A/N: Alright people, fight's over! What say we let our heroes wind down a bit?

Return

Night had fallen across Japan by the time the five weary hero course students were returned to their dorms by the police. They had all finished their reports around roughly the same time, so they were able to walk together to the building that they called home. Before they had left the hospital, all of them had seen the news that the vehicles transporting Chisaki to prison had been attacked by the League of Villains. Several police officers were injured, and a hero had been killed by Dabi and Compress before the fight was over.

Chisaki's only remains were dust and ash, the apparent work of Shigaraki. The only reason they knew it was the former yakuza leader was because one of the squad car's dashboard cameras had caught the interaction between the two villain factions, although why exactly the League had chosen to go after Chisaki following an apparent team-up was something of a mystery. The whole thing left a sour taste in Kurai's mouth, mostly because he knew that he had come very close to crossing that line himself. A dark voice in the back of his head told him that he should have done the deed and taken the credit, seeing as how it all turned out, but did his best to quell it.

The fact that his quirk had betrayed him twice in one day was deeply disturbing to the young hero. Even if Energon was not his power originally, he had carried it within him and relied on it for many years. To have it not only warp his mind in an entirely new way, but to also have it disobey his command almost simultaneously was making him incredibly uneasy. As he stared at the bandages covering the blast mark that would scar his left palm, he had the thought; I need to get a better handle on how my chakras affect this quirk before I get myself, or worse, somebody else, killed.

"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."

The second that they stepped in through the doors, they were swarmed by their classmates. "There you are!" Weiss shouted as she seized Ruby up in a bear hug that was completely at odds with her usual air of disdain for those around her. "We saw the news coverage this morning!" Ruby was then further crushed by a group hug from Blake and Yang, causing her to redden with embarrassment, though it was clear that she appreciated the gesture from her teammates.

"Dudes, first Kamino, and now this?!" Kaminari said as he looked his friends over. "You guys are always in the middle of it- do you have any idea how worried we were?!"

"Why didn't you guys say anything?" Sero as he put an arm around Kirishima, who was giving the guys an apologetic look. "We were totally blindsided by this!"

"We were sworn to secrecy," the redhead explained. "Sorry."

"You guys want some cake?" Sato asked the five flustered heroes. "I made it after school for whenever you guys came home."

"Me please!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, though she was still unable to move due to the smothering embraces of her friends. She was also partially drowned out in a cloud of clashing voices and questions flying all around her, as those that had stayed at school wanted to know about what had happened that led to the fight they saw on the news.

It was at this point that Iida yelled loud enough to be heard over everyone else, "Enough of this!" Once he had everyone's quieted attention, he calmed down and said, "Restrain yourselves! We all saw the news- it's clear that our classmates have been through an ordeal, and they need time to rest and recover from it. We're all worried, and I understand that, but if you want to help them, you should do it in private, quietly." He glanced over his shoulder to look at Kurai, who nodded in appreciation of the intervention.

The dorm was quiet for a few seconds before Izuku stepped forward and said, "Hey, Iida?"

"Hmm?"

"…It's okay," the boy said with another little smile. "We'd be happy to talk about it. Right guys?" He looked back at his friends for confirmation as he asked the question. Kirishima, Uraraka, and Ruby nodded quickly enough, but Kurai seemed uncertain.

That is until a familiar pink hand worked its way into his metallic grip, and the owner gave him a reassuring smile that said she was there for him, whatever he decided. "You guys have been worrying about us because we haven't been able to say anything, right?" Kurai asked as he looked back at Iida, who still looked concerned for his well-being. "We can talk, now."

The class rep adjusted his glasses while he said, "Then… if I may…" He suddenly jetted over and started shaking his old friend by the shoulders as he shouted, "Why did you scare me like that?! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?! What if you never returned?!"

"Ow! Tenya, shoulder-! Back-! All the things!"

"Dude, take your own advice and chill!" Jiro urged him from across the room.

