A/N: Alright, people! Time for the end of this little segue of mine, which I have so enjoyed creating. Seems as though you guys liked it too, which is about all I can hope for whenever I venture into more 'original' territory.

Before we get back into the story, I'd like to remind my readers that I have created a Discord server for all of us to hang out together in our off-time. A few people have recently joined us, and we've been having a lot of fun with it! It's an easier way for me to get in touch with you guys, and I'm able to share some more behind-scenes stuff that I don't rally get into on this site, as well as giving hints at what's to come. If you're interested in joining, hit me up with a DM, and I'll get you an invite to the server.

Now, let's get back into it!

One For All vs. Inika

The wind pressure generated by Kurai's mocking recreation of All Might's move missed its target, but still tore off the outer shell of a bank and sent the pieces flying in multiple directions. Ruby tried to get in close, being one of the only people that could keep up with his speed, her scythe coming back for a cutting stroke that would deeply slash his artificial arm if it managed to connect. To her surprise, however, Kurai didn't even try to dodge the attack, instead leaping closer and batting her weapon away after getting inside of its range, followed by a punch to the stomach that caused her to cough up a few stomach contents and then go flying into Todoroki, who was gearing up to surf on his ice in order to provide the speedy girl with some backup.

The boy then allowed the overwhelming power to recede back into his body, already knowing that if he continued to use it, he would quickly lose touch with his sense of reality, which would be dangerous for multiple reasons. As it was, he wasn't entirely sure that he hadn't gone too far when he had essentially hurled an entire city block at his classmates in an effort to quickly subdue them. Still, it wouldn't do for his classmates to think that he was uncertain of himself now, so he glanced around at his prospective opponents while saying, "Who's next?"

"Ladybug!" called out a distant, high-pitched voice.

"Wait, wha-? Ow!" Kurai shouted in pain as Blake struck him from behind with the flat of her sword. He let out another yelp as Ruby suddenly appeared in front of him again to strike at his front before passing him by. He had suffered two telling blows, and one of them was causing him to bleed out of his chest from a long cut. The longer this fight went on, the more blood he would lose, and the closer he would get to his body giving out.

So before the girls could come around for another coordinated pass, he leaped up high and drew his sword before branding his chest with the energy, cauterizing the wound and causing him to let out a howl of greater agony. From down below, several of his classmates winced at the lengths he was going to in order to keep himself in the fight. "He doesn't give up easy, does he?" Weiss commented as she and Bakugo ran up to the rest of the fighters.

"Not even after he's been killed," Mina muttered. Glancing at the resident explosive expert, she asked, "Isn't this about the time when you start trying to kill him?"

"Shut up, I know what I'm doing!" he growled as he placed his hands together. "AP Shot… Auto Cannon!" A rain of explosive fire shot upward to intercept Kurai, who knew that meant a lot more pain for him- after all, Bakugo charged a steep rate of interest when he owed somebody payback.

Swinging his sword as fast as he could, he batted at the explosive bolts before they could come in contact with his body and preventing further harm to himself until he managed to land safely on the ground. Just before he made contact with the street, he fired off three shots of energon at Izuku and Mina, who were moving in to intercept his decent. He succeeded in driving them back and giving himself enough time to gain solid purchase on the street, but sweat was starting to run across his brow, and his breath was coming out a little harder than before.

He's getting tired, Mina realized. "Guys, we're almost there!" she shouted as Blake closed in and began to exchange blows with her katana against Kurai's energy blade.

"Belladonna, switch out!" Izuku called as he charged in with crackling energy.

"He's all yours'!"

Izuku charged in through a shadow clone, the real Blake having dodged out of the way a second prior. Kurai caught his classmate by the wrist with his metal arm, intent on flinging him away from himself. Instead, he got a face full of a pressurized air blast that knocked him back and forced him to release his friend. Another air burst from his friend's fingertips knocked his sword away, and sent it clattering across the road. That's new!

Using a reverse summersault to get back on his feet and gain some distance, Kurai sent his quirk pulsating throughout his body, charging his muscles and causing his fingertips to glow with light. "Full Cowling versus Energon…" he panted with a tired grin. One For All against the power of a star… The two masterpieces of All For One coming to a head. Good thing I've been preparing for this eventuality- and even if I haven't perfected it yet, here goes nothing!

