Hello again, everyone. Well, it's now come time to start our foray into this story's take on the upcoming Provisional Hero License Exam arc. But first, it's time to not only be reintroduced to our beloved characters' new shared home, as well as finally start getting the ball rolling on one of the major subplot elements that's been slowly brewing alongside everything else so far.

I hope you all enjoy what I've provided you here today, and if so, please be so kind and leave a review. I ask for this time and again, and never receive anything, and it just doesn't seem fair. I'm trying to really grow and develop my skills as a writer, and if I can't get any honest feedback from my readers as to what they think of my narrative structure or the contributions I make the original story, then I don't know how else I could be able to do that on this medium.

Also, please be so kind as to check out the released chapter covers I've uploaded to my account 'ubasnaga'. If anybody out there wants to perhaps make any fanart of their own of my OC's or their favorite original moments within this story, I figure having a foundation as to what said OC's look like would help exponentially. If you'd like to take a crack at it, by all means, feel free to PM me and let me know so I know who to look out for.

I'd also like to give another thankful shout-out and expression of well-wishes for my two beta readers, Mizu and Jonny. In the periods when I find my motivation slipping, talking to you and getting your opinions always helps more than you know. You're both indescribably awesome.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my OC's, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that result from their existence in this universe.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 53

A New Home

(Новый Дом)

Tartarus, July 31st

The entirety of the day since their last established contact had passed by exceptionally fast, as had All For One's replenishment of his energy. He was particularly grateful for that, as he was more than certain that enough time had passed for his initial impression to have been made on his new Russian acquaintance two floors down. He could only hope that Vukodlak would be professional enough to not let any physical reaction on his part be shown, lest the ever-vigilant guards somehow noticed something was up.

And so, once more focusing on the image of Vukodlak's face in his own head, All For One decided it was time to follow through and reach out again. "Good day, Vukodlak-san. I trust today has been just as exciting for you as well? How does it feel for the blind man to once more become the one-eyed king?"

For a good couple seconds, All For One was given no answer, but he knew it wasn't for any such reason as Vukodlak not being there. Physical distance meant nothing. And besides, he could once again hear the spike in the Russian Villain's heart rate from his cell. Undoubtedly, the man was simply trying to focus on keeping his composure and articulating his words through his head for him.

"All For One… I don't know who you really are, or how you did it… but thank you. It's been far… far too long since I could see with my own eyes again. When I could feel my old retinal scars fading, I couldn't believe it. It was only because I could still somehow make out the layout of my cell with them after the lights had gone out; that I knew my mind wasn't simply playing tricks on me. Of course, I haven't had much opportunity to really get back into the habit of using them, since the cameras are always watching, but I know what I'm feeling. My eyes are healed… and I have you to thank for it."

All For One mentally smiled to himself to hear the immense gratitude lining every one of Vukodlak's words. That was the sound of someone who was truly so grateful for what had been done, they would be more than receptive to anything else he would say… and that was the kind of reaction he'd been counting on the most. "It's not me entirely you should thank. Thank the person I took this Super Regeneration Quirk from. That's how I was able to finally bring your eyesight back to you. Granted, I had to really restrain the extent of its power when I used it on you, so as not to rouse any suspicion. Hence why the scars lining your eyes themselves are still there, and why your leg hasn't suddenly grown back. But all good things come to those who wait."

Another mental chuckle immediately came from Vukodlak's end. "Indeed. With my eyesight returned, and my other senses still as sharpened as they ever have been, there's nothing anyone could be able to do to escape or get the drop on me. For that, I'll wait as long as need be in order to get back out there."

That was exactly the kind of enthusiasm All For One had been wanting to hear; the biggest smile on his mental face as he instantly answered: "Fortunately for us both, you won't have to wait too much longer for that opportunity. The timing is perfect as well. I'm going to disrupt the cameras in your cell for the few seconds that your regular guard comes in to bring your food. When he turns his back to you, I want you to open your eyes and simply look at him, even for a moment. I'll explain afterward."

Vukodlak could already hear the regular sound of footsteps approaching his cell, and thus got his posture back to the regular lax sitting posture he always maintained. He could soon hear the sound of his heavy cell door being opened, and that singular pair of footsteps dutifully approaching him. Then came the sound of his old food platter being replaced with another. The moment that impact with the floor had been made, Vukodlak could hear that same crackling noise from all around his cell as had happened yesterday.

Taking that as All For One's cue, the Russian Villain, only for a moment, opened his eyes and focused on the departing black-clad back of his only guard. As overwhelming as it was for him to finally see another person in the flesh with his own two eyes for the first time in two decades, he knew he couldn't afford to let the emotion get to him, as he just as quickly closed his eyes, just at the same time that his cell door slammed shut and locked itself again, and the crackling just as quickly stopped.

"There. Now listen closely, Vukodlak-san."

Vukodlak could practically feel the smile on All For One's face as he gave the surprised Russian Villain an explanation: "I needed to use a remote observation Quirk on you to be able to see through your eyes once that guard had his back turned to you. With that, I then used a new Quirk of mine called Search in order to keep a constant eye on him wherever he goes for however long as I need. I took it from a Hero recently because I felt it would be very useful to my needs, and it's already proven to be. With it, I can simultaneously observe the every waking moment of up to one hundred people at once."

All For One had finally shown even a portion of his hand by revealing such an unconventionally useful Quirk to a man he hadn't even had the opportunity to meet face-to-face yet; Vukodlak would have normally considered such a forward action foolish on his part. But having managed to get even this much of a picture of just what kind of man he was dealing with, and the fact that he had so far been keeping the few promises he had made by restoring his eyesight, Vukodlak could likewise say that he was willingly open to hearing exactly what else his telepathic little acquaintance had to say. "Very well, All For One. You followed through on the promise of a little surprise for me, and you said you wanted my help with something; something you say pertains to our supposed common goal for the world. So what exactly is it you want me to do?"

"I, my disciple and his comrades are going to help facilitate your escape, and I want you to assist him; primarily by venturing forth and digging up as much information on your old friend, Tunguska, as you possibly can. Not just what would simply be in the public records back in your country; there must be something deeper about his origin that's outside of common knowledge, some missing piece. All Might went to him, out of any other Hero in the world he could have gone to for aid, and there has to be a reason for it that we aren't aware of. I want to know just what he saw in that man which made him pursue him out of anyone else. Those two aren't like all the other Heroes out there, and I can't think of anyone better suited for that kind of involved pursuit; and for helping my disciple with the eventual elimination of such obstacles; than you."

Vukodlak could only barely tug a smirk at the corner of his mouth at what a loaded and thorough request his benefactor clearly had in mind for him. "Yesterday I said you were bold for assuming I would swear any kind of loyalty to you and yours. That still rings true; I'm only willing to help since we have the same ultimate goal. However, now you're being especially presumptuous in another way. In my years, Villain teams have never been known to be welcoming of new faces, regardless whether that new face has been on the news or not."

All For One was finding himself appreciating the Russian Villain's thoughtfulness more and more. He had no use for the typical hooligans who took everything given to them for what it was worth. Vukodlak was simply proving himself to be a much more useful potential asset for Tomura and his goals by actually thinking things through. "You are indeed right about that, but you'll quickly come to see my disciple doesn't just assemble any assortment of would-be Villains with chips on their shoulders and no brains in-between. I've been in telepathic contact with them already, informing them of your upcoming involvement in our grand plan. Right now, all you need to do is wait while I maintain sight on that guard for the next week or so, observe everything I see him do, everywhere he goes, everyone he speaks to, and I'll relay all of that information to your future allies. They'll take care of securing your escape from there."

It was a fairly simplistic sounding plan as far as his role was concerned, but thus far Vukodlak hadn't caught a glimpse of hesitation or uncertainty in anything All For One said. That kind of concrete confidence in any kind of plan was exceptionally rare, even in some of the strongest Villains and Heroes Vukodlak had come to know in his experience. This was simply proving to him that All For One was more than just words, but a man of resolve and action; something he could certainly appreciate. "All right then, I understand. I'm counting on this disciple of yours and his people to come through, though."

All For One kept his head bowed down low, for once actually physically grinning to himself while his face was at an angle that none of the cameras could oversee this change in his otherwise stalwart expression. "I have undying faith in Shigaraki Tomura, Vukodlak-san. In time, you'll learn to as well. As long as you maintain your part for the next week and not reveal your regained eyesight to the cameras, the time for you to make your formal introduction will come soon enough. Then it will finally be time to induct you into the ranks of the League of Villains, and finally go about digging up all there is to know about our common enemy, and we can finally start making a true change in this world of false Heroes… and, of course, you may finally be able to put Tunguska's brat, and all the other foolish wannabe Heroes beside him, to your personal test of true Heroics."

Yuuei Academy, August 15th

Headmaster Nezu had long been awaiting this day ever since his idea for the transition to a full-time boarding school had been approved. While he was indeed happy that they would finally be able to confirm their students' continued safety on school grounds by doing things this way, he did still feel a great deal of regret that things out in the world had become so dangerous that such a measure was deemed necessary at all. It wouldn't be easy for all the students to acclimate towards living all the time at school, hence why he had given the expected time for the students to officially move in be at the halfway point of August, just a couple of weeks before the second semester would officially start.

And to his silent delight, the students had one after another all shown up when they had been told to. Even from all the way up in his office at the top floor of the main building of Yuuei's campus, he could still make out the distant forms of the students all gathering in front of their respective dorm buildings; the identical set of twelve buildings all standing in two rows of six just a five minute walk from the main campus. Even if he felt confident the children would be able to make the most of it, there was still a part of him that felt the need to actually hope that the transition would be smooth for them.

CREAK

Nezu's sensitive ears instinctively twitched at the sound of his office door opening behind him, quickly followed by a single heavy pair of footsteps. Given where he knew all his fellow teachers to be right now, he didn't even have to guess who had decided to pay him a visit, as he simply turned to look, and was pleased to find a similarly casual-looking Tunguska approaching him.

What was more, the towering Russian Hero had what, to anyone else, would have looked like a fully regrown left arm hanging at his side. Of course, having helped facilitate things for the man himself, Nezu knew better than to make such a childish assumption. "I'm glad to see that replacement arm seems to be fitting you well so far, Tunguska-san."

Looking at the new arm at his left, Oleg couldn't help but chuckle wryly to himself. Indeed, several days ago, he had finally gotten word that the new prosthetic arm designed for him by the Yaoyorozu family's Support company had been ready for him to test out. Unfortunately, the thing had proven incapable of operating properly when subjected to the maximum heat the man could conjure up through his arm, thus it was deemed necessary to go back to the drawing board for a much more advanced and reinforced version to be made that could withstand the extent of his physical strength and Solar Quirk.

And lo and behold, here he now stood with just such a marvel of technological achievement, looking just like the very same arm he'd lost to begin with. "So far so good, at least. While I was testing it out, they gave me a bit of a rundown just what it can do. It's lined with these odd projection dots that apparently help give it the illusion like it's just any other flesh and blood arm outside combat situations. I'm sure a lot of the students will be appreciative of that. We can't expect them to just get used to a fully robotic looking arm right out the gate, after all.

"If I understood them correctly, this thing's also built to withstand up to twice my maximum power temperature, which is a damn good thing to hear after last time. And it also sounds like malenkaya Yaoyorozu has had some input into some of the other mechanics of it as well, taking notes from some of her schoolmates. It has the same neural attachment that my fingers had, that allows me to fire it into multiple mentally-controlled pieces just like malenkaya Tokage's Quirk; and it even has multiple lenses built into multiple joints so I can shoot my solar beams out from even more directions than I could with my original arm. If that didn't come from observing malenkii Aoyama's Quirk and the mechanics of his costume, I'll eat my own boots."

Nezu couldn't help but smile at Oleg's enthusiasm. It was very much akin to a small child on Christmas morning wanting to show off his new toys to the other neighborhood kids. In trying times like what they were looking at, such a sight from one of his colleagues was honestly encouraging. "I'm glad to see this grievous injury of yours has finally been properly attended to, Tunguska-san."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Nezu-san. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't eager to show it to Kolya and the rest of Class A. I know many of them were very worried when they saw my injury during the family visit trip. I feel they deserve to have their worries put to rest." Oleg's smile of anticipation was as bright as could be, but while Nezu was still managing to smile, his observant gaze had once again gone back to his window overlooking the dorms.

"Don't be in such a rush, Tunguska-san. You'll have plenty opportunity to show them in due time. Today, though, those children deserve as much time as they need to get acclimated towards not only being back in school already, but having to live on its grounds from now on. They should be able to make their dorms feel like a true home they can comfortably live in before anything else."

Tunguska's smile thankfully shrank a bit, expressing no less sincerity, but not glowing so bright, as he joined his colleague's side in watching the children down below, while also taking the time to look at the sizeable dorm buildings before them. "I don't wish to toot my own horn, but I trust you'd understand my feeling so proud of Kolya right now, just looking at those buildings down there. It was hard as hell, of that I have no doubt, but he and malenkii Bakugo really persevered and pulled through to make those places the best they could possibly be. They really gave their all, just like any real construction crew would."

Suddenly, Nezu began to snicker to himself beside Oleg, drawing a curious glance from the towering man, to see the headmaster was barely able to keep himself from laughing hysterically. "Your words aren't false, Tunguska-san, but since the construction's already been finished and safety approved, I feel there's no harm in telling you now that had I hired the full force of our contracted construction company, every one of those dorms would've been finished in three days tops, instead of the near month it took with Bezpalov-kun, Bakugo-kun and the skeleton crew working around them on the sidelines."

Oleg looked like he'd just been brained upside the head with a 2x4 to realize just what a complete ruse Nezu had pulled on himself and the two students in question. As though he could just feel the Russian teacher's accusative glare, Nezu tried to get the last of his laughter out of his system. "Try not to forget, Tunguska-san; this was much more for the sake of helping those boys work their way through their mutual hostilities with each other, than it was for the sake of having them actually build the dorms to code on their own. If I may say so, it was worth the extended amount of time it took for those dorms to get brought up. What those boys don't know won't hurt them, so let's let them have this little accomplishment for themselves."

By this point, even Oleg himself couldn't resist the humor in just how clever Nezu's little scheme had been, and even started to snicker as well, much to the headmaster's happiness. Of course, this could only last so long, before his smile quickly faded from his snout. "Of course, as long as we're being 100% honest about the way things stand right now… these dorms; they aren't solely for the purpose of ensuring our students' safety."

Oleg's laughter died in his throat as he looked to see the troubled look in Nezu's black eyes. "They're also there in order for us to keep a much closer eye on this potential 'traitor' in our midst that Present Mic had mentioned in the wake of the camp attack."

All at once did that ugly little memory come plowing right back into Oleg's head as he felt his heart start to plummet. For the last several weeks he had been so focused; first on his and All Might's mission, then on recovering, then on studying for his eventual Pro Hero License exam, and then on getting acclimated to his new arm, he had completely let that detail slip his mind.

Now that it had been brought up, though, he knew he couldn't possibly forget it again, and now that it was hanging in the air between them, he couldn't help but ask, even if he knew to do so was unwise in situations like this: "In the time since he first brought it up, do you or any of the others have any potential suspects yet?"

"Tunguska-san, if I really did, do you really think I would tell you so easily?" Nezu's answer had come so instantaneously, it almost made Oleg want to laugh.

"Of course not. No one in their right mind would let that kind of thing slip so easily. Really, the last thing I think any of us want is for there to be any kind of suspicion or discontent between us. Honestly, I'm still struggling to comprehend the idea that any one of us here could actually be a traitor."

The sigh that Nezu let out in response felt like it carried all the weight in the world, once more tucking his paws behind his back in contemplation. "In order to cut through the unrest that's been hanging in the air between us for far too long now, we have avoided launching a public, uninhibited investigation and are now feeling around for the betrayer behind closed doors. The fact that I must cast doubtful eyes not only upon my fellow teachers, but even our own students; it is more painful than words can describe, but my position demands it. The loss of our Symbol…the effects of this will surely continue to rear their heads our way one after the other as time passes. But at least we know a good number of Pro Heroes are even now continuing to step forward to try and fill their share of the void that All Might's loss has left us with. And I take comfort in knowing you'll soon be among them as well, Tunguska-san.

"At any rate, right now, what we need most is to shift our momentum towards 'revival' and 'rising up.' At the very least, we must direct our students to a bright and hopeful future again."

"Whoa! This place is HUGE!"

"Are we the luckiest kids ever or what?!"

These wayward comments from Rikido and Mina respectively were the first of many spoken exclamations of wonder and surprise from all the students of 1-A, once they had set their eyes on the towering brick building made up of two identical towers connected at the bottom by a single floor section, with a raised wall further up with the massive '1-A' painted on the face, and with a decorated plaque upon the marble arch over the front doors, simply with the word 'Alliance' painted across it.

For everyone else that was seeing what was to be their new home for the very first time, it was like stepping into a dream, the building looked so oddly prestigious. However, for Nikolay and Bakugo, they couldn't help but feel a simultaneous sense of physical aching upon just looking at it, as well as a sense of accomplishment, knowing they had both helped put it together with their own two hands.

Nikolay had been looking upon this specific day with an air of regret, knowing that the previous night would be the last he'd ever spend in the house he had finally started to really think of as home. Of course there was a sense of familiarity with this place that would make the transition easier, but until the instinctive soreness in his arms, legs and lower back from all the heavy lifting and work that had gone into building these dorms would pass, he was still going to feel like a complete fish out of water here.

"Damn, I don't think I ever expected the dorms were gonna look like this! And you guys seriously helped build all of these?!" Hanta exclaimed, not even trying to hide how impressed he was, which led to many of the other classmates voicing similar impression with Nikolay and Bakugo for the fruits of their combined labors.

The two boys in question looked back to the rest of their classmates, many of whom had truly grateful smiles on their faces for the two helping make this possible, but Nikolay was personally too sore from the last several days to let the mass attention get to him, even the especially thankful and respect-filled (and in one case admiring) looks on Mina, Eijirou, Tenya and Izuku's faces. "Yeah, a whole month's worth of work went into these places. It was hard, but—"

"You're goddamn right we built these! I wasn't about to take getting kicked out on my ass as an alternative to some hard work! We busted the shit out of our fingers to do it, too, so you all better be grateful!"

Bakugo's sudden interjection, laced with the typical venom, got a lot of nervous chuckles out of the other students, along with some scattered utterances of sympathy when he forcefully brought his and Nikolay's hands up for all to see, revealing their fingers were adorned in numerous band-aids.

"Aw, you two went to so much trouble just to provide for us?" To nobody's surprise, with that skin-crawling yet good-humored adoring inflection, Mina was already about to take the first step to try and treat the wounds on their fingers, but just before Bakugo could proceed to threaten her if she touched him, the entirety of the class went still with surprise at the sudden arrival of Aizawa, who had practically emerged from the open front door like a shadow, casually approaching while radiating no less of his regular intensity.

