Ignited Spark Chapter 32: Reflection, Tough Calls, & Cheerleaders, a my hero academia/僕のヒーローアカデミア fanfic

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ESTABLISHING CONNECTION

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ENTERING USER INFORMATION INTO THE CHAT

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CONNECTED

Leader, OG, P S, GV, LB, AND 2 ADDED TO CHAT

WE'RE BONED

WE'RE SO SO BONED

oh, that's not good

You shouldn't be so down on your luck!

Gentle! Can you see my messages?

Don't worry, everything's encrypted, so no one should be able to read this!

Besides the interlopers already in the chat, of course

I can see them, my dear!

And oh, how I have missed you!

WE'RE FUCKED

I've missed you too, Gentle! It's been too long! Please come back asap!

P S

it's

only been four hours since they've left

and you two have been talking over the comms

btw just to throw it out there, no real names on this channel, guys, stick to codenames

The amount of time we've spent apart is irrelevant, my dear Pop!

My love for La Brava is so fierce, even ten minutes of separation is unbearable!

... even if you were off flirting with the new girl?

…

my dear, that was taken very much out of context

IS NO ONE READING MY MESSAGES, WE'RE FUCKED!

YOU

I'm reading your messages, Ordinary Girl

Don't worry, I'm taking this very seriously

… really now?

Because from what I can see on your phone screen, it seems that you've been doing nothing but watching either the sports festival or this

LB posted:

YOU

…

et tu, la brava

eh? that midnight woman? she's beautiful! can't blame you leader!

she's disgusting!

P S

ew, seriously?! come on, leader!

YOU

okay, I don't wanna hear this from the person who thinks Skycrawler is attractive

P S

so you're fucking dead when I next see you

YOU

I regret nothing!

guysssss!

YOU

okay, okay, let's keep focused, guys

we only have so long before we have to get this chat archived and deleted

I assume you two are far enough away from the bar?

Indeed!

Yep, they're good

I got a look into the CCTVs and saw the bar anyway - it's empty

YOU

Really?

Why? What happened?

something happened on the tv that got Nine excited

like, leap out of his seat, excited

and then he gave orders to the others, pulled out his phone to make a call, and left through a portal the bartender made, and then the rest of them left

Slice & the teenage girl left together, the Mummy guy left on his own, and Giran left afterwards

YOU

Nine probably went back to afo, but the rest …

that's a mystery for another time i guess

so what happened?

Super bad stuff!

OG has sent 1 audio file

YOU

…

P S

…

YOU

fuck

that's not good

P S

so Nine's going for more quirks?

we thought he'd stay underground a bit longer

but from the sounds of things, he's getting ready to make a move

Unfortunately, my dear, it appears that the recruits, and whatever this Giran person gave Nine, put him in good enough a mood to advance his plans

We always considered the possibility that he would want to lick his wounds for a little while longer, but as Leader mentioned a few weeks ago, it may be possible that the Villain Consortium has actually been around far longer than their theft of the Trigger from those Humarise deserters

so this is much less of a setback for them than we hoped

YOU

With that said, I never suspected that he'd be getting ready so soon

I expected him to try something again after a few months of gathering more forces

but if he's getting ready for two more quirks, that means he's confident enough in these new recruits to do something damaging

P S

or he's considering them expendable enough that he's willing to throw them away for his plans, just like the other ones he recruited

YOU

also true

Ordinary Girl, did you also open the backdoor into their system from the bar?

I did

I think there was something flashing on the screen when I finished uploading la brava's flash drive, but I wasn't able to read it in time

oooo wait a sec

i'll have a look

YOU

…

P S

…

YOU

… so uh

anyone watching the sports festival rn

P S

oh my god

YOU

it's awkward! we don't know how long it's gonna take for la brava to download the stuff!

got it

YOU

it could take a while!

well, that's good

well, i've good news and bad news, unfortunately

good news: it's definitely the Inner Circle's network i'm looking at

YOU

excellent

bad news, however, is that I see the message Ordinary Girl saw - managed to hack my way around it quickly, but yikes

it's some kind of security algorithm to prevent hacking - or more accurately, it's a program that's able to triangulate the location of whoever opens the files that she downloaded from the computer at the bar, if the person isn't logged into the network

basically a 'you want to steal my files? well now i'm gonna hack you back and see who and where you are' virus

oh, no! I'm so sorry! Are we screwed?

oh please, give me more credit

my computer's security should be able to slow down the virus, just give me a second to see if I can find a workaround

... oh

sorry

P S

you just gotta keep calm, sweetie, try not to jump to the worst conclusion immediately

we've done this kind of rodeo loads of times, we know our way around stupid computer viruses thanks to la brava

Bravo, La Brava, bravo!

Oh, Gentle! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

YOU

okay, everyone, let's keep on task

though I must say, Leader, the technology you gave us to download the information is quite exquisite!

You're sure you cannot tell us where you got it?

YOU

yep, just to be safe lol

let's just say I have friends in high places and leave it at that

okay, so virus is being stalled, and i'm in

i've got three files here for us to look through, boss - but unfortunately, since I'm still technically connected to their network, i can only click on one of the files

because if i click on any more than one, it'll alert them that i'm in their system, and the virus will stop trying to passively get into my computer and start aggressively trying to get into my computer

no idea how they made a virus this advanced, and i could probably hack around it if i'm given more time, but truth be told, the sooner i leave their system the better

Oooh! What files are there? Are they scandalous? Top secret? End of the word stuff?

Is it porn?

P S

Twice, settle down!

i've got 'Vessel', 'Consortium', and 'High-End' as the files

like i said, i can only be in one of the files for a little bit, then I gotta get out as fast as I can before they realize I'm here

so pick your poison, leader

YOU

...

fuck

click on the 'vessel' one

let's see what the inner circle mean by that

Okey, dokey!

...

P S

what's 'hm'?

Is it bad?

I bet it's good!

YOU

La Brava, what have you got?

Well, you picked the right briefcase, boss - it's afo's main project

it's his attempts to not overwhelm a body with multiple quirks

YOU

…

He and Dr. Garaki are working on some kind of transfer surgery - something that'll let them put multiple quirks in people all at once without the drawbacks or surgeries that the body needs, like those nomu guys. From what I'm reading, they're theorizing that they'll be needing a specific machine to do it, and it's currently under construction.

But here's the curious part - Nine is mentioned in the files, but only as a test subject. whoever AFO's considering 'the vessel' to be, it's behind an encrypted file.

Taking a peek, it'd take me days to hack my way in and see who he's looking at

All that I can read from the file rn is that Nine's a rejected potential subject, but one that they're testing the process on to note any side effects.

P S

nine isn't afo's vessel?

doesn't seem to be that way

he's the test before the actual test

do you see anything in there indicating who the vessel is, my dear? besides the encrypted file?

nope

all that the file says is that some company is supplying the tech to do garaki's research

YOU

the company

who is it?

deternet?

don't know, it'll take forever to encrypt who exactly they are - they're behind a mountain of passwords and firewalls

but whoever they are, afo's paying them top dollar

YOU

i have my suspicions on who they might be, but i'll have to reach out to rapt about it

i'll ask him to investigate if he gets the chance

anything about Sako in there?

sorry, boss

YOU

damn

it's okay, i knew it was a long shot

alright

so the plan for tonight is still on - I'll be taking soga's boys with me to the airport to make sure Knuckle and his sidekick get away safely

Pop, your boys ready to help your concert?

P S

yep, they'll be there for the distraction

as long as it doesn't take long, the cops are already on to me

YOU

it won't

we're grabbing them and heading back to base as quick as we can

Twice, be sure to have a few clones around as cover

don't tell me what to do!

I'll give my life for the cause!

YOU

I'd rather it not come to that

um ... boss, are you sure you should be going to the airport?

aren't you

you know

YOU

don't worry about me, Ordinary Girl - being quirkless hasn't stopped me from doing worse stuff than this

okay, I think that's enough of this.

Gentle, Ordinary Girl, retreat back to base and rest, you've done good work

La Brava, be ready to hack into the airport servers, just to be safe

Pop, Twice, I'll see you tonight

gotcha, boss! ending the log now and saving the info Ordinary Girl sent now

CONNECTION SEVERED

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Half an hour.

It had only been half an hour since the fight between her training partners, Katsuki and Fumikage, and this was probably the most anxious Itsuka has ever felt in her life.

And yes, she was including the villain invasion at the USJ a few weeks ago, or doing the entrance exam two months ago, or jumping into a fire a year ago.

Pacing back and forth in the hallway, Itsuka bit her lip nervously as she continued to stare down at the floor, unable to stop herself from walking for even a second. If Eri minded having to walk back and forth with her, the little girl didn't show it, instead holding on tightly to her hand while shuffling with her, almost hugging her side in her anxiety. On the other side of the hall, Inko was wiping her eyes with her handkerchief, still crying silently over the fight, while Taiyo had his head in both his hands and Miwa stared down at the floor desolately.

Both of Itsuka's parents were attempting to comfort the three of them, while her grandfather stood against the wall beside them and folded his arms together as he scowled at the floor. Around the corner, Hisashi quickly returned with several water bottles under his arms - presumably for Inko, so she could recover from the lowkey dehydration she was going through from all the crying. And on the wall beside the nurse's office, Aizawa and Midnight stood together, both of them looking towards it with frowns and looks of concern.

So … as one might guess, everyone was more than a little nervous at the moment.

And … honestly, who could blame them? Izuku and Ochako were currently inside with Recovery Girl, the elderly nurse having wheeled the two unconscious teammates inside the moment the match with Katsuki had concluded, and Midnight had used her quirk to knock out Izuku. The explosion-quirk user had also been brought in after the robots had chipped him out of - of the ice that Izuku had sealed him in, Itsuka still in disbelief that it had really happened.

But Katsuki, unlike her friends, had been cleared to go nearly at once, Recovery Girl having opened the door and allowed him to leave with a gray blanket wrapped around his shoulders. When Katsuki had staggered out of the office, there had been a serious moment where Itsuka had to fight down the urge to storm up to him and start punching him in the face as hard as she could - and she only really tempered that due to being in the presence of her teachers, her desire not to get into trouble with them only barely surpassing her desire to punch out all of Katsuki's teeth.

But even if she had to fight off the urge to make him pay, the look on Katsuki's face had stopped her anyway. He looked … honestly shell shocked by what happened, staring vacantly at nothing as he had been stopped by Aizawa and Midnight, and apparently given instructions, as the blonde boy had only wandered off the moment Midnight, who had been scowling something fierce, had dismissed him.

But right now, Itsuka didn't give a damn that maybe being frozen had finally knocked the wind from his sails. Right now, she just wanted to see her training partners, and make sure they were alright.

Ever since she had seen Ochako lying prone on the grass, Itsuka's heart wouldn't stop hammering in her chest, feeling tears threatening to leak from her eyes even half an hour later as she shuffled back and forth with Eri. Seeing her best friend - and, she had to be honest, someone she cared about immensely - laying still on the field like she had been killed was doing something to her insides to make them squeeze tightly together. It was a similar feeling to when she had seen Izuku at the mercy of that hooded guy - terrified, panicked, and ready to fight like hell to get over to him and save him. All of those emotions, now reflected on Ochako.

And then seeing Izuku throwing himself back at Katsuki, tanking explosion after explosion in his blind rage … honestly, Itsuka wasn't sure if she was going to hug the both of them when she saw them, or give them a good shake for being crazy. Or -

- or maybe kiss them, Itsuka blushed lightly. She … wasn't going to deny that it was pretty much up in the air at the moment, and the chances of her either hitting Izuku and Ochako when she next saw them, hugging them, or kissing the life out of them, was pretty much all very possible things. But … but she still needed to see them. And then she would decide what to do.

She would … definitely need to fight down that kissing thought, Itsuka blushed again. She'd have to fight it down hard. Very hard.

She was thankful, at least, that the hallway was relatively quiet, save a sniffle from Inko and hushed words from Hisashi. Nejire, having been more than aware of how her nervous energy would probably make things more tortuous for the Midoriyas and Urarakas if she were with them asking questions, had decided to distract herself by going to get Izuku and Ochako's stuff from the locker room. She and Itsuka had decided that, before she had parted, that Itsuka would come find her once they found out how the other two were, just so Nejire didn't have to wait around and wait for potentially hours before she got any news.

Still, she felt bad that Nejire had been aware that her presence might not have been welcomed at the moment, feeling her heart hurt from that thought, and made the mental note to do something to comfort her later - she knew that watching Izuku get beaten by Katsuki wasn't something Nejire enjoyed either, so a long hug would probably help her excitable partner.

Finally, after a good amount of time in that hallway pacing back and forth, the door to the office slid open again, and everyone quickly looked up as Recovery Girl came out into the hallway, sighing and looking around at them with a smile - although her eyes seemed heavy behind her visor.

"They'll both be alright," She started with that at once, seeing the parents in the group sag in relief, while Itsuka let out a small, shuddering sigh and Eri held tighter to her hand, "they've both got a few fractures all over and will most likely be incredibly sore in the morning, but neither Midoriya or Uraraka are in any danger at the moment - but there will be a few things that we'll have to go over as well going forward from here."

"Alright," Aizawa grunted, coming off the wall he had been leaning on and moving towards the door, "are they in any condition to talk right now?"

"Uraraka is still recovering from her concussion," Recovery Girl nodded, "but I fed her some of my gummies so we can counteract any effects, so she should be feeling better in a bit. Midoriya's currently in and out of consciousness at the moment, but he'll be okay - he just needs to rest. If you would all like, and you can keep quiet, you can all come in and -"

"OCHAKOOOOOOO!" Taiyo and Miwa immediately screamed as they leapt out of their seats and practically crawled along the floor inside the nurse's office. Recovery Girl blinked as she looked around at the two adults streaking past her, and inside the room, they all heard a loud shriek of surprise, making the elderly nurse's eyebrow twitch.

"- or you can just … go in screaming at the top of your lungs. That works, too."

Itsuka tried to ignore the scowl on Recovery Girl's face as she quickly hurried over to the door as well, Eri practically tugging on her arm to get inside as fast as possible, while everyone that had been waiting started following them in. As soon as she was inside the familiar nurse's office, Itsuka quickly looked around for her two training partners, feeling her heart hammering in her chest -

- and she found herself sighing in relief as she quickly spotted Ochako sitting up on her own bed, looking very confused and out of it as both her parents hugged her tightly. Ochako had her face covered in bandaids and small cotton balls with tape attached, and one of her arms - the arm that had been burnt by Katsuki's explosion - was tightly wrapped up in bandages and gauze, but at least she was awake, and staring up at Itsuka in confusion.

"Uh … hey," She weakly waved to her.

"Hey yourself," Itsuka smiled at her, trying to fight down the sudden tears that came to her eyes, "you, uh - you scared the crap out of me, y'know."

"Oh, uh …" Ochako shrugged - or at least she did her best to shrug, what with Taiyo enveloping both her and her mother in a hug while Miwa kissed her cheek repeatedly, "… sorry?"

Itsuka let out a small, weak laugh at that, and then she quickly turned to where Izuku was laying, on the other side of the room. Like Recovery Girl had said, he was currently unconscious, with both of his arms wrapped up like Ochako's, while his face was likewise covered in bandages from all the hits Katsuki had slammed into him. Unlike Ochako, however, his shirt (a new shirt, obviously, seeing as the one Katsuki had destroyed with his explosion was draped over a nearby chair) had been opened up, showing the horrible bruises and cuts along his skin that being slammed into the ground, being exploded, and getting scrapped against the hard concrete floor had left him, with one boot-sized mark on his lower torso.

But … but at least he was clearly breathing, as though he were just asleep, so that meant that he was at least going to be alright. Not that it didn't hurt Itsuka to see him like that, feeling those tears that she had just managed to fight down well up again. As Eri let go of her hand to run over and give Ochako a hug, she went over and sat down on the edge of Izuku's bed, staring down at him in worry.

"Easy there, sweetie," Recovery Girl patted her hand as she wobbled up beside her to look down at Izuku, allowing everyone else to troop into the nurse's office behind her, "he's been in and out, so let's not try to disturb him."

