A/N: Alright, it's time for the climax! As sad as I am to be moving on from my favorite arc in the show (to the dating of this chapter's release, anyway), I am incredibly excited for what comes next!

This chapter's artwork is the first one I did on my new art program, and I quite like how it turned out! Let me know what you guys think!

Who We Are

Deku and Eri had disappeared in a rush of wind that tore apart the underground chasm, turned the boulders in it to dust, and flinging Chisaki into the maelstrom, where his body was pummeled again and again before he was roughly deposited as a bloody mess amid the shards of his destruction. Kai thought that he would be torn apart as well, but a blur of red and a familiar face appeared inside the chaos to pull him out and bring him to safety in the shelter of Ryukyu's wings, where he could watch the last of the storm weather itself out. The wind screamed in their ears and the rubble roared as it was cast about while the water from the city pipes pelted them with stinging force until at long last, it was over.

As their ability to hear clearly began to return, Kai said to Crescent Rose, "Thanks for the catch."

"No problem."

Uravity then stumbled to her feet as she asked her friend in a weak voice, "Kai… Where's Deku?"

Kai couldn't stop a huge grin from breaking out his face as an indescribable joy filled him in that moment. He pointed upward to a small speck that was just barely visible to the naked eye, but the fact that it was casting off verdant lightning helped a bit. "He got her away," he said, his smile growing even wider, a sense of elation sweeping through his body as he scrambled out from under the pro heroine's wing. "He did it!" he crowed with laughter. "He actually did it! Deku got Eri away from Chisaki! Haha!" He thrust a fist into the sky, and was surprised when he noticed three things.

One, his arm was coated in orange energy that reminded him of his old aura from when he used to be able to tap into his full power. Two, his limb no longer showed any signs of the abuse that he had suffered at the hands of Cinder and Overhaul. Lastly, the air around him had just whirled upward in manner similar to when Deku disappeared, though on a much lesser scale than before.

What the what? he thought as he examined himself more thoroughly. It's not just my arm… His entire body was whole again, save for his metallic replacement, as if the injuries he had sustained never even happened in the first place. Do I have some kind of restoration power now?

He considered the idea for a moment before he discarded it. No, Energon is a destructive quirk, and even my chakra-related abilities only serve to improve my fighting prowess, or that of another person in the case of the Anahata. Whatever had just happened to him was a result of something- or someone- else. There was that light when Eri was holding on to Izuku, and they passed pretty close to me when they made their escape… Did she do this, somehow?

Another huge smile creased his face as he thought, Whatever this is, I like it. He felt good. He felt happy, which was something he hadn't really felt since he had sent his mother away with Tsukauchi. We got Eri away from him, he thought again. Out loud, he giggled, "Suck it, Chisaki, you outdated gangster."

"Guys, speaking of Chisaki…" Crescent Rose said as she pointed across the cavern, where a massive shape was lumbering out of the shadows. "I think I saw him over there, last…"

"Eh?" Kai's gaze snapped over toward the bestial figure that was emerging. It looked like some kind of muscle monster that walked on six massive hands with a tail, and a giant beak where Chisaki's upper half could be seen sitting in its maw. "Now that's something different."

"Not good," Ryukyu groaned, her movements slow and laborious. Clearly something had happened to her and her sidekicks, because all of them were looking very worn out, and in Uravity's case, sick to her stomach.

"You needn't… worry." Kai whirled around to see Nighteye leaning against a slab of rock, where Crescent Rose had put him before she went to rescue her friend from being turned into paste. As the monster that Chisaki had become began to climb toward the massive skylight, the dying hero managed to groan out, "He's not going to… attack any of you… He'll… head for the surface… in pursuit of Midoriya… and Eri… Then… he'll kill Midoriya… and escape… with Eri…" He let out a defeated sigh before he added, "I'm sorry… There is nothing… we can do."

"No!" Uravity cried out as she turned away from the man. "We can't just let him-!" She faltered and began to fall, only to be caught up in a rush of wind and orange light by Kai, who helped her get back on her feet. "Kai… Wait, you're- You look like you used to!"

"Oh yeah?" he grinned as he re-examined himself again. "Funny, cos I feel a lot better than I used to."