"I'll make you all some tea that's sure to ease your minds!" Yaoyorozu volunteered as she ran off to the kitchen while Sato started to more or less force-feed Izuku the cake. Koda had brought out his pet rabbit for anyone that wanted to hold it, which Ochaco and Ruby- once she had managed to escape her sister's grip- quickly took him up on.

Mina swiftly discouraged Iida from throttling her boyfriend any further so that he could actually start to explain what had been going on over the last few weeks. Before Kurai could begin to recount the events, he was approached by Todoroki, who had an uncharacteristically soft expression on his normally stoic face. "I'm glad that you're alright," he told his friend as he shook hands with the other boy. "Iida, Ashido, and I watched your fight on the news during our free period this morning."

"You guys had a free period?" Kurai asked them in surprise. "Since when?"

"Mister Aizawa was called away to do something this morning and was unable to request a substitute in time," Iida answered him. "It was meant to be a study session, but Kaminari was rather unwisely choosing to spend his time on social media instead of paying attention to Yaoyorozu while she was trying to help us."

"Hey!" the blond boy objected. "If I hadn't been slacking, we wouldn't have known about what was happening until it was already over with!"

"We were nearly late to Miss Midnight's lecture because you distracted us!"

"Wait, you guys didn't hear why Mister Aizawa was called away?" Kurai asked as he followed his girlfriend and the others to the couches by the TV. By now the class was breaking down into smaller groups so that they could discuss the day's events a little more clearly than they could as a whole unit.

"No, why?" Mina asked him.

"He was part of the raid today," Kurai answered. "I guess Sir Nighteye asked him to be in it later than most of the other heroes involved."

"How was it, working with him in the field?" Todoroki asked curiously as they each took a random seat around the coffee table.

"I'm not really sure, we got separated kind of early on into the whole thing," Kurai answered as Mina curled up next to him, ignoring the disapproving look from Iida while she did. "I was actually with Togata for most of the fighting, but there was a hot minute where I was on my own, too."

"I'm glad that you seem to have escaped without any permanent injuries," Iida told him with what seemed like a hint of approval. "We heard rumors that the League was involved, though. Was that true?"

"Yeah, that's actually how I wound up on my own…"

By the time the five heroes had sated their friends' curiosities, it was late at night, and they were more than ready for bed. They had no school tomorrow or the day after, so at least they would have a chance to physically recover, though there was no telling how long it would take to heal from the psychological stress that they had each been subjected to during the raid.

Kurai soon found himself in bed with Mina snuggled up next to him, instilling a sense of peace that he hadn't been sure that he would be able to recognize for quite some time. Even so, he couldn't quite bring himself to lie down just yet, so he sat against his headboard quietly, trying to calm his racing thoughts enough so that he could rest.

The pink girl next to him looked up and asked, "Is there something that you wanted to talk about without everyone else being here?"

"Only if you feel like you can stay awake for a while," he responded, causing her to sit up and lean against the wooden frame alongside him.

"I'm up," she assured him. "What do you need?" Her eyes had kept alternating between the bandages on his hand and face while they were with the others, but now she held his gaze steadily, without any signs of allowing a distraction to take her attention away from him.

"How much of today's fight did you see?" he asked with a slight cringe.

"There was a reporter that started getting live footage when Ryukyu was fighting that one big guy," Mina answered him. "Ochaco and Rose fought him too, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, after Chisaki came out of that big hole in the ground, the cameras were able to follow the action pretty well," she explained to him. "Whichever station it was uses drones to get more comprehensive footage of whatever's going on, especially during villain fights, so we saw you and Izuku beating the crap out of that monster." After a slight pause, she asked him, "Is that what you wanted to talk about? I noticed you didn't give very many details on that part of the fighting."

"It's part of it," Kurai admitted. "I didn't tell the others this, but Chisaki managed to create a weapon that destroys a person's quirk, and he was gonna have one of his men shoot me with it."

"What?" the girl gasped as she sat up a little straighter next to him. "You're okay though, right?"

"Physically, yeah," the boy nodded. "But that's only because Togata got in the way of the shot. His quirk is gone, probably forever, and I feel responsible."

