A/N: Alright, let's get into it, right and proper! Let's get the shenanigans of Nabu Island underway!

UA Hero Agency

The sun was almost always shining above the clear skies of Nabu Island, creating a warm atmosphere that was a far cry from the wintry cold that gripped the mainland at the moment. It was so warm, in fact, that the arriving intern heroes hadn't even needed to bring their winter costumes, for those who had them made.

Class 1-A of UA High School had come in to fill the role of professional heroes due to the retirement of an older pro who could no longer keep up with the rigors of the job. Under normal circumstances, the government would have replaced the man with another hero who was starting to slow down, or else a greenhorn just getting their feet under them, but these were not normal times. Heroes were spread thin these days, but the needs of the people still had to be met, and so the government had decided to sponsor the 'Work Recommendation Program' for hero course students still in high school. It allowed the students with provisional licenses to work as professional heroes without any pro hero supervision, so as long it was an area with low crime rates and populations.

It seemed like a solid win-win for the hero society that desperately needed it ever since the retirement of All Might. The students got time off from classes to get real-world experience in their chosen profession, as well as decent wages for their efforts, and the government could afford to scout out sidekicks from agencies that were more ready to strike out on their own and bolster the flagging numbers of pro heroes out on the streets keeping threats like the League of Villains at bay.

The residents of Nabu had readily welcomed the new heroes, many of them excited to see just what the next generation of champions looked like. Of course, one of the students in particular had much more renown than others, so the first day on the job had proved to be fairly interesting for him.

The heroes had just finished moving into the building that would be their home for a month and were getting their hero costumes on when they were greeted by the mayor in the office, which had twenty-odd computers and phones for the young heroes to be able to monitor situations on the island, all in aid of allowing them to respond to any request for help swiftly and efficiently. "Good morning, heroes," said the mayor, a nondescript man in his fifties. He moved to shake hands with Iida and Yaoyorozu, since they would mostly be running the administration side of things. "We on Nabu Island are ever so grateful to you for coming and filling in for Giga Gear. He'll be missed, but I'm sure that we're in capable hands."

"Yes, sir!" Iida answered enthusiastically. "We'll do our absolute best to live up to your expectations!"

"Please tell your community that we are willing to help them however a hero can and should!" Yaoyorozu added with a charming smile.

"Glad to hear it," the mayor chuckled. He seemed like a friendly enough person, Kurai thought as he walked toward his desk, having just finished using his quirk to charge his sword's power cell. He was stopped when the mayor moved a little closer to him and asked, "Hold on, I've seen you on TV, haven't I?"

"A few times, probably," Kaminari grinned as he stood next to Kurai, who looked a little hesitant the older man's approach. "He was this year's Sport's Festival winner, and he was in that interview with Gang Orca after they busted a big-time smuggling ring, plus he fought one of those Nomu monsters same time as Endeavor and Hawks right after the Hero Billboard Charts announcements. He also took on a crazy yakuza gang last semester, believe it or not. You'd know him as 'Kai'."

"Ah, yes!" the older man said delightedly as he moved forward to shake hands rapidly with the off-guard young hero. "I had no idea that we would be receiving such an accomplished hero for the interim! Truly, it is an honor and a privilege to meet you, young man!"

"Uh, the honor's all mine?" Kurai answered as he did his best to keep up with the enthusiastic greeting. "I'll do my best to live up to your expectations here on Nabu, sir."

"Ah, it'll do the people good to know that we are in such capable hands!" the mayor said jovially as he finally released Kurai's hand. "I know that many of them have had reservations about having such young heroes come to help us, but now I'm sure that they'll rest easy."

Kurai frowned a little bit at that. Whether or not the man realized it, he had just snubbed the majority of his classmates, and he found himself not liking that much. This led to him saying, "I'm not alone in this, sir, nor are any of my friends less capable than I. Nabu is in the hands of the UA Hero Agency, not that of the Guardian Hero."

