A/N: Alright, you guys asked for it! Kai vs. Monoma, the finale- let's go!

Truth

The kiss had the immediate desired effect on Izuku. His brain completely froze as he struggled in vain to understand what exactly was happening to him. One second, his quirk had been lashing out of control, and the next, he was having his first kiss in the middle of a fight- probably well within the view of all of his classmates. It all proved to be too much for the poor boy, and his brain shorted out, leaving him a stunned mess on the ground while Ochaco pulled back, her face still doing an excellent impression of a tomato. The black tendrils all withdrew into Izuku's body without further damage, for which Kurai breathed a silent thanks.

I can hardly believe that worked, he thought as he landed amid the rubble of the battlefield, using a large boulder to support himself while he caught his breath. Basic Instinct was exhausting enough on its own, but nearly being strangled by Izuku's new power had also served to wear him out. It wouldn't be long before he was ready to go again, but for now, he hoped that their opponents wouldn't be eager to resume the fight.

Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get that wish. Almost before he could take in a brief survey of his surroundings, he found himself under fire from large pieces of debris, courtesy of Yanagi, Kodai, and Shoda's quirks. "Ah, come on!" he shouted as he retaliated with blasts of light.

"You called a cease-fire to get Midoriya under control, but we're still trying to win this!" Shoda called out. "Sorry, but even our courtesy only goes so far!"

"Yeah, that tracks," Kurai grumbled, though he was relieved to see Mina's acid intercepting the projectiles raining down on him as she skated closer. "Thanks!" he called as she slid to be back-to-back with him.

"Couldn't let you be the trouble magnet all by yourself again," she grinned at him over her shoulder. "What's the plan?"

"For now, take cover," her boyfriend answered as he unleashed a large blast of light that blocked them from being seen, followed by pulling her behind a pile of rubble that had once been a water tower and some other structure, he wasn't sure. "Did Ochaco get Izuku out of the battle area?"

"Yeah, I told her to take him and run, cos I figured you'd do something kinda nuts if they started fighting again," she nodded as they lay back against the debris, their eyes on the watch for any flying pieces of rock. "She's headed southwest, in the opposite direction of these guys."

"Perfect," Kurai muttered. "Let's go with Acid Rain, see if we can't flush them out into the open."

"You got it."

Together, they got to their feet and hurled their powers skyward, away from themselves, forcing the two projectiles to collide and explode over the general area they believed their opponents to be in, sending countless little droplets of gray liquid raining down. Mina made sure to make the acid a mere irritant that would only cause light chemical burns, as she didn't want to accidentally put a bunch of holes in their opponents.

Their efforts were rewarded by several shouts of surprise and frustration as the stinging rain found its mark, followed by four figures racing in different directions as they tried to escape the sudden downpour. Seeing that two of the figures were escaping in roughly the same direction, Mina said to Kurai, "Throw me at Yanagi and Shoda."

Kurai didn't waste time asking what she had in mind. If Mina believed that she could take the two on, he would trust that this was the case. So he grabbed her by the arm and the scruff of her jacket and used his augmented strength to hurl her in the direction that she desired. Had he been able to watch her after making the throw, he would have seen one of the most impressive takedowns in their class' history.

She spun herself in midair so that her foot connected with Shoda's head as she went flying, instantly knocking him out before anyone even knew that she was there. Almost before she took down the gray-haired boy, she hurled a glob of acid in Yanagi's face, which caused her to instinctively protect her head with her arms, and distracting her from using her quirk. She let out a cry of pain as blisters immediately broke out on her skin, and she stumbled backward, once again falling victim to her body's base instincts to protect herself from further harm, and providing Mina with the time that she needed to get her feet under her and shoot back toward the other girl, having gone past her during the initial surprise attack. She was so fast that by the time Yanagi had realized her mistake and was lowering her arms to give herself a clear line of sight, Mina's fist had connected with her jaw, sending her rolling with a small grunt. When she came to a stop on the ground, she was insensate, and Mina was grinning to herself.

There was a sound of rubble being broken behind her that caused her to turn her head, but when she did, she was able to widen her smile with relief. Izuku and Ochaco had arrived to take care of Kodai, who had witnessed Mina's lightning-fast takedowns, and had been trying to get in a surprise attack, only to be ambushed herself by class 1-A's other power couple.

Izuku had managed to regain a sense of what was going on around him by the time Ochaco had gotten him to a safe hiding place, and in spite of her assurances that it was okay if he needed to sit the rest of the match out, he insisted on going back to help their friends so that they would not have to suffer for his lack of control. So he had his girlfriend make him float above the battlefield, just in time to witness Kurai and Mina's Acid Rain attack, after which he used a reverse New Hampshire Smash to send himself flying after Kodai, who had been too distracted to notice his approach. His foot connected with her back between the shoulder blades, planting her firmly in a smaller pile of rocks, after which Ochaco was able to use her quirk to make the three students float.

"Nice job, Mina," she said with a grin as they finished gathering up their unconscious opponents. "Your timing on that attack was awesome!"

