Hello again, everyone, and we now come to the second half of what was originally intended to be one chapter, but timing and reorganization of personal life priorities forced to be turned into two. And it's now that the story My Hero Academia: Son of Justice has finally reached and past 400 Favorites. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to every single one of you, and even those who haven't Favorited or Followed, but still continue to show your support by reading every single day.

I would also like to extend my utmost thanks once more to my beta readers and consultants Mizu and Jonny, as well as all contributing fan-artists on DA, whose contributions you can find either on my personal account 'ubasnaga', or on their own: Syyndev, Akane Kahomi, AliceKuroCross, Suki-Chan2509, effasempai, and Eliza-Frost. Their work continues to impress and warm my heart, just as I can only hope it does the same for those of you who care to look.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, and the original events surrounding them and canon characters alike over the course of this story.

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

Dialogue in this format indicates present day narration over the course of a flashback.

Chapter 95

Faith and Hope, Part Two

(Вера И Надежда Часть Вторая)

Yuuei Academy, Wednesday, September 17th

Recovery Girl had wasted no time administering a sedative to help Nikolay go under so that he could try and catch up on enough sleep to help steady his nerves. After seeing how off-the-charts they had been when he'd been brought in by his 1-A classmates in the throes of a panic attack, it was easily the treatment she'd thought best for him.

Whatever her special formula was, it had worked like magic, as Nikolay had blacked out within seconds on his hospital bed afterward, not even having time to go through the whole routine of counting to ten beforehand. He had thankfully managed to regain enough inner calm just in time.

Granted, despite that, the horrible news about the events in Moscow last week, and its repercussions, was still a very present concern on Nikolay's mind and heart, but at least he no longer felt like he was going to have a heart attack any time soon anymore. And this was, of course, very fortunate for him, as once he'd regained consciousness, he may not have had any idea how much time had passed at first, but he was able to at least be back to his usual level of calm as he'd taken in his surroundings, while Recovery Girl had quickly realized her patient had come back.

"Good afternoon, Bezpalov-kun. I'm sure you're probably surprised to be back up so soon, but I didn't want to risk overdoing it with my sedative. After all, it looked like your little one-on-one chat with All Might seemed to have done your nerves some real good. I've been monitoring them alongside your heart rate and brain waves while you've been out, and they all look to have really stabilized over the last couple hours. Looks like you fell under that 'really lucky' side of the coin today, after all; but I'll still need to run one last little run-through of it all before I make a final decision on what you can or can't do for the rest of the day. In the meantime, how would you say you're feeling right now?"

Nikolay could already perfectly recall the very talk he had with the former Symbol of Peace, what felt like mere minutes ago. "I'm honestly feeling a lot better, Sensei. All Might-sensei really helped me a lot earlier. He helped me put everything back in perspective, like I should've done right from the start."

Already, the nurse was busy applying a number of wired patches to Nikolay's head, arms, legs and torso as he explained all of this. "Yes, well, teenagers like you, Quirked or otherwise, hardly have the mental facilities to do such things so quickly when faced with traumatic news or events, personally or otherwise. Normally, one student suffering a momentary panic attack hardly calls for such measures like what I had to take, but with how hard Yuuei's physical demands for its students can be, you would've been at serious risk for injury if you'd gone out into the training field. Hopefully, this little experience can help you learn how to keep things anchored down mentally and emotionally, so you don't fall apart so badly the next time something unpleasant rears its head your way."

Click!

"Hey! Kolya-kun, you're awake already?! Oh, thank God!" "Did Recovery Girl-sensei say you were okay so soon?" The moment the door to the office began to open, Nikolay was met by the joyful sound of Mina's voice as soon as she saw he was back sitting upright. Upon hearing the equally surprised sound of Kyouka's voice right behind hers, Nikolay looked to greet his girlfriend, and wasn't nearly surprised to see she was indeed joined by the equally relieved-looking Izuku, Eijirou, Tenya, Momo and Kyouka; the class vice president being the only one fast enough to place a firm hand on the pink girl's shoulder so she wouldn't instinctively just go rushing in to hug him.

Thankfully taking the hint, Mina immediately asked, while making it no secret what answer she was hoping for: "How are you feeling? Did Sensei actually say you were okay to be up so quick?"

Following her lead, Eijirou similarly spoke up: "We've all been real worried about you for the last two periods, man. If we'd gotten an actual training course squeezed in today and you'd missed out, that'd just suck."

In comparison, Izuku was able to come across much more composed and encouraged: "All Might said you would pull through, but we just couldn't help it, you know? Panic attacks just aren't the same as a regular injury; I'm not sure what any of us would've been able to do other than bring you here."

To that, Recovery Girl herself finally answered, while still keeping a diligent eye on the monitors currently hooked to Nikolay himself: "Well, you all won't have to keep worrying. All Might himself stuck around to talk with Bezpalov-kun, and whatever they shared with each other seemed to really do his head and his nerves some serious good. Everything looks much calmer now, internally speaking. With lunch period having rolled around, if you want to join your friends outside, I have no objections. Just make sure you come back here when the period ends for one final check-up so I can confirm whether you can join your class for the rest of the day, alright?"

The wave of relief that washed over Nikolay and his friends was almost physical in its strength, before Mina finally took that chance to close the rest of the distance and take Nikolay into another happy embrace as soon as he'd gotten the wires off and was back on his feet. "God, I was so worried, Kolya-kun. I'm so glad you're okay. You are sure you're okay, right?"

Of course, Nikolay's answer was quickly cut off when the rest of their friends came in as well, ushering the two along so they could continue on their way to the cafeteria; not wanting to risk earning Recovery Girl's annoyance at their sticking around when any number of other students could've been on their way for first-aid.

"As worried as we all admittedly were, we never had any doubts you would inevitably find the will to overcome this hurdle, Bezpalov-san. The fact you were as willing as you were to take whatever All Might-sensei's words of advice were to heart, is a clear cut sign of just how much you've grown by this point. I believe I speak for Class 1-A as a whole when I say how proud we are of you for this." As soon as they were making their way down the halls again, Tenya wasted no time once more going over the top in expressing his presidential and friendly pride and support for Nikolay's speedy mental recovery; with Kyouka and Momo expressing the same far more reservedly. All the while, the young Russian himself could finally feel that long-desired sense of happiness he'd been craving all day that only being around his friends could bring.

Of course, with that, his attentive eye was likewise quick to notice something off: "Hey, where are Uraraka-san and Tsuyu-san?"

It was quickly apparent that none of his present friends had any clearer idea than he did, especially with Izuku answering: "When the bell for lunch period rang, they both said they had something important to take care of before rejoining us, but they wouldn't say any more than that."

Despite this, however, Eijirou was quick to chime in: "If Uraraka-san and Asui-san say they'll rejoin us, then we gotta have faith in them that they will; they're both super manly about keeping their words like that. And besides, since they'd pretty much told their share of what happened to them during the mission, it's only right that you and I pick up from where they'd started; right, Midoriya?"

After the thankfully swift process of getting their meals for the afternoon and returning to the same private little outdoor spot as yesterday, Nikolay felt almost completely reinvigorated by the scent of fresh air; the pleasant Fall temperature simply adding to it, while all of his friends sat around him, happily partaking in their food amid the relief of his apparent recovery. So much so, that it took genuine restraint on Mina's part to not try actually spoon-feeding his lunch to him after having just gotten out of the nurse's office. She thankfully had the awareness to know that after a stress-induced panic attack, total public embarrassment was the last thing her boyfriend needed, no matter how much such a moment between them would've made her laugh with all the joy she could keep within herself.

After a few minutes of simply being able to partake in such pleasant atmosphere together, Eijirou knew the time had finally come; planting his chopsticks loudly upon the table in order to gain the attention of the gathering. With all eyes soon upon him, the red-haired boy exchanged a knowing glance with Izuku; starting off with the only sensible question: "Do you want to pick up where our parts started, or you want me to? It's your call, dude."

Thinking it over, Izuku ultimately relented, looking everyone in their ever-attentive eyes as he breathed deep, bracing himself for however far their continuing trip to the past would take them today.

Saturday, September 13th, 8:32AM

While the Ryukyu group was busy taking care of the massive brute known as Rikiya that had attacked them literally right out the gate, all the rest of the Heroes and their police attachments had made a beeline further into the Shie Hassaikai compound. After Tunguska had managed to neutralize the first of three thugs that had tried to attack them with a Leaf Quirk, allowing for two more of his partners to take down the other two; several others, nearly more than a dozen, started to come out of the figurative woodwork.

Some tried to attack with their own Quirks, others simply tried to form a human barricade to keep their intruders from progressing any further. It made no difference, the result was the same: being forcefully separated by the police, or further neutralized by the nearest Heroes once it had become clear they were trying to fight back. Nothing was breaking their momentum to get further inside. Like many of them, even for as worried as he was for Ochako, Tsuyu, Nejire and Ryukyu behind them; Tunguska could just feel the adrenaline that only a clear-cut purpose in the field of action could provide, burning strong in his chest, just like every one of the students present in their ranks.

Within seconds, leading the charge, he and Fatgum had knocked the front doors right off their hinges, and soon they, their comrades, interns and the police were pouring inside down the first and only hall they could see, every single one of them keeping their eyes peeled for the very first sign of yet another attack.

Thus far, there was nothing, and a Hero's common sense in that regard could only make the Pros that much more tense, as Fatgum called back to his colleague and everyone else: "Don't you think this is a bit too suspicious? It shouldn't be this quiet in here!"

Among the Heroes following, it was Rock Lock who was easily the most on the same page as he answered: "I don't like it, something about this doesn't feel right, it's going way too smoothly…but what other choice do we have but to keep going forward?"

"You don't think we might've had a leak, do you? Everyone seemed so trustworthy…" Tamaki could barely be heard mumbling amid the rushing throngs of people. Hearing this, the leading police officer with the black pompadour instinctively answered: "Considering who we're dealing with, that's a literal impossibility. Firstly, they would be doing a much better job subverting us if they really knew we were coming. Plus, among all different kinds of organized criminal operations, the yakuza are undoubtedly the ones that prioritize loyalty more than anything else."

On the tail of the leading officer's words, Aizawa immediately answered: "He's right; these are the kinds of people that share sake cups and pledge undying loyalty to their boss. Even with their current fall from grace, that's the one principal they're determined not to let fall by the wayside.

"Besides, the thing we should be focused on right now, is the fact that if Chisaki Kai and his lieutenants aren't up here, then that has to mean they're in the underground complex, trying to get rid of all the evidence of his crimes that we're looking for before they cut and run."

While Aizawa's summation of what was going on ahead of them seemed to be the only truly believable possibility to everyone present, they couldn't even focus on that much before Eijirou instinctively replied: "'Loyalty'? What a bunch of crap; leaving your people to take care of the tough stuff while you run away isn't manly at all!"