The mayor, to his credit, realized his mistake as he registered Kurai's words, along with the somewhat disgruntled looks that some of the other young heroes were now trying to hide. "My apologies," he said with a quick bow in their general direction. "My excitement overcame me for a moment, and I forgot my manners. Let me say once again, that I am relieved to have the help of every one of you from UA High School."

This seemed to mollify the lot of them, except for Bakugo, who remained scowling as he walked past all of them to set his gauntlets down on the floor by his desk. Of course, not much could pacify the volatile blonde, so his peers paid him no mind as he grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

Less than an hour into having established their base and communications, the agency was ringing with requests in addition to the standard duties that Yaoyorozu and Iida had set up for the class. Todoroki, Sato, Sero, Shoji, Asui, Kurai, and Yang were assigned to patrolling the local beach while Ruby and Tokoyami would patrol the island on a larger scale, being two of the heroes with quirks that let them get around quickly and easily through most any terrain, though they would assist at the tourist's beach if needed. Everyone else would remain at the office to answer phones and heed the requests as necessary, which had somewhat disgruntled one Mina Ashido, who had wanted to do patrols with her boyfriend.

To that, Iida had initially shot her down vehemently on the grounds that their relationship could prove distracting from their duties, though Yaoyorozu had eventually convinced him that the two did work well together, and that they should be given a chance to at least do a patrol once they had gotten their feet under them. He agreed to let them work together after they had settled in more as an agency, though he warned the both of them that he would tolerate no screw-ups on their end. Kurai had made a rude gesture in response, claiming that his mechanical arm was acting up when Weiss scolded him for his behavior, and dashing out of the office before Iida could get on his case again.

"We should try to do a patrol or a bigger job as Team Lightning Drop," Ochaco said cheerily after returning from a job in the early afternoon. "It'd be good for us to get some name recognition, you know?"

"I'm for that!" Mina grinned, along with Izuku, who looked excited by such a prospect.

"Later, people!" Iida called out from where he and Yaoyorozu were working. "We need to assure the locals that we can handle their issues as individuals, possibly as pairs, before we start showing off our teams!"

"Boo!" Ruby said before she blew a raspberry and dashed out the door, also intent on avoiding a lecture from the class president.

"What has gotten into them?" Iida grumbled as he peered at a new email request. "We're here to work, not show off."

"For heroes, the two can go hand-in-hand," Blake pointed out as she slid her katana onto her back, having received a request for a farm that would require her to cut hay in large amounts. "That, and we're still kids who wanna have a little fun."

Weiss' head jerked up toward her comrade before she gave a little smile and asked, "Did Blake just suggest that we have fun? I think Yang's going to have a conniption fit that she missed this."

"Whatever," Blake said with a roll of her eyes before she left the building.

Kai was standing at the entrance to the biggest changing room on the beachside, where he had started to notice a pattern only thirty minutes after starting a casual sweep of the area, eyes on the lookout for any trouble. Given that they were all at a warm beach, there was bound to be plenty of swimwear that could catch one's eye, so Kurai found himself being grateful for the first time that his girlfriend had teased him so often about his aversion to seeing girls with more skin exposed than not, numbing him to his embarrassment. Of course, he was still principled enough to not look at anyone longer than absolutely necessary, though not everyone shared his sense of discipline.

"Hey, you two hotties wanna get up to some trouble with us?" asked a young man to a pair of young women in bikinis, both of whom were already looking uncomfortable. He also had a friend beside him who was wearing a lecherous grin, and Kai sighed in exasperation because of it.

Glad I don't have to deal with these types on the regular back at UA, the young hero thought as one of the girls made an excuse and began to leave with her friend. Seeing that the two men had no intention of letting them go without a scene, he stepped forward just as they started to chase the women, putting himself between the two parties, his robotic arm raised toward the men as an indication to stand down. "That's far enough," he said firmly as they faltered, clearly wondering just who was getting in between them and their idea of a fun time. "Clearly the ladies prefer class to crass, so I'd recommend fishing in a different part of the ocean."

