I-Island.

It's an artificially moving island created as a hub for the world's top scientists, researchers, and support gear developers to study quirks and develop tools to assist Pro-Heroes. With a defense system nearly as secure as the world's greatest high-security prison, Tartarus, the surfing cities have been proclaimed a utopia and a symbol of peace almost as great as All-Might himself.

And today, one month after you began attending Midtown Horizon High, the junior and senior classes are visiting it on a field trip.

"I can't believe your dad orchestrated this, Melissa," Jason remarks, wonder in his eyes.

Melissa sheepishly smiles. "Me too," she admits. "But he said he was willing to pull a few strings with I-Island docked at the New York ports for a few days while they restock supplies."

"You should see this place during the I-Expo," Gary brags. "It's even more incredible."

Melissa and you can't help but nod. Due to your connections to her family and Nezu, you have been invited to the expo several times. Still, while nothing here is necessarily new, I-Island will always be incredibly welcoming.

I still can't believe this place has four cities. It's massive! I doubt I'll see every inch of this place in my lifetime. And it's so peaceful here. Heck, if I had an interest in support gear, I wouldn't consider anyplace else for college. The fact that Melissa is thinking of picking U.A. over I-Island Academy simply to spend more time with me is… well, she's the best friend I could ever have.

"So?" Raven jumps in. "Any interesting attractions?"

"Huh?" Gary blinks.

"You know? Places to eat? Museums? Anything more interesting than one of the multiple books I brought with me?"

"You think museums are interesting?" Jason questions.

"Sometimes," Rae shrugs. "Julius seems to think so, at least. Otherwise, he'd be traveling the city with us."

"Yeah," Miles agrees, a sparkle in his eyes. "This island is basically a library on the history of quirks! The brightest minds of our era all consider this home! Almost all the most significant discoveries of our lifetime were either found here or only realized with the help of resources from the companies that have set up shop here! Being here is like a dream come true."

"I think I'm more interested in the attractions," Himiko admitted.

"This place is so massive; picking one thing would be incredibly tough," Pony muttered. "Do the people who've been here before have any ideas?"

You scratch your chin, trying to find a suitable answer to the half-horse's question. "Oh," you realize before beginning to walk. "I think I got a place in mind."

Melissa perks her head up, curious. "Where?"


A few minutes later, you and the group arrive at an artificial mountain at the center of an arena. The craggy cliffs weave together with multiple waterfalls; it's a beautiful, if dangerous, battleground.

"What is this place?" Jason questions as he and the others peer around the Colosseum.

"A zone where there's no restriction on quirk use. I-Island set this place up for its hero school. It's their training grounds. And during the expo, they host official tournaments. Citizens, students, and pro-heroes alike test their metal out on the course," you explain with a smirk.

"Are we supposed to be here?"

"I mean, it's open to the public, too," you shrug. "It's an automated course."

"What if someone gets hurt?"

"Then I have my sister on speed dial," you groan. "Besides, these things shoot light tasers. Serious injuries are a non-issue. Come on! Aren't you all curious how you stack up to the competition?"

Jason scratches the back of his neck. "I'll pass. I might be a great martial artist, but I don't think that's gonna help much against things made of metal."

"What about the rest of you?"

Miles takes a step back. He looks like a nervous wreck. Even if he wasn't quirkless, something you've been suspecting may or may not actually be the truth. Still, you decide not to press him on this.

Gary scoffs. "I need more hero training from my pops before I make a fool of myself trying to take on something like this."

"Seriously? There's your sense of adventure!"

Himiko raises her hand. "I'll do it!"

"That's the spirit!"

'I just need some bear blood," Himiko grins. "Maybe some wolf blood."

"We… don't have that," you point out.

"Oh," your girlfriend realizes, slightly dejected but smiling nonetheless. "I guess I can't do the course after all."

You resist the urge to pull your hair out. "You know what? Fine. I'll just do it myself."

Jumping over the balcony onto the ground below, you land on your feet, thanks to your cheerleading training, walking to the center of the arena to start the course.

A robotic voice pops up over the intercom. "Ready, Steady, Go!"

As a bullhorn sounds off, you charge at the hill.