Mina could only look at him in a stunned silence for a few moments before she said, "You feel like because you weren't born with Energon, it should have been you that lost your powers instead of him, don't you?" When he didn't answer, the girl sighed and told him, "You can't hold yourself accountable for what happened to Togata, even though it's a terrible thing. You also can't blame yourself for having a quirk that was forced into you by a madman. Nothing that happened today was your fault."

"If I had stayed back with Izuku and Kirishima-"

"Then Togata would have had to protect Eri all by himself, and then who knows if he would have been able to hold out long enough for you guys to come to the rescue?" his girlfriend interrupted him. "Come on, Kurai, you're better than this. You know that speculating about 'what-if's' isn't going to help things."

"I know, I know," the boy groaned as he leaned forward and put his head against his knees. "It just feels like another imbalance in my life on top of all the other injustices, me keeping a quirk that I wasn't meant to have in the first place."

"Sweetie, what can you do to make it better right now?" Mina asked him as she massaged his back, her strong fingers pushing at the knots that stress had inflicted on him. "Is there something you can do to make it up to Togata this very minute? Or is there some way you can return his quirk to him?"

"…No."

"You've been a hero for long enough today," she told him gently. "And not even heroes can solve every problem that they come across. Sometimes you have to take a step back and be satisfied with your part in it while someone else comes in to finish the puzzle."

Kurai lifted his head slowly and turned toward her to see that she had a very impish smile on her face while he asked, "Are you quoting me to me?"

"Yeah, but it's way cuter when I say it," she giggled, bringing a smile to his face.

"That's true," he agreed as he leaned back into her embrace. After letting out a long sigh, he said, "Thank you, Mina. This- you- mean a lot to me."

"I love you, dork," the pink girl said happily. "I like making you happy."

"You do that very well," he replied before he kissed the top of her head. "And I love you, too."

The next morning was Izuku's birthday- a fact that he and everyone else from the work study program had forgotten over the course of the days leading up to the yakuza raid. Fortunately, one of his friends remembered it, much to the relief and embarrassment of one Ochaco Uraraka.

"How did I forget my boyfriend's birthday?" she groaned as she pulled his gift out from underneath her bed.

"Well, it's not like you guys were training super hard to rescue a little girl and take on an entire army of old-school gang members," Mina said with a grin as drummed her heels against the other girl's bedframe. "I'm honestly surprised that Kurai remembered mine at all." She had just shown up at her friend's door a few minutes ago to ask what the plan was for the day, which had initially confused the gravity girl. Once Ochaco had realized her mistake, she wound up floating herself until Mina had been able to convince her to come back down, if only to get Izuku's gift out for him.

"I knew I was gonna be terrible at this whole thing," the brunette moaned as she put her face in her blankets. Her voice was then muffled, but Mina could just make out the words, "This is one of the reasons why I didn't wanna tell him how I feel…"

"Dude, Kurai and I aren't perfect, either, and that's not stopping us," Mina said as she patted the other girl on the head. "He took forever to take me on a date that didn't involve a textbook, and I've threatened death by acid on some of his prized possessions when he does something that I don't like. Honestly, sometimes I still wonder why he still puts up with me- I can be mean to him."

"But you love him, and he knows that," Ochaco mumbled. "I really like Deku, but I don't know that I… you know?"

Mina was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment after that, but eventually she shrugged and replied, "Not everyone's relationship moves forward the same way, right? You don't have to love the guy to like him enough to go out there and make his birthday a good one. So what if you almost forgot? Get out there and give him his present! He looked like he could use an extra reason to smile, and I'm sure that your gift is gonna do that."

"It's not even totally my gift, though."

"So what?! It was your idea, now get out there!" Mina, having finally lost patience with her friend, grabbed her up, put the gift in her hands, and shoved her out the door of her own dorm.

Izuku and Kurai were both half-heartedly chewing on their breakfast next to a quiet Todoroki and Iida, who was reading through his modern art textbook while he speedily consumed some kind of cereal rich in iron and fiber. Most of their classmates were going about their usual weekend morning routine- Kaminari and several of the other guys were trying to annihilate each other at Super Smash Bros. while Ruby and Yang tag-teamed in order to repeatedly claim victory. Weiss and Yaoyorozu were discussing various similarities and differences in the running of their parents' companies over tea while Asui and Hagakure pored over their English homework. Normally Bakugo would be yelling at the others for doing so badly at Smash Brothers, but apparently he had an extra-special remedial course lesson to attend, so it was just a bit quieter than normal.

