A/N: Happy New Year's, 2023 to all who come across this story! Let's kick things off with some more wholesomeness, shall we?

Far

By the middle of the week, class A was starting to become familiar with the island and some of its residents, all of them doing their best to memorize the names and faces of the people that they met and were helping. Bakugo was still refusing to go out, spending his days reading magazines of varying sorts, much to the irritation of his classmates, but not even Kirishima could get him to take a job.

Izuku, Ochaco, Mina, and Kurai got their chance to act as an official team when Ochaco got a call from a panicked little girl, who was saying that she had lost her brother near the shopping district. "Stay calm, okay?" the gravity girl said soothingly. "We've got a team on it." Hanging up the phone, she stood and stretched her arms over her head as she said, "We've got a missing kid! Who wants to come with?"

"Hard pass," Bakugo growled when she gave him a hopeful look.

"Come on!"

"Yeah, you're real busy Bakugo," Kirishima sighed as he stood up. "Guess Red Riot is up."

"Yeah, and how's your dumb quirk gonna help find anything?" Bakugo's snarky comment left his friend looking visibly deflated, but that didn't change the fact that Ochaco would need help if she was going to find the lost child quickly.

"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.

Once they were on the road that led to their agency, the heroes went into action. "Full Cowling: ten percent!" Deku declared, verdant lightning sparking across his body as he held a lifesaver's floaty around himself. Behind him, Uravity made herself and Ashid Queen weightless as they held on to the attached rope, intending to hitch a ride with her boyfriend while Kai powered up his body with his own quirk. They could have each taken a passenger, but they only had the one floaty to work with.

Maybe we should have Yaomomo make us another one, he thought as they took off at high speed, headed straight for the island's shopping center. They flew high over walking paths, back fields, and scattered houses before they landed at their destination.

"What's the name of the kid we're trying to find?" Deku asked as they slid to a stop, Uravity undoing her quirk's effects as they did.

"His name is Katsuma," she told the others as they started to look around for any children that seemed as though they were confused about their surroundings or without an adult. "His older sister, Mahoro, made the call."

"Not her parents?" Kai asked curiously.

"No," Uravity said with a negative shake of her head. "She didn't say anything about them. It sounds like they were playing on their own and got separated."

Makes sense, I guess, Kai thought as he began to focus on his Ajna chakra. This is a safe island, and the community seems pretty close-knit, so I guess the parents would be okay with their kids being out and about for a bit.

"Ultimate Move," he muttered as soon as he was ready. "Divine Eye!" He shut his eyes as they went dark, allowing his mind to more easily process the sensation of his power more or less echo locating everything and everyone around him as he attempted to find Katsuma. His power had grown enough that he could see anything within a radius of one kilometer, though he couldn't do that for very long before he started getting a severe headache.

His teammates waited for a few seconds before the glowing indigo light faded from his brow and hair and he blinked a few times, his eyesight returning to normal. "No good," he said as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Every kid I could see was either too old to be the one we're looking for, or with their parents. This Katsuma kid must've gone looking for his sister elsewhere."

"Let's ask around and see if anyone knows him," Ashid Queen suggested. "Maybe they can tell us where he would go."

"Good idea," Deku nodded. "Split up and keep your phones on in case one of you finds something."

"Got it!"

It took the teenagers the better part of an hour before they had enough clues to the child's whereabouts for Kai to cast the sight of his Divine Eye in the direction a playground that overlooked the west side of the island. The girls' friendly natures had made gathering the intelligence a lot easier for the boys, who still had a tendency to be a little awkward around new faces. He could now see two small people on the grounds, one of whom he assumed was Katsuma. At least it seems like he's got a friend with him, Kai thought as he alerted the others to the location.

He and Deku took off in the direction of the playground, Uravity and Ashid Queen telling them that they would catch up as soon as they could. They soon found a little boy, probably about six or seven years old, calling out for Mahoro. That's gotta be Katsuma, Kai thought as he and his friend slowed themselves while Deku called out to the boy, who looked startled by their presence. I could have sworn there was another kid around here, so why's he acting like he's on his own?

"Hey, come with us," Deku said as he reached out with a smile to the wide-eyed little boy. "My friend and I can help you find your sister."

"Heroes?" Katsuma asked with a hint of wonder in his voice.

Before he could take Deku's hand, a shrill voice came from the top of the slide, shouting, "There you are! It's about time!" This was followed by a little girl who slid to the bottom, sprung up on her feet, and jabbed an accusing finger at Deku's face, who fell on his rear in surprise. "What's your name, slowpoke?!" she demanded.

