, "it's because of you that we got them away from that audacious rouge rogue. The villains might have been able to get out of your trap afterwards, but that's because we never anticipated the strength of that Nomu character. You shouldn't blame yourself for that."

"B-besides, Bakugou's just - he's obviously just frustrated," Eijirou glanced back at the door where the pomeranian boy had vanished, grimacing slightly, "he shouldn't have taken his anger out on us, of course, but -"

"Kiri, babe, don't go making excuses for him," Mina shook her head, likewise frowning as she moved back to her desk with a sigh, "that guy's got a stick up his ass the size of Mt. Lady's little finger."

"That's … a very gross mental image, kero," Tsuyu quirked an eyebrow as she likewise returned to her desk, "but I think that we should drop this for now, alright? We're all tired, we're stressed, we're - we're obviously going to need some time to get over what happened today. We should all start heading home - I don't know about you all, kero, but I'm going to speak with Officer Sansa about getting myself an escort home, I should get back as soon as I can before my siblings worry too much."

"Of course," Kyouka gave her a more genuine smile, "go home and give them a few big hugs, alright?"

"Oh, definitely."

"And hey," She turned to Momo, still seeing her looking conflicted and ashamed of herself, and reaching out to rub her arm, "I think Asui -"

"Call me Tsuyu."

"- Tsuyu's right, we should probably think about heading home soon. Why don't you and me walk to the train station together? I'll get your mind off what Blasty said."

"Perhaps ... but I don't know if we should leave while Midoriya, Kendou and Uraraka are still at the nurse's office. Shouldn't we -?"

"Mm," Yui suddenly hummed, getting everyone's attention as they turned to see her looking at her phone, evidently reading something that was just sent to her, "I forgot to mention this earlier because of Hadou coming back, but Itsuka's up."

"Huh?!" Denki felt his jaw drop. "After fighting that weird hooded guy?! Is she okay?!"

"She's fine, she and Uraraka are just being healed by Recovery Girl right now. Anyway, she's saying that we shouldn't hang around waiting for them," Her gaze flickered around to the rest of the class, "they don't know how long they're going to take, and they're going to stay behind so they can get Midoriya home. So the official message from our class rep is that we should head home, and that she's going to be reaching out to everyone tomorrow to do check ups. So when she texts you tomorrow, tell her how you're doing, okay?"

"Yeah," Yosetsu nodded, putting his hands in his pockets, "I'd … well, I also wanna stay to make sure Midoriya's okay, but if Kendou's telling us to beat it, I guess we gotta listen."

"Indeed!" Tenya chopped his hand, getting everyone's attention as he straightened up. "I realize that today was far more hectic than anyone expected, so it would be a good idea to head home and de-stress from what happened. If anyone needs to be walked to the train station, I would be more than willing to go with you - I am probably going to stay anyway until Tensei is done with his report so we can go home together, so if anyone wants to be escorted, I am more than happy to help!"

"Uh … that's okay, Iida," Mina smiled up at him, glancing at Tsuyu as she sighed, "I'm … I might take a leaf out of Tsuyu's book and get an escort home. Hope you don't mind me tagging along, Tsu."

"Not at all, kero. It'd be nice to have a little company."

"What about you guys?" Eijirou turned to look at Yosetsu, Hanta and Denki, seeing them leaning against the nearby desks as they frowned, "I guess if Kendou's telling us to scram, we'd better listen to her - I've seen what happens if she gets pissed off, last time that happened in middle school she slam-dunked a bully into a garbage can. Besides, I think Jirou's got the right idea - it's better to head home together, who knows if some of those bastards are still lurking around."

"Huh, I, uh ... I didn't consider that," Denki grimaced, "Yeah, that - that sounds like a plan."

"Yeah, I'd rather not head off by myself." Yosetsu agreed.

"Uh …" Hanta hesitated, glancing over at the desk beside Mina's as everyone began to break up, heading back to their desks to grab their things, and then sighed and shook his head, "... you guys - you guys go on without me. I just … well, I need to do something before I go. All else fails, I can ask that Sansa guy about a lift home."

"Alright, if you say so, man."

"Um …" At the sound of Nejire letting out a small hum, everyone looked back around at her, seeing her looking very lost and concerned while Yuuyu grimaced slightly, "... I was unconscious for a lot of what happened, so I'm confused. What happened to Midoriya? And Uraraka and Kendou? Are they safe? Are they alright?"

Blinking, and realizing that Nejire of course wouldn't know what happened to their friends, Tenya quickly reached over to take Nejire's shoulder and guide her away from the group so that he could explain what happened, glancing behind his shoulder to see the saddened and down looks on everyone's faces as they thought about what happened. No need to rehash the state Izuku was in in front of everyone again - they could do that in the corner.

As Tenya began explaining everything that had happened after Nejire lost consciousness in the lake, Yui and Yuuyu quickly moving to join their small circle, everyone else began to make movements towards the door, heading to their desks to pack up their things and head out. As Momo and Kyouka walked out together, and Tsuyu and Mina left to find Officer Sansa, Reiko sighed as she returned to her desk to put her things away - now that the spell of grief and despair that had hung over the class had been dispersed by Katsuki's dickheaded-ness, she felt the need to go home and just de-stress in the darkness of her room. Thank god it was the weekend, so she could spend it all in her dark room drawing in her notebook and binge-watching Yap!Tube.

However, as she began putting her papers and pens into her bag, she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her.

"Er … Yanagi?"

"Hm?" Reiko turned, blinking when she saw Fumikage standing behind her looking very awkward and ashamed, while Dark Shadow, restored to his usual size, twirled his fingers together while looking guilty. "Oh - Tokoyami."

"Indeed. I was … well … I wish to apologize to you," He glanced away from her, staring at his shoes while he closed his eyes and scratched his beak absently, "back in the downpour zone, I lost control of Dark Shadow, and … I ended up injuring you. For that, I will never forgive myself."

Reiko furrowed her brow, absently reaching up to brush her fingers against the bruise under her shirt on her collarbone that was now fading away thanks to the gummy bear that Himiko had given her.

Ah, yes - his loss of control during the invasion, she suddenly remembered. The battle with the Consortium had completely driven what had happened in the downpour zone from her mind, after seeing Izuku in that state of pain, but now she remembered helping Tenya, Yui and Tsuyu calm Dark Shadow until some light was able to shine in to help Tokoyami soothe the beast.

"Y-yeah, that was - that was my bad," Dark Shadow apologized as well, staring glumly at the floor like his owner as both raven-headed beings looked anywhere but at her, "me and dark places don't tend to mix, I lose a lot of control over myself, and - and - gah, what am I doin', Fumi?! I'm just makin' excuses at this point!"