"Well, if you're feeling so good, why don't you go and make sure that Chisaki doesn't kill Deku!" Nejire called out to him.

"That won't do any good," Nighteye coughed as he locked eyes with Kai. "I know it won't make a difference… But, Kai… You are only going up there… to die at Chisaki's hands."

Kai blinked his fire-orange eyes at Nighteye before he gave him another big smile and said, "Nah." His answer seemed to appall the women in the group, so he turned away and said over his shoulder, "My girlfriend has a policy against dead boyfriends. I'm not about to test what happens if I break that policy a second time."

"Are you crazy?" Ryukyu rumbled as Overhaul finally made his way out of the hole. "Nighteye's predictions always come true. But you think that just because you have a crush waiting for you at home, it makes you impervious to fate?"

"Show me someone who isn't at least a little crazy, and I'll show you anybody that's not a hero or a villain," Kai shot back as the aura surrounding his body drew in on itself and suffused his hair and eyes until the light was gone, making them gleam brightly, even in the light of the morning sun. "And what do you really expect me to do? Stay down here while that monster kills my friend? Ha! I don't care what Nighteye saw- I'll destroy whatever future I have to, in order to make sure that Eri is safe, and the Shie Hassaikai is nothing but a bad memory!" As he was talking, he crouched his legs, a familiar rush of power building up in his body, such as he had not felt since he and Deku had fought alongside All Might on I-island. "Chisaki, here I COME!" The ground cracked into splinters beneath him as he shot into the air at the speed of a bullet, headed right for where they had last seen the yakuza monster escaping.

Only watching him for a second, Uravity turned to face Nighteye, who wore a stoic face while he continued to bleed into the concrete beneath him. "Sir?" she asked him nervously. "How are Deku and Kai supposed to die?" Her mind flashed back to seeing her friend being carted away after the USJ incident, convulsing and bleeding from his nose and eyes as an aneurism threatened to take him away from them, forever. If he's somehow reverting back to his old transformation, then-

"Chisaki impales Deku… and disintegrates Kai with his bare hands," Nighteye mumbled. "I'm sorry, but… that it is what will happen. You cannot stop him, no matter what you do."

"No way!" Crescent Rose growled as she staggered over to her scythe from where it was sticking out of a nearby pile of rubble. "We aren't going to just sit here and let that happen!"

She's right! Uravity thought as she looked back up at the sky, her fists trembling. "Sir… There is no future…!" she shouted, "Except the one we create!" Despite her exhortations, she was brought down to her knees by her own exhaustion and churning stomach. But even that would not keep her down for long, and in the meantime, she would place her faith in the two boys who had come to mean the world to her- Izuku Midoriya, the boy who had her heart, and Kurai Hikari, a dear friend and image of undying perseverance.

"Okay, Eri… hang on," Deku told the little girl as he finished tying Lemillion's cape in front of him, securing her to his back. If her quirk can rewind me like Chisaki says she can, then I'll just have to keep destroying my body faster than she can heal me! And if I can actually pull this off, that means…!

The yakuza leader menacing them had truly become a monster in every sense of the word. Chisaki had merged himself with one of his underlings that had the ability to convert another person's energy into muscle mass, and the man had been positively huge when his boss had torn him apart and combined him with his own body, reconstructing them both into a single entity with no skin and an exposed ribcage. Overhaul walked on six massive hands with a grotesque beak for a head, in which Chisaki's own head, torso, and arms could be seen inside, sticking out like some kind of half-human tongue.

"It seems to me that your quirk is a blessing, Eri," Deku told the girl, even as her former jailer glared down at them, The ground trembled beneath him as the lighting generated by his quirk went wild, and green flames coated his body, although neither did anything to hurt him or Eri. One For All, Full Cowling…! He grit his teeth as he let his power build to its fullest, to a height even All Might could have only dreamed of. One Hundred Percent!

"Eri…" he said calmly, in spite of the giant menace that had come to take the child away yet again. "I need your help… Will you please lend me your power?"

She was stunned breathless by Deku's words. She had always been called a 'cursed' child. No one had ever remotely praised her for anything, or even hardly tolerated her. Yet here was this stranger, willing to suffer and die on her behalf while saying that she was not only worth it, but a blessing upon him and others.

