A/N: Not gonna lie guys, this is gonna be a heavy chapter. Trigger warning for intentional self-harm.

P.S. On a fully unrelated note, make sure to tell your dad/father figure a Happy Father's Day!

One's Worth

"I don't think I can do this."

"I'm not giving you an option."

Kurai gave his brother a sidelong glance, though the other boy neglected to return the look as they felt the elevator descend. Eri had already gone to the common room ahead of them with the news that their classmate would be joining them shortly, leaving Akarui to all but drag his sibling into the lift so that he could be made to face his friends. It was a prospect that filled the resurrected teen with genuine dread, given what he had done the last time that they were all in a room together, but he also knew that Akarui would not hesitate to clock him over the head again if he tried to back out of the apology that he owed them.

The ding that announced their arrival on the ground floor caused Kurai to visibly flinch, but Akarui was showing no mercy. Moving behind his brother, he gave him a rough shove as the door opened, along with the terse words, "Get your ass out there."

So it was that Kurai stumbled into the common space to be confronted by the sight of everyone in his class, plus Future Eri, all quiet and apparently waiting for him with a mixture of expressions. Some seemed wary of him, others looked worried, and some even looked hopeful. However, Kurai was nothing less than surprised when Bakugo walked up to him, his expression unreadable as he came to stand less than three feet away from his rival.

Before Kurai could say anything to break the awful silence that had filled the room, Bakugo's face twisted into a scowl before he stepped forward and slugged Kurai in the stomach hard enough to drop him to his hands and knees with a hard grunt as the wind was driven out of his lungs. "That's for giving up on being Kai," the blond snorted as several of the others moved to interfere, just in case they were about to have a fight on their hands. "I shoulda done that on Nabu- saved everyone this embarrassment that you've become."

"Bakugo, what're you doing?!" Ojiro shouted.

"He's had enough, already!" Yang added.

Kurai, however, waved them all back and shook his head as he tried to refill his body with the air that it needed. When he could breathe well enough to speak, he wheezed out, "I don't… have to justify… my decisions to you." He inhaled deeply again before adding, "If you want to prove that you've surpassed me, wait for Izuku to master Energon, and then challenge him."

"Idiot," Bakugo snapped as he walked away. "It wasn't Energon that I needed to surpass."

Kurai soon felt strong hands helping him to his feet, and without even looking at the owners, he knew who had come to his aid- after all, they had both helped him get up before. "You don't have to do this," he said in a low tone.

"It's only natural that we help our friend up when he's fallen," Iida said as Kurai reluctantly allowed his gaze to meet his oldest friend's. "You've stood in front of us, taking on every obstacle that might hurt us at every chance you could. It's time you learned to let us support you when it's your time to rest."

"You definitely deserved that gut shot, but it wouldn't be very manly if I just left my friend on the floor when he needed help," Kirishima added with the faintest hint of a smile. "By the way, your arm's looking pretty good."

"Wow, it really did grow back," Jiro said as a few of the other students gathered closer to Kurai, who regarded them with haunted, wary eyes, as if he was waiting for someone else to gut punch him.

"Eri regenerated it for me," he said softly as Todoroki came the closest to him and his helpers. Lowering his gaze, Kurai then murmured, "I'm sorry, everyone." He knew that if he waited any longer, his meager courage would wear out, and he would never be able to say what needed to be said.

"For what?" Todoroki asked in an equally somber tone.

"I'm sorry that I was so harsh to all of you, when no one did anything to deserve it, especially from me," he said quickly, his body trembling slightly as he bowed from the waist and spoke. "I took my anger out on all of you because you were the easiest targets, and that was wrong of me. I wanted someone else to feel just as bad as I did, and it made me act cruelly. I regret what I did, and I won't do such a thing again, regardless of whether or not you can forgive me. I hope that each of you can find it in yourselves to pardon my actions, but I will understand if you cannot."

There was silence for a brief moment before an unexpected voice broke it. "Revelry in the dark," Tokoyami murmured as he strode forward, coming to stand next to Todoroki while Kurai straightened up and looked at the raven-headed boy with a dull curiosity. "Long have you battled demons within yourself, Hikari, and for many years you have always managed to succeed in your struggles. The other night was your first taste of true defeat from the enemy that is your own self, and such a loss is always the most difficult to recover from. From what I myself have experienced, I know that such an adversity is not overcome by my own strength, but only with the help of those around who will lend me their support. I, for one, shall not allow you to sink into the depths of dark despair, but will extend a hand to my friend in distress as he needs it so that he may return to the purifying light of clarity." As he spoke, he extended his hand toward Kurai, who hesitated at the gesture.

It took him a few seconds, but eventually he reached out and shook hands with his classmate, who gave him an uncharacteristically warm smile. "Thank you, Tokoyami."

"Thank you for fighting as hard as you did on behalf of us who could not," the bird-headed youth replied as they released one another.

"Yeah man, thank you," Kirishima said as he moved around to grab Kurai's arm and get his attention. "Everyone on Nabu Island and us would be toast right now if it wasn't for you."

"I'm glad that no one else was killed," Kurai said softly as his friend released him. "But I can't save you guys again." When there was a moment of somewhat stunned silence, he shrugged slightly and added, "I meant what I said when I told you guys that 'Kai' is done. I don't have it in me to take up the fight again." From their reactions, it was clear that more than half of them had expected his return to good health and his talking-to by Akarui would also mean that he was returning to hero work alongside them.