"Yes," Fumikage looked over at his shadow as it despaired, "you can just apologize, Dark Shadow, there is no need to beat around the bush."

"But it's hard! How do you apologize for trying to kill one of your classmates?!"

"You can start with 'sorry' and go from there."

"I don't know -!"

"Tokoyami," Both of them jumped and looked around at Reiko, the ghost girl glancing between the two of them and putting her backpack back down on the desk, "and Dark Shadow as well - neither of you need to apologize to me for what happened. I understand the circumstances of the events in the downpour zone - you explained how your quirk works to me, after all. I am not angry at either of you for attempting to attack me in your state of shadowy madness, since I am instead directly my righteous fury at those who put us in that situation to begin with. There is nothing you need to apologize to me for."

"Ah, but still …" Dark Shadow protested while Fumikage still looked conflicted, so Reiko gave them a small smile and reached up to pat Dark Shadow's beak, making the shadow blink in surprise and Fumikage to look between them with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell you what," She offered while glancing between the two of them, "I would not mind escorts to bring me safely back home. If you both are still feeling guilty for what happened, you can ensure my safety by walking me to the train station. While we are travelling, there is something I wanted to ask you both - there is a substantial amount of manga that I am not caught up on ever since I got into dress making, so I was wondering if you two would know where to start after a prolonged absense."

"A-ah, I am not sure if we are quite fit to -"

"Of course!" Dark Shadow immediately agreed for the both of them, his shadow cheeks going a bit red as he smiled happily and ignored the dirty look Fumikage was throwing at it, "We got all the deets! We used to read so much seinen before we got into other stuff like shojo, so we know all the good ones -"

"Dark Shadow! Cease your foolishness!"

"But she asked!"

While Fumikage argued with Dark Shadow, the sentient shadow whining at his coldness while Reiko smiled at them both, Pony moved around them to return to her own desk, glancing at the two gothic teenagers and the shadowy quirk as she let out a small sigh. Ordinarily, she would've thought it was kind of cute, seeing a shadow bird monster geeking out over shojo (and she might've asked if it knew any good ones), but …

... but unfortunately, the excitement of talking to a living shadow about girly manga wasn't on her mind at the moment, the small girl sniffed as she put her backpack on her desk to put her stuff inside.

No matter what she did, she couldn't get her mind off what had happened at the USJ. She knew everyone else probably wasn't able to either, of course, so she really shouldn't be complaining, but ... but she couldn't help but feel guilt pulse through her. She remembered waiting outside with everyone, glancing around to see the broken and unconscious Izuku hanging limply in Hound Dog's arms, and feeling the massive spike of guilt and horror that had crawled up her spine and made her tear up even now.

She remembered what she had seen at the top of the stairs - Izuku leaping out of the way of a villain obviously more powerful than him, who was clearly trying to kill him … and Pony had instead stayed behind to help Aizawa instead of helping him.

It hadn't been an easy choice, and Aizawa had needed her help to make sure he didn't bleed out … but she couldn't help but feel guilty. If she had tried to help Izuku instead of just staying up at the top of the stairs and letting him fight that hooded guy on his own, he might be in better shape right now. He was the reason she and Yosetsu got out of the conflagration zone without any of them getting injured, after putting all of his trust in her, and she just … abandoned him when he needed help, and almost got himself killed. What happened to Izuku … it was her fault.

God, and the detective had said that he might have scars from the fight. She didn't doubt that Recovery Girl would fix him up, but what would happen if he came back to school on Monday with any obvious injuries? Reminders that she had left him to die? The detective had said that they had all been brave for what happened, but in reality, she was the only one in this class that had been a complete and utter coward. What if he realized that she had pretty much left him to die and hated her for it? She wouldn't even be able to blame him if he gave her the cold shoulder after that.

She probably wouldn't even be able to look at him once -

"Tsunotori?"

Pony jumped a bit at the sound of a quiet voice behind her, and quickly looked around. Standing near her desk was Mezo, pretty much towering over her with her head only coming up to his shoulders, but looking down at her with an understanding look as he reached out with one of his multiple hands, and offered her a handkerchief, much to her confusion.

"Uh ..." She trailed off for a moment, glancing between the blue cloth and his face as he looked a bit sheepish.

"Sorry," He muttered, "but … I noticed that you had started crying."

"H-huh?"Pony blinked, reaching up to touch her face. Indeed, she hadn't even noticed the feeling of tears running down her cheeks, making her blink a bit as she gulped. Feeling self-conscious, she quickly accepted the handkerchief with a small ' thank you' in English, and began dabbing at her face.

And now she felt embarrassed that this was the second time she broke down while everyone was around her and had to be comforted by someone else - she was an utter mess today. But before she could try to return to her desk to grab her things, about to promise that she would return his handkerchief to him Monday after being washed, Mezo quietly sat down in Izuku's vacant seat, glancing at her.

"Listen," He tapped his finger against the chair, "don't blame yourself for what happened, alright?"

Pony blinked again at that quiet request, and looked back around at Mezo in surprise, tears still in her large eyes. He had turned away from her, but even with half his face covered by a mask and hair hanging over it, she could see the guilt and remorse in Mezo's own eyes, making her falter as she stared blankly at her classmate.

"I heard you muttering to yourself," He explained in a quiet tone, "and … and blaming yourself for what happened to Midoriya. That wasn't your fault, Tsunotori - it was mine."

"Huh? What do you -"

"I'm the one who told you not to go help him." He stared down at his knees, two of his hands gripping them tightly and making Pony begin to tear up again for an entirely new reason now, "I'm the one who told you that we couldn't fight that guy, but - but we should have at least tried to do something. What happened to Midoriya - it's my fault, not yours. Please don't blame yourself for my mistake."

"I - Shouji-kun, no!" Pony protested, quickly clopping over to stand in front of him and ball her fists tightly, absent-mindedly trying to stop herself from crying even more. "It's not your fault, it's- it's mine! Midoriya backed me up in the - in the conflagration zone, and - and I couldn't help him when he needed me. It's my fault he got hurt so bad, so -"

"No, Tsunotori, you were at least willing to go and help," Mezo shook his head, obviously ashamed of himself as he got back up and looked down at her tearful face as he sighed, "I was … I was afraid. I was afraid of that guy, but you - you weren't. You're a lot braver than I am, Tsunotori, so please - don't blame yourself for what happened. You were at least willing to help, so if anyone is to blame for what happened to Midoriya … it's me."