"Huh?" the green-haired hero said blankly, unsure of what had just happened. "I'm Deku. Who are you?"

The girl puffed out her cheeks before answering, "I'm Mahoro, Katsuma's older sister!" Holding up a phone, she displayed the stopwatch app, Mahoro continuing to shout, "You were looking for him for almost an hour! What, did UA scrape from the bottom of the barrel when they sent you guys out here?!" She turned her scowl on Kai, about to yell at him too, when she saw something in his eyes that told that would be a very unwise decision on her part. Her indignant attitude quickly evaporated under a piercing glare that would have made Bakugo proud. "Uh…"

"You better have a really good explanation for why you pulled this little stunt," he said, his voice calm and collected, not matching the anger in his eyes, which was somehow more unsettling for the little girl.

"Kai, she's just a-"

The boy held up his mechanical arm to indicate that he wanted silence from his friend, who after seeing the gleam in his eyes, decided that it might be better if he stayed quiet, at least for the moment. As he lowered the artificial limb, he prompted Mahoro again, saying, "I'm waiting, kid."

"Uh…" the girl said as she dropped her gaze away from him and shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot. "I was… It was a test! To see if you guys could cut it out here! You're just high schoolers, so why should we trust you people?!" She tried to put some defiance back into her voice as she looked back up, and immediately quailing again when Kai's eyes remained angry and unwavering.

There was a silence that reigned until the two boys heard the girls' voices coming up the steps that led to the park. This was when Kai said in a stern voice, "I want one of your parents' phone numbers. Let's see what they think of their kid who likes to scare their little brother by ditching him and wasting the heroes' time."

Both Katsuma and Mahoro flinched at his tone, but now the little girl's defiance was back in full effect. "I don't have to do anything you tell me!" she said petulantly. "You're not my dad, and you're definitely not my mommy!" She made to storm past him, only being stopped when Kai grabbed her by the arm and forced her to look into his eyes as he squatted down to be eye level with her.

"You committed a crime by calling in a false emergency," he said, maintaining his low tone of voice and hard glare. "Worse, you've invalidated any trust that we might have had in your words before now. What if something really does happen to you or your brother, now? Why should we believe anything that you say if you call us with another emergency?"

"Hey, what's going on?" Uravity asked as Deku stood up with her and Ashid Queen. "Is this Katsuma?"

"H-Hi," the boy said shyly. "Yes, I'm Katsuma. I guess my sister just pretended that I was lost?" His confusion seemed genuine, so Kai decided not to give him a hard time after he was done with his sister.

"Hey!" the pink girl said with a frown that she directed at Mahoro, who was still transfixed by Kai's stern gaze. "That's not cool, kid! What's the big idea?!"

"I don't owe you wannabes an explanation!" the girl said as she tried to wrench away from Kai, whose mechanical grip remained firm. "Let go! Your hand is cold!"

"Yeah, it is," he said in a flat voice while he stood up. "Fine, if you don't want to cooperate, I'll just have to take you down to the office and keep you and your brother there while we find out how to contact your parents."

"No, please don't do that!" Katsuma begged. "Our dad works on the mainland, and uh… We don't… have a mom…" His expression became sad enough that Kai couldn't help but feel for the kids.

With a long sigh, he released Mahoro's arm and stood up. "My dad died not long ago, so consider that heartstring successfully tugged," he muttered as he kept a stern gaze on the girl, who shuffled off toward her brother. "That only works one time, though. I'm pulling your dad's number off the citizen's registry and keeping him on speed dial, in case you think it's a good idea to pull another stunt like this. Got it, Mahoro?"

When all she did was try to walk away with her brother, he stood in front of her and said in a slightly harsher tone, "Look up at me and say that you understand, or I'll change my mind about letting you off with a warning. And while you're at it, apologize to my friends for wasting their time. There are people elsewhere on the island who we could be helping right now."

Slowly, reluctantly, Mahoro raised her face, which was beet red with embarrassment, and mumbled, "Sorry I pretended to lose my brother, sir. I won't do it again."

"Thank you," Kai said in a softer tone as he stepped to the side. "Go home now, and don't cause any more trouble for us, please."

Mahoro said nothing, but Katsuma paused in front of the heroes before he tugged nervously on the strap of his satchel and said, "Sorry about my sister… And, uh… Thanks for coming to find me."