"I wish I had that kind of reaction time," Izuku admitted as he dragged Kodai along behind him. His nose was still bloody, but it didn't seem as though it was completely broken.

"Please, go on," Mina grinned as she gave a small bow. "I enjoy praise." Allowing her face to grow more serious, she added, "Are you okay, Izuku? What happened back there?"

Izuku looked around them before he answered, "I'll explain more later, but I should be okay for the moment. Right now, I'm worried about Kurai. Where did he go?"

The question led the girls to look around with frowns as Mina said, "Last I saw, he was still catching his breath behind those rocks over there, but… I feel like he would have come out by now, if he was still around."

"Monoma's missing, too," Ochaco said, sounding worried. "Do you think he went after Kurai while we were busy with his teammates?"

As if in response to her question, a pillar of light suddenly rocketed toward the heavens, about a kilometer away from where they stood. Seeing it, Mina paled and said, "Ochaco, get these guys to the prison. Izuku, I need you to come with me."

"You think something's happened?"

"Kurai wouldn't waste that much power showing off, or even to attack Monoma," she said as she broke into a run, Izuku following her close behind. "The only reason so much power could be released like that would be if Monoma copied Energon!"

Two Minutes Earlier…

Kurai had chosen to run the moment that he had seen Monoma coming at him from above. The boy was using Yanagi's power to control two pieces of stone beneath his feet, so that he was more or less skating on the air itself, and granting him greater speed than a person could run. Kurai knew that the crazed student would be aiming to copy his quirk, and on the off chance that he did manage it, he needed to be far away from the others before it happened.

As it turned out, his precaution was well-founded. Monoma managed to use Twin Impact to send pieces of rubble flying every which way, forcing Kurai to dodge as best he could, but without the time to concentrate on the Muladhara chakra, he couldn't activate Basic Instinct in order to avoid all of the projectiles. Eventually, he slipped up, and got slammed with a boulder that drove the wind out of his lungs before he was able to throw an elbow and shatter the rock so that it didn't flatten him against the ground.

Fixing a hard look on the blond boy after he had stopped moving, he said in a flat voice, "If I'm not mistaken, you copied my quirk a few minutes ago before Izuku could get to us. If that is the case, I'd be very careful about using it. Energon could kill you if you don't know what you're doing with it."

"You expect me to believe that?" Monoma snorted derisively. "Sure, your quirk may have been dangerous at the beginning of the year, but ever since the summer camp, it's been known that your brother did something to your quirk to make it safe for you to use! And that means…!"

Kurai then had the intriguing experience of watching his power manifest in someone else as the air around Monoma exploded with orange energy, shooting up into the sky in a monstrous display of force. He frowned as he noticed a particular detail, however; that being, Monoma had orange hair and blue eyes, same as he once did whenever he unleashed his full potential. That's a problem.

"How does it feel, traitor?!" Monoma cackled from within the raging storm of light. "How does it feel to be at the mercy of the power you use so cavalierly against others?!" He swiped his hand in front of his body, and fifty orange bolts of energy filled the air before flying at Kurai, who simply gave an irritated scowl. Mimicking Monoma's action, he slapped aside the bolts of energy with his metal hand, sending the ones that would have hit his body off to the side so that they exploded against buildings and rubble alike.

"You're using the phrase 'at the mercy' pretty liberally," Kurai answered, his eyes studying Monoma's face closely, waiting for certain signs to manifest that he knew to be inevitable. "You may have my power, but you have none of the skills and effort that went into mastering it- just like every other power that you copy. Your own ability may sound impressive enough, but you lack the wherewithal to make it anything more than mediocre. Even with my quirk, you're not a threat- you're a nuisance."

"At least I aim to do something worthwhile with my power!" Monoma roared back, the energy swirling around him in a harsh, discordant manner as he began to charge a large ball in front of his hands. "Even if I'll never be what others consider a protagonist in the story of heroes, I will still aim to do what I can for society! That's more than you can say!" Before Kurai could deliver a retort, Monoma unleashed the power in a massive beam that he was forced to counter, firing a yellow laser to slow the progress of the orange, though it didn't seem that he could fully stop it as he was.

I guess I forgot just how much power I used to be able to release in one go, he thought as he strove to hold out long enough for Monoma to either wear himself out, or abandon the direct assault.

Meanwhile, Monoma was continuing to rant against his enemy, saying, "All this power, and it goes to a cretin like you?! You didn't do anything to deserve this quirk! You got lucky, and that's all there is to it!" He strained harder, trying overwhelm Kurai even faster, but he wasn't about to be beaten down after coming so far. "Anyone but you should have been born with this power! Someone like you could never make the best use of it!"

"You done?" Kurai asked right before the orange laser rushed forward and caused yet another devastating explosion that shattered the already-ruined landscape.

Monoma let out a series of high-pitched laughs as the dust began to settle, revealing nothing but a smoldering crater where Kurai had been standing. "Not so big now, are you?!" he cackled, even as the energy that his body was emitting continued to burst from every pore. He was sure that Kurai was still somewhere close by, but there was no way that he had escaped that blast unscathed. "So much for standing up against anything that comes at you! Your quirk is the only thing you have going for you, Kai! Without that, you're nothing!"