He needs… my help? Her body shivered, but not from despair this time. No, something had been ignited anew in her heart; a feeling she had thought long forgotten. It wasn't that she had delusions of being able to defeat her tormenter, but neither was she a bane to all of human existence, either. She- little Eri, who had been looked on as less than nothing for all of her remembered life- could help someone do good, and she wanted to do so. For the first time ever, she wanted to fight back.

Eri said nothing, but Deku could feel the tiniest of nods against the back of his neck as tears spilled onto his shoulder. A flicker of movement caught his eye, giving him pause for just a second, but he nodded in acknowledgement once he recognized its source.

Ignorant of these things, Overhaul rumbled in a warped voice, "Neither of you realize what Eri is truly capable of. I conducted countless experiments in order to extract her power and distill it into the ultimate form: a power that doesn't just rewind the flesh, but that of the species, taking them back to a time before quirks ever existed! You get it now?! Eri represents change! The ability to annihilate quirks once and for all; cure this hero sickness!" His six massive hands with no skin began to carry him forward, crushing the street beneath and creating new spikes that were surely meant to kill the boy keeping his prized possession away from him. "She. Is. Mine! A little boy like you doesn't know how to use her! It's up to me to cure humanity!"

Tar-and-concrete spikes shot forth at Overhaul's maddened command, but Deku was done waiting to see how his enemy would act. He disappeared without so much as a blur to mark his movements, much to his enemy's fury. Before he could even try to guess at where his targets had gone, Overhaul heard somebody let out a piercing whistle on his right, drawing his attention to a shirtless boy with orange hair and eyes that glowed like wildfire. "You…" Overhaul rumbled as he recognized the other schoolboy that had given him so much trouble. "You and your friend are DEAD!"

Much to his utter shock, however, instead of being even remotely frightened or angry at him, Kai began to laugh right before he said, "Nope! He's Deku, and I'm Kai!" He continued to laugh, grating on his enemy's nerves until Overhaul raised a massive hand, intending to crush the boy and scatter the atoms of what remained.

Kai saw this and ceased his laughter, although a smile that contained traces of madness remained. Just before Overhaul's fist closed in around him, he said in a cheery voice, "Bye-bye!" Then the monster threatening him was miles in the sky, the air having been driven from whatever lungs Chisaki had managed to assemble with his quirk. Kai grinned at Deku, who wore a grim expression in return as he watched Overhaul's ascension. "Nice high kick," he commented. "Are you gonna get Eri outta here, now?"

"I can't, not yet," Deku grunted. "I don't have time for the long version, but as long as she stays on my back while I use one hundred percent of my power, I won't get destroyed by her quirk. The real problem is, she doesn't know how to turn it off."

"So you gotta keep punching Chisaki until her power wears off, or he wears out," Kai nodded rapidly. "Gotcha, cool-cool. Let's do this, then."

Deku looked askance at his friend, even as the other boy settled into a deep crouch. The orange hair and eyes had worried him already, but he had never heard Kurai talk so flippantly, ever. He had fully expected Kai to berate him for not getting Eri away from the battle already, but the thought hadn't even seemed to cross his mind. "Are you okay?" he asked the other boy.

"Pfft." Kai laughed loudly, as if he hadn't a care in the world. "First Chisaki says I'm 'dead', now you ask if I'm 'okay'. I keep telling you guys, I'm Kai! Hehehehehahahaha!" With that, he was gone in a blur of orange and wind that knocked away the loose debris that Chisaki had created with his antics.

Deku grimaced, even as he felt Eri's powers intensify, and he knew that he needed to really get moving, or else risk being destroyed by the girl's Rewind quirk. Even as he prepared to leap after his friend, he thought worriedly, He's not fine.

Kai quickly found himself level with Overhaul in the air, the man still looking like he hadn't quite recovered from the devastating kick that Deku had delivered to his stomach. Letting out a delighted 'whoop', he swung his arm behind himself and made sure to keep his hand open so that the resulting winds would propel him in forward direction, similar to how he had seen All Might change direction in midair. With the quantity of power rushing through him right then, he couldn't risk an energy blast going wild and decimating a house or even a town block. He would just have to rely on his enhanced strength and speed for the time being.