To this, Tunguska immediately answered, while still keeping his eyes peeled and his prosthetic hand at the ready: "You're not wrong there, Red Riot, but don't let the actions of our targets cloud your focus. We need to stick close and stay ready for whatever trick these people try throwing our way next. Mobsters can be dug in like ticks with the resources to have facilities like this…and they can be even more difficult to remove as a result."

"Here!" All of a sudden, Sir Nighteye's proclamation brought the whole rushing throng to a stop in the middle of the hall once they'd made their latest turn. There was still no sign of any further mobster interference. In fact, the only thing anyone could see worthy of note was a tiny alcove with what looked like a small shrine built inside of it.

Before anyone could ask, their leader was already stepping forward, lifting the single potted plant that sat in the middle away, feeling intently at the wooden planks below. "I saw this when I used my Foresight on the criminal at the department store yesterday. I just need to push the planks in the right order, and…"

With a sudden resounding CLICK, the wall at the back of the shrine began to slide further back, before sliding away to the left, revealing the beginnings of an actual secret passageway. Watching this, Tunguska was just as impressed as the rest of his fellow Heroes.

Present Day

"Seriously, an honest-to-God secret passage, with special ways to open it and everything! It's like you guys were in a full-blown spy movie lair!" Nikolay couldn't help but express his excitement at the mere thought of something so old school actually being implemented in real life.

And he was far from the only one, as Tenya likewise commented: "I honestly just can't help but admire the usefulness of Sir Nighteye's Quirk. If he was able to glean that much from simply using it on a single person, there shouldn't have been any way for any of these Hassaikai characters to get the drop on any of you."

Unfortunately, just as Mina and Kyouka were about to express much of the same, the whole bunch were able to glimpse the split-second glimmer of what was unmistakable sadness in Izuku and Eijirou's eyes at this very moment, just as the former answered: "I had started to think the same thing by that point, despite my better judgment. Unfortunately, there was only so much he was able to prepare us for with his Foresight in the long run."

"LIKE HELL WE'RE GONNA LET YOU GET PAST US!"

Before the secret passage had even finished opening, the Heroes and police found themselves being jumped by an especially aggressive trio of yet more foot soldiers. However, their threat was just as quickly diminished as soon as Aizawa landed his protected gaze upon them, single-handedly deactivating their Quirks just in time for Bubble Girl and Centipeder to effortlessly tackle and constrict them to the floor.

All the while, confident his two sidekicks could handle things on this level from here, Sir Nighteye once more continued to lead the charge through the secret passageway. Soon, the traditional Japanese aesthetic gave way to a cold, dark and dingy concrete layout lined with pipes. At long last, they had finally started to enter the underground complex. If the other Pros' assumptions were correct, it would be from here onward that the real risks would start presenting themselves, and everyone instinctively knew they needed to be ready.

And this acceptance came none too soon, for as soon as they rounded their first corner at the bottom of these steps, they were met with nothing more than a blank concrete wall, with no sign of any other route to take. They had well and truly hit an unavoidable dead end.

"What's the deal, Nighteye? How could you have not Foreseen something like this?" Rock Lock immediately asked with anger and disappointment. However, before either Tunguska or Fatgum could once again tell the hot-tempered Pro to step back, Mirio diligently stepped forward.

In his Hero costume of a white body suit with a golden 1,000,000 emblazoned across the chest, with dark red gloves and boots and a matching cape, all topped with a white headgear and yellow visor over his eyes, his stride almost perfectly matched that of All Might in his prime, he bravely approached the door. "Don't worry, I'll take a look through!"

"Whoa, hold up, but wouldn't doing that end up making Togata-senpai go the rest of the mission totally naked?! That's, like, super dangerous when fighting gangsters and Villains, isn't it? He's really not that practical, huh?" Mina swiftly interrupted; herself unable to help but look very flustered at the embarrassing thought right alongside Kyouka and Momo.

However, neither Eijirou nor Izuku looked nearly as embarrassed, as the former couldn't hide his impression through his answer: "Believe me, I said pretty much the same thing, but he actually really thought things through. Get this, apparently senpai's costume actually had its fiber made from strands of his own hair, so it'll actually activate with his Quirk through that, so he could just phase through anything and never have to worry about it. Man, I wish I could get my costume made like that some day."

Unfortunately, while Eijirou was busy smiling at the thought of having a costume that could eventually replicate his Hardening; none of his and Izuku's audience reflected that same impression. If anything, they looked even less comfortable now, instinctively scratching at their arms as though they'd come down with a bad itch, especially as Nikolay muttered on impulse: "Wearing a costume made from his own hair…God, that sounds so uncomfortable. Almost like one of those hair shirts people wore back in medieval times."

Thankfully, in a bid to get off this unpleasant topic, Kyouka went on: "So if that wall wasn't there in Nighteye's Foresight before, then what was the deal? Was the whole complex, like, some kind of customizable labyrinth, or did someone have a Quirk like Cementoss-sensei or something?"

To this, Izuku's hands instinctively clenched into fists as he answered: "Fortunately…and also unfortunately, no. I'm pretty sure we all suspected it together, but my first thought was that our target, Overhaul, had done it himself to throw us off. See, his name also related to his Quirk, as well. He could literally completely destroy anything or…or anyone he wanted just by touching them…and he could just as easily repair or reshape them into whatever he wanted in turn. So it was possible that was his doing."

To neither his nor Eijirou's surprise, just that thought of such a Quirk in the hands of a powerful criminal had their friends looking shaken to their boots, with Momo immediately muttering: "And to think that you ended up fighting such a person and ultimately came out with nary a new scar on you as a result. You must've gotten unbelievably lucky back there, Midoriya-san."

Izuku gave a single nod of agreement to this idea, even though there was a flicker of doubt in his eyes as he decided to once more continue his share of the tale.

"FULL COWL: SHOOT STYLE!"

"RED GUN!"

CRASH!

The moment Mirio had confirmed that this wall was nothing more than a feint to hide an ongoing tunnel, just as Sir Nighteye had Foreseen, Izuku and Eijirou had made quick use of their Quirks to smash straight through. At last, all the Heroes and the police's infiltration of the underground Hassaikai complex could continue.

With the rest of the Pros just about to start following Sir Nighteye's lead again, Tunguska instinctively began to reach out to give the two boys' a well-earned congratulatory shoulder pat for their quick-thinking and teamwork, before a momentary glance forward brought him to a stop, drawing theirs and Fatgum's concern. "Oi, you feeling alright, Tunguska-san?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I guess my age must be catching up with my eyes. Does something about the hall feel off to anyone else?" The fact that their foreign comrade was asking this out of nowhere had brought the advance to a sudden halt. Following his line of sight, it quickly became apparent, as the hallway before their eyes began to pulsate, bend, swell, contract and contort in countless unnatural ways before their very eyes, as though it were the insides of a transforming organic being.

"The hallway, it's actually twisting and morphing!" Eijirou's immediate exclamation finally kicked everyone else's defensive reflexes into gear, their eyes watching every moving inch of the area all around them.

"We didn't think of it the moment we'd first noticed it, but this was another one of the Quirks that the police had described to us beforehand, just like that huge muscular guy that attacked us at the gates. I think they said the person who wielded this one was named…Irinaka Joi, or something like that. His Quirk actually allowed him to enter objects and control them freely to his will. However, back then, they'd said that his Quirk only allowed him to do so to anything no bigger than a refrigerator. Given everything we'd been informed of during the first meeting, it was easy to assume he'd taken the same kind of Quirk Booster Uraraka-san and Tsu-san had described yesterday."

"Everyone, stand back! If he's using his Quirk to try and trap us in this labyrinth, I can just force him out with this!" The moment Tunguska realized the danger his allies and students were in, he was quick to step forward with both his fists already alight, ready to drive all carving light beams into the walls and ultimately force their new adversary to reveal himself.

However, as soon as he'd begun to aim, Sir Nighteye quickly held a blocking arm in his way. "Not so fast, Tunguska-san! It's not impossible that Irinaka may have taken care to hide some explosive traps inside the walls in his wake just for us. One wrong move and it could potentially bring everything above crashing down on our heads. That'd only help Chisaki in getting rid of the evidence that much further as well."

Fatgum could feel the same kind of frustration that Tunguska was at the logic in Nighteye's precaution; immediately turning his attention to Aizawa. "Hey, Eraser, couldn't you just use your Quirk to turn off the guy's Quirk and force him out into the open?"

While the black-haired Hero's eye-wear helped hide his similar concern, he wasn't about to act as though he were any less concerned than anyone else. "It doesn't work if I can't see the user's body. As long as he keeps himself hidden, he's protected."

"A Quirk that could turn your entire environment against you in any way he saw fit to. My God, to be caught so thoroughly in such a trap, I can't imagine it to have been anything less than terrifying." Tenya noted with his arms crossed as he tried to picture it, while Kyouka, Mina and Nikolay's mutual trembling made it clear they really were, almost as though they'd actually been there.

Seeing this, Eijirou gave a solemn nod. "I know Amajiki-senpai was even starting to give in to the pressure once Sensei had made it clear we couldn't do anything. I know that for a super tough dude, he doesn't really do the whole stoic thing, but listening to him go on about how we were all doomed like that was even starting to get me nervous."

"The passageway keeps shifting around…we'll never reach the target at this rate. Meanwhile the bad guys will have all the time in the world to escape. What's our next move here? We gotta be quick…no…it's hopeless…"

As he and Izuku kept looking around cautiously at their ever-warping surroundings, Eijirou could quickly pick up on the growing trembling in Tamaki's voice. Looking back, he could see how the white-hooded third-year was starting to genuinely shake as his visor-covered eyes kept darting from one corner of the hall to the next, as though he were expecting a devastating attack at any given moment. "How can we even think about stopping criminals when we're totally doomed?!"

Eijirou had to forcefully swallow his own urge to start shaking the moment he heard his senpai start talking as though they'd already been completely defeated. He didn't even need to look to know that Tunguska and Fatgum had likewise heard him speaking so, and were getting ready to once more try and prep him back up, just like real mentors were supposed to do. If Eijirou himself had to try and build Tamaki's fighting spirit back up until he was literally blue in the face, he was more than ready to do so as he breathed deep and—

"TAMAKI!"

The sudden impassioned boom of Mirio's voice rendered the red-haired boy and his two mentors silent. It even managed to bring Tamaki's shaking to a stop, as he too looked up to see his fellow third-year standing tall and powerful over him. However, Mirio's blue dot-like eyes weren't reflecting anger or even disappointment in his comrade. No, they weren't even looking at Tamaki at all; instead, they were simply burning a laser-focused path directly forward through the warping hall before them. "This isn't like you at all! You're Suneater, after all!

"Plus, we can make it through this! All these twisting halls don't matter so long as we know the way to the target! I CAN MAKE IT!" With that declaration, Mirio actually began to charge forward into the writhing maw of the morphing hallway, ignoring the immediate worried cries of Nighteye and Izuku alike as he called back: "It's a race against the clock, and Chisaki and his people know it, too! This whole thing is just to buy themselves time! SEE YOU ALL ON THE OTHER SIDE!"