"Are. You. Done?"

Monoma whirled around with a punch that was aimed to connect with Kurai's head- only to have his opponent catch the fist bare-handed and hold him in place without batting an eye. The Guardian Hero was wearing a very disconcerting smile as he peered at his enemy with bright orange eyes from beneath a messy set of hair that matched.

Before things could be taken any further, the power that Monoma had conjured up suddenly fizzled out and left him with a searing headache. "What…?" he said as he looked down at his body with no small amount of confusion. "It was a blank after all?"

At this, Kurai tilted his head at his opponent, the same way that young boys look at a fascinating new insect that they've discovered in their backyard. "If you're quite done, I'd like to take the time to say 'thank you', Monoma."

The statement was so unexpected that it caused his enemy to snap out of his glassy-eyed state and fix his eyes back on Kurai. "Thank you?" he repeated, unsure if the sudden, nauseating headache was responsible for his ears malfunctioning. "What would you ever thank me for? You hate me!"

"Pretty sure you hate me more than I actually even care about your opinion, but then, that's the point," Kurai replied as the pressure on his opponent's hand began to increase, causing Monoma to redouble his efforts in trying to pull away, to no avail. "See, you're not the first person to tell me that my only redeeming quality is my quirk- a power that anyone else but me should have been lucky enough to have. You're not the first person to tell me that Energon is all but worthless in my hands." His grin widened as he added, "Just like your quirk, you seem to be incapable of coming up with original attacks- all you can do is copy that which is already present."

"What are you-?"

"In spite of everything that I've accomplished since coming to UA, I often still have a hard time believing the thought that I am more than my quirk allows me to be," Kurai explained as the joints in Monoma's hand began to pop. "I've often levelled the same accusations at myself that you've just laid out. So… Having heard those same words from someone who contains nothing for me but an unreasoning hatred and resentment, I've come to realize one very simple thing." He paused, and the pressure crushing Monoma's hand instantly halted- though that did nothing to assuage the sense of worry that had begun to build up in the blond boy's mind.

The orange suddenly drained from Kurai's eyes and hair, leaving him with a scowl and the words, "That's all a pack of lies that I was a fool to ever believe in." Even as he said the words, he could detect a strange sensation near his Adam's apple- as if there had been something lodged inside his throat that had finally come away and allowed the air to pass freely through his windpipe.

Monoma swung his other fist at Kurai's jaw, only to have him release the first hand and knock the blow to the side before stepping forward and slamming his metal fist into his enemy's face, shattering his nose, and knocking him out cold on the spot. Kurai nodded in satisfaction as he watched his enemy lie quietly on the broken ground with blood running down his face from his ruined nostrils. Even though the other boy wouldn't register his words in his current state, Kurai decided to mutter, "By the way, you'll be lucky if your brain isn't bleeding. Akarui altered my body to better handle Energon- he didn't change the quirk itself."

Silently, he added, Maybe I shouldn't have broken his nose… Now I can't tell if the blood is from that or from an aneurysm.

Monoma hadn't sustained the transformation for very long, but his physical constitution was weaker than Kurai's, even when he had started the semester. His body simply wasn't up to the task of handling such a powerful quirk, especially one with such a dangerous backlash. Even if he wasn't suffering from internal bleeding in his cranial tissue, he would need swift medical attention from Recovery Girl. I wonder if that's why he just fizzled out? he had to wonder. He said something about a 'blank'… Maybe I should ask Kendo what that was about when this is over.

A dark part of him, deep in the recesses of his mind, told him to take Monoma to the containment cell with the other students, and wait for the nurse's droids to arrive, just like anyone else would have to. After all, why should he care if his tormentor suffered permanent brain damage, or even lived? Let him suffer like I've had to, the little voice whispered. It's no less than he deserves after everything that he's done to me.

With a soft snort, he squashed the voice and sent up a series of energon blasts that exploded above the grounds in an SOS pattern derived from Morse Code.

Even as he lowered his hand, he noticed a movement from the corner of his eye, so he turned to see Mina and Izuku approaching him, both of them looking worried. "You okay?" his girlfriend asked as she moved to hug him firmly.

"I actually feel pretty good," he grinned at her. "I just got a reminder that I ought to pay more attention to how my loved ones look at me than how I look at me."

"Dude, what?"

"That was unequivocally the worst performance I have ever seen from you, Hikari," Aizawa said flatly as the four students stood in front of him with stoic expressions on their faces. "You enabled unnecessary mass destruction through your teammates, and you added further devastation with your own efforts. Had this been a real situation, hundreds of civilians would more than likely be dead because you did not exercise a modicum of self-control. You took advantage of the fact that this was a training session to win." Fixing his dead gaze on Ochaco and Izuku, he added, "This is a mistake that the two of you made during the beginning of the year. Seeing it repeated here is very disappointing."

"You wanna talk about applying real-life stakes to this situation?" Kurai replied without flinching. "How about the part where I saved Monoma's life after he tried to put me in the hospital?" Said student had been rushed to Recovery Girl by the robots that tended the field, having been urged to all possible speed by Kurai when he informed them that it was possible for Monoma to be suffering from an aneurysm at the time.