And that'll be more than enough to take out this guy! he thought with a huge grin as he drew back his metal arm for a brutal punch to his enemy's monstrous head. Overhaul went flying back down toward the earth, headed straight for the hole that Ryukyu had made during her fight with one of Chisaki's men. Before he could make it more than a few hundred feet, however, a burst of green lightning smashed him skyward once again, causing him to shoot up past Kai.

"We need to keep the damage on the ground as minimal as possible!" Deku shouted as he rushed past his friend, his voice just barely audible above the howling wind. "Plus, if we keep him up here, he won't be able to transmute anything other than his own body!"

"You got it, Small Might!" Kai laughed, feeling even giddier now that he was practically flying through the air. He kicked his legs downward, causing a change in air pressure that sent him shooting upward to level with his friend, where the air was beginning to grow cold in spite of the risen sun. As soon as they began to level out, the boy shouted, "I'll take the front, and keep him distracted! You get around back, and we'll use him as a ping-pong ball! A really big, stupid ping-pong ball!"

"Kai, this isn't the time for jokes!"

"You're right, he looks like he's gonna bounce more like a tennis ball."

"Kai!"

Kai simply didn't understand why his friend was getting so worked up right then- the whole situation was hilarious. Chisaki was having his ass handed to him by a couple of teenagers and a little girl whom he had lorded over for years. It wasn't even a top-ranking hero that was beating him silly, it was a trio of minors who couldn't even make it into an R-rated film showing! What wasn't to laugh about?

With that in mind, he pointed at their enemy and called out, "Hey, don't get mad at me, sourpuss! Also, he's waking up!"

"You-! Uh oh!" Deku's shout of alarm was drawn out as Overhaul's six arms drew in on themselves, breaking his body apart once again as the two of them separated in the air.

"Why doesn't anybody… see the big picture?!" Overhaul boomed as bone and meat swirled around his torso in a storm cloud of raw matter. "I'm going to tear down this entire world and reshape its foundations! You keep getting in the way of progress because of an outdated sense of what's right! You're just pretending to be heroes! I WON'T LET YOU STAND IN MY WAY!" The foul matter reshaped itself into a single, massive arm that reached for Deku, but was broken at the joint by Kai before both of the boys sped away from the deranged man.

"You don't get a say in whether we sit or stand!" Kai laughed as he axe-kicked Overhaul's back, breaking his bones and nearly killing the man on the spot. "Either way, we're taking you down!"

Overhaul screamed as he forced his mutated limb to clench tightly, destroying himself and rebuilding his body to have massive arms and legs with which he could tear the heroes apart. Only once he had done that did he realize that both boys were quickly closing in again, and he couldn't tell which one of them was going to strike first anymore.

"If we can't save Eri…" Deku shouted as lightning blazed in his eyes while he drew back his left fist. "One small child relying on us to help her…!"

"Then how do we call ourselves heroes who can reach out… and protect anybody?!" Kai added with a maniacal smile and a spark of insanity glinting in his orange eyes. He reached as far back as he could before he clapped his hands together, producing an ear-splitting soundwave that slammed into Overhaul, disorienting him and giving Deku the chance that he needed to close in and lay waste to the yakuza boss with a hundred punches in the time that it takes to blink- all with a single arm.

All of the man's limbs- reconstructed and natural- were blown off by the vicious attacks, leaving him defenseless before the two heroes, one furious, and the other smiling like maniac. Deku grabbed his friend by the mechanical arm and swung him around his body fast enough that a slipstream followed Kai when he was released, slamming his outstretched leg into Overhaul's head and tearing the plague mask off his face.

"This is who we ARE!" the boys declared as their enemy rocketed toward the earth, slamming into the street where they had begun their topside battle and collapsing in a massively broken, bleeding heap. Kai landed like a fiery meteor behind the man, creating another crater with the impact while Deku fell as bolt from on high, both of them still on their guards as they waited for the wounded villain to make yet another move.

However, most of the onlookers were unable to see that the two heroes and the young girl had made a safe landing, as Overhaul's monster form had kicked up too much dust and debris for them to have a clear view of what was happening. Two of these onlookers were Uravity and Nighteye, the latter of them awaiting an ambulance that his younger comrade had called for while they watched the battle in the sky unfold. Deku's girlfriend had used her quirk to get them both to the surface, at the request of both the man and Ryukyu, and now that she could not see them, she feared the worst.