"Who the hell are you?" demanded the second man, clearly disgruntled by the fact that some random kid was meddling in his and his friend's afternoon. "This ain't your business." In spite of his words, he seemed wary of the robotic limb being levelled at him- or rather, he seemed to be apprehensive about a confrontation with someone who had suffered enough to need a replacement arm. The numerous scars visible on the kid's body also served quite well as a warning against trying to pick a fight so quickly.

"I'm a hero, so I'm pretty sure interfering in what looks like harassment is my business," Kai replied in the same tone as he had been using while lowering his arm. "Go enjoy a different part of the beach before I stick you someplace where the sun don't shine."

"You're a hero?" the first man scoffed. "I've never seen you around here before."

"Let's just say that the agency I'm with is passing through," Kai shrugged, making subtle motions with his left hand for the girls to move along, just in case there was trouble. "Your old local hero may have retired, but my friends and I are here to keep an eye on his stomping grounds. If you really need to look me up, though, I'm the Guardian Hero from Musutafu: Kai."

"Kai?" repeated the man, a spark of recognition lighting up behind his eyes. "Wait, that kid that was in that big fight in Fukuoka alongside Endeavor and Hawks a couple months back?"

"Yeah."

The two men looked at one another, gave the young hero a once-over, taking note of his metal arm and costume before looking back at each other while paling. The next instant, they bolted away from Kai, shouting over their shoulders, "We're sorry…!"

The Guardian Hero gave a snort of satisfaction accompanied by a slight grin at the sight. That went alright, he thought as he turned around, hoping to see that the two girls would have taken his advice and left beforehand.

They hadn't. "Oh my gosh, you're Kai?!" exclaimed one of the girls, a brunette in an orange two-piece and a light hoodie as she stepped closer than the boy was comfortable with, her eyes alight with excitement. "I've been following you since the yakuza incident! I never thought I'd get a chance to meet you, though!"

"Oh, you saw that?" he asked a little unsteadily as her friend, a girl with freckles and orange hair also stepped closer with a similar expression on her face.

"Yeah, I've got a friend who lives in the district where it went down!" the first girl nodded rapidly as she reached into her jacket pocket. "You and that other hero looked so cool!"

"Thanks?"

"Yeah, after Rin told me about you, we were super surprised to see you in that fight in Fukuoka!" said the other girl. "I had thought that she was just talking you up, but you were amazing! We started following your fan base online, and we were totally shocked when we found out that you were in high school like us! You really are cool!"

"Hey, Kai?" the girl named Rin asked shyly as she pulled out a phone from her pocket. "No one's been able to get a selfie with you yet for the fan website about you, so would it be cool if we snapped one real quick?"

"Ooh, yeah!" the second girl exclaimed excitedly. "Please?! That'd be so awesome!"

He hesitated, but he was pragmatic enough to know that he should start expecting things like this to become commonplace if his career continued as it had been, so he decided to accommodate their request. "Sure," he said while trying to wear an easy smile, with more success than he had thought he would have.

"Sweet!" both girls giggled as they got on either side of him, Rin holding the phone at arm's length at an angle to better include all three of them and the beach behind them. Kurai did his best to maintain his smile as the girl drew closer to him than he was really comfortable with, but again, he knew that this kind of thing wasn't going to go away anytime soon.

Rin took about five pictures before she was satisfied, and Kai stepped away as quickly as he thought was polite, glad to have his own personal space back. Before he could bid them farewell, however, Rin had one more favor to ask him. "Can you sign my hoodie?" she asked hopefully as she held out her right arm.

"Oh," he said with a slightly rueful chuckle. "I don't have a marker on me right now, sorry. I would, otherwise."

"Excuse me?" The trio turned to see a young couple approaching with smiles on their faces, and a backpack on the man's shoulder. "I've got a marker in my bag if you need it," he said as he shrugged off the pack. "Couldn't help but overhear, sorry."

"No problem," Kai said with a relieved grin as he accepted the marker once it had been offered, turning back to Rin, who was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement. "Okay, miss, where at?"

"Anywhere on the arm is cool," she said as he readied the writing instrument.

