The shift between living at home and living in the dorms had been less dramatic than Izuku thought it would. Sure the class was growing closer as they all spent more time training and studying together, and his bedroom sharing a wall with Hitoshi's bedroom was . . . interesting, but honestly not much had changed. He still went to school, ate lunch with Hatsume, did homework and trained with Shouto and Hitoshi. The routine he'd settled into since internships went on almost uninterrupted, and for that he was grateful. He liked getting to spend time with his friends and work toward becoming a hero all at once.

The only thing that really changed was that he felt significantly safer, surrounded by UA's security system and with a Pro Hero nearby in case of emergency. He felt like his mother was safer too, especially since All Might was going to keep visiting her. The League of Villains had no reason to attack his home if he wasn't there, and with All Might watching over her they wouldn't be able to hurt her to get to Izuku, even if that had been their plan.

Then of course there were the things that would have changed anyway. Nezu, for example, had promised to keep Izuku in the loop about his efforts to build a case against Endeavor, but somehow Izuku still found himself surprised when not long after moving into the dorms Aizawa held him back after class to inform him that the principal wanted to see him.

"I don't think you're in trouble, Problem Child," Aizawa assured him, in a bored sort of way, when Izuku reacted to the invitation with surprise. "If your little stunt in Hosu wasn't enough to merit punishment I doubt anything you've done in class is of any concern to him."

"Oh, I know," Izuku nodded hurriedly. "I'm pretty sure I know what this is about." "Oh?" asked Aizawa, suddenly interested.

"Um," Izuku realized he'd accidentally hinted at something he was supposed to be keeping quiet about. "Uh, thanks for letting me know!"

He turned around sharply, before Aizawa could ask any more questions, and found Hitoshi and Shouto only a few feet behind him. Quickly he ushered them out of the classroom, and when he took off for the principal's office they trailed after him.

"Is he going to talk to you about Endeavor?" Shouto wanted to know. "Probably," Izuku said. "Has he talked to you yet?"

"No," Shouto said, tilting his head to the side. "Is that strange?"

"A little," Izuku said, frowning. "It seems like he'd want to talk to you directly, given that he's gathering evidence. Is there anything you want me to tell him?"

"I'm glad he hasn't," Shouto admitted. "I'm not sure what I would say. I'm worried for my sister Fuyumi and my brother Natsuo, but they're not stuck there. They can leave whenever they want."

"You know you're going to have to talk about it eventually," Hitoshi cautioned. "The police are going to want to hear your account. That's evidence too."

"I know," Shouto said in a small voice. "It's just . . . hard. It's too soon to believe all this is real, that people believe me. I just don't want to say the wrong thing and have it all go away."

"We're not going anywhere," Hitoshi said firmly. "No way," Izuku seconded.

Shouto closed his eyes and gave a small smile.

The other two left Izuku outside Nezu's office, promising to go to their usual gym and do their quirk exercises while he was busy, so they could jump right into sparring when he joined them. They been spending some of their time in Training Ground Beta, so Izuku could practice parkour with his staff while the other two were otherwise engaged, but there was no point to that today. After he'd said goodbye Izuku went to the office door, not even surprised when it opened before he had touched it.

"So Midoriya," Nezu said, once Izuku was seated across from him and they both had cups of tea, "how do you like my short term solution?"

"It's brilliant!" Izuku gushed, unable to contain himself. "You got Shouto away from his father without any suspicion arising! Given the recent villain attacks it makes perfect sense for you to be doing everything you can to keep the students safe, so the dorm just looks like an ordinary safety measure! No one would ever suspect that you had an ulterior motive, your plan was completely perfect!"

"I'm glad to see you're content with it," Nezu chuckled. "Does Todoroki have any concerns?"

"Just one," Izuku confessed, before curiosity got the better of him. "But sir, why aren't you asking him?"

"The situation is delicate," Nezu explained somberly. "The need for secrecy, the dire consequences of this getting out, and what is no doubt a fragile mental state on Todoroki's part, all factored into my decision to keep my distance. It is best we communicate through you for the time being."

Izuku recalled Shouto's worry about Nezu withdrawing his promised help, and nodded his understanding.

