Chapter 29: Why Has it Happened Like This?

He was supposed to be in detention at the moment but who cares anyway.

Midoriya slammed the door to Heights Alliance open and scanned the common room. Not everyone was there, notably, Shinso was missing. The rest all looked at him with a mix of fear and surprise and every other conceivable emotion.

"…What?" Jiro was the first to perk up.

"Stay there; I'm finding Shinso," he replied before turning on his heel and marching up the stairs.

After knocking on his door and dragging him out, Midoriya gestured to him to sit down somewhere in the common room and waited for everyone else to listen in.

"…Is this the beginning of another kind of plan?" Sero guessed immediately.

Midoriya opened his mouth to say no, before realising that it… kind of was. His hesitancy brought forth a few smiles that hadn't been seen in a while.

"I-I just need to talk to you all," he explained.

And to that, Kacchan instantly stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets, and tried to walk away.

"Sit down," Midoriya snapped at him.

Kacchan stopped right in front of him and glared down at the shorter boy, "Make me."

"I will break your nose – sit down."

"Woah, Midoriya!" Kirishima cried out in disbelief.

Kacchan just let out a laugh, "You about to give them all one of your freaking stupid motivational speeches? Because I don't want to hear it," he snarled.

"You will listen to my motivational speech, and you will at least pretend to be motivated – sit down."

Whatever Kacchan had been expecting Midoriya to say, it wasn't that. He threw his hands in the air and turned to sit down by a nervous-looking Kirishima, "What-freaking-ever."

Midoriya breathed in, and out. "Ok, do you all remember why I'm in UA?"

"Because you screwed boom-boom-man over," Kaminari replied.

"Because you know something bad about All Might?" Uraraka added.

"Correct," Midoriya nodded.

Shinso just blinked, "Wait, what?"

"Does anyone have any guess as to what I know about All Might?" he asked, completely ignoring Shinso.

"You jumped in to protect him at the USJ," Yaoyorozu recalled. "I would hazard a guess that is it some kind of weakness."

Midoriya nodded again. "A weakness that, if the rest of the world knew, would change everything."

The severity of the conversation seemed to dawn on the rest of them at this point. Any background conversation faded. Books were closed and cups of tea abandoned.

Midoriya began to pace back and forth as he spoke, "The hero system currently relies on individual icons standing as pillars of justice above the rest. Singular supports holding up the rest of society, with All Might taking most of the weight for himself."

After a moment's thought, Midoriya hurried across the room for a few empty glasses. He reprimanded the semi-abandoned game of Monopoly on the coffee table between all the sofas and propped the board up on top of five of those glasses – four for each of the corners, and one in the middle.

Kneeling down before his model, Midoriya continued to speak. "That centre support is All Might – the hero we see in all the posters – the symbol of peace across all of Japan. Err… I need… I need –"

Yaoyorozu knelt down beside him, and from her arm, drew what looked like a small hammer, with a pointed end.

Midoriya blinked at it, "…Perfect!" With a sharp flick of the wrist, he hit that centre glass with the spike a few times, watching as cracks formed across it.

"We put all our hopes and trust onto one person," he explained. "Sure, All Might is strong, but he's only human, and humans aren't normally immortal. All Might isn't one of those abnormalities. One day, he's going to have to retire. It's an inevitability. The mistake he's made, is to keep going, despite the development of these cracks. He hasn't… begun slowly backing away from the hero scene, allowing the country to slowly start seeing other heroes as these metaphorical supports. Sure, they're important – they're these other four pillars. All Might wouldn't be able to keep this up without them. But the essential part of this, is that they wouldn't be able to keep it up without All Might."

"Why not?" scoffed Jiro. "They just need to shift their balance. Him leaving is always going to be messy, but they'll just get a new central pillar."

"Ah yes," Midoriya replied, "And who is going to be that central pillar, Jiro?"

She hesitated, "…Oh."

"Yes, oh."

"It's Endeavor, right?" said Kirishima. "Sure, we don't like the guy, but we can't deny that he's a good hero."

"Endeavor has cracks too," Midoriya retorted, flicking his gaze between Jiro and Shoto. "Bad ones."

"It's worse than you realise," Shoto said quietly.

No more was said on the matter.

"The point is, it isn't looking like All Might is going to give up any time soon," Midoriya said, clearing his throat and quickly moving on. "And if he doesn't allow the other heroes a steady transition period, then it just takes one fell swoop to –"

Crash – Another hit of the hammer and the glass shattered. The Monopoly board folded in on itself, and all the little houses, hotels, and characters carefully positioned on top, scattered to the floor.

"– And hero society comes tumbling down…"

They stared at it for a moment, silent.

Midoriya raised the hammer into the air slightly, "We are in a unique position. Right now, we can use this hammer to do… this –" he indicated towards the mess on the table – "or build something new."

"Build something new?" asked Sero, raising an eyebrow, "How?"

"Well, it's clear that this would never happen if there were more supports. The more there are, the less likely it would be for any calculated move to take out enough to let it collapse. I think the numbering system of heroes – like, how we have a number one hero at all – is wrong! It puts too much pressure on one person – it forces society to have this one, integral support. And I'm not saying that the number one hero is running around, solving all crime. It's more of an… emotional dependency, something that makes civilians feel safe, and villains unsafe.