"Base form, Ultimate Move: Starburst Stream!" Kurai shot forward at a speed comparable to Izuku's Full Cowling when pushed to its current limit and clotheslined his friend as he passed him by, sending his legs flying up and his back crashing into the ground. With a flick of his fingers, he used a handful of lasers to demolish the ground hard enough so that a giant block of concrete jutted out of the ground, giving him purchase to land and immediately ricochet back toward his opponent at breakneck speed. He punched Izuku in the shoulder to send him back to the ground right before he could get back up. He repeated his method of keeping Izuku off-balance several times, his wildly flying lasers discouraging anyone from getting in too close while he bounced off of the barriers that he had made out of the torn-up city road.

This was an ultimate move that he had been working on ever since he saw Togata's Phantom Threat in action during their sparring session. It involved him using his surroundings to attack with blinding speed so that it would almost feel like he was attacking from every direction at once, making it very difficult for them to conjure up anything in the way of a defense. Kurai knew that he was fortunate to be able to change the way that his body handled his quirk with his chakra abilities, granting him a diverse move set that any pro hero would envy, but he also knew that he wouldn't always have time or the right mindset to be able to use those powers. He needed to have a winning move for when he didn't have the time or wherewithal to use one of his chakra techniques.

Izuku was nearly done in when Kurai was shot with a rubber bullet powerful enough to knock him off-course and send him rolling a fair distance up the road. "Ha! Got him!" Ruby crowed triumphantly.

"You okay, Izuku?!" Mina asked as she darted forward and helped the bruised and dazed boy get to his feet. "Can you keep fighting?"

"Just… give me a minute," the greenette groaned. "Ow… He hit me more than Gran Torino did during my internship…"

"What kinda training were you guys doing?" Mina asked him, concerned that Izuku might have a concussion.

"Okay, ladies!" Ruby called out as she slammed her scythe into the ground and took aim at the recovering Kurai with her rifle. "Checkmate!"

Said boy gritted his teeth, knowing that some kind of coordinated attack was on its way, and that it would more than likely come from the Americans again. He only had one chance to outlast whatever strategy his friends had cooked up now.

As Blake leaped back and Weiss rapidly skated forward on a hex, he focused a good portion of his remaining power into his Manipura Chakra. With a ringing shout, his body was covered in what looked like yellow flames, just in time for Blake and Weiss to both strike him from different directions, even as Ruby fired a single bullet that would strike him in the right shoulder, which could potentially break his collarbone if it hit him head-on. Instead, all three attacks were completely nullified by the ethereal flames, the close-range combatants even being knocked off their feet by the recoil of their own momentum. The bullet from Ruby's weapon fell to the street, having been completely scorched by whatever new power Kurai had awakened.

"Ultimate Move: Endless Resolve!"

Both Weiss and Blake were completely at Kurai's mercy, but he neglected to press the advantage, remaining exactly where he was as Izuku and Bakugo swooped in to rescue the two girls and get them out of the way in time for Mina to let loose with an Acid Geyser and Ruby to fire off several more rubber bullets, all to no effect, same as the last round of attacks.

"How many times am I gonna have to save you today, huh?!" Bakugo growled as he deposited Weiss on the tar, though she managed to recover well enough to look back down the street at their quarry, who had yet to move a muscle from within the yellow flames.

"It's not like you saw this one coming, either!" she snapped.

"Guys, focus!" Izuku called out as Blake and he tried to understand what they were now having to deal with. "This must be the power that Mina warned us about! The one that Kurai's been saving for emergencies!" He was still badly bruised, but even broken bones wouldn't stop All Might's heir from saving others in front of him.

"Yeah?! So what's it do?!"

"I'm not really sure, but it looks like our attacks aren't affecting him at all!"

"That part was obvious, nerd!"

Now Todoroki had added his flames to the assault, but Kurai was still holding fast against the onslaught. Neither ranged nor physical attacks seem to be making any difference, Izuku thought rapidly. It might help if I knew what chakra unlocked this ability, but I doubt that he's just going to tell me… His only consolation so far was that it seemed like Kurai had no intention of moving while maintaining the technique. Or maybe…

"Guys, I don't think he can move while he's doing that!" he called out to be heard over Bakugo's explosions and Todoroki's fire. This caused the others to pause in their attacks and regard their opponent carefully, who was remaining silent and still, though this was not incentive enough for them to lower their guard. Seeing this, Izuku added, "Maybe we can wait him out- after all, that shield has to be taking up a lot of energy in order to be strong enough to take on all of our attacks."

"On the other hand, I can drop it at any second and blast all of you," Kurai said, the first he'd spoken since he had conjured the yellow fire. "You'd never know it was coming, but if you keep trying to get a preemptive strike in, you'll wear out faster than me- that I can promise."