"Now, Todoroki's concerns?" Nezu prompted.

"He's worried about his siblings," Izuku recounted. "He says they can get out if they want though."

"Financial abuse is still abuse," Nezu said firmly. "If he is keeping them close by the belief they will be destitute without him, I can discretely offer them other options."

"Really?" Izuku asked, staring wide-eyed at the principal. "That can be . . . I mean, I know it's not fair . . ."

"There are many ways for those who do harm to control a victim," Nezu said gently. "Some are

not recognized by the law, but the scars they leave are evident to those with a scientific mind."

Izuku considered this for a moment, sipping his tea. He knew that the law permitted many things which were unfair, and those that enforced the rules didn't always follow them to the letter or the spirit. Bakugou's use of his quirk to bully Izuku and other students was technically against the law, but many people in a position to punish him had looked the other way because they considered Bakugou's future too bright or his victims too insignificant. People that didn't think existing laws needed to be enforced in all circumstances would naturally be unwilling to expand the definition of untoward behavior. The fact that they were distracted by debating appropriate quirk use made it even more unlikely.

"That's the tragedy of quirks again, I suppose," Izuku said, half to himself.

"Again?" Nezu cocked his head to the side curiously.

"Oh, it came up in a conversation I had a while ago," Izuku shook his head. "It's not important-"

"You are referring to your conversation at the Nighteye Agency," Nezu speculated, then took a sip of his tea. "The one where you were given the full history of All Might's quirk."

Izuku blinked, surprised. "He told you?"

"I am aware of the circumstances, yes," Nezu informed him. "His time limit, the nature of his quirk, his choice of successor and his enemy."

"Oh, I knew that," Izuku said quickly. "He told me you recommended that he give me his quirk. Thank you, by the way, and I'm sorry I had to turn it down."

"I understand, and agree with your reasoning," Nezu assured him.

"I'm just surprised he mentioned the conversation to you," Izuku admitted. "I thought we'd resolved it."

"It's a very serious matter when an S-ranked criminal contacts one of my students Midoriya," Nezu said, fixing Izuku with an piercing gaze. "In future I would ask you to come to me rather than Sir Nighteye, if anything else like this should happen."

"Yes sir," Izuku promised. In hindsight, that would probably have been a better idea anyway. "I hear there was some debate over whether or not you would respond," Nezu said probingly.

"Sir Nighteye thought I should say I was the successor," Izuku said. That was true, he reasoned. Nighteye had told him to do that. He didn't want to tell Nezu that he had followed Nighteye's advice, but he also didn't want to lie if he could avoid it.

"I hope you know," Nezu said, with a strange coldness to his voice, "that such a course of action would have been supremely foolish."

Izuku blinked. "Would it?"

"It would," Nezu told him. "It would endanger a vulnerable student in favor of protecting one with much more capability to defend himself, and provide very little material benefit in the long run. Misdirecting our opponent is only a worthwhile strategy if we can direct his attention somewhere we control, but by encouraging this mistake we would be giving up our grip on the flow of information. All for One knows only what we tell him, with our words or with our actions. Giving

him information, even false information, emboldens his forces and gives him a more stable base from which to launch an attack."

Izuku swallowed. "Well when you put it that way . . ."

"I don't know what Mirai was thinking," Nezu said testily, then took a large drink of tea.

"I think he just wanted to protect Toogata," Izuku defended weakly.

Nezu peered at him over the rim of his cup. "A goal which you share, I imagine."

"I want to protect everyone," Izuku said. That, at least, was the truth.

"So I've gathered," Nezu said, and his demeanor softened somewhat. "You and All Might are very alike, Midoriya."

"I don't think that's-" Izuku began to protest, but Nezu was already shaking his head.

"All Might has always been known for his determination to save everyone," he said. "You have that same determination. The fire inside you drives you to protect those around you, whether they be so weak as to be considered worthless, or too strong to be considered in need of protection. You know that everyone, at some point, needs saving."

"Yes sir," Izuku agreed. "Everyone deserves to be saved. But shouldn't every hero know that?"

"Your goal is to be a hero for the quirkless, correct?" Nezu asked. "An embodiment of power and protection for those in our society with the least control and influence."