"What we've been aiming towards this entire time, when we were thinking of escaping UA, wasn't to be individual vigilantes – it was to be a team. No one's ever seen twenty heroes working together like this. Sure, there's been plenty of like… pro heroes with that many sidekicks, but that still puts a massive dependency on the head figure. The way that hero agencies work is that there is one main hero, and all their sidekicks, and then maybe some other pro heroes that work in conjunction with them. What I'm talking about here, is a real hero team. One that has a wide variety of skills – covering nearly all areas of heroics! And none of that team compete with each other for the top spot – nothing about them is independent – and that forces the world to not make these pillars. Instead, it's a twenty-piece pillar. If you take one piece out, the rest can easily keep going and help that piece get back on their feet!"

"Twenty, huh?" grinned Ojiro, "You mean us."

A snort came from behind Midoriya. He turned, and there was Shinso, standing behind the sofa that Uraraka and Hagakure were perched on. He shook his head in disbelief, "Us? We're villains. Even if you tried to be heroes, the world's never going to look at you like you're that central pillar, are you kidding me? We're always going to be the bad guys."

Midoriya just smiled at him, "See, that's where you're wrong."

"I'm not."

"You are. Because I'm not talking about just any hero team. It has to be us. No other group would work."

"…I don't get it," Shoto interjected.

Midoriya stood up again, "Think about it. Imagine if class B graduated UA and decided to band together and be a hero team like this, right? They wouldn't get the respect they need! Sure, they're all very powerful and well known. But I'm talking about a drastic change to the hero system here. They would have to stand up and face some severe backlash from like… the government and competing agencies, because the way this team works goes against methods of… payment and the ranking system and all that. It messes things up! They just wouldn't allow it. But we're different. Why? Because we don't care! If they don't listen to us, then we can just go against them and be vigilantes!" He picked up the hammer again, "To make, or to destroy. It's up to them, but we're going to do what we want. They can either go against us and watch it all come tumbling down, or they could change the rules, so it fits what we're doing. Their choice."

There was a bubble of excitement among them now. Shinso still looked a little confused, but Midoriya could get to that later, right now, he was more interested on the fact that Kacchan was glaring right at him.

"Got a problem with that?" he asked him.

Everyone fell quiet again.

"So, where do you fit in, huh?" Kacchan said, baring his teeth. "You'd be a dead weight, and you know it."

"Nope," Midoriya said surely. "Because I'm going to be in charge."

Kacchan howled with laughter. "Just because you're class president now doesn't mean a damn thing! You're Quirkless you can't –"

"It's because I'm Quirkless that it works!" Midoriya snapped. "You really think this would work if the likes of you was the leader?! If the most powerful was the head, then it would just be a hero agency with a bunch of sidekicks all over again! You'd rise to number one hero and it would ruin everything! But they can't put me as number one – I'm Quirkless for God's sake!"

Kacchan narrowed his eyes at him. "So, a pointless figurehead. You just wanna sit in an office all day and be our freaking manager, huh?!"

"Not a chance! Despite what you always insist, I'm not useless, Kacchan! Ok, I can't fight the toughest villains – I can't stop natural disasters. But not all heroes can anyway! There are other areas of heroics. I can make a difference, ok? I don't care if it's a big one. But I can do something."

"He is right, Bakugo," Kirishima insisted.

"He's freaking delusional!" Kacchan retorted.

"He helped me."

Everyone turned to Shoto.

He shrugged, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He hadn't bothered with hair gel for a while, and it didn't really stay in any sort of ponytail for long; it was an awkward length. Instead, he just let it hang over his eyes. He really needed to cut it or commit to long hair.

"Midoriya got past some of the top hero students in the school, went all the way to Hosu and correctly predicted I would be there – got me away from Dabi and then saved Iida's life, disarmed Stain and fought him with his own sword whilst the two of us were paralysed, and got away with just a nick on the arm. Seemed pretty heroic to me."

Midoriya beamed.

"I agree," Iida nodded, standing up. "Midoriya is more than capable of being an admirable hero. I think having a Quirkless hero as a figurehead for our team would be extremely inspirational!"

"Yeah!" Uraraka agreed. "That's the kind of hero I want to be! Someone who can save the villains! The only person who has ever saved us is Deku! O-Oh! Sorry – I'm so sorry – Midori – I won't use the Deku name again."

"Nah," Midoriya shrugged, "I don't think I mind it much anymore."

Kacchan glowered at him.

"Kacchan, look," Midoriya sighed. "I… to make this work, the entire class has to stay together. If just one of us breaks off and tries to go solo, it ruins the whole operation! We need you."

"Yeah, you freaking do. But I don't need you." He tried to walk off again.

"I'm trying to give you a chance here," Midoriya insisted, watching him leave.

"Don't care."

"It's your last one."

He stopped.

"What do you freaking mean?" he snarled, looking at him over his shoulder.

"Kacchan… I've given you so many chances. So many. I really think you can be a great hero, that's why you're here. You were born with that potential, and I get it, I was not. But here's the thing –" he marched over to him until they were face to face. "How can you possibly be a hero if you act like this?"

"What?"

"Everything doesn't just get handed to you on a silver platter, alright?! We're complete opposites – but we have the same goal. And if you keep pushing people down – if you keep using other people as steppingstones to your success – then you can't be allowed to be a hero."

"You don't have the freaking power to do a thing about –"

"Yes, I do. Now, shut up and get your head out the gutter. Last chance – hero team, or no heroics."

"I don't want to be a part of any team where you think you're in charge!"

"Alright, Kacchan!" he said in a shrill yell. He sighed, "I know I have a lot to learn, ok?! I-I know I've gotten worse at UA – I know I act like a villain. You know that you do too! Like, at the Sports Festival?! I was awful to Monoma. And he's actually not that bad of a guy! But you are not trying to improve – everything you've ever done just backpedals to the same, awful, egotistical jerk you've always been! And we are not friends, and we are never going to be friends, but I am trying to help you. I am trying to let you see my perspective! Because you are powerful, you are strong, and you are everything I am not and will never be!"