Nikolay and Bakugo likewise got back to full attention with the rest of their class, as the 1-A homeroom teacher briefly yet silently looked them all in the eye with that same partially hidden stare behind the locks of his long black hair.

Without another moment wasted, he immediately broke the silence: "Before we start anything else, I would first of all like to say, Class 1-A, that what's more important than anything is that you've all gathered together here again safely. From now on, you're all going to be under Yuuei's full-time watchful protection."

Many of the other students began muttering relief at having gotten to see each other again, with many expressing worry that others wouldn't have gotten permission to come back from their parents. Nikolay knew they all had Aizawa, All Might and his father to thank for making such a good series of cases, even though he'd never bothered to ask Oleg exactly what they had said. It was no business of his. He was just immensely grateful he didn't have to say goodbye to any of his friends now that he and Bakugo had finally gotten the dorms all finished, and everyone had gotten permission in the end.

"The same goes for you, Sensei! I'm just relieved that you made it back here with us, too-kero. After watching that interview, I thought you might not be able to come back. I was really sad." Tsuyu suddenly admitted, with Ochako voicing just the same. Truth be told, Nikolay couldn't believe that, not once over the time since the camp attack had he ever thought about their homeroom teacher's consequences. With the way people had turned on Yuuei like they had, it shouldn't have been surprising to think Aizawa would've been forced to resign. In a strange way, the young Russian was just as grateful to not have to see their teacher go, almost as much as he was simply glad to see his classmates again. However, since the man had arrived, he didn't want to risk speaking out himself, knowing what thin ice he may still have been walking on.

"Well… a hell of a lot happened, that's for sure. Now then, I'm going to give you all a quick briefing in regards to the dorms. But before that, just one thing." With that, the chatter among the students thankfully died down, and everyone was at full attention again. Nikolay could already feel the air naturally begin to tense up, just like it always did when Aizawa had special announcements to make.

"It's true that the original plan was for you all to earn your Provisional Hero Licenses after the training camp. But you didn't get them. So why were some of you walking around acting like you did?" As the other students began to mutter their remembrances of it, even Nikolay found himself surprised at how quickly he had forgotten that whole detail that was supposed to be the finish line of their training. All at once did the excitement of potentially being able to act in the field without fear of punishment for simply being there come back… but so too did a twisting of apprehension once his mind caught up with the last words Aizawa had said.

"What I'm about to say is important, so all of you listen up. Todoroki, Kirishima, Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Bezpalov, Ashido." The instant Aizawa announced each of their names, they all instinctively froze with surprise and fear; all of them able to just feel their teacher's ice-cold gaze drill into them, as well as the curious eyes of the rest of their classmates. Nikolay could feel his throat go bone dry, not daring to make eye contact with the rest of his called out friends, lest Aizawa was just waiting for one of them to react in any way, shape or form.

"You seven were present on 'that evening' at 'that place.' You all took it upon yourselves to proceed towards the site of Bakugo's rescue." The moment he had finally said it, Nikolay could feel the air around the entire class come crashing down on his head. In fact, all seven of the accused could feel it, nearly buckling at the knees as those curious eyes of their classmates became like frigid daggers of shock and disbelief at the sheer gall these select students had shown in doing something they all knew to be so dangerous and against the rules.

All the while, Aizawa never even flinched, instead continuing to stare his troublesome students down like the embodiment of the judge, jury and executioner of his classroom. "From the looks of things, all of your classmates understand the weight of your behavior in deciding to go there, even when you knew doing such a thing is strictly against the rules for unlicensed students like you. The fact all your reactions aren't nearly as explosive as I'd expected tells me you were all aware of this lot's little plan to begin with.

"And yet not once have I heard of any authorities in the area being informed by any of you that your classmates may potentially do something incredibly dangerous. With the exception of Jirou and Hagakure, due to being unconscious; and Bakugo, due to being held hostage by the Villains at the time, this makes every last one of you culpable. A lot of things have been pigeon-holed in light of everything that's happened, but I'll tell you this right now: if it weren't for All Might's sudden retirement, with the exception of Bakugo, Jirou and Hagakure, I WOULD HAVE YOU ALL EXPELLED AS PUNISHMENT."

Nikolay and the entire class could feel their blood turn to ice at just how serious their teacher truly was. However, before the young Russian could even think of expressing relief this wasn't actually the case, he and Mina both could just feel that piercing jolt through their bodies; the sign that Aizawa was looking at them specifically. "That goes especially for you, Bezpalov, Ashido. You two have already been treading on some mighty thin ice since the start of this year. I had hoped that one close call would have helped you two learn not to take such unnecessary chances, but clearly I was wrong to think so."

While Mina looked like she was about ready to collapse in frightened tears, struggling to try and find words to defend the two of them, Nikolay suddenly spoke out on reflex: "B-but Sensei, you said that helping build the dorms was our way of avoiding being expelled!"

"I said it was yours and Bakugo's punishment to avoid expulsion in response to the fight you both had, Bezpalov. This, for the lot of you, is for something else entirely. Count yourselves lucky you're not out on your backsides already. If you don't want to test how far I'm willing to let you push your luck, then both of you will remain silent." As though it were the command of the heavens, Nikolay practically pursed his lips shut, with Mina immediately following suit; all the while reaching out and grabbing his nearby hand for support and silently hoping beyond hope that she and Nikolay weren't really about to get kicked out for following their hearts in the face of danger.

"Regardless of all your reasons for going, and the rest of you knowingly staying quiet about their plans, it goes without saying that you have all severely damaged the bond of trust that's supposed to exist between us all here at Yuuei. From now on, if you would all do me the favor of following the established procedures and acting accordingly, I would very much appreciate it… and it would certainly go a long way towards regaining my trust, as well as that of the trust between all of you as classmates."

While Nikolay and Mina, as well as their other five cohorts in their ill-advised plan, all silently felt as though they'd been put before a firing squad only to receive a pardon at the last possible second, Aizawa bluntly turned on his heels, beckoning the class to follow him to the dorm itself. "That is all, in that regard. Now, let's head in with smiles on our faces and lots of energy."

The fact that the entirety of the class felt like their feet were being weighed down with emotional lead, while their cold teacher was putting on such a fake show of enthusiasm, felt especially cruel. With nothing but words, he had sapped every ounce of optimism from every one of his students. The seven accused students honestly couldn't figure out how it was they were still standing right now.

As the students all began to follow after their teacher, more resembling a funeral procession than anything else, Bakugo suddenly grabbed a passing Denki by the wrist, ignoring the other blonde boy's exclamations of confusion, mirrored by the curious looks of everyone else.

BZZT!

After a sudden blinding burst of yellow light emanating from behind several bushes, Denki was suddenly shoved right back out into the open; with that same absentminded chuckling grin on his face.

Within seconds, Nikolay could actually hear the scattered but growing sound of amused laughter emanating from nearly everyone around him (but especially from Kyouka, Hanta and Ochako), while Bakugo came stomping back out into the open, hands in his pockets and an apathetic look to his face.

As the Russian boy watched his now former-working partner making his way past the rest of their laughing classmates (thankfully now including Mina, who was more than grateful for the mood lifter), he could feel the beginnings of a knowing smile creeping up. Bakugo may have been able to pretend what he did was nothing, but they all knew what was really happening. When sensing the drop in everyone's mood, he'd still taken it upon himself to try and put a smile on everyone's faces again.

He knew he should have figured it when Bakugo had stopped exploding angrily at him nearly as often after having been told of his near brush with death, but now had finally clinched it for Nikolay: 'So, he really does care after all. Good to know.'

"Kirishima." Bakugo's sudden announcement of Eijirou's name snapped Nikolay and the others out of their relieved laughter, just in time to see the visibly sneering blonde boy suddenly go fishing through his pockets and fork over a handful of money to the visibly shocked redhead.

"HUH?! MONEY?! W-what the hell is this, dude?! You're seriously freaking me out!" As Eijirou was visibly struggling to make sense of whatever Bakugo thought he was doing, his fuming classmate forcefully grabbed his hand and slammed the money into his grip. "Stop being so stingy and just take it, dammit! You're making me feel all shitty about it."

While everyone else still had no idea what the hell Bakugo was talking about, Eijirou's eyes widened as though a light bulb had suddenly gone off over his head. "Wait… is this about those night vision goggles? First, how the hell did you hear about that? Second, that was bought with my own gift money, man, I can't take this."

"You will, or I'll kick your dumb ass up and down this walkway, Hair-For-Brains! I didn't ask you to spend money for my sake, so just take it and use it the way everybody else would!" With that, Bakugo had officially put the pin in this discussion, nearly shoulder-checking away everyone else in his path, and leaving an awkward-looking Eijirou in his wake, looking from the money in his hands to the retreating blonde hothead.

By this point, Nikolay finally found the wherewithal alongside Mina to rejoin their mutual friend, both of them looking equally impressed with what had just happened. "Wow… and here I thought he was just gonna yell at all of us for trying to save him after all this time. He's got a weird set of priorities when it comes to people, though." Mina admitted, with Nikolay nodding in agreement.

"He kinda had the same deal when we were working here. I mean, it took a while for him to get around to it without blowing it up in my face, but he actually brought me lunch one day to make up for everything else. I mean, his mom made it and forced him to bring it to me without destroying it, but still, the principal was the same. I think he just hates feeling like he owes people." As Nikolay explained all this, he and Mina were both finally starting to smile more warmly when it came to the subject of Bakugo; a very unexpected but welcome change.

"Well, I guess I should keep my eyes peeled then. I made him the same meal I made you the first day you started working, Kolya-kun; except his had a glitter bomb in it. Here's hoping he doesn't think to fight glitter with fire, though." Despite the very real possibility of him taking things that far, it was still nice for Nikolay and Eijirou to hear the humor come back to Mina's voice, evidenced by the laid back smile once again adorning her face.

With all three of their spirits visibly raised, and clutching the money tight in his hand, Eijirou suddenly threw a commanding arm to the air: "HEY, EVERYONE! I'M REALLY SORRY FOR EVERYTHING! THIS MAY NOT EXCUSE MY ACTIONS, BUT TONIGHT, I'M TREATING YOU ALL TO BARBECUE WITH THIS MONEY!"

The cheers that came from the majority of the class were downright cacophonous, with Nikolay and Mina being no exception. While Ochako instinctively asked if Eijirou could really handle all that shopping on his own, Nikolay suddenly found himself being the forward one. "You don't have to go to that kind of trouble for us all, Kirishima-san. At the very least, let me help you in preparation for it. It's the least I can do after everything that's happened."

Without even missing a beat, Eijirou swung his arm over the Russian boy's shoulders in kind; an appreciative grin on his face: "Are you kidding me right now, Kolya-san? You and Bakugo helped build an entire damn house for all of us with your own two hands! Not only does that absolutely dwarf on-the-house barbecue by a long shot, but that's manly as hell! Take it from me, dude; as far as I'm concerned, and I would hope the rest of the class would feel this way: you've more than made up for your part in everything, like you had anything to make up for to begin with!"

Taking the cue from both of them, Mina jumped in between, hooking her arms over both laughing boys' shoulders, laughing all the while herself; more than happy to see two of her closest friends with their spirits lifted. "Hell yeah! We somehow manage to not all get expelled, Kolya-kun built us all a house and Kiri gets us free barbecue?! This is already turning into one of the best days ever! Now come on, let's see just how well you and Bakugo put this place together!"

With that, she eagerly took both boys' hands, practically dragging them both after her into the dorm building with the rest of their newly uplifted class.

Upon stepping into the interior of the entrance for their dorm building, the whole of Class 1-A was met with the sight of a spacious and comfortable living room area lined with a U-formation of three plush sofas, and a nearby dining area with multiple tables, while both ends of the room had large hallways leading out into the two adjacent towers. Some were even marveling at the window wall nearby that looked out onto a rather pretty-looking courtyard to boot. The atmosphere of it all, as well as the size, was even to a point that Ochako couldn't help but naturally faint from the sheer splendor of it all.

The whole room was practically echoing with the exclamations of excitement from all the students; a sound which couldn't help but make Nikolay smile with some well-deserved pride, knowing nearly everything about this building carried a literal personal touch for him, and everyone seemed to approve.

"OH WOW! IT'S SPACIOUS! IT'S PRETTY! IT'S SPACIOUSLY PRETTY! AND THERE'S EVEN SOFAAAS! THIS PLACE IS SO AWESOME! YOU GUYS DID SO GOOOOD!" Mina's excitement was through the roof, fists pumping in that typical show of her enthusiasm, as she and everyone else took in their new surroundings they were to call home. To hear her especially praising his very first attempt at such craftsmanship had Nikolay forming the biggest, perhaps even goofiest, smile on his face.

All the while, Aizawa was simply watching his students in passive silence, waiting for the chatter to die down enough to where he could continue giving them the rundown. "The way this is all set up, it's one class per building. Boys and girls are separated by wing. The right wing is for the girls, and the boys wing is to the left. However, this first floor is common space. The dining areas, baths and laundry area can all be found here."

From the very moment their teacher had mentioned the idea of baths, Nikolay's smile began to fade, and his whole body froze, alongside those of Minoru, Denki and Hanta. While the other boys couldn't help but barely mutter excitement at the implication (only for Aizawa to reiterate that boys and girls baths were obviously separated), Nikolay had gone deaf to the reality, as he could now only think back to that first night at the training camp, the last time Class 1-A had shared bathing areas. Now all he could think about, even if just for a moment, was that near peek he'd unintentionally almost gotten of Mina's chest back then, and he could already feel his face growing hot with embarrassment.

Unbeknownst to him, even Mina was briefly thinking back on that moment as well, and having just about the same embarrassed reaction at the very idea of shared baths again. What neither of them realized, was that their glowing red faces were clearly noticed by Denki, Minoru, Kyouka and Tooru, though by some merciful grace, they decided not to call the two out on it.

And, of course, with Aizawa having mentioned the setup for the dorms by gender, Nikolay had thankfully managed to snap back to reality, once again expressing his own confusion: "Sensei, since our class has so fewer girls than boys, with the way the dorms are set up, doesn't that technically mean each of the girls, or at least most of them, are getting a floor all to themselves? I know we built the exact same number of rooms for the right wing as we did the left."

While Aizawa was admittedly annoyed with not only Nikolay's interruption, but also his need for the explanation of such an obvious detail, all he could muster was a barely visible roll of the eyes as he once again continued with his explanation: "Normally that would be correct. Each of the dorm wings is made up of five floors, with your rooms starting from floors two and up. On each floor are groups of four rooms. Starting from the third floor, the girls will be set up two to a floor.

"You each get your own private room. Each room comes with an AC Unit, a bathroom, a refrigerator and a closet. It's quite a luxurious space, if you ask me." As Aizawa explained this part, while guiding the students up to the second floor via elevator so they could get a look at the size of the rooms for themselves (as well as the added perk of a veranda to each one that overlooked the courtyard) he suddenly proceeded to rummage through the wrapping around his neck before pulling out a stack of pamphlets, handing them to each of the visibly eager students. Inside was a diagram of the room layout for the dorm floor-by-floor.

"As you can see by these diagrams, these are how each of your rooms are allocated, as to where you'll go. Make sure to memorize them. The luggage we had you all send beforehand has already been delivered to your rooms. For the time being, use today to get unpacked and arrange your rooms. Tomorrow, I'll give you all an explanation of how things are going to run here from now on. That is all. You're dismissed."

With a resounding and all-encompassing "YES, SENSEI," all of Class 1-A began eagerly looking over the pamphlets to see where they would each be going.

As Nikolay looked over each floor, looking out for his name, he suddenly found himself getting plowed into by Mina, then by Eijirou, both of them equally as excited as they looked over their own pamphlets. "Oh my god, the universe has gotta be playing some serious games right now, dude! Check it out; we're all on the same spot, the fourth floor!"

As Eijirou eagerly pointed this out, Nikolay followed his finger and found that, indeed, his, Eijirou's and Mina's names were all allocated to the fourth floor. At first, the Russian boy nearly wanted to address the natural twisting in his stomach once he realized his room was situated right next to Bakugo's. 'Oh, good God in Heaven, he's my goddamned neighbor!'

"And check this out, Kolya-kun! Your room and mine are set up right across from each other! How's that for fate?! All we need is two or three tin cans and a line and we could go all old school talking to each other all night!" Nikolay immediately found his eye now following Mina's pink pointing finger and found, much to his own similar delight as hers, that their rooms were indeed set up directly across from each other, at the ends of their respective wings. And even her childish idea of such a classical kid's way of communicating couldn't help but bring another big smile to his face, much like those of his two accompanying friends.

Before long, it was unanimously agreed among the students that it was time for them to finally start making this place a real home for themselves, and thus with farewells and promises to see each other again at dinner, the students all proceeded up to their respective rooms, with Nikolay being especially quick to get to his room before running the risk of bumping into Bakugo along the way. Yes, they may have been able to get past the bulk of their differences, but that still didn't make the idea of being the recipient of his ever-present temper any more appealing.

'It's not like I had a lot of stuff to pack to begin with. I could get my place all set up in no time and maybe even be able to catch some shut-eye before dinner. A whole months' worth of work and only now does it finally decide to really hit me.'

However, when Nikolay opened his door and set foot for the first time ever into the room he now knew to officially be his, he was stricken dumb with the sight of a larger assortment of boxes than he knew for a fact he'd sent ahead of time. All at once had his exhaustion now been replaced with genuine curiosity as he looked the majority of new packages over for the sender address. The only things he knew for a fact had been sent by himself and his father were a number of family pictures, the glued together figurine of his mother, his clothes and the old Russian folk and choir CD's he had bought the very first day they'd come to Japan.

Truth be told, Nikolay was starting to find himself feel a touch overwhelmed, especially with the size of some of these mysterious packages. He couldn't even begin to guess what was inside. However, when he separated the stuff he knew to be his and finally looked over the sender tags… he found his curiosity and confusion quickly change to a very strong surge of raw emotion.

He may not have recognized most of the given names, other than those of his friends themselves, but the surnames on the tags he now recognized far too well. All of this stuff had been sent to him by his closest friends in the class, and even their families, too. The names 'Ashido', 'Kirishima', 'Kaminari', 'Hagakure,' 'Midoriya', 'Iida', 'Yaoyorozu' and 'Jirou' were written clearly on every one, with what looked like personalized notes attached as well.

Unable to resist his own curiosity once he spotted it, he grabbed the one that was solely signed by Mina, and proceeded to look it over with notable eagerness: 'Dear Kolya-kun, we've been through quite a lot so far, haven't we? We've had tons of fun, we've gotten in trouble, we've had disagreements, we've laughed, gotten scared and even cried… and I wouldn't trade a single moment of any of the time we've spent together for anything else. We've only really been mutual besties for four months now, good friends for six, and known each other for already nine.

