AN: Professor Donger: Did somebody say new chapter six days after the last one? Here y'all go.

Damian: This fic is so fun to write.

Izumi loved waking up early. Some may hate it, but she saw the benefits of it. An early start, some peace, and quiet before the chaos of dealing with both of her siblings, maybe a morning run…

Oh, and the newest addition to that list was being able to watch Eri sleep while holding Cat. But the bonus to this was that Cat preferred to sleep on top of Melissa, so that meant that to hold Cat, Eri had to also sleep on top of Melissa as well. So the sight before her was basically Eri lying on top of Melissa with Cat lying on top of her in her arms, with Melissa's own arms wrapped around Eri.

Izumi had covered her mouth to muffle the squeal that tried to escape, she was pretty sure the sight alone had given her diabetes.

She quickly but quietly put her prosthetic on and gently got out of bed, before grabbing her phone and rapidly taking pictures to show Melissa later when she was awake.

Izumi, after setting the new image as her phone's background, glanced at her phone's clock. Seeing that it was six in the morning she grinned and got her running outfit on.

She was about to go for a run when she thought better of it for a moment. Eri obviously had abandonment issues, and she didn't know if she should go on her run…

She sighed and shook Eri awake. She didn't want to but she was desperately considering going to Hound Dog for that therapy just so that she could get Eri therapy. She had a feeling Eri wouldn't do it without Izumi doing it too.

Trauma sucked.

Eri stirred awake, and luckily Melissa didn't wake up with her. Her red eyes slowly opened and immediately locked onto Izumi, who smiled at her as spoke in a whisper.

"Hey Eri, sorry to wake you up." Izumi slowly picked Eri up, the small girl letting go of Cat who moved to reposition herself on top of Melissa and went back to "sleep". Really, Cat was just recharging her battery, but it was basically like sleep for her.

Eri rubbed at her eyes as Izumi held her in her arms. "Wha's happening?" She slurred out.

"Sorry Sweetie, I was gonna go on a morning run and didn't want to leave you alone without telling you where I was. Do you wanna come with me?"

Eri's response was snuggling into Izumi's hold, resting her head on her shoulder, and closing her eyes again. Izumi quietly laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes."

She looked back at her sleeping girlfriend and saw Cat looking at her. "Let Mel know where we went, yeah?"

At Cat's lazy nod, Izumi left the room with Eri. She probably would have changed Eri out of her pajamas but didn't have any proper clothes yet. It was fine though, it wasn't like Eri was gonna do much besides be there with Izumi.

Izumi went downstairs and got her shaker cup as well as a protein bar, she got an apple strudel pop tart and quickly threw the two of them in the toaster.

After a few seconds, she popped them early and gave one of them to Eri to munch on. She chugged her drink and ate her own protein bar. She had sent a text to Aizawa asking when he wanted to meet up to deal with Shouto before noticing that Eri had finished the pop tart.

"Do you want the other one?" She asked and chuckled at Eri's expected nod, she handed the little girl the other pastry and picked her up.

"Right, let's go!" She maneuvered Eri to place her on top of her shoulders and head out.

"Eri," Izumi said to get her attention, continuing once she was sure Eri was listening, "In a few hours I have an important meeting for work, are you gonna be okay hanging out with Cat and Melissa?"

She felt Eri's grip on her hair tighten and immediately knew that this was going to be a struggle.

So she decided to sweeten the deal. Both literally and figuratively. "How about this? You stay with Melissa and Cat for my meeting, and then I'll let you join me and JinJin for the rest of the day after that. If you're a good girl, we can ask Jin to make some apple pie."

Eri's grip loosened and Izumi had to strain to hear her question. "Apple… pie?"

Izumi chuckled. "Think of it like that little pastry I gave you for breakfast, but warm and with actual apples in it, oh and it has ice cream on top."

Izumi ignored the little drop of drool that hit her hair and smiled. At least she knew what ice cream was.

"Is that a yes?" Izumi asked.

Eri hummed for a bit, then asked, "You'll be back, right?"

Izumi reached up and messed up Eri's hair with a grin. "I'll always be back."

After a moment of silence, Eri finally spoke up "...maybe,"

"That isn't a no, so I'll take it!" she knew hoping for Eri to giggle at her antics was a little much, but she still hoped.

Sadly that hope was dashed when the little girl just let out a noncommittal hum.

'I'll get you to laugh one of these days, I swear it!' Izumi promised as they made it to Gym Gamma.

After arriving, Izumi put Eri down and grinned as the little girl's eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Impressive isn't it?"

Eri nodded as she looked around the large room, only to jump up with a squeak of fright as a yellow caterpillar appeared from behind the door as it closed behind them.

"Hello there."

"General Aizawa." Izumi deadpanned as she patted Eri, who had hidden behind her leg in fright, on the back.

"I don't get it." Aizawa returned her deadpan as he unzipped himself from his sleeping bag.

"Have you never seen Star Wars?"

"I don't watch vintage movies, Midoriya."

"Uncultured swine." Izumi mocked her outrage before questioning him. "What are you even doing here? You don't seem like the kinda guy to wake up early and run."

"Nezu told me to come here for some reason. Wasn't sure why until you showed up." His gaze went down toward Eri, who continued hiding behind Izumi's legs. "Who's the kid?"

"Uhh…." Izumi looked down at Eri, then back to Aizawa. "Eri, saved her yesterday."

"Oh, this is what All Might meant when he said 'Young Midoriya did it again'."

Izumi slumped over and sighed. "Why is everyone saying that? I don't do this that often!"

"You've done it three times now, that's pretty often."

"Shut up!"

"No, suffer the truth." Aizawa pulled out one of his jello packets and gave it a slurp.

"I deny the truth! The truth can suck it!"

Eri looked confused and tugged on Izumi's leg. "What's it sucking?"

"I'll tell you when you're older!"

Eri nodded and Aizawa sighed. He looked at the little girl with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, kid."

Eri flinched at being addressed but looked up at him anyway.

"What's your favorite food?"

"A-apples…" Eri tried not to flinch when Aizawa started moving toward his sleeping back. He lifted it up and dumped it out.

Izumi was terrified at the sheer amount of stuff that was coming out of the sleeping bag: homework, food, and a checkbook, hell she was pretty sure she saw a couple of home appliances in the pile. After a few seconds, he pointed at the pile with a yawn.

"There should be some apple ones in there," he shook his empty jello packet "Go nuts."

Izumi stared in confusion. "What kind of bag of holding bs did I just witness?"

"Sleeping Bag of Holding, it's great." Aizawa rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Great for long stake outs and when I don't want to go back to the dorms, do you realize how loud Hizashi is when he snores?" When Izumi shook her head he nodded. "You're lucky that you have your own dorm Midoriya, very lucky."