These words were hurting Midoriya to say, but… they were the truth.

"I've always respected you, ok? But you went too far! And I know you've come to appreciate that, but you don't seem to understand that you're not improving! Being a hero isn't just about natural strength! You need strategy, you need thoughtfulness, and you need leadership. A-And I'm not saying that just because I would be the leader of this s-stupid theoretical hero team that you wouldn't be able to take charge too, ok? Or anyone, for that matter. I'm talking about a team that works like it has for the escape attempts! Separating off, doing different things, but still working together, as a unit, in the long run."

Kacchan didn't say anything, just looking down at him and waiting for him to finish.

"…And you're just going to say no – you can't do that, because you'll never amount to anything, huh? I've always given you a chance. For once in your life – give me one!"

Everyone held their breath, waiting for his answer. Midoriya hung his head as he waited for the backlash.

"…You know, as far as motivational speeches go, that wasn't that freaking bad for once."

He looked up in surprise.

"Don't freaking look at me like that," Kacchan rolled his eyes.

"…I think I deserve an apology," Midoriya decided.

"Heh?! Why the –"

"You know why I do!"

"Well, you aren't freaking getting it!"

"Fine, then I'm not giving you one."

"Fine," and he turned to walk away.

Before he reached the stairs, Midoriya called out, "But do I get that chance?"

Kacchan hesitated, before continuing up and yelling, "We'll see!"

And you know, all in all, that was probably the best conversation the two had ever had.

"Woah! Deku!" Uraraka cheered, "That was so amazing! You really stood up to him!"

"That was really sweet, man," Kirishima smiled. "I'm sorry I started all that off."

"It's ok," Midoriya waved it off, "it needed to happen."

"So, we're doing this?" Tsu asked curiously, hopping over.

"I… I think so!"

Mina cheered.

"One problem though," Shinso interjected, making everyone fall silent and turn to him. It made him suddenly look a little frightened, "U-Um, how exactly do we become heroes? We're the villain class. All twenty of us would have to make the transfer to the hero course next year. That's practically impossible."

Midoriya blinked at him, "Did… Did no one tell him?"

No one responded.

"Oh, you can't be serious."

"This is why we need Midoriya," Kaminari mock whispered to Sero.

"Yeah, we really suck without him, don't we?" Sero replied.

"What… don't I know?" Shinso asked nervously.

"We're taking the provisional hero licencing exam," Midoriya replied simply. "All of us – you included."

He gaped, "We're… what?!"

Midoriya grinned, spreading out his arm and gesturing to the room around him. Once, it had been a prison. Now… now it was like home. "Welcome to class 1-A."

The next few weeks were eventful.

Mr Aizawa took the hero training classes up a notch. Not a day went by without class A slumping back to the dorms in utter exhaustion, but they knew it would be worth it, in the end.

Midoriya got indefinitely better at sword fighting, martial arts, and a whole host of other skills. They even had a proper teacher take a class with him and Yaoyorozu in it for a few sessions, it was really useful.

(Kacchan, meanwhile, seemed to develop a tunnel-vision-focus on his work and training. There was clearly a lot on his mind. Midoriya hadn't spoken to him in almost a month.)

They went back to the USJ a couple of times, but never made the rescue training exercises for class B very useful. In fact, on several occasions, it was class A rescuing class B from stupid scenarios that class A may or may not have accidentally initiated.

Amongst it all, exams rolled by. Midoriya helped tutor a few too many of his classmates, and they even had Pony and Honenuki drop by once to help with English, since they all sucked at it from the number of lessons of Present Mic's they'd missed.

All that amounted to it being not just physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion too. UA started rolling out compulsory therapy sessions for all the students of class A. From what Midoriya had heard from his detention sessions (which had long since stopped feeling like punishment), is that they were available to class B too, but not everyone took them. It was a bit awkward at first, having this stranger ask some rather personal questions. But he soon came to realise it was a lot like talking to Mr Aizawa. And he didn't have to explain everything. There was no obligation. It was… nice. Over time, he found himself feeling more and more confident about his plans, his future. Sure, there were still some visible cracks in his confidence. The therapist said that acknowledging that was the first step. He was a really nice guy.

Slowly but surely, Mr Aizawa, with his infamous, manic grin, confirmed each and every one of the class for the up-coming provisional licencing exam. Soon, there was only one obstacle in their way – the summer camp. But before that…

"HERO NAMES!" Mina cheered at the top of her lungs. "Real hero names!"

"And costumes too!" Kaminari added.

"Why are you so excited about the costumes?" scoffed Sero.

"They're cool, ok?!"

The class was sitting in their little circle of chairs and sofas in the middle of the common room, something they had long since given up on returning to their original positions. The circle was required for Midoriya to pace around and collect them all in. Not that he'd particularly noticed it.

Earlier that day, Mr Aizawa had announced more than one thing which had excited them. The first, was an actual trip outside of UA, to a nearby mall, for them each to purchase, with a small budget for each of them (courtesy of the school), whatever they needed for their summer camp. Of course, they could have easily just bought them all some UA-branded kit and left it at that, since the school knew their measurements and Quirk logistics from whatever they needed to submit for their uniforms. Therefore, Midoriya could logically conclude that this was a test of trust.

"We should totally break out and just go buck wild," voiced Sero.

They all stared at him.

"What?! We were all thinking it!"

