Chapter 6: How Do We Get Out of This?

"We're villains, Midoriya."

He stared at Shoto, unsure of what to say, so instead, he only listened.

"What do you think UA will do for me? With my history and my family – there is nowhere for me to go. I won't be a hero like Father – I won't just slip into society and hide my face. If I stay here, I will end up somewhere worse. This is my chance to get out."

"Shoto… I –"

"And what about you?" Shoto interrupted, a strangely worried look in his duel coloured eyes, "Do you think this world will be kind to you? Has it ever been?"

Midoriya stared at him – he hated how right he was. Quirkless, and marked as a villain, Midoriya had little hope for a bright future. He'd been ignoring it for a while now, but Shoto really brought it out into the open.

"I know," Midoriya sighed, hanging his head, "But leaving like this will only make things worse. And what about the others? Would you just leave them behind?"

"They've made it very clear that they're happy at UA," Shoto snapped, "Class A can give them something – but you and I are different."

"I know, I know!" Midoriya replied. "But… they'll fail us if we try to leave. Especially with this… League of Villains around. They'll think we're on their side!"

"Aren't we?"

He stared, mouth slightly open, lost for words. Midoriya couldn't agree but he couldn't disagree – he was so confused.

"Aren't we?"

"I don't know!" Midoriya shouted. He hesitated and pulled at his hair, "I don't know. I-I… I haven't figured it out yet, but I don't want to be like them!" He pointed at the villains back at the plaza, still locked in battle against the two UA teachers. "I… I'm not a villain. You're not a villain, Shoto!"

"…So, you're on the heroes' side," Shoto concluded, a coldness returning to his eyes.

"No," Midoriya retorted instantaneously. "I'm… not on anyone's side. I-I'm on my side! But… Shoto, if I leave now, I'm throwing away any chance UA could give me. And I know whatever chance that may be is probably not the best – but I still want to know what it is… I think. I-I'm not sure yet. But I don't have someone like Dabi on the outside. And… I think my mother has had enough disappointments as it is."

Shoto actually gave him a soft smile, "Mine has too."

Midoriya smiled back at him sadly.

"Goodbye, Midoriya," Shoto nodded. "I hope you find whatever you're looking for."

He swallowed the lump in his throat as his friend turned away, "Good luck."

But then there was a scream, and the two boys turned back to the plaza.

Vlad King lay in a pool of blood that Midoriya feared was his own, and Mr Aizawa's head was in the clutches of the giant, bird-faced man with the exposed brain, his arm twisted and broken. The man with the many, ornamental hands began to stroll towards him.

"Mr Aizawa…" Midoriya breathed, and before he knew what he was doing, he'd ran down the hill to the edge of the plaza, where countless villains lay unconscious and defeated.

Vlad King's Quirk was a peculiar one. He had complete control over his own blood and could eject and harden it at will. He had much stored in tanks strapped to his back and had used it to trap numerous enemies. But excessive Quirk use must have left him lethargic, it made sense, considering the nature of his abilities. He'd been knocked unconscious and tossed aside like a rag-doll, whilst Mr Aizawa was caught by the villain he was now in the grips of.

The one with the hands – Shigaraki, the mist villain had once called him – seemed far more interested in Mr Aizawa's Quirk.

"Your Quirk really is so cool – to erase another's abilities just by looking at them? So many would kill for something like that. Oh, but you have a tell – it's your hair. It floats when you activate your power, which you have to keep your eyes open for. And the more you do that, the more you want to blink. Your student was right, you're not suited for this fight, Eraser Head."

Midoriya saw Mr Aizawa's eyes flash red at the villain who held him down, but it had no effect, and he yelled out in pain whilst he pressed on his broken arm.

"But your power has no effect on Nomu," Shigaraki leered. "Not when he has multiple Quirks."

A million questions buzzed around Midoriya's mind, his legs frozen and eyes wide. He didn't know what he could do!

A few seconds later, purple smoke billowed around them, and the warp villain appeared, "I am sorry, Tomura Shigaraki. Class A seems to have no intention on betraying the heroes – they banded together, and one got out. There will be backup here soon. We have lost."