Unfortunately, you're not as fast as you thought you were.

While the robots' tasers bounce off your shield and scales, dealing not even a scratch to you, it takes you quite a bit longer to get to them. And with no ranged attacks, your only choice is to strike at the robots with your claws.

From robot to robot, you slowly navigate the hill, destroying each with little issue.

And soon enough, you learn your final time.

"What do you mean it took over two minutes?!" you complain, completely dejected.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Gary says. "At least you completed it. None of us could do even half as well as you did."

"I could," Rae offhandedly mentions as she turns the page of her novel.

"Oh, really?" you huff. "I'd like to see you try. The loser pays for the other's lunch."

"Deal," Rae agrees before floating down to the area floor, carried by her astral projection.

The horn sounds as the rest of you get situated in the bleachers, and Rae begins her turn.

Compared to your run, it's night and day.

Rae might be even slower than you at movement, but her ability to attack from the range is vital in this contest. Since Rae only has to worry about hiking up the mountain instead of going to each one of the robots individually, she cuts the distance she needs to travel to dispatch the robots in half. Your only chance is Rae getting stunned by the robots' tasers, but despite getting blasted once or twice, Rae's astral projection can redirect most of the shots away from the heroine-to-be.

In the end, you can't help but groan.

"One minute and thirty-nine seconds," Rae reports.

"So, was that offer to pay for all of us?" Jason teases.

The glare you send his way is the only answer he needs.


About an hour later, you're footing the bill for Rae at a small restaurant that Melissa guided you toward. Considering the excellent quality of food, and the incredible view of the city, you have to say it's money well spent.

"What's keeping Julius?" Pony questions, slurping from the smoothie. "He said he'd meet us here, but that was fifteen minutes ago."

"Maybe he got lost," Rae shrugs, less interested in the meal you paid for and once again buried in her book. "Give him some time. I'm sure he'll be here any minute."

"Yeah," Miles agrees. "This place is massive."

"Even if we wanted to look for him, the chances of us finding him on our own is slim to none," Jason reasons.

"Ugh," you complain. "And this is why the rest of us agreed to keep the GPS on our phones and not wander off anywhere alone. What could be so damn important that he bails on us like this?"

"He's not picking up his phone either," Melissa voices, showing everyone her phone's screen.

"Julius is probably just busy," Rae adds. "As I said, give him a minute."

"I agree with the birdie," Himiko interrupts as a small pigeon pecks at her bag of chips. "This food is delicious!"

"That's… not very helpful," Pony notes, trying to keep herself from giggling at your girlfriend's antics. "And should you really be filling up on snacks when we're about to eat lunch proper?"

"Well, I'm not gonna waste my time," Jason and his stomach growl. "I'm gonna get some real food."

Most of the table agrees with Jason, at least as to the prospect of eating.

"What do you want, Kazuha?" Himiko questions, clearly intent on ordering for the both of you.

Realizing you haven't looked at the menu yet and not wanting to hold Himiko up, you hold back a sigh. "Surprise me?"

"Really?" Himiko's eyes sparkle with mischievous intent.

"No," you deadpan. "You know what I like to eat. Get me something you know I'll like."

"Oh," Himiko pouts, clearly not having as much fun with the idea as before. "I can do that."

"Don't worry," Melissa whispers into your ear. "I'll keep an eye on her."

"Oh, and if you see Julius, wave him over," Gary suggests as he and everyone else head inside, leaving you to guard the table.

With nothing better to do, you allow your mind to wander, specifically reminiscing on your time in the United States. And you can say without a shadow of a doubt that the last month since you arrived at Midtown Horizon High has been one of the best times of your life. It took you a while, but you finally found yourself in a comfortable rhythm.

You start your days having breakfast in the morning with Himiko, Horie, Melissa, and Akia. Despite none of you actually being related by blood, every meal feels like a family gathering. You wouldn't want to wake up any other way; it is only ever ruined by Akia ending things to drive the four of you to school on time.

During lunch, you and Himiko would sit with Melissa and the other seniors. While you were still cordial with many other juniors you shared classes with, many of whom Horie had become close friends with, you simply gravitated toward the year above you.