"I swear you've become more and more chaotic the more time goes by," Kaminari blinked.

"Says you!"

"Anyway," Midoriya sighed. "It's a test of trust. If we mess up, we don't go on the summer camp. Simple as that. This is a good way of telling whether we can be trusted not to run off or… steal something. So, we've just got to behave, that's all."

"Hang out like normal teenagers?" replied Jiro. "This is going to go wrong somewhere along the line, I can tell."

Midoriya shrugged. He'd have to wait and see. "Let's just fill in these forms and hand them in tomorrow morning. They're our actual, physical ticket to the hero exam!"

"It's quite long," Yaoyorozu pointed out, absentmindedly flipping through the pages.

"Some of it is just blank pages for you to draw hero costume designs and support items."

Mina suddenly burst out laughing. She nudged Kirishima's side, and he grinned wildly. "Hey guys!" Mina sung. "Check out the box at the bottom of the third page!"

The room was filled with the sound of moving paper as everyone followed her instruction, and they soon all begun to giggle manically.

Do you have a criminal record?

"Ah," Midoriya said with a grin. "Well, lucky for me, I do not!" and he dramatically checked off the no box.

"Oh, screw you! Just because you never got caught!" Hagakure accused with a light-hearted tone.

Yeah, his breaking and entering and hacking of his old school was probably worth at least a caution from the police, but it never happened.

"Would you look at that? Neither did I," grinned Jiro, taking Midoriya's pen from his hand and checking off her box too.

"What do you mean?" questioned Tsu. "I thought there was nothing for you to get away with, ribbit?"

Jiro smiled again and tapped the side of her nose with the pen, before passing it back to Midoriya.

"Err… did anyone else get away with it or are we the only anomalies?" he had to double check.

"Dangerous Quirk people unite!" Mina cried, bounding over and taking his pen.

Oh right, he almost forgot that not everyone here had broken the law at some point. I mean, from the looks of it, both he and Jiro had too – it just wasn't on record. He doubted he'd ever really find out what Jiro was on about just then. But… maybe he didn't need to write everything down in his notebook. In some, small ways… Kacchan was kind of maybe a little right…

Midoriya shook his head, "It doesn't matter. Mr Aizawa wouldn't have given us the forms if it meant that ticking this box would nullify our entries to the exam. I mean, he had a criminal record before becoming a hero, and he was allowed in."

"Mr Aizawa has a criminal record?!" gaped Mina.

"Weren't you freaking listening, Raccoon Eyes?!" Kacchan yelled at her. "He was a vigilante that's why he teaches this freaking class!"

"Oh – I forgot… Can we go back to the hero names now?! Please!"

Wow a real hero name. Midoriya had never really considered that aspect before. When he was little, he'd always fantasised some kind of spin-off of All Might, but that obviously wasn't going to cut it anymore.

"I'm not going with my villain name," Uraraka announced. "It's not like I chose it anyway. I want something my parents would be actually proud of…"

"I'll just stick with Invisible Girl," Hagakure shrugged. "Does what it says on the tin!"

"Well whatever we choose will have to be confirmed by Miss Midnight, so be sure use to write it in pencil on the form!" Iida proclaimed loudly. Few listened.

"What about Alien Queen?!" Mina giggled excitably. "You know! Because of the horns?!"

"Might be a little villainous, Mina," Tsu croaked.

"But we are –" Mina started, and then slowly thought it over, "Yeah… I guess you're right."

Midoriya tapped his pen against his lip, what did he want his hero name to be? And his costume?! Oh gosh… what kind of a costume would a Quirkless hero need? Well, he knew all the kind of kit required, but design wasn't exactly his strong point.

"I shall be, I Cannot Stop Twinkling!" Aoyama exclaimed.

Everyone stared at him.

"I am not being in a hero team with someone called I Cannot Stop Twinkling," deadpanned Jiro.

"The number 1 member of our team must have a name which relates to his prestige," Tokoyami nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, we're all gonna be in the spotlight if we do this right," said Sato. "So we've gotta have good names."

"Then that shall be my title!" Aoyama proclaimed, pointing his finger dramatically at Sato, who just blinked in response.

"…W-What?"

"It is moi! Spotlight!"

"…That's not that bad, actually."

"We must look the part as well," Yaoyorozu smiled as she patted the seat beside her, beckoning Midoriya to sit down.

"Yeah…" he muttered, staring at the blank spot in his form. "I'm… not very good at this kind of stuff," he told her.

She smiled in a way that said, luckily for you, I am. "Perhaps something everyone has in common on their costumes?"

Midoriya furrowed his brow, thoughts of his own name and look pushed to the back of his mind for the time being. "Yeah… but what exactly?"

"–like, reverse camouflage!" Mina grinned widely as she jotted down in her costume design section. "Blues and pinks! Oh! And a fur hood!"

"Not fur," Midoriya suddenly spoke up.

Mina stopped writing immediately and listened in intently.

"U-Um…" Midoriya stammered. "Y-You might easily damage it with your acid. You've been learning viscosity and potency, right? You don't want to get weak, sticky acid stuck there."

"Good point," she shrugged, "Just a normal hood then! On a cool jacket!"

Yaoyorozu perked up, "Jacket…" she murmured.

"What's that?" Midoriya blinked.

"O-Oh… it's just a silly idea."

None of Yaoyorozu's ideas were ever silly. "What is it?" he asked encouragingly.

"Well… I was just thinking about… the numbers."

Midoriya's grin was even wider than Mina's. He stood up, "Hey, everyone! We have an idea."

"Does it involve setting something on fire?" Kaminari asked with wide eyed innocence.