Shigaraki stared at him for a moment, "Kurogiri… if you weren't so integral to this mission, I would have already reduced you to a pile of atoms…" he hissed, scratching at his neck in a feverish state.

"We should retreat, whilst we have our chance."

Midoriya started to back away. If they left – they'd leave Mr Aizawa alone!

"All this trouble and All Might doesn't even bother to show up!" Shigaraki exclaimed. "No matter…" and he turned to Midoriya, "We can still wreck his pride –"

The villain was right before Midoriya in seconds, hand outstretched, centimetres from the tip of his nose before Midoriya could even think –

A pillar of ice erupted between them, knocking the villain back.

"Shoto!" Midoriya called out when he slid into view.

He couldn't say anything in reply before the ice shattered into nothing but snow and dust, leaving Shigaraki free once more.

He brushed the ice crystals from his shoulders, "Well, well – Shoto Todoroki. I didn't think you, out of all of your classmates, would act so heroic."

Shoto gritted his teeth and glared at the villain, as though daring him to say a word more.

"We can offer you a way out of here," Shigaraki continued, "I'll disintegrate the tracker on your ankle and take you far away from these heroes that hold you back."

That's why they really wanted to liberate class A, Midoriya realised – they wanted Shoto, the rouge son of the number two hero. If he were to join their villain group, well, they'd get the attention they desired, that was for sure.

"You just tried to kill Midoriya," Shoto snarled. "If you think I'm going to trust you after that, then you're mistaken."

Well, Midoriya was glad he was at least valued by someone.

"Shigaraki –" the fog villain, Kurogiri, tried to interject.

Shigaraki simply held a hand up to silence him – one of his real ones, rather than the gruesome decorations that he wore. "You really want to stay here? Your friend is clearly on their side – look at how he worries for his teacher."

Midoriya's eyes flickered between Mr Aizawa and Shigaraki. The hero was still awake – barely. Blood dripped down his forehead, his arm held crooked behind his back by the monster that was Nomu. Yet, he still watched the interaction.

"Let him go," Midoriya tried, "You're running out of time – the other heroes will be here soon."

"See how they've already corrupted him?" Shigaraki continued, ignoring Midoriya entirely.

"The only one who's been corrupted is you!" Midoriya lashed out. "Do you think this is some kind of game?! We're not murderers – we're not villains like you."

"Oh? Then why are you here?"

Midoriya hesitated, which made Shigaraki grin, knowing he'd hit a nerve.

Shoto stepped forwards, "No matter what you say, you can't convince us to join you – let Mr Aizawa go."

Shigaraki simply sighed, and to everyone's surprise, said, "Fine – Nomu, get off the hero."

The mindless beast did as he was told, dropping Mr Aizawa immediately, and looking up, seemingly for further orders.

And Shigaraki pointed right at Midoriya, "Kill the kid."

It all happened so quick – but at the same time, in slow motion.

Mr Aizawa cried out and desperately reached forwards, unable to step in. Shoto pushed Midoriya aside, about to send a torrent of ice at the attacker. Nomu was right in front of them in seconds, unphased by the ice – a great, clawed hand outstretched –

And suddenly Shoto was on the floor, Midoriya in Nomu's grasp. It hoisted him off the ground with ease, squeezing his ribs whilst Midoriya scratched and kicked at the tough, purple skin, desperate to escape.

At which point, there was a crash and bang.

Shigaraki ordered the Nomu to wait, whilst Midoriya's heart hammered against his chest. They all looked up at the exit, where the sound had come from –

– and there, at the top of the stairs, stood the number one hero. Everlasting smile, gone. It was All Might – and Midoriya had never thought he'd be so glad to see him again.

"Looks like this level isn't over after all," said Shigaraki.

In moments, All Might was down the stairs. Any remaining villains were swept off their feet in an instant – the hero moving so fast that Midoriya couldn't even see him.

"Kindly release my student!" the hero ordered, dropping the last thug to the ground and marching towards them.