Deku gave the boy a smile as he said, "You're welcome, Katsuma. I'm just glad that you're safe."

The little boy's eyes lit up before Mahoro came back, grabbed his hand, and stomped away, pouting the whole time. As they left, Uravity turned to Kai and said, "That was kinda harsh, wasn't it?"

"The sooner that kids like her learn not to cry 'wolf', the better," he replied firmly, though with nowhere near as much intensity as he had used on the children. "That was for their benefit, not mine, I promise."

"I feel like there was more to that than just a lesson to be learned," Ashid Queen commented, though from her expression, it didn't seem as though she really disagreed with her boyfriend's opinions on the matter.

Kai sighed before beginning to speak again. "When I was about five, one of the neighborhood kids- who knew my dad was a detective- came and told my mom that there had been some scary people who had been meeting with his dad at night, and that they usually smelled really bad. To make this part of the story short, my mom tells my dad, my dad authorizes a stakeout on our neighbors, and a week goes by without anything happening before he realizes that the kid had pulled a prank. He has a talk with the parents, who just pass it off as the kid having some fun. They were the kind of people whose kid could do no wrong, you know? Fast forward to our first year in middle school, and the kid has turned into a pathological liar whom nobody believes. You see where I'm going with this?"

"I'm guessing a real crime is somehow involved?" Uravity asked with a slight grimace, to which Kai nodded once.

"A real nasty pair of robbers break into his house, kills his parents, and then as a game, tell him that for every ten minutes that went by without a hero showing up to stop them, they'd kill one of his three kid sisters. He kept calling, but he was on a screen list by that point, and the heroes kept ignoring his calls." By this point, both of the girls and Deku were fairly pale, having already guessed how the story would end. With a grim set to his mouth, Kai muttered, "Yeah. By the time anyone realized something was wrong, the villains were long gone, everyone else in the house was dead, and according to Tensei, it wasn't pretty. He caught the guys eventually, but of course by then it was way too late."

"Ingenium worked on that case?" Deku asked, something in his head starting resonate with this story.

Seeing the look in his eyes, Kai prompted his memory by saying, "The villains were a couple of guys who used electric-type quirks. They specialized in disabling people's security systems so that they could break in without getting the cops called on them automatically."

"Oh yeah, now I remember," Deku replied with a grimace. "They were really nasty people, but I hadn't heard about that part before."

"I can't stand prank callers because of that," his friend muttered. "If Kanbei had been disciplined by his parents, or if he'd learned to value the truth more, at least his sisters might've been okay."

"I can see why you reacted the way you did, then," Uravity murmured before tilting her chin up to look directly into her friend's eyes. "But maybe next time take it a little bit easier on a kid like Mahoro? She doesn't know any better."

"This is how kids like her learn," he shrugged in response. "All I can go off of in situations like this is how adults treated me and other kids around me when I was their age." With a slightly snarky grin, he asked, "I turned out alright before Mina became a bad influence, right?"

"Hey!"

In spite of the heavy story that had just been laid out, the four of them burst into laughter at his little joke. I guess we've finally learned how to cope with all the awful stuff we've been through, or we've lost our marbles, Kai thought as they started heading back to the office. Either way, I love being a hero.

That afternoon, class 1-A was thoroughly exhausted. "We've been going plus ultra beyond what the labor standards act permits," Kaminari said as he slouched in his chair while Kurai slid him a cold drink. "Thanks, dude."

"No problem."

"Hey, you guys think that maybe we could take on fewer small jobs?" Sero asked hopefully, looking at Iida and Yaoyorozu, who were finishing up some paperwork before they would turn off their computers for the evening.

"No can do!" the class representative replied immediately. "All jobs are equally vital!"

"No they're not," Kurai grunted as he set his mechanical arm on the table, along with a few tools. He was currently wearing his substitute prosthetic so that he could maintain his brother's invention. To his classmates, he said, "Is it okay if I do this here? The light in the garage is out."

"Yeah, for sure!" Ojiro said as he moved aside his glass of ice tea. "You need a hand with anything?"

"No thanks, but I appreciate the offer."

"Ha!" Yang snorted. "Hand."

"Real funny, Xiao Long."

"I'll repair the light after dinner," Yaoyorozu informed her friend, who gave her a thankful smile in return.

Iida, however, was frowning as he asked, "How can you say that certain requests are less important than others, Kurai? Everyone who calls us is depending on us to do our jobs quickly and competently."