"No you can't," Mina countered. "You're strong, sweetie, but you've been burning through a lot of power today. Even you can't have much left in you."

"Fascinating theory," he said with a slight grin. "Care to test it? I'll even give you the first shot."

"Guys, wait," Izuku urged the others before anyone could make a move. "There has to be a limit to how much force that shield can take. If he can't move, all we have to do is keep trying different quirk combinations to see which one can break through his defense."

"Sounds like fun to me!" Ruby said as she collapsed her scythe. "Can I go first? Who wants to go with me?!"

"What do you guys think this is, target practice?" Kurai asked, looking mildly offended.

"Well, you're not giving us much else of a choice," Mina said with a noncommittal shrug. "Sorry, sweetie."

"No, you're not."

"Let's try combining Schnee and Todoroki's ice powers to see if the drop in temperature gets to him, first," Izuku said as he urged everyone else to back away. "If that doesn't work, he can blow up the ice like he did against me at the tournament."

"Screw that noise," Bakugo growled.

"Kacchan?"

"If they can't freeze Saiyaman, I'm gonna Howitzer him," the explosive student declared. "His lame-ass fire won't get the job done if his ice doesn't, either."

"Hey, that's actually a good idea!" Ruby chirped. "Not only will the explosion itself pack a massive punch, the rapid heat expansion in the air will really add to the impact!"

"Of course it's a good idea, it's mine!" Bakugo shouted while Todoroki and Weiss got into position.

Throughout all of this, Kurai still hadn't moved, nor did his shield show any signs of wavering. "Good luck," he said with a confident smile. "But you're wasting your time. Despite what Mina thinks, I still have plenty of gas left in the tank."

"We'll see about that," Weiss smirked as she held her sword in a reverse grip. Without another word, she stabbed it into the ground in tandem with Todoroki's foot hitting the pavement. The air dropped rapidly in temperature as a massive wave of cold shot out and buried Kurai in solid ice. When there was no sound for a moment, she lifted her sword and said with a smug expression, "Well, seems like we won. Let's inform the teachers that-"

"Don't you know that assuming that the villain is down when they're not is how over thirty percent of hero fatalities happen?" The group was surprised to hear Kurai's voice coming from within the ice, muffled though it was. "I should know- the League nearly did me in because of my overconfidence during the Hassaikai Raid."

"How is he still standing after all that?!" Weiss demanded with a dropped jaw.

"Who cares?" Bakugo said with a savage smile as his hands sparked. "Now it's my turn." With a heated blast, he shot up high into the air before he began to charge down toward Kurai, his body whirling as he added more explosions to propel himself ever faster toward their opponent. He became a whirling human missile before he reached out his hand and bellowed, "Howitzer… IMPACT!" The shout was timed so that a thunderous blast ripped apart the air, turning the ice into steam and shattering several buildings within a block of the explosion's epicenter.

Bakugo landed back near his classmates with a confident grin plastered on his face. "That's how it's done," he snorted.

"Are you guys done getting yourselves together?" Kurai's voice wiped the grin off of Bakugo's face faster than their teacher could suppress a quirk. "I'm getting bored just standing around."

"How?!" Ruby demanded as the steam began to clear, revealing Kurai, who hadn't budged an inch, even in spite of all the damage around him. "How is he still standing?! Nobody could take that kind of blast head-on and still be okay!"

"I beg to differ," Kurai chuckled.

"Hey, Izuku," Mina said while Ruby and Kurai began to trade insults. "You and Rose should try to combine your speed, see if that doesn't overwhelm him."

"Et tu, Brute?" her boyfriend deadpanned.

"You threw a building at us."

"Okay, that's fair."

The group tried several different combinations against Kurai's new technique, but all of them failed spectacularly. Ruby even knocked herself out after they had Izuku throw her through a quartet of speed-enhancing hexes that Weiss conjured by slamming into Kurai with all the force she could muster. The effort also proved to be too much for her teammate, because the albino girl also lost consciousness after the fact.

"How… is he… still standing?!" Mina gasped, clutching at her ankle. She had tried to spin kick Kurai from behind while Todoroki sent an ice wave at him from the opposite side, but had wound up slipping on her own acid due to exhaustion, making her ankle collide with his head instead of the bottom of her foot, injuring and forcing her to sit down about a block away, where Blake was also trying to recover her breath.