"Your student?" Shigaraki leered, "This is a member of class A, he's a villain."

"No, you are the villain – put him down before I make you!"

Dammit – no! The villains had said they wanted to kill All Might – meaning they must have found a way to defeat him!

Midoriya gazed at the eyes of Nomu, fixed on him unblinkingly. It could snap him like a twig at any moment. Shigaraki had said the beast had multiple Quirks – was he the weapon they had to bring this pillar of justice to the ground?

"Meet Nomu," Shigaraki grinned. "He will be your end! He –"

But he didn't say anything else, because instantaneously, he was separated from the heroes with a wall of ice which crept up Nomu, only stopping at the hand that held Midoriya in his vicelike grip. Shoto had come to his rescue, yet again.

All Might lunged forwards without a second thought. With unfathomable power, he aimed right at the beast's stomach, but the punch never landed. A portal appeared at the last second, redirecting the hero's Quirk, and obliterating the fountain.

Midoriya sensed a hint of irony in the whole situation.

Then there was another bang – a sound far more familiar to Midoriya's ears, when in a ball of smoke of flame, Kurogiri was tossed across the plaza.

"Make another move and they'll be piecing you together for weeks!" yelled Kacchan.

He'd restrained the teleporting villain, a deadly hand pinning him to the floor by the metal brace he wore around his neck. He must have been using his fog to obscure his real body. Kacchan may have been a brute and a bully, but he was still rather smart.

Soon enough, two other figures surrounded Kurogiri – there was Kirishima, his arm hardened with his Quirk, and mirroring him entirely, a hero student beside him, his own arms now made entirely of metal.

There wasn't a moment to lose – All Might took the opportunity as soon as it presented itself, and finally landed a punch on Nomu's arm. The ice shattered and took with it the entire limb.

Midoriya dropped to the ground and scrambled out of the limp hand, horrified. He felt Shoto grab his shoulder and pull him to his feet. The two backed away as they watched on. Nomu did not make the slightest indication that he felt pain. In fact, only a few seconds later, pink muscle stretched from his shoulder, knotting around itself, and growing into an entirely new arm – he could regenerate.

"You have met your match, oh so mighty, symbol of peace!" Shigaraki laughed manically, "Nomu! Kill him!"

Midoriya could only shield his eyes as the fight began. Both titans moved with such speed that he could have been blown away. They cracked the ground beneath their feet, each blow stronger than the last.

Standing here was no good to anyone, "Come on!" Midoriya exclaimed. He pulled Shoto forwards, and they ran around the scene, quickly falling to Mr Aizawa's side.

"We need to get him away from here," Shoto realised. "And Vlad King too."

Midoriya's eyes flickered across the plaza. The second hero wasn't far – but there was no way they could get both teachers to the exit fast enough to avoid the battle waging on, especially with Shigaraki still nearby.

Luckily, they had help.

"I'll get Sir Vlad!" and a beast-like hero student thundered past, scooped Vlad King off the floor, and charged towards the exit.

"Yaoyorozu!" Midoriya exclaimed as she arrived, skidding to a halt beside them and dropping a sword to the ground with a clatter.

"I-I'm sorry I was with Jiro and Kaminari! He short-circuited himself and Jiro's taking him back to the others. I'll help with Mr Aizawa!"

She had clearly been through a lot. Her trousers had been harshly ripped into shorts, possibly by a knife of her own creation (or perhaps the sword). Her jacket was unbuttoned, but she seemed unbothered by showing off her black sports bra – she needed exposed skin to create anything large. This skill was used moments later, when she managed to pull a folded-up stretcher from her stomach.

Midoriya just stared – she really was so cool.

He helped haul Mr Aizawa onto the stretcher.

"Let's get as far away from this fight as we can," Yaoyorozu insisted. "We should carry Mr Aizawa up to the exit – nearly everyone else has gathered there now."

"There's no way we'll be able to make it up there," Shoto retorted, when Nomu crashed into the stairs, but bounced back up again as if it had only been a playful nudge.