Aizawa swung his piercing gaze back to the boy who had spoken, whereupon he growled, "Monoma will be receiving his own lecture considering his performance today, and the recklessness that he displayed. However, in the real world, his actions could be explained as a response to the threat you and Midoriya posed to his team."

"Okay, that thing with Izuku's quirk?" Kurai started to say, then he paused and looked at his friend, who shrugged helplessly. "Yeah, we don't know what the hell that was about."

At this point, All Might stepped up and asked, "Do you think that your quirk did something beyond the intended effect to Young Midoriya's power?" Obviously, he couldn't directly ask about One For All at that moment, but it was clear that he was concerned about any adverse effects that it might have on his protégé.

"Giving Heart can only enhance what's already inside of someone," Kurai answered with a negative shake of his head, glad to be able to move away from Aizawa's judgement, even if for a moment. "I can't manifest a new ability in someone else."

"That power came from inside of me, that I know," Izuku said in defense of his friend. "I don't know what caused it to appear all of a sudden, but it didn't feel like the power that Kurai shared with me at the beginning of the match."

Aizawa let out a long breath as he shared a look with All Might before closing his eyes and saying, "As I was saying before, I find myself disappointed in your team's performance during the exercise… You may have won the match, but if you ever expect to be real heroes- especially if you four want to form a hero team after graduating- you can never repeat those mistakes again."

"Sir, with all due respect, you're acting like Kurai had no control over himself during the fight," Mina said, surprising her friends. No one in their right mind talked back to Aizawa, save for Kurai- and he had actually been through more than enough to justify it. "If he had actually lost his temper, UA would have been blown off the map, not just part of a training complex."

"I fail to see how that should excuse the destruction that he did cause," Aizawa answered, his eyes sharpening as he levelled his gaze solely on Mina, who met his stare with a steely gaze of her own.

"It doesn't," Kurai said as he held up his robotic hand to forestall any further protests from his girlfriend. "I engaged in a grudge match, and now we have a pretty good look at what that can lead to. But then again, All Might did the same thing in Kamino against a guy who could take powers from others, and he retired as the number one hero. With Monoma's capabilities, why shouldn't I have treated him like a villain every bit as dangerous as I could be?" His gaze was unapologetic and unwavering as he delivered his counterargument, so he missed the uncomfortable shuffling of All Might's feet as he looked at the ground like a child being scolded by his parents.

With an aggravated sigh, Aizawa said, "You win the match, but I expect a written essay on the subject of collateral damage bylaws that were reformed twenty years ago from each of you. They will be on my desk by Monday morning at the start of class, or I'll have you on house arrest for two days to reflect on your stupidity."

"Yes, sir," the four students said begrudgingly. To be fair, they had each expected a heavier punishment, but none of them were about to voice that out loud.

Done with his lecture, Aizawa allowed Midnight to officially announce that Class A were the winners of the day's joint exercise. This was greeted by cheers from the victors and some scattered groans of disappointment from their rivals.

This was soon ended when Iida and Yaoyorozu approached Kendo and Shoda with the offer to have a joint celebration of everyone's efforts in the 'A' building, which the two class leaders gratefully accepted. As this was happening, Akabane from the general course approached Kurai's team and offered her hand in congratulations for their victory.

"You guys were amazing," she said as she finished shaking hands with Izuku, who was then drawn away by All Might. "I see that I've got a long way to go before I can stand in the same ring as you guys… But I can't wait to get there."

"Blink and you'll miss it," Kurai grinned at her. Struck by a thought, he then asked, "Why don't you and the others join us for dinner?"

"Wait, would that be okay?" Akabane asked, her eyes widening in surprise. "I kinda thought that… Well, you're all in the hero course, and we're not."

"That'll change in a few months," Kurai pointed out.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Mina encouraged her. "You can totally pick Kurai's brain on ideas for hero costume designs, he's actually really good at that kinda stuff."

"You are?"

"She's overselling it," Kurai said with a roll of his eyes. Allowing another grin to stretch his face, he added, "But I'd be happy to help. I owe your dad big time, so if I can play a part in helping you become a better hero, I'll take the chance."

"D-Don't feel like you owe me because of my dad, please!" Akabane stuttered as she held up her hands in a slightly defensive gesture. "I don't wanna be a burden, you know?"

"Hey, I wouldn't have offered if I couldn't do it," Kurai chuckled. "I also wouldn't have said anything if I didn't want to do it. I'm happy to help you, Akabane."

"Well… Thanks, Hikari," she said with a grateful smile. She noticed that her classmates were waving her over, so she said, "I'll see you guys in a bit… Oh, and thanks for coming to talk to me, Ashido."

"No prob," the pink girl said cheerily. "See you at the dorms!"

As the other girl walked away, Kurai's face sobered as Ochaco approached them with a somber expression on her face. "It's All Might," she said in a lowered tone. "He wants to talk with you and Deku before dinner."