"Deku?" she called out amid the howling wind and dust. "Where is he…?" She felt a movement in her arms, so she looked down to see Nighteye straining to lift his body, even just a little bit. "Sir?"

"It's… I don't believe it…" the man was gaping, his bloodied face pale and his eyes wide behind his glasses. "I saw it… Chisaki succeeded and escaped, while Kai and Midoriya lost their lives. That is… the immutable future…" As he spoke, the dust cloud began to settle, revealing both boys standing strong, while their enemy remained completely immobile. "But this… is new- a different set of events."

As Uravity watched her friends, her heart pounding and her stomach churning, she wondered, If Nighteye has never been wrong before, did he maybe just see it wrong? Or is possible that Deku and Kai can actually change the future- and the fates of those around them?!

After about ten seconds had passed, and there was no movement from Chisaki, Kai's smile widened before he jumped up and landed on the chest of Overhaul's monster form, looking down at the defeated man. "Hehehe… The lights are out, but now it's time to cut the power," he said as he extended his left arm so that his palm faced the yakuza leader. "You're not hurting anyone, ever again, Chisaki."

"Kai, what are you doing?!" Deku shouted up at him.

"Taking care of a one-time problem before it becomes a recurring issue," the boy giggled, as if he had just told a private joke. "Don't worry, he won't even feel it!"

"Kai, you can't do that!" Deku cried, his eyes widening with alarm. "Your quirk is doing something to your head- you need to shut it off before you do something that you'll regret!"

"Pfft, I'm fine," Kai said dismissively. "Besides, villains still get killed in fights with heroes from time to time! What's one more?"

"Kai, please!" Deku begged as he felt his heartrate accelerating again. "I don't want to have to stop you!"

"Good one, pal," Kai laughed again. "But this guy's already toast." He flexed his hand, willing his power to be expelled from his body in a single burst that would annihilate Chisaki's brain matter- only to have something rather unexpected happen. Instead of gathering in his palm like the energon was supposed to, Kai's hand suddenly jerked backwards, and an explosion of orange energy blasted him right off of Chisaki's ruined form, sending him skidding across the pavement on his face, after which he wound up on his back with a stunned expression and road rashes all across his left cheek, back, and arm. "Ow…" he wheezed as the orange light departed from his hair and eyes.

"Kai?" Uravity asked him worriedly. "Are you-?"

"Augh!" Another cry of pain drew her attention back to Deku, who had doubled over, a golden light from Eri's horn enveloping them both so that it was hard to even make out their forms within the energy.

"Somebody, stop me!" Eri screamed as tears cascaded down her face. "Please! He's gonna die!" Her power shot out and spread across Overhaul, separating him into two beings once more: Chisaki and the massive Katsukame.

"Don't…! Come near!" Deku gritted out as soon as Uravity tried to move in closer. "She'll get… you too!" She stopped, torn between heeding his warning and wanting to help save her best friend.

Just as the energy storm surrounding them obscured them completely from view, it vanished, as did Deku's lightning. Both of them collapsed forward on the tar, but Deku moved just in time to catch the child's head before she could actually hit the pavement. Uravity turned to see Crescent Rose holding their teacher's head up so that he was keeping a steady gaze on Eri and Deku, which explained the sudden cessation of energy coming from them.

After hearing nothing but silence for a few moments, Kai groaned out, "So…? Did we win?"

"I think so," Crescent Rose answered tiredly.

"Yay… Go team."

The mission to rescue Eri was finally over.

Nighteye was quickly taken away in an ambulance while Chisaki and his men were put in power-dampening cuffs and taken away in a combination of holding cars and ambulances, depending on their injuries. Kurai was initially meant to be put in a medical unit, as well, but he turned out to be less injured than he thought, and he differed the use of the vehicles to officers and heroes that needed it more than him.

He would still be required to go to the hospital with his classmates, due to the harsh scrapes he had accrued on his body, and the misfire from Energon that had done a number on his hand. Once his injuries had been cleaned and bandaged by one of the EMT's, he was approached by Izuku and Ochaco. "Hey, guys," he said tiredly. "How are you holding up?" It was a little difficult for him to talk with the thick medical gauze on the left side of his jaw, but he was just able to keep himself from slurring his speech.