'But in just that short a time, you've become one of my best friends ever, and I hope you know me well enough by now to know I'm not just saying that. I've opened up to you in ways I don't think I actually have before with all my other friends because that's just how much I trust you, with everything I am. I genuinely love spending time with you and just talking to you about anything and everything, and I hope the same can be said for you as well towards me. I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that we'll get to keep having all kinds of fun and exciting adventures and stuff to do together for the rest of our time at Yuuei, and even beyond that.

'With that all being said, I thought (and maybe even hoped a little bit) that this gift wouldn't embarrass you too much. At least it's something you can keep hidden if you feel you really need to. Considering just how some of our friends in class are, I honestly wouldn't blame you if you did.

'Either way, I hope you like the stuff my parents and I sent you. We thought you'd like something to breathe some life into your share of our new home you helped make. Thank you so, so, SO MUCH for that again. You're the most awesome friend ever, of all time, for that!

-Mina'

Nikolay could already feel his vision starting to sting and go blurry with deeply emotional tears with every word he read, just imagining Mina's sweet and bubbly voice speaking each one aloud. There was no doubt in his mind he was going to be saving this letter. Somehow, she just kept finding ways to dig her way deeper and deeper into his mind and heart as his closest friend, and each time he found himself feeling more and more grateful for her being in his life, just like she did for him.

What really got Nikolay choked up beyond comprehension, though, in the peaceful silence of his new dorm room, was that every single one of the packages also had a personalized note attached from all of his closest friends and their parents, and even with the differentiations in wording; in the end, they all pretty much voiced the exact same sentiment:

'THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH AN AMAZING/SPLENDID/AWESOME FRIEND TO US/OUR CHILDREN! WE HOPE YOU'LL/LET'S ALL CONTINUE TO MAKE EACH OTHER HAPPY AND HELP EACH OTHER GROW!'

The tears running down Nikolay's face were of pure gratitude and joy for having so many people now in his life that meant so much to him, and who clearly felt the same way about him. The fact none of his friends had even let out a hint that they had done something like this for him somehow made it all feel that much greater, like they were just waiting to surprise him like this, and see what his reaction would be later on.

He didn't even try to wipe the tears away as they flowed down his face, while he gratefully began to work his way through this assortment of sudden housewarming gifts; all the while solemnly swearing he was going to thank every single one of them for theirs and their families' generosity when dinner time finally came around.

After having worked his fingers to the bone to build this place, and suffering yet another near-miss with expulsion, to have a moment of universal gratitude and kindness waiting for him like this made it all feel so much more worth it.

By the time the boys had all come down to finally eat, nightfall had already come. Nikolay had found the process of unpacking and getting his room all furnished more time consuming than he thought, since he'd wanted everything to be perfect. So as a result, by the time he'd finally gotten back down to the commons floor and gotten his fill of the admittedly exceptional barbecue Eijirou had managed to procure for his classmates, he was downright bushed. It was at least a relief to see he wasn't the only one, as the red-headed boy himself, Hanta, Minoru and Denki similarly looked wiped out.

However, despite that, there was still an undeniable air of eagerness to be felt among them all, knowing they had now officially made the transition to their new homes, and now had the entire class as neighbors. "Well, the circumstances that brought this all about may not have been pretty, but getting to live together like this is pretty exciting, don't you think?" As Denki asked this, there were varying nods of agreement from nearly everyone (and another especially rigid and enthusiastic lecture of the importance of communal living from Tenya), with Nikolay having an especially hopeful smile on his face as he finally took the chance to take in the overall comforting atmosphere of these dorms he had helped painstakingly build.

"You know, at first, I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to look at this place as anything more than just a reminder of all the work that went into it, like I wouldn't be able to relax like you guys. Boy, am I glad that's already not true. I could sleep like a log right now." As he lay back in his spot on the couch, Tenya nearly turned his head on a swivel to address their foreign classmate.

"Frankly speaking, to do so would not be undeserved on yours and Bakugo-san's parts, Bezpalov-san! You've both worked respectfully hard and diligently in making these dorms a reality for all of us! I believe I speak for the whole class when I say we owe you both a great debt of gratitude!" With his exceptionally intense bow (nearly planting his face into the edge of one of the sofas in the process), Nikolay and Bakugo soon found themselves being the recipients of multiple grateful bows from the majority of the other boys as well. However, while Bakugo only let out a dismissive scoff, Nikolay couldn't help but squirm uncomfortably in his seat.

"You guys don't have to do that, seriously. I have no doubt any one of you would have worked just as hard if given the option between helping build something or getting expelled. I just really didn't want to say goodbye to any of you. Besides, right now I should be thanking a lot of you instead. To come in and find so many gift packages from you and your folks waiting for me, helping make my room feel so much more like home, it was honestly really overwhelming… and maybe a bit uncomfortable, since I still haven't met your guys' parents."

While Nikolay began rubbing the back of his head in awkward discomfort, Eijirou had managed to perk up at his words. "Well, that's technically not true, Kolya-san. My folks had actually heard a lot about you and Tunguska-sensei through me long before the teacher visits happened. The way I understand it, that's the way it was with a lot of our parents."

At this, Izuku suddenly gave an enthusiastic nod. "That's right. I can't say if it was indeed the same for everyone, but I'd told my mom for a while about Tunguska-sensei and you; what you'd gone through and how hard you've been working with the rest of us towards becoming a Hero, and how much we got along. Once this dormitory idea came around and she agreed to let me come back, and we found out you were helping build all of them, we both thought it was only right that we give you something to help it all come together, show our gratitude and such."

With this, Eijirou, Denki and Tenya gave likewise nods of agreement, while Nikolay felt his chest fill with that much more gratitude for their generosity. At the same time, Bakugo gave another spiteful scoff while angrily tearing away at the last bit of meat he'd grabbed for himself. "Bunch of favorite-players. I busted my ass just as hard, if not even more so."

However, at the sound of this, Hanta and Denki couldn't help but chime in with those snarky grins on their faces: "Man, what are you talking about; we got you gifts for all your hard work, too! Why do you sound so pissed off about it?" "I thought you'd be super surprised, really. I mean, your attitude is always so abrasive, I wouldn't be surprised if the only gifts you usually get are from your parents on birthdays and Christmas, and even then probably only by obligation."

At this, even though anyone would've easily been able to tell Hanta and Denki were simply kidding around, they were still instantly met with Bakugo smacking them both across the face with that very same piece of barbecue meat all the way from the dining area. "I WASN'T BEING SERIOUS, SOY SAUCE FACE, HALF-WATT! I DON'T NEED SOME SHITTY THANK YOU GIFTS FROM YOU PEOPLE! YOU ALREADY KNOW YOUR ASSES WOULD BE TARGETS RIGHT NOW WITHOUT THIS PLACE, SO ADMITTING THAT MUCH IS GRATITUDE ENOUGH, DAMMIT!"

"Well, if Bakugo's already yelling up a storm, I guess that means you all got your rooms set up now, boys?" The almost musically cheerful sound of Mina's voice calling out drew all the boys' attention, to see she and the rest of the girls (minus Tsuyu for some reason) had finally decided to come down to the commons area after having at last finished setting up their own rooms. There was an exceptionally excited sway to the pink girl's movements, as she had an eager smile on her face.

"Yeah, now we're just relaxing. Go ahead and grab a plate, girls; there's plenty for everyone. You've all been gone for so long; I'll bet you must be just as tired as us." Denki invited the girls, while Nikolay and Eijirou were already on the move to put together respective plates for their newly arrived female companions, while at the same time they instinctively felt a sense of apprehension build in their stomachs. When Mina had a smile like that, there was always a very specific reason, and the fact that Ochako even looked nearly as excited left them both especially wary what the girls could be cooking up.

"Maybe in a little while, Kaminari-kun. So, y'know, we've all been talking, aaaand… we've got a suggestion! Let's have a room showcasing competition! How about it?!" The moment those words suddenly exited Mina's mouth without warning, the whole common area went deathly silent, and Nikolay instantly froze, as he and all the boys needed the moment to process exactly what she and the other girls were clearly suggesting.

"Pfft, that's stupid." Bakugo muttered mostly to himself; while at the same time, Nikolay nearly felt his heart recede into his stomach once he started hearing utterances of agreement from several of the other boys, eventually including Eijirou as well.

"AWESOME! This is gonna be so cool, you guys!" The moment Mina began jumping up and down in cheer alongside Ochako that this was actually going to happen, Nikolay nearly launched himself across the common area, running like the devil was on his heels for the stairs.

"NONONONONO, NOTYETNOTYETNOTYET!" This was all Nikolay could scream out in his blind panic, with his words suddenly being nearly echoed by a similarly panicked Izuku, who was surprisingly rushing right alongside him. Both boys kept nearly screaming for everyone else to wait, even though it was already too late for Izuku, and the whole gathered bunch of their classmates was already eagerly following after him to his second floor dorm room.

Nikolay, unfortunately, couldn't even begin to stop and partake with the others, for there was something in his room he couldn't dare to risk anyone else from class seeing that he didn't want to. He'd managed to make the trip from the commons area all the way to his room on the fourth floor in what had to be some kind of record, as he nearly dove across his room from the door for his bed, grabbing the one thing sitting in clear view on the nightstand next to it, and hurriedly jamming it underneath his pillow, where no one could possibly be at risk of finding it.

With the heaviest sigh of relief, and once his heart stopped feeling like it was going to explode, Nikolay rushed back down to the second floor, trying to get rid of the last bit of frigid sweat from his brow and not look nearly so panicked.

Of course, such effort was for not, as when he finally stepped around the corner (just in time to find Mina and Tooru pushing a stubbornly stiff Fumikage out from in front of his own door), his return had gotten the attention of both girls and the rest of the approaching students, with Bakugo stubbornly forcing his way past all of them and into the elevator.

"There you are, Kolya-kun! I was starting to think you weren't gonna want to join in! You didn't have something to hide, did you?" Mina exclaimed happily to see him return before putting on a sly and teasing grin (making Nikolay instinctively flinch with nervousness that she knew what he must have panicked over), while she and Tooru were already in the process of forcing their way into a seething Fumikage's room.

As Nikolay quickly rejoined the rest of his classmates, he was hurriedly approached by Kyouka, who decided to give him the rapid-fire rundown of Izuku's room, so far the only one they had managed to see, which to nobody's surprise, had been filled from top to bottom with All Might memorabilia. Already, the young Russian was finding himself regretting having missed out on even that much.

Upon stepping into Fumikage's room, though, Nikolay and the others were instantly met with an overwhelming abundance of darkness, almost as though the crow-headed boy had already made a point of boarding the windows shut and removing all the electrical wiring so no light could get in. On top of that, the whole room was furnished and decorated with an incomprehensible number of grim and macabre decorations, from swords to gothic-looking jewelry, to even candles on fake skulls.

"What the hell kind of room is this?! It's too damn dark, and too damn scary!" Rikido and Hanta both exclaimed from within the crowd, while Nikolay, Izuku, Eijirou, Mina and Ochako were the only ones brave enough to step in further to get a better look.

"You bastards…" Fumikage muttered angrily to himself, keeping his back to all of his classmates, looking as though he were about to straight-up attack them at a moment's notice. Of course, nobody among them was any the wiser, as they were all simply too taken by the assortment of cool knick-knacks their exceptionally quiet classmate clearly had a taste for.

"Wow, so this is the kind of stuff boys are into, huh?" Mina asked in surprise to herself as she took it all in, while Izuku and Eijirou were looking over the different medieval weapons and jewelry respectfully. Nikolay and Ochako, all the while, couldn't help but marvel at some of the other gothic decorations, from the skulls to what even looked like a fancy mirror and a crystal ball.

"This is all really cool, Tokoyami-san! Where on earth did you get all of this stuff?" Nikolay made no attempt to hide his own approving fascination, while Ochako had the most childlike smile on her face when looking into the crystal ball. "This place would be amazing for Halloween parties and stuff, Fumikage-san! Do you like horror movies, too? That would be so atmospheric and fun in here, don't you think?"

In response to the two's mutual positive feedback, the slightest sound of what sounded like a happy chirp suddenly emanated from the tiny head of Dark Shadow, as it started to materialize from Fumikage's shoulder. With lightning fast reflexes, the crow-headed boy quickly smacked his hand down on his shoulder to quiet the creature down and let out an ice cold proclamation of "GET THE HELL OUT!"

From there it was a beeline straight to the next door, Yuga Aoyama's room, and the twinkly-eyed blonde boy couldn't have been more proud of his setup, as he struck the most elegant and victorious of poses once he opened the door, causing a huge burst of light to meet all his classmates, causing nearly half of them to flinch in shock. "GAH, IT'S TOO DAMN BRIGHT!" Denki exclaimed in particular before they could all finally see the interior itself.

"Non, non, it is not bright. It is… DAZZLING!" Yuga proclaimed as suavely as he could, while everyone else looked in silent awe at the pristine, and especially light, setup of his room; complete with a disco ball on the ceiling and a table below, studio lights, crystals, an immaculate portrait… of himself in his Hero costume, and even an authentic medieval European suit of armor.

Nikolay would have let out an admittedly impressed whistle if he'd known how to, while Mina and Tooru were the first ones to step further inside to get a better look. Both girls were shockingly silent as they took in how sparkly and pretty everything inside was. The typical sharp grin on Yuga's face looked all but assured that he was the shoo-in for the best first impression… only for both girls to soon turn right back around with not a single step out of sync. "It's exactly what I expected." "Right? Me too. It fits Aoyama-kun to a 'T'."

As everyone soon filed out, now even Ochako was squirming with excitement. "Wow, this is actually proving a lot more fun than I expected! Last room on this floor should be…"

The moment Ochako's words died in her throat, every one of the girls suddenly took on the very same look of mutual dread, and it didn't take long for many of the boys to feel the same, too, as their eyes all drifted to the opposite end of the hall, where the last remaining door slowly creaked open, and the diminutive grape-headed form of a saucer-eyed Minoru peeked out, ushering them all forward with a hooked finger; his entire body trembling with anticipation. "Come on in… I'll show you all something… AMAZING."

Nikolay couldn't even think for a moment how quick that boy had managed to vanish from sight in order to get whatever unholy setup in his room ready that he had in mind. It was clearly the same for everyone else, as without even missing a beat, the girls instantly turned for the stairwell, with him and the rest of the class eagerly following suit for the third floor, leaving the once anxious Minoru alone in his doorway, letting out a feeble "Where are you all going? Come back," in their wake.

Upon reaching the third floor and going for the first room in line, the one belonging to Mashirao Ojiro, Nikolay was honestly kind of excited to see what their tailed blonde classmate had in terms of interior design taste. Fumikage, Yuga and, from the sounds of it, Izuku had been so over-the-top in their own ways, he could only imagine. Given his clear martial arts background, he was half-expecting a room that looked like a live-in dojo.

That was why it still somehow managed to hit hard for him and the others when they walked in one of the most plain-looking dorm rooms imaginable. Nikolay honestly couldn't help but even feel the tiniest bit sorry for Mashirao, and clearly so did everyone else, as they all tried to really compliment him for having such simple taste, only for him to say they didn't have to go so far to make him feel better.

From there, it was on to Tenya's room, which their class president was thankfully more than happy to welcome them into. Once he opened the door and ushered all inside, Nikolay had to admit he had no idea what he was expecting, but the fact that everything was straight and organized to a borderline OCD complex-level was definitely appropriate. The most outlandish thing out of the entirety of his room was a line of shelves carrying nothing but varying pairs of glasses.

It felt so much like something straight out of a cartoon, it couldn't help but make Nikolay, Ochako and Mina laugh, even despite Tenya's rigid attempt to try and justify such a bizarre décor choice. So rigid, in fact, that even as he kept talking while following everyone else out, he failed to notice that the two girls had even snagged a pair for themselves just for kicks, as well as Mina even grabbing a third pair and slipping them onto Nikolay's face from behind when he was least expecting it.

"Aw, you look so cute in glasses like those, Kolya-kun! You almost look like you could be Iida-san's long-lost Russian brother!" Mina teased with an outright adoring ring to her voice once Nikolay's vision had thankfully managed to adjust to seeing through a pair of Tenya's glasses. 'Thank goodness Iida-san clearly doesn't wear prescriptions.'

Of course, he could only think that for so long before finding himself momentarily stricken dumb by just how heart-stoppingly cute Mina likewise looked in glasses too. Whether she was just as aware of that and was simply waiting for him to work up the courage to say something, or if she was simply taking it all in moment by moment and leaving him in his own thoughts unknowingly, he couldn't guess.

All he knew as he finally started to follow after the others again, was that he wasn't going to be able to get that image out of his head for a while. He had been finding himself thinking that way on the subject of Mina a lot lately.

Finally, it was time for them all to check out Denki's room, and the blonde sparkplug was clearly eager to hear the resultant praise as he opened the door. The place was definitely a lot more decorative and imbued with that typical teenage atmosphere than Mashirao and Tenya's rooms… almost to a detriment, in fact. There seemed to be little rhyme or reason to the decorations or items he had set up all around. Even Nikolay couldn't hope to keep such an observation to himself once he saw all the posters, dartboards, boots and other such scattershot belongings Denki had used for decorating: "I don't know how you did it, Kaminari-san… but this place almost feels like too much!"

"It almost feels like he just threw together whatever he could get his hands on." Eijirou stated in agreement, leaving Denki with that same confident smile on his face, but a noticeable embarrassed realization in his eyes. "Seriously? I… I thought it actually looked pretty good by the end."

From there, it was straight to the visibly nervous Kouji's room, and from the moment the rocky-faced boy had reluctantly opened his door to his classmates, the entire class was instantly met with a deafening squeal from Ochako and Mina all at once of: "AWWWWW! HE'S GOT A BUNNY! SO CUUUTE!"

Indeed, everything else about Kouji Kouda's dorm room was about as average as Mashirao and Tenya's had been, save for the fact that he had a single fully grown white rabbit sitting attentively in the middle, upon which the two girls had instantly crowded around to start poking at its fuzzy cheeks and pet its ears.

While Mina and Ochako were continuing to fawn over his lupine roommate, Kouji was only barely able to manage the faintest of embarrassed smiles once he realized Denki was giving him an especially cheated-looking glare. "Dude, you actually brought a pet? No fair, man, that's gotta be cheating!"

"I-I'm sorry, everyone. I found him injured a couple days ago, and he wasn't ready to go back out into the wild by the time we were supposed to come here, so I d-didn't really have a choice." Kouji tried to explain himself, while everyone else was simply taking in the quaint comforting atmosphere of his room, and Nikolay had an approving smile on his face, even despite Tenya hurriedly snatching his glasses from the Slavic boy's face.