Izuku nodded silently.

"That was also his goal, when he was in school," Nezu recounted. "To become a symbol that made people feel safe, like someone was watching over them. A beacon that inspired others to goodness, rather than violence or selfish acts. He wanted to make a difference in the world, not just by saving lives, but also by lifting people's spirits."

"He succeeded," Izuku noted softly.

"He became the Symbol of Peace," Nezu concluded. "I believe you, as well, will make a fine symbol. I look forward to seeing what kind."

"Me too," Izuku said, and he found that meant it. *

"I'm just saying," Hatsume insisted the next day at lunch, sheltering from the bright sunlight under their usual tree, "that you could totally use the yo-yo as a backup weapon!"

"I've already got the capture scarf and the voice modulator to practice with," Hitoshi argued with his mouth full of rice. "I don't need to bog myself down practicing with another weapon."

"You seem to have gotten pretty good with your capture weapon pretty fast," Shouto noted with noodles halfway to his mouth. "Maybe the yo-yo will be just as easy."

"I don't think so," Hitoshi shook his head, then washed down his rice with a drink from his water bottle. "The capture scarf is really intuitive, it seems almost like its obeying my thoughts rather than my movements. Aizawa-sensei says its a natural fit for me."

"Then what does it hurt to try the yo-yo!?" Hatsume exploded, throwing her arms out so that food bounced dangerously around on her plate.

Izuku swallowing a bite of his katsudon and decided to step in. "Why don't you tell us about the smoke bombs you've been working on," he suggested placatingly. "You said you'd been working on something else, right?"

"I'm mostly working on the dispersal agent now," Hatsume said, easily swayed to talk about another invention. "It's important for both the smoke and the gas I was designing."

"So the other invention is some kind of gas?" Shouto pressed.

"It is!" she crowed delightedly. "Since Shinsou needs some kind of response to use his quirk, I figured something that could force people to make noise would be the ideal secret weapon for especially tough customers!"

"Something that forces people to make noise?" Hitoshi blinked, confused. "What could do that?"

"Laughing gas!" Hatsume cried, voice brimming with unbridled glee.

"Does laughter even work?" Shouto wondered.

"It should," Izuku speculated, tapping the ends of his chopsticks against his mouth. "There's no reason why any vocal response shouldn't work, but we can definitely try it out."

"Tell me a joke!" Hatsume invited excitedly.

Hitoshi thought for a moment. "I know how batteries feel, because I too am rarely included," he said, completely deadpan.

Hatsume threw back her head and cackled, then a moment later went quiet, eyes blank white. However, loud peals of laughter were still audible, coming from her general direction. Izuku looked around, trying to see if someone was approaching their group, but it seemed to be coming from lower than his eye level, not higher. He looked down, at the patch of ground between himself and Hatsume, to find a blonde head poking up from the ground.

Izuku yelped. Hitoshi gasped. Shouto froze and dropped his noodles down into his soup. Hatsume blinked as she was released, then cried out when she noticed the head beside her hip.

"That was pretty funny!" Toogata laughed, coming up a little more so that his neck was also visible. "Sir would definitely like you!"

"Toogata!" Izuku put a hand to his chest as though that would calm his racing heart. "Did you have to pop up like that?"

"Sorry," Toogata said, not sounding sorry at all. "Sometimes you gotta make your own entertainment!"

"Who's this?" Hitoshi asked, frowning at Toogata's head. "You know him Izuku?"

"Oh, this is Mirio Toogata," Izuku introduced, indicating the older student with the hand holding his chopsticks. "He's our senpai in the hero course, a third year. Toogata, these are my friends, Hitoshi Shinsou and Shouto Todoroki, and Mei Hatsume of the support course."

One of Toogata's hands appeared out of the ground, waving.

"How did you become friends with a third year?" Shouto wondered, turning to Izuku.

"It's a funny story!" Toogata said cheerfully. "I'm doing a hero work study with Sir Nighteye, and he was one of the heroes who spread Midoriya's notebooks around. My quirk's been developing in some unexpected ways recently, so Sir was kind of enough to call in a favor with Midoriya to get him to help me master it."