Before their eyes, Mirio immediately leaped and phased right through the concrete wall before them, just as quickly leaving his fellows to take his example, and figure out their own shares of the strategy to get out of this predicament; Tamaki included, who was finally forcing himself back to his feet, even as Eijirou and Tunguska both offered a hand to help him up. 'What the hell am I doing? Just look at him, going off all recklessly on his own like that! It's so obvious…what I've gotta do!'

However, just as soon as this thought had crossed Tamaki's mind, a loud and sickening GLOOP sound emanated from beneath everyone's feet, at just the same moment a massive hole opened up and they were all taken by the unforgiving grip of gravity, plummeting into the newly formed gaping maw, which just as quickly proceeded to close up above their heads, officially trapping them in a small, sparsely-furnished meeting room as their feet had touched the ground waiting for them.

With the brief time they had fallen, it was easy to tell that they had only fallen one story, and it was just as easy to tell that this was yet another diversionary tactic on Irinaka's part, to try and slow down their already sluggish progress even further. Nevertheless, even as they were all trying to get their bearings while adjusting their eyes to this new environment, Tunguska and Fatgum alike still immediately checked to make sure their three present students hadn't gotten hurt in the process.

But before either of them could answer, everyone had been hit by that instinctive sense of danger that dated all the way back to mankind in its most primal form: the sense that they were not alone, and that whatever other presence here was far from peaceful.

"Well, would you look at this: state-authorized goons, dropped right from the sky into our laps. Life really is just full of surprises, isn't it?" With these threatening-sounding words, the Heroes all quickly turned their attention to the direction it was coming from.

Standing before the whole bunch were a trio of adult men, all in differing masks: the previous threat having clearly come from one man standing at the right with wide and malicious-looking eyes and semi-long orange hair, dressed in a green dress shirt and a Renaissance-esque beak-shaped mask; to the left stood a more powerfully built bald-headed man in a black dress shirt with a prominent brow, wearing what looked like a typical face mask; and in the middle stood a much lankier man in a tan short-sleeved shirt, with bulging eyes just barely visible in a head-covering burlap sack mask with a stitched across mouth.

It didn't take a genius to realize these men were yet more enemies for the Heroes to contend with, and Tunguska and Fatgum, as ever, were the first ones to start stepping forward. "Looks like these three are itching for a fight, too. What do you think, Tunguska-san? Let's show them what us Pros can do and help everyone else get ahead? There's a door behind them, after all."

Following his partner's line of sight, Tunguska was already gearing up to hit their three new enemies with every flying piece of his arm as necessary, especially when he could likewise see the single doorway behind those standing guard. "Agreed. We'll show these crooks we're not down for the count just yet."

However, with surprising determination and swiftness, the two Pros suddenly found themselves being cut off by none other than Tamaki Amajiki himself, staring the three hostile men down all by himself, while holding a similar blocking arm to his and Eijirou's mentors. "You Pros and your power…are all needed much more urgently on the path ahead! As for these guys trying to slow us down…"

Tamaki, even as he was standing tall and at the ready with all his fellow Heroes and the police to his back, and the three criminals to his front, was struggling to find the right words to say in this moment to better voice his intentions. Truth be told, in this moment he had actually found himself wondering just what it was that Mirio would've said if he were in this position.

However, the emboldening power of his recent example was still burning strong in the hooded third-year's chest; a power that ultimately made him realize that he didn't need something needlessly flashy or cool to say to clearly communicate what he was aiming to do. After the self-embarrassment of having let himself succumb to the expected pressures of a mission like this, he already knew what he wanted to do, despite all of his doubts, and as such, so too did he soon find the perfect simplistic words to tell everyone exactly what he wanted them to do in the end:

"…I CAN DEAL WITH THEM MYSELF!"

"Whoa, so he seriously had you guys all go ahead without him? Taking on three bad guys all by himself?!" Mina asked with total amazement by the time Izuku and Eijirou had reached this part of their story. At the same time, Nikolay looked utterly shaken to his core the more he thought about it. "For someone who looked so timid when we first saw him, he really is a Hero at heart, isn't he?"

"HEY! There you guys are! You didn't already start without us, did you?!"

Just as Eijirou had been about to start singing his praises for Tamaki's courage, the sound of Ochako's approaching voice broke all immersion, as everyone turned in unison to see their rosy-cheeked classmate hurrying over to their sport with Tsuyu not far behind…but what caught them all by surprise, was that hurrying right alongside their froggy friend was none other than a similarly beaming Nejire Hadou, with a nearly stone-still Tamaki Amajiki himself; his heels dug in so firmly that he was leaving dragging marks across the ground as she pulled him along behind her.

"We'd gone straight to Recovery Girl-sensei's office to see if you guys had all gone there too. I'd been thinking, if nothing else, we'd at least get to do this together still, even if Kolya-san wasn't well enough to be out again. You had us all real worried, disappearing like that, you know!" Ochako hastily explained as she took her spot right next to the still-bewildered Izuku, while Tsuyu had her eyes focused solely on the young Russian across from her as she sat down. "Are you sure you're okay to be out and about so soon, Kolya-san?"

"Don't worry, I feel fine, Tsuyu-san; Sensei gave me the go-ahead and everything. She even said I might be able to rejoin class after lunch after one more check-up." Not a moment after Nikolay had finished explaining this, did Tenya clear his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"Forgive me for prying, Hadou-senpai, Amajiki-senpai. I didn't expect you both to be joining us today." Despite the similarly confused looks on his fellows' faces, Nejire herself didn't look the least bit perturbed, instead happily taking her own spot at another end of the table before planting the rigid Tamaki down right beside her. "Hey, why do you have to be so formal, Iida-kun? Amajiki-kun and I haven't been called in for intern work since the mission ended; Ryukyu and Fatgum-sensei are both still going over everything with the police even now! Why wouldn't we wanna join our partners for lunch when invited?"

Seeing the desire for answers reflected in her friends' faces, Tsuyu summarily explained: "Ochako and I thought that, given what we all know happened throughout the mission from each other, and given what happened to you this morning, Kolya-san; maybe having Hadou-senpai around for some reassurance might help lift your spirits. She just brought Amajiki-senpai along naturally-kero."

Given how Nejire had apparently been an instrumental force in doing that very thing for her partners over the course of their mission, Nikolay and his group could easily see why Tsuyu and Ochako would have considered this a worthwhile course of action. But before any of them could begin to thank their friends for such diligence, Nejire herself proudly clapped her hands to get the table's attention, her bright blue eyes focused on Nikolay and his group specifically. "Not only that, but do you know how long I've been wanting to see you all again? We all heard all that news about what was happening to you guys in Hokkaido before and after our mission, and I've just been burning up with so many questions! You guys really did something incredible; do you know how rare it is for first-years to actually help save that many people in a single mission? Were any of you guys seriously hurt? How did you all deal with it? How many Villains did you have to fight? Were you able to come up with any new, cool ways to use your Quirks? What about your teachers, what were their Quirks?"

Already, Nejire's natural sense of childlike curiosity was proving too much for Nikolay, as he tried to block out her non-stop questions while Tenya and Momo both tried to either answer each one as quickly as it had come, or were simply trying to motion for her to slow down for a minute. Either way, Nikolay took that chance to explain to Ochako and Tsuyu: "I promise you both, I'm okay. Shortly after you'd all left for class, All Might-sensei actually stuck around, and we talked one-on-one for a short while. That…that actually really helped me out. I'd let myself get so bogged down in worry and the pressure our Hero work puts on us, that it just made me lose a lot of the perspective I already had. He helped me to realize that none of us can be everywhere at once; that we all need to be able to personally balance the good and the bad around us, and accept our limitations and work with them the best we can. To be honest…now, I'm actually feeling better than I was even before…well, before the news."

The others all knew they had no reason to doubt the sincerity in Nikolay's sentiments, even despite the momentary hesitation in his trying to find the right words. But given just the sheer scale of the news that had gotten him into the dreadful state he'd been in to begin with, it hardly seemed likely that a single reassuring talk with All Might would have been able to actually make him put that all behind himself so easily. Even Izuku found himself genuinely questioning that, despite being the single biggest fan of All Might at this table.

However, as though she could simply sense the growing unease in the air among her first-years, Nejire immediately sprang up with another bright and sunny smile on her face. "Hey, hey, you're not the only one who's buckled under pressure, Bezpalov-kun! Do you know how many times Amajiki-kun has done it, too? He always gets up and fights through it when it counts, but do you think he'd be doing it even more if Togata-kun weren't around him for so many years? If he's able to do it so often, then you surely can too, right? That's just how real Heroes like us do, isn't it? Don't you all think so?"

However, any more of Nejire's nonstop questions went unanswered, as Mina immediately asked with surprise: "Togata-senpai? The way Urara-chan and Tsu-chan talked, I would've thought you'd be the one always picking everybody up, Amajiki-senpai included!"

Barely anyone but Eijirou noticed how Tamaki instinctively flinched with discomfort that he was the one being talked about, while Nejire only seemed to light up that much more. "Oh, no, not at all! Didn't you know Amajiki-kun and Togata-kun have been total besties since the third grade? He's always been there to cheer him up and get him right back on his feet, like his shoulder angel!"

While Mina was instinctively swooning over how sweet such an image was for their incredibly awkward third-year, Tamaki himself barely started nudging his elbow into Nejire's arm, finally getting her attention while he was keeping his back firmly turned to the whole bunch of first-years for his own sake. "Hey, Hadou, could y-you p-p-please not go t-telling people something so p-personal without a-asking first?"

Before she could go on to tease Tamaki for being so shy while he was the center of attention, Nikolay suddenly came out with asking: "Hey, if you both want to keep joining us during lunch if you're not doing any intern work for now, do you think Togata-senpai would be willing to as well? I'm super curious; all of us are; about what all happened to you guys out there while we'd been gone."

Tamaki was once again flinching with discomfort, refusing to look anybody behind him in the eyes, while Nejire's eyes widened with delight, but her smile seemed to momentarily hesitate: "I know Togata-kun would totally be up for it…but unfortunately, he was one of the few of us to get pretty badly hurt by the time it was over. He's still recovering in the hospital for now. But hey, if we both tell our parts, then can you all tell us all about what happened in Hokkaido? Were you all totally scared while you were up there?"

While Ochako and Tsuyu had to hurriedly rein Nejire in by explaining they'd already shared their portion of the whole thing the day before (to her pouting disappointment), none but Tamaki's personal partners among the bunch noticed how the mentioning of Mirio had gotten his hands to start clenching into trembling, emotionally-driven fists, especially when Momo noted: "None of us were able to even so much as touch Togata-senpai back on the Training Grounds the first time we met. I didn't think it was possible for someone like him to get hurt that badly. Do you think perhaps we should all try to check in and see how he's doing later?"

Mina was instantly on her feet with a determined fist lifted up to the sky as she immediately answered: "Yeah, that's a totally awesome idea, Yaomomo! I'll bet Senpai would love hearing from all of us! He only deserves well wishes from all of us after all!"