"I know, but …" Itsuka frowned.

"He isn't in any danger at the moment. There'll be something that we'll need to go over once he wakes up, of course, but right now, he'll be fine."

Over on the other bed, Eri finally stopped hugging Ochako's leg, the brown-haired girl confusedly continuing to comfort the little girl and her parents, and she quickly looked around for where the third member of their little gang was. Upon seeing Izuku lying prone on the bed, Eri's red eyes widened, and she quickly let go of Ochako so she could hurry over towards where Itsuka had sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Izuku in worry.

"Is - is Deku going to be okay?" Eri asked her fearfully. "Why isn't he awake?"

"He's … we're not sure," Itsuka admitted to her quietly, unsure about how to even tell the little girl about what was going on while Inko teared up above them staring down at her unconscious son, Hisashi hurriedly giving her a water bottle while trying to fight down his own worry, "he - he got himself really hurt out there, Eri, so - so he's resting for now. Recovery Girl is wondering when he's going to wake up, but for now, she's - she's going to let him sleep for a bit."

Eri let out a worried hum, looking back down at Izuku as he remained unconscious. A small silence falling in the room as everyone glanced between Ochako and the sleeping boy, while the teachers went over to the desk to have a look at Recovery Girl's notes -

- and then, without warning, the little girl raised her tiny hand up into the air, and brought it down hard on Izuku's cheek, smacking him right in the face hard enough to jerk his head to the side.

With a noise that sounded somewhere between a squeak, a squawk and a yelp, Izuku's eyes snapped open at once as his head was forced to the side from the blow. While the adults quickly looked over in shock, Itsuka jumped a bit in surprise at Izuku being literally slapped back to life before quickly looking around at Eri, who was staring down at him with wide eyes.

"E-Eri!" She yelped. "Why did you -?!"

"I - I wanted him to wake up!" Eri looked up at her in panic, tears in her eyes as Izuku slowly looked around at all of them with a shocked expression, cupping the small, red hand print now slapped on his cheek while staring at Eri in confusion and slight terror. "He wasn't waking up!"

"Just … please don't slap patients awake, sweetie," Recovery Girl groaned as the other teachers looked down at Izuku as he slowly sat up, Inko's tears beginning to fully leak down her face as she raised her hands to her mouth, "that was … er … rude."

"I … wha …?" Izuku asked confusedly, blinking a bit as Eri quickly crawled into the bed with him and gave him a hug, tight enough that a small wince came from the boy. Still, at least he was now awake, with everyone watching as he absently patted the back of Eri's head with his wrapped up hands, and gave everyone else a look of confusion.

"Uh …" He cleared his throat, "… good … morning? O-or - uh - what time is it?"

"It's been almost forty minutes since the end of your match with Bakugou," Recovery Girl quickly explained before anyone else could jump in, moving to sit down in her chair and pulling Izuku's files towards her as he turned to look at her in confusion, "I was treating both you and Uraraka for bruises and broken bones. For you, young man, I also treated you for burn marks, electrical damage, and …" She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head, "… frost burn."

"Frost burn …?" Izuku repeated in a confused tone, as though not entirely awake as his eyes drooped slightly, his shoulders sagging slightly - and then they suddenly snapped open again. "W-wait. O-Occhan!"

He quickly looked around the room in panic, but thankfully, his eyes snapped to his childhood friend almost at once as she sat up on the other bed, raising her hand weakly to Izuku in greeting. Her gym shirt was still off, showing off her entire arm wrapped up in bandages while her tank top was slightly burned and ripped at the shoulder, but she seemed, at least, to be in much better spirits than she had been out in the arena, wincing as she waved at her best friend.

"Hey, Deku," She said in a weak, hoarse voice, "that, uh … that sucked."

"Izukuuuuuuu!" Inko was unable to hold it in anymore, wailing as she threw herself at her son and hugged him tightly along with Eri, causing him to wince again as the bed creaked from all the weight on it, signifying to Itsuka that she should get up.

As he was hugged tightly by both his mother and Eri, Izuku took the time to look around at everyone else standing around in the nurse's office, from the Kendous giving him a worried look, to the Urarakas still embracing their daughter, to his dad holding several water bottles and looking unsure how to help, to Teko leaning against the wall with a frown, and then to the teachers as they surrounded Recovery Girl's desk.

After a moment, Aizawa let out a small sigh as he looked up from one of the papers on the desk, and then turned to Izuku.

"Midoriya," He nodded, "seems that you've caused a bit of worry."

"I - yeah." Izuku nodded awkwardly, unsure of how else to respond to that.

"Are you feeling well enough to talk? I understand if you need to go back to sleep."

"I'm …" Izuku glanced around again at everyone as they all looked at him - and then he shook his head as he turned back to his homeroom teacher, "… I think I"m okay, sensei. Just … yeah."

"Good." Aizawa nodded once - and then his eyes narrowed behind all the gauze. "In that case, Midoriya, what's your deal?"

"Shouta …" Midnight groaned.

"Kayama, this is something we'll need to go over eventually, and I'd rather get it over with right now." Aizawa countered her before she could even start, and then turned back towards his befuddled student. "So Midoriya - what was with the ice?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, now feeling the eyes of everyone in the room staring at him and making him feel uncomfortable. He then turned to look down at his arms, wrapped up tightly to prevent him from seeing the red lines of electric scarring on them, and shook his head.

"… I don't know, Aizawa-sensei," He said quietly, "I'm - I'm telling you the truth, I don't know what happened out there."

"Your quirk is registered as an electric-type," The quirk-erasing teacher pointed out as everyone turned to him as he jerked his head towards a folder on Recovery Girl's desk, "and yet, somehow, you were able to freeze Bakugou into a statue out there. It's clear that there's more to your story than you've let on, but I don't really have the time for it today. Really, all I want to know right now is how you were able to do that, and why you didn't do anything like it before today."

"If I may," Recovery Girl leaned back in her chair, drawing everyone's attention over to her, "I might have an explanation as to why Midoriya wasn't aware of what his quirk could do. Honestly, it's rather simple."

"Oh?"

"Midoriya's quirk registration," She held up a piece of paper from Izuku's file, "I had to read through it thoroughly. According to the notes here, he was examined officially by a Dr. Tsubasa after his quirk manifested, and had it recorded as 'an electric type emitter quirk, allowing lightning to generate and blast out of his arms, with sparks being the indicator of it being released.'"

"Y-yes," Inko nodded from the side, raising her head off her son's shoulder and sitting beside him on the bed while Eri continued to cling to him, "although, that was - that was only what we told him it was. Izuku wasn't - he wasn't in the mindset to do a demonstration back then."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow under all the gauze, his gaze briefly flicking down to the covering on the mother's arm, but said nothing, only making a mental note to himself.

"Everyone is examined and registered when they enter either elementary or junior high school," Recovery Girl continued to explain, "but there have been cases where people discover that their quirks aren't what they thought they were upon further use. In those cases, for example, it would be like someone who thought they could shoot fire out from their bodies learning that, instead, their quirk can release a fuel and oxidizer to ignite the air around them."

"So … you think that's what happened?" Itsuka asked, moving over to the Urarakas so she could sit with them while giving Izuku a worried look. "Instead of Izuku's quirk being able to control lightning, the doctor just … got the official registration wrong based on the information he received?"

"Indeed," Recovery Girl hummed, "since I have a note here that Midoriya only started using his quirk within the last year or so, it's clear that this may have been the case all along, but for several years, he only had access to his lightning abilities. Although that does raise the question of how Midoriya is able to control lightning in the first place. If I understand how this works …"

"Is there a pattern?" Midnight asked.

"I believe so. I believe that how Midoriya's quirk works," She tapped her pen against the paper of his registration, "is that he has to be in contact with an element to use it. If Midoriya was able to control ice, he would've had to have been in contact with it, and if this is a recent development, the only time I can recall that happening was during the second round, when he was frozen by Todoroki."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, feeling the wheels begin to spin in his head as his eyes widened, "… my … my quirk wasn't working after I got out of the ice. I just felt … cold. And - and I never really warmed up after that, even after I took a hot shower. A-are you saying -?"

"Yes," Recovery Girl nodded, "your quirk must work in a way that you can only use - well - one element at a time. You can't use both, you can only switch between them. From what I observed, you weren't trying to hurt Bakugou when you froze him, correct?"

"N-no," Izuku shook his head, "I just - I wanted to stop him."

"Then that's what must switch the quirks," She pondered, "lightning if you want to hurt someone, and ice if you want to incapacitate them. It's probably not a conscious decision, however - you symbolize hurting someone with the lightning, and immobilizing someone with ice, so your mind automatically switches between which element to use."

"But that still makes me wonder how he even got lightning powers in the first place," Aizawa turned towards Izuku again, "so what's the story behind that, problem child? Were you struck by lightning when you were young?"

"N-no," Izuku shook his head as he frowned, "I don't … really remember …"

However, he felt whatever he was about to say titter out as he felt his mind start to race. Everyone watched as Izuku stared off distantly into space for a moment - as though a memory he had long forgotten had suddenly come to him - and then he looked around at Hisashi, who was still standing near the bed with the water bottles in his arms.

"… Dad."

"Hm?" Hisashi blinked, raising his eyebrows as Izuku looked around at him with a look of realization. "What is it, Izuku?"

"Do you …" Izuku felt his eyes widen, "… do you remember the old laptop you used to have, back when I was a kid? The one that occasionally shocked you?"

"Huh? That old thing?" He looked a bit confused by the change of topic. "Yeah, I - I got rid of it when I bought a new one in America. Think there was a short circuit inside, occasionally gave me some pretty nasty shocks."

"Didn't … didn't it shock me?" Izuku leaned forward slightly, eyes wide. "The day - the day before what happened on the playground. It - it gave me a shock when I touched it, and then the next day …"

"Wait," Ochako blinked, sitting up on her bed as her own eyes widened, "so you think - you think that the little shock from the computer gave you your - your lightning powers?"

"But - but that doesn't make sense," Miwa likewise shook her head, looking confused, "if it was that easy for Izuku to get his powers, then why hasn't he been able to get other elemental powers from other things over the years? I'm sure that Izuku's been burned by smaller stuff, like when he accidentally touched the stove one time. Why didn't he start suddenly blasting fire out of his hands?"

"Or if it's that simple," Hisashi likewise frowned, "why didn't he get water powers wherever he went swimming? Or take a shower?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Recovery Girl sighed as she leaned forward in her seat, "but I do know that quirks do strengthen over time, even without the necessary training. Quirks are essentially like organs or bones - they're weak when you're young, and grow stronger over time. Back then, a simple shock from a computer could have been enough to cause his quirk to awaken, but I imagine that if it were to happen now, I doubt anything would happen."

"We also need to consider," Midnight jumped in as she frowned around at the group, "that if Todoroki's ice was what caused Midoriya's quirk to take on its properties, he wasn't in it for only a few seconds. From what I remember, Midoriya was trapped in that ice for up to two minutes - he had undeniable exposure to the element before Todoroki unfroze him."

"Very true," Recovery Girl nodded, "it may be that Midoriya's quirk can't absorb other elements without undeniable and potentially prolonged exposure to the element."

"Mm," Aizawa hummed in agreement, "there's a big difference between touching an oven while it's on, and actually catching on fire."

"… uh …" Ochako felt herself pale as she looked up at her homeroom teacher, "… Aizawa-sensei, have … you ever been set on fire?"

"It's something that you'll have to expect in this line of work, Uraraka. With how many fire-type quirks there are out there, it's probably going to happen to you too, eventually."

There was a small pause in the room, in which Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka glanced briefly between each other in slight alarm, all of them wondering worriedly if they were going to be set on fire at some point during their time at UA. And then Izuku let out a low, shuddering sigh, and raised his two bandaged hands to his face to cover his eyes as he leaned forward, moving his legs so that he could sit up on the edge of the bed with Inko and Eri.

"Izuku?" His mom gave him a worried look as the other occupants in the room looked down at him. "Are you - are you okay, baby? Does something hurt?"

"No, I …" Izuku said quietly as he slowly shook his head, "… I'm fine, Mom. I'm … I'm actually better than fine."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked at that, looking down at Izuku as he began raising his head from his hands - and they all felt themselves stare in confusion as a large smile suddenly appeared on Izuku's face as he looked down at his hands, practically trembling in his seat as he breathed out.

"This … this is great," He said, excitement in his voice, "my quirk is - it's different than I thought it was. It - it doesn't have to be used to hurt people, I can - I can do other things with it! It's not just something I can use to destroy stuff!"

"Hey …" Ochako frowned at that, feeling herself pouting at Izuku going in a direction she wasn't entirely comfortable with.

"But - oh, come on, how can I not be excited?" He looked around happily at everyone staring at him, balling his fists slightly. "My quirk is - I was always frustrated that I never knew how it worked, but that's because I didn't have the full picture! I don't have lightning powers - I have - I have some kind of elemental absorption quirk! Now that I know how it works, I can - I can work on how to control it! I'll just - I'll be ready for the next round, and I can figure out -"

"That's where I'm going to have to stop you, Midoriya."

Izuku's excited rambling was swiftly and suddenly cut off by Midnight, the R-Rated Heroine stepping forward from where she had been standing near Recovery Girl's desk. At the sound of her voice, everyone looked around at her as she gave the elderly nurse her clipboard back after examining it, frowning and putting her hands on her hips while trying to ignore the hole she had ripped into the shoulder of her costume earlier.

"Uh … Midnight-sensei?" Ochako felt herself become suddenly nervous at the serious look on their art history teacher's face. "Is - is everything okay?"

"Uraraka, Midoriya," Midnight sighed, knowing that this was not going to be a pretty conversation, "I'm here to let you two know that, due to your injuries from the last round, you've both been pulled out of the sports festival."

There was a long pause, in which the Midoriyas blinked, the Urarakas glanced between each other, and the Kendous found themselves nodding slowly as though they expected it. Itsuka found her jaw dropping open, and Eri glanced around in confusion.

And then both Izuku and Ochako yelped, at the same time, "What?!"

"I - wait -!" Izuku tried to sit up, only to wince at how fast he moved, which required Itsuka, quickly getting up from Ochako's bed to hurry over to his own, and Inko to grab onto him so that he didn't try to injure himself even further, with even Eri quickly wrapping her tiny arms around his waist again to stop him from moving. Midnight raised an eyebrow at the obvious way Izuku's face clenched in pain, although the way he was looking at her indignantly made it clear that she wasn't happy with her ruling.

"Midoriya," She cocked her hip slightly, "look me in the eye and tell me that you're at full health right now. And that you'll be able to go out and fight whoever the finalist is going to be."

"I - but -" He shook his head, looking around at anyone to help him out and only seeing pitying faces, "- but Recovery Girl could help us, can't she? She can heal me -"

"She can't," Midnight shook her head, "because from what I read in her notes, what I noticed out in the ring is still there."

"H-huh?"

"Ah," Recovery Girl sighed, shutting her laptop and adjusting the visor over her eyes, "so we're doing this now."

"What?" Izuku looked between both women, obviously frustrated. "Doing what now?"

"Midoriya," Recovery Girl spun in her chair around to face him again, "I can't approve of you going out there, because Midnight noticed something on your arms that required me to investigate it. And after I looked, for your own good, I cannot approve of you using your quirk again today."

"But - but why?" He tried his hardest to fight down his anger at the situation in order to remain calm. "What's going on?!"

"… alright," She sighed, adjusting herself in her seat, "in that case … I would like you to take off your bandages."

The group sitting around the nurse's office all blinked a bit at that odd request, with several eyes flickering down towards the wrappings Izuku had over his arms. His hands were exposed, showing off a few of the red electrical scars, but his arms were completely ceiling in the white bandages.

Feeling his brow furrow, but still frustrated enough not to really question it all too much, Izuku still did as instructed, pulling on his bandages of his one arm to let the medical wrappings fall, Itsuka cringing a bit as his bare arms came into view -

- and then, as it fell away and exposed his forearm, she felt her eyes widen.

She had expected … honestly, she expected something nasty. Electrical burns, frostbite, something - anything bad, something bad enough that would prevent Izuku from going back out to fight again. But what they all saw was …

"Whoa," She breathed out.