Before anyone else could say anything, Todoroki spoke up. "If you believe that you've done all you can as hero, then you have a right to rest," he said, further surprising the others in the room. "I'm disappointed that I won't have you as a rival any longer, but I'm honestly more relieved to see my friend alive and among us again. Your return is more than any miracle that I could wish for."

"A sentiment that I wholeheartedly agree with," Iida said as he laid his arm across Kurai's shoulders. "I do hope that someday you will make a return to heroics, but even if that never comes to pass, I am more than content with the knowledge that we shall have a long time together in this world. Know that I will take up the oncoming fight in your name, and that you can rest easy in the knowledge that your actions will continue to inspire those of 'Ingenium' for years to come."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Kurai sighed as he lowered his gaze again. "But I wish you wouldn't fight on my behalf. If you have to fight, then do it on behalf of the people who need saving, not for someone like me."

"And what about the people who need you to save them?" These words came from a scowling Izuku, which was enough of a surprise on its own, as very few people present had actually seen him get angry before. Ignoring the others as he glared at Kurai from across the room, he added, "That's what One For All is meant to be used for- saving others. I passed it on to you so that we could do that, and now you're just going to let it go to waste?"

"If you really think that you made a mistake, then tell me who to pass the quirk on to," Kurai said flatly. "I'm sorry that I put you through a window, and I'm sorry that I can't be the hero you believed that I could be anymore, but if you really feel so strongly about it, then please, tell me who should receive the power next."

"Deku, it's okay," Eri said as she stepped to stand in front of the greenette before he could make a reply. "He didn't let it go to waste, remember? I'm here to carry on the will that lives inside of One For All. He's earned his right to pass on the responsibility to another wielder."

"That's not the point!" Izuku suddenly shouted, his eyes flaring deep purple as the air around him shuddered, and people around him took a pace backward in surprise. Kurai, seeing this, took a step forward before his friend yelled, "I gave the power to you because I know you could be the greatest hero of us all- and you proved me right when you fought to the bitter end on Nabu! Don't you get it?! I don't want the power to be passed on to anyone else!"

"Izuku, calm the hell down!" Kurai shouted as he began to pale, his emotional and physical exhaustion forgotten in the heat of the moment. "You're gonna-!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Izuku raged as his hair began to flicker between green and yellow colors. "You don't have that right!"

"Deku, look at what you're doing!" Ochaco begged him, but Izuku's face was twisted almost beyond recognition as his anger continued to build at a dangerous pace.

"What's happening to him?!" Iida shouted as the room began to tremble.

Before anyone could give an answer, Eri moved fast, darting behind Izuku and jamming two of her fingers into a soft point in his neck, causing his legs to turn to jelly and collapse underneath him while also cutting off the pressure that had been building up in the room. Without a moment's hesitation, Akarui scowled and darted forward, waving the others back as he did so. "Damn, I was afraid of this," he said as he examined the fallen boy, noting the slow trickle of blood that was coming from his nose. "Eri, mind resetting him?"

"Of course," she nodded as her horn glowed softly while the others looked on, still confused for the most part.

"What just happened to him?" Mina asked as she came to stand beside Kurai, who was unconsciously massaging his temples, as if remembering an old injury. "Why did Energon-?"

"Remember how I used to go nuts if I let negative emotions get the better of me?" her boyfriend asked in response. "That's pretty much what just happened here."

"But-? I thought that Akarui fixed your quirk?" Yaoyorozu asked as Eri's power quickly restored Izuku to the moment before he had lost control of his temper. "That device that I made-"

"Was made to alter Kurai's neurology, not his quirk," Akarui said to interrupt her as he helped a groggy Izuku to sit up. "We altered his body on a cellular level, not his quirk itself. I never foresaw a series of circumstances where Kurai would pass his quirk on to someone else, and it was easier for me to alter his body as opposed to his quirk, so that's what I did. If we don't want Midoriya here to melt his brain whenever he gets worked up- which as I understand, happens pretty often- we'll have to remake the device that we used on my brother."

"Why did Deku collapse so quickly?" Ochaco asked as Izuku slowly blinked his eyes, as if coming out from a deep sleep. "It took Kurai longer to go down like that when he went all-out."

"Midoriya spent the last couple of years conditioning his body to endure the physical strain that One For All puts on a person," Akarui answered immediately. "He spent very little time conditioning his mind for the backlash that a quirk might put on him. My brother trained himself for over half of his life to maintain a lid on his emotions so that things like this wouldn't happen so easily to him. Midoriya simply doesn't have that kind of endurance."

"But you can fix him?" Kirishima asked worriedly.

"Of course I can fix him," Akarui snorted, as if the question were an insult to his intelligence. "Even if I don't remember the entirety of my thought process leading to the complete product, I have the design for the device locked safe in here." So saying, he tapped his head with a slim finger. "I'll have to make some adjustments to account for the differences in Midoriya's physiology, but I'm confident I can have those done sometime in the next couple of weeks."

"You're sure about that?" Mina asked him dubiously.

"I'm not going to be supercharging my quirk again, so it's going to take some time, but I'll get there," Akarui answered with a slight shudder. "I think I'll enjoy taking my time with a project, now that I'm not operating under the threat of a ruthless countdown."