Izumi frowned "You… You do know you could just ask? You could just live in my dorm." She squeaked when Aizawa gripped her shoulders and stared into her green eyes with his glowing red ones, quirk active as he stared her down.

"That would be letting them win." He growled out.

"Don't they technically also win by causing you to sleep in random places outside the dorms?"

"No, the bet was that they could get me to move out, being a squatter isn't moving out, because I still technically live at the dorm, I just don't sleep there."

"..." Izumi frowned, "That's…that's not how that works."

They both looked as a ruffling noise caught their attention, Eri seemed to have gotten used to the scary man accosting her guardian and was busy digging through the stuff from his bag, looking for the promised Apple Jellos.

"Wait…" Izumi raised an eyebrow at him "You were more messed up than I was, how the hell are you walking around? Weren't you going to be wheelchair-bound for the foreseeable future?"

Aizawa stared at her as he took his time to slurp on another jelly punch before answering.

"Nanomachines…" He sighed, "...son."

Izumi let out a drawn-out gasp. "Did we just become best friends?!"

Aizawa showed the smallest hint of fear on his face. "God, I hope not." He shuddered but then began stretching. "Miss Shield apparently was accosted before she was cleared to stay here by Nezu and Recovery Girl, they wanted to know what it was she gave you and she gave a few vials of the stuff to them." He shrugged. "She said something about not trying to replicate them though, mentioned a gray goo situation?"

"Did… she really make it so that her nanomachines would gray goo themselves if someone tried to break her copyright?"

"I don't know, she's your support tech, you figure it out."

Aziawa turned to pop his back when he noticed Eri staring up at him, she held out one of the apple jello packets with a confused look on her face. He sighed and reached down, gently showing her how to twist it open before going back to his stretching.

"Okay well," Izumi waved Eri away with a "no thanks" when she tried to offer her a sip of the jello snack. "While I've got you here, are we gonna talk about the situation with Todoroki?"

"You can multitask, I want to stay in shape." He walked a little bit away toward the center of the gym and motioned for her to follow. "We're gonna spar and talk."

"Uhhh."

"If Naruto and Sasuke can yell at each other all the damn time during their fights we can have a civil conversation."

"I thought you didn't watch anything vintage!"

"I said vintage movies." He looked at Eri who was dragging his sleeping bag over to the bleachers. "I'm not getting that back am I?"

Izumi let out a chuckle and shook her head. "Probably not."

Aizawa shrugged. "I have ten more, so whatever." he pointed at her "Just let her know that we're sparing, don't want her freaking out thinking I'm going to kill you."

Izumi called over to her ward. "Eri, don't lay inside that thing, I have to power wash it first!"

"Dick," Aizawa muttered.

Eri however, ignored Izumi and crawled inside of it, her jello treat held to her face as she let out a quiet slurp. After a second she sighed "Warm…"

"Oh God, It's a plague, all who lay in the sleeping bag become Aizawa."

"Or sleeping bags are just comfortable as fuck."

"Language," Izumi warned Aizawa.

"You're a grown woman."

"Yeah, but I don't want Eri to hear it."

"She's far enough away."

"Still, language." Izumi's eyes then widened. "Oh my god, I'm becoming my mother."

"Miss Izumi!" Eri called out.

Izumi turned to her with a sweet smile "Yes, sweetie?"

"What does 'fuck' mean?"

"..." Izumi's mouth was open to responding but no sound came out, and Aizawa felt the temperature in the room drop by nearly ten degrees. After a moment she shouted back "I'll tell you when you're older, hon! You just stay there and watch, Aizawa and I are gonna have a friendly sparing match."

Eri frowned "What's sparing?"

"It's when we fight to practice but not to hurt each other, it looks like real fighting but it's not, it's how heroes like me stay in shape to rescue people."

Eri, happy with that answer nodded and let out a content "Kay!" and went back to slurping on her jello packet.

Izumi however slowly turned to Aizawa, her face a pure picture of perfectly calm rage as she cracked her neck.

"I'm going to start kicking your ass now… and I'm not sure when or if I'll stop."

Aizawa considered his options and figured he would go with the one that didn't involve fighting a pissed-off Midoriya.

"I surrender."

"You aren't French, fight like a man." With that, she lunged at him, and he struggled to dodge as a friendly sparring match turned into sadistic punishment.

Punishment Izumi enjoyed dishing out.

"Why the fuck do you have our entire coffee pitcher?" Katsuki scowled as he walked between Kyouka and Momo, the latter of which was nursing an entire pitcher of coffee like it was a small cup.

"I want coffee." Was Momo's flat reply as she sipped from the pitcher.

"So you took the whole pitcher?" Kyouka raised an eyebrow.

"Do not question my wisdom."

"Momo, you're taking that to class, you know that, right?" Kyouka desperately tried to reason with her friend as they got to the classroom. "Iida is going to kill you."

"Meh," Momo grunted as she sat in her chair, once more sipping her coffee. "I'm the Class Representative." Momo held her head high," He answers to me, not the other way around."

"Oh god…" Kyouka looked on in horror, "she's grunting. Bakugou, this is your fault!"

"How the fuck is this my fault?"

"I don't know but –" She flinched as her ears picked up Tenya's rapidly approaching footsteps. "Oh no, he's here!"

"Yaoyorozu!" Tenya entered with his chopping, "How dare you absconded with the coffee pitcher! That is UA property! And more importantly, it is improper for you to bring it to class!"

Momo stared at Tenya for a long moment before saying, "You're just upset you didn't get any, aren't you?"

"...yes, I am."

"That sucks." She sipped her coffee once more.

"Seriously, you can't just bring the whole pitcher to class Momo!" Kyouka hissed. "I mean, who does that?!"

Everyone quieted down as Aizawa chose that moment to walk into class, Coffee pitcher in hand, coffee as black as his soul.

"Apparently, Aizawa-Sensei does too," Denki commented.

He glanced at Momo's own pitcher with a raised eyebrow "Black?"

Momo nodded before looking at his. "Colombian?"

Aizawa raised his pitcher in a toast before chugging it down. "Finish it before class starts or you have detention." with that he threw his pitcher into the trash and sat at his desk, he pulled out a stopwatch. "You have sixty seconds before the first bell."

Momo finished hers off in one gulp as well.

Aizawa's grin scared the entire class, save Momo, as he stopped the time. "Thirty seconds? Based."

"HE KNOWS SLANG!?" The whole class save Momo gasped out loud.

"Anyway, moving along with Homeroom. Listen up!" The class gave him their full attention before he continued.

He paused when he noticed Pony's raised hand. He sighed and pointed at her. "Yes, Tsunotori?"

"How you okay?"

"Nanomachines, son."

Pony nodded, accepting that answer, while most of the class was left confused.

Katsuki muttered under his breath, "That joke just won't die."

"Moving on, the Sports Festival is coming up and you all need to prepare for it," Aizawa told them.