This, of course, is not at all hurt by the fact that Pony, your only close acquaintance from your class, joins you more often than not. Pony is the closest thing to an otaku still left in this world. She's a member of a dying breed as hero culture slowly becomes the only culture that matters. Her perspective is interesting, and how you can relate to her as the daughter of a pro-hero only deepens your bond further.

After school, you join the seniors for an afternoon 'study session' at one of your favorite yet affordable New York hang-out spots or join the cheerleaders for practice. While you don't find yourself as invested in the team without Sayaka around to lift your spirits, you recognize the need to stay in shape and improve your overall dexterity, charisma, and precision if you plan to be a hero.

Something today proved for sure. I can't believe I got completely outclassed by Rae. Heck, would I even pass the entrance exam next year at this rate? That was a downright pathetic showing. I got to be better.

Following your afternoon activity of choice, you either head back to the apartment or, assuming you're at a place with good wifi, set up your laptop to stream the student council meetings.

From there, you have dinner with your roommates and work with Horie and Himiko to complete your daily homework assignments. If time permits, you typically spend the night dividing your time between Melissa and Himiko.

You begrudgingly can't deny that you and Horie have become more distant as the weeks have passed. While you're still sisters, and nothing in the world would change that at this point, Horie's body language speaks volumes, and you can't help but feel a little guilty. Horie came out to New York for your sake, and since coming out here, you really haven't spent any quality time with her outside of the meals once or twice a day.

I just hope that we can get back to what we used to be. I haven't been treating Horie the best since I started dating Himiko. She was always kinda the third wheel in our trio since that point, but at least our sharing a dorm allowed Horie and I to maintain our relationship. Now, we don't even have that right now. There's got to be something I can do, but what?

You peer down at your phone.

One of the tasers got Rae pretty good, even if she's been somewhat aloof about it to maintain her persona. Guess that was the cost of snatching the win from the jaws of defeat. Would this be a bad time to contact Horie about maybe patching Rae up? It wasn't all that serious, but it couldn't hurt, right? Or am I just continuing to use and abuse Horie's healing abilities, having one of the future best medics in the world on speed dial?

Ugh, being a good sister is tough. It's almost as tough as being a good girlfriend.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Looking up, you notice Gary slide into the spot next to you with a salad.

"You didn't get anything else?" you interrogate. "With your build?"

"Nah, I'm supposed to be on a bit of a diet anyway," Gary confirms before blinking in confusion. "Wait, was that a dig at my weight?"

You laugh. "Seriously? You're one of the most popular guys in school, and you think I'm calling you fat for not getting anything besides a salad?"

"I mean, when you put it like that, it sounds kinda pathetic."

"It really does," you concur.

Besides Pony and Melissa, Gary is probably the easiest person in the group for you to get along with for similar reasons. His father, Omnipotent, isn't just one of the more notable heroes in the United States like Pony's mom, but one of the most famous worldwide, ranking 5th overall. Like many of your friends looking to become pro-heroes, he had a noble spirit. But you could also tell Gary felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, like there was a destiny of heroism awaiting him he had yet to realize.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't bail on us. Julius did," you admit.

"What are you talking about?"

"I thought you would've wanted some alone time with Ember. You didn't even invite her to join us today."

"You know how she feels about Jason," Gary reminds you of that sore spot. "Besides, we're… taking a break."

"No shit?"

"No shit."

"How the heck did that happen?"

"My dad's been training me recently, as you're well aware."

"You've been doing that a lot lately."

"Entrance exams are coming soon, so we've been kicking things into overdrive. And one night, my dad pushed me a bit too far."

"Migraine?"

"Yep," Gary confirms. "I felt pain all over, even if there weren't any physical traces of the damage. I could barely drag myself out of bed afterward."

"And I take it Ember didn't take your absence on whatever you had planned very well."

"Considering I had promised to meet her mom that night, yeah."

"That sucks," you comment.

"That's it? That's all you, the daughter of the great Mr. Principal, have to say? No words of wisdom for me?"

"Well, if that's what you're looking for, my best advice is to either date a fellow superhero or find a girl who finds it really hot when you come home mentally battered and bruised."

"So I should try and take Himiko off your hands?" Gary jokes.