"You don't have to apologize, Kouda-san. The fact you went to that kind of effort instead of simply leaving it be to save yourself the trouble is really cool of you." It was a simple compliment, but it was still enough to have Kouji smiling bashfully to himself, not used to being the center of even one other person's attention, let alone an entire class worth.

"I'm not satisfied…" Denki suddenly muttered darkly to himself, and soon Nikolay and Izuku alike could hear the same utterances coming from Mashirao, Fumikage and Yuga as well; all four of their faces suddenly reflecting a very serious and grim demeanor.

"Isn't it a bit odd that so far it's only been the boys that have had to endure criticisms of their rooms?" The sudden trembling voice of an especially intense-looking Minoru further broke the silence, as soon all eyes were upon him, while his now beady eyes were focused squarely on all the girls. "You all said that this was supposed to be a competition, didn't you? So it obviously goes without saying… that we can't fairly decide on a winner until we've gotten to see the girls' rooms too, right? In order to determine who's got the best interior design sense in the whole class, we must evaluate each and every room equally, with all members present, don't you think?!"

The air had suddenly grown so much heavier, as Minoru's accusatory finger had now set a very serious air among all the girls now, as though they were actually being genuinely challenged by such words.

Sensing the growing tension in the air, Nikolay couldn't help but intervene: "Don't you think that's going too far, Mineta-san? I mean, a girl's room is practically a sacred place, even someone like you should know that."

"Okay, why not?" With a sudden clap of her hands and another beaming smile, Mina had suddenly accepted Minoru's declaration, to her fellow girls' and Nikolay's mutual shock, and Minoru, Denki and Hantas' mutual anticipation, and the other boys' general apathy to the sheer awkwardness of such a thing.

Seeing the dumbfounded look in Nikolay's green eyes had Mina trying to force a hearty laugh back down her throat as she started playfully poking at his cheek to try and get him to smile again. "Aw, c'mon, Kolya-kun! That's really sweet of you to consider us girls' privacy, but Mineta's right; this competition can't possibly be called fair if we only get to see you boys' rooms. You guys should get to see ours, too! Then we'll get to decide who the real Room King of Class 1-A is! Now c'mon, the sooner we get through the rest of yours, the sooner you can see your butts get royally whooped by a real sense of style!"

Again, with the exception of Minoru, Denki, Mashirao, Fumikage and Yuga, all the other boys except Nikolay looked as though they were simply being dragged along with nothing better to do, and clearly weren't taking it nearly as seriously. At the same time, Kyouka was looking especially nervous about having any of the boys see whatever she had in her room. Nikolay, all the while, couldn't stop feeling immensely uncomfortable at the idea of such an intrusion, even if he could just barely imagine Minoru's real motives for insisting on seeing the girls' rooms.

From there, with no other argument, it was now up to the fourth floor, much to Nikolay's quickly growing anxiety, especially when Ochako clearly showed the kind of attention she was paying once they stepped out of the stairwell: "Okay, so this floor is Shouji-san, Kirishima-san, Bakugo-san and Kolya-san's rooms, right?"

"That's right, where is Bakugo-san, as a matter of fact? It's only right that all members of Class A should participate in such an event as this!" Tenya loudly agreed, much to the silent annoyance of the others, now that the late hours were starting to wear on some.

"Haven't seen him since this whole thing got started. I guess he really meant it when he said he thought it was stupid. Oh well, guess he'll just have to be excluded from the final grading." Eijirou realized with a defeated shrug as he made his way for the door to his own room.

"Well, it's his loss, I guess! C'mon, onward to Kirishima-kun's room!" Tooru exclaimed excitedly as she and Mina once again took the leading charge, with the rest of the class loyally following in their footsteps while Eijirou made his way inside.

"Don't get too excited, though. It's not really the kind of room that would appeal to you girls." Eijirou forewarned before flipping on the lights. "DUE TO THE SHEER MANLINESS OF MY BADASS ROOM, THAT IS!"

Nikolay, Izuku and Denki all couldn't help but vocally exclaim their mutual surprise at the setup of Eijirou's room. This was definitely more in line with what the Russian boy had envisioned for Mashirao's room, as the walls were bedecked with martial arts movie posters, and even some western action movie ones as well, to say nothing of the assortment of weights, a massive punching bag, and multiple action figures and manga lining his desk.

"Well, you're definitely right about the 'not appealing to girls' part, Kiri." Mina bluntly stated the moment she saw everything, leaving the red-haired boy with a visibly shocked look in his eyes that he wasn't getting showered with compliments for his taste.

Not helping was the fact that Tooru was even clearly crossing her arms in similarly stern disapproval, based on how her short sleeves were crossed. "I'd definitely rank this as Number Two on my 'I'd Never Want Someone With a Room Like This As My Boyfriend' list."

At the same time, however, Ochako's reaction was far more positive, as she just had the most amused smile on her rosy-cheeked face. "Your room's burning hot, Kirishima-san! Suffocatingly hot, even!"

At this, the look of indignation on Eijirou's face had started to turn into a teary-eyed smile of appreciation as he quickly began wiping at his eyes. "You see, guys? Uraraka-san totally gets it!"

While everyone else continued to peruse around the definition of a 'man cave' that was Eijirou's room, at least as far as Nikolay had come to understand that term; the young Russian soon came to a screeching halt when his wandering eyes spotted something in particular mounted on the wall just in front of the punching bag. "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Nearly all the other students practically jumped at the sound of their foreign classmate suddenly shouting so loudly, but before any of them could even ask, they were met with the sight of Nikolay studiously looking over what looked like a rather old and faded poster, even going so far as to feel at the paper of it with his fingers to judge the age and texture of it. The fact he resembled some kind of archeologist or cryptographer would've almost made Mina and Kyouka start giggling, until it quickly became clear just what it was a poster of:

A much more bodybuilder-esque manly form in an unmistakable Hero suit of white, gold and red; piercing blue eyes peering out from a red eye mask awash in a warm golden glow; a chiseled and cleanly shaven face with a square jaw and a grin that showed all the confidence in the world, and a head of short, neatly trimmed light brown hair, with a golden disk glowing bright behind it, and a single triumphant red-gloved hand pointing directly to the sky, and with all the empty space awash in (for them) indiscernible Cyrillic text.

This was some kind of vintage poster of a much younger Tunguska!

"Kirishima-san… h-how… how the hell did you get your hands on one of these? This is… t-this is from way back in Dads' peak of popularity back home! Everything like this was destroyed after the Siberian Flash and the new government took over! The paper's the right age, too; this is genuine! Where did you get this?!"

Nikolay was almost sounding like an envious kid the day after Christmas, while Eijirou had a similarly glowing fanboy look on his face, almost perfectly mirrored by the smile on Ochako's face to see it herself.

"Oh, well, after our dads met during the teacher visits, he decided to track one down for me, since he knew how much I've really come to admire Tunguska-sensei. He found a real one being sold by some kind of Russian Hero merch collector in… Slovakia, the Czech Republic, somewhere like that? Anyway, he managed to actually get it for me in preparation for when we'd move here. Really good condition, isn't it?"

Before either Nikolay or Ochako could answer him enthusiastically, Mina hurriedly stepped in, ushering the three along. "Alright, you three can all go fan-crazy for sensei later, but we got more rooms to check out, remember? Shouji-san, you're next, right?!"

"Well, yes, but I'll just let you all know I don't really have anything that interesting." With Mezo giving the most blunt and straightforward answer imaginable, he proceeded to open up and usher everyone inside… only to be met with the most barren room yet, adorned with literally nothing but an unopened futon, a writing desk and a pillow.

"WHAT THE HECK?! MORE LIKE YOU'VE GOT NOTHING, PERIOD!" Mina exclaimed in disbelief, while everyone else could only look upon Mezo's empty room with clear-as-day pity.

"Wow… I think we can all agree we owe Ojiro-san an apology for calling his room bland." Denki commented, not even trying to spin it as a joke, while everyone else muttered mutual agreement, to which Mezo seemed to give no visible reaction or care either way. "I told you. I've never really needed much to be comfortable like you apparently do."

As they all just as quickly stepped back out into the hall, the sound of Mezo's door clicking shut triggered a sudden mood change in Mina and Nikolay; switching to through-the-roof excitement and pale-faced nervousness respectively. "Well, if Bakugo doesn't want to play along, then that means it's Kolya-kun's turn now!"

Nikolay could feel his scalp once again burning as all eyes in the hall fell on him, and he nervously inched towards his door, knowing there was no way he could convince them to give him a pass, especially after he had royally freaked out and run for his room at the start. "Okay… m-my room… it isn't as thoroughly decorated or themed like Kirishima-san or Tokoyami-san's rooms… and I don't think it has much that would appeal to girls, either. So… here it is."

Holding in a desperate and anxious breath, Nikolay finally opened the door and quickly stepped inside, ushering all his classmates inside as well. What they all walked into earned a multitude of thankfully subdued but clearly impressed "Wows" from his classmates.

Nikolay Bezpalov's dorm room was adorned, much like Eijirou's, with an assortment of multiple movie posters all over the walls, all in Cyrillic, along with a sizeable wall-mounted cutout of All Might; an intricately carved nightstand next to his bed with a single reading lamp and a potted pink flower sitting atop it; and mounted on the upper corner of the room his bed was tucked against was another artistically carved couple of shelves carrying a number of small and old framed family photos, and what they all now recognized as the repaired figurine of his mother.

The bed itself looked to be wrapped up in especially comfortable-looking flannel sheets, all lying underneath a couple of really thick and fluffy fur blankets.

Lining the wall between his bed and the opposite corner was a couple of short-stacked cabinets displaying a multitude of books in one, and vinyl records in the other, while sitting on top of the whole setup was a single modern-looking record player.

And standing tall against the opposite wall was a multi-shelved cabinet with a staggering amount of movies lining its face, with a multitude of stickers lining its edges, identifying every section by country and alphabetical order.

And standing where a dresser normally would be, as was the case with everyone elses' rooms thus far, instead stood a large unfolded projection screen, and standing comfortably in front of it in the middle of the room was what looked like an old-timey film projector. And to wrap it all together to complete the rustic comfort its atmosphere just seemed to give off, the small refrigerator had a single burning scented candle sitting atop it.

"I-I know it's not really much to look at, again, compared to some of the others. I would've put up some kind of wallpaper to make it look more like a log cabin, give it a more nostalgic Russian taste, but I thought that would take too long, and—

"WHOA! ARE THESE BLANKETS REAL FUR?!" Mina exclaimed, effectively cutting Nikolay off as she suddenly rushed right for his bed, excitedly running her hands along the fur blankets; almost instantly shivering in delight at the touch before suddenly throwing herself right on top, rolling around on it like a cat in a spot of sunlight. "OH, WOW, THESE ARE SOOOO COMFY! THIS WHOLE ROOM JUST OOZES RUSTIC COMFORT!"

"Hey, don't hog it all, I wanna get a feel too, Mina-chan!" Tooru quickly followed suit, practically diving right next to Mina and likewise squirming and rolling around in delight, only to ultimately be joined by Ochako and Kyouka as well, unable to resist the excitement of the moment.

Nikolay felt like he could die with awkward embarrassment as he tried and failed to work up the courage to ask the four girls to get off his bed and stop ruining the setup, constantly feeling his heart skip a beat every time one of them was at risk of knocking his pillow over and uncovering what he'd so desperately tried to hide under it.

All the while, he could feel the death stares of Minoru, Denki and Hanta drilling into his back all at once. "Hey, don't get mad at me, I didn't ask them to do this!"

"LADIES, ALL OF YOU PLEASE CEASE THIS CHILDISH DISPLAY! HAVE YOU NO RESPECT FOR THE SANCTITY OF YOUR FELLOW'S SPACE?!" Tenya suddenly boomed with authority, thankfully spurring the four girls to quickly retreat from off of Nikolay's bed, before stepping in and swiftly remaking it himself. "My apologies, Bezpalov-san. You may continue."

Before Nikolay could thank Tenya for his assistance and continue showcasing his room, Denki suddenly stepped forward, looking the projector in the middle of the room over. "When the hell did you manage to get a relic like this?"

"Actually, that was a personal gift from me and my parents. It's not an authentic projector, but just a regular player made to resemble one for aesthetic purposes." Momo suddenly admitted, snapping everyone but Nikolay to full attention, while the ponytail-wearing girl looked exceptionally bashful. "Over the course of the semester, as I had told my parents about all of you, I had likewise mentioned how Bezpalov-san is an avid film enthusiast. After the teacher visits and learning he was helping to build these dorms alongside Bakugo-san for us, we thought such a personal gift was only right to show our appreciation, not only for his work, but also for simply being a good friend and classmate, in light of everything he and Tunguska-sensei had gone through."

Many of the other students looked especially surprised that their vice president had gone to such a length for him, before Izuku suddenly spoke up as well: "Actually, my mom and I had the same general idea. That's why we gave him that All Might cutout over there. I know it isn't exactly much, but it was too big for my room back home with everything else I had, and I wanted him to have something."

Soon, more and more of Nikolay's classmates were starting to speak up their contributions to putting the room together as well, starting with Eijirou: "Yeah, and my grandpa had a whole ton of movies he'd collected over the years from all over the place, and I just thought it was only right a portion of 'em go to somebody who'd really appreciate them!"

Then Denki: "Yeah, and I lucked out finding a site that sold old foreign posters on the cheap, so I thought it'd help breathe some personality in here!"

Then Tooru: "And those scented candles sounded like they'd have such a pretty scent, I thought it would be okay to give at least one of them away to everybody. I'm surprised none of you put up the ones I sent you too, already!"

Then Kyouka: "And the records and the record player were all hand-me-downs from my parents' collection, and since you still have so much music to discover, this sounded like the perfect chance to just let you venture at your own leisure, y'know?"

Then Tenya: "And no living space is complete without a healthy assortment of well-regarded literature, if I may say so. There's some homegrown material I'm certain you're more than familiar with, but we were able to find other noteworthy selections of both Japanese and other European origins we felt perhaps you would appreciate."

And finally, Mina: "And that cute little flower over there was personally from my Mom's garden! They smell so nice; we thought it would really help freshen the air in here for you, Kolya-kun! Good thinking putting it right next to where you sleep, too!"

As the air among them all seemed to brighten more and more with each person that admitted their own contributions to helping their foreign classmate's dorm room come together, Nikolay's mouth had the most emotional smile adorning it, while his eyes couldn't help but stay glued to the floor out of shame. "I can't thank you all enough for going so far out of your way just to make this happen. I know you all probably don't want me to, but I can't help but feel terrible I didn't even think of doing the same thing for all of you, after you've all been there for me this long."

"They all gave you housewarming gifts, and you and Bakugo built us all a house to even justify such a thing to begin with. You've given us all enough just by doing that." Shoto suddenly stated with all the bluntness, but none of the bite, to which Nikolay could see many of the others were of the same mind; their own kinds of gratitude visible in their eyes as well, as many began to finally voice their thanks.

By the time it was clear he had finally ridden through the latest of his moments of emotional fragility, Nikolay's eyes now reflected the same kind of gratitude as his smile. "Spasibo. Bol'shoe vam vsem spasibo (Thank you. Thank you all so much)." Thankfully, by this point, most of his classmates had come to recognize these specific Russian words without any problem, and hence were able to respond in kind with supportive handshakes, bows and hands upon his shoulders.

"Hey, speaking of making this place feel like a home, I've got an idea!" Mina suddenly exclaimed, clapping her hands together with another blindingly bright smile to get everyone's attention. "Since we're all gonna be living under the same roof from now on, there's no reason we can't still be able to have fun on our downtime, or at the very least just be able to relax after a long week of working hard, right? Since Kolya-kun's got this fancy projector and a screen to go with it, and a library big enough to clearly last us a while, what do you all say to us taking this stuff down to the commons floor and having some kind of movie night whenever? It could be like our own personal class movie theater!"

Nikolay, once more, couldn't believe how out of her way Mina was going to try and get them all in on his own personal hobby, but just as he was about to suggest she didn't have to do so, the room was soon echoing with the utterances of "Hell yeah, beats lying around doing nothing on a weekend;" "Would selections be judged by a class tally?" "I suppose it could serve as a pleasant substitute to the real thing, in case we can't leave the campus," and other such comments of friendly support and acceptance of such a sudden idea.

The smile on Mina's beaming pink face paled in comparison to the deeply touched and grateful smile on Nikolay's; utterly shocked to hear so many of his classmates actually showing an openness to partaking in something he held to be such a personal pastime of his. In a way, it made the overall familial sensation he got from all his classmates feel that much stronger.

"Well, with that idea all set in stone; it's up to the fifth floor!" Ochako suddenly announced with an enthusiasm second only to Mina's, as the entirety of the class began to make their way for the elevator or stairs again… that is, all except for Nikolay himself, which many were quick to notice, with Izuku asking: "Aren't you gonna come with us, Kolya-san? I mean, if you're too tired, I can't say I'd blame you."

"No, no, it's not that. I just need to make sure of something in here first. You all go ahead; I'll catch up real soon." Thankfully, this brief explanation on his part seemed to put everyone else's minds at ease, as they all began to make their way up to the fifth and final floor, while none of them were any wiser to the knowing smirk on Mina's face, having overheard Nikolay's last-minute answer, and having some inkling of an idea just what he was up to, based on his behavior at the very start.

As soon as he was certain he'd heard the last of his classmates' footsteps ascending to the fifth floor, Nikolay hurried over to his bed, making sure everything had been laid out flat the way he'd originally wanted it thanks to Tenya. The others could call it obsessive if they wanted, but dammit all, if this was to be his personal piece of the whole building, he at least wanted everything to be to his specifications.

As he looked his bed over, his nose was quick to catch a lingering and unmistakable fruity scent just barely wafting from the furry blankets. Considering that, at the start of this whole room showcase fiasco, the girls had all clearly looked freshened up when they'd arrived, it didn't take a genius for him to realize where this normally pleasant scent had come from. 'Aw man, because of Mina rolling all over it, the whole thing smells like strawberries now!'

Of course, he couldn't rightly say if he could consider this temporary change to be a good thing or a bad thing. Right now, there was one other thing that was pressing on his mind much more.

Digging underneath his pillow, his fingers soon felt the cold touch of something flat and metal, and with a sigh of immense relief, he quickly pulled out his more personal gift from Mina he had read the note for earlier, separate from the house plant she and her parents had given him.

Sitting in his hand was a casual-looking circular silver locket with the words 'Best Friends Forever' engraved on its face in the tiniest kanji characters he'd ever seen. Unable to resist in the peaceful solitude of this moment, Nikolay proceeded to hit the little button lining its bottom edge, causing the locket to open with a resounding click, and inside was a tiny copy of the photo of him and Mina back inside that department store photo booth, with her wrapping her arms over his shoulders and rubbing her cheek to his, with both of them having the biggest smiles on their faces.