"Wait," Kyouka said, "We were all just attacked by villains, like villains that were trying to kill us, and we're still having the Sports Festival?"

Aizawa hummed as he gave a nod. "Yes."

"Why?!" Kyouka threw her hands up.

"Because it's an important part of the curriculum!" The class jumped as Izumi jumped up from behind the desk clad in a green sleeping bag similar to the ratty yellow one Aizawa had.

"You were right Aizawa, these are comfy as fudge."

Aizawa however was busy glaring at his former sleeping bag. "What have you done to her?"

Izumi looked at it and then back to Aizawa. "Oh, I dyed it green."

Aizawa hissed, hissed at the heroics teacher. "How dare you."

"Wait, Flintlock-Sensei, what were you doing behind the desk?" Tenya asked. "This is our Homeroom, not Heroic Foundations. Unless… the matter involves heroic foundations!"

"And Iida earns a prize!" Izumi cheered, raising her prosthetic out of the bag with a thumbs up. "Your reward is witnessing," She started unzipping the sleeping bag and ripped it off with a dramatic flare, "the majesty of nature!"

Everyone stared as the sleeping bag fell away to reveal Izumi in relatively casual clothes, but what surprised them the most was the little girl standing there sipping one of their homeroom teachers' jellos.

Everyone was silent for a moment before Mina broke the silence.

"DID YOU AND AIZAWA HAVE A KID!?"

Izumi immediately turned to the trashcan nearby and deposited her breakfast into it.

Aizawa glared at Mina so hard she thought she would die.

"Detention."

"For fucking what!?"

"Two detentions." He growled, "For putting that image into my head."

"She cursed in front of Eri," Izumi yelled in outrage, finger raised, though her face was still in the trash can. "Double the detentions!" Eri had walked over and started patting her on the leg in comfort.

Aizawa nodded. "Four detentions."

"Come on!"

"Anyway!" Izumi popped up from the trash can, her face cheery like she hadn't just thrown up. "No this isn't his kid, I'm super gay." Izumi gave Eri a pat on the head, who handed her a jello packet, which Izumi took before continuing. "She's my child, I have reproduced through the power of osmosis!"

"COME THE FUCK ON!" Katsuki shouted. "SHE DID IT AGAIN!"

Mina looked at Aizawa and Izumi expecting them to give him detention.

Izumi sighed. "Katsuki detention for cursing in front of the child."

"Fuck you!"

"Two detentions. Wanna make it three?"

Katsuki stared at Izumi.

Izumi stared at Katsuki.

He grinned at her. "Fuck."

"Okay three it is."

Aizawa resisted the urge to slam his hands on his desk, conscious of the skittish child in his presence. "Moving on, the Sports Festival."

"Right!" Izumi chirped. "Now, logically you'd think we would cancel the event after such an attack, but the unfortunate truth is that we kind of can't. The reason for that is what comes after the Festival. See, as part of getting you ready for the world of heroics, UA accepts requests from outside hero agencies to take students in as interns as part of a two week program."

She paused and took a sip of the jello treat before continuing. "The knowledge gained from these internships is invaluable, and missing out would cause you to fall behind. We can't have that, especially now that you've gotten a taste of what we as heroes have to face thanks to the USJ. You kids will need all the opportunities you can get, and the Sports Festival is a chance for you to show yourselves off and draw the attention of some pretty high-ranking pros. Catch the attention of the right hero and you can get a jumpstart on your career."

"So… kind of can't skip this at all, huh?" Minoru figured that was the case.

Izumi shrugged. "I mean, you could, but it'd ruin your prospects until the next year."

"No student of mine is skipping it." Aizawa's eyes flashed red and Class 1-A all collectively took a metaphysical step back.

"You heard the grumpy hobo, no one skips!" Izumi grinned. "The Sports Festival is in two weeks, so to prepare you all for it you get plenty of fun and exciting lessons with me!"

Denki raised a hand. "Uh, what does that mean?"

"It means, maggot," Izumi purred and the whole class felt like they were in the room with a prowling lion, "that you and little Class 1-B get to be put through a month's worth of heroics class instead of sitting through boring things like math and history!" Her smile was all teeth. "Isn't that fun?"

Katsuki and Pony were positively beaming at the challenge that was being presented to them.

The rest of the class felt a collective shiver go down their spines.

Momo was sleeping at her desk, her coffee pitcher was knocked over onto the ground.

It was great.

"We can't just skip classes!" Tenya tried to reason.

Aizawa however waved him off. "Yes you can, because we said you can, and Nezu always approves this level of work for every heroics class anyway." He shrugged, "It's why most of your other non-heroic classes were rudimentary introductions instead of any real class work, that way you didn't fall behind in any studies."

Izumi raised a finger. "Also, for those who really want to get into their training, you can request permission to use any of UA's training grounds or gyms for whatever kind of training you may need, such as mobility training. This would be available during any free time you may have." She paused to think for a moment before remembering something. "Wednesday and the weekend are forbidden days for training though, too much work can cause you to do more damage to yourselves than necessary and can stunt your growth, so those are mandatory rest days." She nodded. "So two days of intense training, a day to rest in the middle of the week, two more days of intense training, and then two days of mandatory rest, then repeat."

"Sounds intense, kero," Tsuyu commented.

"Indeed it is." Izumi nodded and gave a sadistic grin. "You can call it Hell Week if you want."

"Also, next week's Friday will also be a mandatory rest day since the Sports Festival is on that Saturday." She added.

After letting that sink in she looked at the clock and waved at the class. "Alright, go get ready, we're gonna have some practical training in a bit." She paused. "Mister Todoroki stay back, Aizawa and I have to talk to you real quick."

Shouto blinked at being called to stay back but listened. Truth be told, he had a feeling he knew why he was being called to an impromptu meeting. He's known since the USJ.

Izumi looked at Eri as the class started to get ready to filter out of the classroom. "Mel's gonna come to get you soon with Cat and take you to the support department for a bit okay?"

Eri nodded. "Okay," she had time to come to terms with being separated from Izumi, and Cat was nice so she wasn't too worried.

Meanwhile, towards the back of the class, Katsuki and Kyouka stood by Momo's desk, looking down at their passed-out friend.

Kyouka was about to shake her awake when she heard a dark chuckle come from Katsuki. Looking over, she saw an evil grin on his face as he brought his hand up and started to produce sparks.

"Don't do it," Kyouka said in a futile attempt to stop Katsuki.

"She should have gone to sleep when I told her to." Was all he said before letting loose a loud bang near Momo. The explosion was all noise, no fire or blast to it really.

Momo jolted awake with a small scream, making a staff and swinging it. Katsuki instinctively brought his hand up and caught the staff before it could accidentally hit him or Kyouka, who stared at the weapon with wide eyes as it was inches away from her face.

Katsuki and Momo stared at each other for a moment before the former spoke. "Enjoy your nap?"