"Alright." He moved to pen his hero name on her forearm, as he was more comfortable writing there than anywhere else. As soon as he was done, the girl let out a little squeal of delight and showed it off to her friend, who was looking down at her outfit and apparently realizing that there wasn't really anywhere for Kai to sign without breaking some serious personal boundary rules.

"Hey, is it okay if Temari grabs her hat for you to sign?" Rin asked hopefully, realizing her friend's dilemma.

"I won't take a sec," the ginger girl promised when she thought that Kai might refuse.

As it was, he hesitated a moment before he nodded and said, "I can take another minute, but then I should get back to watch duty."

"Thank you!" Temari ran off toward the lockers with a huge smile on her face as she did.

"Sorry to make you guys wait," Kai said as he turned back toward the couple, who was still smiling good-naturedly at him. "I shouldn't have volunteered your pen any more than it already has been."

"Ah, keep it," the man said with a small wave of his hand. "I think you'll probably need it more than me- Kai, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Hey, don't call me 'sir', I'm not old enough," the man chuckled. "If you wanna pay me back, though, would'ja mind signing my cap? I know I've heard your name a couple of times on the news, and I get the feeling that you career is gonna go far. It'd be kinda cool to have something from you before you really hit it big, you know?"

"Of course," Kai said as he took the offered hat, quickly signing the bill of the cap the same way that he had signed Rin's hoodie. "There you go."

"Thank you," said the woman next to him. "We don't get a lot of cool heroes around here on Nabu, so we appreciate you taking the time to indulge us like this."

"It's my pleasure," Kai said sincerely as they picked up their bag and made to leave. "Enjoy the beach, folks."

"Will do!" With that parting comment from the man, the couple was off with a wave, leaving Kai with the marker and a smiling Rin.

"Kai?" she suddenly asked when Temari didn't immediately come back. "How long are you gonna be here on Nabu?"

"About a month," he answered readily. "After that, the government should have a more permanent replacement for you guys."

"Aw, that's not very long," she said with a little pout, which Kai had to keep himself from laughing at. "Well, I might as well try, anyway."

"Try what?"

"Can I have your number?" she asked hopefully, stunning him and causing his cheeks to turn very red. "I dunno what a hero's schedule looks like, but you gotta have some time off, right? Would you like to grab dinner sometime?" Her face was also tinted red, and Kai realized that it was taking a lot of courage for her to ask this of him.

He almost felt bad for her as he shrugged with a slightly rueful smile and answered, "I'm really flattered, Rin, but I don't think my girlfriend would like that very much."

"Girlfriend?" the girl repeated, her cheeks turning absolutely scarlet. "You have-? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! And embarrassed!" She quickly covered her face in shame just in time for Temari to return with a floppy sunhat and a big smile.

"Sorry that took so long!" she said a little breathlessly. "Stupid lock wouldn't come undone. Uh, Rin? You okay?"

"Y-Yeah…" she mumbled as she peaked out at Kai between her fingers as he focused on signing the hat for Temari. "Just sticking my foot in my mouth, like usual."

"Huh? Wait…" the ginger girl glanced between the two of them, the pieces falling into place fairly quickly. "Oh man, did you-?"

"Nothing I wouldn't have done if I had met a few choice heroines before I became a hero, myself," Kai said as he gave Rin another apologetic smile. "No hard feelings?"

"No, of course not!" she said with an emphatic shake of her head. "Whoever she is, she's super lucky."

Kai was about to say that he was the lucky one, then decided against it, as it would probably just come across as rubbing salt in the wound. Instead, he decided to ask, "Does my fan page go back far enough to cover my official debut as a licensed hero interning under Fat Gum?"

"Uh-huh," Temari nodded quickly as she happily accepted her hat back from the boy. "It actually got started up after your win at the Sport's Festival. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm not available, but the guy from my class that I worked with- Red Riot- might be willing to show a lady a good time," Kai answered as he kept his gaze on the embarrassed Rin. "He's honestly a cooler guy than me- saved my life a couple times, believe it or not. I could definitely put you two in touch, if you're interested."