"…No? Yaoyorozu had a plan! Why don't we put our numbers on the back of our costumes?!"

"Our… student numbers?" asked Shinso, finally looking up from his coffee and form. He'd been so shocked by the prospect of actually becoming a hero that he'd participated in few conversations revolving it.

"We could claim them as our own…" Yaoyorozu said nervously, fiddling with the height of her ponytail.

"It would be a bit of a backhanded slap to UA, wouldn't it?" Kirishima laughed uncertainty.

"Mine might be a bit of a problem," Hagakure perked up. "I was thinking of just having gloves and boots."

Midoriya frowned at her, "What? This is UA we're talking about. Lemillion has his own hair weaved into his costume so it phases through walls with him. There's got to be a way to make a costume that can turn invisible with you."

"I… never had that as a villain."

"But you're not a villain anymore!"

"You can put the number on your gloves too anyway!" Uraraka suggested.

"Oh! Good point! You're the best, Ochako!"

The two hugged as Midoriya went back to thinking of his own costume.

Ok… so, a number 18 on the back. He thought of the Sports Festival, and grinned at the idea of a sword sheath across his back again, bright red and crossing over the number.

"Perhaps we should all have our red bands as well," Yaoyorozu told the whole class.

"And Midoriya with his gold ones," Tsu nodded. "You with silver, and Iida with bronze."

"M-Me?!" Iida perked up.

"Why not, ribbit?"

"Yeah, it's like in the police force!" Kirishima interjected, "With a gold, silver and bronze commander!"

Iida almost teared up.

"What's your hero name gonna be, Deku?!" Uraraka suddenly yelled right in his ear, drooped over the back of the sofa between him and Yaoyorozu.

He didn't even flinch, and didn't reply, deep in thought.

Uraraka started chatting with Yaoyorozu about costumes, but now Midoriya's brain had finally caught up to processing what Uraraka had said to him, and Yaoyorozu's idea with the numbers and the meaning behind that and…

…and he knew what his hero name had to be.

"Oh, that's a good point – Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu called out.

"Hm?" he said whilst scratching words onto his form, smiling brilliantly at his hero name. He angled his form away from Uraraka. He didn't want anyone to know what it was yet – he needed a better moment.

"We need a team name."

"…Oh."

Mina gasped, "A team name!" she clapped her hands excitably.

"What would that be though?" asked Sero.

"We could just stick with 1-A," Ojiro shrugged. "Team 1-A?"

"Probably for the best," Sato agreed.

"But that's so boring," Hagakure sighed. "Come on! We can think of something a little less predictable than that!"

"How about, the A-vengers!" Kaminari announced, waving his hand in the air with his words.

Everyone gave him a deadpan look.

"What?!"

"The Rebels!" Mina decided.

Jiro pretended to gag, "That's awful."

"Kaminari's Angels," Mina giggled, making it all a bit of a joke with her movie-reference spree.

"Or Aizawa's Devils," grinned Sero.

"Ouroboros," Tokoyami said quietly. Few heard him, so Midoriya gave him a strange look and waited for an explanation. "…It's a snake that represents the cycle of life and death."

"That's a very good idea," Yaoyorozu smiled sweetly, "But it might be a bit complicated for the general public to understand."

"I really think we've gotta have 1-A in the name," Ojiro insisted, aiming the acknowledgment at Midoriya, who seemed to have the deciding power here. "It's where we've all come from."

He hummed and stared at the ceiling. "Maybe if we make it an acronym?"

"One… A… Pfft – Angels," Mina stifled another laugh.

"If you keep coming up with those God-awful names, I'm gonna freaking punt you next training session," Kacchan threatened as he quietly filled out his own form.

Mina pretended to be insulted, and then went back to suggesting bad names.

"Something beginning with A…" Yaoyorozu mumbled.

"I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE –" Uraraka yelled.

"–SOMETHING BEGINNING WITH A!" Kaminari finished.

"ACRONYM!" Hagakure almost screamed.

This conversation quickly devolved into a literal game of eye-spy. Trust this class to go off the rails at any given opportunity.

"The apples in the fruit bowl?" asked Shoji.

"NOPE!" Uraraka replied. She was still hanging over the sofa next to Midoriya, so the consistently elevated volume was not helping.

"Shoji's arms?" guessed Jiro.

"Is it moi?!" Aoyama supposed.

"You don't have something beginning with A, do you?" Tsu supposed.

Uraraka gasped, "I do!" she held up her hero form sheet, "Astronaut!"

"Cute design, ribbit."

"Aw! Thank you!"

"I was going to guess the dorm," Shoto admitted, now perched on the arm beside Midoriya.

"The dorm?" he frowned.

"Height's Alliance."

"Oh yeah, good point."

"But that doesn't begin with A!" Uraraka giggled.

Shoto simply shrugged – then almost fell off the sofa when Midoriya snapped upright and clapped his hands.

"Height's Alliance!" he exclaimed.

Uraraka slowly slipped off the back of the sofa and collapsed onto the floor behind it. As soon as she clocked what Midoriya was talking about, she suddenly jumped up and yelled, "Height's 1-A!"

"Team H1A?" blinked Shoto.

"You sure?" frowned Kaminari. "Does it really fit though?"

"…Aren't you the same guy who just suggested A-vengers?" Sero grimaced.

"I still don't get what's wrong with that!"

"There are many things!"

Midoriya shrugged, smiling, "Team Height's Alliance. A from 1-A – for alliance. And then H for –"

"How far we're gonna take it!" Uraraka punched the air.

"H for heroes," Tsu smiled.