"He knows what he's doing," Kurai said quietly before anyone else could voice another concern. In an even softer tone, he added, "More than most of us do, anyway." Clearly, he had never thought that the weakness that had nearly killed him multiple times might come to harm his friend, and it had him even more rattled on top of everything else that had been happening.

Meanwhile, Akarui was checking Izuku's eyes for dilation while he asked, "Can you understand me, Midoriya? You with us?"

"I hear you," he nodded as he fixed his gaze on the younger boy. "Sorry, I… I lost my head there for a second. I was just… so angry…"

"Understandably so," Akarui sighed. In a low tone that only Izuku could hear, he then said, "Look, he's a dense knucklehead, but he has a right to do what he chooses with the power, just like you did when it came to you. He's making the best that he can of his situation, so just… cut him some slack? At least let the holidays pass without starting a yelling match." With a wry smile he added, "But if you two wanna slug it out after school starts up again, I'll make bank selling tickets to that fight."

Per Akarui's suggestion, Izuku went to lie down in his room to rest his mind. Even though he wasn't physically tired due to the rewind, he was rattled well enough that he didn't resist the idea. As he left, his classmates eyed him with something close to fear, save for Kurai and Iida, who were looking on with sympathy.

As soon as the greenette was gone, Kurai said in a somber tone, "It's not his fault."

"The guy almost blew up our building," Kaminari protested. "How do we not get freaked out by something like that, especially after what you-?"

"You may not be able to help your emotional reaction, but trust me when I say that he'll be more afraid than any of you are right now," the white-haired boy replied. "Damn. I never thought that this could happen, though I suppose I should have considered it at the time."

"Given the circumstances, I'm surprised you had the wherewithal to act as you did, thinking clearly enough to pass your quirk on to Midoriya," Yaoyorozu pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess," Kurai murmured before he turned to address the class as a whole. Bowing deeply to them from the waist again, he said in a clearer tone, "I gave all of you an apology for my behavior the other day. I also need to apologize for acting as I did on Nabu- for dying on all of you. I was impulsive, arrogant, and I didn't pause to consider what my death would actually mean for all of you. I thought that I was looking ahead, but it turns out that I was being short-sighted when it came to the consequences."

There was a brief moment of silence while he remained bowed before Todoroki spoke up. "Would you act differently if you had the chance to do it over again?" he asked.

"I… If I could find another way to defeat the villain, then yeah, I would have done something different," Kurai answered as he straightened up.

"Even if it meant that one of us died instead of you?"

Kurai paused again at the inquiry, knowing that he'd been trapped. Seeing this, Todoroki nodded and said, "Even if Midoriya had been able to pass on the quirk to someone else, none of us are as powerful as you. You were the best choice, not only because of your friendship with him, but also because of your skills. Don't apologize for something you have no inclination or right to change, even if you had the chance."

"…Alright," Kurai conceded. Sweeping his gaze across the room again, he asked, "And in regards to my actions the other day?"

"We can't understand what you've gone through, nor what you've lost in coming back here," Iida said with a negative shake of his head. "While your actions were upsetting, I have no intention of holding a grudge against you for it. Had I been in your shoes, I'm certain that I would have acted in a similar- if not worse- manner."

"You have my forgiveness," Tokoyami added.

"What the hell, it's Christmas time," Yang grinned as she came up and extended a fist to the boy. "Do me a solid, and we'll call it even."

Kurai nodded before tapping his knuckles firmly against hers', even as others gathered around him, each of them saying that they too forgave him for his actions. Some of them still seemed a little wary of him, but all of them seemed mostly relieved to see him closer to his old self than the half-mad boy who had initially appeared in place of their friend. There were even a few hugs thrown into the mix, first by Kirishima and Kaminari, then Ochaco and Ruby.

"We missed you," said the gravity girl when she released him. "We're glad to have you with us again."

He gave her a slight shrug before replying, "I'm glad to see all of you again, too. I may have spent part of an eternity in a better place, but I swear I never forgot any of you. I can't remember a lot of the time I spent there anymore, but I know that there's a lot I wanted to show you guys when we do go."

"I suppose if nothing else, we know that we have something to look forward to in the hereafter," Tokoyami commented neutrally.

"A hereafter that should be a long way off," Iida said as he adjusted his glasses. "We all heard Eri's tale, and we now understand the stakes of the coming conflict. If we want to change the future, we must all be prepared to live for a good while longer."

"We will," Eri vowed as she folded her arms in front of her. "I'll make sure of it."

Kurai's face twitched with the barest hint of a smile before he said, "I can see that my future self made the right choice."

"How do you figure?"

"You sound just like Deku right now," he answered. "When we rescued you, he promised to shatter the future, if that's what it took."

"If I recall, you were making that promise right alongside him," she replied with a sad little smile of her own. "You sure you won't be able to keep it?"

"I'm sure," he sighed as he cast his eyes downward and allowed his features to sag yet again. "I can't take any more of it, Eri. The pain, the fear, the failures… I'm glad that I've been able to do what I did, but a hero who goes into a situation unprepared to give everything that they have is only a liability to the people depending on them. I don't want to be that guy. Now, can we please drop the subject?"

"…Okay," she nodded. "But you'll always be my hero."