Lining Izuku's arm - moving up through his palm and up the limb, underneath his skin - were what looked to be cracked pieces of light. They were colored the same green as his lightning, pulsing slightly underneath his skin, but … but still clearly visible. Izuku's own eyes widened as he stared down at the lines; they were spread out along his arm, with what looked to be two cracks just between his wrist and elbow, one short one on his bicep, and another long one extending from the back of his hand to his shoulder.

"Midnight spotted those the moment the match ended," Recovery Girl pointed at them with her cane, "and had you knocked out with her quirk so that I could treat you without any issues. I'm not sure if they'll be going away, or if they're permanent, but … well, as I mentioned earlier, I looked into your official records and found nothing about this."

"W-what …" Inko's eyes teared up again, "… what are they?"

"It's too early to tell, but …" The elderly nurse hesitated for a moment before sighing, "… from previous cases I've seen of quirk damage that can happen to a body, I believe that - worst case scenario - your son has a minor case of cellular degeneration."

The entire room went quiet. Izuku, sitting on his bed, felt a chill go up his spine he now knew had nothing to do with his quirk, as both Itsuka and Ochako felt their hearts nearly stop.

"In case some of you were not aware," Recovery Girl stood up, "cellular degeneration is an uncommon - but not unheard of - side effect for quirks that are too strong for the body to handle. I'm not surprised in this instance, seeing as burns - specifically, in this case, electrical burns - can cause degeneration."

"I …" Izuku felt himself begin to shake as he stared down at the lines of light beneath his skin, "… what … what does that mean? W-what's gonna happen?"

"Well," Recovery Girl frowned, "in this case, the power of the quirk - or, as studied, overuse of the quirk - can begin to damage the body's cells. Prolonged use of the quirk - or how often the quirk is used - may result in the body completely breaking down, leading to your body completely crippling you, major brain damage, or …" She sighed again, "… death."

An icy chill spread throughout the room as they all absorbed what Recovery Girl just put out there. Both Ochako and Itsuka felt their hearts, how hammering, crawl up into their throats as they turned to look down at the glowing veins on Izuku's arm, while the green-haired boy likewise paled and stared down at his arm in horror, and Eri's grip on Izuku's waist tightened. Tenohira and Hakushu stared in shocked horror at the young man, Hisashi felt his jaw drop, and both Taiyo and Miwa shivered. Even Teko, leaning against the wall, felt himself tense, his hands clenched on his arms as they crossed his chest tightening.

Finally, Recovery Girl walked over and put her hand on Izuku's knee to get his attention again.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," She apologized, "but I wanted you to know the seriousness of this situation. I discussed it with Midnight, and we have both decided that pulling you out of the festival for now is for your own safety."

"Not because we don't trust you," Midnight made clear, her tone becoming a bit softer, "but just to make sure that there isn't any risk of you using your quirk again and furthering the damage that's already been done to your body."

"I … but …" Izuku shook his head, feeling denial start to seep in, "… isn't … isn't there anything we can …"

"It isn't just because of the cellular damage," Recovery Girl sighed, "your body was also damaged by your quirk's side effects. You should be aware of this by now, but lightning and electrical currents can cause several injuries, and damage your body irreparably. It can destroy your muscles, your nerves, your tissue. And as I've seen," She pointed her cane to his arm, which, besides the green cracks, had several burn marks and red lines stretching up the arm, "your quirk can and has harmed you. Not only do you have to worry about the damage your lightning can do to your body, you have to worry about the damages this ice aspect of your quirk can do."

With a small grumble, she tapped her cane on the floor.

"It's obvious, now more than ever," She said, "that your body's natural resistance to your quirk is either the bare essentials or next to non-existent."

"B-but …"

"And besides that," Midnight shook her head, "you don't have the support item that can help you use your quirk - I'm afraid that it's broken, and sent back to the support studio. LIke it or not, Midoriya, you have no way to fight out there."

"But …" Izuku said again, his gaze flickering over to Ochako as she sat there. Everyone could see the obvious guilt on his face - that he believed that he was the only reason that they weren't moving on, and that his failure was going to mean Ochako failed as well - so Recovery Girl shook her head and began speaking again.

"It's not just you, Midoriya," She pointed out, "Uraraka here doesn't have any way to fight, either."

"I … I don't?" Ochako sat up a bit as everyone turned their attention to her.

"I've used my quirk on you, sweetheart," The elderly nurse explained, "but it's clear that you're out of stamina. If I use my quirk on you again, it'll have negative effects on your health. That's why, unfortunately, I can't heal the burn mark on your arm," She frowned sadly at the wrappings on the young girl's arm, "it won't hinder you, of course, but it'll definitely scar over. Because both of you have been weakened by the last fight, neither of you are in any shape to get into another one. I'm sorry, but this is for your own safety."

"But …" Ochako glanced over at Izuku as well, who was likewise looking as shocked and frustrated over this unexpected development as she was, and their rather anticlimactic ejection from the sports festival was causing a bitter taste in their mouths. But before either of them could speak, Taiyo put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look over at her dad as he gave her a sad look.

"Chipmunk," He said in a soft voice, "it's okay. You really don' hafta keep goin'."

"But - but we haven't -" Ochako felt herself tear up - she didn't have the heart to say anything in front of their families, but she remembered her conversation with Izuku at Dagobah Beach, so many weeks before the sports festival.

"It's just … Deku, this is it. All those times I talked to you about making enough money for my parents to retire … this is the start of that. This is the start of my hero career, Deku - it's like Aizawa-sensei said, the better we do and the further we get into the tournament, the better chance we'll have to be noticed by the pros!"

If they were ejected from the tournament now … so anti-climatically, and because they were both too injured to continue … the pros might look down on that. Her chances of being noticed would decrease, dramatically, if they thought she was too weak to rely on.

But before she could find her words, Miwa shook her head.

"Ochako, you've made us so proud," She stroked Ochako's hair, causing her daughter to look around at her, "but this is - you can't go back out and fight again, sweetie. You're hurt, and - and so clearly exhausted. So please, just for me and your dad, just … just rest, okay? You've done so well today."

"But …" Ochako still shook her head, looking around at Midnight and Aizawa as they stared down at her, "… but if we step out, what about the final round? W-wouldn't - wouldn't that just mean that Tokoyami and - and -"

She was unable to finish that sentence, feeling a hot anger suddenly rise in her stomach - the thought of Katsuki hurting her enough to make her step out and then take her place at the final round made her feel like she was about to be sick, and not because of the effects of her quirk.

However, thankfully, Aizawa seemed to pick up on her question.

"Are you asking if Bakugou and Tokoyami would move on automatically?" He asked in a monotone voice. "Normally, it might mean that, but … well, truth be told, the other team is in no condition to continue on, either."

"H-huh?" Izuku straightened up again, feeling a sudden spike of fear go through him. "Does that mean that - that I hurt Kacchan -"

"No, no, he's fine," Recovery Girl shook her head again as she moved back to her desk, "physically, at least. The problem is that Bakugou is in no mental state to continue on - the boy's in shock, and from what Midnight told me, he's barely in a state to respond to us, let alone go out and fight again. And when we spoke to Tokoyami, he made it clear that he'd refuse to move on no matter what, since he feels that he lost the match fair and square."

"And honestly," Midnight sighed, "we think it's for the best that Bakugou doesn't continue either - like Recovery Girl said, he was in shock when he left the office, and it might take him a while to come back to cognition. It'd probably be better than he doesn't enter the arena again for the rest of the day - he's shown several pro heroes that he's more than happy to defy the orders of his teachers, so that's not going to win him any favors with heroes that will be looking for students to intern with them."

"That's assuming that we'll even allow him to get internships," Aizawa grumbled under his breath.

"In any case," Midnight cocked her hip again, "we'll be arranging it so that the next match - between Kendou, Hadou, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu - will be our final match of the day. Bakugou and Tokoyami will automatically take fourth place, and you two will be taking third. The other two pairs will be fighting for who takes second and first place."

As silence fell again, it was clear Izuku and Ochako were still rather unhappy with the arrangement, everyone raising their eyebrows as they both opened their mouths as though to try protesting again - but they found themselves faltering as Itsuka suddenly shifted from where she had been standing over Izuku's bed.

Both of them stole a small glance at her as she glanced between them - it was clear that, like them, she wasn't entirely comfortable with her two training partners being kicked out of the tournament for their safety - but she still shook her head, and then straightened her back.

"Then …" She swallowed, and looked around at Recovery Girl, "… if that's the case, I - I'm not sure when the next round will start. Would it be alright if I had enough time to make sure Midoriya and Uraraka make it back to the booth upstairs with the rest of our classmates?"

"Of course, dear," Midnight nodded, smiling gently at her for at least trying to get her two training partners to stand down, "the next match was delayed for a while anyway - All Might volunteered to entertain the crowd while we dealt with everything. You have enough time to get them upstairs and back down here to get ready."

"And Midoriya," Recovery Girl got Izuku's attention on her again, watching as he slowly wrapped back up his exposed arm to hide the cracks of light under his skin, "I'll be speaking with your teachers about what we'll be doing about the potential degeneration. I'll admit that I may be overanalyzing something, and even if it's the worst case scenario, it's lucky that we caught it now, as it's starting. I know that Tenko was worried as well, and he'd be more than happy to help you with your quirk, as he always has been. Either way, we can begin to plan around it and come up with possible treatments before it gets any worse."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, at least satisfied with that answer, and then turned back towards where Izuku was sitting on the bed, and lowered her hand to offer to him.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Izuku let out a small, defeated sigh and nodded, reaching out to take her hand (and being too tired to really see the soft blush on her face) as she gently helped both him and Eri up, the little girl still clinging to Izuku's waist. Soon, they walked over to Ochako, who likewise accepted Itsuka's hand to stand up, and the class representative quickly wrapped their good arms around her shoulders and neck as they started making their way towards the door.

The adults in the room watched as the three teenagers and the little girl made their way out, both Izuku and Ochako trying to hide how red their faces were as they leaned on Itsuka, and soon, they, and Eri, were out into the hallway, the door gently closing behind them. Aizawa stared after them for a moment, feeling himself frown before letting out a small sigh, and then started making his way towards the door as well to head back upstairs to -

"Please wait a moment."

Pausing in his step as Inko suddenly spoke, Aizawa turned back to look at the mother still sitting on the bed where her son had been, her hands clenching together slightly as she stared at her lap for a moment, before looking back towards Recovery Girl.

"Please," She muttered, "are you being honest with my son? That … that if he's suffering from - from cellular degeneration - there's treatments?"

Both Aizawa and Recovery Girl paused, while Midnight glanced between the both of them with a frown - and then the elderly nurse let out a sigh.

"I was," She confirmed, "there are treatments to help people with quirks that damage their bodies. But I was also being honest with your son that this is something he shouldn't treat idly - the threat of cellular degeneration caused by quirks is very serious, Mrs. Midoriya, and nothing to joke about. The more we find out about your son's quirk before more damage can be done, the better."

Inko slowly nodded, and then turned back to look up at Aizawa, who was still looking quietly at her.

"The reason he's going through this now," Her voice became a bit darker, "is because you put him up against Katsuki."

"Er," Tenohira felt herself pale, recognizing the tone in Inko's voice and immediately moving in to try de-escalating the situation, "I'm not sure if that's what happened, Inko, but -"

"My son was put on the same team as Katsuki during the second round," She pointed out to the group, "and then in the third round, he ended up in the same bracket as him. That … that can't be a coincidence. You made it seem like the pairings for the last rounds were randomly drawn, but … but if that was the case, then - then why were Izuku and Ochako paired up together? After they worked together all day long, the chances of them getting to team up again is little to none. And … and they both have reasons for Katsuki to - to come after them."

"That's …" Taiyo trailed off, realization coming to his eyes - and then he looked around to the homeroom teacher himself, his expression falling into something far more neutral towards the pro hero. That, of course, didn't mean much, as his eyes suddenly started getting more hostile as everyone looked around at Aizawa.

"Did you put our children … purposefully up against Katsuki?" Miwa's voice turned colder as well. "Knowing this might happen?"

Aizawa stayed still for a moment, while Midnight sighed and shook her head, Recovery Girl raised her eyebrows, and Inko slowly stood up from the bed. And then he let out a small sigh and nodded.

"Yes," He said bluntly, "I did. I do have my reasons -"

SLAP

The clear smack of Inko's hand meeting Aizawa's cheek sounded out throughout the room. Aizawa's head was jerked completely to the side, stumbling a bit from the blow due to having no way to brace himself with his arms wrapped up in casts, and Hisashi and Hakushu, both of them feeling their eyes widen at how quickly Inko had crossed the room to smack the living daylights out of the teacher, quickly moved forward, Hisashi dropping all the water bottles on the empty bed, to quickly hold her shoulders as though expecting her to go after Aizawa again, but Inko merely stood there and glared at the teacher as he raised his head again.

"Ow," He said without any emotion.

"Oh, please," Midnight scoffed at her coworker, shaking her head, "don't act like you didn't deserve that, Shouta."

"Kayama -"

"Because I seem to recall I was one of the teachers in favor of making sure this exact scenario didn't happen," She gave him a pointed look, unafraid of throwing him under the bus due to her warning him that this exact scenario was going to happen and he completely ignored her, "but you overruled the rest of us, and stopped us from putting Bakugou in therapy."

"Tha' righ'?" Taiyo growled, standing up as well as though about to imitate Inko, only for Miwa to (reluctantly) take his shoulder to try to stop him.

"Like I said," Aizawa scowled as he straightened up, "I do have my reasons, and I'll give them. The truth of the matter is, I became aware of how volatile and ill-behaved Bakugou is on the first day of class. He believed he was on the top of the class even if he had done nothing to prove it, and reacted terribly whenever his other classmates would upstage him. I knew the moment he confronted your son and your daughter after their battle trial that his behavior was something that needed to be addressed, and then after his behavior at the USJ, I realized he needed to be humbled if he was going to succeed."

"This is what you call 'humbling'?" Teko finally said after nearly an hour of silence, glaring at the bandaged teacher as he kept his arms crossed on his chest. "Letting him loose against two people who did nothing to earn his hatred?"

"That …" Aizawa was about to tell off the old man for jumping in, but from all the glares he was receiving from all around him, he held himself back and sighed, "… my plan backfired."

"Oh, did it?" Tenohira asked sarcastically while Hakushu shook his head.

"It did," Midnight shook her head, deciding to take some pity and get some of the heat off her coworker, "we wanted Bakugou to be humbled during the second round - our plan was to put him on the same team as your children, and give him no way to move on to the final rounds without having to rely on them. We had thought that being forced to rely on people he considered 'extras', having no choice but to work with them to succeed."

"But …" Aizawa scowled, "… it didn't work how we wanted it. We saw him confront Midoriya physically out in the forest, and thought that -"

"That does not matter," Teko snapped, coming off the wall and glowering at the bandaged teacher as he looked around at him, "what you thought does not matter, now that there are two children that you allowed Bakugou to injure severely and force out of this tournament. Even if I have my thoughts about how you run this festival, it is inexcusable that you considered Midoriya and Uraraka's safety an acceptable risk for one boy to learn lessons he should have already known when he was in kindergarten."

"Sorry," Aizawa sounded cross, "but I wasn't aware that you -"

"Midoriya and Uraraka trained at my dojo last year," Teko clarified, crossing his arms again, "and even if I am not their sensei anymore, I still consider them my students. And seeing how you clearly do not care for their wellbeing, and I sincerely doubt that you will force Bakugou to see the consequences of his -"

"That's where I'll have to stop you!"

The entire group blinked as a high-pitched voice suddenly came from the door as it quickly slid open, as though there was someone outside waiting for their chance to jump in. Looking around, everyone then looked down, blinking as they saw Principal Nezu standing there and beaming happily at the group of agitated adults as he entered, shutting the door behind him as he brushed off his vest.

"Good afternoon!" He happily greeted them. "Am I a mouse? A bear? A dog? I am … the principal!"

"Er …" Hakushu paled a bit, "… you're … the principal?"