With that, the taller boy prepared to head back to his desk to grab his bag, and head home to stew in his thoughts. He knew that he wasn't just trying to say this to get her to stop blaming herself, of course - deep down, he knew that it was his own hesitation and cowardice that resulted in Izuku getting as hurt as he did. It was likely that he and Pony would've probably been beaten by the hooded man along with Izuku, but it would've at least been better than Izuku having to deal with him on his own.

If anyone was to blame for the green-haired boy's predicament right now, it was -

- and that was when he felt a pair of small, warm hands wrap around one of his left hands.

Blinking, Mezo looked back around as Pony held on tightly to his hand, looking incredibly nervous - well, of course she would, he realized, she still had a fear of octopuses after that thing that had happened to her when she was young, this was probably taking all of her courage to do since he reminded her of one. Before he could open his mouth to ask her if she was alright, however, she looked up at him, making Mezo falter at the determined, sure look in her big teary eyes.

"It wasn't your fault either," She shook her head, her wavy blonde hair flying a bit from the speed that she shook her head at, "it's - you were at least smart, Shouji-kun. You - you knew that neither of us could fight that guy. It's - it's not your fault either."

"I … well …"

"No!" She shook her head again, "It's - if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"I - Tsunotori, no," Mezo turned back to face her, "I told you, it's not your fault."

"Well, it's not yours either! You should stop blaming yourself!"

"I … suppose I could say the same to you."

Both of them stared blankly at each other for a moment, Pony's mouth hanging open slightly while Mezo glanced back down at where she was holding his hand, going a bit red behind his mask - and then Pony let out another shuddered breath, although this one sounded like a small, strangled giggle, and slowly released his hand, raising the handkerchief again to wipe at her teary cheeks.

"I - okay," She sniffled, "I won't - I won't try to blame myself for this, only if- only if you don't either."

"I'm … not sure if it's that simple," Mezo smiled despite himself, "but … I suppose that's better than having you try to shoulder all the blame."

"O-okay, then let's - let's just blame the stupid villains, alright? I mean - technically they're the ones who did all the stupid stuff, so - so screw them."

"Yeah," He chuckled a bit, "screw them."

"Okay," She slowly nodded, and then it became clear that another thought came to her, making her go a bit red as she looked back up at him with a small pout, "and … I know this is kind of out of the blue, but … but I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable a few days ago."

"Hm?" Mezo blinked. "You did? About what?"

"When I … when I told you about my aquarium thing," She blushed a bit redder, while he blinked as he remembered their conversation from the battle trial, "I - I should've realized that it would've made you … uh … uncomfortable. I know you said something about - um - about your quirk reminding me of that stupid thing, and - and I realized right afterwards that I should've - I should've made sure that you were okay. I'm sorry, Shouji-kun- I shouldn't have told you that stupid thing."

It's alright," Mezo nodded, glancing away as he frowned under his mask, "I'm … used to being feared."

Pony faltered at that, blinking once or twice as she registered what that meant - and then, as Mezo was about to turn to walk out of the classroom again, blurted out, "Can you walk me to the train station?"

Mezo blinked as he stopped walking, and looked back around at her in surprise. Pony gulped a bit, a dust of pink reappearing on her cheeks as she glanced awkwardly away, and wrung her hands together.

"T-the officer said something about us not leaving the school alone," She said in a quiet voice, not looking at him at all, "and … and I want to …"

"Tsunotori ...?"

"... I want to be your friend," She finally managed to say, looking back up at him with her cheeks going redder and redder by the moment and his eyes widened, "that's - that's what I want, Shouji-kun.I feel really bad about what I said to you, because - because you seem like you're a really nice guy. And - and I do have my hang ups about the tentacle stuff -"

"P-please watch your phrasing."

"- but you shouldn't feel like you're feared. You - you should be appreciated, because you're a- you're such a nice guy, and -"

"Tsunotori?" Mezo sighed, thinking absently about how much he had said her surname these last few minutes as Pony stuttered to a stop before she could completely forget the Japanese language - but he was unable to stop himself from smiling behind his mask, looking down at her with kindness in his eyes.

"I would … well, it's definitely not how I expected my day to end, but … well, yes, I would be more than happy to walk with you to the train station. Officer Sansa is right, we shouldn't be walking alone - so let's go together."

"Great," Pony said in a quiet voice, a bit awestruck, and then quickly shook herself out of her shock and tried her best to smile widely, "I - I mean, g-great! Let's go!"

Mezo chuckled as she quickly scrambled to grab her bag from her desk, and together, the tallest boy in the class walked with one of the shortest girls out the door, Pony trying to wipe her teary face and find something to talk to him about while Mezo wondered if it would be weird to offer to hold her bag for her while she tried to calm her slight hysteria down.

It would be polite, after all.

As Pony and Mezo walked out of the class, shutting the door quietly behind them, that left only the four remaining members of the Kendousquad inside the rapidly emptying classroom, Tenya sighing as he finished his explanation to Nejire as she slowly blinked at him in shock.

"... in any case, Midoriya should be in the nurse's office right now," He finished explaining, taking off his glasses and wiping them with a cloth in his pocket, "and I spoke to my brother as he was leaving about ten minutes ago - Recovery Girl was going to finish healing Kendou and Uraraka, and then have them speak with Detective Tsukauchi. Since Kendou texted Kodai a bit earlier, I take that to imply that Recovery Girl is either currently healing or finishing their healing before she moves on to Midoriya."

"Wow," Yuuyu muttered, looking stricken by the details she wasn't sure she wanted to know, "That's …"

"I'm …" Nejire faltered as well, and for once she looked like she was completely speechless, staring down at the floor in shock as her mouth briefly hung open, and had to rapidly blink for a few moments - and then she shook her head, and straightened back up hurry over and grab both her bag from her desk and the energy drink from her desk. After taking another sip and shuddering, Nejire looked back around and gave Tenya a thankful smile, her pupils still dilated enough to show all blue and no white pupils, and shaking enough to make him gulp in concern.

"Thanks for telling me all that, Iida," She smiled sweetly at him as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder, taking a moment to hop up and down, "I'm - I'm gonna head back to the nurse's office, then. If Kendou and Uraraka are still there and awake, I should make sure they're okay too!"

"I understand, Hadou, and …" Tenya hesitated, grimacing slightly, "... well, I know that you probably have plans for relaxation afterwards, but I do hope you take a bit of time to settle down. I would not blame you if you needed some time to just sit around and do nothing - you were unconscious for a long time, after all."