Thankfully, nobody here looked to be even remotely in disagreement with such a show of good will and unity among schoolmates, as Nikolay's eye soon turned to Tamaki's back. "Excuse me, Amajiki-senpai, but you and Hadou-senpai actually got here at the perfect time. Eijirou-san and Midoriya-san had just finished telling us about how you chose to stand alone against three Villains all at once. Why don't you tell us all about what happened from there?"

Of course, the young Russian's enthusiasm was quickly extinguished when Tamaki's body seemed to almost try balling itself up to make himself as small as possible, still keeping his back to all of them. "I don't want to. I just want to go home. Don't keep asking me, why are you all asking me?"

Tamaki was already long since past the point of devolving into nonstop nervous mutterings as he started shaking from head to toe; right up until Nejire nosily leaned in with that same intrusive smile and determined glimmer in her eyes. "Hey, hey, you seem like you can talk just fine with your back turned! Don't you know how many actors and musicians do that kind of thing to fight stage fright? Why don't you just tell them everything and just keep staring a hole in the grass?"

Tamaki was indeed steadfast in keeping his narrow eyes focused on the grass at his feet, clutching at the sleeves of his uniform tightly all the while. All he wanted more than anything else, still, was to just run home and bury himself under the covers of his bed and get away from everyone and anyone else…but experience with his fellow third-year, and as well from witnessing all these first-years in action even a little bit, had made it all too clear to him that none of these people were ever going to leave him alone if he didn't concede.

And besides, Nejire did have a point: keeping his back turned to everyone seemed to make answering them a tiny bit easier. Perhaps this would have been able to give him just enough practice where he could at least talk to people in general with his back turned with little problem. Plus, this at least didn't feel to have nearly as much suffocating pressure as actual Hero work did.

"Alright, fine. But please…no…no q-questions or interruptions. So, y-you s-said they left off with me taking them on, r-right?"

"BY YOURSELF?! WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT, MAN?! LET'S TAKE THEM ON TOGETHER!" Eijirou immediately exclaimed the moment Tamaki had declared his intention to take on their three new opponents by himself. Even Fatgum and Tunguska together were visibly gearing up to take the fight to the three yakuza staring them down; the large Russian echoing his chosen team partner: "Red Riot's right, Suneater; this isn't the time for taking unnecessary risks!"

However, Tamaki was refusing to show any outward sign of uncertainty in his own decision, even as the beak-masked yakuza with orange hair menacingly pulled out a wakizashi from behind his back, with nothing but murderous intent in his eyes: "Why don't you listen to your elders, kid? Go ahead, all of you come and take us on if you want. Just more pigs to the slaughter that way."

Tunguska was already getting sick of this one's taunting in particular, focusing on firing just a few of his prosthetic fingers while he was distracted. That would hit with enough force to catch the others off guard and give the Heroes the advantage for sure.

However, it was almost as if the leading police officer could just read the Slavic Hero's thoughts, as he immediately called out to everyone: "Be careful, everyone; that's Setsuno Toya! Don't draw your guns or use any projectiles; his Quirk will just steal them right out of your hands, then we'll be in even bigger trouble!"

"Aww, well that spoils the surprise some! No matter, that'll just make it easier to go wild on y'all!" Clearly their foreknowledge of the man called Setsuno's Quirk did nothing to diffuse his enthusiasm for a fight, as he was already lifting a hand to undoubtedly use his Quirk on the first object he could consider a projectile weapon.

However, like a black flash, Aizawa came swooping in from the throng, already drawing out his Capture Tool from around his neck while focusing on the aggressive yakuza through his eyewear: "That's not gonna work here! Now drop the blade!"

Just as everyone had already started hoping, Aizawa's quick thinking had bought them an advantage, as Setsuno's aggression quickly turned to confusion as he looked to his hand. "What the-?! My Quirk! What the hell did he just do?!"

However, this shock was clearly not shared by his partners, as the bald-headed thug to the left just as quickly pulled out a gun from his hip, forcing Fatgum to step forward, using his wide mass as a makeshift shield, while Tunguska just as quickly got his prosthetic hand raised, aiming square for the new attacker's head. "Blades and bullets will just sink into me! Come quietly if you don't wanna suffer!"

However, even despite having his own Quirk shut off, Setsuno just as quickly got his blade at the ready, his eyes nothing short of manic. "Those kind of threats only work on those who value life!"

And in just as quick fashion, Tunguska likewise answered, just as the police all finally began to draw their guns, and he continued to stand alongside Fatgum as a shield for Eijirou and Izuku: "It's easy to say something so bold, but how willing are the three of you to actually back that up if we start shooting? Even without these officers, I can guarantee my fingers are faster than the one you've got on that trigger! Now drop it!"

Just as the atmosphere in the room began to reach a fever pitch, and one side or the other was about to start firing off, a blur of white suddenly came flying into the frontline between the two sides, just before a massive clam manifested from out of it, serving as yet another makeshift shield for the Heroes and police. Before the three yakuza could even further react, that same blur suddenly shot out a multitude of full-sized octopus tentacles from within, firmly ensnaring all three of them and yanking them right off their feet and into the ground.

With all three of their heads ringing, and none of their bodies able to wrestle free, the three yakuza found themselves completely trapped in the tentacles extending from a determined yet shaking Tamaki above them, as he stared them all down through the blue visor over his eyes. "Larceny, Setsuno Toya. Crystallize, Hojo Yu. Food, Soramitsu Tabe. I know you all, and I know your Quirks. That's why…I'll take you all on!"

To further prove his point, he then took that chance to summarily crush and destroy the blade and gun he'd managed to swipe from them with another of his tentacles, by quickly turning it into a crab claw. "I get to partake in octopus a lot at the Fatgum Agency, so my tentacle capacity is currently maxed out…and I'm done taking chances with these kinds of weapons after getting shot last time, so that's one advantage of yours gone, too."

Refusing to take his eyes off the hostile trio, lest they had any other sneaky tricks up their sleeves, Tamaki called out to his comrades from over his shoulder: "There's no point in all of us engaging these guys! We'd just be playing into their hands by wasting time if we did! Eraserhead needs to lead the way, and you need all of the Pros' Quirks on hand, as well as the police and their guns, for whatever else could be waiting, as well as to be able to escape through these morphing walls!"

It was unmistakable that, even knowing he would be completely outnumbered, Tamaki was still resolute in his decision. Despite seeing him so effortlessly entrap the trio on his own, the idea of leaving another of their own behind for any time left Eijirou, Izuku, Tunguska and Fatgum all similarly uneasy…and it was as though Tamaki himself could sense their mutual desires to try and convince him otherwise, hence he quickly called out: "Fatgum! I'll hold them off, so the rest of you go on ahead!"

Despite all of their shared reluctance to do so, especially Tunguska and Eijirou in particular; Fatgum was ultimately the one to finally set the rest of the party in motion, urgently pointing to the single door behind Tamaki's back. "C'MON, THROUGH THERE!"

The moment he began to take the charge, prompting Pros, students and police alike to follow suit, Setsuno's head had already stopped ringing enough for him to see they were all starting to escape. But before he could even try to fight his way out of Tamaki's tentacle hold, Aizawa had already swiftly moved in to once more deactivate his Quirk, before just as quickly wrangling his Capture Tool around the sack-masked Tabe, reeling himself in fast enough to land a debilitating palm strike straight into his face, knocking him for a loop; all the while calling to Tamaki: "I'll knock these guys out while I've still got eyes on them!"

However, despite the teacher's intervention, Tamaki wasn't even about to start lowering his guard, instead opting to use his tentacle's grip and his own leverage to swing Setsuno, Hojo and Tabe straight into another wall, trying to knock them out himself. "STICK WITH THE OTHERS, ERASERHEAD! ALL OF YOU, GO!"

At this moment, Tunguska and Fatgum were staying behind to help usher the rest of their fellows through the door. At the moment Eijirou and Izuku both came to another hesitant stop, looking back to their senior, Tamaki could just feel their gazes, which only seemed to make his heart run that much stronger: "GO HELP MIRIO! I just know…he's gonna take things too far and need saving…"

This one simple personal detail thankfully seemed to be what finally spurred Izuku into heeding Tamaki's words, and send him finally racing down the hall after the others, while Fatgum just as quickly turned his attention to his colleague and other intern: "Tunguska-san, Red Riot-kun, you both go on ahead, too! I'll head up the rear; make sure nobody gets the drop on us from behind!"

Tunguska still looked reluctant to just leave Tamaki behind as it was, but in comparison, Eijirou looked downright desperate for an alternative: "This doesn't feel right, Fatgum-sensei! Leaving people behind isn't manly at all!"

Fatgum couldn't have possibly been able to lie by saying he was any less worried for his intern than they were, but he likewise knew this was no time or place to try and talk the young Hero out of it, and too much more was at stake for them to waste any more time. And fortunately for them all, Tunguska could recognize this conflict in his fellows' eyes, as he firmly grabbed Eijirou by the shoulder and began pulling him along; the spiky-haired student too surprised to try and put up any resistance.

Never taking his eyes off the path ahead, knowing everything that was going to happen from this point forward was only being made possible by Tamaki's selflessness and courage, Tunguska firmly explained to his young charge: "It's not wrong for you to worry for Suneater, Red Riot! But don't let that worry make you forget that he got to his prominent position in Yuuei's Big Three for a good reason: his own spirit and capabilities. No matter how badly he always seems to put himself down through the pressure to be perfect as a Hero, those elements have helped him to get this far, this powerful! If he believes he can help us accomplish our mission by holding those three back, then it's our responsibility as Heroes and men to make sure his actions aren't wasted!"

Eijirou could feel the truth in his admired teacher's words hit him like a freight train; and just as quickly could he feel a deep disappointment in himself for having let himself forget something so basic from all of their Heroics lessons thus far: that true Heroes had to make such difficult and threatening decisions for the greater good all the time, and that sometimes that greater good required having to take the heat in order to make your partners' jobs that much easier.

Nevertheless, he and Tunguska both could only keep silently hoping to themselves that Tamaki would indeed be able to pull this off and come back to them unharmed.

Listening to Tamaki soldier through his nervousness and personal pressure to try and recount his experience to the best of his abilities to his unseen audience, had left Nikolay and his group, nay the entire audience, enraptured with a deep sense of admiration for his clear cut inner strength. In fact, there was even a very emotional edge lining his stuttered words when it came to mentioning Mirio that couldn't help but get Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka a little bit choked up, especially when thinking back on the news of their absent senior's apparent injuries came back. Seeing how Tamaki's shoulders were barely trembling in that moment, made it all too clear just how much that detail clearly hurt him to keep thinking about as well.

"To keep hammering yourself down with your own thoughts and feelings, only for the thought and support of your friends to always end up bringing you back that much stronger…I'd almost think Hadou-senpai knew our examples would be so alike when bringing you along. You really are a very cool Hero, Amajiki-senpai." Nikolay finally uttered after a few moments of tense silence, causing the pointy-eared boy to momentarily go still as a rock, thinking further and further back the more he forced himself to keep retelling.