"Indeed! Expecting someone bigger?" Nezu chuckled a bit at his joke before shaking his head. "Ah, my apologies, I couldn't resist. I regret my lateness, Agent Iguchi has been quite distracting today. I must give the HPSC's agents credit, they sure do love taking up all of my time."

"Principal Nezu," Aizawa nodded to his boss while the other three families looked confusedly down at the small mammal, "I take it you were listening in?"

"Indeed! And don't be pouty, Aizawa, you definitely deserved that slap," Nezu nodded, ignoring Aizawa grumbling while Midnight had to suppress her chuckles, as the principal's expression turned more serious, and turned to the three families before sinking into a bow, making the Midoriyas, Urarakas and Kendous blink a bit.

"I would like to, firstly, express my own apologies for the behavior of Bakugou," He told them, "I have been distracted by the HPSC all day long, but I have been keeping an eye on the young man's behavior as well. After what happened, I am now considering what we are to do with him, and rest assured, we will not be letting Bakugou get off lightly."

"Oh?" Teko scowled. "Then educate us. What are you going to do? Trust me, we can keep a secret."

Nezu raised his eyebrows, but decided to keep going.

"We are, of course, reconsidering Bakugou's position in my school," He confirmed, "as Aizawa mentioned, we've been observing the young man's behavior since the start of the school year - we've noted him as being volatile and hard to get along with, and I decided to trust Aizawa's judgment to see how to address his issues."

"And that failed."

"It did," Nezu frowned as he agreed with Teko's assertions, straightening his back, "we believed that the second round could be used to help temper Bakugou's mindset that he could succeed on his own, but … well, as Midnight said, that backfired quite well in our faces as it instead ignited Bakugou's fire against Midoriya and Uraraka. Please, accept my most sincere apologies for how this spun out of our control, and please know that his behavior and assault in his match against your children - using a move we've clearly never seen him practice anywhere on the school grounds, making it clear that he pulled it out of nowhere - is certainly the last straw for many of us. We will be gathering tonight for a teacher's meeting to address Bakugou's status in our school going forward."

"You're …" Inko felt her eyes widen, "… you're going to expel him?"

"Truth be told," Nezu sighed, "expelling Bakugou is the worst case scenario, and one that we would like to avoid."

"Is that so?" Teko scowled.

"Yes. It may seem unfortunate for those who would want to see him properly punished, but … well, we would like to avoid expelling Bakugou outright. You all don't know this, as many hero schools keep this fact on the downlow, but the HPSC is quite annoyed that UA is one of the few hero schools they don't have any influence on."

Aizawa, Midnight and Recovery Girl scowled.

"Ketsubutsu, Isamu, Seijin, Seiai … all of them schools that the Hero Commission have their hands in," Nezu shook his head, "and direct the teachers in how to teach their students. Currently, UA and Shiketsu are the only two hero schools in Japan that they can't influence in any way - and they do certainly try to find loopholes to wedge control of the school away from me."

"Er … I'm sorry," Hakushu wrinkled his brow, "but what exactly does this have to do with Bakugou?"

"The HPSC has trained heroes in the past," Aizawa shook his head, "and they don't really need to rely on a hero school to take someone on. They've taken on students from even normal schools that they raised to become heroes. Hawks and Lady Nagant, for example."

Unknown to anyone, Taiyo and Miwa cringed a bit, and Recovery Girl felt her brow furrow.

"And while those two turned out to be capable heroes," Midnight scowled, "there have been rumors that … they weren't trained through the same means as we try to teach our students. In fact, some of the rumors we've heard surrounding heroes that are associated with the Hero Commission have … been quite disturbing."

"We will try not to expel Bakugou," Nezu agreed, "because we don't need someone with a potentially powerful quirk and a very hard to control personality to fall into the Commission's hands, due to us knowing that they'll do nothing to curb that behavior and potentially abuse him in turn. But please, rest assured that Bakugou will not be getting out of this without consequences. We have taken advantage of your trust in us once already, and I swear, we will not do so again. I promise to you, now, that we will not put your children through this situation again."

The three families glanced between each other for a few moments - as though trying to silently debate amongst themselves about if the principal was being honest with them - but then, after a moment, they all nodded.

"Excellent," Nezu smiled, clapping his paws together, "in that case, I will be more than happy to guide you all back up to your seats. We've had All Might running entertainment for the crowds, and I've been surprised about how enthusiastic the students of -"

"One moment, actually, Nezu." Recovery Girl suddenly interrupted him, making them all look towards her as she held another folder in her hand - and not Izuku's, they all realized. "Before they're sent back up, I was wondering if I could speak to the Urarakas privately."

Both Taiyo and Miwa blinked a bit at being called out, everyone looking around at them in surprise. Thankfully, Nezu was quick to nod, and began guiding everyone else out so that they could have some privacy, Nezu taking Inko's hand and beginning to speak to her about what they found out about Izuku's condition, while Teko threw another dirty look at Aizawa as he left to return to the commentary box.

Soon, the room was emptied, save for the two adults and Recovery Girl. Now that they were all alone, Taiyo felt himself gulp a bit as he turned back to the elderly nurse.

"Er … is everythin' alright?" He asked nervously. "Is - is somethin' wrong with Ochako?"

"No, no," She shook her head, "besides her current injuries, your daughter is in good health. And it's not that either of you are in trouble. It's just …"

Sighing, she opened back up Ochako's folder.

"When I was going through her medical files, back during the first few weeks of classes," She explained to both of them, "I came upon something in Ochako's files that I found curious. It took me a little while to secure permission to view the classified files, but I eventually got something back this past week, and now that you two are here, I would just … like to make sure you were both aware of what I found."

She then held out the folder to Miwa. Feeling her brow furrow with an unexpected worry, Miwa accepted the folder and began to read, Taiyo leaning over her shoulder to look as well. There were a few moments of quiet as the two parents read over their daughter's file together - and then they both blinked. Or in Miwa's case, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh," She said simply, "oh, er - that."

"Ah," Taiyo felt himself sweat a bit as he glanced back up at Recovery Girl, "that. Uh - y-yeah, we're - we're aware."

"Is that so?"

"Y-yes. It was - it's a long story," Miwa felt her cheeks go a bit red, shutting the folder, "but - but it was consensual. We all signed a contract, and - yes."

"Alright," The nurse accepted the folder back, "and I'm assuming Ochako doesn't know?"

"She … doesn't," Taiyo winced, "we were plannin' to tell her when she's older."

"Well," Recovery Girl sighed as she put the folder back on the desk, "I do understand, and I won't tell her unless she asks, of course. But … well, I'd probably imagine she's getting to be that age. It's entirely up to you, but in my opinion, you should probably tell her sooner rather than later."

"Y-yeah," Taiyo nodded, frowning.

"And just so you know," Recovery Girl added, "I've done a few tests on Ochako since her time here - during the entrance exam, after the USJ's invasion, and now - and I find that she's completely healthy. No side effects or anything like that."

"Oh, that's - that's good," Miwa said, sighing a bit in relief, "we've - we've had her checked on by doctors before, and - and they were afraid of some side effects later in life."

"Well, she's healthy," Recovery Girl nodded, "but don't be surprised if she eventually starts suspecting something. Her life isn't in danger, of course, but … well, I'm not one to tell you how to raise your daughter, but the sooner she finds out, the better. Especially before any … effects … kick in."

Of anything they could be doing at the moment … Shouto didn't expect them to be heading back to the lockers.

"Are you sure this can't wait?" He said to Momo's back as she led the way through the halls. She was making sure to walk ahead of him, not showing him her face at all as her arms swung from side to side, while he slowly walked behind her to give her some space. "I had thought you wanted some time to figure out a strategy."

"I'm afraid it can't," Momo said in a colder voice - but he could hear a small shake under it, making him blink a bit as she continued walking with a stiff, straight back, "I believe my father might have sent me something during the last few matches, and … and I would at least like to have a look at my phone and make sure he's answered. I - I know that he's coming to pick me and my mother up after the festival is done, and I'd … I'd rather answer any questions he had beforehand."

Shouto stayed silent for a moment, his face falling into a darker expression - and then he nodded.

"I see," He said simply.

Well … not that he could blame her, Shouto scowled as they moved into the locker room at long last, with Shouto quickly spotting his own backpack resting against the locker from lunchtime. Honestly, the less he would speak with Daikoku Yaoyorozu, the better, and seeing as Momo would have to live with the bastard, he could understand her not wanting to give her father any ammunition to use against her.

So … he supposed that this would have to be a moment where he checked on his own phone to give her some space, to make sure Momo didn't feel awkward if she did get something discouraging from her father, and she needed some time.

Walking over to his backpack, he pulled out his phone and turned it on, tapping his foot against the ground as he waited for it to boot up. Near him at the lockers, Momo slowly took out her own phone from her bag, taking a deep, shuddering breath, before she turned it over and turned it on. After a few seconds of waiting, with Shouto hearing her tap in her password, they waited for a moment - and then she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Alright," She breathed out, "that's … okay."

"No messages?" Shouto asked shortly.

"N-no … other than my mother wishing me luck," She confirmed, quickly typing out a reply before sending it and going back to her home screen, moving to lean against the lockers beside hers and smiling in relief. Shouto watched her for a moment as she closed her eyes, and then he turned his gaze away, intending to move it back to his own turned on phone before his eyes went down to her phone screen -

- and then he stopped.

"Wait," He blinked, "is that … are those my siblings?"

"H-huh?" Momo opened her eyes again, looking around at Shouto in confusion, and then she followed his gaze down to her phone. Seeing her screen, she let out a small gasp at what he was seeing, and a tinge of red suddenly came to her cheeks.

"Oh, ah … yes," She nodded a bit awkwardly, holding her phone up despite her embarrassment and allowing Shouto to see, "I, er … yes."

Shouto raised his eyebrow at the awkwardness, but still leaned over to have a look. Indeed, it was an old photo, but one that he recognized - he was in it, of course. He and Momo had been young - this was one taken from before their falling out, so they were still quite small, with a young Momo beaming at the camera while he awkwardly flashed a peace sign at it. Behind them, Fuyumi and Natsuo were also smiling widely at the camera, Natsuo with his hand on the top of Momo's head to try to squeeze in, and Fuyumi hugging Shouto from behind while she also flashed a peace sign.

It was like … it was like a memory from another life, Shouto thought for a moment - and then he exhaled.

"I … completely forgot about that photo," He said softly, which made Momo blink and look around at him as he stared a bit longer at her phone screen, "I can't believe you've kept it."

"Well," Momo brought the phone back to her chest, speaking in a careful, but much softer tone than she had used with him all day, "I understand it might be embarrassing to keep a photo of your siblings as - as my homescreen, but … but I do miss the times Fuyumi and Natsuo would hang out with us. I never had any siblings, and - and they were both so cool," She smiled a bit despite herself, "that I think that if I ever had an older sibling, I'd want someone like them."

Shouto stared at her for a second - and then he nodded, a soft smile coming to his face.

"They are … pretty cool," He nodded, leaning against the locker beside hers and making her look around in brief surprise, "Fuyumi's actually teaching, if you didn't know - she got a position as a teaching assistant."

"Oh!" Momo blinked, smiling a bit in surprise - both to that information, and to the fact that Shouto seemed to be willing to socialize with her - and despite herself, she felt a hope begin to bloom in her chest at the soft look on her old best friend's face. "And how is Natsuo?"

"He's well - he's been in college, but he hasn't been coming home recently. Fuyumi thinks that he got himself a girlfriend."

"Well, he was a bit of a charmer when we were children," She recalled, smiling fondly, "used to mess with me all the time, didn't he? Called me 'too pretty to be your bride'."

"Yes," Shouto nodded, pouting a bit, "he did."

"And, uh," Momo's gaze flipped down for a moment, feeling slightly panicked when she saw the inevitable awkward silence that might happen, and quickly pointed to his phone, "might I ask what your home screen is?"

"Hm? Oh," Shouto raised the phone, tapping the button to activate the screen for Momo to look at. Unlike her phone, he didn't have a photo or memory on his screen - instead, it was a picture of a field soft, violet-blue flowers, softly nodding blossoms spreading across the screen.

"They're beautiful," Momo said in a soft voice, smiling gently, "I wasn't aware that you liked flowers, Shouto."

"They're rindou flowers," He told her simply, "they're … my mother's …"

At that, though, Shouto felt himself blink a bit, turning the screen over to look at the flowers as well. He felt his face fall as he stared blankly - and then a sudden memory returned to him, making him blink at how … fuzzy it felt.

"Good grief," His father had growled as he stood with his back to Shouto, "this was an important time, too … II̷̿͛̏͆̈͘'̵̡͓̞̣̞̗̋̎̔l̷͚͈̰̙̞̳̟̗͎͉̜̦͕̐̏͘͜ͅl̷̛̙̠̏̔͂̃̓̀̎̾͗̀͌͘͘͝ ̴̨͙̻̯͕̼̣̩̮͕̉̀̆̾̓̓̃h̶̦̄̒̋͛̏̆̉͗͆ͅã̵̪̳͉̻̝͇̖͕̙̩̩̟̞̂̊͒̈́̄̉̚͠v̴̢̧͚̮̲͖̩̣̘̀ͅe̵͕̱̜̗͈̟͈̮͌̐͂͌͜ ̵͚̾̄̈́̈́̏̾̀̈́́͑̈́̊̚͝͝t̵̢̟̳̹̮͂̽̈̋̂́̃̓̔͘͘͘̚ͅȍ̵͚͍̬̥̯̘̊̿̂ ̴̛̛̟̜̦͊́̂͋̑͌͌͗͌͋t̸͕͆̽̀̓̐́̄a̵̛̯̖̮̞̙̣̭̰̭͎̳̪̬̍̍̀͂̄̏͗̄̈́̅͋̄̊̚k̶̢̡̢̙̝̖̲̣̱̦̘͖̭̟̎̃̋̽͋̌̔͐e̶̖͖̬͚̠͙̮̳̻͙̱͑̿̾͆̏̈́͌̚̚̚͜ ̶̛̗̰̺̥̑̀̀̏͘s̴̛̲̯͔͙̻̘̩̈́̑͑͊̋̆̍͝ò̸͓̮̘̠͎̫̖̯̟̊͒̾̉̒͒̓͜͜m̷̗̼̥͈̥̹̠̭̗̖̯̗͊́̐͜͜e̵̱͉͑̈́͂͑̂͋ ̶̧̢̛͈̹̗̠̗̖̰͎̹̖̘͈̿̓́̄̄͋͊͘͝t̶̨̛͕̗̞̖̱͕͎̥̯̉̀̑͒̋̇̅̉̚͝i̸̧̥̩͇̺̟͓̙̯̤̤͉̋͐̔̊̈́̿̿̏̍̀͠ͅm̴̦͐͐̀̃̌͊̅̄̍̚e̴͖̥̟̻̠̝̼̯̘͑͐͂̌̐͑͛͑͜ͅ ̵̘̙͍̠͔͆̈́̈́͐̆͒̕͘o̶̡͕̪͔̙̣̔̏̎̎̍̀͋͌̄͋̈́̑͝͝f̷̨̧̬̟̹͓͓͍̖͈͎̝͖̗̝̔̇̋̓͒̔͝ḟ̵̛̞̹͉͈͚̦̪̲̈́̈́̔̋̍̏͗̂̓͝"

"… where's Mom?" He had muttered.

"Eh?" Endeavor had grunted. "Oh, yes. She i̶̢͈̬̘̝̲̓̊̽̔̈́̐͑͆̈́̓̋͘͘n̴̨̧̨̘̳̦̱̫̩̬̲͝j̸̢̝̳̮̪͓̳̫͉̰̗̩͕͍́̔̏ǘ̴͈͓̮̱͑̓͗̊r̵̢̛͕̭̠͎̣̝͕͖͚͆̓̌̋̀̿̅̈́̕͠ḙ̶̛̤̠͕̠͍̻͉̬͊̌̊̏͌̏͂̅̿̕̕d̸̰̩̭͇̯̹̪̺̰̞̗̜̀̃ͅͅ-"

"Shouto?"