"Shouldn't it be that Midoriya was kind enough to help you?" corrected Hitoshi, sounding supremely unimpressed.

"That too!" Toogata laughed.

"Is there a reason you needed to visit us during lunch?" Shouto asked. His voice was carefully stoic, like usual, but Izuku could tell something had prodded his temper. Why was he upset?

"I just needed to chat with Midoriya for a second," Toogata replied, and then his head shifted strangely in the ground, pivoting to face Izuku more fully. "I've been looking for you inside for a couple days, but one of your classmates finally told me you like to eat out here. I've gotten pretty good with the exercises you gave me last time, so I was thinking we could move on to your ideas about mobility. Maybe we could meet up at the gym nearest the entrance to campus after class? That's where some of the third years like to-"

"We have a special training we do after class," Hitoshi interrupted coldly. "The three of us do it every day, so he's not available then."

"What about after?" Toogata inquired innocently. "I don't know how long it goes, but I'll be at the gym all afternoon."

"I can meet with you after," Izuku said hurriedly, "but it's probably better to do it at Training Ground Beta-"

"You promised you'd tell Hagakure your ideas about her quirk after training today," Shouto interjected. "During our study time, remember?"

"That can wait until tomorrow though," Izuku protested. "It's the end of the week, we have the whole weekend to talk about her quirk."

"If she's going to want to redesign her costume like Yaoyorozu did, it's better to give her as much time as possible before the next heroics lesson," Hitoshi pointed out.

Izuku had to admit that that was reasonable. A lot of his classmates had been redesigning their costumes or requesting special new gear as a result of his analyses, and the girls especially seemed excited for the excuse to change their looks. He had actually been wondering if some of them might have wanted to change things earlier, but didn't think they had a right to request alterations if they were the only ones. Still, helping Toogata master One for All was important.

"Maybe we could meet up this weekend then?" Izuku tentatively put forward.

Toogata, however, laughed again. "You sure are in high demand Midoriya!" he remarked with a wide smile. "I'll count myself lucky for whatever time you have available!"

"Sunday afternoon then," Izuku said firmly. "I use that as a rest day from my training, so I usually do a bit of analysis work in between homework that day anyway. Does that work?"

"Perfectly!" Toogata grinned. "See you at Training Ground Beta!"

And with that he disappeared back into the ground.

Silence reigned for a moment, none of them sure what to say after Toogata's sudden appearance and disappearance. Izuku couldn't help but feel like the interruption was his fault, for not getting back to Toogata about his ideas sooner. He was just casting around for something to break the silence when Shouto spoke up.

"I don't like that guy," he said flatly.

"Shouto!" Izuku squeaked in surprise.

"Oh good," said Hitoshi, glancing at Shouto, "I thought I was the only one."

"Hitoshi!" Izuku admonished, recalling how his friend had been when Hatsume joined their group. Admittedly he hadn't been that way for Shouto, but that didn't mean his distrustful nature was completely changed.

"He was creepy," concluded Hatsume before taking a big bite of rice.

"What is with you three?!" Izuku demanded. "He just came to ask for my help!"

"More like he came to ask when you could help," Hitoshi countered.

"The idea of you not helping was never on the table," Shouto added.

"Of course it wasn't on the table!" Izuku insisted. "I would never turn someone away like that!"

"You have the option of saying 'no' to people," Hitoshi reminded him. "You know that, right?"

"Of course I know!" Izuku squirmed uncomfortably. "It's just, I'd already promised, and-"

"He reminds me of Kamui Woods," Hatsume piped up. "How he started by trying to freak you out."

Shouto and Hitoshi both chimed in with their agreements, and Izuku sighed and gave up. He was just going to have to live with the fact that he had three very protective friends who were determined to make sure he didn't get taken advantage of.

Not like that was a bad thing.

When Mirio recounted his discussion with Midoriya's lunch group to his friends, they had all been annoyed on Mirio's behalf. Tamaki in particular had found his description of the first years to be rude and shortsighted, demonstrating their inexperience and childish petulance. Mirio had laughed at his assessment, and reminded Tamaki that he wasn't much more experienced than those first years. They as third years were not above a little childish petulance on bad days.