"I should've led with this," Kurai laughed while Bakugo glowered at him. "How about it, heroes? You're down to five people from your original twenty-three. Wanna throw in the towel? Citizens are all dead- not like you have much to gain by exhausting yourselves any further."

"In your dreams!" Bakugo snarled as he started to back up a few paces, causing Kurai to narrow his eyes in suspicion. "Get over here, Deku!"

"Uh, okay!"

As Izuku moved toward the explosive student, Kurai couldn't help but wonder, What is this guy planning?

He didn't have to wait long to find out. Bakugo and Deku exchanged a few words in lowered tones before Bakugo launched himself into the air while Izuku powered up with One For All. Judging from the amount of lightning he was generating, Kurai thought it would be safe to say that he was pushing his limits, the twenty-five percent cap off that he had used against Chisaki during their attempt to rescue Eri. Even that won't break my armor, though, Kurai frowned. True, Izuku had yet to use this much of his power against him, but he had hit him a lot harder when with Ruby and Weiss' help earlier, and still his defense remained unbroken.

"Sorry about this, Kurai!" Izuku shouted before he leaped up high into the air, right in front of Bakugo, who grabbed him by the arm. A rapid series of repeated explosions saw to Bakugo whirling Izuku around himself, faster and faster, all while screaming angrily.

Wait a second…

"Die, Saiyaman!" Bakugo roared. "EXPLODAPULT!" A final blast saw to him slinging Izuku at Kurai with the force of a comet, making the other boy flinch involuntarily.

Ah, crap.

There was a sound of thunder and a shockwave that ripped through the city block, knocking the other students off their feet amid the howling winds and crumbling buildings. When things began to quiet down and the dust was settling, only one student was still standing on the destroyed pavement.

"I still don't get how that worked."

"What do you mean?" Kurai was lounging on the common space couch, bandaged heavily due to the severe bruises and abrasions that covered a good majority of his body. Recovery Girl had said that he would need to rest for a full day before she could give him any more treatment after having healed his broken bones.

Mina cocked her head from where she sat- at the foot of the couch, where his legs were- and elaborated, "I'm pretty sure that Bakugo's combined attack with Todoroki and Schnee was way more powerful than that last hit. Plus, Izuku, Rose, and Schnee teaming up had more direct force behind it than that, too. So, what happened? Did you finally hit your limit?"

"Not exactly."

The others who were in the room all turned to look curiously at their classmate, having been wondering the same thing themselves. After Kurai had been defeated and Recovery Girl had seen to the injured, Aizawa and the other teachers informed them that if this had been a graded test, the heroes' team would have failed miserably. As it was, they only received minimal extra credit for saving one civilian and capturing the villain. Kurai himself was told that while he started off strong, he was too hasty in destroying all of his bargaining chips, not to mention the fact that he had recklessly engaged the entirety of the remaining heroes and destroyed an entire city bock to do it, so he too received very little extra credit for his efforts. This left all parties feeling fairly dejected, but right now, everyone really just wanted to take it easy for the afternoon. Even Iida, Weiss, and Yaoyorozu, the pushiest of the bunch when it came to maintaining good study discipline, didn't seem to have it in them to complete anything more than the homework assignments that they had already finished for the weekend.

Seeing as everyone was naturally curious about the new technique that he had unveiled, and since he had dropped a building on half of them, Kurai decided to indulge them a bit. "Okay, for context, that power comes from my Manipura chakra- the one that deals with willpower. In all honesty, it kind of reminds me of Kirishima's Unbreakable, so I used it as a visual guide whenever I practiced using it."

"Wait, really?" the redhead asked excitedly. "You mean, I helped you figure out a new power?"

"Little bit," Kurai laughed, though he cut the sound short due to how much it hurt. "Ah, sorry. As I was going to say, there are three big drawbacks to basically becoming invulnerable. The first, which you guys already noticed, is that I can't move when I'm using it, so the only time I can really utilize it practically is when I need to wear somebody else out. Second, it takes me about five seconds to power down and get moving again when I wanna drop out of the technique."

"Wait, you were saying that you could've walloped us instantly once you stopped using it back at the city!" Ruby protested.

"I was lying," Kurai shrugged. "I had hoped that I could outlast you guys, and I'd like to think that I got close, but in the end, I was bested by the power's third flaw."

"I'm guessing that it's fairly tiring to use?" Iida guessed.

"A little," Kurai said with a small shrug. "It actually takes a flat rate- for lack of a better term- of twenty percent of my maximum strength to conjure and maintain. Because the power stems from my will, as long as I stay confident in my ability to hold up against what's coming at me, the shield holds. But if I have even the slightest doubt about my capabilities, the power fails."