"That's okay, Iida," Nejire giggled, reaching out and patting his shoulder "I know what I said about avoiding Recovery Girl for the rest of the school year, but I'll gladly conquer that fear to make sure my friends are okay! My game plan is to go to the nurse's office, make sure everyone's okay, and then go home! After maybe a few hugs and cuddling, in case Kendou and Uraraka need it. Yuuyu and I are gonna have a girl's night when we get back to my house - a really big one! With painting nails and doing makeup and trying not to have nightmares about drowning. Which I won't have. Probably. Hopefully."

She stared blankly at nothing for a moment, as though reluctantly coming to terms that she probably wasn't going to have pleasant dreams later that night, and then looked back up at Tenya and Yui with a big grin. "Anyway, that's that! I'll text the group chat later!"

"Yeah," Yuuyu sighed, looking around at Tenya and Yui as well as the two looked around at the class representative, seeing her tired look as she put her hands in her blazer's pockets, "it's probably gonna be a bad night, but at least I'll be with her. I'll let you know if anything happens or if we need anything before we go, Glasses - I'll probably have to check my own classroom before we leave, I hurried out and left Todoroki behind to clean up. Just gotta make sure that there isn't anything messed up in there."

"Of course! And thank you, Haya - I'm glad that Hadou has you to look after her."

"Well, I've been doing it since preschool, so there's not much point in stopping now," She shrugged, giving him a small smile before turning to where Nejire was standing, about to ask her if she was ready to walk back to the nurse's office - only for there to be a blank spot where Nejire had been, as though she had somehow vanished into thin air when no one was looking.

The three of them blinked and looked around in confusion as they tried to see where Nejire had somehow disappeared to - and then they all glanced out the door peaking their heads out to see the blue-haired girl hurrying down the hall and out of sight around the corner as the door slowly slid shut.

Yuuyu took one moment to blink as she registered that Nejire had essentially ditched her again - and then the rage that had been on her face when she arrived in the classroom returned to her face.

"Hey!" She shouted after her, immediately taking off in a sprint after her best friend. "I told you not to take off without me, you dumb bitch! Slow the fuck down!"

"Haya! Hadou!" Tenya called after them, rushing towards the door and shouting as Yuuyu ran as fast as she could after Nejire so she could shock some sense into her. "There should be no running in the halls! And please do not refer to Hadou in such language, Haya! As a class representative -"

"Bite me, four eyes!" Yuuyu managed to yell over her shoulder before skidding around the corner, colliding briefly against the railing near the windows, and disappearing from sight.

"Guh -!" Tenya gasped, looking majorly offended, and then let out a small sigh as he shook his head and moved his head back in so he could slide the door shut - perhaps since they were all obviously stressed out, he'd let Nejire's running and Yuuyu's swearing go for today. He'd pursue it Monday when they were refreshed and hopefully de-stressed.

Once he heard Yuuyu's footsteps fade away, he turned took glance around the classroom - at this point, everyone in class had pretty much left either separately or in groups, leaving him standing at the door and Yui heading back to her desk so she could grab her bag, slinging it over her shoulder as she sighed a bit.

"Er … I - I suppose you are also heading home, Kodai?" Tenya tried to say in a conversational tone, glancing away awkwardly as Yui kept her back to him. "There - I know what Kendou said about us not waiting for them, and that's probably a good idea - after all, Midoriya may take a bit of a while to wake up, we can wait for Haya and Hadou to give us news in the group chat."

"Mm."

"A-ah ... uh ... w-well, in - in that case, shall I walk you to -"

"I'm good," Yui quickly shook her head, making Tenya falter mid-step as he attempted to approach her, and he watched as she quickly speed-walked through the back door of the classroom, shutting it firmly behind her. Tenya blinked at where the stoic girl had vanished as he heard the sound of her quickly walking away, feeling his mouth open slightly and his heart thump in his chest -

- until he straightened up, took a deep breath, and quickly strolled to his own desk at the back so he could grab his bag and go after her. It was clear that he had done something to offend her, and for that, he clearly needed to apologize.

Outside, as the sun began gently setting in the distance, Yui let out a shuddering sigh as she moved down the steps of the school's entrance, having exchanged her school shoes for her regular pair as she walked outside, carefully stepping around some of the water from the storm that was still everywhere, either in puddles or in the grass lining the path to the gate. At this point most of the students were long gone - she could tell that rumors of what had happened at the USJ had traveled fast, what with her able to see a few students from the general studies class quickly running through the gate huddled together.

Well, that made sense, at least - all the hero teachers running to their rescue through a hurricane probably would draw a lot of attention.

In any case, though, Yui furrowed her brow as she looked around, reaching the bottom of the stairs and looking around. She was worried about Izuku, of course, and about Itsuka and Ochako, but like her friend had said, if they were just waiting at this point there wouldn't be much point in her staying behind. So maybe she would text Setsuna and ask if she was okay after her weird exit from the -

"Kodai, please wait a moment!"

Yui froze as she stopped at the bottom stair, feeling her eyes widen at the sound of a familiar voice calling for her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who was calling her name, hearing hurried footsteps approach her from behind at the top of the stairs as Tenya panted a little bit, managing to get control of his breathing and clearing his throat.

"I - I apologize, I had to speed-walk through the halls to catch up," He cleared his throat again, straightening his back so he could stare down at the stoic girl at the bottom of the stairs, feeling himself frown as she stared ahead and not back at him at all, "I - Kodai, I apologize for running after you, but I - I wanted to clear up something that I may have - that I may have inadvertently done."

Quickly, he sank into a bow, staring down at his feet and not noticing Yui glance slightly over her shoulder at him, her eyes widening just a fraction.

"Kodai, I - I do not know what I did that has obviously offended you," He frowned, staring guiltily at his feet and not noticing a flash of guilt cross Yui's own face, "but I know that I did something, so I must offer you my deepest apologies. It is clear that you are not comfortable around me, and I have been told before that my behaviour sometimes alienates other people - I have been informed multiple times by my former classmates in middle school that my personality does not mesh well with others, and I realize that I may be overbearing. In any case, that does not excuse me if I -"

"You didn't do anything."

His small prepared speech was stopped as soon as it started at Yui's quiet voice, requiring Tenya to look up at her from where he was bowing. She still had her back to him, not looking around at him at all, but he noticed that her hands had clenched tightly together, and her gaze was down on her feet.

"You didn't do anything wrong," She muttered, barely audible, "it's all me, Iida. You haven't done anything to offend me or anything like that, I'm just … acting stupid."

"I - well, I must disagree!" He quickly straightened his back again, chopping one of his hands at her. "You seem to be quite the intelligent person, Kodai - any perceived acts of stupidity must be incorrect!"