"Oh yeah, I remember reading a bit about him," Temari nodded while Rin finally lowered her hands, though her face was still red. "He seemed like a good hero, too."

"Like I said, he's a good guy, and he's very single," Kai grinned. "What do you say?"

Rin hesitated before blushing again and saying, "Oh, why not? I've already gone and embarrassed myself a ton."

"Cool," Kai said, happy to have at least made the effort to smooth things over with the disappointed girl. "Write down your number, and I'll get it to him tonight after I finish my patrol." As he spoke, he grabbed a flyer from a nearby desk and held the marker out to the girl, who took the two items shyly.

"So, who is the lucky lady?" Temari asked, unabashed. "Is it another hero from UA?"

"Yeah," Kai nodded, glad that at least he could talk about his girlfriend without it seeming like he was trying to just use her existence to stave off admirers. "Her hero name is Ashid Queen, and we've pretty much been going out since the beginning of the school year. She's here on the island, so I'm sure you'll see her at some point before we leave."

"Ooh, can I ask about all the details?" Temari asked eagerly as Rin handed the paper and marker back to Kai, who pocketed both items quickly. "This'll make for a great add to the online forums!"

"Sorry, ladies," Kai answered as he held up his hands in a halting gesture. "I'm not one to kiss and tell, plus I really should be getting back to work."

"Aw man," Temari complained, but she was smiling, so Kai doubted that she was actually disappointed in him. "Well, thanks for all your time, Kai! It was really awesome to meet you."

"Yeah, thanks," Rin said as she bowed to him. "I'm really sorry, again."

As she straightened up, Kai gave her another smile and said, "There's nothing to be sorry about, Rin. I just hope that you can still enjoy the beach today."

"For sure," she said with a nervous smile as she and Temari went to walk back toward the lockers. "Just as soon as we put this stuff back so it doesn't get ruined."

"All right, then," he said as he waved farewell. "Later."

"Bye!"

As he left the small building, Kai was somewhat surprised to see Tailman regarding him with a slight grin and folded arms. "How long have you been standing there?" Kai asked his friend.

"Not long, but I caught the gist of it all," the other boy said as they moved to resume their sweep of the long beach. "Here for less than eight hours, and you're already breaking hearts."

Kai turned a pained eye on his companion before saying, "You're gonna tell Mina about this, aren't you?"

"Only if you don't give that number to Kirishima."

"That'd be fair."

The rest of the day saw to Kai helping several residents with various incidents, from locating lost items- for which his Divine Eye was incredibly helpful- to pulling apart a handful of men who'd had had a little too much to drink. He and the others on the beach were kept fairly busy, so it felt as though time passed them by quickly, and before they knew it, the sun was setting, signaling the end of their work day. The seven of them who had been assigned to the beach gathered by one of the main roads, all of them glad to be heading back to the office that would double as their living quarters for the next month.

"So, we're all in agreement?" Yang asked, unprompted and of no one in particular as they headed up the road, waving at a few passerby's as they did.

"About what, ribbit?" Asui inquired as she gave the other girl a blank look.

"That Hikari's a lady killer," the blonde snickered, causing the dark-haired hero's shoulders to sag and his face to fall.

"You told them about that?" he asked Ojiro in a deadpan.

"He didn't have to," Sero grinned. "Every other time we looked up, you were signing something and talking to someone. I'd be annoyed, but it was kinda funny how flustered you kept getting."

It was true that a good portion Kurai's day had been spent interacting with the beach-goers. It was honestly a lot more attention than he had been expecting to get, and he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about it. He knew that he had some renown, but because he lived on UA campus, he hadn't had a lot of opportunities to interact with civilians since his battle at Fukuoka, so he had underestimated his popularity. He found it a little overwhelming, especially since he wasn't a fully-fledged pro yet.

Still, if this keeps up, I'll have a solid following after UA, he thought as he rolled his eyes at his friends, several of them who were chuckling at his embarrassment. I'd have more than enough recognition to get a successful start at my own agency.