"We were gonna ask you that," Ochaco said worriedly. "What happened with your quirk today? I've never seen it explode like that- it almost looked like something Bakugo would do, except that it hurt you instead of Chisaki."

"I'm pretty sure that I channeled my quirk through one of my chakras again, but I have no idea why it backfired," Kurai said with pained shake of his head. "That's never happened before, not even when I was little and I was just starting to get used to it."

"And what about with the way you were acting?" Izuku asked him with a slight frown. "You weren't exactly yourself after you turned orange."

"Again, I'm in uncharted territory," Kurai groaned as his back flared angrily. Now that the adrenaline was working its way out of his system, he was beginning to register the pain from some of his non-facial wounds more clearly. "But… I do have to thank you, Izuku."

"Why?"

"Because you were ready to stop me from doing something really stupid, and terrible," Kurai admitted glumly as he found himself unable to meet his friend's gaze. "When I fought my uncle's killer, I swore to myself that I would never entertain the thought of killing someone on purpose unless there was absolutely no other choice, ever again. But today, when we had Chisaki down, I… I don't know what came over me."

There was brief silence before Izuku said, "Ochaco said that she wasn't able to hear what we were saying, so I doubt that anyone else did, either. As long as you talk to your brother about this as soon as you can, I won't say anything about it. I don't want you getting in trouble for something that we don't understand."

Kurai's gaze snapped back up to meet his friend's with a grateful smile as he said, "Thanks, pal. Maybe while we're in the hospital, you and I can try to figure out what happened?"

"Sure, if we have time," Izuku agreed. "I just hope that they'll let us visit Eri while we're there." The little girl had come down with a severe fever after Aizawa cancelled her quirk, so she had been whisked away in an ambulance, with several police officers and a half-dozen heroes making up her escort, just in case any outliers of the Hassaikai tried to make a play for her.

"I dunno…" Kurai said as he felt his smile wilting again. "Based on how you guys were reacting, I probably didn't look all that heroic to her. She probably won't want to see me after the way I acted."

"You fought harder and longer than I did to keep her safe," Izuku told his friend. "I'm sure she'll remember that. Even if you made a mistake, you were an amazing hero today, Kai."

The other boy let out a slightly pained chuckle at that before he replied, "Nowhere near as amazing as you, Deku."

Togata, Amajiki, and Kirishima wound up being the most injured students out of the fledgling heroes, with the last two being admitted with multiple broken bones that had to be treated by UA's nurse. The girls had only sustained minor injuries, and due to Eri's quirk, most of Izuku and Kurai's battle damage had already been undone.

Kurai still had to be seen by Recovery Girl during the early afternoon, but she was much less vibrant than she usually was. She informed him that even though she would be able to treat the damage done to his body, he was going to have patchy scars on his back, shoulder, and face. There was also the matter of his left hand, where Energon had suddenly rebelled and imploded, which would leave the young hero with a mark similar to a burn scar on the palm of the offending hand. That injury was the worst of the bunch, but it turned out that all of his wounds would have to stay lightly bandaged after treatment, and it would take nearly a week for them to fully mend on their own.

The Youthful Heroine gave him a look-over, swiftly healed the injuries that she could, and then left without any of her usual lecturing or offers of a candy. It wasn't hard for Kurai to guess at the reason for her dampened spirits- he had just heard from Izuku via text that Nighteye had died from the injuries that he had sustained during his fight with Overhaul. Kurai wished that he could have fought harder so that Nighteye wouldn't have had to step in for him and the other student heroes, but there was nothing to be done now.

If he had learned anything from the loss of his arm, it was that reflecting on past actions while wishing for a different outcome wasn't going to accomplish anything. He needed to accept the loss, learn from the mistakes that he had made that day, and move on, armed with the knowledge necessary to avoid making those same errors in the future. As the memory of Togata's quirk being destroyed flashed in his mind, he shut his eyes and gritted his teeth while thinking, I can't change what happened… But there has to be something I can do to atone for that!