"Maybe I should have told Shishida to try and take Mr Aizawa as well!" Yaoyorozu stressed, obviously referring to the hero student who had swooped in to rescue Vlad King.

"He didn't exactly wait for instructions."

Midoriya payed little attention, eyes locked on the fight before him. Each blow sent out a gust of air that continued to be powerful enough to knock anyone in the vicinity to the ground. But they seemed to be at an impasse. Both were equal in power, and neither seemed to be on the road to victory.

Shigaraki started to scratch at his neck – this clearly wasn't going the way he had hoped.

But Midoriya knew better – better than all of them. For All Might had a time limit – one which he had already wasted that morning, hence him being late to the USJ. Just how much longer could he hold out for?

Yet the beast started to inch backwards. His power slowly overcome by All Might's own. And not long after, with a cry and crash, the finishing blow was dealt, and Nomu hurtled through the ceiling, leaving All Might standing victorious before them.

And no one, not even Midoriya, could deny how incredible the number one hero was.

He stood amongst the smoke and dust left in Nomu's wake, brushing the blood of his cheek, and he turned to Shigaraki.

"No…" the villain muttered, "No, no, no!"

"It's over," All Might proclaimed. "Surrender, now."

But Midoriya looked closer – amongst that dust, he could see it – the steam coming off the hero's body; the way he trembled, ever so slightly. His weakness – his time was up.

Shigaraki's blood red eyes flickered around the scene. He saw All Might standing before him; the hole left in the ceiling of the dome; the group still struggling to keep Kurogiri at bay; and then of course, Midoriya and the others, not that far behind him.

"I hate you…" said Shigaraki, his fists trembling as he seethed in his anger.

Only Midoriya could see the coughs All Might was repressing.

"No – no! This isn't over!"

Only Midoriya could see the blood trickling from the corner of the hero's lips.

"I HATE YOU!"

And Shigaraki charged. A power that could disintegrate Shoto's ice in seconds – and All Might had no strength left.

All Might would… die.

Which is why Midoriya, in a split-second decision, scooped Yaoyorozu's sword off the floor, and skidded between the two, raising the blade in defiance.

His friends cried out in surprise, but they didn't know what he knew.

Midoriya pivoted as Shigaraki reached him, swinging his sword with all his might – whilst the hero stood behind him, unable to move.

Seconds before the villain's deadly hands reached Midoriya's body; before his blade could pierce Shigaraki's skin, there was a flash of purple; the ringing sound of a gunshot –

– and a blinding pain in his shoulder.

Midoriya fell to the ground, rolling on his side.

Gunshots fired around him. Shigaraki was engulfed in a whirlpool of violet smoke, and before Midoriya knew it, he was gone.

"MIDORIYA!"

That was Shoto – or Yaoyorozu – or both.

But Midoriya could only grip his left shoulder, oozing red.

He heard footsteps – and a rumble like an earthquake, before the concrete rose up around him, forming a great wall between him and the others.

Midoriya had been shot – he'd been shot.

The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before.

With watery eyes, he managed to lift his head. His eyes met those of All Might – now sunken in his skeletal, weaker form, his once skin-tight hero costume now baggy and ill fitted. And Midoriya saw the other heroes, rushing onto the scene.

It wasn't one of the villains who'd shot him… it had been a hero –

– the purple – Kurogiri. He must have managed to escape and come to Shigaraki's aid – perhaps redirected a bullet right at Midoriya, before disappearing all together.

All Might stepped forwards, "Young Midoriya –"

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Midoriya screamed, grasping the sword and pointing it in the hero's direction, his arms shaking as he bit back the pain.

He hesitated, "It's ok, I'm not going to –"

"S-S-Stay back!" Midoriya whimpered. Tears rolled down his cheeks whilst the blood soaked his clothes.

All Might drew closer, and Midoriya desperately tried to crawl away, not relinquishing the blade.

The hero fell to his knees before him, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Midoriya's breathing grew erratic, "W-Well, you've already done that, haven't you?!"

He didn't mean the gunshot, and All Might knew that too.

"Y-You've already done t-that…"

And he dropped the sword, slipping into the darkness.