"So?" his oldest friend shrugged as he began to inspect the wrist on his preferred prosthetic. "I'm not saying that the people who are asking for help aren't important- far from it. But if we get two calls at the same time, one where a person has a busted tire, and the other where their house caught fire, which one would you deem more urgent?" Before Iida could answer, Kurai added, "And just for the sake of playing devil's advocate, you only have one hero you can send out. Now what?"

Iida clamped his mouth shut, refusing to bite. He knew what his friend was driving at, but he refused to lend it voice, largely because he hated being wrong. He also disliked it when it was Kurai pointing out his faults, because the other boy usually had his arguments planned out three moves in advance, which didn't make for very even debates between them.

Seeing the defeat in his old friend's eyes, Kurai smirked and said, "Glad you see it my way."

"Okay, sweetie, nobody likes a sore winner," Mina said playfully as she ruffled his hair while walking past. "Iida's just doing his best the way he knows how."

"She's right," Yaoyorozu added as she closed her laptop and turned to face the others. "It's true that we've come to this island as proper heroes, but we're still students, too. We need to take every opportunity that we can get to learn, even now."

"I couldn't have said it better, myself," Weiss agreed with a dainty smile as she sipped at her tea.

"Really?" Hagakure giggled from her chair next to Asui. "You must not be trying very hard, cos I thought you knew how to say everything better than us."

"Ha!" Yang laughed as she hi-fived the invisible girl while Weiss affected to ignore them. "Good thing Weiss has ice powers, cos she'll need it for that burn."

"Hey, I got a question," Ruby said as a mischievous smirk played across her face. "Does that part about us all needing to learn apply to everybody? Cos I know a certain someone who hasn't done anything all week, and I'm starting to get a little jealous."

Everyone turned to look at Bakugo, who snorted at them before growling, "Somebody's gotta watch the office, idiots. What're you gonna do if a villain shows up and you guys are all out doing stupid crap, huh?"

"Aw come on, there aren't any villains on this island," Kirishima said as he walked into the room, drawing the eyes of everyone when they saw that he was dressed up in a collared shirt and slacks. He had obviously just cleaned himself up, though his hair retained its spiky appearance, unlike when he normally was getting ready to wind down for the evening.

"Look at what the cat dragged in," Yang said before making a cat-like noise that made Kirishima blush a little bit. "What's got you looking so handsome, guy?"

"I'm heading out for dinner tonight," he answered as he and Kurai shared in a grin. "Don't wait up on me, guys."

"Wait, Kirishima!" Iida said as he suddenly shot to his feet, eyes wide behind his glasses. "Are you going out on a-?"

"One move to stop him, and it's an energon blast to your face, Tenya," Kurai warned him as he turned back to work on his arm, the necessary tool in hand. "I believe the terms of our bet from the Sport's Festival still hold true. You have to shut up about this stuff for as long as we're a part of UA's hero course."

Iida scowled, but then sat down and resumed his paperwork without another word, leaving many of his friends confused as to what had just happened. "What bet are they talking about?" Weiss asked Yaoyorozu, who shrugged helplessly.

"Don't worry about it," Kurai muttered as he popped open the panel that ran on the inside of the arm between the elbow and wrist. Tugging at a yellow wire, he sighed and said, "I knew it. Yaomomo, can I get a foot and a half of wiring for my arm? It's material Eta-12."

"Sure," the girl said as her arm glowed, spitting out the requested material before she handed it over to her friend. "Will that work?"

"Perfect," he said with a smile. "Thanks." Looking up at Kirishima, who was still standing with a confused look on his face, he said, "Get going, pal. It's not manly to keep a lady waiting."

"Actually, she said that she's meeting me here," he replied as he looked down at himself with a bit of apprehension. "Does this really look okay? Or is it too much? Too little? Man, I'm so nervous!"

"You look good, Eijiro," Mina assured him as she moved closer with a pink flower in her hand that very nearly matched her hair. "Here; girls like it when guys give them flowers, especially on the first date." As she said this, she gave her boyfriend a meaningful glance, which he elected to ignore.

"I said I was sorry, and in my defense, I had just gotten out of the hospital from getting treated for brain trauma," Kurai said without looking up as he tugged the old wire out. "Sue me for forgetting something under those circumstances." He then set to work on installing the new conduit material with a look of intense concentration.

"You'll have a great time, Kirishima," Ochaco said happily as she helped him straighten out his collar behind his neck, where it had been sticking up just a little. "There you go! Now you look perfect."