Mirio, on the other hand, found himself cheered by the interaction. Midoriya's friends were obviously very protective, which Mirio thought was a good sign. If Midoriya inspired that kind of protectiveness in everyone around him, then Mirio didn't need to worry so much about him pushing himself too hard. Their encounters so far had not given Mirio a very encouraging picture of Midoriya's self-preservation instincts, so knowing he had friends to look out for him was a relief.

He half expected some of Midoriya's friends to show up at Training Ground Beta, but in the end Midoriya came to meet him there alone. Midoriya did bring one of the standing robots the school

used to time students doing racing exercises, which he barely managed to carry under one arm, and his notebook clutched in one hand.

"So," Mirio began once they had entered the training ground and were walking along the fake city street, "what did you have in mind?"

"It might help if you tell me what you've been working on," Izuku said, not looking at Mirio but instead at the surrounding buildings. "If I know what you're having trouble with that'll help me narrow down my ideas."

"Well, you know All Might's fast," Mirio explained, trying to figure out how to put it into words. "He seems to get from one place another in the blink of an eye. He gets around a city with big jumps, but on a battlefield he seems to just disappear from one place and appear in another."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed, still looking around. "His speed is pretty legendary. So you've been trying to do that?"

"Key word: trying," Mirio said resignedly. "I can't seem to get the amount of height or the amount of speed he does. If I try going up, I can't clear a building. If I try going straight forward, I lose momentum before I get where I wanted to go."

"I figured it would be something like that," Izuku said, then stopped walking. Mirio turned, to see they were standing level with a wide alleyway between two of the empty buildings. "Let's set up in here."

Mirio followed Izuku to the alley, then waited on the sidewalk as Izuku set up the timer robot at the far end. Once it was on and primed, Izuku walked back to the mouth of the alley.

"OK," he said, opening his notebook to the page where he had closed a pen inside and preparing to write. "I want you to first do what you've been doing. Just try to get from one end of the alley to another using a straight shot."

Mirio nodded, and at Midoriya's cue he took off. With one powerful leap he shot forward, but about halfway down the alley he began to lose speed. Eventually he came down and made a second leap, but he knew that the need to push off again had cost him time.

"3.7 seconds!" chirped the robot cheerfully.

"OK!" Izuku called, waving to him. "Now come back here and we'll try again using my idea." "What's your idea?" Mirio asked once he had jogged back to the mouth of the alley.

"I've been thinking about how All Might's body changes when he's using One for All," Izuku said, looking down at his notebook rather than at Mirio, "and how you don't do anything like that. He also didn't have any ideas for regulating the power you expel with each smash, so that probably wasn't a problem he had to deal with."

"So what does that mean for me?" Mirio asked. "Other than the fact that All Might can't teach me much."

"It means that One for All is different for you," Izuku said. "It's changed somehow as it was passed from person to person, not just picking up strength but mutating slightly as it goes."

Izuku looked up at Mirio, his expression nervous but determined, and Mirio wondered if he was troubled by what he had to say, or how he thought Mirio would react. Reflexively Mirio gave a big,

bright smile. Anything to put Midoriya at ease.

"I think you need to stop looking at this as All Might's quirk," Izuku said slowly. "I think you need to look at it as something entirely new. You can't do things the way All Might did, you need to come up with your own way of doing them. Which means it's not a matter of how you can get strong enough to get from one end of the alley to the other in a straight shot, it's a matter of finding out how you can get there in your own way."

"OK," Mirio said, trying to wrap his head around this. Not All Might's quirk? But All Might had given it to him! "What did you have in mind?"

"I want you to zigzag down the alley by pushing off the walls," Izuku explained. "Don't try to go too far in a single jump, try to judge the distance based on how far you can go without losing momentum. Try to maintain your speed so that it holds steady, rather than slowing down before you can take another leap."

Mirio nodded and took up position again. This time when Midoriya gave the signal he aimed for a point a few feet up the wall to his right, and when he pushed off from the ground he was at his target almost before he'd had time to register it. He kicked off again, aiming for the opposite wall, and in four short hops he was able to pinball his way to the other end of the alley.

"1.9 seconds!" chirped the robot, every bit as chipper as before.