"Where's Midoriya?!" Shoto exclaimed.

They were outside the USJ now, and they had been for almost an hour. All of class A had been corralled into a corner, and class B was nearby, but Midoriya was nowhere to be seen.

"He's going to be ok," insisted the police officer, or possibly detective, in the trench coat and matching hat. "Recovery Girl is seeing to him now."

"Why did he jump in like that?" Yaoyorozu wondered aloud, "All Might barely had a scratch on him – he would have been able to defeat Shigaraki, surely…"

Shoto turned to her, his gaze cold, "He must have had a reason." He simply couldn't be that foolish. Or… was Shigaraki right after all – maybe Midoriya was more of the reckless hero type than Shoto realised.

He wasn't sure how to feel about it.

"A-And Mr Aizawa?" Uraraka perked up.

The Detective nodded, "He has been taken to hospital. Him and Vlad King both had serious blood loss – but I know your teacher well. Have faith in him." With that, he was called away by another officer, whilst they detained numerous thugs.

"You really want to stay here? Your friend is clearly on their side – look at how he worries for his teacher."

Shoto stayed behind – why did he do that? His only chance – gone. And Dabi wasn't coming for him – no way. Shoto would have to get out on his own, and Dabi would help from there.

But how could he do that now?

"Are you ok, Shoto?" That was Iida. His hair was scruffy and his glasses askew. It made sense – he'd ran for help, after all, and the main school was quite far from here.

Shoto looked away, "I'm fine."

"I can't believe I didn't short-circuit my phone!" laughed Kaminari, who was standing just behind Shoto. There were scorch marks all over his PE kit. He tossed the brick phone up in the air and caught it again repeatedly.

"These things are indestructible," gaped Kirishima. From what Shoto had heard, he, Bakugo and Tetsutetsu from class B had faced numerous villains alone – yet Kirishima's phone didn't have a dent in it.

"Mine was in the shipwreck zone," said Tsu, "but it still works, ribbit."

"It's honestly impressive," Kaminari replied with raised eyebrows.

Shoto pulled his own from his pocket. He gazed at the red number 15, painted across the back, for a moment.

"They're kind of useless, really," Jiro insisted. "That electric villain jammed the signal so we couldn't even contact Miss Midnight."

"Why is she the only other contact we have?" pondered Mina.

"Miss Midnight is our substitute teacher in case of Mr Aizawa's absence!" Iida explained, chopping his hand through the air. "It is likely that we will be seeing more of her over the next few days!"

"Sound good to –"

Tsu slapped Mineta from the other side of the group, beating Jiro by moments, who later jabbed her earphone jacks at Mineta's eyes for good measure.

"All in all," Tsu sighed once they'd finished beating Mineta up and had received numerous nervous glances by class B and the surrounding officers, "it's safe to say that was a terrible field trip."

"The worst field trip ever," Mina nodded.

"– of all time," finished Sero.

After a moment of silence, a bout of suppressed giggles rang out amongst them.

"Well, this is the least bored I've been all week," Jiro sighed, and they all laughed harder.

Iida opened his mouth to yell at them but was swiftly beaten to it.

"You think this is funny?" They all turned to class B, where one that Shoto didn't know the name of, with messy brown hair, scowled at them, "Both our teachers, and one of your classmates were badly hurt, and we all almost died."

Mina's "But we didn't!" masked Sero's mumbles of "If only."

"Settle down," the detective in the trench coat was back. "Try not to provoke each other."

"And by each other, you mean them, right?" snarled another member of class B.

Any smiles on the faces of Shoto's classmates quickly faded.

The Detective sighed, "We're going to have to have a short interview with all of you individually," he explained, getting right to the point. "Somehow, this League of Villains knew that you'd all be at the USJ, supposedly with All Might. That means there must have been a leak of the schedule."

"Well then, the culprit is clear," Monoma spoke up, and Shoto scowled. He hoped he had some serious insecurities to validate the way he treated them. "It's class A – the villains were on their side."