SLASH!

"SUNEATER!"

In the blink of an eye, just as soon as the last of the police had been ushered through the door, and Fatgum was ready to help Tamaki finish up with the trapped trio of yakuza so they could catch up with the others, he'd turned back just in time to see that Setsuno had swung his head forward while still restrained, not only causing his beak mask to suddenly tear, but to also leave a deep bleeding slice in one of Tamaki's tentacles, visibly catching the young Hero by surprise.

All the while, the orange-haired thug, whom Fatgum and Tamaki both could now see had been hiding a currently bloody knife inside of his mask, was cackling wickedly: "Surprised? Did ya flinch?! We get that you're in a hurry, but y'better start taking the likes of us more seriously, y'hear? Especially when you're up against the likes of us! You just never know what we could be packing underneath these things!"

Like a rapidly unfolding nightmare playing out before his very eyes, Fatgum could then see the bald-headed Hojo starting to pry Tamaki's tentacles away from his own body, as a multitude of jagged and strong-looking crystals began to sprout out from all over his body, quickly forming a full-body crystalline armor. "That long-haired jerk's Quirk may have bought your friends a little extra time, but nothing more! Tentacles, crab claws, clams, even your Fat can only do so much against guys like us!"

Of course, Tamaki was more than ready to put such a bold statement to the test, unwilling to let even this kind of setback completely ruin his intentions. Upon quickly turning his lobster claw hand back into a giant clam, his first gut instinct was to try and swing as hard as he could for Hojo's head. Distinctly recalling one of Eijirou's past stories about how his classes' one foreign student had managed to knock him out cold at the start of the year with a point-blank concussive blast to the face, even through his Hardening; it only stood to reason that the same basic principal of physics could apply here as well.

SWIPE!

But midway through the arc of his swing, Tamaki could just feel the large clam slip right out of his now bare right hand, now laying harmlessly in Setsuno's grubby paws, before he just as quickly threw it at the charging Fatgum's eyes, forcing the large Hero to waste another precious second ducking beneath it, before putting his charging momentum into a single devastating punch, which the nimble-footed yakuza expertly managed to dodge with a perfect front flip. "You Heroes gotta exercise that restrained killing intent of yours just like that if you wanna have any kind of chance against us! You don't get to exercise those charmed lifestyle-bred morals of yours here without due punishment!"

With the split second Fatgum had to waste pulling his fist from the floor and rearing back to try and land another strike, Setsuno took that chance to use his Quirk and once again snatch the very same clam shell he had taken off of Tamaki, just in time to lift it up as a shield to take the majority of the Pro's punch, shattering it, but still ultimately keeping himself in the fight.

All the while, as Tamaki was still struggling to tighten his tentacles' grip on the ever-strengthening Hojo, he likewise tried to blindside Setsuno with further tentacles, if for no other reason than to slow him down enough for Fatgum to knock him out. However, Setsuno's environmental awareness was no less razor sharp here than it was with Fatgum, as he just as swiftly ducked and sidestepped another swipe, before just as quickly rolling out of the way of another of Fatgum's punches, this time followed by an equally swift kick, which just barely managed to graze Setsuno's side.

The adrenaline of taking on two Heroes at once had the grinning thug's already bulging eyes growing even wider, his drive behind his previous words now burning that much hotter: "You Heroes look at our criminal records and think you know everything there is to know! You don't even get the cruelty of the very society you're always trying to protect! It was no bluff, what I'd said before to that big foreigner before! We'd seriously given up on life before, y'know! When we tried to kill ourselves by leaping to our deaths…it was a Hero that caught us! Can you even imagine our despair?! Abandoned by society the moment we proved unable to conform; left in the gutter and driven to desperation to survive by those we once thought cared for us; exploited by other pieces of scum and then tossed aside like human garbage the moment they couldn't see any further value in us; none of us saw the point in living anymore! There's no way idiots like you could ever understand! You go around actin' like you're savin' everyone and protectin' a society that values everyone equally, but you don't know a damn thing!"

However, the ferocity of battle only made Setsuno's words fuel Fatgum's fighting spirit that much further, as he became like an unstoppable onslaught of surprisingly swift punches, kicks, attempted grabs and even the occasional head-butt. It was only through sheer tenacity and luck that Setsuno was managing to avoid getting grabbed, before ultimately pulling the same trick he had on Tamaki before: swooping in, light on his feet, at Fatgum's blindside and swinging his head across, revealing a second blade hidden on the other side of his mask, which just managed to hit a fraction of a millimeter from Fatgum's left eye, still leaving him in searing pain.

The sight of blood starting to run down Fatgum's face as he felt the cut running diagonally from above his left ear to the edge of his eye left Setsuno cackling in even greater glee. "But the young boss found a new use for old garbage like us! He understood that, with the right leader, even trash like us can form the perfect strong bonds that can help accomplish something far greater! And it's because of him that we finally get an opportunity to take the power back, and leave pompous fools like you hurtin'! He understood our pain, and for that, we'll do everything in our power to help him! Our futures don't matter! If our deaths can help him to succeed, then we'll use every bit of our power together to make that happen for him! You can't stop us!"

Hearing the pained grunt of his mentor had momentarily snapped Tamaki's attention away from his continuous restraining attempt; a distraction he'd immediately gone on to regret, as Hojo had finally grown his crystal armor big enough to where he was finally able to completely free himself from the young Hero's tentacles, as well as to get a devastating-looking fist reared back. "Even garbage like us have our pride! When given a job by those who believe in us…you best believe we'll come through!"

As Tamaki instinctively turned back to find the crystallized fist driving right for his chest, everything around him seemed to come to a crawl; his first natural train of thought simply echoing what had been continuously pestering him since he'd first stepped forward: 'This is it…I tried…and I failed! This is how it all ends for me, isn't it?! The pressure really was just too much! I should've just told Fatgum-sensei to just go with the others! I shouldn't have let him get involved even a little bit, huh? Or maybe I was just fooling myself all this time, thinking I could handle these guys by myself. When the pressure gets put on, I always come up short, don't I?'

And of course, such self-deprecating and confidence-destroying thoughts were all too normal for someone like Tamaki Amajiki. Such had been his curse for as long as he could remember, thinking back on it in this microcosm moment. Even as far back as elementary school, he could barely even manage the task of stringing a single sentence together in front of normal people. Even back then, he knew he'd wanted to become a Hero, but those moments always left him wondering how anyone could possibly be a Hero if they couldn't even find the courage to speak to people face-to-face.

Even once he'd made it into middle school, society's myriad expectations, as well as those of his peers, made using his Quirk to any effective degree nigh impossible. Every day was the same process of trying to work up the courage to do better, failing, and somehow finding the spark that would convince him to try again next time.

No…that spark, that nagging little element that always convinced him to give it another shot…it wasn't that he was always able to somehow find it. It always found him. It was always by his side, even when he found himself not wanting it to be so. That spark…was Mirio Togata himself.

Every day throughout their middle school years, whenever Tamaki found himself coming up short on their Quirk evaluations, Mirio was always there to try just as hard, and would almost just as often screw up right alongside him. Yes, there were times when Tamaki would resentfully find himself thinking his old friend was simply trying to make him not feel as useless in comparison by deliberately messing up, but there were often more times where it seemed that, even despite Mirio's abundant confidence and optimism, he still had just as hard a time utilizing his own Quirk just as much.

Such had been the regular process for them through all that time, but in this particular moment, as he could practically see his life playing out before his eyes, there was one particular memory from that period that cemented itself in Tamaki's mind right then:

It had been after yet another day like any other in middle school. Like any other day, another of Tamaki's shortcomings during Quirk evaluation had left him feeling particularly despondent, and wanting nothing more than to just go home and be left alone…and just like every single day like it, Mirio was either annoyingly persistent, or blissfully unaware of such tumult going on in his friend's head, as he always insisted on them walking home from school together, almost like an oversized bipedal puppy.

In fact, today in particular, the sheer black-and-white difference in their mentalities had been made so apparent to Tamaki alone, that for once, he actually found himself unable to help but give voice to them: "You're…incredible, Mirio. Even when you screw up, you stay cheery…keeping your eyes on the prize. It ends up pumping up everyone else in class, too. I just can't…when I even so much as think of failing, my mind goes blank, and I just freeze up. You, on the other hand, you're gonna be a great Hero one day. Bright and shining, just like the sun."

Because Tamaki's eyes were naturally affixed to the cold and apathetic ground at his feet, he didn't even see just how animatedly Mirio had flinched upon receiving such out-of-nowhere praise. "What the heck?! You're giving me way too much credit! It's not like that at all, man! The reason I work so hard is precisely because I've always got you at my side, Tamaki!"

That somehow managed to break through the reinforced defenses of Tamaki's self-flagellation, as he came to a sudden stop, looking upon his always-grinning friend as though he'd genuinely lost his mind. And, of course, Mirio was still smiling just as brightly as he continued on: "The fact is, I'm really not that strong. It's just that, whenever I see you out there, all nervous…but refusing to back down anyway, I feel like I don't wanna lose to you. I think it makes you look super, super cool!"

Just as quickly as it had come, that memory had faded into the swirling mists of Tamaki's tormented mind…but it was the heartfelt sentiment behind Mirio's old words that were still echoing the loudest in his head, even as time around him continued to march further onward:

"Tamaki, you're always building me up while underestimating yourself; saying silly stuff, like how I'm bright like the sun. But I know the truth: deep down, you've got real talent. The truth is, Tamaki…that you're a really fun guy with a bright side all your own."

As those words echoed resoundingly in every fiber of Tamaki's physical being, his own sense of the present was finally starting to catch up, just enough to where he could finally see that, despite that massive crystal fist flying right for him, he was still here, still standing, and still finding that burning strength to keep pushing himself forward, even if it had to be one inch at a time, all the while thinking deafeningly to himself with growing determination: 'You really think that way of me still, Mirio? Then let me borrow those old words you used back then.'

Just as he even thought so, Tamaki pushed his more and more of his adrenaline into his arm; the very arm now encased in fused-together tentacles and crab shells alike at once, that had taken the entire brunt of Hojo's crystallized punch; pushing further and further back; leaving the bald-headed thug looking visibly shocked at the boy's endurance and fighting spirit. The more Tamaki pushed back, the more he could hear Mirio's old encouraging words hammering louder and harder into every fiber of his being, soon even managing to perfectly mirror the words he finally found the strength and courage to say out loud:

"You're gonna be even greater than any regular ol' sun! You'll outshine any sun out there! Anyway…you get the picture. Be confident, Tamaki! You're…"

"Give it up…I'm…

"SUNEATER!"

Hearing Tamaki openly express just how much of an overall influence Mirio's constant friendship had proven to be in his slowly built courage and willpower had left the entire table deathly silent. By keeping his back to them, he was able to completely focus on putting words to the myriad feelings he'd become overwhelmed with in that moment, thus allowing him to ultimately get past his nervous stuttering and express himself so much more clearly.