"- s̵̡̭̳͕̭̩͈̣͓͖̩̐̈́̓̈́̈́̇̃̐͛̄̅̄̂̀͛ǫ̶̧̮̣̹͈̲̟̯͒͒̎͜ I put her in the hospital."

"It's … it's your fault."

"Hm?"

"You're the one … who m̷̡̧̲͉͍̏̒̽̓̈́ḁ̵̣́͛̃͑̍͛̽̆̌̑̕͘̕͠d̴̢̹͕̎͑͜e̶̺̅͂̆ ̸͊̂́̎̅͜M̵͎̠͓̳͈͖͑̇͑̄̀́̀̄̾͋̌̕͝ó̵̹̬̈́͒͊̄̌̍̒̋̾̒̈́̕͝ḿ̸̨̢̟̝͎̰̘̠̻̱͔̭̥͎̗̅-"

"Shouto? Are you alright?"

A hand grabbing Shouto's shoulder caused him to jump, flinching back and quickly looking up at Momo. She also flinched at his sudden jerking, but there was a look of concern there as she stared into his eyes, feeling worried as he began breathing a bit more rapidly.

"Shouto? Are - are you okay?" She asked again, her voice gently as Shouto's face fell. "You kind of -"

"I'm alright." Shouto suddenly said sharply, his voice falling back into its regular monotone. Momo blinked a bit as he turned away from her, putting his phone back into his backpack, and then turned back to her with a scowl, his good mood swiftly and immediately gone. "You checked your messages, so let's get back."

"Oh, ah -" Momo stuttered for a moment, taken completely out of it as she automatically put her phone back into her bag. "- r-right, of - of course."

"I've been thinking of how we can prepare for Kendou and Hadou," He told her in that same cold voice, mentally shaking himself for his weakness earlier with her, "and I'm not worried. Kendou only has her quirk to try and break my ice, but it won't do her any good if I sent an iceberg that way. And Hadou might be able to dodge if she flies, but I can create enough ice to block her. It'll just be about forcing her out of the ring."

"That - that sounds like a reasonable strategy," Momo nodded, trying to fall back to their previous planning mood, "and - and what will I do?"

"Try not to fall out of the ring," Shouto said in a simple tone, starting to walk out of the room, "I'll handle it."

He wasn't aware of Momo faltering behind him, her face falling at his dismissal, but Shouto didn't pay any more heed. The sudden memory of his father about his mother made him feel rattled, raising his hand to brush against the burn that she had given him. He wasn't angry at her, but … but the memory of that day still made his mood plummet, sending him back to his already sour mindset from earlier.

Just … need to get Itsuka and Nejire out of the ring, and then he'll win the sports festival with just his ice. He'll show his father that he could succeed without his fire, and he'll show his brother that he can stand beside him. He'll show Izuku, the memory of what Izuku dared to say to him earlier making him scowl even deeper, that he had no idea what he had been talking about - and he'll show Itsuka who was the better one between their rivalry.

Even if … even if those things … didn't really seem all that important anymore.

A few minutes earlier, shutting the door gently behind her, Itsuka let out a sigh as the four of them walked out into the hallway, continuing to support both Izuku and Ochako while Eri walked beside them with her arms still wrapped limply around Izuku's waist. Wordlessly, the four of them began walking down the hallway together away from the nurse's office, walking past Principal Nezu as he stealthily made his way over towards the door, and walked in silence for a few minutes while Itsuka helped her two training partners stay upright.

"…"

"… this sucks." Izuku grumbled at long last.

Itsuka only sighed, shaking her head at the slightly childish tone in Izuku's voice, and felt herself smile gently.

"Yeah," She gave him, "I … I get that, Izuku. This … this does suck."

"Mm-hm," Ochako hummed quietly, her eyes on the floor.

"But … well, c'mon, you heard Recovery Girl," She tried to gently remind them, "even if … you know … there's not much we can do about it, even if we wanted you guys to do the final round."

"I know, but …" Izuku frowned, looking down at his arms again and scowling, "… didn't think … this would happen."

Neither girl knew how to answer that.

"Cellular degeneration …" Izuku's voice became shaky, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, "… that's just … great. It's great. Had one problem with my quirk resolved, and now an entirely worse one came to replace it. Just … just freaking fantastic!"

Itsuka winced a bit at how angry Izuku had said that, closing his eyes and looking both pained and furious, but she didn't say anything. She knew how frustrated he had to be right now, and … honestly, she couldn't blame him.

Learning that your quirk is pretty much destroying your cells was … well … she couldn't help but feel afraid for him, knowing that this was something he would have to deal with going forward. Hell, just hearing that death was a possibility here was making her feel like tearing up herself, her heart hammering in her chest, and it took all of her strength not to envelop him in a hug and never let go.

But she could feel Eri shake a bit as she held onto her hand - and she felt herself frown as she realized, oh, right, the little girl who clearly cared about Izuku heard all about the supposed damage his quirk was doing to his body. And hearing how broken up about it Izuku was would only cause Eri more distress, with Itsuka glancing down and seeing Eri's own eyes beginning to tear up.

So … they definitely needed a change of topic. Something that would cheer Ochako up as well, seeing as she was staring desolately at the floor about being kicked out of the sports festival for her safety. Something that would get Izuku's mind away from his quirk. Something like …

… like …

Itsuka paused for a moment as Izuku scowled at the floor again, his hands clenching slightly as she glanced over at him - and then, she let out a small sigh, realizing that she wasn't able to fight down the thought from earlier. And automatically, she moved her head so that she could lean forward, and her lips met his cheek again.

Thankfully, Itsuka's impulsive move worked to bring them all out of their bad moods - Izuku's scowl faltered as Itsuka leaned in and kissed his cheek, staring blankly forward as, instead of moving away, she simply kept her lips there. Ochako, who had been looking sadly towards the floor, blinked when she felt Itsuka move, and glanced up in time to see Itsuka closing her eyes, letting out a small squeak as her own cheeks went red. Eri, meanwhile, glanced up as well, and blinked in confusion as Itsuka moved back, watching Izuku stare blankly ahead for a moment, and then turned towards Ochako, moving in.

Once Izuku finally registered what had happened, his face promptly exploding back into a red mess, Itsuka's lips already met Ochako's cheek, pressing softly there for a few seconds and she felt the heat of Ochako's blush against her mouth. Strangely, the nervousness that she had felt before when kissing their cheeks wasn't as prominent - instead, she felt a bit more amused, letting out a small giggle even as her mouth remained closed and her lips puckered.

Finally, she moved back from Ochako, and both childhood friends quickly wheeled around to stare at her in shock.

"W-what -" Izuku managed to get out, shaking uncontrollably, "- what was - why did you -"

"That," Itsuka sighed before smiling awkwardly, "was … er … congratulations."

"C-congratulations?" Ochako repeated, flustered and confused. "F-for what?"

"For - you know - winning the match," Itsuka said simply, glancing between the two of them, "I know that … that it seems that nothing good came out of that, but - but you two beat freaking Bakugou. I just … thought I'd give you both a reward. So, uh - there."

They both stared at her for a moment, their hands slowly raising to touch the spots where she had kissed them, and Itsuka felt herself begin to blush as the fluster started to finally catch up with her, filling her with the sudden need to -

"What did you just do, Ken?"

All three of them blinked a bit at the young, innocent voice coming from below them, and quickly looked down. Eri was still hugging Izuku's waist, and looking confusedly between all three of them. At once, Itsuka realized her mistake, her face paling, and both Izuku and Ochako froze as well as Eri glanced between them.

"E-Eri," Itsuka stammered, quickly stepping back to give both of her friends their space, and moving their arms down from her shoulders, "uh - hey! A-almost forgot you were there. Uh - heh, heh."

"What were you doing?" Eri repeated, tilting her head and looking both curious and concerned at the same time. "Why did you …?"

"I was - uh -" Itsuka felt herself pause at that, her mind desperately grasping for a way to explain to the little girl that she totally did not just kiss both her friends - and then it landed on, "- I was giving them a - a friend smooch."

There was a long pause in the hallway as those last two words sank in. Izuku and Ochako slowly turned to look at her with wide eyes that clearly screamed, 'are you kidding me right now', which at most drew a sheepish shrug from Itsuka, her face turning a similar shade of red that her hair had once been.

"A … friend smooch?" Eri repeated in confusion.

"Y-yeah," Izuku gulped, nodding and deciding to just go with it for now, "a - a friend smooch. I-it's when, uh - when you're good friends with - with someone, and you just … give them a little smooch! Y-y'know what I mean?"

Immediately, he felt like smacking his forehead as both Itsuka and Ochako looked like they were slowly dying on the inside. No, the three of them mentally reprimanded Izuku, the little girl wouldn't know anything about kissing.

"Oh." Eri slowly nodded, still looking a bit confused but like she was going to accept that answer, "So … friend smooches are something you guys do?"

"Uh …" Itsuka felt herself begin to sweat nervously. "… k-kinda, Eri. Y-yeah."

"Oh." Eri nodded again. "Then … Deku, are you and Occhan gonna give Ken a friend smooch too?"

And once again, silence fell. Only this one, however, was akin to something out of a horror movie - a scene where the characters hear something scary and go absolutely still with horrified tension. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka stared at the little girl as though she had suddenly come forward asking to cut off one of their arms, their mouths falling open as their faces exploded in heat - but then Eri tugged on Izuku's shirt, causing him to jolt.

"Deku," She looked curious, "aren't you gonna friend smooch her?"

"I -" Izuku made a sound eerily similar to a tea kettle, "- wha -?"

"She friend smooched you. And Hira told me that if someone does something nice for you, it's good if you do something nice for them," She told him importantly, "like, she gave me a hug, and later I gave her a hug. So if Ken friend smooches you, you should friend smooch her back."

Izuku let out another few weak noises, his face positively glowing like magma while Ochako looked between her two training partners, so quickly her head almost blurred. Itsuka kept glancing from Eri to Izuku in obvious terror, although Ochako could see there was a nervous air around her as the brown-haired girl glanced around -

- but luckily for all three of them, her gaze shifted up, and she almost cried in relief as someone suddenly wheeled around the corner, blinking a bit and feeling her eyes widen.

"Oh! Guys!" Nejire gasped, causing everyone else to look around at her (and for Izuku and Itsuka to likewise sag their shoulders in relief), and she quickly hurried over. "There you are! I was walking over to the nurse's office because it had been a really long time since you all went down there, and I was getting kind of nervous, but it looks like you're all up and about! Here's your phones, by the way, I went to go get them for you - no need to worry about them being broken, I was super careful!"

She quickly moved her hands into her pockets, pulling out two phones and holding them out for both Izuku and Ochako. Blinking, the two accepted their devices back from her, Izuku quickly pocketing his and Ochako turning hers over in her hand, while Eri blinked a bit at the other girl's appearance, let go of Izuku, and walked over and tugged on Nejire's shirt to get her attention, which caused the blue-haired girl to look down let out a delighted gasp.

"Eri!" She cooed, immediately moving down to her knees and sweeping Eri in for a hug, "Oh, my goodness, I didn't even see you there! Because you're so small. Well, maybe not, you're not that small, since you're only like - uh - six? Seven? Somewhere around that range! So I know that kids your general age tend to be pretty small when they're that young! I was pretty short too! But that's no excuse, I should've spotted you, because you look so pretty in that dress! Where'd you get it?"

"Hira bought it for me," Eri said, her voice a bit muffled as Nejire continued to squeeze her before she finally let her go, moving back a bit with a smile, "she said today was special."

"It is!" Nejire nodded happily, glancing back up at Izuku. He tried to awkwardly smile down at her, rubbing his bandaged arm up and down with his other hand, and trying to silently thank her for getting him out of what could've been the most awkward moment of his life - but then, as she stared up at him, he found himself blinking as her smile faded.

Slowly, she began to stand up, Eri looking confused as Nejire's head fell briefly as she rose. Both Ochako and Itsuka likewise looked confused as Nejire let out a long sigh … and then she suddenly looked straight at him, and Izuku found himself automatically wincing when he came under the assault of … of …

… of one of the most adorable pouts he had ever seen, only really comparable to Ochako's Danger Pout.

"Izuku Midoriya, you jerk!" She suddenly yelled, throwing her fists into the air as he took an uncertain step backwards, and then she suddenly threw them down, both fists hitting him right in the chest. Not that it hurt, of course, the hits were pretty light, but he let out a few noises of surprise as he quickly backed away from the surprised Ochako and Itsuka, Nejire following him and half-heartedly beating him on the chest. "Do you know what you did?!"

"I - I don't!" Izuku yelped as he turned around, covering his head as Nejire continued to hit him lightly. "What -?!"

"You scared me! And Kendou! And your parents! And Kendou's parents! And Uraraka's parents! And probably everyone else and their parents!" She continued to chase him around the hallway while lightly tapping him with her fists, while Izuku held his arms protectively around his head as he wobbled around.

Back at their spot, watching as Izuku pathetically ran away from Nejire while being pelted by small boops to his head and shoulders, Itsuka and Ochako slowly turned to glance at each other in their confusion, having absolutely no idea what had just happened in the last minute or so, while Eri watched the other two run around in a small circle with a confused and concerned look.

"Uh …" Ochako felt a bit of sweat fall down her forehead, "… should we help him?"

"I … I am not sure," Itsuka shrugged weakly, "I don't know what's going on, but I'm … pretty sure I don't wanna be in the middle of it."

Nodding together, they both turned back to watch as Izuku ran past them again, apologizing profusely while Nejire kept lightly tapping him with her knuckles.

"That was super crazy!" She continued to rant as Izuku finally slowed to a stop, protecting his head while she weakly punched at his shoulders. "And then you just go and keep fighting Bakugou, like some manly man! What are you, Kirishima?! Midnight said he was done, that could've been it, but nooooooo! You had to go and be all cool!"

"I'm - I'm sorry! I wasn't - I wasn't thinking!"

"No! You weren't!" Nejire finally ceased her assault on Izuku, panting a bit as she waved her hands in the air, and Izuku judged it to be relatively safe enough to poke his eyes out of his arms to see her still pouting at him. "You were maybe a little cool for a bit, but that was still super crazy! And stupid! When Midnight disqualified him, you should've just said something like 'lol, get rekt', not punch him right in the face and keep fighting! I know you were angry, probably because he launched Uraraka out of the ring, because that made me a little angry and scared too, but now look! You're covered in bandages! That's not something to be happy about, is it?!"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he let out a sigh, dropping his arms from around his head and staring down at the floor in guilt. "… no, it's … it's not. I was … I was being stupid. And you're right - if I didn't keep fighting Kacchan, I … we might be … we might still be in the tournament."

Ochako winced a bit at that, her face falling as she turned to look back at the floor, and Itsuka frowned as well. Nejire, for her part, stopped with the light assault as she dropped her arms to the side, her pout fading - and then she let out a sigh, and moved forward.

Izuku blinked as she gently put her hands on his shoulders, and before he could ask, she moved in for a small hug, making him stare forward and feel heat begin to come back to his cheeks before she took a step back, holding her hands on his shoulders as she gave him a worried look.

"Er … sorry for beating you up," She apologized sheepishly, "it was just … really scary to see that."

"I - I know," Izuku turned to look around at the wall, "and - and it's not like I didn't deserve it. I - I was being stupid. I just saw Occhan on the ground, and - and I just - I couldn't control myself. I got so angry at Kacchan, and - and I just -"

There was a pause in the hallway.

"- and now we're out of the sports festival, because I couldn't keep my cool." He grumped again, moving away from Nejire to lean against the wall, and Ochako, Itsuka and Eri approached them as he crossed his arms carefully on his chest. "You're right, if - if I just let Midnight disqualify Kacchan, we could - we might still be in the festival right now."

Ochako let out a small sigh, and moved to stand beside Izuku, leaning against the wall.

"Deku, you … you heard Recovery Girl," She pouted, "even if - even if we hadn't heard your thing about - about your cellular degeneration -"

Nejire's eyebrows shot up at that.

"- I'm not exactly at my full hundred percent either," She bit her lip, "there's no way that you and I could keep going, either."