"Wait, how did you practice that power without a partner?" Sero asked. "Seems like something you can't exactly practice on your own."

"I fired blasts of energon at pillars of rock that Mister Cementoss made so that the rubble would fall on me," Kurai answered. "I kept increasing the amount that would fall on me until I collapsed an entire column on my head. It never felt any different, as long as I kept the barrier going."

"Jeez, how many extra powers are you gonna get?" Yang complained. "Everyone else has just the one."

"It's still one power," Kurai argued. "I just have more variety in how I control its output than the average person." He paused before adding in a slightly less argumentative tone, "There's also… two more chakra that I haven't figured out how to open." He was instantly booed by many of his friends, some of whom threw pillows and various snacks at him while he protested- quite ineffectually- that it was not his fault that he had the quirk he did.

"He's much stronger than we have been giving him credit for," said Nezu as he glanced around the table where All Might, Aizawa, and all the other teachers who were in charge of seeing to Kurai's education, sat. "Do any of you here believe this fact makes him a danger to those around him?"

"Hikari has shown the potential to be a threat since day one," Cementoss rumbled. "He's a good student, and he is proving to be a fine hero, but power like his is inherently dangerous, especially given that certain aspects of it can cause his personality to change so drastically."

"That may be, but he's a very good boy," argued Midnight with a frown. "He studies hard, and I think we can all admire his sense of restraint, given how he never acted out against the kids who were tormenting him only weeks ago, which frankly, I think reflects more on our inability to cultivate the right attitudes from our own students than anything that Hikari has done."

"No one is denying that he has faced great hardship," Ectoplasm acknowledged. "However, while he has handled himself well so far, there is the risk that one day, it will all become too much for him to bear, and he will break from the strain. It's happened before."

"Wouldn't it be better if we cut the guy loose from the hero course before he gets any stronger, and then has the chance to go crazy?" Present Mic questioned. "That's what you're asking, right Nezu? Right, Ecto? Cementoss, are you in on that noise, too?"

"No one has said that," the principal said calmly.

"Ya didn't have to," the normally-loud hero said as he crossed him arms. "I don't dig this one bit, yo. The kid hasn't done anything to make himself suspect for any bad vibes, and this is coming from the guy who first suggested that there's gotta be a mole in the school. We take him outta the hero course, and it'll crush him. He won't even try to go villain, he'd just have nothing left in him at all. I ain't about to be part of a group that kills the music in a kid's soul just cos we're a little scared of his potential."

"Mic is right," All Might said before he coughed a little. "If we give up on young Hikari, we only give credence to the voices of the people who have opposed his presence ever since his father's hidden agenda was revealed to the public. Not to mention the fact that it would kill the poor kid. It's our job to cultivate his power and his heart so that he becomes a fine hero, no matter what comes at him. I think some of you are just over-exaggerating the potential consequences of what might happen if he turned to the dark path."

"He kicked a building at his classmates and buried half of them under a city block as a result," Ectoplasm deadpanned. "It's a miracle that no one was permanently injured."

"That was no miracle," Midnight argued. "They've all been well-trained, and their experiences with League have served to make Class A capable of standing up to a villain of Hikari's caliber, such as it were. There's your contingency plan, if you need it; Hikari's friends would be able to keep him at bay if the worst should ever occur- not that it will."

"You cannot say that for certain," Cementoss countered.

"And you guys can't say for sure that he'll turn into a villain!" Present Mic replied, his volume beginning to spike in accordance with his irritation.

"Everyone, please remain calm," Nezu urged the teachers. "Raised voices and tempers will not help us here." As the teachers forced themselves to simmer down- and in Present Mic's case, actually sit down- Nezu turned to Aizawa, who had yet to say anything since the meeting had begun. "Eraserhead, what do you think should be done?"

"This entire meeting is a waste of time," the sleepy man grumbled. "Hikari is a model student, other than his error in judgement when he said nothing about Midoriya and the others' plan to go rescue Bakugo from Kamino. He gets good grades, his judgement in battle is excellent, he's a good influence on his friends, and he goes well above what is expected of even my students. I have never doubted in his ability to become a good hero, given enough time. This test has only served to reinforce that notion."

Everyone was surprised by his words, especially All Might. "You criticized his performance harder than anyone else in the test today," the former hero remarked. "Now you're singing his praises?"