"We came to this island to be heroes, not to show off," Todoroki reminded his friend, though he seemed the least concerned with the amount of attention that Kurai was getting. "Hopefully the excitement will wear off soon, and Hikari can do his work without getting interrupted."

"Here's hoping," his friend agreed, glad that there was at least one person who wasn't going to give him grief.

"I dunno, based on all the giggling girls and social media hits, I wouldn't count on this stuff going away anytime soon," Yang said as she held up her phone, which displayed a number of tags that registered with Kai's name on the internet, much to his embarrassment.

"That many?!" he groaned, starting to fear for his privacy whilst living on the island.

"That's what you get for being so flashy," Yang giggled as she put the phone away. "Lots of photos with cute girls, too. Ashido is gonna love this."

"Aw, crap baskets."

As it turned out, Kurai needn't have worried, much to his relief, and his friends' disappointment. "Of course all the local cuties wanted a selfie with the hottest new hero on the scene," she was laughing after he had told her about his day. "You seriously didn't realize how much of a local following you had?"

"No!" he said, not sure if he should be waiting for the other foot to drop, now that his initial relief had passed. "I mean, I know a lot of people know about my fight in Fukuoka, but I figured that in a remote place like this, no one would care…"

"Aw, you're cute when you're flustered," Mina giggled. "I'd almost forgotten what you looked like when you're all worked up. Hmm, I need to start trying again."

"Please don't."

"I think it's great that you're getting recognized for all your hard work, Kurai!" Ochaco said with a smile as she walked up, hands joined with Izuku.

"Well, to be fair, I wasn't the only one they were excited about," he said as he pointed his gaze at their green-haired friend. "Deku has a few admirers, too."

"Wait, really?!" Izuku exclaimed, looking somewhere between excited and nervous, given how Kurai's day had gone.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I let the ladies know that you're spoken for," he assured his friend, causing both him and his girlfriend to let out sighs of relief. They tensed up again when he added an afterthought out loud, "I'm not sure that it's going to stop all of them, though…"

"Man, so while we're busting our butts all over the island, Hikari's getting fawned over by all the girls in swimsuits?!" Kaminari complained. "I want beach duty tomorrow!"

"And how well is your quirk gonna mix with seawater, Dunce Face?" Bakugo grumbled as he walked past. Out of all of them, he was the only who was irritated by the fact that they had been stationed on an island with a low crime rate. As such, he had refused to go out on any jobs that sounded like they didn't involve some level of violence, which so far had amounted to zero tasks. Given that he was surly on a good day, Iida and Yaoyorozu thought it best to let him simmer for a little while before turning him loose on the peaceful population of Nabu Island.

Kaminari was cursing the fact that Bakugo was right while his friends were laughing at his disappointment. As this was happening, Kurai approached Kirishima with the paper he had stashed in his pocket earlier. "Hey man, got a second?" he asked his peer after he made sure that Iida wasn't close enough to be listening.

"Yeah, what's up?" the redhead asked.

"I'm sure you heard earlier, but I got to know a few of the locals, and one of them wanted me to give you this," he said as he handed Kirishima the paper with the girl's number on it. "Her name's Rin, and she seemed really nice. Her and her friend first found out about us from our time at Fat Gum's agency."

"Wait, she's got a friend?" Kurai was a little startled to see that Kaminari was a little closer than he had realized. "Is she hot?"

"I'm not dignifying that with an answer," he replied as Kirishima took the paper with a surprised expression. "In any case, I've done my bit."

"Thanks, man," Kirishima said with a somewhat sheepish grin. "Wow, I never thought I'd already have fans out there, much less in a place like this."

"Well, the yakuza incident was kind of a big deal, so I guess it's not too weird that those of us who were involved would have something of a rapport," his friend shrugged. Patting Kirishima on the shoulder, he walked past, saying, "I'ma hit the shower, pal. It's been a hot day out there, and I stink."