"Understood," he nodded. "Izuku and I'll fill you two in after we're done."

"Thanks, Kurai."

As Aizawa started to walk away from the celebrating students, he paused next to Vlad King and asked, "Think Monoma's learned his lesson?"

"If that didn't teach him, I don't know what will," the other hero muttered.

"It better have," the erasure hero said as he started to walk away. "Hikari let him off easy."

"So… what the hell happened out there today?" Kurai asked his friend as they sat down across from All Might in his office. "I'm gonna assume it has something to do with that dream you had this morning."

"Probably," Izuku nodded solemnly. "When the quirk exploded with Blackwhip, the man who had it when he received One For All appeared in my mind again, kind of like all the other previous wielders did in the dream, but this time it was just him." There was a brief pause before Izuku looked downward with a blush as he said, "At first… Well, he spent quite a while laughing at me because of the way that Ochaco stopped Blackwhip, but then he told me a little bit about how the power works." After shifting his gaze to his mentor and allowing some of the extra blood in his cheeks to recede, he asked, "Do you know anything about him? He was the fifth wielder, tall and bald."

"No, I've never heard of him before," All Might said with a slow shake of his head. "My master received One For All from a young man with black hair, so I guess that the one you saw was his predecessor. Other than that, I know nothing about him… Did he talk about anything besides how to use his quirk?"

"Yeah, there was one other thing," Izuku answered as he thought back to his conversation with the man. "He said that it was time for One For All to evolve into something that none of the previous wielders could have used."

"Evolve?" Kurai asked with a slight frown.

"He told me that there would be five other quirks that would eventually manifest within One For All, so I guess he was talking about that," Izuku mused. "The 'singularity' effect described the people who believe in the quirk doomsday theory have documented some scattered cases of powers suddenly undergoing drastic evolutions in response to a number of varying situations, but nothing that could be called consistent."

"Even if that kind of thing really is possible, why now?" Kurai had to wonder. "Why didn't this happen when All Might was using it?"

"Maybe it has something to do with All For One," All Might said grimly, startling both of his students. "Think about it. His brother was against him in every way, especially their ideologies. If something were to happen to All For One itself, maybe One For All would respond- after all, the quirk did originally come about because of his meddling with his brother's power, even if the end result was unintentional."

"If that's the case, then what could be happening to All For One that would necessitate a change like this?" Kurai muttered with a frown. "The guy is in prison, and if he even thinks about using his quirk, he'll be shot in the head by a handful of turrets."

"I don't know," All Might sighed again. "For now, though… Get in your PE clothes, boys. I want to have you two do some sparring. We need to see if Young Midoriya can keep a handle on this 'Blackwhip' so that it doesn't go out of control again."

"If it's alright with you, I'm gonna call Akarui and try to get his input on this," Kurai told Izuku as they stood up. "Maybe he can do some cyber-sleuthing and pull up information on the previous wielders of One For All."

"I'm hesitant to bring your brother into this any more than necessary," All Might cautioned with a frown as he also stood up. "He's not training to become a hero like you are, and he has enough problems of his own. And he's so young, too."

"Akarui's more grown up than most of the adults you talk to on the streets," Kurai snorted. "He already knows everything about this situation, and he's smarter than David Shield. He's responsible for my quirk- another powerhouse made by All For One- turning out the way it has. If we're drawing up blanks on what to do, he's the only other guy I'd trust to help out, aside from Gran Torino and Tsukauchi."

"I'd appreciate his help," Izuku nodded, surprising his mentor a bit. Seeing this, he said, "Kurai is right. We're in totally uncharted territory, and we need all the help we can get. If Akarui is willing, it'll be a huge relief to have him working with us on this."

"Alright," All Might sighed after a moment of quiet. "You're the current holder. As you've already demonstrated, you know how to pick which allies to let in on the secret. I'll see if we can arrange a visit where he comes to campus again."

"Thank you, sir."

Following a short sparring session in which Izuku was unable to manifest Blackwhip again, the two boys decided to call it in for the night, as they were understandably worn out from the day's activities. As they headed back to the dorms, Izuku finally remembered something that he had been meaning to ask his friend since their match had concluded.

"You said you unlocked another chakra point?" he asked curiously.

"I think so," Kurai nodded as he reached up and rubbed his throat for a moment. "The Visshuda chakra, if I'm not mistaken."

"What's the deal with that one?"

"It's the chakra of truth, and it's sealed up by lies."

Izuku frowned a little at that. "But if it's sealed up by lies, how can you have unlocked it?" he inquired. "We both have to keep our secrets, and that requires us to tell lies pretty often."

"Sorry, let me rephrase that," Kurai said with a slight grin. "It's blocked up by the lies that we tell ourselves. It's kinda similar to how the Ajna chakra is blocked by disillusionment, and is cleared when we can see things for how they really are. Visshuda relates more directly to how one views themselves as opposed to how one sees the world."

"So… you were lying to yourself about something?" Izuku guessed. "What was it?"

Kurai hesitated, but after a moment he answered, "Ever since I found out the truth about Energon, I've been telling myself that I'm just another monster made by All For One. That I was no better than a Nomu, because we all served our purpose to that man."