"I - no," Yui shook her head, "it's just … well …"

Tenya felt a small ounce of confusion as Yui continued to stare blankly at the ground for a moment, her fists clenching a bit tighter - and then she sighed, slumping her shoulders somewhat as she narrowed her eyes.

"Damn it," She muttered, "I'm really gonna have to say it, don't I?"

"Er … I beg your pardon?" Tenya tilted his head, "I'm not sure if I caught that, Kodai. Can you please repeat -?"

"You're attractive."

The boy in glasses felt himself pause at what Yui said, blinking at the quiet statement as Yui continued to look anywhere but him. He felt what little thoughts he had in his head to try and comfort her drain away as he took a moment to finally register what she had just said, staring at the back of Yui's head - and then he took off his glasses, grabbing the cloth in his pocket to wipe them, and wrinkling his brow at the sudden shake in his hands.

"I … I apologize, Kodai, I - I must have - I must have misheard you," He managed to say in a slightly shaky tone, not entirely sure why he was wiping his glasses while questioning his hearing as he put them back on his face, "could you -?"

"You're hot." Finally, Yui turned around to properly face him, and Tenya felt his jaw drop with a small pop at the blush on her cheeks as she finally met his eyes for the first time, wringing her hands tightly together as she obviously fought herself not to look away.

"I find you physically attractive," She clarified in that same quiet voice, "I've been checking you out when you're not looking. I don't look at you in the face because you're really handsome, and I don't answer you all the time because that would tempt me to look at you, and that makes me feel really good, and that feels really scary. When you tried to talk to me after we helped stop that riot a few days ago and I ran away, it was because I was ... remembering you pressing me up against the wall, and it made me feel really flustered. That's it, Iida - that's why I don't look at you. Because I find you attractive."

Tenya let out a small sputter, feeling heat on his cheeks as his mind promptly crashed a little bit at the sudden burst of information from a girl he really only spoken to properly once or twice, and needing a few seconds to reboot. Yui carefully watched his reaction for the next few moments or so, seeing him trying to bring his jaw up from where it had dropped as she clenched her hands tightly together on her bag.

Finally, Tenya snapped his mouth closed, glancing around as he somehow straightened up even more than he already was, finally managing to tear his gaze away from her for the first time since they started this conversation.

"I … I see," He squeaked, which made Yui pout a little bit - god, he sounded so adorable when he was flustered. "I, ah - I did not expect - I - uh."

"Yeah," Yui nodded in agreement, "uh."

"I - well - I'm - I'm flattered, Kodai," He managed to finally get out, his face somehow turning even redder, "that you find me - well - physically attractive - that - uh - it's just - er -"

"I'm not asking you out."

Tenya faltered at that quiet statement, quickly looking back around at her as she fought to keep staring up at him in the eye. Her face was still bright red despite its stoicism, but she seemed to at least be trying to keep her eyes on his, and after a moment of hesitation, he fought down the desire to look away in order to do the same.

Once again, Tenya found himself staring into her eyes, and unlike her stoic face, he could plainly see the emotions clearly there - a small bit of fear, a bit of hope, and more than a little timidness.

"It's not like I'm asking you to go out with me," She made clear, her voice still quite quiet, "I find you attractive, but … well, I'm not saying that you're not attractive in other ways too, but …"

"O-other ways?" Tenya blinked, confused by that and needing a bit of clarification. "H-how so? In - in what other ways might I possibly be attractive?"

"Like … your hand gestures," She imitated him, moving her arms around robotically while he sputtered in sudden indignation, "I think they're cute."

"T-they are not meant to be 'cute'!" Tenya complained, chopping a hand at her while she raised an eyebrow. "I am simply emphasizing my movements to make my points clear!"

"Well, you do that cutely, then."

"I -!" Tenya let out a small groan, moving his hands underneath his glasses to cover his red face. Yui was unable to stop a small smile from gracing her face at the sheer adorableness of the boy in front of her, although she thankfully managed to force it down before Tenya revealed himself again, still very red in the face but clearly unsure of himself as he put his hands back in his blazer's pockets.

"I … as I was saying, Kodai, I'm … I'm flattered that you apparently find me … attractive," He somehow went even redder, partially resembling a tomato but managing to calm his fluster somewhat so that he could face her again, "but … well … I will admit that I have never really put much thought into … you know … romance. I have been very busy studying in middle school, and quite honestly it took up a lot of my time - a bit too much of my time so that I never really considered the option of - er - getting a girlfriend, and I believe from rumours that my ... personality ... did not really appeal to anyone at Somei. You … I believe you said that you were not asking me on a date, though?"

"No, I wasn't," Yui shook her head, frowning a bit, "I do find you attractive, but … well, I'm honestly not sure how I feel for you emotionally just yet. We have only known each other for about a week."

"That is … also very true," Tenya nodded, at least relieved that they could agree on that - and then Yui raised her eyebrow again.

"So … do you find me attractive?"

"..."

"..."

"... I beg your pardon?" Tenya squeaked, the hot red blush instantly returning to his face while Yui smirked a bit.

"I asked," She tilted her head, "if you also find me attractive."

"I - I do not -" Tenya sputtered again, his arms flailing wildly in the air while Yui tried her hardest to hide her smirk. Honestly, while Tenya took a moment to promptly freak out, Yui found the urge to hide her face from him fading the longer they actually talked, and she let out a small sigh as she adjusted her bag's strap on her shoulder again.

"Don't worry about answering my question, I was just pulling your chain." Tenya faltered at that, staring at her in shock and outrage, and Yui raised her hand for a moment to speak. "Like I said, Iida - I'm not asking you out, and I'm not expecting you to ask me out either. I'm just stating that I find you attractive, there's nothing that you really need to do to acknowledge that. It's just … well … I shouldn't try to avoid looking at you, I guess. It's rude. Anyway, that was my explanation. Please don't blame yourself for me being stupid."

"I …" Tenya hesitated again, and then nodded stiffly. "... I believe I understand, Kodai. That - that there aren't any expectations here to - to ask you - yes, I understand."

"Alright," Yui nodded, adjusting her bag again, "in that case, I should probably start heading home now - my dad's probably worried sick, I should head back before he gets in his car and starts looking for me."

"A-ah," Tenya quickly nodded, finally glancing away and attempting to get control of his blush. "Yes. You should - yes, it's best that you should get going, Kodai."

"Mm." Yui nodded, and started to turn around to keep walking to the gate -

"S-shall I escort you to the train station?"

Yui faltered at Tenya's offer once again, stopping in her step and staring blankly at nothing for a moment - and then she glanced around at him, seeing him staring at her frozen as though he realized that he had said something he shouldn't have, but he seemed unable to take it back as Yui glanced aside, a tinge of pink of her cheeks.