"I wouldn't believe that our peers waste so much time on video games if I hadn't seen their test scores," Iida muttered as he finished his food while Kaminari and Sero cried their victory over the American sisters.

"Their scores would be even worse if they didn't have a way to blow off some steam on the weekend," Kurai countered as he picked up his half-eaten eggs and toast.

Apparently his appetite was still out of commission, but at least he was still making an effort to take care of himself, Iida thought. Out loud, he said, "Heroes don't always have time to blow off steam- they should take this chance to acclimate themselves to the harsh reality that we won't always be able to have fun when we want to."

"We're not adults yet, Tenya," Kurai sighed as he covered his food with plastic wrap to save for later. "Of course they know that things won't always be like this- which is why we should enjoy it while we can."

"You're one to talk," Iida replied, though not unkindly. "You and Midoriya have been training non-stop for the last few weeks, especially during your free time."

"I know, which is why I'm taking it easy now," Kurai said as he stuck the food in the common space fridge. "I have to finish my extra classes so that I can catch up to you guys, but other than that, I'm reducing my personal workload. For the next two weeks, I'm not doing any extra training except for meditation, because I'm seriously about to burn myself out."

Iida regarded him quietly for a moment before he said, "It's good that you're beginning to recognize your limits properly. I can understand why you would want to cut back on your work- you've more than earned a reprieve." Turning back to look at their friends, he started to say, "They, on the other hand, are acting like-!"

"Tenya, being class rep does not make you the dictator of their schedules," Kurai said as he walked past his friend while clapping him on the shoulder with his metal arm, causing Iida to cringe from the impact. "Go for a run, it'll make you feel better."

Iida thought about arguing back, but he knew that Kurai was right. He couldn't tell other people how to spend their free time, no matter how much it irritated him that they were choosing to loaf around instead of investing in their chosen academics. The best thing to do would be to remove himself from the situation before he got into trouble.

That decided, he walked toward the elevators, passing by Uraraka and Ashido on the way, whom he greeted with a 'good morning'. The girls waved him by before they continued into the common room, where the brunette stopped, having seen all of the people around them.

"Um… Maybe I should do this when there aren't so many people around?" she said hesitantly as she clutched at a wrapped package in her arms, but Mina wasn't about to let her back out now.

"Go out front, I'll make sure he's there in a few," the pink girl told her friend. "But don't even think about running off- I wanna know how this turns out."

"How what turns out?"

Kurai's voice startled Ochaco, but Mina turned to look at him with a smile and the words, "It's time for Izuku to get his birthday goodies, but she's being shy."

"Birthd-? Aw, dammit!" Kurai went to smack himself out of disappointment, but fortunately his girlfriend had a pretty good idea of what was about to happen, so she managed to grab onto his metal arm before he could hurt his head again. At first he was confused, but he was also quick to realize what she had done, and he thanked her for it. "How do I keep forgetting what happens when I do that?"

"Yeah, we don't need your head to suffer any more trauma than it already has," she giggled at him. "Mind helping us out? We need to get Izuku out front so that he and Ochaco have a little privacy for the gift-giving."

"Yeah, no problem," Kurai nodded as he made to walk toward where he had last seen Midoriya. "But Mina?"

"Yeah-huh?"

"Privacy means that you don't get to listen in, either."

"Aw, no fair! I totally made this thing happen! I should be allowed to see how it plays out!"

Izuku soon found himself walking out the front door and looking around in confusion. Kurai said that there was a surprise waiting for me somewhere, but he wouldn't say where…? His pocket buzzed, alerting him to a text message, so he pulled out his phone to read, 'Go left.'