"Hikari is the kind of kid who improves more when his flaws are highlighted," Aizawa said dryly. "He doesn't need any encouragement from me- that's what he has friends for. He already has a support system in place. As far as I'm concerned, he's still a student, and he will make mistakes like he did today, which is why he still has teachers. If you're going to kick him out because you're afraid of him, then I'd say that the League has already succeeded in making cowards out of our faculty." With that, he stood up and left the table, adding over his shoulder the words, "You know my vote on the matter. I'm going to bed- I have a class to teach tomorrow morning."

The second that the door was closed, All Might shook his head and muttered, "I can never get a read on that guy."

"So what's the deal?" Present Mic demanded after an awkward silence ensued. "I'm with Eraser- the kid should stay."

"I agree," Midnight nodded firmly. "It would be cruelty to eject him after everything that he's already been through."

"It may be a risk to continue training someone who is at risk of major mental instability, but we would effectively be removing any semblance of stability that he still has if we were to take him out of the hero course," All Might added. "That, to me, is an even greater risk. Young Hikari has more than earned his right to stay."

"It would appear that the majority rules in favor of the boy remaining at UA," Nezu said before Cementoss or Ectoplasm could argue again. "I admit that I would have voted against him remaining here, myself, as it is my duty to see to the safety of every student here, but in this case, I am happy to be overruled. After all, Hikari is a student, too; his well-being is still our responsibility."

"It's still dangerous," Ectoplasm muttered.

"We're heroes," All Might coughed. "Entertaining danger is an occupational hazard." In spite of themselves, the other teachers had to laugh a little bit at that. After all, he wasn't wrong.

Hikari, a villain, the man thought with a hint of derision. A ridiculous notion, if there ever was one.

"I knew it!" Mina shouted as she punched her boyfriend on the arm, causing him to cringe with pain, though it didn't stop him from laughing uncontrollably. "I knew he was the villain, with his smug little smile!"

"Weren't you the one who was saying earlier that Hikari couldn't bluff?" Yang snorted as the other players in the game were either letting out groans of disappointment or congratulating their friend on a game well-played.

"I've been learning," Kurai chortled as he managed to keep his girlfriend's hands away from his ticklish spots. They had been playing a mobile game where up to fifteen people acted as heroes trying to keep a building from collapsing by making various repairs. The trick to it was that one of the heroes was a villain in disguise, and their goal was to murder every hero and prevent the building from being repaired. They could even sabotage certain areas to delay the heroes' progress and isolate more victims for their killing spree.

Of course, if someone witnessed a murder, they could out the villain to the others, and then the heroes could throw the villain out the window and claim victory before the building was even repaired. People could also call a meeting to accuse someone that they suspected of being the killer, but that usually ended with the person who called the meeting being tossed out the window instead of the actual villain. Very few games were actually won by repairing the building- most ended with either all of the heroes dying, or the heroes uncovering the villain's identity.

Kurai had just won as the villain in a game against the other members of Team Lightning Drop and a majority of their other classmates, with almost all of them lamenting said victory. "Why didn't we trust Ashido?" Ruby was whining. "Why…?"

"Cos we all thought she was still mad at him for trying to drop a building on us," her sister sighed as she extended a fist to Kurai, who used his metal arm to bump knuckles with her. "Good game, dude."

"That whole building thing isn't going away anytime soon, is it?" he asked.

"Wouldn't count on it."

"Nah."

"Nope."

"I'm bringing it up at our graduation."

"I'm bringing it up at his and Ashido's wedding."

Everyone froze, and Kaminari clapped his hand over his mouth as he realized what he had just vocalized. "Did I say that out loud?" he said through his fingers.

"Yeah," Mina said in a tight voice. She and Kurai were both blushing like crazy, a rare enough sight- normally it was one or the other who were embarrassed by something, not the pair of them simultaneously.

"Um… I was kidding?" the electric boy said as he nervously eyed Jiro's hovering auxiliary jack.

"No, you weren't," the punk girl growled. "What do you think, Ashido, Hikari?"

"Please no," Kaminari begged.

"Ah, let him off this once," Kurai said after another pause. "I think I beat him up enough for the week."

"Try the month, dude."

"Of course, it's been a while since I laughed at his pain…"

"I'm sorry, I take it back!"

"But laughing hurts a lot right now, so never mind," Kurai grinned, after which Jiro's weapon of choice retracted back towards her earlobe. His face was still red, but he seemed willing to move past the awkward moment, much to everyone else's relief.

Well, almost everyone.

"So…" Mina said as she plopped down on her bed, her eyes still a little unfocused. "About earlier…"

"Yeah…" Kurai nodded as he sat down next to her. "That was awkward."