"I … thought you were going to wait for your brother to get done with ... whatever it was he was doing."

"I … am," Tenya nodded awkwardly, likewise staring away from her, "it's just … well … you shouldn't go home by yourself, Kodai, just - just to be safe. It's like Officer Sansa said, we shouldn't be leaving on our own. I - I can walk you to the train station, however, and then quickly come back - jogging up the mountain is no fret for me."

Yui slowly nodded at that good point, glancing away as Tenya attempted to ramble up a few more excuses in that same quiet mutter, probably trying to come up with a few more explanations and justifications why Yui walking back on her own would be a bad idea. She could feel her heartbeat quickening in her chest, and let out a small sigh as she nodded to herself.

Yep. It had only been a week since they met, and he just kept getting cuter. She was in some pretty serious shit.

"Iida," The boy in glasses stopped his muttering at the sound of her calling his name, and looked back down to see her face reverting back to its blank state - but her eyes had a playfulness in them, which made him gulp nervously as his own heart skipped a beat, "if you want to walk me to the train station, you can. I'd appreciate the company."

Tenya blinked from his spot at the top of the stairs, staring down blankly at Yui as she turned to begin walking towards the gate, and jolted as she began moving away from the stairs. Quickly hurrying down them so he could join her, both Tenya and Yui walked together down the path to the gate, both of them still a bit red, but when Yui turned to look up at Tenya, probably one of the first times she had done so since they had met, the boy in glasses couldn't help but feel a small smile grace his face.

As they moved together towards the gate, not exactly speaking but not feeling uncomfortable, they did not notice Hanta jogging around the side of the main building, humming a bit as he scrunched up his brow. It was kind of pathetic that, ever since leaving the classroom, he had gone from looking in classrooms up and down the building, to now searching in the bushes - but honestly, he had no idea where she was.

He'd been looking around the school for the last ten minutes or so, moving from looking through the now empty classrooms to outside and searching along the walls. Really, he really didn't know why he was bothering - it was very much possible that she had already gone home, and he was looking around this huge freaking campus for nothing. Hanta let out a small sigh, looking around with a small frown - honestly, it was probably useless. UA was a fairly big campus, so if she was still here, it might take him forever to find -

- wait. Wait, there she was!

Hanta's eyes had trailed over to a couple of trees lining the walls of UA, a little ways away from the path leading to the gate and out of sight of everyone, and sitting against the barrier, her arms wrapped around her legs, was Setsuna, staring glumly at nothing. At the very least, from what he could see, she wasn't crying - but there definitely wasn't a happy expression on her face, staring down at her knees with a small pout as she hid from everyone.

Feeling himself grow concerned, Hanta quickly began jogging over, calling out, "Tokage!"

The green-haired girl jumped in surprise as she heard someone calling her name, eyes widening in panic as she whipped her gaze around to see that he was moving towards her. Quickly, she tried to scramble to her feet, stumbling a little bit as she straightened up, and tried to force an obviously fake smile on her face as she turned around to properly face him, Hanta slowing himself to a stop as he approached her.

"Uh … hey, dude!" She tried to sound enthusiastic, although there was a small catch in her voice that made him furrow his brow. "What's - what's up? I-I thought you would've gone home already."

"Uh … no, not - not yet," He shook his head, glancing down to see her wring her hands. "I was ... actually looking for you. Are - are you okay? You sound …"

"Huh? F-for me? Oh, n-no, I'm - I'm fine!" She glanced away from him, staring at another tree as she quickly put her hands in her blazer's pockets, "Just - just a little cold, I'm fine. I - I was running around in the rain for a little bit this afternoon, so I might've actually caught something, ha ha. A-anyway, just - uh, I just needed a moment to myself, that's why I was - uh - yeah."

"..."

"S-sorry about - y'know, just kinda leaving the classroom. There - I - I remembered that there was something I had to do -"

"Tokage, shut up for a second."

Hanta felt a little bad at how blunt that sounded, and from how Setsuna winced, but thankfully she had stopped with the stuttering excuses, looking away with that obviously fake look of happiness on her face.

Honestly, it kind of hurted to see how … obviously not okay she was. It was pretty clear that she was taking what happened today pretty hard, but … but why did it feel like there was something else there?

"Tokage," He said in a quiet voice, trying to sound comforting as he moved to lean against the wall with her, "it's - you don't have to pretend like - like you're okay. I know that - uh -"

"Dude, I'm fine -"

"- but you're not!" Hanta shook his head, frowning as Setsuna quickly glanced away from him so that he couldn't see her face. "I - look, it's - it's obvious that something's going on, and - and you don't have to pretend that everything's okay. I - I know that we barely know each other, but if you - if you needed someone to talk to -"

"I don't." Setsuna's fake happy tone suddenly vanished, coming out a bit clipped and making Hanta falter for a moment as she fully turned away so her back was to him. He noticed, for the first time, that her hair was still a bit damp, clinging to the back of her uniform as she made to walk away. "I don't need to talk to someone, Sero. Thanks for the - the offer, but I'm f-fine. I'm all g-good, so -"

"Tokage, it's okay."

This time it was her turn to fall silent, stopping herself from walking away as Hanta slowly approached her from behind. After a moment to debate with himself, he lifted his hand up to rest on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. He was ready to jump away in case he crossed some kind of line, but to his relief, she let him rest his hand there, not jerking away or shoving him off her.

"Tokage, I know that you aren't okay," He said in a quiet, soothing voice, "none of us are. And … and I realize that we've only known each other for a week, and if you really needed to vent to anyone it'd probably be Kendou or Kodai - but I have a feeling that you don't want to tell them what's on your mind."

"..."

"I promise, anything you tell me right now, I won't tell anyone else. It'll just be between you and me. If you don't want to tell me, I'll understand and let you go, but … but if you do need someone to talk to, I'm right here."

Hanta let the offer hang in the air, willing to let her think about it for a moment. For a few moments, they stood in silence under the shade of the UA gate's wall, Hanta looking down at her while Setsuna faced away - and then she slowly ducked her head, and he could feel her shoulders tense beneath his palm.

"... I'm useless." She muttered.

"Huh?" Hanta blinked, confused. "You're - what?"

"I'm useless." She repeated, and he faltered at the sound of utter defeat in the usually confident girl's voice. "I didn't - I wasn't able to do anything back at the USJ. I froze up, and I - I panicked. That guy was attacking us and I just … I just ran. I was useless."