"Kurai?" The boy's eyes flew open as he was startled to realize that Ochaco and Ruby had just come in the room. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, come in," he said as he rubbed at his face. He noticed that the two of them were in their school uniforms, so he asked, "Are you two headed home?"

"We gotta stop by the police station for our debriefings first, but after that, yeah," Ruby answered with nod.

"I just wanted to stop in and see how you were doing before we left," Ochaco said as she moved closer to the bed where he was sitting. "Mister Aizawa just told us about Nighteye… Have you heard?"

"Izuku told me, yeah," Kurai nodded somberly. "How are you holding up with that?"

The brunette looked down at her hands with great sadness as she said, "I feel like I could have done more to save him… But no matter what I think of, it doesn't matter anymore. He's dead."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Kurai said sympathetically as he stood up to be in front of the two girls. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not right now," Ochaco admitted as she gave her friend an appreciative half-smile. "But thanks for the offer, Kurai. I won't let this stop me from becoming a hero, don't worry. Team Lightning Drop is still gonna happen someday, right?" She out up a shaky fist to him, and he realized what she wanted.

Giving her his own weakened grin, he bumped fists with her and replied, "You know it. And when it does, we'll protect all the people that we can- even other heroes around us."

"Hmm!"

After Kurai had been officially discharged and changed back into his school clothes, he made sure to visit Togata with Izuku. They had wanted to visit Eri, too, but she was being quarantined for the safety of the hospital staff, and herself. Since they didn't really know what triggered her quirk in the first place, it was going to be very difficult to monitor its development, much less teach her how to control it properly. Until she was cleared for visitors, they would not be allowed to see her.

Both of them went into Togata's room with somber faces, expecting to find their upperclassman in a similar state. So it was only to their surprise when they saw the older boy exercising his bandaged legs with a big smile on his face. "Hey, guys!" he said cheerily, leading Kurai to wonder if he had simply snapped after the day's events. "Did'ja hear that they're making me stay here extra-long? So lame, right? I don't need a hospital anymore; just look at how much energy I have!"

"Uh…" Izuku said blankly.

"Did you hit your head on your way over here?" Kurai asked bluntly, causing his friend to give him a disapproving look.

Togata immediately dropped the smile and sat up straight in his bed to look at the two of them with a more serious expression. "I know, I know," he sighed. "My mentor just died, and I've lost my quirk. I should be down in the dumps, right? But that's just it- Sir wouldn't have wanted me to be feeling sad right now." He looked at Izuku as he added, "I know Sir was hard on you, but I got to see a different side of him- one that loved to laugh and tried to see the good in things around us. So I know that I gotta keep holding my head up and smiling while I do."

Kurai was at a loss for words, but Izuku was quick to say, "You were so amazing… Both of you." He looked between his friend and their senior a couple of times before he added, "You fought on your own against all those villains and kept Eri safe… I couldn't do any of that. I even ended up needing Eri's help. Togata, if…" He hesitated, and then to Kurai's shock, he asked, "If there was a way for me to give you my quirk, would you take it?!" He then recoiled as Kurai elbowed him in the ribs, none too gently.

"Nah, I wouldn't want it," Togata answered, further surprising the both of them, and drawing Kurai's irritation away from his friend. Seeing this, he told them, "Even if that were possible, and people could just hand over their powers to someone else, I wouldn't feel good taking yours' away. That'd just end up causing trouble for you, wouldn't it? Not cool."

If any power should be given to him, it should be mine, anyway, Kurai thought glumly as he gazed down at his artificial hand. I wasn't born with this, and unlike Izuku, I can't really say that I deserve to have Energon… And Togata gave up his birthright to save it.

"I'm sorry, Togata," he said as he looked the other boy in the eyes. "I should have taken that bullet, not you."

"Hey, why're you guys acting like you did something wrong?" Togata asked as he looked between the two of them. "You did a good job, you know? You were heroes today." He reached out and bumped a fist into Izuku's chest as he said, "Hey, we gotta keep smiling, okay? Especially once we can see little Eri again, cos we don't want her to have the mopes, right?"

"…Right," Izuku said as he forced himself to smile a little bit.