Every one of the students listening to him become more and more impassioned the further he went on, had likewise left them all visibly very emotional, with Mina in particular having to physically resist the urge to let out a joyful squeal at something so beautiful-sounding…and so relatable. Such a tale of unbreakable bonds of friendship driving them even harder in the heat of battle, at its darkest moments, was just so damn touching, so inspiring for every one of them; especially because they all knew they could truly understand what a powerful thing that was for themselves, after all they had likewise gone through.

In fact, Nejire was unusually adept at recognizing that very kind of empathy from their listening first-years in that briefest moment, for her ever-watchful eyes immediately honed in on how; as Nikolay and Mina were so enraptured in Tamaki's story of his past and now-present inspiration from Mirio; they had near unconsciously reached out and taken each other's hand in an unspoken mirroring of that very same inspiring and unbreakable bond. Just the sight of it had the blue-haired third-year grinning even brighter, and squealing joyously (mercifully, in her head).

Despite the back-handed attack that had very nearly taken half his eyesight out of the equation, Fatgum was continuing to press on his assault on Setsuno; the sneak-thieving thug taking the split second chance he'd bought himself to draw the two knives out of his mask and dual-wield them. However, the Pro's inner fire was burning so hot, he simply proceeded to bulldoze his way through the next series of attacks thrown his way, throwing himself forward so he could take both those knives harmlessly into his mass, leaving his opponent only momentarily defenseless.

The fact that his mentor was keeping Setsuno busy, was more than enough for Tamaki to capitalize on his stopping Hojo's own momentum with his rapidly transforming right arm, refusing to loosen his grip on the once-assaulting crystal fist.

'I can manifest the characteristics of whatever food I eat…so I'll make use of everything my Quirk is capable of doing!' At the very same time he thought this to himself, Tamaki's crab shell-plated and tentacle-growing arm began to expand more and more; both of these properties fusing and melding into one another, quickly outgrowing the visibly surprised Hojo himself.

But Tamaki still refused to lower his guard as he kept focusing all his power into that one limb. 'Chunks of muscle inside these octopus tentacles can absorb any blow. And I can defend against damage from his crystals by covering them in crab shells in multiple layers.'

However, despite Tamaki's arm continuing to grow and mutate further and further, Hojo's momentary surprise had finally worn off, as he instead threw an equally massive right arm of pure crystal straight for the boy's head. "You use your Quirk well, but it'll only get you so far, boy!"

Seeing the incoming attack, time still felt as though it were passing at a crawl for Tamaki himself, knowing exactly what to do in preparation for a counter-attack just like this.

And it all came together in a massive explosion of crab shell-infused tentacles bursting out from the covering of his white hood over his left side. All this time, he'd been focusing this very same culmination of his Quirk into both his arms, just waiting for something like this to happen, and he'd acted on it none too soon, stopping Hojo's counter-attack and slamming him straight back into the wall.

"It was a special move I'd spent the last two and a half years in Yuuei trying to get as close to perfect as possible, pushing my limits constantly. Now, I'm able to change the individual parts' sizes, manifest multiple parts at once, and choose any which one of them to use at any point at will. And in that moment…that was my first time genuinely bringing everything I had to the table out in the field. I hadn't spent much time thinking of what to call it like so many others…but feeling it all coming out in that moment, the name just felt like it had come to me naturally."

"VAST HYBRID…CHIMERA KRAKEN!"

Much like the very mythical beast that was Tamaki's sSpecial Move's namesake, the tentacles now emanating from his body were even bigger than his actual body in its entirety, and the pure physical strength behind them was more than enough to match, as Hojo's fully crystallized form couldn't even hope to gain enough leverage to try and fight his way out against the weight repeatedly pushing him further and further into the wall.

At the same time, witnessing his protégé finally put his deeply hidden potential out into the open in such an expressive way, Fatgum's burning anger towards their enemies had just as quickly turned into pride, as the moment he'd finally managed to get his hands on the similarly shocked Setsuno, he eagerly cheered out: "THAT'S THE WAY RIGHT THERE, SUNEATER-KUN! TIME TO PUT AN END TO THIS FIGHT!"

Unfortunately, Setsuno was hardly as frozen with disbelief as Fatgum wanted to believe, as while he could only now finally realize that a spectacle like this was exactly why Tamaki had originally volunteered to take them on alone; his deep-rooted senses for their preservation likewise came rushing back to him, as his frantic eyes fell upon the still-unconscious form of Tabe lying motionless mere feet away. "HEY, TABE! WAKE UP! IT'S TIME TO EAT!"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Setsuno quickly found himself getting slammed helplessly into Fatgum's girth. But in that moment that the rotund Pro had taken his eyes off Tamaki; Setsuno's desperate course of action had already gotten started, as with nothing but a single twitching finger to serve as a warning; the very next moment, Tamaki felt a huge surge of intense pain shoot into his body, as the sack-masked man, Tabe, bolted from his spot on the floor, taking a massive chunk clean off one of his armored tentacles with his gaping maw of a mouth.

And with eyes wide and frenzied within his mask, a strained voice emanated from the freed yakuza's now-unstitched mouth that sent a chill up his and Fatgum's spines: "Octopus…yummy!"

Before Tamaki could even try to react defensively, Tabe was like a human maelstrom, darting this way and that, and taking equally massive bits out of his tentacles every step of the way with ease.

"Oh my God, a Villain actually started straight-up eating you, Senpai? That's…oh, that's just horrifying!" Kyouka exclaimed with surprising energy at the mere thought of what Tamaki was forcing himself to describe, with every one of her friends on their side of the table looking just as frightened.

However, being the ever observant one of the bunch, Tenya somehow managed to keep himself composed professionally as he pointed out: "To know you went through something so devastating, and yet to see you with nary an extra scratch on you afterward…surely you must understand how it can't help but make one wonder, Senpai."

While Nikolay and Momo could both understand, since that little detail couldn't help but make all of their imaginations start running again, Tamaki didn't even try to hide it: "Those tentacles aren't like my actual fingers transformed, though, they just sprout from my body like anything else I would eat. That doesn't mean it didn't still hurt like crazy as it was happening, though. He was so fast, I couldn't even keep my eyes on him enough to try and wrangle him up before he'd taken one bite after another out of me. And that wasn't all…"

"SUNEATER-KU-!"

SHUK!

In the moment Fatgum had been distracted by the sight of seeing Tamaki in distress, Setsuno had likewise acted, focusing his sight on an especially elongated and sharp-looking piece of crab shell flying from one of Tamaki's severed tentacles. Without hesitation, he'd reached his free hand out to it, and the moment he felt it slip into his grasp, he quickly drove that viciously sharp end straight into Fatgum's right foot, causing his whole body to lose its built up tension from the sudden pain, just enough for him to slip out to freedom before his vitality could start getting sapped away.

With another victorious cackle, Setsuno just as quickly swung his makeshift weapon high once he was on the ground, slicing across Fatgum's forearms when he instinctively brought them up to shield his face. Of course, the yakuza expected his Pro opponent was already gearing up to charge him once again, so he was already scrambling back towards Tamaki and his comrades, all the while gleefully gloating:

"Tabe's jaws can tear through absolute anything you put in front of him, and his stomach just goes and digests everything before you even realize it! There's no filling his belly up! You hurting yet?! Cause I gotta say, you two are a match made in Heaven! You're a goner, kid; and your teacher here won't be far behind, either!"

In the moments that had passed since activating his Special Move, Tamaki had taken the even further precaution of creating a crab shell faceguard over his face in case Hojo or anyone else had tried anything sneaky. Of course, now that Tabe had been unexpectedly brought back into the fight and was currently putting him at such a severe disadvantage, on one hand he could already start imagining several other defenses he could have tried to put up instead…but on the other hand, perspective came with just that much more drive.

'Of course, Eraserhead knew this one's Quirk would give me the most trouble, hence why he decided to knock him out before anyone else! But…it's fine. I'll just have to keep giving it my all! Plus, even in my position, I'm still moving better than this guy ever could!'

Focusing his eyes on where he could only expect Tabe to move to next, rather than where he currently was, Tamaki was already preparing a complete crab shell bombardment from however much of his right arm tentacles were still intact. It would just take a little maneuvering him into the right position, then—

SWIPE!

In less than a blink, Tamaki suddenly felt his crab shell faceguard disappear right off his grimacing face, completely blindsiding him, while Setsuno himself now held that very same piece of makeshift armor in his hand, bringing it up just in time to serve as a one-time shield against another of Fatgum's punches; shattering on impact, but still proving enough of a time-gainer for himself to drive that trusty sliver of razor sharp crab shell in his other hand, straight into that very same fist, earning another pained exclamation of surprise from the Pro Hero.

"If this is how things are going for you three-on-two, then how did you ever expect to do well in a three-on-one fight, Suneater, huh?! You thought throwing your tentacles around and having your egg-shaped sensei rolling around after us would be all you'd need?!"

With Fatgum forcefully pulling the shell piece out from his hand, and Tamaki still momentarily stunned from having his face armor stolen; that had ultimately provided Hojo the opening he'd been waiting for, to finally drive his original crystallized left fist at full force straight into the young Hero's face; Tamaki himself only barely managing to turn his ehad at the last possible moment, so that all of that jagged, pounding and cutting force slammed into his right cheek, instead of smashing his whole face straight into the back of his head.

That didn't make the ringing and ungodly pain that ensued any less horrific, as all of Hojo's enhanced durability and momentum put into that punch sent poor Tamaki flying across the room listlessly; blood spraying from out his mouth, nose, ear and maybe even his right eye as he crashed into the wall.

Even from here, Hojo and Fatgum alike both knew that it was only through Tamaki's gut-instinct dodging reaction that he wasn't already dead, but after taking a direct hit like that, there was no way in hell he could take a second one and still be left standing. Fatgum understood this perfectly well, hence why his very first instinct was to come charging at full force for Hojo this time, knowing that no matter how hard those crystals could punch, his girth would still be able to take it.

At the same time as Fatgum caught Hojo's instinctive punches in his hands, and used his charging momentum to slam the crystal yakuza right back into the wall, in an attempt to force him entirely into his mass; Tamaki's head was still ringing as he lay listlessly in his own indentation in the wall, watching as Tabe was just ignoring the rest of the fighting, and was continuing to chomp away at his tentacles.

'He's…he's eating me down to nothing! There's just…one thing I can still do! The octopus regularly has a kind of…neurotoxin in its saliva…it can secrete through its tentacles for defense. Just focus it out through the ones I've got left…and let him chew on that! In seconds…he'll be paralyzed!'

Looking at his situation now, Tamaki could see he only had the equivalent of stubs of his tentacles left to work with, but deep down he knew he didn't need to worry. He could already feel that very same toxin settling into them, and Tabe still looked like he was just about ready to take one last bite out of them. That was all he'd need to save his skin, and help Fatgum out in bringing the rest of this fight to a close.