"Wha - no, Tokage, you weren't!" He was quick to try to assure her, taking his hand off her shoulder but taking one step closer, "You got All Might for us, you escaped -"

"No, I didn't!" She suddenly shouted, and whipped back around. He blinked in shock at the tears beginning to stream down her face as she clenched her fists tightly. "I was wandering around the forest that whole time! I got lost in the storm! I had no idea where the hell I was floating to and where I was supposed to go! If All Might didn't punch the storm away and saw me running around like an idiot, he wouldn't have even noticed me! I couldn't even get to the school if I wanted to, because then my legs would've been too far away and I would've collapsed! I wasn't even the one who was supposed to have escaped, it should've been Iida, not me! He would've actually made it!"

"I - Tokage, that doesn't -"

"It does!" She gripped her hair tightly with both hands and bit her lip slightly in frustration, tears falling from her face and onto the wet grass below. "I didn't save anyone! I was useless, just like I was useless at the battle trial, just like I was useless everywhere else! I haven't done anything to prove that I belong at UA!"

"You haven't done anything -?" Hanta blinked in confusion, staring down in shock at the smaller girl as she ducked her head again, heaving, sobbing breaths leaving her and unintentionally making him tear up slightly. "What - what does that mean?"

"I …" She hesitated again, as though trying to catch herself before she said something she wasn't supposed to, and then shook her head. "... I'm … I'm a recommended student. I'm supposed to be super freaking good, aren't I? Exceptional, just like all the rest of the guys who got recommended."

"I ... uh ..."

"But when I finally came here," She shuddered, "I realized how weak I am in comparison to everyone else. There was this one guy - super loud, super boastful, but he had a freaking powerful quirk. He had some kind of wind quirk that he used to beat out the other recommended student here - Todoroki - by a freaking hair during their race. He fucking … he aced every test the teachers at UA threw at us. There's no way that he didn't pass with flying colors."

"Okay …?"

"When I got my acceptance letter, I thought that - that somehow I impressed the teachers, that I showed that I was good enough to pass. I came in second to Yaoyorozu in everything, but somehow I thought I did it." Setsuna let out a choked, disbelieving laugh, shaking her head. "And then when I actually got here, and we saw Class 1B, I saw Todoroki and Honenuki - the other two recommended students, besides me and Yaoyorozu - but not that wind guy. Not the guy who obviously passed."

"..."

"At first I didn't get it - but once I realized he wasn't there, that the guys who came in second and third were with them, I realized what that meant." She glanced away, tears continuing to slowly slide down her cheeks. "It meant that the guy with the wind quirk - who came in first in everything - he must not have accepted the offer they gave him. And if he had accepted it … then I wouldn't be here. I would've failed the exam. The only reason I managed to pass and get into UA is because someone else dropped out at the last minute."

Hanta felt his jaw drop open slightly, staring at Setsuna in shock as she raised a hand to roughly wipe her face, looking away from him for the first time in minutes. Suddenly, something that she had said a few days ago, under her breath while they had been getting ready for their battle trial, came to him, making his eyes widen in realization.

"... I gotta prove myself."

Suddenly, everything clicked in place for him, staring at the recommended student as she turned fully away to continue wiping her tears. Every instance where she would try to answer a question first when Aizawa asked, every determined gleam in her eye that she had when she went through Aizawa's surprise tests and All Might's battle trial, every look of misery when she didn't reach anywhere near first place, or answer their teacher's question first …

"You wanna prove that you earned your spot here," He slowly said out loud, staring at her in complete shock as he slowly blinked, "that's why you're so … determined to do your best. You wanna prove that you got in on your own merit."

"... yeah," Setsuna nodded, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, "so … now you know. That's my big deal - that I'm an utter failure and I've got nothing to prove otherwise"

"I …"

"Just … don't tell anyone else, alright?" She sniffed, wiping her nose again as she turned to grab her bag that she had propped beside her on the wall, "I just … I don't want Ken or Yui to worry about me over this fucking stupid thing. Just - just pretend that -"

"Tokage, can you just … hold on and listen to me for a sec?"

The green-haired girl stopped as he quietly made that request, and glanced behind her to see a conflicted look on Hanta's face appear as though he was unsure as to what exactly he could say, before he managed to shake his head, and he moved to stand beside her.

"I just … well, I'll be honest with you, Tokage, I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to - to comfort you over this kind of thing," He decided to say honestly, wincing a bit from the bluntness of that statement, "but … but I'm not gonna say that you didn't earn your spot here. You did, one hundred percent."

"That's …" Setsuna started to protest, more tears beginning to swell in her eyes.

"Tokage, you're freaking amazing," Hanta pressed on, moving forward to hold her shoulder again as she glanced away, unable to even look at him. "You're fucking awesome. You came in fucking ninth during Aizawa's tests - behind Bakugou and Yaoyorozu and all those guys with quirks that were actually suited for those kinds of tests. You beat out freaking Midoriya, and he's probably one of the only ones here that can say that he went toe-to-toe with one of those Consortium assholes and came out alive - you don't get any cooler than that. Plus, during our battle trial, you held off Yanagi and Kodai at the same time while I was guarding the bomb upstairs with my thumb up my ass. You lasted a few minutes fighting two people at the same time, all by yourself. Tokage, that's - that's freaking awesome!"

"I'm …" Setsuna faltered again, staring down at her feet while Hanta continued to praise her.

"And besides, there's one thing that you're not considering at all," He gave her a small smile as he tilted his head a little, "we've only been at UA for a week. Like - shit, I thought today we were just gonna relax and walk through the USJ to see everything and maybe practice swimming in the lake, not - not have to fight villains that came out of fucking nowhere and attacked us. And - come on, I saw how everything outside looked when you opened the doors, I could barely see! And, y'know, not to mention that you're apparently strong enough to open those big freaking doors all by yourself. No way in hell you skip arm day."

"... nope." Setsuna was unable to stop herself from giggling a little bit, which made Hanta's smile grow.

"And listen, no one's going to blame you for getting lost in a fucking hurricane, Tokage - well, maybe Bakugou would, but he's also an asshole. And I'd stick up for you." Setsuna didn't say anything about that last bit, but she did let out a small noise that sounded like another watery chuckle, so Hanta took that as a good sign.

"I know that it seems like … like, y'know, you need to prove yourself as soon as you can," He told her in a quiet but soothing voice, "but honestly, Tokage, we're gonna be here for at least three years. That's more than enough time to make sure everyone knows that you're as awesome as I know you are. And if you ever need someone to remind you of that, well … fuck it, I don't mind being your cheerleader."