Following that, everyone started to interact in a less tense manner, though it could still be called a bit of an awkward atmosphere. There were still a lot of conflicting emotions that had been brought about by Kurai's violent death, followed by his startling resurrection, and all the revelations that came about because of it. The students were still trying to process all of these things, and it obviously couldn't be done overnight with a single apology from Kurai. Akarui did what he could to break the ice when he came back down, which helped his brother more than he thought it would have. In spite of all the lingering emotional soreness, by the end of the day, more of the students were smiling than not, and there was plenty of laughter going around.

Most of this came from Kaminari and Sero, who were poking fun at Kurai while they tried to come up with careers that he could pursue after he gave up his powers to someone else. Under normal circumstances, he would have gotten irritated, but he let them have their fun, for two reasons. One, he still felt that he owed everyone around him big time, and second, he knew that it was their way of welcoming him back.

"He could be a therapist," Sero snickered.

"Physical or mental?" Kaminari grinned in response. "He seems qualified for both."

"Ha-ha," Kurai snorted with a roll of his eyes, though the smile did not reach his eyes. Holding up his right arm, he wiggled his fingers and said, "If this is the qualification you're referring to, I don't think it counts anymore."

"Right, psych therapy it is," Kaminari said before he jerked his head to the side, just in time to have one of Jiro's ear jacks narrowly miss him.

"Alright, you're taking it too far," the punk rock girl said in a warning note. "Hikari, don't feel like you have to take that, okay?"

"Eh, I don't really mind," he shrugged noncommittally. "Honestly, I prefer this to a pity party. Or… any kind of party, right now."

"Aw, don't tell me you're gonna be hiding out in your room for the Christmas party," Kirishima said as he plopped down on the couch adjacent to Kurai and Sero.

"I was thinking about it, yes."

"I should think not," Yaoyorozu said as she came to stand next to Kurai. "You may be transferring out of the hero course in the spring, but you are still a part of our class until then. This occasion is meant to be enjoyed by all of us, just like the festival in October. Your attendance is not optional."

"Was I just ordered to have a holly jolly Christmas?" Kurai asked with a raised eyebrow, prompting several of his friends to laugh and Yaoyorozu to turn away. After all, it wouldn't do to let him see her smiling at the first joke he had cracked since being returned to life.

"You'd better," Akarui said as he came over from talking to Iida and Ochaco. "You and I are supposed to go see Mom on the twenty-fourth, so you'd better get your chin up in time for the visit. Hopefully after that, I can stop cleaning up after your messes."

"Not really feeling the goodwill toward men over here…"

"Hah!" Yang laughed from across the room.

"Okay, how did she even hear that?"

"If there's a pun in the room, I always know about it!"

"Usually because you're the one making them," Weiss sighed with a roll of her eyes.

Seeing the two of them, plus Ruby in the kitchen area, made Kurai realize that he hadn't seen a certain classmate of theirs' yet. "Where's Blake at?" he asked with a slight frown.

"She hasn't been out of her room since you ran out the other day," Yang said heavily as she gestured for him to follow her.

"In other words, she's being Blake about it?" he guessed while the other two Americans came closer so that they could finish the discussion in lowered tones.

"Yeah, pretty much," the blond girl nodded. "It's starting to look like a pretty 'Blake' situation. Eh? Eh…?"

"Please stop," Weiss grumbled.

"I'm gonna have to talk her out of this again, aren't I?" When Yang nodded, Kurai let out a long, muffled groan before he said, "I… don't think that I'm up to it this time. After all, it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to try and talk her out of leaving the hero course, wouldn't it?"

"That's not what we're worried about right now," Weiss huffed. "Honestly, how dense can you be?"

"Considering all the head trauma that I've suffered, I could be a lot dumber," Kurai answered dryly.

"She's still blaming herself for all of this," Ruby told him.

"I figured, but I specifically remember telling her not to do that."

"Any work you might have done to restore her confidence was gone the moment that you died due to a wound that she inflicted, even if unintentionally," Weiss snapped.

"Blake has always had a hard time with blaming herself for every bad thing that happens around her," Yang said as she laid a hand on Weiss' shoulder in an unspoken message that told the albino girl that she needed to simmer down. "Look, I'll call that favor you owe me even if you go and talk to her today. If anyone's gonna get her on her way out of the dumps, it's you."

"Seriously?" he complained. "Haven't you guys tried kicking her door in or something?"

"I doubt that Mister Aizawa would appreciate the property damage," Ruby said with a slight shudder. "That's not even taking into account what Blake might do to us if we broke into her place." The other two girls gave shudders of their own in agreement, leading Kurai to wonder what he might be in for if he did try to talk to the reclusive girl in her current mood.

Eventually, he shrugged and said, "Well, what's the worst that could happen? I've literally hit rock-bottom for anyone who's been to the afterlife, so this oughta be a cakewalk. Cover for me with the others while I'm out, yeah?"

"You got it." As they watched him head into the elevator, Ruby added in a lowered tone to her sister, "You didn't tell him the other reason why he's probably the best chance at getting her out of her funk."

"What would be the point?" Yang shrugged as the doors closed in front of their revived classmate. "She'd never do anything about it, so it's not like he needs a heads-up. It'd just cause trouble for all parties involved."

"And he hardly needs more trouble in his life at the moment," Weiss agreed.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Open the door, Blake," Kurai said heavily as he stood in front of the reclusive girl's room. "I'm hitting my limit on social interactions for today, so I'd appreciate being able to go to sleep sooner rather than later."