"Don't say that in front of her," you advise. "She won't realize you're joking and will cut you for it."

"I'm invincible," Gary brags. "She's not gonna cut me."

"Trust me. Himiko will find a way. And if she can't? She'll find a way to make you wish you could be cut."

"That's terrifying," Gary shivers. "You can keep her."

"Don't worry," you reassure. "Himiko's better than she used to be. She's just a bit…."

"Yandere?" Gary interjects.

"Where did you learn that word?"

"From Pony. She called Himiko 'Yandere-Chan' once, and I wanted to know what the hell that meant."

"You know, that nickname is incredibly fitting now that I think about it. Though Himiko has killed Horie yet, so I don't think she'd actually resort to such methods."

"You literally just said she'd cut me if I flirted with you."

"Yeah, but that's because you'd actually deserve it. I mean, seriously, who would want to date that ugly mug."

You point down to the coffee mug on his tray, very proud of your wordplay and teasing, even if a bit childish.

"Touché," Gary relents, done with the conversation, primarily out of fear that Himiko would sneak up behind him, as she was often able to do.

If there's one thing that my girlfriend is good at, it's being stealthy. She was already light on her feet, but our training of her quirk combined with cheerleading has only emphasized her abilities. She might not be a conventional hero. In fact, her quirk is one the general public would more than likely not associate with a villain. But I know Himiko can be better, if a little terrifying, to the people around her.

"Besides, Ember is trying to get into hero school with me," Gary casually drops.

"Really? I thought she wasn't interested in that stuff."

"Well, her best friend Ava's gonna enroll. And Ember's powers are awesome."

"Ava," you tap her chin. "Isn't she the one that works at that soup kitchen?"

"That's the one. When Avs's not in class, she's been doing all types of community service. Heck, sometimes she skips class to attend those events."

"And she's gonna become a hero? Her quirk is awesome!"

"Well, her dad's kinda a dick."

"Isn't everyone's dad?" you roll your eyes.

"Now you're just projecting. My dad's not that bad."

"Why don't I believe you?"

"You've literally met him before."

"Okay, so not every father has a stick up their ass."

"You… I get things are tough between you and your dad right now. But he didn't mean to hurt you or Himiko."

You can deny Gary's probably right. "It just feels like he doesn't approve of our relationship, that he doesn't trust me to be there for Himiko."

"He does. But seeing your daughter's girlfriend turn into her dog would freak out any parent, even in a society filled with quirks. You just gotta give him time and reassurance."

"I guess," you relent before looking down at your phone, deciding to change topics. "Okay, seriously, where is Julius?"

"It is weird that we haven't heard from him. You think he's alright?"

"He better be," you groan. "The least he could do is call."

As if on cue, your phone starts ringing.

"Fucking finally."

Picking it up, you place the device to your ear.

"Yo, Julius. Where have you been?"

On the other end of the line, you can hear Julius huffing and puffing like he's about to blow his lungs out of his chest. "No… time…."

"Julius?"

"Get… everyone… out… of… here… NOW!"

The line goes dead.

Your jaw can't help but fall limp.

"Kaz? What's wrong?"

"I don't…."

BOOM!

The entire island shakes, an earthquake knocking pedestrians off their feet. And in the distance…

A building is up in flames… and another… and another.

People begin rushing out into the streets in a panic, only to be met by multiple armored vehicles painted the same dark, murky hue. The emblem emboldened on them marks them as belonging to the same organization.

Midsummer Knights Dream.

An order of so-called paladins of justice, self-titled vigilantes, and Robin Hood figures, who, more often than not, are focused on attacking the trade of illegal drugs or other high-level criminal enterprises typically left untouched by the highly regulated heroes.

I doubt I-Island employs these guys as security.

Himiko, Horie, Jason, Melissa, and Rae run up to you in the chaos.

"Kazuha!" Himiko tackles you in a hug. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," you soothe her.

"What's going on?" Jason basically orders, taking control of the situation.

"We don't know," Gary responds before noticing someone is missing from the group. "Wait, where's Miles?"

"We lost him in the crowd," Melissa explains, a bit of panic teetering on the edge of her voice. "I thought he'd meet us here."