"Thanks, Uraraka, Ashido," he said appreciatively as he accepted the flower from his middle school friend. "You too, Hikari. Thanks for making this happen."

Kurai made sure the wire was firmly in place before looking up at his friend with a smile and saying, "You're welcome, pal."

As if on cue, the students heard a knock on their office door, so Kirishima went to answer it. They were all surprised when instead of one teenage girl, there appeared to be at least a dozen people, all of them carrying large platters of what looked like fresh food. "Hello there," said the mayor as he led the people inside. "Pardon us for barging in, but we wanted to bring you all a welcoming present, as it were."

"Just a little something to express our gratitude for all your hard work," said an elderly lady who was carrying a large sushi dish. She was followed by a large man who was holding what smelled like smoked fish, as well as several others, each of them with their own contribution to the small feast that had been prepared for the young heroes.

"Thank you very much!" Yaoyorozu said as she bowed to the mayor and older woman while her classmates started to celebrate in the background. "This is so nice of you!"

"Well, it was very sweet of you to fix up my old bike," she replied with a bright smile at the young heroine.

"Thanks for helping haul in the fish, Red Riot," said the man who had brought in the second dish, Kirishima giving him a confident smile in return.

"We appreciate you carrying old Granny Sato to the hospital," the mayor told Iida, who looked like he might pass out from sheer happiness.

"And for keeping the beaches safe!" said another familiar voice, one that got Kurai to stand up and smile politely as he greeted their surprise guests. "Heya, Kai!" Temari called out as he moved to say hello, Mina moving to his side as he did. "Is this Ashid Queen?"

"The one and only," Mina giggled as she shook hands with the other girl. "Are you the one taking Kirishima out for a night on the town?"

"No, that's my friend, Rin," the ginger girl answered. "Speaking of…" She turned to Kirishima, who seemed to be looking for someone, and said, "Hey, Red Riot? Rin is waiting out front for you. Hurt her feelings, and you'll have me to deal with, got it?"

"Got it!" Kirishima replied with gusto that he had been lacking only moments prior. "I won't let you down, miss!"

"It's Rin you better not let down," Temari warned him half-jokingly.

"Don't worry- he may not be a scholar, but he's definitely a gentleman," Mina assured the other girl while their friend made his exit. "He's a bit of a dork, but he's got a good heart."

"Alright, guys!" Kaminari said happily as he grabbed Kurai's arm and tools and put them on the coffee table where Iida and Yaoyorozu had been working, much to the Guardian Hero's irritation.

"Hey!" he shouted as he moved to glare at his classmate. "I wasn't done with that!"

"Ah…" Kurai said contentedly about an hour later. "Now that was some good eats."

"Yeah, I'm so full," Izuku said happily. He and their girlfriends were gathered around one of the smaller tables to share in the delicious meal that had been provided to them.

"You can really feel their gratitude coming through the food," Uraraka said with a borderline woozy smile. Since her family wasn't very well off, it wasn't often that she could eat in excess, and when she did, she relished in the experience.

"I think that's your gratitude coming through your belly," Mina giggled, though she happened to agree with the others. "Man, this is the life. Work hard all day, come back to a warm home with my friends… I love being a hero."

"Can't beat this with a stick," her boyfriend agreed as he stretched his arms over his head. Giving his girlfriend a sidelong look, he asked, "What do you think? Showers, then a nighttime stroll in one of the fields?"

"Sounds great to me," she said happily as she hopped to her feet.

Kurai, seeing the look on Izuku's face, quickly added, "We won't be out for too long. We can still run our drills when I get back." He had promised the other boy to continue helping with his training to master One For All, even while they were out on the island for the month. Thus they had spent an hour each evening practicing using their quirks with one another, mostly running basic combat moves and a few kata that Kurai remembered from his days in karate, though they had one short sparring match the previous evening. They had to be careful with that, because they didn't have any powerful healers on Nabu, unlike at UA, where their injuries could be healed almost instantly by Recovery Girl, so their mock battle had been fairly restrained compared to their normal bouts.

"Why don't we go for a walk, too, Deku?" Ochaco asked hopefully. "The skies are so clear out here- I've never seen so many stars back on the mainland."

Izuku looked like he was going to say that he should focus on his training, so Kurai kicked him under the table before he could open his mouth without Ochaco noticing. When the other boy gave him a look, Kurai gave him a return gaze that said, 'Go spend some time with her, idiot!'