Momo blinked and looked around as she lowered her staff, noticing the once-filled class was now empty. "I-I missed Homeroom?!"

"Yeah, and it was a pretty big announcement too," Kyouka told her with a pat on the back. "We'll fill you in as we head toward heroics."

Momo paused in gathering her things. "Wait, why are we going straight to heroics?"

"And I guess that's a good way to start this off," Katsuki said as he started walking. "Come on, and don't fall asleep while walking."

Before he walked out the door though, Katsuki passed by Shouto's desk and paused. He looked down at his classmate, who looked back up at him with a questioning look.

"Can I help you, Bakugou?" Shouto asked.

Katsuki scowled at Shouto, and looked like he wanted to rip his throat out, but didn't do anything and instead walked off with Kyouka and Momo.

"That was weird..." Shouto muttered.

"Yeah," Izumi said from her spot next to Aizawa, drawing Shouto's attention. "Yaoyorozu almost took their heads off!"

Aizawa sighed, pinching his nose. "Midoriya focus, if you need to talk to Yaoyorozu after this do so, she seems a bit out of character." He looked at Shouto "But we have an important message to deliver first."

"Right, Todoroki, come up here please?" Izumi called him to the front of the room. Aizawa took a seat at the teacher's desk while Izumi stood next to him.

A moment later, the door opened again and Melissa poked her head into the classroom, Cat on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm here to grab Eri."

Izumi picked up the small girl and handed her over to Melissa. "You're gonna be fine with her?"

"Yeah, yeah, totally." Melissa looked nervous. "It'll only be for a bit."

"Right, thanks, Mel." Izumi looked at Eri. "Now Eri, be good for Melissa, okay?"

"Okay, Miss Izumi." Eri immediately grabbed onto Cat who went limp as Eri cuddled her close. "You'll come to get me, right?"

"Of course, sweetie. Now, be good." Izumi rubbed Eri's head before Melissa left with her, leaving Izumi alone with Aizawa and Shouto, who had now arrived at the front of the class.

"Who was that?" The student asked.

"My support tech, but we're not here about that."

Aizawa decided to get straight to the point. "Todoroki, you're expelled."

Shouto stared at Aizawa, not entirely sure what reaction he was supposed to give to that. Shock? Anger?

Luckily, before he could spiral down that rabbit hole, Izumi elbowed Aizawa, causing the older man to grunt and continue. "Is what I would have said if this meeting had happened immediately after the USJ. Luckily for you, Flintlock once again saved your two-toned ass."

Shouto glanced at Izumi, who just shrugged and nodded her head toward Aizawa. "He's your Homeroom teacher, you're listening to him right now."

After Shouto's attention was back on him, Aizawa continued. "You aren't in the clear yet though. Your actions at the USJ nearly cost you and your classmate your lives, with Flintlock having to sacrifice her own well-being to save you, and all because you refused to use a key aspect of your quirk."

"...I know."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, "You know?"

"Yes. I've thought about that day the whole weekend, about how I almost got my Sensei and fellow students killed. It wasn't my intention, nor what I ever wanted. I…" Shouto glanced over at Izumi and then looked down to the ground, "I let something personal get in the way of protecting people and doing my job. For that, I deeply apologize." He bowed low to Izumi. "You had to save me, and for that I also thank you."

Izumi sighed and shook her head. "Look, I've forgiven you, Todoroki, even though I probably shouldn't have. But if you wanna make it up to me, then make it so I didn't save you from expulsion for no reason."

"Exactly," Aizawa jumped in, "while you're not expelled yet you are still on the chopping block. So," He clapped his hands to get the boy's attention "Here's what is going to happen: this coming Sports Festival you are going to prove you deserve to hold a spot in the hero course. All of your other classmates are going into the event with everything they've got, and you're going to do the same thing."

"Consider this an ultimatum, Todoroki." Izumi said, "During the Sports Festival, we want to see you use your fire. And I mean really use your fire."

Shouto's eyes widened. "But I-"

"Have no choice." Izumi's voice was firm as she spoke, silencing Shouto with a serious gaze. "I told you once before that you can't half-ass being a hero or limit yourself because of personal reasons. It's all or nothing in this profession, and if you refuse to bring your A-game then you're worth nothing out in the field, becoming nothing but a liability at best."

Aizawa nodded. "I don't know what bullshit you've gone through to have such hatred for one half of your quirk," He began and raised a hand to silence the boy when he was about to speak out, "But that garbage cannot affect you when you're on the job. We aren't discounting your issues, Hound Dog is here if you need to talk about them, but those issues can't be the reason why you fail at saving someone's life. Do you understand?"

Shouto stared at the ground, the reality of the situation sinking in. The mere thought of using his fire was enough to spark hatred within him, frost subconsciously beginning to coat his right side.

Izumi walked over to him and patted him on his right side with her prosthetic. "Give it your best kid." She walked out of the classroom, shaking her prosthetic off as it had started to frost over the moment she touched him. "If you won't even do that, then you shouldn't bother."

And with that, she walked out.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but she's right," Aizawa said, gaining Shouto's attention. "You have no idea how lucky you are that Flintlock talked me into giving you this chance. I've expelled people for less than almost getting themselves killed. If you waste this opportunity, then it'll be your fault, no one else's."

Shouto nodded, fists clenched.

"You're dismissed, get to class." Aizawa motioned for him to leave as he started to crawl into a newer-looking yellow sleeping bag.

"Yes sir." Shoto turned on his heel and walked out of class, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what he was going to do.

As he made it to the locker room he realized that there really wasn't much he could do…

Momo sipped her refilled pot of coffee and groaned as she sat down at the lunch table, where Kyouka had kindly grabbed her a full tray of food.

It turns out, Flintlock hadn't been lying when she had explained that the classes would be "Hell" classes for the next two weeks. Two hours of Foundational Heroics sounded great on paper, but in practice it was brutal. Two hours of hand-to-hand drills, learning throws, grappling, anything their teacher could think of that would allow them to really shine during the Sports Festival.

After that, it was two hours with Aizawa, which Momo probably dreaded more than the two hours with Flintlock. The Gunslinger was brutal in her training methods and expected the class to be just as brutal, but she wasn't scary unless she needed to be.

Aizawa spent two hours teaching them how to fill out paperwork and forms, ranging from accident reports to registration forms, and he spent the entire time glaring at them like it was their fault he was stuck teaching them.

Momo wasn't awake enough for that shit.

"You sure you're okay?" Kyouka worriedly asked. "You look like you're about to collapse."

"I'm… fine." Momo slowly responded with a yawn.

"You didn't look fine during combat class," Ochako said as she and Pony also sat down. "The staff you made was made of plastic."

"I made a simple miscalculation. I was… trying something different, yes! Something new!" Momo tried to save face, but she wasn't putting up a very good act.