"I knew it!" shouted Midoriya, and immediately began scribbling in his notebook. "It's more important to maintain momentum than to take a direct path, so as long as you don't try to go too far in a single leap it doesn't matter if you have to zigzag a bit!"

When Mirio returned to the mouth of the alley, Midoriya was still writing, muttering to himself as he took notes at lightning speed. Mirio watched him silently for a moment, a warm fondness settling in his chest as he watched the younger boy work. Midoriya was fearless and clever and had such a drive to help others that Mirio hadn't seen it matched in many of the Pros he'd encountered during his work study. He also seemed pretty determined to keep One for All and everything to do with it a secret, and Mirio was grateful for that too. Midoriya was definitely someone he could rely on in the future.

"Sir really was right about you, you know," Mirio said, after letting Midoriya write for a few moments uninterrupted.

Midoriya looked up at him, blinking in confusion. "Nighteye? About what?"

"I asked him about you, after you told me that All Might had offered you his quirk," Mirio said. "I wanted to know if he had wanted you to take it. He said I was his first choice, but it wouldn't have been a disaster if you had accepted."

"All Might said that everyone he knew approved of me," Izuku confessed, squirming as though uncomfortable with the thought. Was it because he had refused, or because he didn't feel worthy? "I'm sorry if that makes you feel bad."

"Not at all," Mirio said, finding that he actually meant it. "I'm honestly glad he offered it to you. If he hadn't, you wouldn't be in on the secret, and then I wouldn't have your help to master this power."

"I guess it all worked out then," Midoriya said, smiling shyly.

"I really am glad you're here with me Midoriya," Mirio said, wanting to convey the strength of

how he felt, wanting Midoriya to understand. "This secret, this legacy, it's been weighing on me since the beginning. Sir told me to be careful who I let in on it, and I've been too scared to tell anyone the truth. Not even my closest friends know what's been going on with me, even if they know my quirk's changed. I feel pretty bad keeping it from my friend Tamaki, but I just . . . can't bring myself to share this with anyone. It still feels like All Might's secret, not mine."

"It's your quirk now," Izuku said, tapping the page in his notebook with a pen. "I think today proves that pretty well. You should tell whoever you feel comfortable telling. If anything it should be your priority to build a support system now, when you have friends you're close to, instead of later when you have to vet everyone you might want to tell."

"That's good advice Midoriya," Mirio said with a wry smile. "Not sure I can follow it just yet, but I'll keep it in mind. Either way, I'm glad you're here with me at least."

"I'm glad I'm here too," Midoriya assured him, his weak smile growing bigger and brighter.

"You know, it a way, it's like you're already my sidekick," Mirio chuckled a little at the thought. "Like I'm All Might, and you're my Sir Nighteye. Always looking out for me."

Mirio expected those words to make Midoriya smile, but instead his smile faltered. A shadow seemed to pass over him, and for a moment his face looked lined with worry and . . . was that guilt? It was over as soon as it had come though, and then Midoriya was smiling brightly again. It happened so fast Mirio couldn't be sure he hadn't imagined it, but the very idea sent a chill through his heart.

"Not sure I can be your sidekick right away," Midoriya laughed, "not unless you beat Hawks' record for starting an agency so young. I'm honored by the comparison though. Sir Nighteye is a great hero."

"Yeah," Mirio said, nodding. "No problem."

Mirio took the robot under his arm as they made their way back toward the entrance to Training Ground Beta. Midoriya was quiet, looking over the pages in his notebook as he walked, muttering quietly to himself. He looked so small compared to Mirio, even though Mirio knew he was strong. He was capable, for a first year hero student, and Mirio knew his protectiveness wasn't necessary to keep Midoriya safe in an ordinary fight. He could handle himself.

It was his determination to handle himself that made Mirio worry, but he put those fears aside. Midoriya might have some self-sacrificing tendencies, but he had three whole years to grow out of that. He had All Might and Sir and all of the teachers at UA to help him realize his value and start to respect his own worth. His offer to use himself as a decoy to keep the villains' attention off Mirio had been troubling, but he had been told not to do that and he would listen.

Midoriya wouldn't have the chance to sacrifice himself for Mirio. Sir would never let that happen.