"Go away."

Her voice was muffled by the door, but it came through clearly enough that Kurai let out another sigh and rolled his eyes to heaven. "Love to, but it seems like my pesky conscience is also making its way out of my coffin," he told her. He decided against mentioning that Yang had been the one who put him up to this, as it would probably just create more problems, rather than solve the current one. "I don't like talking through doors, so I'm gonna ask you to open this on your own one more time before I get creative."

"Creative?" she repeated, sounding like she was coming closer to the door. "You really think breaking down the door counts as clever?"

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of picking the lock," he tossed back as he leaned against the wall next to the door. "It's been a while since I've practiced, but I doubt it'll take me long to remember how it goes."

"Why would a hero course student know how to pick a lock?" Blake was standing in front of the door now, he was sure.

"Well, if you have a search warrant and you don't want the villains to know that the heroes and police have been snooping in their business, you probably don't want to leave any signs by breaking and entering," he said dryly. "Seriously, open the door before I have Yaomomo make me a lock picking set."

"That's not why you learned how to pick a lock."

"…Fine, Akarui got curious one summer, and I somehow got roped into learning it along with him," Kurai deadpanned. "Last chance to open up before I prove that I really can pick locks."

"I have a deadbolt. Go away, Hikari."

"My name is Kurai."

"You can't seriously still consider me your friend."

The white-haired teen let out another sigh before he said, "I suppose that would be asking too much of you. You're right, I shouldn't have a claim to being your friend after I got myself killed and leaving you behind to suffer from a guilt that shouldn't belong to you in the first place."

There was a clicking sound before the door was flung open and Blake appeared, her eyes red-rimmed and her hair disheveled. She looked as though she hadn't eaten in days, as her clothes hung loosely off of her like rags on a scarecrow. "Shouldn't belong to me?" she asked with a haunted gaze. "I gutted you. I ran my sword all the way through your chest and pinned you to the street. We all heard the autopsy report- you died of asphyxiation when your first lung filled with blood and the other one got crushed by that dragon head thing."

"I remember, I was there," he muttered as he noticed that she was also paler than normal. "I also suffered more than two-dozen other injuries, both internal and external. There's also the fact that Energon and One For All put together basically nuked my insides. Your sword on its own didn't kill me. My arrogance in believing that I could make the difference in that battle is what finished the job."

"But you did make the difference," she said hoarsely as her gaze dropped away from his. "It's not arrogance if your skill is versed in your actions, as opposed to just your words. You defeated Nine, and if I hadn't stabbed you earlier, you would have survived the battle."

"You don't know that."

"I know that every time I'm around you in battle, it almost costs you your life," she said miserably. "I can't keep doing that."

"You don't have to worry about it," Kurai shrugged. "I'm not staying in the hero course, remember? No one's going to be killing me again, least of all, you."

Blake stared at him for a few moments before she said, "You can't quit."

"I can, I will, and I did. Aizawa's arranging for my transfer into general studies starting with our second year."

"After everything you told me after the summer camp-"

"I'm not gonna stand here and take career advice from someone who's trying to make up their mind about whether or not to kill themselves," Kurai suddenly snapped, the venom in his tone causing Blake to flinch and take a step back. "Do it and get it over with, or pick yourself up and live your life. Stop indulging in the 'I can't make up my mind, so I'll just wait and see if I get lucky on the next one' crap."

There was a deafening silence in the hallway before tears started to leak out of Blake's eyes and she asked in trembling voice, "How did you know?"

"Mostly because I'm not completely stupid," he said bitterly before his right hand shot forward and grabbed her left arm, while his other hand yanked her sleeve up to her elbow, revealing a series of angry-looking scab marks that could only have been made with a blade. There was also a linen wrap closer to her wrist that had spots of red in it, which he assumed was concealing a significantly larger cut than the other marks. "Lemme guess, you decided to stop chancing it with the razor and switched to your katana?"

"None of your business," she mumbled as she took her hand back and covered the marks with her sleeve again.

"You're my friend, which does make it my business," he countered. "You saw what me getting killed did to everyone. How much worse do you think they'd take it if you killed yourself?"

"I just wanted the pain to stop," she said as her shoulders began to shake.

"By causing pain for everyone else?" Kurai demanded. "Yeah, I tried that route- spoiler alert? It doesn't work out for any parties involved." Letting out another long breath, he lowered his head before he said in a softer tone, "They all love us too much to let us go like that. It's something we should be grateful for, but right now it just seems like a damn nuisance, doesn't it?"

"What are you doing here, Hikari?"

"Sorry, don't know anyone by that name."

"…What do you want, Kurai?"

"I wanted to see if you'd come out of your room for anything," he shrugged. "Apparently, you will. Now for my next trick, you're gonna come back downstairs with me and assure your friends that you're not dead."

"I thought you said you were hitting your limits for social activity."

"I lied," he shrugged. "I actually went past my limit about five minutes after just being down there, but I stayed because I owe everyone in there big time. The same is true of you, so let's get a move on."

"I'm staying up here," she said tiredly as she went to go inside her room again.

"Good, then Recovery Girl and the other teachers will know where to find you when I tell them that they have a student trying to bleed themselves to death," he said just before Blake started to shut the door.

She halted her movements before she said over her shoulder, "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Yes."

"So if I go down, you won't report me at all?"