SWIPE!

Just as Tabe was about to finally bring his merciless jaws down on the last remaining tentacle chunk extending from Tamaki's left arm, that very same piece vanished into thin air, leaving the sack-masked yakuza high and dry, and Tamaki wide-eyed with horror, as Setsuno stood victoriously with that very same tentacle in his hand; his manic eyes wide with knowing. "My Quirk can't steal things that are too big…but leftovers like these are a different story! Thanks for the help, brat!"

Before Tamaki's eyes, Setsuno proceeded to wring that very same neurotoxin out of the remaining tentacle piece, slathering the stuff onto another piece of crab shell he'd been keeping in his pocket, before proceeding to rush Fatgum from behind, clearly preparing to rub the stuff all over the Hero's face in order to paralyze him completely, just as he was about halfway through engulfing the struggling Hojo within his center mass.

Watching as Setsuno clasped the toxin-soaked crab shell to the visibly surprised Fatgum's face, Tamaki could barely think coherently through the pain engulfing over half his body: 'Their teamwork…is perfect. Even when one of them is at a disadvantage, the others always know what to do to get them out of it. Their fighting spirit proves it: they really don't care about their own futures or anything else that happens to them…they simply fight for Chisaki Kai and his will. It's not gang loyalty, it's not even fear that he uses to make them fight so hard for him…it's borderline brainwashing.'

SMASH!

After no more than a couple seconds of struggling against the neurotoxin in the shell being clasped to his face, Fatgum's adrenaline had all but exploded, as he threw himself straight up into the air with a mighty battle cry, slamming Setsuno on his back straight into the ceiling; thankfully making him lose his grip enough for the Hero to grab him by his shirt and fling him straight back into the wall ahead.

Fatgum didn't even wait to feel the impact before he proceeded to focus with the precious seconds of mobility he could feel he still had, channeling all of the kinetic force he'd been collecting into his mass over the course of this whole fight and the hours before, and releasing it all in one massive explosion of pure force erupting forward from out of him, nearly blasting the entire wall into rubble, while likewise driving Hojo and Setsuno point-blank at terminal velocity against it, while the Hero himself was sent flying back into the opposite wall.

Being able to observe this entire event from his position in those few seconds, Tamaki could see that, unfortunately, in the rush of everything else, Fatgum's getting thrown back was far from the norm for whenever he pushed himself this far. And the reason for that became immediately apparent when he could see a number of crystals embedded into the wall at Fatgum's back, with a few small others embedded in his legs, shoulders, and one pinning him by his shoulder against the wall.

What had happened, was that despite being half swallowed up, Hojo had somehow still managed to find the maneuverability to throw a quickly extending crystal bunch from his one free arm to catch himself and Setsuno once they both got blasted back into the wall. At the same time, he'd done the same thing from his trapped right arm, and combined with the sheer kinetic blowback from Fatgum's desperate last move, it had caused those crystals to shatter, inadvertently turning them into a multitude of fast-flying shrapnel, that now had the rapidly shrinking Pro Hero injured further, and stuck.

Even despite his head still ringing, and his own body racked with pain from getting blasted point blank into more of Hojo's crystals, Setsuno was very quick to realize the advantage his partner's quick thinking had just bought them, laughing hysterically as he quickly swiped up to especially sharp fragments from the floor, holding them like makeshift knives. "YEAH, that's what you Heroes get for constantly underestimating us, dammit! You can't even move anymore, can you?"

Unfortunately, Fatgum didn't even need to say anything for Setsuno to know he was right. He could recognize the frightened realization in the trapped Hero's eyes as he tried to will his body to move, crystals be damned, but his muscles simply weren't responding.

Switching his own gaze between Fatgum and Tamaki, who was still visibly too injured to try and move to fight, Hojo began extending the crystals from his fists, making his final approach to the bloody young Hero. "You've both been fighting really well…but the time for playing around is finished! Your teacher's all used up; but your Quirk is too versatile for us to take any risks, even if your back is to the wall! Prepare to die, Suneater!"

Watching as Hojo threw another devastating spiky punch right for his face; Tamaki could likewise see how Setsuno was beginning to make a beeline for the immobilized shrunken Fatgum, undoubtedly to deliver the very same killing blow. With his heart pounding and his mind racing for some kind of a solution, his eyes ultimately fell upon a number of sizeable crystal chunks from the previous shattering, sitting harmlessly on the floor just short of his regular kicking range.

And that's when the thought came to him once more even harder: 'Yes…out of my regular range! I can't attack or defend myself without these guys breaking my strategies apart…so I just have to tear their teamwork apart the same way! Setsuno's Larceny Quirk is supposed to just work on what he can directly see. So…'

It was time to finally pull a sneak attack out from under his sleeve, as Tamaki focused the properties of the secret third thing he'd thought to eat before this mission had gotten started: in the form of his right leg kicking out and instantly extending as it transformed into the talon-bearing foot of a chicken, kicking several of those crystal chunks with the force of a professional soccer player, and sending them flying with expert precision straight into Setsuno's face from out of his field of vision, bludgeoning him something fierce and forcing him to drop his weapons in response to the pain.

SMASH!

The only thing that saved Tamaki from having his ribs imploded from Hojo's landing punch was last-second gut reaction, summoning up another crab shell over his chest to absorb at most half of that force as he got hammered right back into the wall; enough force to fracture several of his crystals in the process…

…and just enough for one piece tiny enough to fly through the air towards Tamaki's face, at just the right trajectory for him to just lean his head back the tiniest bit so that piece would land square in his mouth and go down his throat without choking himself. And this last desperate action didn't go unnoticed, as Hojo's eyes widened with surprise: "You ate one of my crystals?!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Tamaki's answer didn't even reach Hojo's ears, before he focused his left leg into a giant crystallized chicken's foot, clutching onto his entire upper body tight, just at the same time that Tabe was lunging in reaction, ready to drive his gaping mouth straight through crystal, meat and bone alike in his blind hunger.

But even this threat was far from present in Tamaki's mind, as he knew deep down he was in the final stretch. He needed to act out on this final plan now, or else it would all be over. "You all really trust each other, and that teamwork you all showed for it was truly killer. I might not understand your grief, your rage, everything that led you all here; BUT I KNOW ALL ABOUT SOLID BONDS LIKE WHAT YOU TALKED ABOUT!"

With Hojo ensnared, Tabe unable to swerve out of the way, and Setsuno still momentarily stunned, every piece on the field was exactly where Tamaki needed them to be most, as with his blood rushing through his veins, he proceeded to extend his crystallized chicken leg even further out with the properties of an octopus tentacle, slamming into both other yakuza thugs with full force and no give; slamming them all three simultaneously into the opposite wall with nearly three times the kind of physical force Hojo had managed to exhibit…

…which was exactly all Tamaki needed to knock the three out cold at long, long last. Looking upon their limp forms between the talons and crystals of his chicken foot, Tamaki could finally breathe deep and finish expressing his thoughts: "I know about those bonds…but the difference between us and the likes of you, is that my friends don't use each other! Because friends don't eat friends!"

When things had looked their most desperate, through sheer determination, and the influence of the very same faith Mirio had always expressed in him, Tamaki Amajiki, the Hero Suneater, had ultimately emerged victorious.

By the time Tamaki had finally finished detailing the end to his fight, all had gone deathly silent around the table; with Nikolay and his group looking at him like he was a genuine marvel. It was like the timid exterior was impossible to mentally mesh with the brave and powerful Hero they'd just heard detailed to them in his words; even his first-year partners who had even been involved were still looking at him with wide-eyed wonder and impression.

And, naturally, after everything they had just heard, it was Nejire who was the one to ultimately break the silence, in a way that only she could: "Wow, so it doesn't even have to be actual food for you to eat so you can take on their properties, Amajiki-kun? Did you do that on a hunch, or had you actually tried that kind of thing before? What other kind of unsavory things have you tried to eat to test your limits? Have you tried eating rocks, too? Are you able to digest them like anything else?"

While Tamaki was visibly trying to ignore or block out Nejire's ongoing questions, especially if she was about to start making some especially unsavory guesses; Tenya resolutely cleared his throat, thankfully snapping everyone to attention. "Forgive me for speaking out of turn, Senpai. It's just that, taking into consideration everything you've shared with us of your experience, particularly what those three criminals all shared with you and Fatgum, it's gotten me thinking.

"Yes, as Heroes, we do typically have a real gap between how society has treated us all our lives, and how it has treated individuals like them. With the occasional exceptions of individuals like Stain who act out in some misguided attempt to try and change society for what they deem is the better, by and large, the majority of Villains are created through a common sense of dislocation or detachment from the benefits and care-giving factors of society, making them feel as though they've been left to fend for themselves. Perhaps that common factor should be something that we as Heroes, and society at large, could be able to work together to try and mend."

Thankfully, the Class 1-A president's train of thought was far from lost on his classmates, as Mina and Kyouka all visibly seemed to brighten up at what he was suggesting, while Momo looked to be in similarly deep thought: "It could prove a very worthwhile effort. If society's eyes can be broadened so as to look into the lesser-tended to extensions of modern society, where people with not nearly as many opportunities have been left alone, and they were to be shown that they too can have their own rightful places in the world without being so quickly shunned away or taken advantage of, it could ultimately help to lower the amounts of Villain activity as a whole. Despite their Quirks, personalities or backgrounds, nobody deserves being made to feel as though the world doesn't care about them or their existence. I mean, for as long as the very concept has existed, people have always wanted to be reassured in knowing that their lives matter, that they do in fact exist in the eyes of the world as a whole."

As the two class representatives continued to express such broad-reaching foundational ideas on how to help so much of the world at once, Nikolay's own mind was much more contained in what he was taking away from Tamaki's words, not just through telling them his story, but also in what he and the yakuza themselves had all said.

Soon, it all felt to have finally clicked, as he spoke up: "I feel like you and those thugs both had a very honest revelation in common that makes a great deal of sense, Amajiki-senpai. Just like how you said that Togata-senpai's years of support and faith in you helped push you so far, it's just like how they said that their three-way partnership in combination with the sense of purpose and a grander future their leader gave them all, ultimately pushed them into becoming so much stronger, too.

"It's all exactly like what All Might-sensei had said to me earlier in Recovery Girl's office, what I haven't been able to stop thinking about since." The mention of All Might's enigmatic words of support had drawn all curious eyes right back to him, as the young Slav awkwardly straightened his uniform's necktie before elaborating, knowing he couldn't bear to keep this afternoon's final realization to himself, specifically addressing all his partners who'd been in Hokkaido with him:

"In the middle of our conversation, I'd told him about what it was about the Moscow news this morning that was what really set me off. Of course I was devastated by knowing how many people had gotten caught in it, that's not even a question…but I have to confess: what sent me spiraling, like you all saw, was what I was afraid was going to happen in Russia as a whole because of it. I kept thinking about what we'd all told that man, Konstantin Khodamchuk; how we'd actually helped him to at least start rethinking how he and his men viewed people with Quirks like us, and how I was hoping it might've been able to at least be the start of change, away from having everyone be so afraid and hateful towards Quirks.