With a nervous lump building in his throat, however, Nikolay couldn't resist the deeply hidden urge to suddenly pull at the rim of the framed picture, causing it to suddenly disconnect from the inlay of the locket itself, now standing tall between both ends like a page in a book.

Without another word, Nikolay pushed his thumb to one edge of the framed picture, causing it to turn on a swivel at its top and bottom edges, flipping the picture over until the other side now stood in its place: that fateful photo that had come afterward, of Mina holding Nikolay's chin in her fingertips and kissing him on the cheek for the very first time.

As he set the frame back into the inlay of the locket, securing it, Nikolay once more found his mind racing the longer he looked. That was easily, in retrospect, one of the happiest moments of his life, but he still couldn't help but wonder why Mina would think to give him something this elaborate, without even knowing how he would feel about it. Was this just some multi-layered means of her somehow teasing him, or was there some kind of deeper meaning he was just too dense to figure out?

He had no idea, but what really had him racking his brain lately, was that not only had he found himself really thinking about Mina a lot these days, far more so than he already did before (which was really saying something), but this picture that had once left him a flustered mess if he even so much as glanced at it on his phone, now had rooted a place into his heart that had him looking upon it without embarrassment… but a very serious contemplation he'd still been struggling to really put his finger on.

"Kolya-san, do you have a minute?" Eijirou's voice suddenly broke the silence without even the preemptive warning of a knock or the door opening, causing Nikolay to nearly launch himself head-first into the ceiling with surprise and send the locket flying across the room from his grasp, all before he came collapsing down to the floor, still writhing in heart-racing shock, while Eijirou hurried over the moment he saw his friend tumble so hard.

"Oh crap, sorry, man! Didn't mean to scare you, but your door was still open." As he helped Nikolay back to his feet, and the Russian boy was still in the middle of trying to keep his heart from exploding, Eijirou's curious eyes drifted to the little silver memento he had barely glimpsed fly from his hand, dutifully walking over to return it. "Anyway, I didn't want to ask in front of everybody, especially Uraraka-san, but I just couldn't not ask if you might've known if Tunguska-sensei got his new ar—HOLY SHIT!"

The moment Nikolay heard Eijirou's voice echo all over his room, he simultaneously felt his heart stop at the idea that the others up above could hear him and would come rushing down to investigate; and his blood ignite with shock at the undeniable knowledge that Eijirou had just seen what was inside that open locket as it lay in his hand for all to see.

Before Nikolay could even begin to move to shut the door so nobody else could hear, he suddenly found himself being rushed by a red blur, before just as quickly finding himself seated right back on his bed. Nikolay's instincts were telling him to brace himself for the brunt of Eijirou's protective-old-friend class of anger… but instead, upon opening his eyes, he was instead met with the sight of Eijirou Kirishima wearing probably the most excited sharp-toothed smile yet, holding the open locket in his hand for Nikolay to see. "DUDE, WHEN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?!"

Now that his heart wasn't as much at risk of bursting with anxiety and fear, Nikolay could now hear that the volume in Eijirou's voice wasn't brimming with anger like he'd instinctively thought, but that same kind of eager excitement he usually spoke with whenever he was the center of Tunguska's attention. To say this was the last reaction Nikolay expected, even from someone as universally friendly as Eijirou Kirishima, was a vast understatement.

Unfortunately, with circumstances being what they were, he knew there was no way in hell he could talk himself out of explaining everything now, and so it was with the heaviest of defeated sighs, that he silently moved from his bed and quickly shut and locked the door, just to ensure no other uninvited classmates would come barging in on the single most uncomfortable situation he'd found himself in to date.

Sitting himself back down on his bed and burying his face in his hands, Nikolay finally gave Eijirou the answer: "It was back during the first day you and the others showed up at my house for my Dad's surrogate internship training, that day after the Sports Festival when I said Mina and I had spent the day together."

At the reminder of that specific day, Eijirou's eyes somehow managed to get even wider with his own sense of realization. "Whoa… oh, man, does that mean Hagakure-san was actually right?! You and Ashido really were on a date?! Aw, man, why didn't you just tell us the truth then?!"

"Because it wasn't a date, I wasn't lying then!" Nikolay just as quickly exclaimed; his own voice now tinged with clear confusion. By this point, Eijirou decided to even the playing field between them and do away with the awkwardness, sitting beside his forlorn-looking Russian friend. "We were at that department store where Midoriya-san and I… well, you know. But anyway, Mina found this photo booth, and since it was the first time we'd really hung out together, she wanted us to get our pictures taken to remember it all by. It was all going smooth, but then at the last picture, she did… well, that out of freaking nowhere! What's more, once it was over, I asked her why, and of course she gave me a total non-answer, saying it was up to me to figure it out. For the longest time, I just decided to write it off as just typical Mina teasing."

Nikolay figured that was just about the end of it; hence why he was taken aback when Eijirou answered with exceptional intensity on his energized face: "Oh, no way, dude! This… this is not just typical Ashido-style teasing! Trust me, I've been teased by her relentlessly over the last four years we've known each other, and not once have I ever heard or seen her do anything remotely close to something like this. This right here… this is something way more serious, Kolya-san, and you two need to acknowledge it, for real."

The further he spoke, the more volume Eijirou was applying to his voice, clearly unable to hide his excitement at what this possibly could've meant for his two friends, but Nikolay wasn't nearly as eager, as he swiftly slapped his hand to the red-haired boy's mouth; his green eyes watching the ceiling intently. Once he was assured there were no footsteps approaching the stairs, he slowly removed his hand with a heavy sigh. "Please, try to keep it down, Kirishima-san. Even if the door's locked, I don't want to risk the others overhearing us; especially Kaminari-san and Mineta-san. I mean, they've been pestering you and I about things with Mina the most; if they found out about this… oh God, you know none of us would ever hear the end of it; and if the other girls ever found out, I can't say how, but I imagine it would somehow make it even worse."

At first, Eijirou still looked like he had half a mind to keep arguing against Nikolay's frankly paranoid sense of caution, but the more he thought about it, the more Nikolay could see he was starting to understand. Finally, he gave a heavy sigh of his own while still looking at the personal picture in the locket.

"Okay… yeah, that's understandable. Those guys do really seem to like just rolling with whatever's in their heads, no matter what anybody else says. I mean, seriously, how many times have I tried to make it crystal clear to those clowns that I just don't feel that way about Ashido, and she clearly is the same way visa versa?

"But, all that aside, Kolya-san; the fact that she did something like this with you, and; from the way you describe it; completely on impulse? I don't know about you, but to me, that's as obvious a sign as ever that she clearly feels way more for you than she's telling anyone. Ashido wears her heart on her sleeve like nobody's business, we all know that by now, but this is on a whole other level, man. I mean, hell, it's actually been pretty damn obvious to me that there's definitely been something building between you two for a while now; something that goes even further than these crazy strong bonds of friendship between all of us and the whole class. Honestly, I was convinced it was just gonna be a matter of time before one of you eventually cracked and did something, and you finally answered that question for me."

Nikolay couldn't help but feel a whole surge of humiliation, listening to Eijirou talk about how obvious either he or Mina were apparently being in the eyes of even one of their classmates; but a soft and compassionate hand on his shoulder forced him to look and see the genuine sharp-toothed smile on Eijirou's face. "Dude, none of that mopey look, okay? This whole thing right here, this is a good thing, seriously. I'm happy for you guys. Frankly, I think you and Ashido are friggin' awesome for each other."

Common sense was telling Nikolay he should have been thanking Eijirou for even saying that much, period. However, he simply could not hide that continuously worried look on his face as he took in everything his friend was saying. "That's just it, though, Kirishima-san: Mina and I aren't an actual couple… or, at least, I don't think we are. I always thought couples were open about that kind of thing with each other."

Eijirou watched Nikolay's body language inquisitively as he immediately asked: "Well, I'd think that would be easy to figure out. I mean, you like Ashido, right?"

The fact Eijirou even felt the need to ask had Nikolay looking at the redhead incredulously: "After all this time, you're seriously asking me that? Of course I like her; I like all of my friends, just as much as she clearly likes all of hers."

This time, Eijirou was the one giving the stern look in response: "You know that's not what I meant, Kolya-san. I mean, do you… well, you know… like her, like her?"

And with that oddly worded but unmistakable question, Nikolay once again felt all the tension in his body flow out as he collapsed in exasperation onto his bed; a defeated expression all over his face as he stared up at the ceiling. "I… I don't know. I'm three years into puberty, and I never took the time before to ever really notice girls. But ever since I came here, and ever since Mina and I really became friends, and I've started becoming friends with all the other girls in class, it's like all of that lost time has been slowly but surely catching up with me, and I don't know how to process it. It's all so confusing and worrying. I thought if I just tried to focus on my Hero studies, that'd somehow make this change I'm feeling go by easier, but it hasn't. It's like it's just been repeatedly put on hold, just to come back and hit me that much harder.

"What's more, I don't even know for sure if Mina likes me that way, either. I mean, when we were all talking about going out together to try and save Bakugo, before she decided to come with us, Mina was trying to talk me out of it, like I'd said before. In the middle of all that, she even said that Kyouka-san actually had feelings for me. If Mina… if she liked me, liked me, then why would she go and tell me something like that, and not just say that she had feelings for me herself?"

At this point, now Eijirou's confident smile had sunken into a much more contemplative gaze, his brow furrowed as he tried to take Nikolay's words into consideration. "Yeah… yeah, I'm with you there, Kolya-san, that's… damn, that's confusing. I mean, my dad, uncle and grandpa have all said that girls just think differently than guys do, fundamentally-like. If I had to take a shot in the dark, knowing her, I would think maybe she just took that initiative for Jirou-san's sake, in case she herself never worked up the courage to say something personally. I mean, considering how dangerous what we were about to get into was going to be, she probably wanted you to know that one truth so that, if you were still going to go, you'd at least work hard to come back knowing there was something special waiting for you at the end. But man, I could be totally off for all I know.

"Even in a totally new territory like this, like romance, going that far above and beyond for the sake of a friend with no benefits for her to personally gain from it; that's totally something Ashido would do. But then, even with that whole crazy-ass theory, that then doesn't make sense why she would do something like this." Once again, Eijirou lifted up the locket just to emphasize this befuddling point.

Looking at the picture inside again, Nikolay started shaking his head in that same confusion. "You're telling me, especially since… well…" By this point, he knew he had sparked Eijirou's curious glance again. "…that… actually isn't the only time she's… well, you know."

Now it was Eijirou's turn to nearly plow his head through the ceiling with how hard he jumped from the bed in shock; his red eyes like dinner plates. Thankfully, a frantic silencing motion from Nikolay reminded him to keep his voice down, lest they ended up spurring the wrath of Bakugo just next door.

"Are you serious, man?! When else did this happen with you two?" Nikolay looked deep in thought in the face of Eijirou's exceptional supportive energy.

"The second time was after we'd gotten back home from the first internship period. After what a close call that battle against Vukodlak had been, she'd said how proud she was of how brave I was still choosing to be, even after having gotten kidnapped and nearly losing my Dad, on top of just everything else that had happened to me over the years. She even said that for all those reasons, as well as just being able to finally open up to so many of you guys, that she thought of me as her Hero… and that's when it happened.

"The last time was when I woke up in the hospital from that coma after the camp attack. Those other two times, I just figured she was acting out of an overwhelming sense of relief, and just didn't think any more on it. It's that first one that still gets to me, though. Then there's the fact that, even though she'd already sent me a copy of those pictures on my phone that very same day, she went and gave me this locket with a physical copy inside it today."

As Eijirou slowly and rhythmically nodded with continuous understanding of Nikolay's own confusion, the mentioning of his Russian friend having more than one copy of this same picture, all directly from Mina herself, had his eyes slightly widen with yet another plausible explanation. "Well, even if we just go on the assumption that Ashido not only kissing you this first time, but even sending you copies of the picture more than once, is a sign of her having stronger feelings for you than she admits out loud; I hate to have to point this out to you, Kolya-san, but the fact you're not only hanging onto both, but are also clearly taking to looking at them, based on how I found you just a minute ago, is also a pretty clear sign that the way you feel about her is also changing into something more.

"Honestly, with just how much time you both have spent together since the school year started, I'm not even surprised things have started taking this turn for you guys. But I will say this: one of you, if not both, has really gotta figure out and admit the truth about just how far your feelings really go here. Otherwise there's no telling just how far you could both end up getting strung along by each other and ending up hurt, even if neither of you intends that to happen. You gotta be fully honest with yourselves about what you feel for people, if nobody else, y'know?"

Nikolay ran an exasperated hand down his face, feeling the full weight of his friend's words hitting hard where it most counted. "Of course, I don't want to hurt her; I don't want to hurt anyone. And I know she doesn't want to, either. This is all just so new and confusing… but I know you're right, Kirishima-san. I don't know how, but I gotta figure this shit out and soon."

With that, Eijirou placed another friendly hand on Nikolay's shoulder; giving him a supportive nudge back and forth by the hand, thankfully earning even a slightly amused chuckle out of the young Slav. "Of course you don't wanna hurt anyone, Kolya-san. That's just one of the many things you, me and Ashido all have in common; hell, one of the many things we have in common with the whole class, except maybe Bakugo when he's ticked off enough. But let me ask you this, if nothing else: if you do in fact think you've been feeling a real change in how you feel towards Ashido, do you think you'd be able to pinpoint when that might've started?"

Now Eijirou was asking the real million dollar question, as Nikolay looked like he was about to start raking away at his scalp the more he tried to think back. "I want to say it might've started all the way back after that first kiss… or maybe the day I tried to run away, and she came all that way just to get me to come back with her, and was the first ever person for me to let all my feelings out on after all those years… but the more I think about it, the more I keep thinking it really started the day I woke up from my coma and found out she never once left my side, even when she was given permission to do so. That… something like that isn't something just anyone would do."

The understanding smile on Eijirou's face as he nodded in complete understanding was the very picture of compassion and sentimentality. Once he could hear the air of self-realization evident in Nikolay's voice, he gave his Russian friend a hearty slap on the back. "Yeah, that definitely sounds pretty appropriate. Well, I guess we shouldn't keep the others waiting for us for too much longer, or else they're definitely gonna start asking questions I don't think you'll want to answer. But I'll just say this one last thing, Kolya-san: when and if you do end up figuring your share of this whole thing out, if you find that you do actually like Ashido in that particular way, or if at the same time she figures out for herself that she feels that way for you; I just want you to know, and better yet, not worry: you can count on me to help you both along if need be.

Nikolay's look of sheer surprise was no less potent than it had been the very first time Eijirou had shared such sentiment, albeit this time without the near explosive sense of embarrassment that had come then. However, that look was not lost on the grinning redhead, as he gave Nikolay an affirming wink, a confident smile and two thumbs up. "Ah, don't look so surprised, dude; I meant every word of what I said to Kaminari and Mineta way back when, just as much as I mean it now: if you and Ashido really do end up like, liking each other, I'll be more than happy to support you both every step of the way. I mean, c'mon, you two are some of my best friends; and a true man does what he can to help his friends find true happiness, especially if that comes in the form of each other, like it so clearly is for you guys."

Nikolay, were it not for the fact that he still felt so conflicted about his own feelings in this confusing matter, would've wanted to start crying with gratitude for having such an incredible pillar of support and friendship like Eijirou Kirishima in his life, and that train of thought was far from lost on the red-haired boy himself, as he helped Nikolay back up to his feet and clasped the locket shut before planting it firmly back in his hand.

"I wish I knew how to say how much I appreciate you saying all that, Kirishima-san. This is all still really new for me, though." Nikolay admitted, earning a mutual chuckle of acknowledgment from his sharp-toothed friend.

"Ah, you don't have to come up with any kind of fancy words for me, Kolya-san. I said my piece, I know it got through to you, and that's all that matters. Besides, this is just as new a conversation subject for me, too; but, if anything, that actually makes it that much more exciting, doesn't it? Although, if you really feel like you need to do something as thanks… you can just call me 'Eijirou', okay? We've known each other more than long enough to get past the formalities, right? You should probably do the same with Uraraka-san and Midoriya-san, too; you've spent enough time with them, I would think."

Of course, Eijirou couldn't ignore the irony of what he'd just said about going past formalities, while still addressing some of their other mutual friends the very same way. Thankfully, that little bit of ill-thought advice was enough to get a genuine laugh out of Nikolay, before the Russian boy met his gaze with a much more pleasantly assured glimmer in his eyes. "Thank you for everything, more than just all this. Thank you for being such a great friend, and an even greater man… Eijirou-san."

This time it was Eijirou's turn to look like he was almost about to start shedding happy tears as he suddenly pulled Nikolay into a brief but deeply heartfelt bear hug. In his sparse exposure to less popular outside cultures, he had always been convinced that Russian people as a whole were burly, tough and not prone to showing emotion. And yet this one single boy had completely dashed that stereotype, and yet still somehow stood as an individual Eijirou found himself deeply respecting, and the fact he was still so open with his emotions had made this solitary moment too much for the young redhead to resist such a gut reaction.

"Of course, man. That's what best buds are for, right?" Nikolay gave a solitary nod of agreement as Eijirou finally let go and they could finally start making their way to the door to his room. "I do just have to ask, if only this one last time, just in case: are you absolutely certain you don't have similar feelings for her?"

At this, Eijirou never lost his smile, but he did still give a good-natured groan as he rolled his eyes: "Aw, dude, don't start turning into Kaminari with me now. Real men don't lie, no matter what. And if that somehow still doesn't convince you, then hopefully this will: unlike you, I've been able to go through my three years since puberty without anything to stop me from really noticing girls, and I've been around Ashido that entire time. In all that time, not once did I ever find myself feeling anything towards her that was any stronger than the friendship you and I have, or the friendship between me and Midoriya-san or Bakugo. Trust me on this; nobody is getting any of their feelings pushed aside because of you. Now please, take that to heart, and just focus on your own deal regarding her, okay? I'll be rooting for you both."

To his relief, this seemed to really sink into Nikolay's head, officially being set in mental stone. With a mutually assured smile on his face, Nikolay finally stepped out with Eijirou at his side, tucking the locket into his pocket once he was certain nobody was waiting out in the hall to get the drop on them. "Well, again, for all I know, I could just be worrying for nothing. For now, like you said, let's just focus on the here and now, right?"

Eijirou's smile somehow grew that much brighter as he eagerly shut the door behind himself. "Now you're speaking my language, man! I'm more than happy to help when and where I can, but I'm seriously not used to getting all deep like that yet."

With a mutual friendly laughter between them, and a feeling of a newly cemented brotherly-like connection ringing true in both their hearts, Nikolay and Eijirou proceeded to finally hurry on up to the fifth floor, hoping they hadn't missed out on all the rest of the boys' rooms.