"Not a peep."

"Isn't it against the ethics of a hero to blackmail their colleagues?" she asked as she turned slightly to look at him over her shoulder.

"I'm not going to become a hero anymore, so let's call it a gray area," he answered. "As someone who's been in a similar spot to you, let's just say that I sympathize and I'm willing to give you a chance to correct your behavior on your own."

"How'd that turn out for you?" she asked in barely more than a whisper.

"…The night that we moved into the dorms, Mina found me gouging out pieces of my skin and scar tissue because of the phantom pains in here," he said as he pointed to his right bicep. "I wanted to take myself off the pain medication too early because I was afraid of developing an addiction, and she gave me an ultimatum: either take my meds and the matter stayed between us, or she could report me to the teachers, who probably would have sent me to an intensive therapy treatment for PTSD. I chose the former, and I learned to lean on her instead of trying to shoulder everything on my own as a result. I got better."

"I don't have anyone like you have Ashido," she said a trifle bitterly.

"No, you don't," he agreed. When she turned to fix an angry gaze on him, he shrugged again and said, "That's because you don't need anyone like I do. You're stronger than me. The only one who doesn't see it is you."

"You don't know me well enough to say that."

"You've been through the same hellish battles that I have, and you've always escaped without any life-threatening injuries," he replied. "I'd say that does make you stronger than me."

"That's not-"

"My karate instructor used to have a saying," Kurai interrupted her. "He said that when you're sizing up an opponent, be sure to check for scars."

"What does that have to do with-?"

"No scars means he's soft, probably never been in a fight before," the boy continued. "If he has one or two, then that means he learned his lesson and figured out how to move before someone hits him again. The people with more scars than that are the idiots who never learned how to dodge." Giving her another flat look, he said, "I have accumulated nearly forty scars, Blake, only two of which were made by your sword, and that was because all of us underestimated our opponent. Every one of those other marks were carved out because of my hubris, not your actions. I ignored everyone else's advice because I thought I knew best, because I believed myself to be strong, and that's what put me in a coffin. Objectively speaking, your part in my death was minimal, so do us both a favor and put on a shirt with sleeves that don't hang off so loose."

"…What?"

"We're both going downstairs to assure our friends that we're still alive, so unless you want to spend the entire evening checking over your shoulder to make sure that no one's noticed that trick up your sleeve, then wear something that won't cause a slip-up, so to speak," he told her as he started to walk away. "You have ten minutes to be downstairs before I call Mister Aizawa and let him know what's going on."

"Why are you doing this?" Blake asked before he got too far. "If you're not a hero trying to save someone, then why bother with me?"

He raised an eyebrow as he turned back to look at her and said, "You don't need to be a hero to want to help out your friend. You're worth too much for me to just let it go."

"I don't deserve to be your friend."

"Yeah, no one deserves that much misfortune, do they?" he muttered. "Too bad for you, I'm still too stubborn to just let my friends off the hook. Now change into a damn Christmas sweater and get downstairs. Your ten minutes started a minute ago."

By the end of the night, Bakugo was the only one who refused to be a part of the hangout in the common space. Blake came down with three minutes to spare, and Kurai noticed that she had taken his advice and donned a shirt that was less likely to reveal her secret.

Most of those scars should fade with time, except for the ones made by the katana, he thought as he turned back to give Sato a thankful smile as he handed him a plate loaded with Christmas cookies. Eh, she's smart enough to figure something out.

Izuku came down later in the gathering to offer his own apologies to the class, which they forgave him for, mostly due to Kurai's earlier reminder that the experience had to have been more frightening for him than any of them. However, once he had finished his apology, he approached Kurai and said in a lowered tone, "We need to talk about One For All later."

"Let me know when and where," the other boy agreed in response.

That was the only thing said on the matter for the rest of the day. Kurai spent the rest of those hours catching up with his friends and getting roped into multiple Smash tournaments. Sato and Yaoyorozu made confectionary delights, though they assured the others that they were saving the best for the Christmas party.

"It's nice to know how your resurrection scales in comparison to a celebration that happens once a year, as opposed to once in a lifetime," Akarui said with a snarky grin as he sat down across from his brother at one of the tables.

"Twice in my lifetime, actually," Kurai chuckled wryly.

"You were barely dead the first time, it doesn't count."

"And as the resident expert on the experience of death, I say it counts just as much as the second time."

"Damn, you got me there," Akarui sighed as he set his drink down.

Kurai looked him up and down for a moment before he said, "You never answered my question the other day."

"About if Eri erased my quirk?" his brother guessed. When Kurai nodded, Akarui shook his head in the negative and said, "You're still gonna have to deal with 'smartass hour', my friend."

"So the tumor is still there?"

"Yes." Akarui shrugged before he added, "Even without my quirk, it would still probably be there, so why give up my powers? Besides, you're all gonna need this gray matter in prime condition for when the war begins." He tapped the side of his head as he said this. "Since you're ducking out, someone has to pick up the slack around here."

"You're not even a hero course student, you can't get involved."

"I'm actually going to be making use of my medical license as an assistant to Recovery Girl and double as a guest lecturer for the support lab during the next semester," Akarui told him, startling the other boy.

"Say what?"

"I spoke to Principal Nezu while you were unconscious," the younger brother told him. "We both decided that with the stakes being what they are, it'd be better if I'm close at hand to assist you guys- he's the first person I've ever met who actually challenged me on an intellectual level, so I think it'll be an interesting work experience."