"Come on, Monoma! As much as I agree that it wasn't one of us – not all of class A are bad!" Tetsutetsu exclaimed loudly, clearly referring to Kirishima. They essentially had the same Quirk, and already seemed to get along. Shoto just didn't understand people who could gain friends so easily.

"I need to speak to all of you," the Detective insisted. "I want to know all your accounts. The more information we have, the more likely it is that we can get to the bottom of this quickly."

He locked eyes with Shoto, which was when he realised – he knew this man. Detective Tsukauchi, he'd questioned Shoto after he was caught by the heroes. Shoto vaguely remembered throwing a table at him. He couldn't believe he didn't recognise him sooner.

The man had a truth Quirk.

If there really was a traitor among them, they'd be found quickly.

Shoto frowned at his own thoughts – traitor? What would they be betraying? It's not like they were on UA's side.

"I'm… not on anyone's side. I-I'm on my side!"

It looked like Shoto would have more time to figure this out than he thought.

Midoriya found himself in Recovery Girl's office as the sun set. She was far less stern with him than before and thrust numerous energy gummy bears into his hand when she finally released him.

His left shoulder was covered in bandages. They ran a little way down his arm and peaked out underneath his PE top, ragged and stained. He ached, but the pain had almost disappeared. Recovery Girl had said healing broken bones was a cinch – and a bullet wound, despite requiring a little surgery, wasn't much worse. But he'd been told to take it easy, meaning he was excused from PE for at least a week. Luckily, it was his left shoulder, and he was right-handed, so his writing wouldn't be affected.

But Midoriya was exhausted. Recovery Girl had said her Quirk tapped into his stamina, but they both knew there was more to it than that.

He bowed his head and averted his gaze even when Snipe, the hero with the accuracy Quirk, came to apologise for his injury. Midoriya knew it wasn't his fault. He meant to hit Shigaraki, and would have, if Kurogiri hadn't swooped in at just the right moment to deflect the bullet. Although, the hero was quite confident he did hit the villain at least twice subsequently.

Midoriya just shrugged, which hurt his shoulder. A permanent shadow seemed to linger over his face as he pushed past the heroes to wander the corridors of UA, back to the dorms.

"Midoriya!" Iida called out when he finally reached Heights Alliance and kicked off his shoes.

"Hey," Midoriya replied simply.

"We were so worried!" he continued, following him through the room whilst everyone got up to circle around him.

"How's your shoulder?" Yaoyorozu asked nervously.

"We saved a plate for you!" Uraraka interjected, gesturing to a plate of curry on the kitchen counter. "Let me just put it in the microwave and –"

"I'm not hungry," Midoriya interrupted.

She blinked at him, "But –"

"You need the energy!" Iida insisted, "At least try and have –"

"I don't want it." Midoriya pushed past him, and the group parted to let him through. He walked right towards the stairs. He just wanted to go to bed.

This was when he came face to face with Shoto.

Midoriya stared at the stormy grey eye that he could see – the blue one was hidden beneath his hair.

"Why did you do it?" he asked.

Silence rang around them – they all waited for Midoriya's reply.

He took a moment to answer, "You don't know what I know."

Midoriya noted how Shoto shifted his position – the hint of curiosity in his mannerisms. He waited as though hoping for further explanation.

"Then… what do you know?" Uraraka asked.

Midoriya turned to her. She had such concern in her big, brown eyes. Sometimes it was so hard to believe she had once been one of the most wanted villains out of all of them.

Jiro stepped forwards, "Something about All Might? You… stood in between him and that villain, right? Why…? Is something wrong?"

Ah, so… Jiro didn't know the same secret – then… what did she know? What else were the heroes hiding? How weak were these haloed pillars of society?

"It's best to just keep yours and everyone else's secrets to yourself," Midoriya replied, repeating the words that Jiro had once said to him.

He watched her hesitate, staring at him for a moment, as though trying to see the truth in his eyes. She backed off and nodded.

"So, that's why you're here," Shoto realised. "Like Jiro – you know something they don't want you to know."

"…Among other things," Midoriya agreed tentatively.