As he walked away, Mina sidled up to him and said in a lowered voice, "You totally used Kirishima as shield for this girl, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and the problem is that we only have so many available guys in our class," he muttered under his breath. "We gotta see if we can do a patrol together tomorrow, or else people are gonna think I'm just making you up."

"I will be more than happy to make public claims on you, buddy," she giggled as she let him go toward the boy's shower room.

The next day, Yaoyorozu and Iida started sending the others out in groups for certain jobs to expedite the completion times for more difficult tasks presented to them. Mina and Kurai took this opportunity to go on a handful of jobs together, with only token resistance from Iida. "Just don't do anything to sully our school's name!" he called as they headed out the door with big smiles on their faces.

"Who, us?!" Mina laughed before the door shut behind them.

Because Kurai had a license to drive his motorcycle, he had brought the vehicle with them to the island, which let the two of them get to a road where a landslide had occurred with great speed.

"Man, I forgot how much fun it is to ride with you!" Mina said, her voice coming in clearly through the radio that Akarui had built into their helmets, in spite of the wind rushing past them. They were going well above the speed limit, but since they were heroes en route to what qualified as an emergency, Kurai knew that they could get away with it. When he had first come to UA, he had been a stickler for rules almost as much as Iida, but even if Mina had loosened him up, one thing that he had always loved was pushing past the speed limits when no one was looking. Now that he had a legitimate excuse to speed, he was going to take full advantage of it.

Kai and Ashid Queen skidded to a stop in front of a small crowd of people who had gotten out of their cars and were waiting for the road to be cleared of the large rockslide that was impeding their path. "Look out peeps, UA heroes are on the scene!" the Melting Heroine declared as she and her boyfriend took off their helmets to set them on the bike and stride forward confidently. The incident had occurred on a road that overlooked the ocean, so there were no properties below that the two teenagers would have to worry about damaging.

The crowd was quick to welcome them with friendly smiles and a few waves, even as they stepped aside so that the two of them could go to work. Kai glanced up at the pile in front of them, as well as the deposit of rubble that was still above the road, waiting to come down if the obstruction was cleared out. "Don't wanna damage the road," he muttered as he held out his mechanical arm to the side, where a swirling orb of energy began to condense. "Mind clearing out the stuff up there so it doesn't just come down on top of us after we clear the street?"

"You got it," she nodded as she aimed her fingertips up the incline. "Acid Geyser!" A vicious solvent shot out of her hands and turned the rocks and dirt to slag that quickly settled and stopped moving. When no more rocks or dirt started to come down the hill, she grinned and gave Kai a thumbs-up to let him know that he was clear to go.

"Thanks," he said as he returned the smile, the orb in his hand finished charging. "Alright folks, stand back." Once everyone had backed up a few more paces, he leaped forward, slamming the orb into the biggest boulder in the bunch while shouting, "Rasengan!" The ball exploded away from him, sending all of the dirt and stone off the cliffside and into the ocean below, leaving the road clear for the islanders once again.

"Wow!" shouted more than one of the onlookers, several of them gathering closer for a better look at their new heroes.

"Can we get an autograph?"

"I saw you two on TV at the Sport's Festival!"

"Yo, Kai! Can my kids get a pic?"

"Sure," he answered with an easy smile once he spotted the man asking the question. Motioning for his girlfriend to stand closer, he waited while the man sent his wide-eyed kids toward the pair. "Hey, guys," he said in a friendly tone as he reached out with his left hand, mindful of the fact that his robotic arm could be unnerving to some people. "What're your names?"

"I'm Shino!" said the elder of the two boys as he reached back up to the taller hero, who swiftly picked him up and set him on his shoulders, much to his delight. "Thanks, mister!"

"Hey now, just call me Kai," he chuckled while Ashid Queen picked up the younger sibling, a boy who couldn't have been any older than three or so. "What's your brother's name?"

"He's Nagano," Shino said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's three, and I'm six!"

"Well, I guess you're already at school, then?" Kai asked as the father held up his phone, ready to take the photo.

"Uh-huh!"

"Gonna make all your friends jealous that you got to hang with a cool hero like this guy?" Ashid Queen asked with a grin.