"But you're-"

"I know you and the others think the best of me," Kurai said to cut his friend off before he could get started. "And your support means all the world to me, man. But that doesn't help me where the Visshuda is concerned. The Anahata, yes, but Visshuda is about how I see me. And as long as I saw myself other than what I really am, that chakra would remain locked up."

"So… how do you see yourself now?" Izuku asked with a confused look.

Kurai smiled at his friend and said, "I'm a hero who wants to defeat his enemies and keep people safe however I can, even if it means accepting a power that I had no right to have in the first place."

"And how did you learn to see yourself that way?"

"Funny enough, Monoma brought it out of me," Kurai chuckled, surprising his friend again. "When we fought, after he copied my power, he told me pretty much everything that I viewed as the truth about myself. But I know that he sees nothing in me but the reasons he's crafted in his head to hate me, and that's what led me to realize that it was all a load of bullcrap that I needed to put behind me."

"Well… I guess I'm happy that you're able to see yourself the way that we see you?" Izuku stuttered, still trying to understand his friend's thought process.

"Thanks for thinking of me the way that you do," Kurai replied as he clapped his friend on the shoulder, careful not to apply too much pressure with his artificial limb as they approached their dorm building. "Seriously, it means a lot."

"Well… I know a thing or two about wanting people to believe in you," he laughed, a little abashedly. "And I know that Mina will always believe in you, no matter what happens."

"Yeah," his friend said as his face lit up with a smile that could only be described as giddy.

Seeing it, and remembering Iida's words about how his friends had been acting that morning, Izuku couldn't help but ask, "What happened between you two yesterday? Something's different."

Kurai paused in place, stopping just short of the steps leading up into their dorms, where they could see that both classes were already interacting in a friendly manner. Izuku stopped so that his back was facing the building, his curiosity intensifying when his friend's smile turned from incredibly happy to slightly mischievous. "I'm gonna ask that you keep what I'm about to tell you from anyone who isn't a part of Lightning Drop," he said as his eyes twinkled.

"Sure," Izuku said as he stepped closer to his friend without hesitation. If Kurai wanted him to keep a secret, he had long since earned his silence.

"Mina and I talked last night after the hangout, and…" Kurai reddened just a little bit as he finally said, "Well, Kaminari's little joke actually hit home. We wanna get married as soon as we're done with UA."

Izuku's eyes went wide, and before he could yell out in surprise, Kurai clamped his left hand on his friend's face to prevent any involuntary outbursts. When he was certain that Izuku could be trusted to control his volume, he lowered his hand and said, "Easy does it, pal."

"But-! You're-! She-! That's huge!" he yelped, though not loud enough to be heard by anyone inside. "A-Are you guys sure?! We're still in school, and-!"

"Come on, pal," Kurai chuckled as he put his hands in his pockets. "After all the crap we've been through, we can hardly be accused of being children who don't consider the consequences of the future. Besides that, she brings out the best in me- helps me to be the person that I always dreamed I could become. I don't wanna do life without her, not ever. I love her."

Izuku's jaw worked up and down several times in silence before he managed to ask, "Okay, but… Why tell me? I'd have thought that Iida would be the first person you'd tell."

"Well, Akarui and I had a conversation a few weeks back that pretty much preluded last night's events, so technically he's the first to know," Kurai explained. "But among my friends, yeah, you're the first to know. There was a time when Iida would have certainly been the first person I told, but not anymore. We're different people than we were at the start the school year, and while I'll always think of him as a great friend and brother, he's not my best friend anymore. That's you, Izuku."

"Wha-?! Me?!"

"Yeah," the cyborg teen nodded, his expression becoming more serious as he did. "Maybe our circumstances have something to do with it, but you're the only other person in the world who knows what it's like to be in my shoes- to have this burden put on us by All For One's actions, and you've had my back through it all. You've become my closest confidant other than Mina, and I couldn't have asked for a better friend to trust in. That's why you're the first person I wanted to tell about this."

"I… I… I'm honored," Izuku said as he bowed to his friend, who merely smiled again. "Thank you for trusting me, Kurai. I won't tell anyone, not even Ochaco until either your or Mina do."

"If Mina hasn't already told her, she will by the end of the night," Kurai laughed. "If I know her, she's gonna be bursting to tell somebody the news."

"So… do you have a ring?" Izuku asked as he straightened up, a nervous grin working its way across his face as he felt the shock beginning to fade in favor of being supremely happy for his friend.

"Not yet, and I doubt that I'll be able to get one until we're out of school," Kurai shrugged. "Even if I did, she probably wouldn't be able to wear it on her hand since her acid would destroy it."

"Well… Congratulations, Kurai," Izuku said as he shook hands with his comrade. "You definitely deserve to be happy, and I'm glad that Mina can do that for you."

"I just hope I can make her as happy as she's made me," Kurai chuckled ruefully as they resumed their way up the steps into their home. "That's gonna be the real trick."

"You're gonna be plus ultra at it, Kurai. I have no doubt about that."

"Heh… Thanks, man."