Unsure of what he had done wrong, Izuku decided that a few minutes of missed exercise on one night wouldn't hurt him in the long run. "Yeah, that sounds nice," he said with a sincere smile, much to Ochaco's delight.

"Great!" she said happily as she and Mina stood up from the table, Izuku and Kurai not far behind them. As they passed one of the other tables, the boy with the robotic arm singled out Bakugo and said, "Hey, Ground Zero. Night watch is yours'."

The graveyard shift for their agency lasted from eight until midnight, and nine o' clock was Bakugo's normal self-imposed bedtime. This led to him shouting, "Hey, why me?!"

"Because your ass was glued to the floor all day," Kurai replied without looking over.

"Rrgh…!"

The moon was high in the sky and the stars were gleaming with an unhindered brilliance, providing plenty of light for Kurai and Mina to walk under as they strode across the rolling hills of Nabu Island in a peaceful atmosphere that made the both of them feel more at ease than they had in months.

"I am so glad that you decided to become a hero," Mina said as they found a good place to sit and enjoy the evening air.

"Why's that?"

"Because if you hadn't, I never would have met you at that entrance exam, and I never would have gotten to know you," she giggled, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We never would have gone through all this insane stuff together, and most importantly, I never would have had the chance to fall in love with my favorite person in the world."

"I have to agree with you there," Kurai grinned as he leaned on Mina's shoulder. "It's amazing how far we've come in just under a year."

"Makes me excited to find out where the rest of our lives will take us," she said softly, her exuberance dying down to be replaced by a peaceful contentment. "I love you, Kurai."

"I love you too, Mina." Kurai kissed the top of her head before he added, "Always and forever."

"That's an awfully long time," she laughed under her breath. "You sure you won't get tired of me before that time is up?"

"No way," he answered firmly. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Hmm, good."

The young couple enjoyed their time out together for a little while longer before Kurai knew that they would have to start going back, or else he risked running late for his appointment with Izuku. After promising Mina that they would go to dinner on Friday in place of their normal movie nights back home, he bid her a good night and watched her go into the building with a silly grin on his face.

"You and that damn nerd."

Kurai quirked an eyebrow at Bakugo as the other student came closer, dressed up in his hero gear for the night patrol. "Feeling left out?" he tossed back cheerfully. "Maybe tunnel vision on your desire to become number one is holding you back a little, Ground Zero." Izuku and Ochaco weren't quite back yet, it seemed, so he had a little time to kill by having a short verbal joust with the explosive hero.

"Hah! In your dreams," Bakugo snorted. "I'm gonna become number one, and I'm gonna do it my way. You might be top dog in our class right now, but it won't be long before you're in my dust."

"Well, let's see you pass Izuku first," Kurai grinned lazily, which just drew another irritated scowl out of Bakugo. "Once you can do that, I'll give you the all-out match you want so badly."

"I'm already better than that nerd," the other student growled. "He's taking too damn long to master One For All, is all. Once he does that, I can beat him at his best, and then you're next, I guarantee. I'm gonna be greater than the greatest." His overall hostility had abated somewhat ever since he had found out that Izuku was All Might's chosen heir, and his pride had even bent enough for him to admit that Kurai was stronger than he was following the battle in Fukuoka. He still wasn't easy to get along with, but Kurai no longer felt like kicking him the length of UA campus whenever he walked in a room.

"Well, good luck with that," Kurai said as he moved past the other student to a clear spot in front of the office building. "I'm not going to make it easy for you."

"Just the way I like it," Bakugo replied with a feral smile as he moved along.

The next morning, Izuku and Kurai were able to take another job together. The people who had gone out the previous evening were all in high spirits, so Kurai assumed that things had gone well for Kirishima, who promised to tell him about his date once they had their dinner that evening. For now, though, they all had work to do.

"The Nijima's need help with their fields," the green-haired hero told his friend. "Mind giving me a hand? There's a lot to carry." The Nijima's grew hay for a majority of the island's animals, so their farm's importance to the local economy could not be stressed enough.

"For sure," he nodded as he stood up from his desk. Over his shoulder, he said, "We're headed out, Yaomomo. Probably won't be back until the afternoon, so can you let Iida know?"

"Of course," she said with smile. "Belladonna is actually already there, so you might get done before the day is over."

"Awesome," Kurai replied as he clipped his sword to his sash and followed Izuku. "See you guys later!"

"Bye, everyone!" Izuku added.