"Very," she agreed with a slight laugh. "And I wish it was one of those awkward moments that we could just move past and laugh about it later on down the road, but…"

"We can't just let it slide, can we?" Kurai muttered as he looked at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eyes.

"I don't think so, no," she laughed lightly while putting her head in her hands. "Gosh, this is crazy. Never in a million years did I think I'd have this kind of thing come up while I was in high school. I mean, not unless it was about which celebrity guy I could marry if I had a crazy chance encounter, followed by a whirlwind romance straight out of an old American Hallmark movie."

"At least you might be able to laugh about the first time you heard it," Kurai said as he rubbed her back. "I was pretty much ambushed by Akarui on the subject right before the school festival."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, he was feeling pretty fatalistic before Ochaco and Rose surprised him at the concert," Kurai recalled with a sigh. "It was weird, hearing him talk like he didn't have long to live- our whole lives, he talked about using his quirk to beat his quirk- it really threw me for a loop. But he was talking about how he worried about what would happen to me after he was gone, and he brought you up."

"He did?" Mina was now doubly surprised by the evening's momentous highlights. "What did he say about me?"

Kurai turned to look her in the eyes before saying, "He told me that you were the best thing to ever happen to me. Said that he was glad that if he had to leave me in anybody's hands, that he was happy that they would be yours'."

"Well- I- Wow," she stuttered. "Talk about big expectations, right?" She tried to laugh it off, but she was feeling like a train full of emotions was actively running her over in the middle of a tornado, so it didn't come out as very convincing.

"Mina," Kurai said as he gripped her hands with a somber gaze. "I need to tell you something."

The girl felt her stomach drop into a pit somewhere in the center of the earth. Nothing good ever comes after those words, she thought as vertigo clutched at her skull like an angry wraith, threatening to make her sick.

"I know we had each kind of talked about being a good mom and dad, right?" he said as he maintained eye contact without blinking. "And it was nice to hear from you, and I know that you liked hearing it from me, but I don't know that either of us gave it a whole lot of thought other than that, you know?"

Oh no, she thought as her breath froze in her throat. No, no, no, this is not happening…

"Actually, I hadn't thought much about it, which might just make me the biggest jerk on the planet," he continued on. "At least, not until I fought that Nomu in Fukuoka. I don't think somebody can go through something that insane without considering the future that he might not live to see, given one wrong move on their part, you know?"

Wait, what? Mina blinked at the tears that had just begun to build up in the corners of her eyes. "Kurai, what are you getting at?" she asked him in a slightly quavering voice, still unsure of which way this conversation was headed. After all, there were only two directions it could go.

"Mina, I love you," he said as he turned his body more toward her. "I've known that for certain ever since I-island, and I've suspected it of myself even before then. We've known one another for less than a year, but it's been a hell of a year, hasn't it? And you've been by my side through more than any normal girlfriend should, but you're still here, which can mean only one thing."

"…That being?"

"You're not an ordinary girlfriend," he said, his voice beginning to shake along with his body. "You're… Well, you're way beyond plus ultra. And I know what I say next is probably get gonna get me smacked big time, in addition to you avoiding me for the rest of our lives, but now I have to say it. Mina, I want to-"

"Yes."

"Huh?" Kurai's mouth was hanging open like a loose hinge while Mina's face was a dark purple while she tried to maintain an even expression.

"You were gonna say something along the lines of wanting to spend the rest of our lives together, right?" she asked him. "At least, I really hope you were, or else I probably will avoid you for the rest of our lives."

"You- I- Uh… Well, yeah," he said dumbly, his own face darkening a few shades with his blood rushing to the surface. "I do. Want to spend my life. With you, I mean."

"You just cannot get through this kind of thing without breaking up your sentences, can you?" she asked as her stomach began to shoot up out of the hole it had fallen into, allowing her heart to soar into the clouds as she remembered the time that he had oh-so-awkwardly confessed to having feelings for her.

"To be fair… You interrupted me," he said while he tried to hold back a snort of laughter while pointing at her nose. "Your fault."

"Okay then, I won't interrupt this time," she said with a silly grin. "Do-over, go."

"What, seriously?"

"Yes!" she laughed as she shoved his arm. "Come on, please?"

"…Okay," he chuckled as he scooted a little closer to her. "Mina…"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to spend the rest of our lives together?" His voice was a little wobbly, but he managed to keep his eyes on hers' while he posed the question that every girl in love wants to hear.