"You're only just coming up on thirteen, and you're going to be a guest lecturer at the world's most prestigious hero academy?!" Kurai sputtered.

"Look, whether or not you become a hero, the League is more than likely to come after me at some point, as Eri explained," Akarui said flatly. "Maybe it'll be for revenge as much as my quirk, but it's gonna happen at some point. Now that we know what's coming, I can help beef up security and live in a place that's as safe as it's gonna get."

"Don't you need a teaching license to be a teacher?"

"Hence the term 'guest lecturer'," the younger boy smirked. "It's not exactly a salary position, but my arrangement covers living expenses, which means that you'll be seeing me a lot more often."

"You're not-"

"Don't worry, I won't be cramping your style in this building," Akarui assured him. "I'll be living in the teacher's dorms like little Eri. Part of my arrangement is also to help take care of her."

"Oh, thank heaven," Kurai breathed heavily.

"Would living under the same roof again really be so bad?" Akarui asked, pretending to look offended. "We only did it for twelve years."

"Longest twelve years of my life."

"He shoots, he scores," Mina said with a slight grin as she sat down next to Kurai with a mug of hot chocolate. "Sorry, Aki, but your brother wins that round."

"Eh, it's Christmas time," the younger boy shrugged. "He's gotta win sometime, and I'm feeling charitable."

"Don't try to cheapen my victory with a fake concession, you little weasel," Kurai scowled.

"Couldn't help but overhear your discussion," Mina said before the two of them could get back into it. "Glad you'll be around, Akarui. I got a few pranks I've wanted to pull off for a while now, but this guy won't help me with the two-man jobs." She jerked a thumb at Kurai, who rolled his eyes in response.

"I helped you swap the pistachio with wasabi in Iida's lunch the day after we got to Nabu," he reminded her.

"That was you?!" Iida cried from the kitchen area.

"Forget you heard that."

"No!"

Mina and Akarui shared a round of chuckles while Kurai rolled his eyes upward and Ochaco and Yaoyorozu did their best to calm down their frustrated class rep. As the sound died away, however, Akarui turned back to his brother with a more sober expression before he said, "Mind if I ask something about the afterlife?"

"Dad was there," Kurai replied with a slow nod before his brother could elaborate on his inquiry.

Akarui took in a sharp breath before he was able to let it out as slow exhale while hiding his eyes behind his hand. After a small lull of quiet, he wiped at them with back of his hand, and went on to ask, "Did he, uh…? Did you guys ever talk about why he left that doctor's note in your binder?"

"Yeah, I asked him about it," his brother answered. "He pretty much confirmed what we suspected- that it was his insurance policy in case something ever happened to him. It was his best shot at letting us find the answers without someone else finding out what he was trying to do. It was just one of several documents in that scrapbook of a medical nature- there's some from my first aneurysm operation, for example- so it wouldn't look out of place there. It was pretty much the only way to prove that I had been born without a quirk, and therefore the only way to help me understand that something was wrong to begin with. Of course, he couldn't have known that I would end up so close to All For One's greatest enemy, but he knew that you're smart enough that we would have eventually put the pieces together."

"Why couldn't the guy have just written a letter that explained everything?" Mina asked with a slight frown. "Would've been way easier to understand, and much less of a headache to figure out."

"Not necessarily," Kurai said as he put his chin on his fist. "If he'd left behind a letter, I probably would have been tempted to just rip it up and pretend like it never happened. The way he did it, I wound up getting curious and seeking out the answers on my own, which forced me to accept the truth as I discovered it, instead of having it all thrown in my face at once."

"Our father knew you well enough to understand what kind of bread crumbs to leave behind," Akarui murmured. "That's some next-level Hansel and Gretel crap, right there."

"Wait, what do witch hunters have to do with your dad leaving a clue for you?" Mina asked with a frown.

"Witch hunters?" Akarui asked with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Mina tossed back. "There's an old movie about Hansel and Gretel the witch hunters, isn't there?"

"Wha-?" Kurai sputtered before he shook his head rapidly. "Mina, that movie is loosely based on an old nursery story about two kids that a witch tries to eat after their stepmother makes their father dump them in a forest!"

"That's terrible!" Mina exclaimed. "Why would anyone write that kind of story?!"

"Says the one who made me binge watch the 'Saw' series the weekend before the School Festival- and then had me go through Class C's haunted house!" Kurai shot back.

"It's not like I wrote 'em!"

It was very late by the time everyone started to disperse back into their rooms, and most of them could hardly keep their eyes open as they made their way upstairs. Some people had even fallen asleep on the couches, Blake being one of the people among their number.

Yang went to wake her up so that she could help her to her room, but she stopped when she saw Mina sit down next to the dark-haired girl, jostling her awake. Something in the pink girl's eyes told Yang that she'd be better off heading up to her own room sooner instead of later, so she quietly made her way up the hall with the others. She passed by Weiss, who was leaning against the wall with her gaze pointed downward, causing her friend to wonder if she hadn't fallen asleep. She went to tap the thin girl on the shoulder to wake her up, but Weiss held up a finger to her lips and shook her head before she raised her eyes just enough for Yang to see them flick toward where Blake and Mina were sitting. Understanding the unspoken message, Yang nodded and moved on to get to the elevator before it left without her.