Seeing this, Togata gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Besides, this isn't the end for me- I'm still the guy that's gonna save a million people. Mister Aizawa told me about how Eri's power works- how it rewinds people. Maybe someday, when she gets better control over her quirk, I'll be able to ask her to rewind me back to a time when I still had Permeation. And even if that doesn't work, I'll keep looking for ways to return to normal. Hikari, are you okay?" He directed the last part at the aforementioned student, whose eyes had suddenly gone very wide as a thought occurred to him.

"Did you say that she rewinds people?" he asked the other boy, hardly daring to believe his ears.

"Yeah?" the blond student answered with a cocked head. "She doesn't have any idea on how to control it, though. We can't ask her to use it."

"Not right now, no," Kurai said as a smile slowly broke out over his features. "But like you said, someday… when she gains control over it… she could…"

"Are you wanting her to rewind you to when you had your original arm?" Izuku asked as he looked at the replacement with a bit of concern.

"To hell with my arm," Kurai said, startling his friend again. "Izuku, don't you get it? She could rewind Akarui to before he overused his quirk! She could get him back on his feet!"

Mataras: How do you like that? A year ago, I put Akarui in a wheelchair, and today we come to find out that he might have a way out of it.

Kai: Oh yeah, I love the fact that my kid brother is fighting a losing battle for his life in a chair that gets to move! I equally love apparently being unable to experience a broader range of emotions without going to some insane extreme!

Mataras: You can complain about almost anything, can't you?

Deku: Is he gonna be okay?

Mataras: I feel like that's kind of a loaded question... I can't give out spoilers, but I suppose it's safe enough for me to say that the abilities related to his chakras are not going to endanger his life in it of themselves. Akarui meant to cure the deadlier side effects of Energon, and to that end, he succeeded.

Deku: I guess that's reassuring.

Kai: Well, I guess that's one more I can scratch off the list.

Mataras: List?

Kai: Yeah, I've been keeping a list of things that I think might actually kill me, and my quirk was one of them.

Deku: What else have you crossed off the list?

Kai: Let's see... Killed by my own quirk, murdered by a yakuza thug- that one was kind of lower on the list, but anything is possible- Mister Aizawa strangles me to death once he finds out about mine and Mina's sleeping arrangements...

Mataras: That could still happen.

Kai: Let's be real, at this point he knows about it. I don't know how he knows, or why he's letting us get away with it, but he knows. He's Aizawa.

Mataras: What makes you say that he won't kill you, then? He could be biding his time.

Kai: It'd be too much paperwork for him to deal with, practically adopting me, and then committing filicide.

Mataras: ...That's a good point.

Deku: How's the car hunt going?

Mataras: Not great, but obviously I have to keep at it until I find something.

Kai: And suddenly, I feel much better.

Deku: Maybe we should move onto the announcements?

Mataras: Probably for the best, yes.

Kai: Next time- Return

Mataras: The battle with the Shie Hassaikai is over with, but our friend's challenges are far from over.

Kai: Are you saying I'm your friend? You're making a pretty big assumption if so.

Mataras: Friends should challenge their friends to become better people throughout life. I think I've done pretty well in that regard.

Kai: Putting me through death matches is not helping me to become a better person!

Deku: I think we all need a break from Going Beyond.

Mataras: True, but I'll still do my best to make the next chapter Plus Ultra.

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unveiling...

"Feels like forever since we've been back here, huh?" Kirishima asked the others as they looked up at their dorms. He was only lightly bandaged after his healing session with Recovery Girl. Apparently he and Fat Gum were responsible for taking down two of the eight Bullets of the Hassaikai, Chisaki's elite criminal guard. The fight had cost the two heroes serious injuries, but the Youthful Heroine's power was enough to see them back into good health.

"I feel like I have a new spot of gray hair," Kurai said as he ruffled his silvery strands. "But such is the life of a hero, right?"

"We saved a little girl and we beat up a lot of bad guys," Ruby said with a slightly more cheery expression than her classmates'. "I know bad stuff happened, but… it was still a good day overall, right?"

No one spoke for a moment until Ochaco grabbed Izuku's hand up and said, "Each of us made it home safe, and Rose is right; we saved Eri. We accomplished our mission, so let's be proud of that."

"Yeah," her boyfriend said with a little smile. "Let's go inside- I'm sure everyone is wondering where we've been all day."