"And we can earn that number 1 along the way," nodded Yaoyorozu.

"We could have little H1A patches on our costumes too!" Mina squealed.

Midoriya's smile grew wider, "So, it's decided? Any disagreements?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"It's acceptable," Jiro nodded sagely.

Hagakure gasped, "A for acceptable!"

"No."

The mall Mr Aizawa chose to take them to was in Kiyashi Ward. It wasn't far from home, but Midoriya had never visited the place in his entire life. Let alone visit any sort of mall at all.

"It's a nice place though!" Hagakure insisted. "I've been quite a few times," she explained as they all stepped out of the bus.

They were all in their home clothes for once – trackers off. Midoriya supposed that the uniforms would attract too much attention, and trackers were always taken off when they left UA. Maybe they didn't work once they were outside the walls…? That was something important to consider…

"Oh, same!" Uraraka replied. "Never bought anything though."

"Me neither!" Hagakure laughed as she hooked her arm around Uraraka's.

"Do they mean they've both robbed this place?" Tsu pondered to Midoriya.

"Most likely," he grimaced.

"Alright, listen up," Mr Aizawa called out. He pointed over to a coffee shop near the centre of the mall. "I'll be here for the next two hours. I expect to see you all at the one-hour mark, and then again at the two-hour mark. Don't leave the mall and message me on your brick phones if anything happens. I will also be checking your bags before you leave – and I want you to get receipts for everything you buy, deal?"

"What, you expect us to steal stuff?!" Kaminari explained.

Mr Aizawa glared at him.

"We promise, Mr Aizawa!" Uraraka replied gleefully. "Hey, Hagakure – let me show you that jewellery shop!"

"Oh cool! I wonder if it's the same one that I went to!"

"Those two seriously concern me sometimes," Jiro deadpanned. "Hey, Bakugo! There's this shop that sells band merch on the other side of the mall, wanna come?!"

"I couldn't think of anything more annoying." And the two left immediately with Kirishima and Tokoyami hot on their tails.

Slowly but surely, most of the class split up, excitably wondering how they'd spend their small allowance. They didn't need to get much, since they were expected to wear their PE kit most of the time anyway, and a lot of camping essentials would be provided. Meaning, if they were careful with how much they spent on necessities, they would have a little left over to buy what they wanted.

Midoriya found himself wandering around with Shoto. Despite the apparent wealth of his family, it was clear that Shoto had never had much of an opportunity to enjoy that. Everything he ever needed was provided for him, he never had much choice – a stark contrast to the two years he spent with Dabi. It was one extreme or the other for him. Here, now finally somewhere in the middle, it was clear he didn't really know what to do with himself.

"Just some plain T-shirts – something to change into," Midoriya insisted, as he scoured the shop for exactly that, in his size and for the cheapest price possible.

"Hm," he just hummed in response and took his advice.

Midoriya didn't get much, and Shoto mainly copied him. Just… bug spray and some new, basic clothing; some warm layers and some swim shorts. He had an idea of buying some tech-kit, but he didn't want to go against Mr Aizawa's trust, and he was never allowed near the stuff at UA anyway.

"You know what you could do with the rest of this money," Midoriya supposed after the hour mark had gone by and they were walking away from Mr Aizawa.

"What's that?"

Midoriya pointed towards a small shop, "Get you a haircut."

Shoto froze.

"What a brilliant idea!"

Midoriya jumped when Uraraka suddenly appeared with Hagakure and Tsu.

Hagakure hurried forwards and started to push Shoto towards the shop entrance.

"Don't worry, Midori, we can handle this one!" Uraraka giggled.

"Actually, you know what – I think I prefer Deku."

"Oh, really?! You sure?!"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Shoto shot a look back at him of utter betrayal, and Midoriya couldn't help but laugh.

"See you in a bit then, Deku!" Uraraka beamed as she hurried into the hair salon behind the others.

Midoriya supposed that this meant he wasn't included. That probably wasn't the case and he more than likely was welcome to witness this spectacle, but he didn't want to crowd Shoto more than he already was.

He started to walk away, content with being alone with his thoughts for a moment and wander around. He'd always enjoyed doing that, but… he never felt particularly safe doing it at his home neighbourhood, since nearly everyone there knew who he was, and anyone his age would have been in his old classes and were in the group that sneered at his Quirklessness as though it were some kind of disease. This obviously got far worse as soon as the letter arrived for his enrolment into UA, and what he had done to Kacchan was revealed at school. Suddenly those glares held a little more… fear than before. Midoriya grimaced at the thought of his past-self enjoying the sensation.

And now, after the spectacle at the Sports Festival, and more recently, the exposure from the incident with Stain, Midoriya was more in the spotlight than ever before. He'd seen limited news coverage of the occasion, since the finer details of the story were only becoming more mainstream at the very end of the home visits, and Midoriya hadn't been able to see the mess he'd made for himself on the internet ever since he came back to UA.

Someone knocked against his shoulder, making him stumble and almost lose his footing.

"Watch where you're going, freak!" yelled the culprit, despite the fact that Midoriya really hadn't done anything wrong.

He stared after him for a moment, blinking with surprise.

It hadn't gone unnoticed to Midoriya the way that the occasional passer-by would stare, nudge their friend on the shoulder, and point back at them. He saw people taking sneaky pictures and whisper harsh words. He tried his best to ignore them; they weren't worth his time, especially when walking around with Shoto, who was obviously a bit of a famous face and had been for some time.