They exited the building and were set to jog to the field when Izuku halted in place, drawing the attention of his friend. "What's up?" Kurai asked.

"I thought I saw…" Stepping around the corner, the pair was somewhat surprised to see Katsuma on the road, kneeling on the ground and facing away from them. "Katsuma?"

"Uh, hello," the little boy said as he turned around and stood up with a nervous expression on his face. "I… I just came by to say that I'm sorry, again."

"That's real sweet of you," Izuku said kindly as he smiled at the timid child. "And really thoughtful. You don't have to worry, though, I'm not mad or anything."

"Um…" Katsuma said as he looked up at Kurai, apparently unsure of how to approach the other hero.

Kurai favored the boy with a smile of his own as he said, "I'm not mad at you, either. You didn't do anything wrong, as far as I'm concerned."

"I'm still sorry that my big sister did what she did, though," Katsuma said, shamefaced. "I get why she did it, but I still feel bad."

Kurai raised an eyebrow before he asked, "Would you mind telling us why she did that?"

"Well… she hates heroes," the boy mumbled, surprising the two teenagers. It wasn't the first time that they had met a child who had a dislike of heroes, but it was still intriguing to them.

"Why's that?" Izuku asked the boy as he sat down on the road next to him.

"I'm not really sure, she just does," Katsuma answered as he fiddled with his satchel's strap, drawing Izuku's attention to a particular item.

"Hey, cool pin!" he said excitedly, causing Katsuma to look back at the older boy in surprise. "Is that the ninja hero, Edgeshot?"

"Yep!" Katsuma said with a smile, the first they had seen him give.

Cocking his head slightly at the enthusiastic reaction, Kurai decided to ask, "You wanna be a hero, Katsuma?"

It took a moment, but Katsuma did eventually say, "Not with my quirk- it's no good for hero stuff. And Mahoro says it's way too dangerous."

Ah, there it is, Kurai thought as the boy's face became slightly downcast again. His sister doesn't actually hate us- she just doesn't want her brother tangling with the kind of stuff we have to deal with. It was a valid concern- heroes were constantly putting their lives on the line, either against villains or forces of nature, and they didn't always come out on top. His body was living proof of that painful fact. It was not a profession for the faint of heart, and he could see how that would scare any little kid. However…

"Hey, mind if I ask you something?" Izuku asked the boy. When Katsuma looked back to him, he asked, "If you could choose, what kind of hero would you want to be?"

Katsuma gave a bashful smile before he answered, "I'd like to be a really strong one who could beat up villains."

"Oh yeah?" Izuku grinned before looking up at the sky, no doubt remembering the dreams of his childhood self. "You know, what I want more than anything is to keep people safe. That's the kind of hero I'm aiming to be."

"But…?" Katsuma looked confused now. "Don't you have to beat up villains to make that happen?"

"Not always, but it does happen fairly often," Kurai nodded. He waited for Katsuma to look him in the eye before he knelt down and told the boy, "But if you do want to become a hero who defeats the bad guys, there's something important that you should remember."

"What's that?"

"When you're facing off against a tough opponent, it's not your own strength that matters," he assured the child as he placed his fist against Katsuma's heart. "Standing up to them is the important part."

"Kai is right," Izuku said, remembering that Katsuma hadn't actually heard his friend's hero name yet. "You and I both want the same thing, even if we have a different way of looking at it. Beating up a bad guy can help people, but it's the helping people part itself that has always called out to me. Either way, I can tell that we both want to be the best hero that we can be." Standing up with Kurai, he extended a hand out to Katsuma and added, "That just means that we should give it our all."

"Try not to worry your family in the process, though," Kurai chuckled as the two of them shook hands. He reached out with his left hand to shake Katsuma's as he added, "Goodness knows I've had to have that lesson beaten into my head more than once."

Katsuma was smiling brightly as he nodded his head and said, "Yes sir!" Then he was gone, a skip in his step as he took off down the street, leaving the two young heroes smiling to themselves while an elderly lady approached them.

"I like that kid," Kurai said aloud. "Hopefully he can be a good influence on his sister's pessimism."

"Little Katsuma is a very sweet boy," said the woman as she approached them with a bag of greens in her arms. "He loves heroes a great deal, so I'm sure it made his day to talk to the both of you. Oh, and these here are for you." She proffered the vegetables, which Izuku took from her with a word of thanks. Looking back down the road where Katsuma had departed, she asked the two boys, "You'll be kind to him, won't you?"