"Guess we thought wrong," Rae retorts, her astral projection flickering behind her, ready to pounce at the first sign of danger.

Nearby, a jumbotron bursts to life. On the screen is a masked man, one whose infamy has steadily been growing over the last year or so. The leader of Midsummer Knights Dream…

"I am… Naught!"

Despite the lack of facial features, the mere presence of the speaker and the charisma radiating from him is captivating. The cloaked figure dressed as royalty continues; you can hear the Cheshire grin in his voice.

"People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit. We of the Midsummer Knights Dream stand with all who have no weapons to wield. We have learned of dangerous technology being developed here on the island, many devices of which were developed at the cost of human experimentation. So many lives have been lost, and yet the secrets behind these machines have been locked away in a vault, forever hidden from the eyes of the public. What does that mean for the people who, willingly or otherwise, gave their lives to advance society forward? Those who made actions that have been made wanton meaningless should be honored. Therefore, those who took the value of those lives and treated them as tools have to be punished."

Is he talking about David? What exactly is going on here?

"We can not stand by and allow such cruelty to be carried out, and so we made them pay for their actions, hence this formal hijacking and protest."

Protest? More like a hostile taker!

"Those who would join us in peaceful protest are free and welcome to do as they please. But to those who would use us as a shield for their misdeeds, you best remember the mantra of our order: The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed! Wherever oppressors abuse their power by attacking those who are powerless, we shall appear again. No matter how mighty, how formidable our foe may be."

Naught throws out their arms, undoubtedly playing things up for the camera, craving to be the center of attention.

"Those of you with power… fear us. Those of you without it… rally behind us. For we will be the ones to stand in judgment of this world."

"Judge, jury, and executioner? Haven't you heard of separation of powers?" you hear a confident voice quip as they swing around the building, landing in front of three paladins, who all raise their weapons defensively. "Well, are we gonna stand around all day, or are we gonna fight?"

That's Arachnid! What is this; Vigilante-Expo?!

The spider-themed vigilante arrived on the scene a few months before you came to New York, and he'd undoubtedly left an impact in that time. He'd also made himself a firm enemy of the Midsummer Knights Dream, treating them less as fellow vigilantes and more as a league of villains. As far as you were aware, his powers were doing anything a spider could do. The most notable feature of the hero, however, was the six metallic spider arms emerging from his back.

"What should we do?" Jason whispers as loud as possible.

"If the Knights truly mean what they say, shouldn't we stay out of their way?" Rae suggests.

"And what if they don't?"

"I'm not saying we abandon everyone. We just need to guide the citizens away from any potential harm's way."

"There has to be something more we can do. Maybe we can help Arachnid?"

"Coming from the guy who didn't want to take on the hero training course," you pointedly remind him. "You think those guns are giant tasers? You need to get a reality check! Besides, you don't have a quirk!"

"Which means I can't get in trouble for using my skills to defend myself," Jason reasons.

"Cool your jets, hot head," Rae scolds. "You're gonna get us all killed."

"Then what do you suggest we do, Princess?"

"Shouldn't we be trying to find our friends?" Mark suggests. "We have no idea where Miles wandered off to, and that call didn't sound good."

"Yeah," you add. "Why did the Knights need to blow places up for a peaceful protest? That doesn't seem peaceful to me."

"They're after technology, right?" Mellisa deduces. "Then the people in the central tower aren't safe." The blonde looks down at her phone, which isn't getting a connection. "My dad and everyone in that building could be in danger, especially with the security system not seeming to be online right now."

Right. Didn't the island partially dock so they could repair that system and update it? Maybe the Knights got fed that information somehow?

Himiko tugs on your sleeve. "We have to find Horie!" she presses. "Family comes first."

"I'd like to find our classmates as well," Pony says. "Everyone is scattered all over the place, and this city is like a maze. There will be safety in numbers."

"Whatever we decide," Gary reasons, "we need to stick together until the knights get what they want or the pro heroes show up to clean up shop."

"Everyone should do what they think is right," Jason declares. "We can't be everywhere at once!"

"We're only high school students," Melissa reasons. "And a lot of us are quirkless. Being alone is dangerous. Don't go playing hero and lone wolf at the same time!"