"I smell bullshit," Katsuki grunted as he sat down.

"How the fuck can you smell anything past that?" Kyouka hissed at Katsuki's plate as if it had stung her. She scooted away from him and covered her nose. "What the fuck even is that?"

Katsuki took a healthy bite of his food and grinned. "It's something called Phaal Curry. Apparently, it's the spiciest curry in the world." His face started turning red as he struggled with the food. "Oh yeah, that's the shit!" He coughed and gave a quick thumbs up in the direction of the food line.

He had tears leaking out of his eyes. It was so spicy, it made Katsuki Bakugou cry.

Everyone else in the class had tears coming out of their eyes just by being near the cursed dish.

"How the heck did you convince Lunch Rush to make that for you?" Ochako coughed, Momo handed her and everyone else a face mask to protect themselves from the fumes.

"Oh, it wasn't Lunch Rush." Katsuki shrugged as he shoved another mouthful in. "It was Boba."

"Who?"

"You know? Rex?"

"..."

"Cody?"

"Not ringing a bell bud." Kyouka deadpanned.

"Star Wars." Momo sighed as she pointed to the serving line. "He's talking about Twice."

"Oh yeah, Twice was making the food today wasn't he?" Ochako frowned. "I was surprised, I hope Lunch Rush is okay…"

In the teacher's lounge, taking a nap, Lunch Rush sneezed himself awake.

"What was that?" He looked around before shrugging and heading back to sleep

He had to find some way to thank Twice for covering lunch for him.

"But yeah." Katsuki finished off the noxious dish much to everyone else's relief "What the fuck is wrong with you, Yaoyorozu? Are you sick or something?"

Momo was too busy eating her food to respond, so Katsuki waited a few moments, sipping his milk to cool himself down before he asked the question again.

"Yaoyorozu-"

"What?!" Everyone jumped as Momo snapped at Katsuki and the blond hero in training frowned.

"What's going on with you?"

"Oh, what's this, trouble in paradise 1-A?"

The new voice caused those at the table to turn and see a young man only a few of them would recognize.

"I thought you all would be getting along great," Neito Monoma looked down at them as he was walking by with a tray of food, "Don't tell me this is what ego does to you."

"The fuck?" Katsuki scowled.

"Hey, wait a minute, you're that 1-B guy from Flintlock-Sensei's after-school class!" Ochako pointed out. "The hell? You were pretty chill then, what crawled up your ass and died?"

"Well, back then we were equals, classmates, even if we weren't in the same class." He frowned at her "But now we're back to being rivals,"

"We were never rivals to begin with!" Ochako shouted, causing people to look at her.

"1-A and 1-B were always rivals!" Neito scowled. "I just didn't see it until this last week."

"No one sees this as a rivalry except you dipshit," Katsuki scowled. "Even if we did it'd be a pretty damn one-sided rivalry."

Momo winced, "You don't need to add more fuel to the fire, Bakugo."

It was too late though, the damage was done.

"Typical, you 1-A punks get to fight some real villains and you think you're all high and mighty, better than the rest of us!" Neito growled, not noticing as everyone in 1-A immediately quieted down and just stared at him like he had grown a second head.

Then they all erupted at once.

"Are you fucking stupid?" Katsuki started to stand.

"It was scary!" Mina voiced over her other classmates.

"We almost died!" Minoru cried out hugging himself, Tsuyu patted him on the back.

"I got to shoot Gjallarhorn!" Pony cried gleefully though she was ignored.

"I had to hold a staircase against a horde of villains with a shotgun, that wasn't fun! Ah' coulda died!" Ochako growled as she too stood up.

"Shut up…" Momo quietly muttered, holding her hands over her ears as the noise began getting to her. All the while the rest of the present student body were having their attention drawn to the aggressive yelling of her classmates.

"Your behavior is most unbecoming of a student of this prestigious school, and is causing a disturbance!" Tenya stood as he tried to put an end to the situation. "Desist immediately!"

"I had to save our teacher's life!" Toru waved her arms around frantically, trying to make herself heard.

Over at the lunch line, Twice saw the conflict going down and pulled out his phone as he sent some clones to break it up.

"You're just making excuses! 1-B would have handled the situation –" That's as far as he got before Momo quickly stood up and turned to face Neito, her look alone enough to make him pause in his rant. Everyone else looked to their Class Representative and wondered what was happening.

That was when Momo smacked Neito across the face, hard.

The silence was deafening, and the sound of slap echoed throughout the dead-silent cafeteria. Everyone was speechless, they had just watched Momo Yaoyorozu, an overly polite and exemplary student, strike a fellow student.

Neito was stunned silent, his cheek burning as it turned an angry red. His face contorted into one of anger as he prepared to rip into Momo, but stopped when he saw the look on her face.

She was scowling, her hand still raised as it trembled in the air. She was breathing heavily as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"No…" She said in a broken voice. "Shut your mouth. You have no idea…" She lowered her trembling hand and balled it into a fist. "You have no idea what we've been through! There was no glory, no prestige in what we went through." She scowled. "Didn't you hear them?" She gestured behind herself to her classmates. "We almost died! And you have the nerve to come over to us and tell us how we were lucky?! That you would have done better?!"

Momo walked forward and started poking Neito in the chest, hard enough to push him back. "Tell me, right now, to my face that you'd do better in a situation where an army of villains are attacking you with orders to kill you!" She growled. "Tell me you'd do better when you come face to face with villains who took out Thirteen like she was nothing! Who threw our teachers around like ragdolls and healed from every single attack launched at him! Who held your classmate hostage in front of you and forced you to watch him suffer and would have killed him if I didn't-!"

Momo cut herself off as her eyes widened. She shuddered, and before anyone could do anything she ran full sprint out of the cafeteria.

Neito stared after her, and with a more subdued look he turned back to Class 1-A and-

Got chopped in the neck by an angry ginger.

"Dammit, Monoma, I told you not to do anything!" The girl who had delivered the expertly aimed chop to Neito's neck scowled. "Why the hell did you think this would end well?!"

She then immediately turned to Class 1-A and bowed deeply. "I am so sorry about him." She gestured to herself. "I'm Itsuka Kendo, 1-B's Rep –" That was as far as she got when Twice's clones finally made it to them and started gently pushing the two classes apart.

"Alright, kiddo's show's over, finish your lunches and get out!" Twice's no-nonsense tone caught all of them off guard and they all immediately turned to do just that. Though Kyouka and Katsuki looked slightly worried.

"What about Momo?" Kyouka asked, which Twice waved off.

"I've got someone taking care of that, no worries." Twice told her. "Now eat. You're wasting my food, dammit!"

Itsuka started taking her class, including Nieto back to where they normally sat but was stopped by a Twice clone placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Not him." He took the conked-out student from her gently. "I'm gonna take him to Recovery Girl and then Vlad King. He doesn't deserve my food."