When Kurai and Izuku gave her looks of confusion, she elaborated, "It's not easy for them. Poor thing lost his mother at such a young age, and his father has to be away for work so often. We around the neighborhood try to look after them as best we can, but it's not the same as having your mother and father with you."

Kurai remembered hearing about their parents the day before, and his smile quickly faded. However, this didn't stop him from saying, "I didn't lose my father until recently, but I can still imagine how much that must have hurt him and Mahoro, losing their mom. I promise we'll keep an eye on them while we're here, Mrs. Suzumura."

"Thank you, dear," the older woman said with a grateful smile.

The three heroes worked hard, and they were just able to finish the fields in time for them to go home for dinner. The Nijima family offered to host them for a meal, but they declined on the grounds that it was Izuku and Kurai's turn to help make the food, and so promised to take them up on their offer another time. The sun was setting as the three of them jogged into the office, passing Iida and Ochaco on the way in, all of them eager to get out of their sweaty hero gear and into some fresh clothes.

That was, until they saw Bakugo growling into the phone that he was holding, having apparently been left alone in the office. "I heard about your little stunt, kid, and I'm not falling for it," he said before he went to hang up, only to have the phone yanked out of his hand by Izuku, who pushed him aside, much to his surprise and irritation.

"Hello?" he asked into the phone. "Who is this?"

Kurai was surprised when after only a few seconds, Izuku frowned and held the phone away from his ear, turning to look at Bakugo. "That sounded like Mahoro," he said to Kurai. "What did she tell you, Kacchan?"

"Some crap about a villain being at the harbor," the blonde hero shrugged. "She's probably trying to mess with us again, so I'm not gonna bother."

"I doubt that she's messing with us," Kurai said as he, Blake, and Izuku looked at one another with no small amount of alarm.

"Oh yeah?" Bakugo scoffed. "And why's that?"

"Because Kurai is surprisingly good at putting the fear of God in little kids," Izuku answered as he put the phone down. "I'm going to the harbor to check it out. I'll call if it turns out to be true, so let Iida know!"

"I'm going with you," Kurai said as they charged out the door, their quirks enhancing their bodies and propelling them at high speeds as soon as they cleared the fence of their office. With any luck, this'll end with me calling Mahoro's father, he thought as they split the wind together. With our class' luck…

Kai: What was that about starting the year off with wholesomeness?

Mataras: Was that not what I delivered in this chapter?!

Kai: You left out the part where you'd be ending on a cliffhanger!

Mataras: Duh. That'd be giving out spoilers. Besides which you cannot even pretend to be surprised whenever I pull this stuff off anymore.

Deku: He's got a good point. I take it that we're getting into the action next chapter?

Mataras: Correct, and it's also one of the longest pieces that I've written for this story to date- more than twice the length of this chapter.

Kai: You really decided to go all-out for this part of the story, huh? The last time you wrote this much was my fight against the Shadow Nomu.

Mataras: That chapter was actually longer than this next one is going to be, but not by much, so yeah, the sentiment is definitely there.

Deku: You're also throwing in an original villain of your own design to add to Nine's gang, right?

Mataras: Correct. I'll be posting an image of her on my Instagram following the release of this chapter, and I might change the story's cover artwork to match it for a bit- we'll see how it works out.

Kai: Next time- Scant Mercies

Mataras: Class 1-A and Team RWBY had better get ready to Go Beyond!

Deku: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Ipseity...

Firecracker cocked her gauntlets, her hips squared and her fists up as she stared down the woman who had nearly killed the police officers stationed at the precinct. Crescent Rose had her scythe unfolded and had her finger on the trigger, ready to leap into action at the first sign of trouble from their new enemy.

The villain was short like Crescent Rose, with angular facial features accented by raven hair and violet eyes that flicked back and forth between the two sisters rapidly while their owner fixed her lips in a sneer. "I hate the cute ones," she growled softly. "I think I'll mess up your faces after I kill you so no one'll look at you at your funerals." Her appearance spoke nothing about her quirk, so the Americans were on high alert as they waited for their opponent to make the first move.

"Oh great, a crazy one," Firecracker grumbled. "I hate the crazy ones."

"Hehe, the only thing that's crazy is how fast I'm going to leave you a bleeding mess on the sidewalk," the villain that called herself 'Switch' replied as her sneer turned into a demented smile while she clenched her fists, which were decorated with spiked knuckledusters. "The best part? You'll have made it happen yourselves!"

Bang!