"I know, but …"

"Deku, it's … it sucks," She raised her hand and gently took his bicep, careful not to squeeze too hard in fear of hurting him, "trust me, I know how much it sucks. This stupid burn on my arm keeps aching, and it's annoying and itchy, and - and god, I wish that I could just get rid of it, or go back in time and kick Bakugou in the nuts instead of the face so he didn't blow us up."

Izuku, despite his sour mood, let out a small chuckle at that. Itsuka likewise smiled a bit, reaching down to take Eri's hand as she approached her two partners as well.

"You guys," She glanced between them, "were amazing out there. I know that - well, a lot of what Nejire said was true, and it got pretty scary at times, and she had to hold me back from running in too many times to count, but - but you two were genuinely amazing out there. You were going into a fight against two guys you knew weren't going to make things easy for you, and you still came out on top. And …"

She hesitated for a moment, frowning,

"… and I know that … we had to hear about your … your cellular degeneration, Izuku …"

He winced at that mention, but the feeling of Itsuka suddenly taking his hand in hers caused him to blink, looking up into her kind eyes as she smiled at him.

"… but we'll figure it out." She told him gently. "We'll figure it out, like we always figure stuff out. We haven't faced anything like this before, yeah, but … but I know that we're gonna figure this out, and you're gonna find out how your quirk works, and …"

She hesitated for a moment, not entirely sure how to finish her comforting words - but Izuku sighing, and gently squeezing her hand back, caused her to look back up at him as he smiled - albeit weakly, and definitely looking a lot more flustered - back at her.

"I … guess I know what you mean," He sighed, nodding as he glanced over at Ochako, Nejire and Eri as well, "and … and I know that I'm … bringing down the mood. Sorry, guys -"

"You don't have to apologize," Ochako stopped that line of thought at once, shaking her head, "I know that it's … it's okay, Deku."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, letting out a soft sigh as he allowed both Ochako and Itsuka to hold his arm and hand respectively (albeit with three red faces, and naturally being ready to jump back at once at the slightest sign of awkwardness), and then Izuku looked down to where Eri was staring up at him.

He let out a small, shuddering sigh, and then gently moved out of both his training partners' grasps as he moved down to his knees carefully, so that he and Eri were at eye level.

"Eri," He said in a soft voice, tears suddenly coming to his eyes, "I'm … I'm sure that if I scared Kendou and Hadou when I was fighting Kacchan, I must've - I must've scared you, too. I'm really sorry … I didn't mean for that to get so - you know. I really am sorry."

Eri slowly nodded at that, glancing up at Itsuka briefly before looking back down at Izuku - and then she let go of Itsuka's other hand, and moved in to wrap her tiny arms around Izuku's neck. Izuku, for his part, merely smiled as he let Eri hug him, his arm raising to hug her back, and for a few moments, the group was quiet as they let Eri cling to him briefly, Izuku running his hand up and down her back.

Once she let out a small, shuddering sigh, Izuku allowed her to step back, looking sad as Eri wiped her eyes.

"Okay," She sniffled, "it's okay, Deku, I forgive you. Can … can we go and sit down, now? My legs are tired."

Izuku and Ochako were unable to stop themselves from laughing gently at that, while Itsuka smiled and Nejire cooed again.

"Y'know … I think you've got a point, Eri," Ochako giggled, reaching down to take the little girl's hand, "my legs are tired, too. So why don't we go sit down in the booth upstairs? You're definitely right, I gotta get off my feet - don't be surprised if I start napping while the final round's going on, okay?"

"Okay," Eri nodded, "don't worry, I'll wake you up for the important parts."

"How kind of you!"

"Yeah," Itsuka giggled, reaching down to pat Eri's head, "you guys go and sit down, okay? Don't worry, we've got one more match today, and then that'll be it. I'm so jealous you guys are gonna go sit down now - I'm pretty sure I'm gonna just take a bath and go to bed the moment we get home, Eri, I'm soooooo tired."

"Oh," Eri blinked, looking up at Itsuka, "well, then I guess I'll get ready for bed too when we get home."

"That sounds good to me, silly."

"Er …" Izuku cleared his throat, drawing the girls' attention to him again as he reached behind his back, and pulled out his notebook, "… actually, uh - speaking of the last match, I just - I remembered, I should probably show you guys Todoroki's page."

"Oh!" Itsuka gasped, her eyes widening. "I completely forgot, Izuku. Yeah, let's - let's have a look."

Nodding, Izuku quickly flipped open his notebook, flipping through the pages until he finally let out a small 'aha' and landed on the page he wanted, moving the book for everyone to see. Moving around him, Itsuka and Nejire quickly leaned over both his shoulders while Ochako stepped back with Eri, the brown-haired girl's eyebrows raising at the redness on Izuku's face from having two girls leaning on both of his shoulders, but chose not to say anything, albeit with a small, unsure glance at Nejire and then Itsuka.

Together, Izuku, Itsuka and Nejire looked down at the half-scribbled picture of Shouto drawn beside the writing, and started reading.

SHOUTO TODOROKI

Quirk - Half Fire, Half Ice

Strengths:

The ability to create giant glaciers of ice, ice the ground to cause it to become slippery, create pillars of ice to ride on. Ice powers are versatile and well practiced, can come from either right hand or right foot - clearly Todoroki's preferred method of using his quirk. Has the ability to use fire from his left side, but has not used it during the sports festival - currently unknown what skills he has with the fire side of his quirk and how powerful it is, other than being able to melt ice he creates.

Weaknesses:

HAS LIMIT TO HOW MUCH ICE HE CAN USE BEFORE CONSEQUENCES - Was seen shivering during the second round overusing ice. If fought for long enough, will start suffering hypothermia. Unknown if fire side can avert effects of hypothermia, but as he shows reluctance to use fire, can't be considered for using it to cure the shivering. Causing him to use too much ice and then fighting him when he is shivering and unfocused is the key to win.

"Okay …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, moving back from Izuku as he continued to stare down at the page in concentration, "… so we just have to make him overuse the ice, and then we can take advantage of that to beat him. Still, doesn't change the fact he has those giant glaciers he could just throw at us the moment the match starts."

"Oh!" Nejire gasped, jumping back from Izuku and throwing her hand into the air as everyone looked around at her. "In that case, I'll handle those, Itsuka! I think I can make sure they won't hit us."

"Really?" Itsuka gave her a worried look. "Are you sure? Because I mean … let's be real, he's definitely gonna hit us with an iceberg."

"Yep!" Nejire giggled, flexing her arm and slapping her bicep while giving her a confident grin. "I've got your back, Itsuka - I can handle those icebergs! Todoroki won't know what hit him! Wait - I mean, that's not exactly true, he'll know what hit him - me. I'm gonna hit him!"

Itsuka let out a small sputter at that, shaking her head while smiling gently, but still gave the blue-haired girl a thumbs up to show her that she was going to trust her as she took another step back, stretching her arms slightly above her head.

While the two girls began getting into the mindset of going up against Shouto, Izuku continued to stare down at the page for a few moments quietly, as though he was silently thinking about something, as his face turned blank yet full of concentration. Ochako, who had been holding Eri's hand for the last few minutes and falling back out of the group to give them some time to get their plan together, blinked a bit as Izuku continued to stare at the paper, and reached out to gently take his shoulder.

"Deku?"

"Gah!" Izuku jumped a bit as she gave his shoulder a shake, looking up at her in shock. "H-huh? Yeah, what's - what's up?"

"You, uh, you were staring at the page really hard," She pointed out, giggling slightly as Izuku suddenly realized what he was doing, blinking and looking embarrassed, "is everything okay?"

"Oh, er - y-yeah, everything's fine, Occhan," Izuku nodded, knowing that they were drawing Itsuka and Nejire's attention away from their planning beside them, and going a bit red, "I was just … lost in my head a bit. No need to worry."

"Huh?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow as she realized what they were saying. "What are we worrying about?"

"Nothing, just …" Izuku hesitated for a moment as he felt all four girls' eyes on him, glancing back down at the page before him - and then he let out a small sigh and closed his eyes, gently putting the notebook down as he turned towards Itsuka and Nejire.

"… actually, uh … maybe there's something," He looked sheepish as all three girls nodded and rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, we thought so," Itsuka chuckled good-naturedly, walking back over to Izuku, "so what's up? Is everything okay?'

"Y-yeah, everything's fine, just …" He shook his head, sighing and scratching the back of his head, "… had a thought about Todoroki, and … well, it's stupid, and you can ignore this if you want to, but I just … wanted to ask you a favor, Kendou."

Itsuka felt her brows raise at that while Nejire looked curious, and Ochako likewise gave him a confused look as Izuku sighed and put his notebook back behind him in whatever pocket he put it in as he gave them a serious look.

"So, uh … Hadou already knows about this, by the way," He said in a slightly uncomfortable voice, "and it's - it's something that I can't really get into, since I made a promise, but … but Todoroki dragged me off for a talk during lunch."

"I … yeah, I know," Itsuka nodded, glancing over at Nejire and blinking when she saw understanding fill the blue-haired girl's face, the happy expression she had dropped entirely, "Nejire mentioned it to me when we were talking earlier."

"Y-yeah. I - like I said, I can't really go into what we talked about, but it was …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, "… it was serious. Really - really serious. I want to tell you all about it, but - but it's not my secret to tell."

"Okay …"

"I just … I just know that everything we thought about Todoroki is …" He swallowed, "… it's wrong."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked.

"When - when we were watching the TV, after his match ended, when we saw the iceberg he sealed Haya and Shinsou in," Izuku went on, unaware of Nejire pouting slightly at the mention of Yuuyu, "I was watching his face, and … and I saw that instead of - I don't know, angry? Or happy? He was looking … he was looking sad. And I - I know that you have plenty of reasons to be angry at him, Kendou, and all of them are justified."

"Yeaaaah …?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow.

"Y-yeah. He's - he's treated you like crap today, and you're more than justified to just beat him up and finish the sports festival," Izuku gave her, frowning.

"… but?" Itsuka smirked a bit.

"… but …" Izuku winced at how predictable he was, seeing Ochako rolling her eyes again off on the side, "… but there's a part of me that … that wants to help him."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "Help … Todoroki?"

"Yeah," He nodded, "I - I tried to reach out to him during lunch today, but - but he brushed me off. I - I hate to have to ask this of you, Kendou, and - and you can ignore what I'm going to ask you if you want to, but …"

There was a pause in the hallway.

"… but if you can … I want to ask if you could help Todoroki," He looked a bit sheepish and embarrassed, as though second-guessing his request of her, "he's - he's got a complex with his quirk. He believes that his fire belongs to people he - he doesn't really like. If it's possible, I … I want to see you win the match, but I also want to see Todoroki get over his complex that's hindering him. It probably won't be easy, but ... but if anyone can do it, it's - it's you, Kendou."

There was a long pause in the hallway as all four girls stared at Izuku, and he gave Itsuka a determined look. And then Itsuka, raising her eyebrow a bit, cocked a hip while giving him a … well, not a judgmental look, but one that made it clear that she wasn't entirely on board.

"… you want me … to help him."

"Uh …" Izuku hesitated, going a bit red as he realized what she was implying here - that Izuku was pretty much asking her to help the guy who'd wanted to kick her ass all day long, "… yeah."

"My … 'rival'," Itsuka said with an air of slight disdain, as though making it clear that she was talking about who they were all thinking of, "who's done nothing but try to make me second guess myself and tell me about how thoroughly he's gonna kick my ass all day."

"Y-yeah."

"You want me … to help him."

"O-only if you - you want to," Izuku clarified, "you don't - you don't have to if you don't want to, but … yeah."

Itsuka stared at him for another moment, her skepticism clear - and then she let out a sigh and glanced away.

"I … hm," She hummed, pouting slightly while Izuku continued to look sheepish, "I just … I don't know, why do I need to help him, Izuku? Is there - is it something that's actually wrong with him, or - or is he just refusing to use his fire?"

"Uh …" Nejire giggled nervously, making them all look over at her, "… maybe a bit of both? Kinda? Sorta?"

"Well …" Itsuka bit the inside of her cheek, "… I'll … okay, I'll - I'll think about it. No promises that I'll do anything, and - and if he tries anything, I'm putting him on his ass, but - okay, I'll at least think about it."

"That's - that's all I want," Izuku quickly assured her, smiling happily, "thank you, Kendou."

"Right," She nodded slowly, sighing and scratching the side of her head as she glanced over at the clock on the wall, and wincing as she saw how much time had passed - she wouldn't be surprised if she heard Aizawa coming up on the speaker sometime soon, "uh - anyway, guys, we - we got distracted. I said I was gonna bring you guys up to the booth, and - er -"

"O-oh, no, It's fine," Ochako quickly jumped in before she could look guilty, smiling at her, "we can get there on our own. Eri'll help us, won't you, Eri?"

"Mm-hm," Eri nodded, holding onto Ochako's hand a bit tighter, and reaching out to take Izuku's hand as well, "we'll find it."

"That's the spirit!" Ochako happily giggled while Izuku smiled down at Eri, holding her hand back.

"Ken," Eri then turned back up to Itsuka, seeing her smile down at her while Eri looked worried, "will you be careful?"

"Of course I will," Itsuka moved down to her knees, bringing Eri in for a hug and smiling as she put her chin down on the top of the little girl's head, careful to mind her horn, "just gotta talk to the mean guy for a bit, and then after the award show, we'll go home. Promise."

"Okay," Eri nodded slowly, "but don't you want Deku and Occhan to give you a friend smooch? They forgot to!"

… and … once again, silence fell.

Itsuka felt herself freeze slightly while hugging Eri to her, and both Izuku and Ochako went still as well, the heat that had been dying on their faces returning at once. Nejire blinked and glanced between each of them, her eyebrows raising slightly, before Ochako suddenly squeaked.

"Uh!" She managed to pull Eri out of Itsuka's frozen grasp, the little girl looking up at her in confusion. "We, uh - we didn't forget, Eri! Just - uh - we - we don't - we don't wanna distract Itsuka from her big match, right? She doesn't have the time for a - a - a friend smooch."

"R-right!" Izuku quickly nodded, wheeling away from Itsuka as well as she stayed frozen on the ground, glancing between both her training partners while her face became redder and redder. "We - we don't wanna distract her, d-do we? N-no, of - of course not! Let's - let's go find our s-s-seats."

"R-right!" Ochako nodded at once, quickly reaching down and picking up Eri, tucking her against her side. "Let's - let's go do that."

"Okay …" Eri pouted at both of them, "… but you'll give her a friend smooch later, right?"

Izuku and Ochako made noises at such high frequency that it could barely be passed as a noise a human could make, but before they could lose themselves in their fluster, they quickly went on autopilot, beginning to walk away from the other two girls as they all but ran towards the stairwell.

Itsuka, still frozen a bit, stared after her two friends -

- and then she let out a small noise, and said, "Guys, wait a second!"

Both Izuku and Ochako skidded to a stop, blinking, and quickly looked back around at their friend as she slowly got back up, straightening her back. Her face remained red as Nejire continued to glance between all of them in confusion and intrigue - and then, before any of them could blink, Itsuka began walking over towards both of them, her hands swinging from side to side.

Finally, she stopped just short of her training partners, moving her arms to her sides, and took a deep breath. Izuku and Ochako froze a bit, realizing what was going to happen, and yet, neither of them moved away as Itsuka summoned her courage, and then moved in to plant another kiss on Ochako's cheek.

Ignoring Nejire's small squeak/squeal behind her, the sound of Nejire clapping her hands to her mouth in her surprise echoing slightly in the hallway, Itsuka moved back, and then kissed Izuku's cheek as well, the boy going redder than ever as she kept her lips there for a moment. Finally, she moved back, and looked over at Eri.

"It's, uh … it's fine, Eri," She tried to keep her voice light, in fear of the little girl hearing how embarrassed and flustered she was, "they, uh - they don't have to give me friend smooches right away. They can - uh - they can give them to me tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Izuku and Ochako squeaked at the same time. There was a short pause, and then Itsuka slowly nodded, her gaze flickering between both of them.

"Yes," She said clearly, "t-tomorrow. We're, uh … we're going to the beach tomorrow."