By the time they had finally reunited with a visibly relieved gathering of their classmates ("Oh, sweet, you're back! I was starting to worry you two had locked yourselves in your rooms by accident or something!"), Nikolay and Eijirou were once more the recipients of a brief yet still-thorough rundown from Mina and Izuku regarding the setups and designs for Hanta and Shoto's rooms; with the former having an all-around comfortable Asian aesthetic, and the latter having an overwhelmingly formal and traditional Japanese-style to it that seemed borderline unreal for the space their rooms afforded. Already the two tardy boys found themselves regretful at having missed out on it.

"But hey, at least you two made it in time for the last room for the boys' side, cause Sato-kun's the only one left!" Tooru exclaimed with all the cheer she usually embodied, while a visibly reluctant Rikido was already in the process of opening up. "I wouldn't get too excited, you guys. It's not really anything to write home about."

Indeed, with the exception of a bed with a blanket with the word 'sugar' written all over it, and an assortment of baking utensils and what looked like an industrial-sized refrigerator and a microwave, Rikido Sato's dorm room was just about as average as could be, much like Mashirao's. "Yeah, like I said, pretty boring room. Sorry to disappoint."

However, the décor of his room was the last thing on everyone's minds, as the moment Rikido had opened the door, the rest of his classmates looking inside were all greeted by a sensation that had all the girls next-to salivating. "Hey, what's that smell? It's really good."

The moment Mashirao brought this up, the lax posture with which Rikido stood suddenly jolted; his big-lipped face the picture of panic as he rushed for the still-running microwave. "AW CRAP! I completely forgot! I finished unpacking pretty quickly, so I thought everyone would've wanted a midnight snack to commemorate our first night here! I was baking a cake! Oh man, talk about miraculous timing!"

While Rikido hurriedly pulled his confectionary creation from the microwave, and everyone else looked on with wonder; Nikolay felt absolutely floored once he recognized the golden brown wonder sitting in his classmate's arms. "Whoa… Sato-san, is that an actual Russian-style honey cake?"

While the girls were all excitedly volunteering for a piece the moment he offered, Rikido answered Nikolay's surprised question as bluntly as could be: "Yeah, it is. Those video calls of ours kind of inspired me to give the recipe a try myself, especially after Kaminari-san told me what happened with the one you made for Ashido-san's birthday. It's a damn shame for something requiring so much time and effort to get destroyed before anybody even has a chance to try it, so maybe this can make up for it. You're all welcome to a piece if you want."

Nearly everyone jumped on the opportunity, even Minoru and Denki as they fumed at Rikido's automatic point in favor with the girls. Nikolay was especially eager to give it a try as he took the piece offered. "Oh, wow, it's been so long since the last time I ever had one of these."

The moment he said so, he proceeded to finally sink his teeth in, and with the ease with which his bite sank into the fluffy soft dough, carrying a perfect flavor balance between delightfully sweet and just a touch bitter, he felt as though he'd been sent flying straight back to his oldest home. The nostalgic flavor that now filled every one of his senses was enough to send Nikolay's whole body trembling with the urge to proclaim how indescribably delicious it was. And from what he was able to glean through his euphoria, everyone else was having just about the same reaction, as the girls were all pretty much beside themselves with how delicious it was.

"Sato-san… this… is about as good as a honey cake could possibly be, even compared to if mine had actually gotten a chance to be eaten. Take it from me as a native; this is amazing!"

Rikido, by this point after receiving so much praise from so many of his classmates, was now rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "Well, that's nice of you all to say. It's really just something I do to go along with my Quirk training, so it's not that big a deal."

As soon as everyone had finished polishing off their shares of Rikido's miraculously delicious Russian-style honey cake, Mina, Tooru and Ochako all simultaneously proceeded to hop up high with renewed vigor. "With that, the boys' rooms are all finished!" "OH YEAH, NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE GIRLS' ROOMS!"

As everyone proceeded to descend back down to the first floor so they could transition to the right wing, Nikolay once more found that painfully familiar nervousness start creeping up into his gut, amplified to the point past ignorance once they had finally reached the third floor, where the girls' occupied rooms would officially start. "Guys, are we really sure we still want to do this? I mean, I'm all for fairness in a competition, but this still feels really uncomfortable. Maybe even a tiny bit rude."

"Aww, c'mon, man, we've already had to swallow our own pride and open our rooms to critique. It's only fair the girls should play by the same rules." Denki tried to ease the young Slav's nerves, albeit much too forwardly. As the group all came to the first stop of this leg of the room showcase, Kyouka's room, the purple-haired girl looked very noticeably uncomfortable, but with the combined cheers and chants of support from Mina and Tooru, she eventually relented and finally proceeded to open her door. "Well, this is it. I don't know what you're all expecting, but sorry if it doesn't meet expectations."

With a flick of the light switch, all of Class 1-A was suddenly treated to the overwhelming sight of a multitude of different musical instruments mounted all over the walls, with an assortment of band and concert tour posters and fliers slathered all over the walls and even on the ceiling. While everyone let out instinctive cries of surprise, Kyouka had relegated herself, much like Fumikage before, to keeping her back turned toward everyone in embarrassment.

"ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING, JIROU?! THIS SOMEHOW EXCEEDED EVEN WHAT I WAS EXPECTING! THIS ROOM IS INSTRUMENT-Y AS HELL!" Denki exclaimed in total shock. All the while, the girls were all completely enthralled with just how many different kinds of guitars were sitting or hanging from the walls.

"KYOUKA-CHAN REALLY IS A TRUE ROCKIN' GIRL!" Tooru squealed with delight, while Ochako couldn't resist just plucking at one of the strings on the nearest guitar. "Are you actually able to play all of these?"

Even despite the over-the-top positive reactions, Kyouka was still too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye, even gently tapping the ends of her earphone jacks together like a little kid twiddling their thumbs. "Well, yeah, kind of… just the simple scales, though."

Nikolay tried to restrain his own excitement at seeing so many instruments in one place, for the sake of keeping his short-haired friend from getting any more embarrassed. Of course, he was also trying to keep his cool while knowing he was currently in the room of a girl who apparently had serious feelings for him; but soon his eyes fell upon something sitting on a corner of her bed that brought him to a near screeching halt and removed all other concerns from his mind. "Oh, wow! Kyouka-san, when and where did you get your hands on a real domra?"

Kyouka visibly perked up with surprise the moment she heard the young Russian point out the banjo-looking gourd-bodied three-stringed instrument sitting on her bed. All at once did her embarrassment go out the window and become replaced with eagerness as she hurriedly grabbed it so everyone could see. "Well, to be honest, listening to some of your country's folk music and studying the language and the poetic structure got some of my creative curiosity piqued after a while. Plus, my mom is almost as into world music as she is into punk rock, and she knows a good music shop that specializes in all kinds of instruments, including folk ones, so I just got this on a whim. I really like the way it sounds so far, but I haven't come up with any ideas I could build something like a song from that would really need it so far."

Everyone watching this sudden change in Kyouka's demeanor was soon smiling to see her spirit get picked up so quickly, with Denki and Yuga finding themselves especially enthused by the change in atmosphere from the normally so quiet young girl. "Man, this room is a real rock 'n' rollers' haven. Not girly in the slightest."

"Oui, oui, hardly ladylike to say the least."

PNNNG!

The moment the two boys had said so once everyone had taken their leave from Kyouka's room, she was instantaneous and frighteningly accurate in jabbing her earphone jacks straight into their ears, giving them both a full dose of feedback for their remarks, with Denki barely managing to force out the words: "WHAT THE HELL?! IT WAS A COMPLIMENT!"

As Kyouka begrudgingly locked the door to her room, Nikolay suddenly commented with that same friendly grin on his face: "Well, while the words may have been wrong, I have to agree with one thing: your room fits you to the letter, Kyouka-san. It really feels like… you."

Kyouka didn't dare let the others see how red her cheeks were turning at the implication, especially Tooru and Mina, but she didn't try to hide the deeply moved smile on her face at the much better-phrased compliment on Nikolay's part.

From there it was straight on to Tooru's room, and while the invisible girl's enthusiasm was through the roof, and everyone could agree her sense of style was adorable (to a diabetic degree, according to Hanta), it was about as average a girl's room as could be, with an almost blinding array of whites and bright pinks.

However, from there it was on to the fourth floor, and just like last time, Nikolay could feel his apprehension rise when he realized, from remembering the pamphlet room layouts, that they were bypassing the door to Ochako's room and were now headed straight to Mina's room instead.

"Alright, everybody; prepare to feast your eyes on the most stylish room yet!" Mina was practically squirming with excitement as she unlocked her door and nearly threw it open; twirling her way inside and flipping on the lights in a single bound. As everyone peeked and slowly made their way inside, Mina had her arms wide open in an inviting gesture; her smile as bright and cheerful as the day was long. "TA-DAA! CUTE, RIGHT?!"

Many of the other boys could barely manage a blunt "uh-huh" in agreement, almost like a planned retort for her blunt reaction to Eijirou's overly masculine room before. But there were still others, even besides the other girls, who could definitely see the appeal. While Tooru's room was overflowing with bubbly cuteness, Mina's had a very stylish take on the same thing.

Everything was decorated in assortments of black, purple, pink and turquoise, from her bed lined with a handful of very familiar stuffed animals, to a carpet with three beanbag chairs, while her walls were an assortment of posters, her dresser was topped by a large makeup kit, and she even had a single coat rack lined with multiple pretty scarves, jackets and hats.

"Wow, Mina-chan, it's so pretty in here! How do you always manage to get so many stylish-looking clothes so easy?" Ochako couldn't help but muse as she felt at one of the fluffier scarves on display; every word making Mina smile that much more proudly.

At the same time, while Nikolay was taking the invitation to step in further to get a better look (since many of the other boys were especially hesitant to step into such a distinctly girly room), he tried to avoid looking too long at the two stuffed animals sitting front and center on her bed, unable to help but think back to what Mina's mother had said during her birthday.

However, before he was about to turn around and rejoin the others, while the girls were still fawning over the numerous decorations; Nikolay espied something that once again nearly brought him to a screeching halt, while his stomach twisted itself into a Windsor knot.

Pinned up on the corkboard above her laptop desk, among an assortment of numerous other photos, was a physical copy of that very same photo booth picture reel, right there in the open for any of the explorative girls to see.

Nikolay couldn't say if he had consciously decided to react the way he did, or if it was simply his nerves taking the reins from him for but a moment, but the moment he saw that photo strip, and realized Tooru and Kyouka were starting to approach, he immediately situated himself in an especially awkward posture before her desk, nearly planting his back to the wall to hide it from view, with one of the palest and wide-eyed expressions on his face yet.

To his dread, this sudden knee-jerk reaction of his had perked Tooru and Kyouka up with curiosity, but at just that same moment, Shoto suddenly chimed in from among the crowd in the doorway: "Can we please hurry this along? I want to go to bed soon." 'Oh my God, thank you, Todoroki-san! You're a godsend! A miracle!'

"Y'know what? Todoroki-kun's right, we can't be unfair and look over some rooms more than others. C'mon, let's go see what Urara-chan's got!" Mina thankfully agreed with an enthusiastic fist pump to the air. Nikolay let out one of the shakiest sighs ever as he finally took the hint and hurried after the others, but not before suddenly feeling his sleeve get tugged back just as he was out the door, now being met by an especially sly smirk on Mina's face. "Don't think I don't know what that was, Kolya-kun. I was wondering if you were gonna take the bait and react. You are just adorable when you get all flustered like that. Don't worry, that's still gonna stay our little besties secret."

With a cheeky giggle to go with her grin, Mina gave Nikolay only the slightest playful pinch on his cheek before finally shutting the door and ushering him along so they could keep up with the rest of the class. Even with the good-humored laughter and the always playful smile on her face, Nikolay could only hope his reaction hadn't hurt her feelings, giving her the impression he was ashamed of it. But there was no way in hell he could bring that up now when everyone could no doubt hear. Of course, now there was the conundrum of if he should actually tell her that Eijirou now knew as well.

Afterwards, it was indeed straight on to Ochako's room. Much like Mashirao and Rikido, hers was also especially normal in setup, much to her embarrassment after rooms as extravagant as her three predecessors. "Yeah, I know, it's pretty dull, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that, Ochako-san. There's something very comfortable in its quaintness, I'd say." Momo immediately countered as she and the rest of the girls and boys couldn't help but take it in. Indeed, there was something that just gave Ochako's room a very… 'home'-like feel.

And, of course, Nikolay, Izuku and Eijirou both couldn't help but pause and smile to themselves when, upon looking further, they realized that one of the very few framed pictures sitting on Ochako's desk was of her alongside Tunguska, Denki, Minoru (with his face obscured by Tunguska's elbow), Setsuna and Tooru from the start of their very first day during the surrogate internships.

On their way up to the fifth and final floor, Nikolay could now finally start overhearing the likes of Mashirao and Fumikage muttering quietly amongst themselves of just how subtly indecent it was starting to feel, getting to see into the girls rooms like this. He wasn't about to start saying anything like the typical 'I told you so,' for he was simply just glad to see more of his classmates had decent heads on their shoulders compared to Minoru, whom after having rushed for the panty drawer in Tooru's room mere minutes ago, had thankfully gotten taped up by Hanta to the end of Mashirao's tail to keep him out of trouble.

"Okay, so for the final floor, the next room should be Asui-san's, right?" Hanta asked once they finally stepped out into the hall, spurring Izuku, Nikolay and Eijirou to look back with long-delayed realization. "Hey, now that you mention it, Asui-san has been MIA the whole time, hasn't she?"

As Izuku noted this while the others had already started gathering at Tsuyu's door, Ochako suddenly worked her way through the crowd to stand protectively at the doorway; all her previous childlike excitement instantly switched over to pure seriousness. "Actually, I think Tsu said she wasn't feeling very good, hence why she wasn't with us from the start. I don't think we should disturb her with this right now."

Thankfully, this seemed to be enough for everyone else, as Momo proceeded to take the lead in guiding her classmates to the door for her room. For a moment, Nikolay couldn't help but think back to earlier outside the dorms when they had first arrived. Tsuyu hadn't seemed to look any different than usual, but for all he knew she could have simply been trying to hide it so as not to spoil the mood, at least any more than it already had been.

All the while, none of the departing students ever noticed how the door to Tsuyu's room opened only the slightest bit, with a single black eye watching the departing class pensively… with only Ochako being the one to see this clearly, but choosing not to say a word about it.

As the rest of the class gathered out front in eager anticipation, Momo couldn't help but give a mildly embarrassed smile as she began to open up: "Now, before I let you all look, I should warn you that I may have made something of a miscalculation. You see, compared to all your rooms that were brimming with your own unique personalities… mine ended up being a bit more cramped."

And she couldn't have been more accurate, or literal, as everyone was instantly met with the sight of a room dominated by a single immensely plush and regal-looking bed, with all the other equally ornate furniture crammed shoulder-to-shoulder along the walls where they could even fit.

"WHAT THE HELL, YAOYOROZU! THAT BED IS MONSTROUS! HOW ARE YOU EVEN GONNA SQUEEZE YOUR WAY AROUND HERE WITH THAT THING?!" Denki exclaimed in disbelief, while Mina and Tooru could only marvel at how pristine and expensive everything else looked, much to Ochako's visible disbelief. As for Nikolay, he couldn't even find the words. Momo's room, for all intents and purposes, really did look like the kind of bedroom a fairy tale princess would have. The fact that the ponytail-wearing girl's only response was that it was the furniture she always used, and she simply didn't expect the dorm rooms to be so "cramped" did not help dissuade the image.

With the peek into Momo's room, at long, long last, the dorm room showcase competition was over. Many of the boys, Nikolay included, couldn't have been more relieved to put that whole awkward debacle behind them, especially with it now being so late at night. Of course, even seeing how tired everyone was didn't stop Mina from soon grabbing a box and asking everyone to cast their votes in for who the ultimate winner was going to be. By this point, nobody was in the mood to argue, whether it was because hers and the other girls' enthusiasm was still so contagious, or because they realized that the sooner they conceded, the sooner it would be over and the sooner they could all finally get some sleep.

After a few prolonged minutes, the girls all finally came back; with Mina anxiously at the lead with the vote box in hand. All eyes were on her as she soon planted the box down before them all like it was the Holy Grail, and began digging her hand inside among the ballots. "Alright, now the votes have all been counted! I trust you all remember that voting for yourselves is against the rules? Then without further ado, with the exception of Bakugo and Tsu-chan, the tentative first inaugural Room King award goes to; DRUM ROLL PLEASE!"

To add to the childish festivity, Ochako and Tooru both began rapidly drumming their hands against either their knees or the nearby sofa cushions, while Mina continued pretending to dig around, just to see if everyone else was going to get as excited as she was, by the huge grin on her face.

"With six votes, the room which scored leaps and bounds over the others, single-handedly beating out all of them for that vaunted first place spot is… SATO RIKIDOOOO!"

While her voice was echoing off the walls, everyone else was stricken deathly silent with shock as their eyes all shifted towards the equally surprised Rikido standing among them, looking like he had to be getting his leg pulled.

All the while, standing shoulder-to-shoulder, the girls now all had a similar distant look in their eyes, all equally salivating in thought. "By the way, the six votes were from us girls… the reason being: 'that cake was DELICIOUS!'"

Nikolay let out an immense sigh of relief. While there was a small part that couldn't help but be disappointed he hadn't won, he was definitely gladder for it. To have all that kind of attention hoisted on his shoulders on the very first night of their dorm lives would have been way too embarrassing.

It was too bad that the now beaming Rikido now found himself the recipient of a fuming Denki and Minoru, who were proceeding to accuse him of bribery, while Eijirou couldn't help but exclaim in the face of the girls' one-sided reason for their pick: "First of all, six votes from all of you?! Asui-san wasn't even here, where did six votes come from?! Second, what does that reasoning have to do with the rooms?! What did we even do this for then, dammit?"

"Well, if that's it, then if you all don't mind, I think I'm gonna go upstairs and pass out for the first time in what feels like a month." Nikolay immediately announced as soon as he was sure the game had officially come and gone. He was already up and about to head for the elevator in the left wing—

"Hold it! The competition isn't over yet, Kolya-kun!" Tooru suddenly exclaimed, causing Nikolay to freeze in surprise, as well as finally stop Denki and Minoru from trying to gang up on the still chuckling Rikido. The expectant looks on all the girls' faces definitely showed they weren't messing around, as Mina suddenly began digging through the ballot box again after removing Rikido's winning ballot.

"We'd all been talking while counting the votes, and decided it wasn't fair for there to be just one winner. Big sports competitions have silver and bronze places too, you know? So we thought we'd do some recounting for those places as well, that way everyone gets to walk home with something to be proud of."