"I don't know," Rae admits. "We all want to do different things. Maybe it would be best to let everyone do what they want. It's not like most of us aren't capable of staying out of trouble."

"Whatever we do, we should figure it out together, and right now," Mark presses, seeing Arachnid putting up a fight against the paladins. "Because once backup arrives, we aren't going anywhere."

You put your thinking cap on and get to work.

So, there are two primary questions.

Firstly, are we planning on sticking together or breaking apart? If we stick together, then it could lead to some hurt feelings depending on the course of action that's agreed upon. But there's safety in numbers, and we can back one another up. But would I rather hurt feelings or get people actually hurt because that's a genuine possibility. I could be dragging people into a situation where they could get harmed physically and mentally and get in trouble for using our quirks in a Quirk-regulated zone. Maybe everyone properly knows their limits? Who knows, but as the youngest in the group, even if I think it's possible, forcing them under one banner will only truly work if it's something we can all agree upon. The short of it is, can I trust them to not do something stupid?

And then there's what to do.

Jason seems surprisingly intent on going up against the paladins, helping Arachnid fight them off. So long as we work together as a team, I think we might be able to hold them off or at least buy Arachnid some time to finish them. The problem is Jason himself is quirkless, as is Melissa, but at least she knows to stay out of the way. Jason seems keen on using his skills and proving himself. The other issue with Jason's idea is that this wouldn't be self-defense. Because of that, we'd technically all be acting as vigilantes. We could get in serious trouble here, especially if we're seen working with Arachnid. And there could be reinforcements, too.

Rae seems to be suggesting that we alternatively blend in with the crowd and steer them away from the battle while Arachnid handles things. It would be good to help the pro heroes out by separating the enemies from the civilians when they eventually get on the scene, and it helps keep people safe in a less flashy way. But even in the panic, we're students. It would take a lot of charisma to actually do anything, and the more voices in the pot, the less likely we would succeed. It's a solid activity, but maybe not the best for an entire group, where that might be counterintuitive.

Gary seems worried about our missing friends, especially Julius. And to be honest, I'm somewhat concerned about him as well. He's been a bit secretive about what he's been up to out on I-Island, and it seems like wherever Julius was, he got some sort of advanced warning. He could be in some serious trouble. The problem is that it will be a wild goose chase, especially with him not giving too much information, only that it was some meeting related to his mother's old hero agency, which he still technically has a hand in due to her founder's share. Still, it's pretty strange it would happen on I-Island. What's actually going on with Julius? My gut is telling me he's not giving us the full truth. If I wasn't so intelligent and charismatic, I might not have caught on, but there's something wrong about this entire thing that just feels fishy. Still, do I want to be dragging everyone into this mess?

Melissa is pretty worried about her father for good reason. It makes sense that if Naught is smokescreening the stealing of technology through the guise of a peaceful protest, he'd be going after the central tower. Still, that could end up being incredibly dangerous, even more so than taking on the guards outside. I should only do that if I think I'm ready because it will be seriously deadly. But what happens if Melissa goes in there alone? However, I have some faith that Melissa wouldn't do something like that alone. Honestly, if they don't have backup, I'm not sure how many people would end up teaming up regardless, choosing to help someone else's goal.

Finally, Pony and Himiko want to regroup with our classmates, particularly the juniors. I am worried about Horie, and her quirk could seriously come in handy right now, but much like with Julius and Miles, this is essentially a wild goose chase and retracing their steps. Still, it might show Horie that I genuinely care about her. It's a weird way to build bridges, but I've done stranger things before, right? Still, most of the seniors barely know Horie and the juniors. I don't wanna call my friends selfish or jerks, but how many of them would really think this is the best use of their time in this clearly emergency situation.

In either case, I have to make a decision. Time is of the essence!


DECISION POINT #1: Should You Stay Together or Split Up?

A - Stay Together

B - Split Up

DECISION POINT #2: What Should You Prioritize?

A - Fighting The Midsummer Knights Dream

B - Evacuating the Civilians

C - Look for Miles and Julius

D - Head for the Central Tower

E - Look for Horie and the Junior Class