"Oh, uhm… okay, sir." Itsuka allowed Twice to take her dazed classmate.

"Don't call me sir. Sir is my sister." With that, the clone hefted Nieto onto his shoulders and started marching his way out of the cafeteria.

Momo didn't know what she was doing. She didn't even know where she was going. In the current moment, her fight or flight instincts had the wheel, and while she started out on fight with Neito, she had switched over to flight very quickly.

She let out a startled oof as she bumped into someone, she had her head down and she wasn't watching where she was going. She quickly wiped her tears and looked up to apologize, only for the apology to catch in her throat when a concerned Izumi Midoriya stared back at her.

"Hey kid, let's talk, okay?" Izumi gently said as she put a hand on Momo's shoulder. Momo didn't even try to fight out of Izumi's gentle hold as her teacher guided her a bit down the hall until they reached what looked to be the administrative side of the school. They came up to a door that had a plaque on the side that read "Izumi "Flintlock" Midoriya" and another underneath that read "Jin "Twice" Midoriya."

Izumi opened the door and let Momo in her eye glowing as she sent a message off to Jin.

"Welcome to my actual office!" Izumi preened proudly ."I haven't set it up fully yet but it's got all the neat little bells and whistles! Like a desk! And filing cabinets! As well as a bed!"

Momo was about to ask why it needed a bed when she noticed the passed-out little girl snoozing happily away on it, cuddled up with a robotic cat of some kind.

"Who is that?" She asked.

"My Osmosis baby."

Momo gave Izumi a look that she hoped would convey how not amused she was by the statement.

Izumi sighed. "Tough crowd. Truth is that I saved her from some punks yesterday when I was on a walk."

"What kind of walk is that?"

"A very enthusiastic one!" With that, she pressed a button that split the room in half, a glass wall coming up and separating the half with the bed from the half with the desk.

"There, Eri shouldn't be able to hear us with that, and if she wakes up she won't freak out," Izumi scratched her cheek as she sat down at her desk with a sigh, "hopefully."

Momo stood there awkwardly, rubbing her arm as she looked anywhere but at Izumi. "Am… am I in trouble?" She asked.

"Depends on what you consider trouble." Izumi hummed. "A little birdie told me that something happened in the cafeteria. Do you know anything about that?"

Momo's flinching was answer enough.

Izumi nodded. "Take a seat."

After Momo sat she continued. "So, I didn't get the full details yet, but do you wanna fill me in on what happened, or should I wait for Twice to get back to me with an update?"

Momo didn't say a word as she continued staring at the floor.

Izumi sighed through her nose. "I know how that sounded, but I want you to know that it's a genuine question. Do you want to talk about it, or not?" Izumi leaned back in her seat. "From what Twice said in his text Monoma instigated the conversation, and I'm not trying to get you in trouble, I honestly do want to help you, but I need context. I need to know what happened."

"Now, I could go to any of your other classmates that were there, and I can hear it from them, but out of twenty students, only one slapped another student and ran off. I want to know why, and I doubt any of your classmates will know the answer so that just leaves one option."

Izumi looked imploringly at Momo before continuing. "It's either deal with me or Aizawa and while he won't mind many things, I don't think he'd condone you bitch slapping another student in the cafeteria, he'd probably listen to your problems and just tell you to suck it up."

After a few minutes of silence, Izumi was honestly worried Momo wouldn't talk before she slowly began "...He was talking about how…" Momo trailed off.

"Did Monoma bring up the USJ?" Izumi guessed, which earned her a nod from Momo. "What did he say?"

"He… he called us lucky."

"Lucky…?" Izumi urged Momo to continue, knowing that there was more.

"Lucky that we were attacked." Momo's hands balled into fists. "Lucky that we had to fight for our lives. Lucky that we almost died!"

"But not lucky that you survived." Izumi hummed before nodding "Now, I'm a big proponent of free speech and saying whatever you want, but you should have backhanded him."

Momo gasped, "Sensei!"

"What? Guy shouldn't have been talking all big about something as tragic as a mass villain attack. They aren't something you joke about, or mock people for. Monoma will be talked to later, this I promise, but right now," Izumi leaned forward and rested her arms on her desk, "right now I'm worried about you."

"M-me?" Momo blinked. "I-I'm fine, Sensei. I just… I got mad."

"It's not just that." Izumi shook her head. "Yaoyorozu, everything about you today has been almost nothing but red flags."

"What are you talking about?"

Izumi hummed. "Okay, so I'm doing a list, got it? This morning you came into class with a pitcher of coffee, which you have kept with you the whole day and have been drinking straight from it. During Homeroom you fell asleep. You, a model student if your records are to be believed, and I have good reason to believe them based on the first few days I've known you. Then, during practical training, you made a staff out of plastic."

"I was trying something new?" Momo tried the same lie she used with her classmates, but of course, Izumi saw past it.

"It wasn't even good plastic! It bent the moment someone blocked it!"

"I miscalculated!"

"Not the point. The point is something is eating at you," Izumi frowned in concern, "and I know how that goes kid, I literally just had a blow-up of my own yesterday, for my own reasons but it still happened." Izumi tapped her desk with her finger. "That shit builds up until it snaps and you can't just let it build up, talk to me, or talk to Hound Dog, talk to someone. You can't just snap and slap someone who says the wrong thing every time they start talking shit and trigger you, no matter how much we wish we could."

Her student refused to meet Izumi's eyes, and the Gunslinger sighed. "Yaoyorozu… Momo, please, for your sake, tell me what it is." She frowned. "Is it what I did at the USJ? Is it because I killed that villain in front of you?"

"..."

"I'm sorry, I-"

"That's not it." Momo quietly said, her voice barely audible even in the silence of the office. "That's… that's not it."

Izumi stopped herself from saying anything else, waiting for Momo to explain at her own pace.

Momo shuddered in her seat as she continued. "When I was on that mountain, watching Bakugou being killed right in front of me, I… I started to panic. I tried something, but it didn't work, and I panicked. Then I tried something else, and it didn't work again. I was standing there… with the rifle… and a clear shot… and I was panicking… he was dying, and I… I didn't know what else to do." Momo's voice cracked, but she pushed herself to continue, Izumi quietly listening. "The only other idea I had… Sensei, I almost pulled the trigger. I almost killed someone."

"...I know." Izumi quietly said. "That's why I did it instead."

Momo looked up at Izumi. "What? You knew?"

"Yeah, I knew you were going to." Izumi nodded.

"...Then why am I still here?" Momo shook her head. "I was going to kill someone. I was going to pull the trigger, I was going to kill him!"