As Mina excitedly explained this, the mood among the boys (at least those with the energy left to care) visibly lightened, as Denki, Eijirou and Minoru both looked especially eager to know they could still come out as some kind of winner (even if Minoru was completely passed up), while Nikolay decided to just collapse back into his spot on the couch. He'd gone through this long enough as it was; he knew he might as well see it through to the bitter end.

"Urara-chan, Tooru-chan, drum roll please!" Mina asked her two eager compatriots, and as the rosy-cheeked and invisible girls once again began drumming their hands, Mina kept digging through, her smile never diminishing.

"And with five votes from the secondary count, the room that is the winner of the slightly less prestigious, but far from unimpressive, silver medal of the inaugural Class 1-A Room King showcase competition, who can carry their head up high knowing they had something of just as splendid value to share with their peers tonight is… KOUDA KOUJIIIII!"

Once again, Denki and Minoru looked like their jaws were about to become permanently affixed to the floor, as all eyes drew to their visibly dumbfounded rocky-headed classmate, who looked like he was about to die of stage fright. "The reason for your second place win being: 'THAT BUNNY WAS SOOO CUUUUTE!"

"Aww, seriously, what the hell?! That still has nothing to do with the rooms themselves! And where are you getting these voting numbers?!" Eijirou exclaimed, this time sounding like he was on the verge of laughing in disbelief like he was in on some kind of joke, while Denki and Minoru were already starting to crowd around the visibly trembling Kouji with further accusations of playing on the judges' weaknesses. Hell, even Yuga looked like he was starting to inch toward him to get in on the action.

This time without any further ado, after removing Kouji's winning ballot from the box, and shaking it in order to mix around what ballots were left; Mina once again jammed her hand in excitedly while Ochako and Tooru were once again drumming their hands. By this point, Denki and Minoru had their fingers crossed on both hands, looking downright frantic for some kind of win. Even Nikolay was actually finding himself finally getting wrapped into the mood of the final stretch.

"And finally, with a total of four votes, the room that is the honorary winner of the humble third place pedestal of our first ever Room King showcase competition, the room that can stand proudly among the best in knowing that it has strengths and a style all its own is… NIKOLAY BEZPALOV-KUUUN!"

With their last possible chance at victory cruelly snatched away from them, Denki collapsed to his knees with a shell-shocked look in his eyes, while Minoru was nearly popping his hairballs from his scalp while shrieking like a banshee. All the while, Nikolay looked completely blindsided, having by now completely accepted he wasn't going to win at all. His mind was still trying to process what was happening, even as Mina, Kyouka, Ochako and Tooru were all now staring at him with knowing delighted smiles on their faces. "Those four votes came from me, Urara-chan, Tooru-chan and Kyouka-chan, for the reason that… THAT BED WAS THE COMFIEST EVER!"

Nikolay nearly felt like his whole body was going to snap from the blunt force of that nothing answer, while Eijirou this time couldn't help but laugh out loud in total amusement: "Well, at least this time you picked a winner for a reason that actually had to do with the room itself! Finally!"

All the while, Nikolay could already see Denki and Minoru glaring icy daggers at him from across the commons area as he tried to pick himself back up. "You lascivious, lurid lothario! Who do you think you are, tempting the judges' votes with something so potentially indecent?"

As impressed as Nikolay was with Denki's ill-tempered but profoundly verbose fuming, there was no way he wasn't going to try and defend himself against the two boys' visible frustration. However, before he could, many of the other boys were already on the move, ushering their two loudest classmates along, all voicing relief that it was finally over and they could finally go to bed, with Shoto in particular taking the lead. Nikolay, however, was still way too shaken by his out-of-nowhere third place victory to be able to admit how tired he still was, even when Kyouka, Momo and Tooru expressed likewise congratulations to him for it.

"Well, it's been a really long day for all of us, Kolya-san. I think we've all deserved a good night's sleep finally." Izuku suddenly intervened as the crowd began to thin, urging along the still visibly shocked Russian boy with him, even as Eijirou and Mina were in the middle of catching up to them to express further congratulations.

"Ah, Todoroki-san, please wait up a minute! Deku-kun and Iida-san, too; and Kolya-san, Mina-chan, Momo-chan, and Kirishima-san also! Could I have a moment of your time, please?" Ochako's voice suddenly interrupting the gradually calming atmosphere brought the seven students to a surprised stop as they all looked back, only to find that previous childlike excitement that had been all over Ochako's face had suddenly grown especially reluctant and… emotional.

The fact that Ochako's demeanor had changed so suddenly and so drastically really took the un-magnificent seven (as Nikolay had reluctantly started thinking of himself and his motley crew of friends since their deeds had been exposed to the rest of their class that morning) by surprise. That the gravity girl wasn't telling them what she needed them for was also of considerable concern, as she silently led them all outside to the front entrance of the dorm building.

Once they all saw a solitary and pensive, and all-around healthy-looking Tsuyu Asui standing in wait for them, with Ochako dutifully coming to her side, all bets were off for all of them as to just what they had come walking into. Knowing that they both now had the attention of all seven of their decreed 'trouble classmates,' Ochako and Tsuyu exchanged the slightest of communicative nods, and the brown-haired young girl finally spoke up: "So… um… Tsu has something she wants to say to you all."

Many of them could feel an instinctive intake of air, an apprehensive inhale, fill their lungs as their frog-like classmate looked them all in the eye with that same unreadable expression she always wore. Nikolay could swear he could see Eijirou especially tensing up in preparation. Honestly, he couldn't blame him, as he could also feel his own fingers twitching in preparation for another serious chewing out.

Finally, with that same contemplative finger once more tucked to her lip, Tsuyu nervously lowered her head in order to really think of her words. "I… always say what's on my mind, no matter what. But there are also times when I have no idea what I should say. Do you all remember what I said to you all back at the hospital-kero?"

Just like that, the most painful reminder of that period came right back, as Nikolay and everyone but Shoto immediately bowed their heads likewise in remembrance: "If you're planning on violating the rules just like that, isn't that kind of behavior no different from a Villain?"

They could all still feel the initial barbs of those words biting at their hearts just thinking about it. It was one of the moments when they all should have been on the same page as not only a class, but as friends. And to simply hear Tsuyu put them on the same level as the monsters that had forced their hands like that to begin with was too painful for words.

Tsuyu could already clearly see the looks of painful remembrance in all their eyes, and thus found the wherewithal to continue: "Even though I really did sympathize with you guys, my choice of words was really severe."

At the very end, they could all hear the first sign of a crack in Tsuyu's voice, immediately bringing Ochako to deeply concerned attention as she brought a supportive arm over their frog-like friend, who still had her head bowed down so they couldn't see her face. "But when I heard this morning that you all actually went through with it… I was shocked beyond belief-kero. After all the fighting we'd done and the injuries we'd received by trying to protect each other, only for it to still end with so many of us getting so badly hurt or almost seriously dying, and Bakugo getting kidnapped… when it was all over, I was so frustrated with my own cowardly behavior at not wanting to risk any more of us getting hurt by going after those Villains, that it ended up manifesting in my trying to stop you all from going… and so many negative feelings were welling up inside me-kero."

At that moment, Tsuyu finally lifted her head up to meet their gazes, and they could all feel their hearts twist with sadness when, reflected in the lights from inside the dormitory, they could see her black eyes beginning to well up with tears, in sharp contrast to that same pointed inexpressive mouth.

"I had no idea what I could even say to you guys… and I couldn't just have fun chatting with you all like nothing happened…" Finally, the tears began to roll uncontrollably down her face, and her mouth actually began to visibly tremble. "… and that made me really sad."

Nikolay knew he wasn't the only one who could feel the stinging of inconsolable tears beginning to fill his eyes. He could already hear similar emotional sniffling and barely restrained whines that signified the verge of full-on sobbing coming from Momo and Mina respectively; while he, Izuku and Eijirou were all starting to just barely visibly tremble with irrepressible emotions of their own; all spurred by the heartbreaking image of Tsuyu trying so hard to keep her composure, even as her tears rained down.

"So that's why… I had to have a proper conversation with you all and set things straight. All I wanted was to be able to go back to playing around with everyone like we always do." Those closing sentiments were what finally broke the floodgates for nearly everyone, as Nikolay, Mina, Momo and even Izuku couldn't stop their respective tears from flowing unrestrained, while Eijirou had his head bowed down to try and keep anyone else from seeing he was also crying, and Tenya had to keeping wiping at his eyes from under his glasses. Even Tsuyu couldn't stop herself from starting to try and wipe the tears from her face as well, unable to stop her habitual ribbits from coming out between her devastated sobs. All the while, Shoto was somehow the only one not shedding tears uncontrollably, and instead had a deeply introspective and thoughtful look in his eyes in the wake of all this emotional unloading.

"You're not the only one, Tsu." Ochako suddenly said, drawing the attention of everyone present, with many surprised she was somehow the only other one besides Shoto who was managing to keep from collapsing into irrepressible tears. As she kept compassionately rubbing her hand against Tsuyu's back, she finally lifted her emotional gaze to the rest of her present friends, while still talking to the green-haired girl specifically, so they could all understand exactly where she was coming from with her next thoughtful words. "Everyone was feeling really uneasy and worried, and wanted to wipe those feelings away. So I'm sure… the whole 'Room King' thing came to be because… we all understood how they all felt, even if we didn't agree with their plans. So that's why… instead of blaming them for it, we wanted to…how should I put this? We wanted to… well, it was kind of a difficult thing to tackle, but… anyway…"

Suddenly, Ochako put on one of the warmest and most supportive smiles of all, striking a strong and confident fist in the air for them all to see. "We thought we should all just laugh it off together, and give it our all from now on! Something like that, you know?"

Ochako, and by extension, Tsuyu and the rest of the class's sentiments couldn't have come through to the seven former pariahs of 1-A any louder or any clearer, as they all felt their sadness slowly but surely turn into the most uplifting and tear-jerking kind of understanding and gratitude any of them could ever recall.

To find words to express such understanding to their two friends and the rest of their absent classmates was so much harder than any of them could have expected. However, that didn't stop any one of them from trying, as Mina eventually managed to swallow her choking sobs and finally step forward; her vision blurred with tears as she suddenly hugged Tsuyu and Ochako tight; trying to fight through her tears and resultant hiccups to speak.

"Ts-Tsu-chan… Urara-chan… th-thank you… thank you! THANK YOU SO MUUUUCH! I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF ALL THAT WHEN I AGREED TO THE GAME, BECAUSE I THOUGHT WE COULD ALL ALREADY JUST PUT THAT ALL BEHIND US AND BE ABLE TO HAVE FUN TOGETHER AGAIN! FOR US ALL TO BE ABLE TO KEEP GOING FORWARD AND DOING OUR BEST TOGETHER WITHOUT ANY MORE SAD STUFF HOLDING US DOWN; THAT'S ALL I EVER WANTED FOR US! I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF YOUR FEELINGS! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

As Mina proceeded to break down into overwhelmingly emotional sobs while refusing to release her embrace on the two girls, Eijirou and Nikolay suddenly came rushing in likewise, side by side; their own faces glistening with unstoppable and emotional waterfalls as they both planted simultaneous compassionate hands on the stunned Tsuyu's shoulders. "TSUYU-SAN…I'M SO SORRY! THANK YOU FOR TALKING TO US!"

"MY NIKOGDA NE HOTELI TEBYA OGORCHAT'(WE NEVER WANTED TO MAKE YOU SAD)! CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE US, TSUYU-SAN?!"

And with that, everyone finally proceeded to come in as well, all echoing the very same heartfelt apologies and declarations of understanding and appreciation for everything Tsuyu was trying to convey to them, allowing the young frog-like girl to finally let her own sobs of raw emotion out as they all stayed huddled together in this bubble of boundless emotion.

Together on that one otherwise quiet night, in front of their new home, gathered together in mutual hugs and tears and newly formed understanding of one another's feelings, this small gathering of young student Heroes had strengthened an already unbreakable bond with each other in ways that words simply could not do justice for… and among them all, Nikolay Bezpalov knew he couldn't have been more grateful for them all to be able to share this kind of moment together. It really made him see them all more and more like a whole other family, one that he couldn't be grateful enough to be a part of.

And clearly, Tsuyu Asui had been carrying the same kind of feelings, even despite what had once been such harsh and hurtful words, as all she'd ever wanted since then was to work hard towards bringing them all back together so they could have fun together as friends again, just like in the good old days. Good old days that they all clearly were more than happy to return to, so they'd never have to feel so disconnected from each other by things like fear or sadness ever again.

Through the advent of an unorthodox game to bring all the class together, and a moment for deeply heartfelt words, the trust of Class 1-A that had once felt so frayed, had now felt stronger than ever before, and they could all finally be able to look forward to a hopefully bright and gleaming future as great Heroes again… together.

Tartarus, August 15th

After having finally revealed as much as he had deemed necessary to Vukodlak regarding his plans through their telepathic link, All For One was delighted at just how much faster time seemed to fly. Just as he had instructed, his new Russian ally had been keeping quiet so he could observe every step his guard made in the meantime, and every evening, he gave Tomura and his followers a detailed rundown of what the man's routines within the prison were each day, and everything else in the times he was outside the walls, from his typical nightly haunts, where he lived, and if he had any kind of outside relationships to speak of. While he had received questions as to the usefulness of such information from Tomura along the way, it took virtually no time to convince them otherwise, so that he and his fellow Villains would be able to concoct a perfect plan with just those details alone.

And from there, after a week of constant observation, and for the following week, All For One and Vukodlak needed only to wait, and so they did, with the ticking of every second slowly but surely filling both men with a subtle anticipation as to what all For One's disciple would be able to come up with, while still filling his sensei in on the details of their plan every night he was telepathically reached out to.

And finally, after the last communication between them had been made the previous night, All For One knew in his gut that this was the moment he and Vukodlak had both been waiting for, for differing reasons. Knowing exactly what time was coming, he wasted no time focusing on Vukodlak's face in his head to re-establish their connection. 'How are you feeling tonight, Vukodlak-san? Rested, I hope.'

Vukodlak had been growing more and more used to All For One's sudden telepathic messages to come without warning, thus he was just as quick and ready to answer: 'Like there's really anything else for me to do around here after you told me we had to just wait for your student to put his plan together. You're sounding notably excited tonight. Am I to assume that's good news for us?'

Vukodlak listened close for his sole ally's answer, while still able to hear that on-the-dot pair of approaching footsteps from outside his cell. That guard always showed up at this exact moment when dinner time came without fail. Were it not for the fact that prison food all across the board was so subpar, he would've been able to better appreciate such punctuality.

'More than you know. Your guard is coming again. Don't make a sound, no matter what happens, Vukodlak-san. I'll be helping jam the cameras again, but the microphones may still be able to pick up anything you might say.'

He could once again hear that crackling sound in the back of his head, but before Vukodlak could even think to ask what All For One meant by that, the sound of his cell door opening forced him back to full attention, remembering to keep his eyes closed to keep up the illusion as the guard dutifully stepped inside. Just as he did every night, Vukodlak could hear the guard set this nights meal platter at his side… but this time, he didn't take the one from that afternoon.

Vukodlak didn't even have time to think to himself what had changed, before he suddenly felt the guard's hands begin to wrap something long and thin around the width and lengths of his arms, legs, torso and head, along with his height, all in a matter of seconds. For some inexplicable reason, the guard that had up till now only ever come into his cell to deliver and take his food was suddenly taking his measurements.

Just as quickly as it had started, the guard once more took the empty tray at Vukodlak's side and made his way out, slamming the cell door shut and locked once again, with the crackling stopping almost immediately after. 'Do you have something to do with what that was just now, All For One?'

'Not me. My inheritor and his people have finally started to make their move to extricate you from this place, Vukodlak-san. Just be patient for a little longer. The time of your release is close at hand, so be ready. You're about to meet some of your soon-to-be most trusted allies in helping us rid this world of these phony Heroes and their poisonous society.'

Having used the coordinates of All For One to track down the location of the prison he was being held in, it was no surprise that the prison whispered of in the criminal underground as Tartarus would be located somewhere so comparatively remote, well removed from any major population centers, and on the other end of an expansive bridge connecting its island to the mainland. All society ever wanted was to know that the Villains that had gotten caught were far away and unable to hurt any more innocent people for the rest of their days.

Unfortunately, that remote choice in location ultimately made it easier for Dabi, Kurogiri, Twice and Himiko Toga to keep themselves hidden behind a sizeable hill on the mainland, away from the eyes of the prison security patrolling the length of the bridge, while still being able to keep a vigilant eye upon it and the distant image of the prison for the duration of their mission.

"Ugh, are we almost ready to get up and do something? I'm soooo booored!" Himiko moaned, just like she had taken to at least once for the last couple of nights they had been stationed out here by Tomura's instructions, passed down from All For One himself.

"Quiet down. We don't know if they have any kind of security measures that pick up unusual sounds out in these parts." Dabi quietly reprimanded their normally loudmouthed young compatriot, making sure to never stand out from the edifice of the hill they had set themselves up on that looked over the only sole road from the bridge that led from Tartarus down to the only nearby town a good half hours' drive away.

"Both of you be quiet! The important thing is I've got everything I need. Just gotta finish covering up our tracks and then it's show time. I hope this actually works." Twice reassured and doubted all at once, just at the very moment that he and Kurogiri both spotted the guard they knew to be the one solely attending to their target drove out the front gates of the prison in a civilian car.

The four Villains watched vigilantly as the man finally proceeded on his way down the long stretch of the bridge, and then down the countryside road running along the foot of their hill. Observing the surrounding area from this vantage point, Kurogiri soon noted: "I don't see anyone coming down the other side. I believe the coast is clear."

"Finally, I was getting sick of playing around with this one." Twice noted with great impatience.

At that same moment, without a flinch of reaction while still in the driver's seat, the man that had been attending to Vukodlak before taking his leave from Tartarus suddenly began to disintegrate into the same quickly evaporating black liquid, while at the same time, the car itself was suddenly swallowed up in a large black vortex that had quickly formed across the width of the road, which proceeded to vanish just as quickly once the vehicle had gone through.

"That car will end up at the bottom of the sea, deep within a trench no one will think to investigate if my coordinates are correct, which I have no reason to doubt." Kurogiri explained in assurance to his fellows once his Warp Gate disappeared, and Twice let out a sigh of immense relief.

"This Voodoo guy we're looking for had better be worth all the trouble we went through to get the drop on that guard once he was alone. Good thing he didn't have any family or friends for us to worry about. So lonely." Twice agreed as he began stretching his arms and legs out, completely ignorant of the teasing grin on Himiko's face.

"Aww, c'mon, how many times do we have to say it? It's Vukodlak, written in black and white! How do you keep getting it so wrong? Are you all touched in the head or something?" While she and Twice were once again devolving into another childish argument exacerbated by the latter's seemingly schizophrenic sense of focus and understanding, Dabi just let out an impatient sigh, still watching the prison to make sure nobody outside had somehow seen the car suddenly vanish.