"Yeah-huh!"

"Hey, if those boys are gonna be jealous of anybody, it's gonna be the little guy getting to hang out with the pretty lady," Kai smirked, causing Ashid Queen to laugh out loud.

"Okay boys, big smile!" the father called before he started snapping pictures. After he was done, he moved forward and said, "Thank you both. You're gonna have yourself a couple of lifetime fans, here."

"Aw, thanks," Ashid Queen said as she handed a smiling Nagano back to his dad. "You two be good for your parents, you hear?"

After a few more autographs and interactions, the young couple was on their way back to the office, both of them smiling widely as they travelled. "You know, I was thinking," Kurai said as he took a sharp turn, causing Mina to laugh with delight at the rush of adrenaline that it gave them.

"What's that?" she asked as soon as they levelled out.

"After we've passed our fighting years, maybe after Izuku passes One For All on to someone else, this place would be a pretty good area to spend our last few hero years," Kurai told her, causing her to 9pause in thought. "I always thought I'd retire somewhere with a beach house once I got old, maybe Hawaii or the Caribbean. But it might be kinda cool to be somewhere closer to home, too."

"Hey, I'm going wherever you go," Mina assured him. "If you wanna retire by the beach, you won't have to twist my arm to do it."

"Glad to hear that we're on the same page," he chuckled, right before he felt Mina's helmet bump against his, which led him to smile more brightly. "You just tried to kiss me and forgot about the helmet, didn't you?" he asked as he tried not to laugh.

"I didn't forget!" she protested. "I just don't always remember!"

"Ha!"

Kai: Huh. Going for a slow burn on this one, are we?

Mataras: I don't take your meaning.

Deku: With the last movie arc, you left the first chapter on a cliffhanger. Here, things still seem like they're going well.

Mataras: Ah, that. Well, to be honest, if I had just made you guys jump right into the danger zone, it would have felt incredibly rushed to me. We haven't even had a chance to introduce Mahoro and Katsuma yet.

Kai: I could make an argument that you wasted some time on exposition that was easily avoidable, but I'm sure you had something in mind with all the beach stuff.

Mataras: Yep. Like it was mentioned in the chapter, you're somewhat aware that you have renown, but you don't have much experience in handling it. This is a good opportunity to show how you'll be handling unexpected attention, as well as how the population in general views you and your accomplishments, firsthand.

Deku: So, character exposition?

Mataras: Let's go with that, yeah.

Kai: Cool. You got anything planned for Christmas concerning this story?

Mataras: No, but we will be hosting a special podcast for New Year's, so I encourage my readers to go check that out when it drops on Jan. 1, 2023.

Deku: You sure that's all?

Mataras: Yeah, what would I-? Oh, right!

Kai: There it is.

Mataras: Bite me. I'm also planning on doing a Christmas Season sketch featuring some of the cast from this story, like I did last year. It'll just be one sketch this time, though.

Deku: Who's going to be in it?

Mataras: People can find out if they follow my Instagram!

Kai: Next time- Far

Deku: We hope that everyone's ready to Go Beyond for this Christmas!

Mataras: Here's to a Plus Ultra New Year!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Ipseity...

"Lost kid?" Kurai said as he pointed at his brow, where his third eye would appear whenever he activated his Ajna chakra. "Sign me up."

"I'll go, too!" Mina said with a smile.

"I'm free," Izuku added. When they all realized that they were clear to volunteer together, Ochaco and Mina let out excited shouts of happiness.

"Team Lightning Drop has its first mission!" the pink girl declared as they started to head out the door.

"Hold on!" Yaoyorozu called after them, Iida having left to help an elderly woman get to the hospital. "Do all four of you have to go? We have plenty of other requests at the moment."

"The more people we have looking, the better," Kurai answered his classmate. "Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the field workers could use a hand with the harvest, but I'm more worried about a lost kid."

"I suppose that's true," the vice representative sighed. "All right, I'll see if Rose can go help while you're out."

"Thanks, Yaomomo!" Mina said as the quartet left the office.