"To save your classmate," Izumi said before she could continue. Reaching out across the desk and taking Momo's hand in hers, "Believe me, if it had been for more nefarious reasons, you wouldn't still be here, but I know you had good intentions. Momo, your classmate was dying right in front of you and you wanted to save him. That villain wanted to kill him because he was an evil bastard who didn't care that he was killing a kid. You, even though you didn't even do it, are in distress because you almost did it, which already says you're better than that man."

"But…"

"Listen," Izumi interrupted, looking directly into Momo's eyes. "Killing should always be a last resort for any hero. Lethal force is a power we hold that we cannot abuse, but more importantly, we can't let ourselves go numb to it. If we go numb to the idea of killing someone, then we're no better than those killers who do it just because they can. So be glad that you hate the very idea of killing someone, because I know there are heroes out there who don't give a damn and would resort to it the moment the prerequisites are met."

"I… "

"Look, I highly suggest you talk to Hound Dog about this. I'm a certified counselor but that's primarily aimed at personality issues, not PTSD." Izumi let out a chuckle. "If I were I wouldn't need a therapist either, I could just talk to myself but here we are."

"...I don't know." Momo cried. "I don't know if I can…" She trailed off.

"Yao…" Izumi shook her head and squeezed Momo's hand, "Momo, listen to me, you can't just let this fester, it will affect you, worse than you can possibly know. Talk to Hound Dog, talk to me, talk to your friends, but talk to someone. Trust me on this, if you don't you'll just feel worse."

Momo didn't say anything, looking down at the floor as she silently cried. Izumi squeezed Momo's hand before letting go and standing up, moving around the desk to crouch next to her student.

"Momo, I understand how hard this is, and it may even seem impossible, but… I know not everyone is strong enough for this, especially when they are exposed to the reality of heroics so early. That being said, I want you to know that you don't have to stay in heroics."

Momo blinked and turned her head to look at her teacher. "What do you mean?"

"You aren't being forced to stay In the hero course, you can be transferred to any of the other courses if you want. It's entirely your choice, though other than Gen Ed you will need to pass the course's respective exam to qualify for it, but I doubt someone as smart as you will have trouble."

Izumi reached her hand up and placed it on Momo's shoulder, giving her a comforting squeeze. "That's one option. The other is, of course, you can stay, and if you do I promise we'll do everything in our power to help prepare you to be the best damn hero you can be, and when the time comes that God forbid, you find yourself in another USJ situation, you'll have the skills and knowledge to make it out without ever having to even consider pulling that trigger."

"But of course," Izumi stood back up and walked around her desk, opening a drawer and pulling out a small stack of papers which she placed on the desk, "as I said, it is your choice. You could go through these forms, fill them out, and leave them here and I'll show them to Nezu later, or you can just leave them untouched and unsigned if you want," Izumi shrugged before standing up and pressing the button to lower the wall. "The choice is yours, but I have to go. Gotta deal with some personal stuff. I'll tell Aizawa to leave you alone for now."

She walked over to Eri and gently shook her awake, before picking the sleepy girl and Cat up before turning back to Momo. "Hopefully I see you in class tomorrow, Momo." With that, the American hero left.

With that, Momo was left alone in the office, the transfer forms sitting there on the desk. She stared at them for what felt like an eternity.

She made a pen out of her quirk and reached over to start signing them before she stopped and started thinking of everything she'd done to get to UA. All of those hours of training, of mastering her complex quirk. Her hard work, her dedication, her friends…

She had friends now…

Not peons who followed her because of who her family was, or because she had money…

Friends. People who didn't care about her status, people who treated her as an equal, people who made her laugh and smile.

Katsuki and Kyouka flashed through her mind and she squeezed the pen so hard it almost broke.

Was Midoriya-Sensei right? Would it be better to talk to someone?

Could she?

Katsuki's words from a few days ago rang through her head.

"If it means anything, which for all I fucking know it doesn't, I appreciate you being willing to do… that, to save my skin. Thanks."

Momo stood up and placed the pen on the desk.

She didn't know what the future held, but she knew she couldn't just give up.

"I promise, I won't fail."

She turned on her heel and headed out of the office. She started walking down the hall before another plaque caught her eye.

Ryo "Hound Dog" Inui.

She hesitantly walked toward the door and noticed the out to lunch sign on it before looking at the wall next to it. Papers were in a wall envelope and she hesitantly took one.

"If you need an ear to listen and someone to talk to, I'm here whenever. Fill this out and we'll set proper times for counseling sessions." – Hound Dog.

Momo took a breath and folded the paper before pocketing it. She wasn't ready for that step yet…

But maybe she would be soon.

Getting Eri to stay at the dorms was surprisingly easy. Izumi sat her on the couch downstairs with Cat, handed her the promised slice of apple pie, told her to ask Cat for another one if she still needed it, and put on Gravity Falls.

After telling Cat to not serve Eri more than one extra slice of pie and then child-locking the doors and windows (She'd have to ask Nezu why the doors had that feature) she was ready to head off to Aldera.

Himiko herself wasn't currently at Aldera, Hisashi had called the school to set up the meeting between Izumi, Inko, and the Principal, and had said until the situation had been resolved Himiko was going to continue her schooling with him at home.

Hisashi's idea of schooling was tons of support work, mechanical engineering, and caffeine but the school didn't need to know that.

So while Hisashi, Himiko, and Melissa were currently all down in the armory doing God knows what, Izumi was about to drag her mother into a meeting with a school principal she hadn't seen since she beat that bitch with a steel chair.

Fun.

She made her way over to the parking garage to meet up with her mom, who she had sent ahead to look for her motorcycle as she took care of Eri. She was surprised to find her mother standing at the entrance to the garage, looking really confused.

"Mom? What are you doing out here?" Izumi asked as she approached.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I tried to find your car, but…" Inko trailed off, looking to the side and blushing in embarrassment.

Izumi furrowed her brow. "Car? What do you- ohh." Her eyes widened in realization. "Uh, yeah, about that… Here, let me show you."

Izumi took the keys from Inko and led her into the garage over to where she parked her motorcycle. She stopped just a little bit away from it and turned around to face her mother, holding up the clicker and pressing the button. A few feet away, her motorcycle let off a noise to the signal.

Call her evil, but Izumi absolutely loved how pale Inko's face went when she realized her daughter didn't drive a car.

"No," Inko rapidly began shaking her head as she backed up. "No no no no NO!"

Izumi was trying very hard not to burst out laughing. "Ma, it's okay."

"NO!" Inko yelled again. "First of all, since when did you have a motorcycle?!"

"I've… ridden one for a while now. David had it made for me as a thank-you gift," Izumi said as she put her hands on her hips. "Ma, I've been in Japan for months and you're just now realizing I ride a motorcycle? I even mentioned it during dinner the other night!"

"I haven't been paying too much attention, okay?! Your hero stories still scare me!" Inko was still shaking her head. "I'm not getting on that thing."

Izumi sighed but continued to smile in amusement as she walked over to her baby. "Ma, you're gonna hurt your neck if you keep shaking it like that. Come on, it's fine."