"The fact the guy was a loner definitely made things easier for us. Less collateral for us to have to keep an eye on; but the fact we had to kill him once you'd gotten your damn measurements is sure to start getting attention from these people once he doesn't show up for work tomorrow, Twice."

At this, while playfully bonking Himiko on the top of her head, Twice visibly brightened up: "That's where you're wrong, Dabi! I got a great idea just after getting the measurements from our target! Having gotten the guard's personal info, I decided to have him tender his resignation just before leaving. Good thing you didn't go and burn all his ID right after we'd killed him, right? Copying someone's signature through my clones is such a pain in the ass! But as far as those suckers down there are concerned, he's as good as quit! On his way up the chain of command!"

Dabi didn't give any visible sign of a reaction to the admitted thoroughness Twice had displayed in efficiently covering their tracks once they were done out here, while Himiko had an unsettlingly cute sparkly impression in her yellow eyes. "Wow, that was actually really super-duper clever of you! Maybe you're not such a big dummy after all, eh?"

At the same moment Twice had suddenly started to puff his chest out in pride ("Who are you calling 'dummy,' dammit?!"), Kurogiri subtly crept his way in between his three colleagues. "I apologize for the interruption, but time is still of the essence. Am I to assume you have everything you need for us to enact the next phase of the plan, Twice-san?"

Without further ado, the ninja-looking Villain proceeded to focus, before just as quickly managing to produce another entire human-sized figure from his own person, which within seconds suddenly took on the identical form of Vukodlak, based on the measurements he'd received while controlling his guard clone, as well as the photo that had been all over the news.

Thankfully, he had also managed to clone the same prisoner jumpsuit as well, while Himiko was clearly looking over the lifelike detail, clearly impressed all over again. "Oh, so cooool! Hey, you kept cloning that guard every single day we were scouting; does that mean your clones have a time limit before they get all melty?"

"Nah, I just got tired of playing around with one clone for that long, but that won't be the case here. I just gotta have this one know he just needs to sit and eat and say nothing in his cell, and nobody will be any the wiser. Bastards never do what I tell them. They always do." Twice explained, while Kurogiri was already preparing to focus on his own end.

"If you wouldn't mind making haste, everyone, I believe it's officially time for us to enact the plan. Dabi-san, if you wouldn't mind informing Shigaraki Tomura-san of our readiness, post-haste. I have the coordinates in mind already."

In the past hour since he had unexpectedly gotten his measurements taken, Vukodlak had simply done as All For One had instructed, and waited in silent anticipation for anything new to happen. To know that it was going to be soon had his nerves beginning to tense up; so when he suddenly heard the sound of his sole ally's voice knocking at the edge of his mind once more, he was all too eager to let All For One right back in.

'The time has finally come, Vukodlak-san. Your allies are now officially ready. Prepare to be welcomed into your new family. Kurogiri, I'm going to cut the power. The moment you see the lights go out will be your time to act.'

At that very same moment that Vukodlak was wondering just who on earth it was that All For One was now talking to, the true leader of the League of Villains finally proceeded to focus with all his strength stored in his EMP Quirk for the last month he had been kept here. His measures of only briefly tampering with the cameras had only been a very focused and minuscule use of the strength this particular Quirk was really capable of. He knew it would leave him thoroughly exhausted for a while once he did this, but this was what all that time of building a rapport and healing Vukodlak had been for. He just needed to center all of that focus into one burst, and…

THOOOM!

Vukodlak could just see all of the lights through his closed eyelids instantly shut off, drenching the Russian Villain in impenetrable darkness. He could even hear that incessant buzzing of the sensors finally go completely silent, soon followed by the distant and muffled sounds of all the other guards across the prison instinctively exclaiming their confusion at what was happening, with many wondering why the many backup generators for the light and camera systems weren't working. Clearly the cell doors themselves operated on an entirely different system, from the sounds of it.

Before his mind could wander any further, Vukodlak could suddenly feel the solid surface of the bed upon which he sat suddenly give way from underneath, sending his body freefalling into some kind of instantaneous void. The sudden sense of weightlessness finally drove him to open his eyes extensively for the first time in two weeks, and it was just in time to see the curious sight of an exact copy of himself drifting through the same black void right alongside him, like two wayward spirits simply passing each other by.

Just as quickly as Vukodlak had been swallowed up by the small black gate in the middle of his bed, did the clone come climbing right back out, doing exactly as it had been instructed and assuming the very same sitting position the original had as soon as the gate closed back up, just before the lights and the cameras came right back on. For as far as anyone else outside that cell was concerned, Vukodlak had never even left, and even if something were to end up happening to Twice's planted clone, it would have already been far too late for them to mobilize and capture the man again.

All For One had all the confidence in the world in this little failsafe that would at least buy Tomura and his soldiers some much needed extra time. His face was as unreadable as ever, but inside, he was smiling from ear to ear.

As soon as he had seen the copy of himself drift right past him into the shadows, Vukodlak found himself just as quickly being ejected from the void, coming to a rough landing upon some unmistakable cold and wet grass and dirt. The sensation of that against his foot and face, along with the fresh air of the outside filling his lungs, was a sensation he had long come to miss in his time inside; practically nostalgic.

"Oooh, wow! It's him, it's really him, in the flesh and everything! Even for an old guy, he looks so built! So cool!" An energetic and noticeably young female voice sudden started exclaiming with unmistakable excitement from up above, spurring Vukodlak to quickly get himself back onto his knees, only to now find himself being gazed down upon by four complete strangers, from a widely grinning blonde schoolgirl with fangs, a towering figure in bartender-garb who looked to be made entirely of black smoke, a man in a full body black skin suit with a white half covering the top of his head and a white Y-shape along his torso, and another young man with spiky black hair, cold blue eyes, and hands and a face that looked to be stitched with patches of burnt leather-like purple hide.

As much as the older Russian Villain didn't appreciate this bizarre quartet's presence spoiling his first time of seeing the beauty of the outside with his newly healed eyes for the first time in twenty years, he wasn't about to let his sudden freedom distract him from the realization that he still had his end of a grand bargain to uphold, and his mysterious welcoming party clearly had to be the allies he'd been told to prepare for.

"Doesn't seem nearly as tough as I'd been led to believe, thanks to your constant fangirl bullshit prattling. Only heard about this guy after the fact, and you go around talking like he's some kind of untouchable badass. Exactly as I'd pictured him!" Twice argued before just as suddenly doubling back like only he could. Vukodlak didn't even pay mind to his inconsistent rambling or the young girl's resultant arguing, as he was currently locking eyes with a similarly apathetic Dabi.

"Shigaraki and his sensei really think this guy's gonna help us with one leg? He's nothing but a liability." The black-haired young man deliberately kept his eyes on Vukodlak's as he said this, wanting the man they had just spent the last couple days preparing to free to hear him loud and clear, completely ignoring how Kurogiri swiftly turned his attention to him in counter-protest.

"Dabi-san, I find it unwise for us to simply disregard our newest compatriot so swiftly. We have all come to realize how deceiving appearances can be, have we not? If Sensei truly believes he can be a valuable asset to Shigaraki Tomura-san, then we have an obligation to give him the benefit of the doubt." However, for as reasonable as Kurogiri was sounding, Dabi still looked completely unconvinced.

SHHNNG!

In a series of blindingly fast movements, the moment he had gotten his one foot firmly on the ground, Vukodlak finally launched himself up into a back flip, rending his clawed toes across the ground and kicking up multiple clumps of dirt straight into Dabi's face, only for him to immediately burn it all away in a blue plume of flames from his ready hand.

In those precious few seconds, Vukodlak had already started swiping his clawed hands through the air for Himiko and Twice, forcing them both to double back out of his range, only for the Russian Villain to lunge his right arm for Twice the moment his foot was back on the ground, hooking two of his claws through the fabric of his suit, and then viciously yanking him forward and across from him, throwing Twice into Dabi's attack range.

Dabi quickly grabbed Twice by the head and forced him around his body so he could get out of the way, but that momentary distraction had allowed Vukodlak to spring himself up off his foot, up and across toward them before swiftly delivering a precise and frighteningly fast clawed kick to swat Dabi's flaming hand off its firing trajectory.

As Himiko was already beginning to run in to try and intercept, and Kurogiri was already beginning to open another series of gates to try and cut the fight short, Vukodlak once more threw himself into a forward roll the moment he was back on solid ground, managing to stick his foot back on the ground and regain his balance with incredible precision, and subsequently twist his body weight around into an in-place spin, grabbing the momentarily stunned Twice and Dabi both, and forcing them both into an exceptional strong double headlock, rendering the two still-struggling Villains as two human shields between him and Kurogiri and Himiko.

"Hey there, we only just got you out, and I still wanna see a lot from you, but I'll still make you bleed if you don't let my pals go." Himiko threatened; her rope knife already reeled back and ready to be thrown straight between Vukodlak's eyes as their gazes didn't break from each other.

"That won't be necessary, Toga Himiko-san. I can simply warp Dabi-san and Twice-san away, and we can—"

"Don't be so sure."

Vukodlak's sudden interruption rendered his two remaining opponents silent as he forced Dabi and Twice's heads up, revealing his clawed index fingers poised right against their jugulars. "My old claws may have been coated with steel, but I don't need them to still cut your friends' throats wide open. It doesn't matter how fast you both are, or your Quirks. All it takes is one tiny muscle spasm, and they'll both bleed out like stuck pigs in seconds. You say you're the ones that helped facilitate my escape, and your Sensei helped orchestrate it because he wants me to help you and your leader get rid of all those so-called Heroes out there and what they represent. We may be Villains, but that doesn't mean we all are devoid of a code… and mine is that I'm someone who sticks to his word once it's been given. He wants me to help you, I promised I would once he'd shown me just a little of what he could do, and I intend to stick to that. So if we're all understood… then both of you take a good step back."

There wasn't any room for doubt in any of the four Villains' minds that Vukodlak meant every single word; especially Dabi and Twice once they could feel the tips of those claws just barely touching at their carotid arteries. And so, with a silent and begrudging acquiescence, Kurogiri and Himiko both lowered their arms to show they no longer meant any harm, and as such, Vukodlak swiftly removed his hands from his two hostages' throats and let them take a step away in turn. Just like that, Dabi's unimpressed and cold expression now had a distinct glimmer of clear impression reflected in his eyes. He knew how to handle himself in a fight, and it was hard for anybody to get close enough to get him at that kind of disadvantage. Yet, this once complete stranger of a foreign Villain had managed to do so in less than half a minute flat.

As Vukodlak maintained his perfect balance on his one foot and began stretching out the joints in his fingers, Himiko's once intense look of focus had once again reignited into that childlike energetic excitement, her fanged smile stretching from ear to ear. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, I told you guys! Isn't he so cool?! Whooped your butts like it was nothing! Oh, this guy's gonna be an awesome new friend, I can just tell already! I hope Tomura likes him, too!"

While Twice was clearly still fuming about having been manhandled so swiftly (while still muttering to himself in admiration of what a badass he clearly is), Dabi still didn't break his line of sight with Vukodlak. "You're definitely faster and tougher than I thought… but don't do some bold shit like that with me again, or it won't end well for you, understand?"

The edge to his words was very real, but even with his newly regained eyesight; Vukodlak could clearly tell he'd made some considerable first impression on the one known as Dabi.

"I hate to interrupt this little moment of recognition, but I have no doubts the plumes of your fire may have been noticed by at least one of the patrolling guards, Dabi-san. May I suggest we finally return home? Tomura-san will surely be waiting with great anticipation."

Without another moment unnecessarily wasted, he proceeded to open up another large black warp gate for all the present Villains to simply walk through. With Dabi silently taking the lead, and Twice hurriedly following after, Vukodlak managed to maintain a respectable and speedy stride after them, even with one foot, while Himiko was eagerly skipping along after him like a child on a pleasant morning stroll.

As soon as the warp gate closed behind them, Kurogiri just as swiftly dissipated his body, leaving the perch upon the hill they had observed Tartarus from for the last couple of days, as empty as how they had first found it, without a trace of the Villains to be found.

Inside his cell, having been listening in on the confrontation between Vukodlak and the picked handful of Tomura's followers through his maintained telepathic link with Kurogiri, All For One let out a sigh that, at first glance, would've been completely disregarded as meaningless by anyone else. But for him, it was an expression of pure relief. Relief… and building anticipation for what the future would now begin to provide. 'Welcome to freedom, Vukodlak-san. Welcome to the League of Villains.'

Yuuei Academy, August 16th

After everything that had happened thus far across the time that was supposed to still be designated as summer break for the students, to find themselves now back, not only on Yuuei's campus, but also within the familiar and comfortable confines of Class 1-A itself, had the class of twenty-one feeling especially nostalgic.

From the moment of putting on his uniform again for the first time in over a month and being able to walk the halls again, Nikolay had a smile of downright whimsy on his fair face once he'd sat himself down right alongside Mina in perfect unison at their same familiar double desk that still stuck out from the layout of the rest of the class like a sore thumb.

"I can't believe I'm saying this before our break is supposed to actually be over, but it feels good to be back. Do you think even the non-Hero courses had to come back to their classes like us and Class B?" Nikolay asked as he saw many of the similar relieved looks on the rest of their classmates' faces.

Cracking her knuckles and stretching her back in anticipation, Mina's smile was no less excited and just all around happy to be back somewhere so familiar now. "Well, since you and Bakugo had to help build all those dorms in time, I can't imagine why not. It wouldn't be fair if the school was only worried enough about the Hero classes to get them to come back early. I'll bet you all the Support Department kids are probably super psyched to get back to building all the cool stuff again."

Nikolay couldn't disagree with her casual form of reasoning as he began unpacking his book bag in preparation for when Aizawa would inevitably show up. As he did so, however, he quickly noticed that, instead of unpacking her own school supplies, Mina was instead resting one of her elbows on her half of the desk, supporting her head in her hand and watching him attentively, a not-as-big but no-less warm smile on her pink face. "What? I didn't cut my face shaving this time, and breakfast somehow managed to avoid turning into a total mess for our first communal morning."

The fact he was so quick to react in such a way was so precious, Mina couldn't help but giggle in amusement. "No, it's nothing on your face, Kolya-kun. I just think it's, like, really funny in a poetic kind of way, you know? Until now we were just desk neighbors, but now we're pretty much neighbors for life. I mean, we still get to share this spot together, our rooms are both on the fourth floor, and we're set up directly across from each other. It's kinda cute, right?"

The moment she saw that all-around realization register in his green eyes, she once again couldn't help but giggle with that insanely cute smile of amusement, while Nikolay was visibly struggling for something to answer her with. When he chanced a glance around the classroom, he was soon met with the sight of Eijirou looking their way from his own desk nearby. He couldn't tell if the red-haired boy had actually overheard their little conversation, but the moment Eijirou shot him a supportive thumb up and a smile, the young Russian quickly proceeded to bow his head to keep from anyone seeing the awkward look on his face.

He knew Eijirou was right about needing to figure out the whole truth of just what it was he was feeling, but where the hell was he actually supposed to start, and how?

At that moment, the sound of the classroom door opening snapped all the students to attention; greeted by the now all-too familiar black-clad sight of Aizawa once more taking his place at the podium with that nostalgic stern glare behind his hanging black locks of hair. "Good morning, class. I know none of you were expecting to be back in school this early before the official end of summer break, but I trust you were all still able to settle into your first night at the dorms comfortably?"

"YES, SENSEI!" The majority of the class echoed loudly with enthusiasm, while Nikolay, Shoto, Fumikage, Kouji and Izuku could only bring theirs to a halfway decent indoor level.

With that, Aizawa planted his hands to his podium, making sure he drove home just how serious his beginning of this impromptu class was going to be for his students. "Very well; now that you've all managed to settle into your new homes here at Yuuei, it's time for us all to get back to business. As I mentioned yesterday, our first objective will be earning 'Provisional Hero Licenses' for you all."

"YES, SENSEI!"

Again, he was met with the same cacophonous confirmation, ringing with excitement from nearly everyone. Unperturbed, their homeroom teacher proceeded: "A Hero License, in essence, grants you permission to directly intervene when people's lives are at stake. This qualification carries an immense weight. And this goes without saying, but the examination required to earn your License is extremely strict. It is a Provisional License, to be sure, but even having said that, the pass rate of this exam, year to year, is less than five percent."

The deathly serious weight in Aizawa's tone quickly diffused the casual air of eagerness among the students, but at the same time, for many, it also served as a strange kind of inspiration. If they wanted to earn these licenses and finally be able to earn their much-needed field experience in order to become Pro Heroes, then this was the time for them to finally stop goofing around and get serious.

Granted, for Nikolay, he had tried to treat every challenge and test as seriously as he could, but there was something about this one, and the reward that stood on the other side, that had him unconsciously clutching tight at his end of the desk in anxious anticipation and drive. Even Mina, while still having that same bright grin on her face, was starting to exude a similar air of seriousness about her that just seemed so unnatural from someone like her.

Sensing this all-around change in his class' mood, Aizawa gave only the slightest signaling nod towards the door. "That's why from today onwards, we'll be having each of you come up with at least two…"

Suddenly, the door clicked open, and marching in and standing proudly in a single file before the entirety of the now dumbfounded class was Cementoss, Ectoplasm, Midnight, and Tunguska, with what looked like a fully re-grown left arm clasped proudly to his side.

"… OF YOUR VERY OWN SPECIAL MOVES."

The entire class was now echoing with an all-encompassing cheer of finally delving into the real meat and potatoes of Hero work, creating the techniques that would establish them all as their very own unique Heroes in the world; with the faint scattered exclamation of shock that their Quirk History teacher looked like he'd grown his arm back, primarily from Ochako and Eijirou.

While everyone else around him was jumping up and down with cheer and excitement, Nikolay could feel the same, as well as that familiar sense of pressure start coming down on his shoulders. Tunguska had told him more than once how difficult it had been for him to be able to work up and create the number of unique special moves he had made for himself, and he still had the benefit of having trained with his Quirk his entire life.

Even for the leaps and bounds with his Kinetics Quirk that he had managed to make over the course of this school year, Nikolay was genuinely at a mental loss as to how he was supposed to come up with something as distinctive, unique to himself and, most importantly, effective and reliable as a special move, let alone two.

And there's the new chapter for this week. I can already tell you I had a lot of fun with this chapter, and had further challenges and fun in equal parts when putting together the advancements in Nikolay's Quirk skill set for what's to come in this arc and all those to come.

I hope you all enjoyed what you read here. If so, please be kind and leave a review letting me know your thoughts and feelings on this take on the MHA story thus far. I know it's been playing a touch safe by following the original's foundation thus far, but know that I've got some big plans brewing for the future that I can only hope to really pull off to all your satisfaction when the time comes.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great rest of your week, stay safe and healthy, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 12/04!