They were greeted by both classes warmly, as well as the four students who were now set to transfer to the hero course next year. It was still up in the air whether or not Mitsuha would be making the transfer, but according to her interaction with the teachers, she might be getting another chance at showing her progress during the school year's final semester. Even with that hanging over her head and Monoma's absence, it seemed as though everyone was getting along very well.

Mina and Ochaco quickly welcomed the two boys into the building while Iida offered them both some stew, which they gratefully accepted. The day's training and their extra sparring session had left them both famished, so they moved quickly to a table that was mostly open, sitting down with their girlfriends, as well as Akabane, Sero, Todoroki, and Yang.

"Gotta say, I won't be underestimating you people from now on," Yang was saying to Akabane, who was flushing red with embarrassment. "If you'd been in the hero course from the beginning, you probably would have kicked my- Hey, Hikari! Midoriya!" She smiled at the duo as they sat down before saying, "I was just telling Akabane how she did real good during today's training. Took me by surprise."

"Took all of us by surprise," Izuku admitted, causing the bloody-nosed girl to burn a brighter red than before.

"Th-Thanks…" she mumbled.

"Hey, come on!" Mina said as she ribbed the other girl with her elbow. "Where's all that fire from when you were fighting Xiao Long?"

"I, uh… It's hard for me to be confident outside of a fight, honestly," she admitted. "And even that's a challenge… I just kinda get carried away sometimes."

"Kurai can totally relate to that, right?" Ochaco asked him, to which he nodded.

"Yeah, my quirk used to put a strain on the part of my brain that regulates impulses and negative emotions, so if I fought too long or too hard, I'd snap, kind of like that."

"But my snapping has nothing to do with my quirk…"

"Whatever the case is, you were awesome!" Sero said enthusiastically, causing Akabane to look down with a sheepish smile that caught Mina's attention. "I don't think anyone in our class could've taken down Xiao Long that fast!"

"Well, I'm sure Hikari-"

"Nope," Kurai said before Akabane could finish her guess. "I had to fight her one-on-one a few days ago, and it took me using an ultimate move for a hot minute to beat her. Far as I'm concerned, we broke almost even for time."

"Do you guys have to talk about this while I'm right here?" Yang grumbled. "You're making it sound like I can never win."

"Dude, they're talking about how hard it is to take you down," Mina laughed. "It's a compliment."

"Well… okay, thanks," Yang answered.

"So what happened with your quirk, Midoriya?" Todoroki asked as soon as there was a slight lull in the conversation. "Given what you told me at the Sport's Festival, I was assuming that you wouldn't have been holding back. Why did you hide that you also have two abilities?"

"Uh… I didn't know?" Izuku answered, thrown off by the sudden change in topic. "I mean, I think what happened today is another facet of the same quirk, not another power entirely. I didn't even know that I could manifest it like that."

"It also probably went ham during the match because I had boosted his quirk," Kurai volunteered. "The ability itself might've manifested given the circumstances, but I think Energon is what made it go haywire on such a massive scale." He paused before he asked, "Can you imagine what might've happened during the licensing exam if you'd had even slightly less control over your quirk than you did at the time?"

"I was under the impression that you gave me more power than Midoriya today."

"Yeah, but Deku was a late bloomer, remember?" Ochaco reminded the others. "He hasn't had as long to master his power as we have, so maybe that's another reason that weird energy just appeared out of nowhere."

"That's a good point," the heterochromic boy said with a nod. "Sorry, Midoriya. I shouldn't have doubted your motivations."

"N-No, it's okay!" Izuku laughed nervously. "I mean, I'd be pretty confused in your shoes, too."

"Seems like you're pretty confused in your own shoes, buddy," Yang commented.

"You're not wrong about that…"

"Given what we witnessed today, are we sure it's safe to have them participate in the program?" All Might asked from his seat. The other members of the freshman year's hero course were all seated around a quartet of desks to discuss a rather sudden request from the Hero's Safety Commission. "What if Young Midoriya loses control of his quirk like that out in the field?"

"I think the chances of that happening are fairly low," Nezu said before anyone else could answer him. "Today he was under a great deal of stress, but where they'll be going, there will be very little chances of them even having to encounter a criminal activity."

"Even so, Midoriya has a very strong drive to succeed, and no matter what the job he's been given, he takes it upon himself to do the very best that he can," Midnight noted. "Perhaps the pressure to do well might become too much of a strain, even under optimal circumstances like these."

"Then what's the point in training him to become a hero at all?" Aizawa asked dryly, bringing everyone's attention to him. "He's going to face adversity of all kinds when he leaves UA, and we won't be able to watch over him when that happens. We can't shelter him from the world forever, and the same is true in reverse. Our job as his teachers is to train him as best we can so that the events of today don't repeat themselves, Besides…" He buried his face in his scarf as he added, "His friends know about the power now. They'll look after him, and as we all saw, they have a way to bring him under control if his quirk does act up again."

"True enough," Nezu nodded. "I understand your concerns, but in the changing times, we must train our students to respond to any variation of the unexpected."