"You are?" Eri blinked a bit, while Izuku and Ochako stared at Itsuka in shocked silence, and Nejire began bouncing around behind her.

"Y-yeah," Itsuka nodded, her face turning redder and redder, "we are. We're - we're gonna go to the beach, the - the three of us, and w-we're - we're gonna - we're gonna have a picnic. A-and swim in the ocean, and - and talk, and just - just - hang out. It'll be - it'll be super fun, and - and we'll get to -"

"What's this I hear about a beach?!"

The five of them blinked at a familiar, booming voice suddenly sounding behind them from around the corner, and they all quickly looked around in shock. With a loud, triumphant laugh, All Might suddenly ran into the hallway at full speed, raising his hand in greeting -

- or, at least, the pompom his giant hand was stuck in. And that, right about then, was when they all suddenly became aware of what their teacher was wearing, and Ochako and Itsuka felt their mouths drop open in horror, their fluster immediately forgotten.

There were many costumes they, at least unconsciously, were aware that they didn't want to see All Might in. And one of those was a cheerleader's uniform. And yet, before them, All Might threw his head back and laughed as he put his hands on his hips, the pompoms on his hands shaking around, and showing them the slightly too small cheerleader outfit, colored orange, blue, yellow and white with the letters UA on both sides of the too small vest (that thankfully covered his injury), and wearing a skirt that showed a lot more of his legs than either girl wanted to see.

Immediately, Ochako and Itsuka fought down the urge to gag, while Izuku tilted his head slightly at his mentor and Nejire blinked in shock before moving to rub her eyes, as though trying to make sure she wasn't imagining this.

"… All Might?" Izuku asked in confusion, as though he were mistaking some other giant blonde loud guy for his mentor. "W-what are you -?"

"Ah, this?" All Might chuckled, spinning around and immediately causing Itsuka and Ochako to avert their eyes when the skirt twirled around - he was thankfully wearing shorts beneath it, but neither girl wanted to risk it. "I was put in charge of entertaining the crowds, and I had the idea that, since the last match had been pretty grim, to lighten things up! Granted, I believe that I've become a bit of a joke to the crowds out there, but if it's to lighten their spirits, there isn't any road I won't go down!"

"Oh, my god," Itsuka muttered, staring at the floor in her horror.

"Oh, uh … that's … good," Izuku nodded awkwardly, not sure what else he could say, "so it was … just … you doing a - a cheerleader thing for a half hour?"

"Not exactly, Mido-bro!"

Blinking again at the familiar voice, Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka, Nejire and Eri looked around as Eijirou sudden ran around the corner, wearing the same cheerleader uniform as All Might - and then, following right behind him, came out roughly half of their class, and a few people from Class 1B. Izuku blinked in surprise, and felt his cheeks turn red, at the appearances of Setsuna (wearing a cast over her arm but clearly in much better spirits than from lunch time), Yui, Pony, Kyouka, Tsuyu, Mina and Pony wearing the cheerleader uniform, and following them came Denki, Hanta and Yosetsu, the third boy looking humiliated and pissed. From 1B, meanwhile, Tetsutetsu was beaming in pride at his own uniform, while the invisible girl he remembered was named Tooru, the brown-haired girl named Kinoko, and a few of the other guys from their class nodded in greeting.

"What …" Itsuka tilted her head in brief confusion at her two best friends as Yui and Setsuna approached her, "… exactly happened since I saw you guys last?"

"Well," Setsuna shrugged, smiling a bit and pretending not to notice Hanta staring down at the curve of her back, which made her smirk a bit, "after your match with Bakuho and Tokoyami, All Might swung by and asked us for some help entertaining the crowd while you guys got looked at. He was kind of out of ideas, though, so I suggested we do a cheerleading routine - y'know, not only do we get to look good for the cameras, we get to show off some gymnastics for the pros."

"Jirou almost refused," Yui nodded, "until All Might offered a bonus credit for whoever helped him. Honestly, I've never seen someone look so conflicted about pompoms before."

"Shut it," Kyouka growled behind her, throwing said pompoms into the trash bin near them with such venom, Itsuka briefly wondered if they did something to offend her.

"Er - right," Izuku glanced over at Yui, trying to pretend he was completely normal after what Itsuka told him they would be doing tomorrow (and feeling horror crawling up his spine that he'd be surrounded by more girls in bikinis, making him feel like he was about to faint), and walked over to her, "uh, Kodai - did Iida eventually make it back up to the booth? He left me to take a call, but I didn't hear anything back from him."

"He … had to leave early," She told him, an unnoticed quiet in her voice, "family emergency, he said."

"Family emergency?" He blinked, straightening up a bit. "W-why, what -"

"Hey, what was that about a beach?"

He felt himself stop his question at Mina's inquiry, looking around at her in surprise. The pink girl was looking excitedly around as All Might stepped aside from them to properly greet their other classmates, and she had balled her fists up.

"You guys are heading to a beach tomorrow?" She asked them, looking around at Itsuka and Ochako. "Where?"

"Er - Dagobah," Itsuka said automatically, wincing when she realized she wasn't supposed to say anything but unable to stop herself now that everyone was looking at her, "it's, uh - it's where we trained last year for the entrance exam. We were gonna - uh - yeah."

"Oh, awesome! I should check that out, too!"

"Yeah, I - wait," Itsuka stopped, her eyes widening, "what?"

"Yeah!" Tooru suddenly jumped in, grabbing Mina's arm and shaking her. "That sounds awesome! A day on the beach after duking it out all day? I'm so there!"

"Me too!" Denki threw his arm into the air. "I'll bring my basketball, and we can shoot some hoops!"

"There won't be hoops at a beach," Kyouka rolled her eyes, although an indulgent smile appeared on her face, "although … I could bring some music."

"W-wait a second," Ochako squeaked out, horror filling her as both Izuku and Itsuka likewise mirrored her inner agony.

"Count me there!" Eijirou cheered, while Tetsutetsu likewise threw his pompoms into the air as well.

"Yeah!" Denki pulled his phone out from his skirt. "I'll text the class's chat, let them know where we'll all be tomorrow, and everyone's invited!"

"Oh, god, please no," Itsuka whined quietly, feeling like smacking herself in the forehead for her stupidity.

"I'm there!"Pony threw her pompoms into the air. "I'll invite Shouji-kun, too!"

"I'll come too," Tsuyu poked her cheek, looking over at Eri with a smile as the little girl awkwardly hid behind Ochako from all the new people, "say, that's Eri, isn't it?"

The group all blinked at Tsuyu's question, and looked around at the little girl as she awkwardly hid behind the brown-haired girl. Smiling, Tsuyu walked over and gently reached out, Eri glancing at the frog girl in nervousness before she blinked at the kind look on Tsuyu's normally blank face.

"You know, kero," She said softly, "I have a couple of siblings who love going to the beach. Are you coming along too, Eri?"

"Um …" The little girl hesitated, glancing over at Itsuka. The life had certainly left the class representative's eyes now, while Nejire gave her a sympathetic look, but she still nodded slowly and looked around at the little girl.

"Uh … yeah, Eri," Itsuka managed to say through slightly clenched teeth, "you're a hundred percent coming with us. It'll be fun."

"Oh," Eri nodded slowly before turning back to Tsuyu, "I guess I am."

"Cute," Tsuyu giggled through her ribbits, "in that case, I'll bring my siblings along, so you can have someone to play with."

"Oh! Me too!" Setsuna grinned. "I bet Sera will love you, Eri! And I'm Set, by the way - Ken's best friend."

"Set?" Eri blinked, looking around at her in surprise, having clearly recognized her name before.

While everyone gathered around to introduce themselves to the little girl in Ochako's arms, Izuku took a small step back, feeling himself shrivel up in horror slightly. So … not only were he, Ochako and Itsuka going to be interrupted for their … er … conversation tomorrow, it was probably going to be a big group exercise. So that meant … that meant that the chances of him talking to Itsuka and Ochako about these weird feelings of his before his classmates dragged him around to have fun on the beach …

… were getting slimmer by the second.

However, before he could try to think of a possible way to get Ochako and Itsuka alone for their … talk, which he felt his cheeks go red for if 'friend smooches' might get involved, a giant hand suddenly moved to his shoulder, making him jump.

"Young Midoriya," All Might nodded, speaking in a slightly quiet voice as he looked down at him, "I didn't get to say this before, but … well, congratulations on your victory during the second round. Just so you're aware, Recovery Girl sent me a message, and I'm aware of what you all discussed."

"She - she did?" Izuku straightened his back, feeling a wave of fear pass through him, but All Might's comforting smile stopped his panic right before it overcame him.

"Don't worry," He assured the young man, "I will not rest until we've come to a solution to this, Young Midoriya, and we can help you overcome this hurdle. As will Young Tenko, of course - I believe I saw him going to Recovery Girl's office as I was returning from the field. I know that he'll want to make sure you're okay, and get caught up on your cellular issues. I texted with him briefly, and he's fully on board with helping you figure out a workaround and treatment for your issues."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, feeling his heart hurt a bit - and then he let out a small sigh, feeling tears come to his eyes as he smiled, and he nodded.

"… thank you, All Might," He said thickly, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, "just … thank you."

"You're welcome, young man. Now," He clapped Izuku's shoulder, "I'd suggest you head back up to the booth with your class, and bid Young Kendou and Young Hadou good luck. I'm sure that you'll enjoy having a bit of rest after the long day you've had, and being able to catch up on everything else you missed."

"O-oh - right," Izuku quickly nodded, straightening up and looking around with a smile at where Itsuka and Nejire were standing, watching everyone introducing themselves to Eri with soft smiles (even if Itsuka's was slightly stiff from everyone inviting themselves to the beach tomorrow), "I - I should probably look to see what everyone's talking about me."

"… er," All Might suddenly began sweating, making Izuku blink and look up at him.

"All Might? What is it?"

"Oh, uh - it's nothing bad, Young Midoriya. Rather … er … I did have a look at the social medias while on break," All Might gave him an apologetic look, "and I'm afraid that you've become … er … what the kids would call a 'meme'."

"…"

"…"

"… I'm sorry?" Izuku said blankly.

"Sir?" Jin - or one of his clones, anyway - poked his head through the door. "Your guest has arrived."

"Ah, excellent," Daikoku Yaoyorozu shut his laptop, nodding slowly to himself as he rose from his seat behind his desk, "let him know that I'll be there in a moment, Jin."

As the scarred man nodded and quickly moved back out of the glass doors, the Yaoyorozu Corporations CEO let out a small sigh as he put down his pen beside the computer, pushing some of his papers to the side as he looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his corporate building in Fukuoka. A frown came to his lips as he tapped his finger against the paper and stared out at the skyline of his building in the afternoon light.

After scolding Momo at lunch time, he had Skip bring him back to the main office tower of Yaoyorozu Corporations to get some work done, absently watching the sports festival on the TV on the side of his office uninterestedly. He had at least paid attention to the match that Midoriya boy had gone through, both of them, and then discarded the other few rounds until it had gotten to Momo's turn. And he got to watch his daughter stand there uselessly while Shouto did all of the work.

At least, Daikoku huffed, that was to be expected - at least Shouto could put in the work to succeed, unlike her. Still though, for now, he'd disregard the tournament that Momo was now in the finals of - he'd look up the results of that later. If she came home with a gold medal, then he'd give her a pat on the back and go about his business. If she didn't, of course …

… well, he shook his head, he threatened her with being pulled out of UA, but he didn't specify when she'd be pulled out. He still had business with UA High School, and it would be easier for him if Momo stayed there for now.

He, admittedly, wasn't quite a fan of Principal Nezu's attempts to dodge Yaoyorozu Corporations' attempts to buy a share of the school - it was almost as though the little rat thing was careful enough to not want him to have a controlling piece of his school. Still though, it wasn't as though Daikoku was suddenly out of options - he would have to contend with reaching out to the parents of his daughter's classmates to organize a protest, and bring it to the media's attention.

Even if he hadn't quite cared about it to start with, he was more than aware that the school had failed to reassure the parents of those who had been victimized by the villain group that attacked UA. So he would at least use that to his advantage, to gain a foothold in the school. If he was lucky, he might even find a way to get himself on the school board. Either way, he will be getting a controlling piece of that school.

But … well, for now, that could wait. Especially since he had an old friend waiting.

"Skip," He turned to look over at the chauffeur as Skip stood near the bookshelf of his office, his hands folded behind his back, "I want privacy for this meeting. Please make the usual rounds across the floor."

"Of course, sir," Skip bowed, "and if I do find people around the floor after I excuse them?"

"No need to fire them," Daikoku shook his head, straightening himself up and dusting off the shoulder of his red blazer, "just a light scolding is necessary. Just tell them that I have an important meeting that I wish to remain uninterrupted for."

"Yes, sir." Skip bowed, and with that, he quickly teleported out of the room.

Daikoku let out a sigh as he moved around his desk and picked up the stack of papers before him, tapping them on the desk to make sure they were organized before putting them back down, and then began to walk out the door of his office, moving past the family portrait that he had taken a few years ago that still needed to be updated, and moved through the glass doors into the hallway, checking his reflection briefly in the glass before walking out of his office.

As he moved through the hallway, his hands clasped behind his back, he could hear Skip teleporting through each room of the top floor, which made him smirk a bit as he walked towards the meeting spot. Honestly, finding Skip was nothing short of a miracle - the young man had been in such a precarious position in life, he had little other options than to accept Daikoku's offer. And had he not used those resources to make Skip a better use, moving around Japan and getting people around the city would be far more difficult. All it took was a guarantee that Yaoyorozu Corporations would take care of his family that earned Skip's loyalty, and every penny he put in Skip's pocket earned him a very capable and loyal assistant.

He should probably check up on Skip's private life, to make sure that it seemed as though he personally cared, but … well, that could wait.

Walking through the door to the guest room that was held open by one of Jin's clones, Daikoku looked around the large room for a moment, seeing the bar, TV mounted on the wall, the large glass windows, and the two couches separated by a coffee table between them. And then, he spotted his guest standing near the window, looking out over the skyline, and Daikoku found himself smirking as he made his way over to the bar, letting out a small sigh as he took out two shot glasses and put them down on the wooden surface.

"Admiring the view?" He asked in a sardonic tone, chuckling a bit. "I just ask that you be careful not to smudge the glass with your nose."

The guest straightened up upon hearing his voice, and looked around with a laugh. Indeed, it would probably be hard to keep that pointy nose from resting on the glass, but at least he took it in good spirits, laughing off the insult and smoothing back his orange-brownish hair as he turned to face the other CEO and raised his other hand to stroke his pointy chin.

"So cruel, Yaoyorozu," Rikiya Yotsubashi shook his head with a grin, moving around the couch to walk towards where Daikoku was pouring them both drinks, "and here I thought I would be able to come here and have a pleasant afternoon talk with an old college friend. Alas, it seems that mockery is coming from everywhere lately - my new assistant, Miyashita, keeps going on and on about my hairline. I have to admit, it's incredibly cheeky."

"Is that right?" Daikoku shook his head as he handed him one glass filled with scotch, moving back around to pour himself his own drink and putting the glass of alcohol back down on the bar's surface once done. "Well, I'm not one to tell you how to steer your own ship, but I have to say, anyone who would mock my appearance might be facing a one way ticket out the door."

"Oh, it's all in good fun," Yotsubashi shook his head, raising the glass to take a small sip as Daikoku picked up his own glass, "and it humbles me."

"I suppose."

Together, the two men made their way over to the couches, sitting on either side of the glass coffee table between them, and clinked their glasses together once before raising them to their lips. As they enjoyed their beverages, they both turned to look up at the television in front of them, watching the commercial for Yaoyorozu Corporations that Daikoku had on the air for the last couple of weeks.

"- with the advancements of our medical, technological, mechanical, and soon, support item technology, our future is bright," The commercial's cheery voice said as the Yaoyorozu logo was displayed. "Yaoyorozu Corporations - reflecting the future onto you."

With that, it turned back to the news, where a red-haired reporter spoke directly to the camera with a frown.