Feeling even more confused as to why Mina was now texting him instead of having Kurai walk with him, he obeyed the instructions and made to walk around the dorm building in the direction that he was being told. After he turned the corner, he was surprised to see Ochaco standing in a spot where the windows didn't reach along the building, thus making it difficult for anyone inside to see what was going on. I guess she wanted to talk without anyone listening in? he thought nervously as he quickened his pace. Is it about the work study? Did I do something to upset her? Am I trouble?! He wracked his brain, trying desperately to remember what he could have done to offend his girlfriend so that he could have an apology ready for her.

Once he was standing in front of her, it was easier to see her reddened face and how she was looking down at her feet while she held something behind her back, which only added to his stress level. She can't even look at me! he thought in a panic. I must've done something really-

"Deku… Happy Birthday!" the girl said as she shut her eyes and held out her hands in front of her, which contained a package wrapped in All Might paper. "I… I hope you like it…"

Izuku's brain short-circuited in that moment, leaving him temporarily unable to make a coherent speech. "Wha…?" he asked. "I'm not…?"

"I had help making this, so it's not really mine to give, but the others insisted that I give it to you, so…" Ochaco told him, still unable to look up at him.

"It's my birthday," Izuku said dumbly. "And… You got me something? I'm not in trouble?"

The last part got Ochaco to glance up at the dumbfounded boy, who was just staring blankly at her and the package. "Deku?" she asked him. "Did you-? Are you okay?"

"I forgot what day it was," the boy admitted as he blinked at her rapidly. He suddenly shook himself and reached out to take the package from her with a light of happiness in his eyes that had been absent since the work studies had begun. "Thank you, Ochaco," he told her as he weighed the package in his hands. "It's been a long time since anyone got me a gift for my birthday, other than my mom…"

His girlfriend wasn't even surprised when tears started to pool in the corners of his eyes. "Deku, are you okay?" she asked him. If he's crying already, I hope that his actual present survives what's next…

"Yeah," Izuku said through a big smile as he began to tug at the wrapping. "Thanks, Ochaco. This is what I needed right now, especially after everything that's happened." He tore away the paper until it yielded the prize within, and when he saw it, his jaw dropped. "This is…"

"Do you like it?" Ochaco asked him nervously as he held a small stack of notebooks in his shaky grip- each of them hand-illustrated with a different hero. "I didn't do the drawings, but it was my idea, I guess…"

"I love it," Izuku said with a laugh, in spite of the tears coursing down his face. "I was needing to get some new ones so that I could update my notes, but these are so nice…" The one on top had an inked sketch of All Might, so he was curious about what the others had, as there were five in total.

"If you don't like one, I can always-"

"No way!" the boy said in a delighted tone before the nervous girl could finish what she was saying. He had shuffled the All Might journal to be on the bottom so that he could see the second notebook, which had a sketch of Eraserhead in action with his scarf. "Mister Aizawa looks so cool!" He quickly shuffled the stack again, his delight growing when he saw an image of Todoroki standing amid a storm of fire and ice, followed by Iida dressed up in his Ingenium suit.

After that, he revealed the last notebook, which had a surprising image on it. "Ochaco, is this-?"

"I thought you might like one to remind you of how we all came together," the girl admitted shyly. "Kurai's the one that drew all of these for you. I just came up with the idea of who to draw." The last notebook had a sketch of him, her, Kurai, and Mina, all dressed in their hero gear, along with the words 'Team Lightning Drop' written on the bottom of the cover.

"I know how much All Might means to you, now more than ever," Ochaco told him as she continued to fidget in place. "He's your personal hero, your mentor, and your friend, but… Everyone told me that I could get you something that has to do with him, but I didn't wanna get you just anything, you know? I wanted to get you something that reminds you of what I see in you, and whenever I think of you, I can't help but remember how dedicated you are to becoming a hero, and how these are a part of that. So… I hope that these help you, Deku."