Meanwhile, Mina waited for the area to be clear before she addressed the stirring girl next to her with the words, "You doing okay?"

"Mph… No, but I suppose I'll get there, eventually," she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes sluggishly. "What time is it?"

"Late," the pink heroine replied. "Everyone else just went up to bed."

"Well… thanks for waking me up," Blake sighed as she started to get up, only to finally see the hardened look in Mina's eyes, which led her to sit back down. "I'm guessing you didn't do that for altruistic purposes."

"Nope," Mina answered, her tone remaining neutral enough. There was nothing hostile in her bearing other than the look in her eyes, which wasn't even directed at Blake. Even so, the raven-haired girl knew that something was about to happen between them, and there was no way to escape it.

"I assume we need to talk," she said as she straightened herself up on the couch, directing her gaze so that the both of them were staring at their reflections in the window.

"Yep," Mina nodded briefly. "I'll give you three guesses about what, and the last two don't count."

Blake was quiet for a moment, trying to ignore the dryness in her mouth before she murmured, "I didn't think you noticed."

"I didn't, not until recently," Mina admitted as she allowed herself a brief sidelong glance at the other girl. "He definitely hasn't."

"I know," Blake said, maintaining her lowered tones. "I don't want him to know, either."

Mina relaxed at that, just a little bit. "Good," she said firmly.

"How'd you know?"

"You look almost as messed up as I feel," Mina answered with a slightly bitter chuckle. "At first I just thought it was because you felt responsible, but it didn't take long for me to realize it was more than that, especially since he was the only one who was able to convince you to come out of your room."

"Is this the part where you're gonna tell me to stay away from him?" Blake asked, deciding that she'd rather cut to the quick than dance around the subject of her own tangled emotions.

"Would you stay away from him if I did?" Mina inquired, her tone becoming more serious again.

"Yes."

"Then, no," she shrugged. "It's not like I can't understand how you feel- there's a lot to like, after all. I'm not gonna punish you and him for something you can't control, Belladonna. Besides, it's not like I can actually tell him who he can and can't hang out with- nor would it be right. He considers you a friend, and I'm hoping that someday, I'll look at you that way, too."

"Kinda hard to be friends with the girl who has feelings for your boyfriend, isn't it?" Blake said, a little bitterly. "I get it, really. I want him to be happy, and for whatever it's worth, I know that you're the best person to make that happen for him. That, and I'd like it if you could be happy, too."

"I appreciate that," Mina said with a slightly dry smile. "I just wanted to make sure that we both had everything out in the open. I don't like having to tiptoe around awkward stuff."

"This isn't awkward?" Blake asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"This is probably the most awkward thing that's ever happened to me," Mina admitted as she forced herself to stand up. "But like I said, I prefer to know where we both stand."

"Wish I could say the same," Blake said under her breath. Shaking her head when Mina raised an eyebrow at her, she added, "Sorry, that was ugly of me to say. Let me know if I'm crossing any lines, and I'll back off."

"I appreciate that," Mina said as she started toward the elevators.

"There's just one thing." Blake's voice stopped her so that she turned to look over her shoulder at the dark-haired girl, who was giving her a piercing glare with her golden eyes as she said, "If you ever hit him, mistreat him again like you did the other night, all bets are off. I'll go for it."

Both of Mina's eyebrows went up, but all she said in response was, "If that does happen, you can do what you want, but I wouldn't hold my breath, girl."

Kurai: You... do know that's not how we're supposed to handle that kind of situation, right? I need to know that you know this.

Mataras: Of course I know that!

Deku: Then why-?

Mataras: Just because I know the right answers doesn't mean that the characters in the story are going to utilize that knowledge. They're not me, and if they never made any mistakes, it wouldn't make for a very compelling character arc, would it?

Kurai: You really think you haven't had us make enough mistakes yet?

Mataras: As long as people live, they will make mistakes. We don't exactly have a capoff when it comes to stupid decisions.

Kurai: Speak for yourself.

Mataras: Bite me!

Deku: Next time- Christmas Ghosts

Kurai: Ominous, but Christmas in June? Seriously?

Mataras: I'm pretty sure the episode that this one is based on came out in July when it aired, so I'm not exactly- bah, nevermind. Scheduling just worked out this way.

Deku: Speaking of scheduling, didn't you have an announcement about that?

Mataras: Ah, yes. Due to the hiatus I took a few weeks back, I've fallen behind in scheduling just a tad. In order to make up for that, I'll be releasing the next two chapters in as many weeks, as opposed to the usual bi-weekly slots.

Kurai: Trying to speedrun the depression arc, are we?

Mataras: Pfft. You wish.

Deku: Our class' Christmas is ready to Go Beyond!

Mataras: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Renewal...

In spite of the students' search, nothing was discovered around the building that could be contrived as suspicious. "Not even tracks from an animal, or footprints?" Kurai asked with a slight frown when Izuku, Ochaco, and Jiro gathered to discuss their lack of findings.

"None," the gravity girl confirmed.

"Even the tracks that we made from our snowball fight earlier are gone due to the snowfall," Izuku added.

"And I didn't hear anything, either," Jiro said as she twirled one of her cables around her finger. "Might've been a couple of birds that you saw."

"Whatever I saw was moving too slow to be a bird," Kurai said with a shake of his head.