Setsuna continued to stare down at her feet as Hanta finished up his pep talk, clearly waiting for her reaction as he bit his lip nervously. He wasn't sure if he ended up making her feel better or making it worse, and expected either a 'thank you' or a disgruntled response. Kinda leaning towards the disgruntled response, he thought with a grimace - he was no good with motivational speeches, so he kind of expected a rebuttal.

What he didn't expect, however, was for Setsuna to suddenly turn around, sniffling a bit, and then quickly move to wrap her arms tightly around him in a hug.

The moment she pressed up against him, holding on for dear life all of a sudden, Hanta froze, staring blankly at the space behind her shoulder and felt his cheeks turn really red with his arms sticking stiffly out behind her. Before he could even think to wrap his own arms around her, unfortunately, she pulled back, letting go of his waist and stepping back as she let out a wet giggle and wiped her eyes again.

"Sorry, man," She said in a slightly choked voice, "just … kinda needed a hug."

"It's - it's no big," He managed to stutter out, trying to calm his very red cheeks down before she could look up at him and see how flustered she made him.

"And, uh … thank you," She nodded a bit, still wiping her face of any stray tears, "about what you said about being my cheerleader. I, um … I hope you're going to do the full package, too."

"Uh … full package?"

"Y'know. Skirt, pom-poms. That'd be a good look for you, man."

"Yeah, uh - okay, no, I'm drawing the line at pom-poms. Might wear a skirt if you convince me, though."

Setsuna let out another small giggle that made Hanta's heart soar, and she let out another sigh as she finally revealed her face, giving him a small smile as she tried to straighten out her small hunch from before.

"Seriously, though … thank you, Sero," She tucked some of her messy hair behind her ear, "I … I kinda needed that pep talk. It … well, it wasn't the best pep talk in the world -"

"True, but you didn't have to say it," Hanta grimaced.

"- but it was … well … you definitely told me stuff that I needed to hear."

"H-hey, it's - it's no problem," Hanta tried to awkwardly laugh his fluster away, scratching the back of his neck while glancing around, "it's - it's all good. You needed a bit of a confidence booster, so …"

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded, letting out a small exhale as she likewise glanced away, "it's … definitely going to take some getting used to the fact that I'm not gonna - you know - prove myself until a lot later, but … but at least I can accept that now."

Hanta nodded stiffly again, keeping his gaze on anything but her as she likewise faded into silence. There was a long, awkward pause as both of them didn't meet each other's gaze, until Setsuna let out another sigh and looked up at the sky, seeing the sun continue to set in the distance.

"A-anyway, I'm - I should probably start heading home," She tapped the wet grass with the toe of her shoe while going a bit red, "my parents are probably worried sick and I should make sure my sister isn't freaking out. Do you, uh - do you want to walk with me to the station? Just so - er - just so we don't have to go alone."

"O-oh! Y-y-yeah, let's - let's get going."

"Alright. And … uh … oh, fuck it, can you give me your number?"

"... my what?"

"Your number! I mean - come on, tush bro, you just gave me the pep talk of my life - the least I can do is get your number so I can send you memes. Like it or not, we're friends now."

"... 'tush bro' is just going to be my name from now on, isn't it?"

"Hell yeah it is, tush bro! You know, 'cause we got -"

"- nice tushes I'm not too sure what people would think if I were to basically call you my ass buddy all the time."

"Excuse me! I like to think we've got the best asses in class, you and me. I bet Pony thinks so too - she thought she was slick during the battle trials, but I saw her peaking."

"I - wait, what?"

As the two students moved out of the gate, Hanta completely blown away by the implication that the cute, innocent Pony was apparently checking out everyone in class and Setsuna in a much better mood as she giggled and hit his shoulder with her own, another student moved out of the doors and into the evening air, sighing as he stood in the entrance of the school briefly.

Taking the steps down one at a time, the student began walking away from the school, brushing some of his hair away from his face as his normally stoic expression lessened. It had been a long day, trying to help Yuuyu make sure none of their classmates followed Vlad King to the USJ, and honestly, he was tired. He had to stay behind for a bit to clean the classroom, which he couldn't really blame anyone for not doing since today had been so hectic, so when he got home he was going to make himself some dinner and -

"Shouto."

The boy with the multicolored hair paused in his tracks at the sound of a voice he really didn't want to hear coming up behind him, hearing heavy boots splashing in the puddles approaching him. Scowling, Shouto slowly turned his head, not giving Endeavor the dignity of his full attention as the pro hero walked towards him, his flame beard continuing to burn as his father looked down at him with a frown.

"What are you doing here?" Shouto asked in a dismissive voice, not really caring for the answer as he turned his full attention back to the gate.

"I was summoned here to help deal with the villains at the USJ," Endeavor crossed his arms behind his back, staring down at his youngest son with a frown as the boy continued to stare ahead and not at him as the pro hero leaned against one of the busts, "they were the ones who masterminded the Trigger theft months ago. I'll be working with the HPSC to track them down - I chose to stay behind to assist the police in searching the campus for anyone else the villains may have left behind."

"Hm." Shouto nodded, not really caring for small talk, and began to walk away towards the gate.

"Shouto, I am still speaking with you."

"You can do that when I get home. I have to get to the station for my train before it leaves."

"Stop this childish game of yours," Endeavor sighed, shaking his head and not noticing Shouto narrowing his eyes and clenching the hand he had over his bag, "you are acting disgracefully, Shouto. Between your constant rebellion at home and your refusal to interact with your sister and brother while they're trying to speak with you, I will not be tolerating this kind of behavior. I have to return to my tower for work tonight, so listen carefully to what I have to say now, son."

Shouto gritted his teeth.

"Class 1A survived the assault of this Villain Consortium. Not in one piece, but there were no serious injuries that require visits to the hospital. This means that the attention of the hero community will be on them when the time comes for you all to show your skills in the sports festival. You need to remember that it is your duty to surpass All Might, not any of them. Do you understand?"

He clenched his fists tightly.

"You are different from your siblings, Shouto. You are a masterpiece. That means that when the time comes, you have to stand head and shoulders above the rest of your classmates. I do not want to have to hold your hand all the way to the top, but if you keep up this attitude, I may not have a choice."

As Endeavor finished that implied threat that he was going to treat his youngest son like a child needing to be led around by the nose, Shouto finally moved through the gate and back out onto the street, adjusting his shoulder bag as he turned the corner and finally escaped his father's sight. Thankfully, it didn't look like Endeavor was in one of his self-projecting moods at the moment, because he didn't bother to pursue his son or insist that he be given a ride home with him so he could continue to lecture.

Good. If he had to hear the bastard speak any longer, Shouto glared ahead of him as a bit of frost formed on the side of his face and crunched in his hand, he might do something stupid.