"Yes," she giggled as she pressed her forehead against his while warmth enveloped her entire body. "If you're crazy enough to want to actually commit your best years to my worst ones, then I'll absolutely spend all of mine with you."

"I can't believe it," he said, sounding fairly dazed. "This is… Normal people don't talk about this kind of thing, do they? Are we allowed to do this?"

"Honey, we've already done a few things we're not supposed to," she laughed as she closed her eyes, enjoying the moment while he allowed a sheepish smile of his own to break out. "Why stop now? Besides, you already told me I'm not normal- and neither are you, in all the best ways." She didn't know if her feelings were being heightened by the fact that few moments ago, she'd been possessed by an irrational fear of being dumped- which was really stupid, now that she thought about it- but she didn't care. Mina Ashido, the girl who had been in love with the idea of love since she was little, was going to spend the rest of her life being in love with her best friend, and she couldn't be happier about it.

"There's just one thing I want you to promise me," she said as they pressed their heads against one another.

"Name it."

"I think I asked you this before, when you came back from fighting that Nomu, but promise me now that you'll never head into a fight unless you know you can make it back to me alive," she said as she caressed his arm where the flesh fused with metal. "You and I both know that in our line of work, it may not always be possible for us to come out in one piece, but I need you to promise me this much. I can't lose you, understand?"

"I promise," he said without hesitation. "When I fought that Nomu, and it was down to the last gambit, it was largely because of you that I pushed myself so hard, not only to win, but also to survive. So I promise you that I will never go into battle or a disaster if I believe that I will die in the process."

"Thank you…" Mina said with a small shiver. "No take-backs, got it? You're stuck with me from now on."

"Then here's to being abnormal, forever," he said before he kissed her.

It had been a long, hard day for everyone in class 1-A. But for Kurai Hogo-sha and Mina Ashido, it felt like things were just beginning.

Mataras: Finally! Been waiting for an opportunity to make an Among Us reference in this story!

Deku: Really?

Mataras: Mate, have you played it? It's a very interesting way to tell how well you know your friends.

Deku: I never had any friends before UA.

Mataras: Ah, right.

Kai: Forget Among Us! Did I just get engaged?!

Mataras: Um... Pretty much?

Kai: Oh. Cool.

Mataras: Is that all you had to say about that?

Kai: No! I'm supposed to die! Why would you do that to Mina, you jackass?!

Mataras: Hey! It's not like you guys know that in-story. Saying that you shouldn't have followed the natural course of your relationship would be like saying no one should ever plan on getting married, since we're all going to die someday, anyway. No one knows how many days they have left to live, so enjoy the time that you do have to the fullest.

Deku: You sound like you're talking from experience.

Mataras: I've had a couple of touch-and-go cases with my health. My insides are honestly not in the greatest shape, but I'm still here, living life for as long as I can, medical hindrances be damned.

Kai: You're still an ass for what Mina's gonna go through after I die.

Mataras: My being an ass was established long before you were even a thought, mate.

Deku: Next time- Rivalry

Mataras: Time for us to get back into the main story. Get ready to Go Beyond!

Kai: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Ipseity...

Monoma looked like he was trying not to choke on his tongue as he was put under Kurai's scrutiny, though he said nothing, which just filled class A's thoughts with a collective question; What did Vlad King do to make Monoma back off so completely, in spite of his disdain and outright hatred for Kurai?

"Sorry about him," Kendo said as she walked forward with an uneasy smile, pushing the red-faced boy aside as she did. "His bad attitude aside, we're all looking forward to these matches."

"Likewise," Yaoyorozu said as she stepped forward and shook hands with the other girl with a friendly smile on her face. "I think today will prove to be a very unique experience."

The hero course students were all set to compete against one another in a series of matches over the course of the day. This would be the first time that the two groups would be pitted against one another in such a definitive matchup, and there was something to be said for it feeling as though it had been a long time coming. There was also the general unspoken consensus among Kurai's friends that they wanted an excuse to lay Monoma flat with a hint of excess force, if they could get the chance. Today could very well provide that chance.

"It'll be unique in the sense that you peons will finally learn the taste of defeat and be left in the dirt where you belong!" Monoma burst out, seemingly unable to contain himself any longer.

He started to cackle again, until a familiar piece of fabric shot out and wrapped itself around his throat hard enough to cut off his air supply. "Shut up," Aizawa growled as he approached, Vlad King right beside him, who was looking on with his usual disapproving scowl. Following them were four other students whom the others did not recognize.