However, now that he was alone, he suddenly felt a lot more exposed. After a minute, he turned on his heel and started to walk back towards the hair salon to meet up with the others. Midoriya may have been plain faced and had far less distinguishing features, but he was clearly one of the more infamous of the group at this point. He didn't particular want to endure another –

"Well, well, well, look who we have here."

An unfamiliar arm was suddenly draped around his shoulders. Midoriya flinched and tried to duck away, but the stranger managed to keep his hold.

"If it isn't Izuku Midoriya? What are you doing all the way out here?"

Midoriya gulped and finally pushed the man away, "I-I'm on a sort of class trip. Sorry, I was just going back to my friends and I –"

The man was insistent. He stepped forwards again and lay a hand on Midoriya's shoulder.

"Come now, I just want a little chat. I'm not going to do anything…" And it was at this moment that the hooded stranger raised his head, just enough for the light to catch the features on his face; the dull blue of his hair; the gleaming red of his eyes. "Unless, of course, you make this more difficult than it needs to be."

"…Shigaraki."

"Midoriya."

Midoriya glanced at the hand on his shoulder; at the one finger raised above the fabric of his shirt. He thought of the nature of the man's Quirk and swallowed his building concern, "…What are you doing here?"

Shigaraki let out a short laugh, "I believe I asked that question first."

"And I answered it," he replied stiffly.

Shigaraki rolled his eyes and smiled again, "Come with me. Let's sit."

Midoriya slapped his hand away, and before he could let out any other kind of threat, Midoriya said, "Fine. Let's talk – but I won't if you insist on being so threatening about it."

The villain blinked, mirroring Midoriya's own surprised when faced with his earlier confrontation.

Midoriya took this moment to turn and lead him away from the hustle and bustle of the central mall plaza. There was a little fountain not that far away. Thinking back to the fond memories of the USJ attack, Midoriya sat down on the side of it, and gestured for Shigaraki to sit beside him.

"…I didn't expect for you to be so –" the man started.

"Oh, shut up," Midoriya sighed. The encounter had made him feel rather done with the League of Villains all of a sudden – and… the general public as a whole. His mood was clear in the tone of his voice. "You just can't leave me alone, can you?"

"…You are an interesting piece."

"What is this, chess?"

He grinned, "Hasn't it always been a game to the likes of you and I?"

"Sure felt that way on the numerous occasions you tried to kill me," Midoriya groaned, resting his chin in his hand and scanning across the mall before him, trying to see if he could spot any of his classmates.

Would he call for help? Probably not. Shigaraki may have not had his dangerous hand on his shoulder anymore, but the silent threat was still clear. And he could attack and kill any number of the (innocent) people around him at the drop of a hat. Besides… Midoriya was weirdly interested in where this interaction would lead.

"Seriously though, what are you doing here?" Midoriya insisted. "Did you track us? How?"

The man made no indication towards the truth and did not reply. It made Midoriya feel uneasy. Hoping it was just a coincidence, Midoriya tried to push the conversation down another track, "You tried to kill me at the USJ. Then, you tried to… I don't know, recruit me? In Hosu? What do you want?"

"You're an interesting piece," he repeated. "If we were talking about chess, at first I'd say you were a throw-away pawn. I soon realised that your journey through life had made you much more."

"…I don't know much about chess to be honest."

"Neither do I. I prefer video games."

"Oh yeah? What kinds?"

And that's how the head of the League of Villains and the head of UA's class 1-A, spent ten minutes talking about video games that Midoriya didn't know much about. Maybe it really was a coincidence that Shigaraki ended up here at the same time as him. Surely, he would have had a little more of a confrontation planned if this interaction were expected.

"– And that's what All Might is. The final boss. We went about it wrong at the USJ – tackling the final boss with a large party of level one players was never going to work. We would need a smaller, more elite team, if we were to ever stand a chance," Shigaraki explained, finally drawing the conversation back to reality.

"You, the warp guy and Dabi?" Midoriya guessed. "That's it?"

Shigaraki's lip curled, "If you thought I would spill such information to you, you would be mistaken. You're fighting for the wrong team at the moment."

Midoriya raised his eyebrows, "You still want me on your side, huh? Well, it's not going to work. You're not going to get Shoto back to Dabi. He's passed that now. You're too late."

He scoffed, "Dabi is the one who insists on his brother being a valuable asset."

"Don't try and pretend like you weren't after him before you got Dabi on your side," Midoriya snapped. The prolonged nature of their conversation had nurtured his confidence. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, well, time could only tell. "How did you get Dabi on your side?"

"Our infiltration of the USJ turned more than just the heads of the heroic community. I was planning on locating him in Hosu, but… the situation changed."

Midoriya didn't like the sound of that. If the League of Villains hadn't found Dabi, and it was in fact the other way around, did Dabi have some kind of plan up his sleeve? Something to do after he got Shoto back? But… Shigaraki wasn't that specific. Midoriya needed more information, but the look on Shigaraki's face, even though it was mainly shrouded by his hood, suggested that he shouldn't push any further.

He did it anyway.

"What… What are you all planning anyway? To just kill All Might?"

"I hate him," Shigaraki seethed, his words like venom. "Look around. He's everywhere."

Midoriya glanced around the mall once again. He could see All Might's smiling face on posters on nearly every wall – in merch shops – on the dolls in the hands of small children. He really was everywhere.

"Hm… Yeah, people really rely on him."

"Stain… he said that our goals did not align." Shigaraki stared down at his hand whilst he spoke, deep in thought. It was strange, how the world just couldn't see villains like him as human. Shigaraki was human, like Midoriya, just… flawed. But everyone was flawed. "He said that All Might should stay alive. That he was a true hero."