"Ochaco… Thank you," the boy said through his tears. "No one has ever given me something this thoughtful. Other kids used to make fun of my notebooks, but you actually realize how much they mean to me. You've always… looked out for me…" He surprised her then by throwing his arms around her back and pulling her close, though he kept ahold of the books as he did. "I couldn't have made it this far without your help, Ochaco. You talked about how you relied on me to get through the Sport's Festival, but it's thanks to you that I am here. Thank you… so much." The girl could feel his tears sinking into her shirt, but she didn't care- she was enjoying the hug from the boy that she had grown to care about so much, first as a friend, then as a partner, and now as something more.

"You're welcome, Deku," she told him as she returned the hug, careful not to make him float as she did. "I'm glad that you like your present."

Kurai walked down the hall with his laundry basket in hand, pausing only when he noticed Jiro standing still, looking like she was trying to stifle a bout of giggles. There was no one else in the laundry area, so he assumed that her sensitive ears had picked up on something that she hadn't quite expected to hear. "You okay?" he asked her as he approached one of the washing machines.

"Yeah, I'm good," she giggled as she moved away from the wall. "But I might be getting a toothache from all the sweetness going around."

Later that weekend, Kurai had found out from Izuku that in addition to Cinder, there were two other members of the League that had been recruited by the Shie Hassaikai; Twice and the shape-shifting girl known as Toga. However, it quickly became apparent that their loyalties remained with Shigaraki when the latter two villains orchestrated a run-in between the heroes and the Hassaikai, but refused to help their new 'allies'. All three of the villains had disappeared before the authorities were able to make sense of the situation, including the gravely wounded Cinder. Because of their involvement in the incident and the death of Sir Nighteye, the work study programs were being put on hold for the foreseeable future.

The students that had been involved in the programs had to do some paperwork to receive their accrued and severance wages from the agencies they had worked with, but fortunately it didn't interfere with their now-restored class schedules. Each of the students had mixed feelings about taking the money after everything that had happened, but none of them rejected it, either.

In fact, Kurai found himself being impressed with Ochaco once again when she decided to send the money to her parents so that they could put it to use in their construction company instead of keeping it for herself. With that in mind, he sent the money that he had earned into Akarui's bank account, as to help him and his aunt with the medical expenses that he was amassing. It wasn't as though his family was hurting for money, but even with their family's medical insurance, maintaining Akarui's failing health wasn't exactly cheap. I wouldn't be alive to earn this money if it weren't for him, he had reasoned as he finalized the transaction from his laptop.

Shortly after Izuku's birthday, there was a funeral held for Sir Nighteye, which Kurai attended alongside his classmates. He held no personal love or respect for the man, but he had fought hard to ensure Eri's safety the best way that he knew how, and Kurai could honor that sacrifice. After paying his respects at the event, he spoke with Fat Gum alongside Amajiki and Kirishima, giving the large hero well wishes when they parted ways, along with expressing the genuine desire to work with him again in the future.

Kurai also accepted Aizawa's offer to be taken into the man's legal care, as he didn't really see any other alternatives that would allow him to remain at UA. Aizawa, for his part, had accepted Kurai's decision without any surprise or fanfare. He told his student that as long as he continued to live by the rules of the dorm system, they wouldn't have any issues, and that was that.

School was as unremitting as ever in the following weeks after the events of the Hassaikai raid, and much to his classmates' anger, Kurai continued to be the target of nasty rumors and casually cruel remarks from the rest of the student body. Such things had died down in volume from the senior students- and Kurai suspected that this was due to the influence of the Big Three- but the others made little effort to hide the fact that they didn't want him to be at the school. No one was stupid enough to try to pick a fight with him- they had all seen the videos of his fight against Overhaul alongside Deku, and so they knew that it would be a simple matter for him to blow away any challenger with little effort. However, those that disliked him were also clever enough not to get caught by the teachers, so they were sure to make their gestures of opposition to his presence very discreet. The fact that the school boasted a wealth of diverse and powerful quirks also made it easy for the students to hide their work.

Kurai began to find his gym locker in various states of disrepair as the days passed them by unrelentingly. One day, he found that the combination to his locker had changed, but thanks to Jiro using her quirk to do some old-fashioned safe cracking, he was able to get it open without too much trouble. A few days later, the hinges had been welded so that it would not open until Mina melted the stuck pieces and Yaoyorozu replaced them. Next, someone filled the locker with bags of trash and other things whose origins the students of Class 1-A really didn't want to know.