"Then we are to move forward with the Safety Commission's proposal?" Ectoplasm rumbled.

"I don't see that we have much choice," Nezu sighed. "I agree that it is less than ideal, but we are hardly in a position to refuse the Commission at this time."

Vlad King and Aizawa shared a look before Class B's instructor stood up from his seat and said, "We'll discuss this with our classes starting next week, when more details concerning their assignments come in."

"Bakugo is set to take his final exam for the provisional license this Friday, so that'll suit my timing just fine," Aizawa agreed. "In the meantime, we'll prepare adjusted semester schedules to submit for your approval."

"Thank you, gentlemen," the principal said gratefully. "In the meantime, I shall also begin my own set of paperwork."

"Who knew that being heroes would involve so many papers?" Present Mic chuckled while everyone else let out quiet sighs and groans as they began to contemplate the mountain of legal documents and rescheduling that lay in their immediate futures.

"It might have been nice if the Commission gave us more than a few weeks' heads-up," Cementoss grumbled as the meeting was dissolved.

Back at the dorms, after all the Class B students had gone back to their own building, there was a somewhat quiet celebration occurring in Kurai's room, where hugs were going all around the members of Team Lightning Drop. True to his predictions, Mina couldn't wait to tell Ochaco the news, so she had dragged the girl up to her room to tell her about her and Kurai's conversation the previous evening, to which the other girl had reacted similarly to Izuku when he heard the news. When the pink girl received a text that informed her that Izuku was also privy to the news, she then rushed her friend over to her boyfriend's room so that they could all share in hushed laughter and excitement as they talked about the newest development in their friends' relationship.

"You sure we can't tell anyone else?" Ochaco asked the couple after a little while. "The last time you guys kept something like this a secret, Iida didn't take it very well."

Kurai and Mina exchanged a brief look before he answered, "I do want to tell him, and sooner than later, I will. But…"

"We know he's probably gonna be a hard case about it," Mina said bluntly. "We just wanna have some time to enjoy this before Kurai has to get into another argument about it."

"I know he'll come around eventually, but I think he's just gotten used to the idea of us dating in the first place." Kurai added a slightly rueful grin as he said, "And that took me nearly getting killed twice to happen. If we drop this on his head now, he might just short-circuit."

"I'm not sure about that," Izuku mused, drawing everyone's attention to him. "He saw what you went through just like we did. I'm sure he'd understand if you laid out your reasons."

"You don't think that he'd tell us that we're just having a permanent emotional reaction to a single stressful event?" Mina asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ochaco and Izuku exchanged a look of their own before they both nodded and said, "Good point."

"I'll talk to him soon," Kurai promised again. "For now, though… Thanks for being here to share with us, guys."

"Thanks for wanting to share it with us," Ochaco said, her smile returning in force. "We're so happy for you guys."

"Now I've got another reason to become a hero who saves everyone," Izuku said with a smile of his own. "I've gotta protect this happiness that you guys have found." Ochaco gripped his hand tightly, prompting him to then add, "We both will."

"Thanks, you guys."

Kai: So, you're gearing up for the second movie arc already, huh?

Mataras: What do you mean 'already'? I've been looking forward to this arc for ages!

Deku: I think it has more to do with helping the movie arc fit into this story without making it feel shoved in at the last second, right?

Mataras: Bingo. As best I can tell, this is about when the Heroes Rising arc should be coming into play.

Kai: So when will that start? End of next chapter?

Mataras: Not quite. There's room for some exposition/filler right now.

Kai: I'd be careful with the 'f-word', if I were you. Remember, a lot of these readers are anime fans.

Mataras: I know that! I'm not putting stuff in just because I feel like it, there's stuff that's gonna drive the plot forward! I call it filler mostly because it's my own material that I'm coming up with, and there's not going to be any huge revelations integral to the plot or anything like that. At the same time, it is some stuff that I think needs to happen so that certain things down the line will have more of an impact than they would without these scenes.

Deku: That sounds kind of like you're making excuses...

Mataras: Okay, what if I promise two chapters loaded with Akarui content?

Kai: Huh. That oughta keep the readers around.

Mataras: I hope so!

Deku: Next time- Next in Line

Kai: Uh, does anyone wanna explain to me the camera crew setting up in our common space?

Mataras: Get ready to Go Beyond!

Deku: Plus Ultra!

Kai: Seriously, why is there a camera crew in my living room?!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Ipseity...

"Alright, fair enough," he conceded. "I still don't know how I feel about this interview, though."

"Why?" Mina asked him.

Kurai hesitated before saying in an uncharacteristically small voice, "Every time I've been on camera, there's been someone with me. The first time, I was with Iida, then Gang Orca, and then this last time, I had Tsukauchi."

"You were by yourself right after you survived crashing into the ground from the sky," she countered.

"That was for like ten seconds, and I'm pretty sure I was concussed. It doesn't count."

"Why not ask if you can bring a guest speaker?" Izuku suggested. "If they're giving you short notice on this interview, it's only fair that they be accommodating to you."

Kurai perked up at that idea, so he nodded and said, "Good idea. Any volunteers?"