"Hm, I don't know about that… No hero is perfect. But Stain was onto something – about the fake heroes. He just went about it in the wrong way."

"…You're on the wrong side," Shigaraki grinned.

"I'm not," Midoriya insisted, shaking his head. He was a lot more certain now. (Was he?) He wasn't about to let Shigaraki shake him up after all this. (But had he already?) "I think you are," he pressed, pushing invasive thought away. "I don't know what happened to you or what led you to do this, but… it's not right. Maybe you would have benefited from being in a place like class 1…" he gulped as he clocked the expression on Shigaraki's face, "…A."

The atmosphere quickly shifted. Only now did it truly dawn on Midoriya that he was sitting and chatting to a guy that was most likely a murderer, a full-blown villain. And he was absolutely alone.

"I will kill All Might," he said, eyes alight with mania.

What does he say to that?! Ok, alright, good for you – no! It's murder! What the hell?!

He tried his best to swallow his fear, "But why?! Just because you don't like him. I don't either but I'm not out to kill him! You know, maybe this is why Stain was so against you. You don't have a real goal. No reason – of course Stain didn't want to help you! Not only did you want to kill the only hero he liked, but you didn't have a reason to other than you just didn't like him."

If looks could kill, the one Shigaraki was giving him at the moment would leave him as nothing more than a pile of dust. Luckily enough, Shigaraki's Quirk didn't work that way.

And so, Midoriya kept going. If he was going to face doubts, so was Shigaraki. "Not everything can just go your way. Not everything is right and wrong and good and evil, ok? Stain isn't just going to side with you because you're both villains. I'm not going to side with you because that was once my label too!"

"Once," Shigaraki repeated, saying the word slowly and grimacing as though it left a bitter taste on his tongue. "Are you sure you're still not wearing that label? Look at all these people. You really think you'll ever be rid of it?"

Midoriya ignored that creeping doubt, rising up again. "There are no sides," he forced out the words. "There are only people, and the goals they aim for. What's wrong with you is you're still treating this like there are sides! You don't even know what you're doing." A thought occurred to him. He narrowed his eyes as he said, "…It makes me think that there's someone else pulling the strings."

Shigaraki snapped his gaze back to him, fury boiling skin deep, evident by the twitch of his deadly hands. It would take a second for him to reach out and press them against Midoriya's arms – then it was the end of the road.

But suddenly, his shoulders visibly relaxed. Midoriya saw him blink, as though a moment of clarity had washed over him. He followed his gaze to another All Might poster, printed up on the side of an escalator, not far away.

"Yes…" the man murmured. "Pulling the strings of society. That's what All Might does – painting a false picture of the world; lets all these fools smile so thoughtlessly – just like he does. Ooh, but what if someone were to cut those strings, then what, huh?"

Midoriya thought of his Monopoly game, folding in on itself without the central support of the symbol of peace.

"– His pretty little illusion would crumble," Shigaraki smiled, grin stretching from ear to ear. "Then they'd see – they'd see what I do."

Hysteric, Shigaraki threw his arm over Midoriya's shoulder again. With his free arm, he gestured to the oblivious people who walked by. "They'd see a world full of villains like you and me! People who could use their Quirks to cause a massacre whenever they wanted! That's what your 1-A is for, isn't it?! A way for them to contain you. And you –" he prodded him in the chest as his breath hitched – "you were lumped in with the rest! You really think they care about you? The Quirkless soul you are – they don't care! You're here for one reason, and one reason only, because you can see through the cracks – the cracks All Might's illusion holds! He's getting weaker – I know he is I know it that's why you stepped in at the USJ! You're fighting for the wrong cause, 18 – I can get you away from here – and you can help me cut the strings! You can learn to pull them yourself!"

Midoriya pushed away, standing up and stumbling backwards.

Shigaraki stood up too, smile not wavering. "We'll meet again," he promised. "Think about it." And with that, the villain turned, hands in his pockets, and walked away.

"…You ok, Midoriya?"

Midoriya jumped and turned around. Shoto blinked back at him.

"Y-Yeah, um – oh! Your hair!"

His hair was cut shorter – a simple style, one which would require little management or effort, leaving a fringe just above his eyes. It was too short now to put into that ponytail. The hairband lay unused around his wrist.

He smiled softly, "I don't mind it," he admitted.

"Good," Midoriya replied, letting out a breath of air he didn't realise he was holding in.

"It's almost the two-hour mark," Shoto pointed out.

"R-Right, let's err, go back to Mr Aizawa then?"

"…Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yep! Yeah, really."

"…Ok, let's go."

Midoriya found himself glancing over his shoulder consistently for the rest of their time at the mall, whilst Mr Aizawa rounded up the rest of the class who had lost track of time, most of which were absorbed into the arcade.

He felt on edge on the entire bus drive home. For once, he was glad to be back within the walls of UA. When he returned to his room in Height's Alliance, he collapsed immediately onto his bed, almost squishing his form for the provisional hero licencing exam as he did so. He had a few more days before he needed to hand it in.

His eyes drifted down to his hero name.

"I think the name Deku sounds like dekiru – can! So it's like… you can do it! And I thought that was fitting."

Deku.

"The Quirkless soul you are – they don't care! You're here for one reason, and one reason only, because you can see through the cracks – the cracks All Might's illusion holds!"

"You've become a monster."

"– Because I'm a villain and you're just the Quirkless kid pretending that he can be a hero!"

"– Someone has to do something about it – if it's not me, it doesn't look like it's going to be anyone! And if that means burning the bloody whole thing to the freaking ground, then so be it!"

He turned over and tried to forget.