"Welcome back," She said to the camera, "in other hero related news, the city of Hosu has been seeing a surprising amount of hero activity in the area over the last week or so, from local heroes such as Manual and Native, to more well known heroes like Ingenium and Sol. There have been rumors of activities from the Hero Killer, the serial killer who has been operating for the last year, in the general area close to and around Hosu, raising public concern from citizens about the threat of villains in the area. Chief of Police Kenji Tsuragamae has said in a public address last week that the villain sightings have little to do with the presence of several heroes in the area."

"While the heroes have indeed been working with Hosu's police force," A tall man with a strangely detailed dog head spoke at a podium, several cameras flashing, "the heroes have confirmed that their presence in Hosu has little to do with any kind of villain activity. They are simply working with the underground heroes in the area in an investigation that has not been revealed to the public as of yet. They have assured me, however, that the Hero Public Safety Commission will keep the public updated as to any updates that may cause concern."

"The heroes that have arrived in Hosu include Ingenium," The reporter was back on screen, "well known as a public hero that has just finished an assignment at UA High School, in light of the villain attack by a villain group known as the Villain Consortium -"

"Ah," Yotsubashi chuckled, moving one leg over the other as he leaned back, "seems that the Hero Killer is all everyone's been talking about the last few weeks, hasn't it? Makes sense, seeing as a serial killer hunting heroes would be rather large news in this hero dominated society."

"I haven't really put much thought into it," Daikoku shook his head, taking another sip of his drink, "hero business hasn't really been my thing - not before my daughter took an interest in it, anyway."

"Ah, yes," The other CEO smiled, "I did hear that your daughter was enrolled in UA. I suppose you've been watching the sports festival today? It seems as though your daughter and Endeavor's son are being speculated as the winners of the entire festival - I'm sure you must feel proud.."

"I suppose," Daikoku shook his head, smiling gently as he took another sip, "if that's what the commentary is saying. Win or lose, though, I'm still preparing a feast for her when she gets home tonight - I imagine that she's burned through too many lipids to count today. I actually met with her during lunch - I had Skip go and pick her up, and when she got home, she ended up eating every bit of food we had prepared for her."

"Is that so … how amusing! I've forgotten how much of her energy her meta ability can soak up."

"Well, that's a discussion for another time," Daikoku shrugged, putting his glass down on the table and then leaning forward with a small smirk while also deciding to ignore his old friend's small slip, "I assume that this isn't just a social visit, Rikiya. Did you get what I paid for?"

"Yes, yes," Yotsubashi laughed at his junior's need to get to business, putting down his own glass as he reached into his pocket for his phone. Pulling it out, he tapped on it a few times before he put it down on the table and spun it around.

Pulling the phone towards him, Daikoku quickly read the screen's depiction before smiling in satisfaction, smiling in satisfaction.

"Excellent. And as for when I can expect it to be delivered ...?"

"It already has been," Yotsubashi waved his hand through the air aimlessly, "since it was a personal request of an old friend, I started its development at once. I'm having the head of the project keep me updated - it's already been delivered to the warehouse you rented, and it's being added to your little … 'project', as you called it."

"Very good," Daikoku nodded, smiling, "my client will be pleased."

"And as for your end?"

"Of course," He nodded again, raising an eyebrow at the satisfied look on Yotsubashi's face, "I spoke with him, and he confirmed that, should you succeed, an audience with him could be arranged. He's very curious to meet you as well, you know - and he'll be pleased at how quickly you worked to get your end of the deal done. If you said that you've already begun adding the part to the machine, that'll mean we could begin the tests relatively soon."

"That impatient, eh?"

"Well, this is something my client's been looking forward to for a long time," Daikoku crossed his legs as well, "he's had a few other projects on the go, but this is one he's been working on for decades, at least."

"And …" Yotsubashi raised an eyebrow, "… what exactly do you intend to do with it, may I ask? I have to say, it's quite impressive how specific you were about the part and what needed to be put in it, but quite vague about what exactly it's supposed to do."

"Well," Daikoku smiled, "we've got our specialist putting everything together relatively soon - and once we have everything set up, it won't be long until we use it. If you make a good impression on the client, perhaps he'll grant you the opportunity to see it in action."

"Ah - and when would that be?"

"We don't have a definitive date. But tomorrow night," He put his glass down on the table, "we'll be having a small dinner party, and I'll be sure to have him extend you an invitation. Now then, as for -"

"Sir?" A voice came from the hall, and the two CEOs glanced around to see Skip teleporting back in, giving Daikoku an apologetic look. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Jin discovered an intruder in your office."

"That right?" Daikoku raised his eyebrows, standing up. At the same time, Yotsubashi's phone began ringing, causing the older man to pick it up and answer it quickly. Daikoku made his way over to where Skip was standing, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Were they trying to take some of my paperwork, or …"

"They were trying to get into your computer, sir." Skip confirmed.

"Oh," Daikoku slowly nodded, "I see. Well, that should be addressed at once, then. Is the intruder still in the office?"

"Yes, sir," Skip nodded, "Jin and his clones are making sure he stays put."

"Excellent. Then I'll handle it now," Daikoku sighed, brushing his suit off again, and then turned towards Yotsubashi as he stood up. "Rikiya, my apologies, but I should probably handle this."

"Ah, no worries!" Yotsubashi laughed, waving his hand as he kept his phone to his ear. "In fact, one of my own projects came up, and I should probably attend to it. Seems as though I'll have to get a few friends together for my own dinner party tonight. But I'll keep in mind your invitation."

"Very good," Daikoku nodded politely, "in that case, I'd ask that you excuse me - I'll have my assistant call yours later with our plans."

"Sounds excellent! Thank you for having me, Daikoku."

With that, Daikoku and Skip stepped out of the room, watching as one of Jin's clones went in to escort Yotsubashi to the elevator on the other side of the top floor. As they walked together, Daikoku sighed, smoothing some of his dark hair back as he turned to look over at Skip.

"You know," He chuckled, "it's been a while since we caught up, Skip. How are your siblings? Are they enjoying school?"

"They're … well, sir," Skip nodded, putting his hands in his pockets, "and yes, they're - they're enjoying it quite well."

"Yes, well … I imagine living in Japan's far more exciting than the country you used to live in. Remind me, what were your sibling's names again?"

"Roro," Skip answered in a slightly quiet voice, "and Lala, sir."

"Yes, yes … and how's your new quirk coming along?" Daikoku smirked a bit. "Still making you puke?"

"No, sir," Skip shook his head, frowning, "I can … hardly complain. It's a good quirk."

"That it is. Far more useful than your old one, isn't it? Ah," Daikoku smiled as they reached their office, and he caught sight of a small struggle inside through the glass doors, "but I suppose that can wait for later. I should probably handle this - I believe that I know exactly what's going on."

With that, he stepped into the office, not aware of Skip frowning down at the floor for a moment before he shook his head and followed him inside.

As Skip had said, they had the intruder restrained, with two of Jin's clones, dressed in their white suits, keeping the lizard looking man restrained, struggling to get free even as he had both his arms restrained and behind his back. At the sight of Daikoku entering, both of Jin's clones gripped the intruder's arms even tighter, making him grunt in pain.

"Ah," Daikoku nodded as he walked around the three struggling men, taking his remote from Skip and turning the volume up on the still active TV on the other wall, "you're … Nakamura, aren't you? Akara Nakamura, from floor seven?"

The lizard man didn't answer, panting as Daikoku leaned over to open his laptop, typing in the password.

"Skip here tells me that you were found trying to get into my laptop," Daikoku continued to speak conversationally, smiling as he entered his computer and started looking through it, "very odd, isn't it? If you had wanted to talk to me about something on my computer, you could have simply come up and scheduled a meeting. Unless you were looking for something you didn't want me to know?"

"I …" The lizard man looked around at Daikoku as he leaned against his desk, studying him like a hawk.

"Tell me," He tilted his head, "was this simple corporate sabotage? Or were you looking for something to sell to another client?"

"I -" He gulped, glancing around at the other people surrounding him before a look of desperation came to his face, "- I swear, Mr. Yaoyorozu, there - there was a mistake! My - my manager, he - he asked me -"

"To sneak into my office?" Daikoku raised his eyebrow. "And try to get into my computer?"

"He tried to use this on your computer, sir." One of Jin's clones, standing in the corner while the other two held down the intruder, said in a monotone voice, bringing over a flash drive. Daikoku took it from him, letting out a small hum as he turned the flash drive on its side to look at it, while the lizard man paled.

"Hm," Daikoku smirked as he glanced back up at the young man, "pretty high tech, if I say so myself. Not like something I've ever seen before, though - looks pretty homemade."

"I - I don't -"

"Let me make something clear, Mr. Nakamura - or, should I call you Mr. Rapt Tokage?" He nodded smugly as the lizard man froze. "Yes, I know your real name. I know that you faked your application - was it someone talking in your 'hearing aid' that fed you the answers? Well, it doesn't matter much, anyway - I've had my staff do a thorough investigation of you, Mr. Tokage, and kept our eye on you the moment you joined us six months ago. This - you breaking into my office - is less of a surprise and more of an inevitably, I suppose."

Leaning forward, Daikoku put his hands against his desk, smiling serenely at the frozen young man being held down by Jin's clones.

"Now," He tapped his finger against the desk, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way is that we go and have a drink together, and you tell me everything about why you infiltrated my company, who helped you get this job, and why you want information from my computer. In fact, I could forgive you enough that I would be more than happy to pay a rather large sum of yen to tell me who put you up to this. Or …" He tilted his head, "… we do it the hard way."

Rapt struggled for a moment as Jin's clones gripped him a bit harder, his gaze falling to the marble floor - and then suddenly, he yanked his arm free, reaching into his suit's pocket, and flipped something out. Skip took a step forward out of concern, but Daikoku merely raised his hand to stop him, watching in intrigue as Rapt threw out the baton to its full length, and threw it up at Jin's face.

Unsurprisingly, the clone immediately broke down into gray sludge the moment the baton wacked him in the face, and with his arm free, Rapt ripped himself out of Jin's grasp as the remaining clone quickly backed up. This didn't bother Daikoku, who merely watched in amusement as Rapt quickly whirled around, pointing the baton right at him.

"Oh?" He smirked. "Are you going to attack me, Mr. Tokage? That's an interesting strategy."

Rapt panted raggedly, his eyes flickering to Jin as another clone was created, and Skip staring dully at him as he crossed his arms, and then back to Daikoku who was merely looking amused as he tapped his shoe against the tiled floor. And then he let out a breath, and shook his head.

"Nah," He tried to grin audaciously, "you wanna pay me to give up people I care about? Sorry, Mr. CEO, I'm good."

"Are you sure?" Daikoku raised an eyebrow, "I'm at least willing to compromise here."

"Compromise?" Rapt spat out a laugh. "Nah, I know you money types - you think you can slap down a big wad of yen and all your problems would go away, and you can do whatever you want. Sorry, rich boy, but I can't be bought like that! I actually have people who care for me and wanna have me around, not like you. So you can take your offer and shove it up your ass!"

There was a long pause in the office as both Jins and Skip glanced at Daikoku as he stared at Rapt. His fingers tapped against the desk once more, Rapt sweating nervously even after his defiant refusal to give into the CEO's demands - and then Daikoku let out a long sigh, nodding slowly.

"Tell me, Mr. Tokage," Daikoku's eyes returned to him, turning cold, "would you like to see my mask?"

Rapt blinked a bit at that odd change of topic, and his gaze flickered as Skip immediately made his way towards the wall behind the desk, pressing his hand against a secret panel. Something opened, and the chauffeur, his face falling, took out a large red briefcase, and hurried over to the other side of the desk, putting it down beside Daikoku and flipping the case's latches before opening it.

Daikoku smiled as he reached into the case, and picked up what looked like a few pieces of blue glass compressed into a noh mask - different shades of blue, with lighter pieces near where his face would be and darker blue pieces where the hair and beard would be. As Daikoku pressed it against his face, there was a small noise, and the mask suddenly stretched out more pieces of reflective metal to cover his entire head, sealing him completely inside.

Rapt stared blankly at the CEO for a moment as he straightened up - and then, gritting his teeth, he charged, knowing there would be no way to run with the teleporter in the same room as him. But with the CEO distracted enough putting on his stupid mask, he could try to concuss him and use the two assistants wanting to help their boss to escape.

So he threw the baton up behind his head, and then brought it down hard, slamming the metal straight into the side of Daikoku's smug face.

WHOOM

But the baton … stopped just short of Daikoku's face. There was an ominous humming in the air as a flicker of blue lightning suddenly emerged from Daikoku's mask - or himself, Rapt didn't know - and suddenly, the force of the blow was redirected back into Rapt.

The lizard man's eyes widened in pain as he was suddenly launched back across the office, letting out a yell as he felt his elbow snap from the force of the blow, and he crashed hard against the wall, shaking the family portrait attached to it as he slid down into a heap on the floor, clutching his arm.

"W-what -" He grunted, looking around desperately for where his baton had gone, having dropped it while in midair. "- what just -?"

"When I was a young man," Daikoku began slowly walking towards him, the lizard man's eyes flickering back to him as his voice came out in a filtered, metallic tone, "I had difficulties with using my quirk. It was quite the mischievous one, you know … able to reflect any movement it perceives as an attack back onto the user. Oh, how it was so frustrating, and traumatizing, to not know the feeling of someone's touch, to not be held by my mother and father, for so many years … at least, until my father had this mask created," He patted the blue mirrored metal around his face, "and allowed me to temper my quirk and control it. And after that, I could touch, and hold, and feel, anything or anyone I wanted. But after a while, I grew curious. I felt like … experimenting with my quirk. With that in mind, Mr. Tokage, if you have the time, I'd like to demonstrate more of my quirk's abilities for you."

Rapt struggled to stand back up, but suddenly Daikoku crossed the room in an instant, and his hands grabbed both sides of Rapt's head. The lizard man could only stare up in terror at the white, blank eyes that reflected no emotion.

"This quirk," Daikoku said in a low voice, "has other capabilities. You see, I can also store anything I perceive as an attack inside me to reflect later, rather than immediately. And I have a small habit of … well, it's strange, but I have a habit of occasionally allowing others to touch me. A slap on the back, a small punch to the chest, a handshake, a hug from my wife … all of that gets stored up over time."

"W-wait a minute …" Rapt began to shake.

"And, of course, I'll eventually need to reflect it. And this mask helps me focus where on my body I want to reflect the stored up energy. For example …" He tensed his hands on the shaking Rapt's face, "… through my hands."

"You - you can't just -"

"I can't?" Daikoku smirked beneath the mask. "Oh, Mr. Tokage, I believe you said it best. I can do whatever I want."

And with that, he released the stored up energy within him, straight into his hands - and against Rapt's skull.

Both Skip and the two Jins watched Rapt's legs kick out beneath where Daikoku was hunched over him, his screaming hurting their ears as blue lightning shot out around where the CEO had his hands on the young man's head. Skip frowned and looked away, closing his eyes, while the two Jins simply stared dully, and they both listened to the crunching sounds of bone being broken as Rapt's body convulsed - and then, slowly, they began stop, twitching, and the sounds of Rapt's screams slowing and growing quieter.

Finally, his legs stopped moving, and they saw Rapt slump against the wall as Daikoku released his head.

Straightening up, Daikoku sighed as he raised his hand, and Jin moved forward to hand him a towel, flecks of blood having gotten on his suit.

"Skip," Daikoku said casually as he wiped the front of his blazer with the towel, "take the body to the roof and drop it over the side. Jin, have a clone forge a suicide note, and then get a car ready. I have to be at UA in three hours to pick up my wife and daughter."

"Yes, sir," Skip bowed, and then moved forward towards the corpse as Daikoku stepped away.

"And someone reach out to Beros," The CEO requested, "and tell her to be on standby. I want our boys down in the tech department to search through Mr. Tokage's phone and computer, and see who put him up to this."

"Yes, sir," Jin said in a low, droned voice, creating another clone, "for humanity's salvation."

"Indeed," Daikoku smirked behind the mask, turning and walking back to his desk while the TV in the corner continued to play.

"- and with you, our future is bright," The commercial's cheery voice said. "Yaoyorozu Corporations - reflecting the future onto you."