"Oh yeah?" Mineta spoke up, "What else did you do? You don't even have a Quirk, what else could you have possibly –"

Midoriya gave him his most fearsome glare, which actually caused him to flinch and jump a couple of steps backwards.

"I got tired of the way people were treating me," he barely whispered, giving Mineta a look as though to blame him of the same offence. "I hacked into my school's security system – it wasn't hard. I just needed to teach myself how to do it first. Most of my old classmates have black marks on their records now – I'll haunt them forever – and one ended up here."

A few eyes wandered towards Kacchan, who stood in the background, watching and listening.

"As for my teachers, some were fired, and the entire school is still under investigation. I'm waiting for it to close down – it's only a matter of time. Oh, and that was after I publicly shamed a group of heroes for not doing their job properly. You won't find the video online – they took it down.

"But excuse me for still being confused as to why I ended up here. It's not like I got caught doing anything wrong other than being rather opinionated. And last time I checked, my Quirkless existence isn't a crime – so, sorry if it inconveniences you, since you seem to point it out a lot."

He crouched down to Mineta's height and continued to look him dead in the eyes, ignoring everyone else.

"I've had just about enough of people deeming me useless due to the lack of a weird and wonderful trait. I have plenty of other strengths, and I won't hesitate to use them against you if you dare to harass me, or anyone else in my vicinity again. I can land people in this place – I can just as easily get them out – understand?"

He gulped and gave a slight nod.

Midoriya just sighed, "Good." He stood up and turned back towards the stairs. "Thank you for saving dinner for me, it's… appreciated."

No one stopped him – no one dared to get in his way. Not even Shoto attempted to follow him.

Midoriya reached his room and collapsed onto his bed, biting his lip harshly went he fell onto his injured shoulder.

But all he could think of were the friendships he'd just lost.

He didn't sleep. His alarm clock shone the digits of midnight in his eyes when he finally sat back up again. He'd heard doors slam shut around him an hour or so ago. He was still in his PE kit, when he decided to leave his room and head back downstairs. He couldn't deny – he was starving and hoped that Uraraka had put the plate of curry, that Sato made, in the fridge for him.

But when he reached the common room, he found himself blinking at the faces of a majority of his class, staring back at him.

He averted his gaze and started to walk towards the kitchen area, before a yellow T-shirt and a set of shorts appeared before him, seemingly floating in mid-air.

"…Um, we've been talking," said invisible Hagakure.

Midoriya sidestepped her and tried to walk past – he didn't like where this conversation was going. But he felt her invisible arm hold him back.

"What do you need to expel Mineta?"

He stared at her and blinked (again), "Excuse me?"

"Tsu told us what happened on the boat back at the USJ," said Kirishima, sitting on the arm of the sofa. His red hair wasn't spiking up like it did usually, due to the lack of hair gel at this time of night. He gritted his sharp, shark-like teeth and stared at the floor for a moment, "It's not right. He practically suggested killing that guy from class B! Even if he did say that because he was scared and saw no other option… it's – it's not manly to imply killing someone to give yourself a better chance! I know we're not heroes here, but…"

"And me and the rest of the girls are fed up too," Hagakure added, finally dropping her arm. "We want him gone."

"So," said Jiro, "what do you need?"

"With our skill set, we can get you anything you want for it," Hagakure nodded.

Midoriya gawked at them all. He didn't know what he expected to come of his confrontation with Mineta. He'd… just had a really long day – and he just… snapped. But this?

He really needed to stop assuming his classmates would react like ordinary people. Just like him, they were more than what met the eye.

Midoriya met Shoto's eyes. Like Kirishima, most of the gel had left his hair at this point. He still had it pushed over his scar, but with it down, he looked so painstakingly… normal. He was leaning up against a wall, arms crossed. A slight smile stretched across his face when Midoriya did the same.

"What do I need… Well, it depends," Midoriya told Hagakure, turning back to her, and looking at where he assumed her eyes were. "How quickly do you want him gone?"

She didn't falter, "As soon as possible."

He grinned, "All you needed to do was ask."