"But then, learning about all this happening before we'd even managed any of that, and especially with that rumor about the League of Villains possibly being involved; the very first thing my mind went to, was that he himself would go right back to that same way of thinking, if not even worse; like outright calling for blood with everyone on an international scale. My very first thought was that Russia as a whole would just declare war on every other country that supported Quirks in some blind act of desperate self-preservation, and I felt my heart just come apart the more I thought about it. I told All Might-sensei all of this, just like I'm telling you all now."

To Nikolay's lack of surprise, just the very description of what he was most afraid of had left a visible chill on all his classmate's faces, now unable to help imagining it themselves, with the girls all visibly shuddering at the thought just the same as he now was. That was what made it so surprising to them, in turn, to see Nikolay's expression slowly but surely brighten back up as he continued:

"That was when he asked me why I'd been so insistent on trying to help Konstantin Khodamchuk try and just re-evaluate, rethink how he and those around him were living and thinking all the time. When I told him my reasons, he came to the conclusion, and helped me realize, that it's because deep down, I still have faith in people all around; I still have hope after all this time in people's ability to change, in the world's ability to get better through the efforts of others, not just Heroes like us.

"It made me finally realize that we can't just go about our duties on routine and just act like beacons of hope for people to cling onto. All Might-sensei said as much: that for Heroes to be able to properly spread hope and all that eventually comes with it to people, that Heroes need to actually believe in that same hope themselves, and to hold onto it when times are at their darkest. The fact in the end was that, just as the public out there gains their hope from Heroes; Heroes likewise get that hope from others just the same, whether it's their friends, loved ones, or even just the inherent hope that seeing people working hard to help each other gives. Everybody has some source of hope for them to hang onto and spread; something or someone that gives them faith for some kind of future that drives them to keep going no matter what.

"Amajiki-senpai, everything you just described fell perfectly with all of that; it all made everything All Might-sensei and I talked about become even that much clearer. The faith Togata-senpai has had in you for as long as you said he has, ultimately gives you the hope to keep trying your hardest, even when under pressure. Just the same, those three criminals had been given both faith and hope by their leader picking them up from the gutter and giving them a purpose, a future they could have a part in helping make real.

"And…and it's just the same for all of us here, too. Whether it's Pro Heroes, our teachers…but most of all each other; we all keep supporting and having faith in each other and ourselves in return when it's given to us, and that keeps giving us the very same hope that we try to bring to others, all in order to one day make the world a better place for everyone. In the end, listening to him, and then you, and taking it all in…it's all helped me to realize that the hope you all here have been giving me all throughout this year is still there, and with it, the hope I was hanging onto that what we did in Hokkaido would be able to help institute change for a better world back in Russia for everyone there, even after what had happened to me this morning…and I…*sniffle*…I can't thank every one of you here enough for that."

Nikolay was trying so hard to try and keep the brunt of his building emotions in check, but when looking every one of his classmates in the eye by the end, he couldn't help himself…and as a result, neither could most of them in turn, able to relate and completely understand every sentiment behind all of what he had just shared, about how integral their own faith and hope in each other and themselves was to all of their shared ability to actually help each other and others…and, of course, to just know how much it had all ultimately helped their foreign friend to become just who he was now, even in his lower moments.

Of course, this kind of unspoken bond between all of the first-years was momentarily lost on Nejire herself, as she ultimately broke the mood by asking: "What exactly happened to get you so down in the dumps, Bezpalov-kun? You'd all just saved a whole town and prevented an invasion, didn't you? What's all this about Moscow and the League of Villains? Why didn't Uraraka-chan and Asui-chan give any details?"

As Nikolay was trying to clear the remaining tears from his eyes, Ochako hurriedly took the lead in answering: "We're real sorry, Senpai. It was really urgent, I didn't think we had time at the start. We were just really worried about Kolya-san, and thought you'd be able to help. But you're right, we should've just told you everything from the start."

Rebounding off her rosy-cheeked friend, Mina likewise answered: "Last night, Kolya-kun and I saw a bunch of headlines on the news, talking about how a bunch of disasters had happened in several parts of Russia, his home country, last week, with Moscow getting hit the hardest…and there are apparently some people and pictures online saying that the League might've been responsible, while others are just spouting how Tunguska-sensei's old actions and the Siberian Flash are responsible."

Taking this into consideration alongside everything Nikolay had opened up with, regarding his fears and subsequent breakdown, now made a great deal more sense to Nejire, and the secretly listening Tamaki alike. For the latter especially, he could easily understand now how that kind of pressure could've crushed someone like Nikolay so quickly. Even after everything he'd just described himself going through, that inherent feeling of automatic personal failure would've utterly flattened him as well.

However, even with the weight of this tragedy being revisited still hovering over their heads, Izuku was the one to ultimately lift his head and look encouragingly in Nikolay's eyes. "Even with what's happened, and whatever other people out there might be saying, I think you're right to keep holding onto that hope you felt when convincing that man, Khodamchuk-san, Kolya-san."

When looking to his curly-haired friend in return, Nikolay could feel that same smoldering drive that had slowly but surely been returning in the pit of his chest, soar into another glorious flame as before, when seeing the sincerity and overwhelming optimism in Izuku's eyes, perfectly complimenting the heartfelt smile on his freckled face. "What I mean is, that even if things look like they aren't going to go the way we'd like them to, that doesn't mean all is lost. Do you remember that boy from the Training Camp, Izumi Kota-kun?"

All at once did the memories of that time, that abrasive and resentful little boy come rushing right back, for both worse and for far better. While their classmates could all distinctly remember primarily how hateful Kota had been towards Nikolay and Izuku in particular at the start of it all; the unlikely duo themselves were both distinctly recalling the respective letters they had received from him after that fateful attack.

And just like that, Nikolay could perfectly understand exactly where Izuku was coming from before he even continued: "He was still so resentful of our all trying to become Heroes, no matter how much we both tried to reach out…but in the end, it was because of my unwillingness to give up, to lose hope in the future as a whole, that ultimately helped him to finally understand. I don't think any of us can disagree that children can prove to be the most stubborn kinds of people, right?"

A near cacophony of agreement was what immediately answered him from all of their classmates, which only made the hopeful glimmer in his eyes that much brighter when he returned his attention to his foreign friend. "If that can be such a universal fact, and yet he was able to finally have his perspective broadened…then I have absolutely no doubts that your efforts in Hokkaido had the very same profound effect on Khodamchuk-san as well, no matter what may have happened before then, Kolya-san. Just as my actions brought hope and its potential changes back to that little boy; I think your actions, all of your actions up in Hokkaido, will keep his own hope and its potential for change burning strong just the same…and you're absolutely right to keep hanging onto that."

DING-DONG! DING-DONG!

Before Nikolay or anyone else could even answer with their own admiration and gratitude for Izuku's heartfelt sentiments, the seemingly delayed bells signaling the end of the lunch period finally proceeded to ring, snapping everyone fully back to reality, and the disappointment that came with it that once more, story time was officially over.

At least, in light of everything that had ultimately been shared all around; that disappointment was most precisely felt in Nejire, who was already jumping back up to her feet, looking back at Nikolay and his side anxiously. "Aww, c'mon, don't leave yet, I still wanna know so much more! Bezpalov-kun, you said that your hope comes from your classmates, but who was the first? Who makes you feel and fight the strongest? Didn't you have friends to make you feel any better back in your old country? Who was your first friend? Is it-?"

Thankfully, just as Nikolay and his classmates were already beckoning their third-years goodbye and gratitude for their helpful contributions on their way back into the school, Tamaki had picked the perfect time to grab Nejire by the sleeve of her uniform and start anxiously dragging her along back to their own classroom, completely ignoring her rapid-fire questions and words of protest every step of the way; simply glad to be out of this horrifyingly awkward situation with so many other people at last. Right now, all he could think afterward was just how much he was hoping he wouldn't have to get dragged back into doing the same thing again anytime soon.

Making their way through the halls back to Class 1-A, the atmosphere among the group of students had come to physically feel so much lighter than when it had started, with their spirits for their solo Slavic member and friend now sky high after having witnessed and listened to him finally come to his much-needed epiphany. And, of course, when it inevitably came time for them to part so he could go for his final examination from Recovery Girl, that high-flying spirit wasn't communicated any more clearly by anyone but Mina, who didn't even hesitate to take Nikolay into a joyous hug. "I'm so happy you're feeling better, Kolya-kun. Please, if you ever find yourself feeling anything like that again, even close; don't ever hesitate to come to any of us and talk about it, okay? You promise?"

Neither Nikolay nor any of their other classmates could even think of blaming her for being so emotional even now when all was right again. He knew he wouldn't have been any different if he'd seen her in the state he'd been in; and everyone else likewise knew just as well that to be this deeply attached and honed in on the well-being of her friends was as natural for her as could be.

And so, Nikolay didn't waste any time before hugging Mina in return, even chancing a momentary glance to see if anyone else was so wrapped up in the moment to want to do the same, which ultimately no one looked to be considering, even despite their similar expressions of relief for his recovery.

"I promise, I will, you guys. Thank you all for always putting up with me like this. Hopefully I'll be in class with you all again before today's out. But…in the meantime, if I don't see my Dad first; I have no doubt he's got to have heard about Moscow by now, but can you all promise not to go telling him about what happened with me this morning? Maybe tell the rest of the class the same?"

Of course, while they were all in full agreement to let their friend tell his father of this himself; the mention of Tunguska himself did bring back a similar worry that had been silently hanging in the back of their minds today. When Recovery Girl had been so unspecific about him being out on Pro Hero-related work, that left them with all kinds of ideas as to just what he was getting up to and where…and with the heavily bandaged state they'd all seen him in before, that idea filled them with just as much concern as it did inspiration.

Far away at that very same moment, the Sun of Justice himself, Tunguska, stood tall, un-bandaged and alone before a towering pair of heavy steel doors in the middle of a massive wall of concrete and iron at the end of an extensive bridge leading off the Japanese mainland. For the last few days, he had been preparing himself for this occasion, and with the burgeoning questions and suspicions that had been plaguing him non-stop even now, he knew he couldn't afford to back down or show any sign of weakness once these doors started to open with a deafening metallic groan.

As the doorway slowly opened up, allowing the lone Russian Pro Hero to see inside, he breathed in deep, letting the tension take hold over his muscles, as he finally proceeded onward to a point he knew he'd never be able to come back from. It was time at last for Oleg Stepanovich Bezpalov, for Tunguska, to delve into the depths of the maximum-security Villain prison known in whispers only as Tartarus.

And there's this weeks new chapter for you all, everyone. I hope you all enjoy it. It's always exciting for me to try and put any kind of new spin on battles like this, whether they ultimately end up great or small.

I hope you're all getting ready for Fall, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 09/24!