Yet, in spite of all this, Kurai never once complained, nor did he make any effort to find out who was making his life more difficult. He also discouraged his friends from taking revenge on his behalf, nor did he even want them to investigate who was responsible for the bullying. This frustrated them greatly, but they didn't want to sink to the level of his tormentors if he was refusing to do so himself.

Even so, after someone rigged a bomb full of itching powder to explode in her boyfriend's face, Mina found that she'd had enough. I got a pretty good idea of who's behind all this crap, she thought as she heard laughter echoing down the hallway from class 1-B's locker area while Yaoyorozu and Iida applied first aid to their friend. As she felt tears sting her eyes, the pink girl grit her teeth as she thought, All of this, and he still has that blank look on his face, like he doesn't care about any of this… I know he does! So why won't he fight back?!

Even if Kurai wouldn't protest, she would find some way to get even with whoever was doing this to him. Someone needs to be his hero.

Little did she know that there was someone else in the class whose thoughts were running along very similar lines at that moment. She would have been even more surprised to learn that they already had a plan in motion to put Kurai's tormentors in their place.

Kai: You know, as far as cliffhangers go, I can't say that I'm mad at this one.

Mataras: Oh yeah?

Kai: Well, we've never known you to leave things on a definitive note, so I wasn't really expecting a break on that end. On the other hand, considering everything that we've had to go through up to now, that last bit was pretty low-key. Also, this chapter in general was more wholesome than I was expecting.

Mataras: I have my moments.

Deku: Did you have to show everyone that scene between me and Ochaco, though? Its kind of embarrassing...

Mataras: Like Kurai was saying, you guys have been through quite a bit recently. I figured it's good for you guys to have something of a break.

Kai: Isn't that what the School Festival is going to be for?

Mataras: Okay, let me reiterate that- it's good for our readers to have something of a break. But yes, your characters' break is inbound with the upcoming arc, which will actually last... 3 or 4 chapters?

Deku: You don't know?

Mataras: No, I do know how long this next part is supposed to last. I'm just not exactly sure when our audience will consider your 'break time' as it were, to be over.

Kai: What the hell is that supposed to-? Dammit.

Deku: What is it?

Kai: I knew it was too good to be true. He couldn't get us riled up with the chapter itself, so now he's using this part of the show to do it.

Mataras: No idea what you're talking about.

Kai: Of course not.

Deku: Next time- Coming Around

Mataras: You guys are gonna be busy getting ready for the festival, doing make-up classes, and paying visits to a certain someone... Be ready to Go Beyond.

Kai: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia: Unveiling...

The students from the works studies at UA continued to attend extra classes in order to catch up to their peers, but they were finally set to be done in a few days, which would be a big relief for them. As this time passed, the people targeting Kurai slowly dwindled, though there were still clearly some who wished him gone, as the damage being done to his property continued, despite his refusal to do anything about it. Monoma also kept up his verbal taunting of the boy, though it was clear that he was growing frustrated with Kurai's lack of response. He wasn't the only one, but he was the most consistent.

Kurai's friends continued to urge him to speak to the faculty about the matter, but he remained adamant that he would not. "This is good practice for the real world," he would tell them. "Not everyone is going to like me, especially given what I uncovered about my father, just like it is at school. And when we get out there, I'm not going to have teachers to fight my battles for me."

Mina tried to go to Aizawa about the matter, but he told her that he couldn't actually do anything unless Kurai accused another student of wrongdoing, or said student was caught in the act of vandalism/harassment. Because he refused to do that, the pro hero's hands were tied. This further angered the pink girl, because she knew that Kurai had a way out of his predicament, but his stubborn nature was preventing him from taking it.

Thus began their first string of arguments since their relationship had begun. It wasn't that they hadn't argued before, but this was the first time that they left a matter unresolved after a discussion or two on the topic. Kurai made it a point to try and keep the fighting behind closed doors, but it was clear to the others that there was some kind of tension going on between the two, though no one wanted to ask what was up.