"No, it is not fine! Motorcycles are death traps," Inko claimed.

Izumi blew a raspberry as she mounted the bike. "Not if you know what you're doing. We're wasting time, come on! Get in the bitch seat!"

Inko's eyes blew wide. "Excuse me?!"

Izumi held her hands up in surrender. "Whoa, okay, before you get mad, that's literally what it's called."

Inko narrowed her eyes at Izumi before pulling her phone out and calling someone, once the person picked up she put them on speaker.

"Yellow?" The voice of Izumi's Aunt Mitsuki echoed through the parking garage.

"Mitsuki, Izumi's trying to get me on her death machine –"

"Motorcycle!" Izumi cut in but squeaked out a sorry when her mom glared at her.

"Death Machine, and she said I have to ride something called the 'bitch seat'. Is that even a thing?"

"Oh, you get to ride bitch! Sick!" Mitsuki started to ramble excitedly. "Hey Izu, can I borrow your bike when you're done with it? Masaru and I haven't ridden in forever!"

Inko pinched her nose in frustration. "Oh, I forgot you were part of some delinquent biker gang…"

"I was, Masaru wasn't, he rode bitch a lot though."

"Okay, I'm hanging up."

Izumi quickly chimed in before Inko could end the call. "To answer your question before she does though Aunty, probably not! It's DNA coded to only let certain people drive it, I could get you into the registry but that'd take a while." Izumi grinned though she knew Mitsuki couldn't see it. "It also has a few turrets and a flamethrower for people that try to steal it."

The response from the two ladies was predictably night and day

"That's sick!"

"WHY?!"

"Gotta stop thieves! Anyway, byeee!" Izumi used her eye to hang up the phone and handed Inko a helmet. "Come on Ma! We're burnin daylight!"

"Izumi –"

"I'll drive nice and slow for ya! I promise."

Inko sighed through her nose and reluctantly climbed onto the back of the motorcycle, putting her helmet on and then wrapping her arms around her daughter's midsection.

"You promise to go slow?"

"Yup!" Izumi popped the p. "I promise to only go twenty over the speed limit instead of thirty!"

"Wait wha– eeeeeeeeh!"

With that Izumi immediately kicked the bike into action and sped off out of the garage.

Her mother cussed more at that moment than on any other day in Izumi's life.

It was fantastic.

Izumi thankfully was joking about going twenty miles over the speed limit and slowed to the proper speed limit the moment she was off UA grounds. She nudged her mom with her elbow.

"Mama, open your eyes. I just did that to mess with you, we're going the nice slow civilian speed limit."

"S-stop saying civilian like it's a bad thing! Civilian is safe, civilian doesn't make me ride a motorcycle!"

"Wasn't Pa a part of that same motorcycle gang Aunty Mitsuki was part of?"

"He built their motorcycles, it was totally different!"

"Being a mechanic for a gang still meant you were in a gang, Ma."

They drove in silence after a while, before Izumi spoke up again.

"What are we gonna do about the school?"

Inko took a deep calming breath as she tried to tune out how fast they were going or all the traffic whizzing by them.

"How can I even hear you properly over the sound of traffic and the wind?" Inko asked and Izumi just tapped the side of her helmet.

"Radios built into the helmets. The school?"

"L-let me do the talking first?" Inko implored. "The principal is a sensible guy, unlike his predecessor, He also has a good track record when it comes to dealing with bullies…"

Izumi remained silent for a moment before answering. "Fine, but so help me God, if he tries to sweep what happened to my sister under the rug…" Izumi let the threat hang in the air, and Inko sighed knowing there was little point trying to argue with her eldest daughter for a better compromise. She'd just cross her fingers and hope all goes well and that Izumi wouldn't pull out any of her weapons on impulse.

A few minutes later the two had finally arrived at Aldera. Inko wasted no time getting off the back as she let out a relieved sigh at being off that death trap.

"Oh, come on," Izumi said as she removed her helmet and smirked at Inko. "It wasn't that bad."

"After today, I'm never getting on that thing again," Inko declared as she took calming breaths. "Izumi, get a car!"

"Your request has been received, and will probably be reviewed," Izumi said as she got off of the motorcycle. "Also I already have a car, it's just back in the States."

"Get one here!"

"Again, request received, and won't get reviewed."

"What happened to 'probably'?"

"Too much work."

The two made their way into the school and headed toward the front office. The receptionist looked up and smiled at them. "Hello, how may I be of assistance?"

"We have a meeting with the principal? It should be under Midoriya?" Inko politely asked while Izumi looked around the school as if she hadn't seen it before.

"Oh, yup I see it, you can head right on in!"

"Thank you!" Inko started walking but stopped when she realized Izumi wasn't following her. She turned around in concern and saw that her daughter was looking around with wide eyes. "Izumi?"

"Huh?"

"You okay?"

"I have no memory of this place."

"Well, they did renovate the school after we sued them dear…"

"..." Izumi followed silently, still taking in all the sights of the newly renovated Aldera.

They walked in silence through the hall until they made it to the principal's office, Inko politely knocked before a soft voice spoke up and asked them to enter.

Upon entering Izumi felt her eyes widen at the familiar decorations, not of the principal's office that she had grown up seeing, but of the vice-principals. Different bits and pieces of machinery from different support companies hung on the wall or on the desk. Behind that desk was a man in a lab coat tinkering with… something that Izumi didn't really recognize, but she recognized the man.

"Vice-Principal Unagi?" Izumi asked out of shock more than anything, causing the man to look up and then smile.

"Izumi Midoriya! As I live and breathe! I haven't seen you in ages!"

"D-didn't you retire?"

"I mean, yes but when that whole kerfuffle with the school getting sued happened they asked for me back!" He smiled. "Real shame what my predecessors allowed to happen to this school, but hey the school I like to think is better for it."

Izumi felt her mind race, Unagi had been Vice-Principal of Aldera before she started middle school. He was the entire reason her family even thought about having her go to Aldera in the first place, he had a no-nonsense approach to bullying that enticed them to sign up for the school, he couldn't catch everything but his presence helped make Izumi's elementary school days bearable.

And then he retired the year she was supposed to start Middle School.

Shit sucked.

"Anyway, you wanted this meeting to talk about your sister?" He pushed the machine he was working on off to the side and leaned forward on his desk. "I don't have all the details but I know something happened involving her and a few other girls on the third floor. The janitor was positively miffed when he found his closet in the state it was in, and I know Mister Fiji was concerned."

"How do you not know all the details?" Izumi raised an eyebrow trying not to be confrontational, luckily the older man didn't take any offense and answered her question.

"We haven't pulled security footage of what happened for one. One of the policy changes that were implemented after the lawsuits we faced makes it so we have to request permission to check any security footage. I've already requested access, that was done the moment Fiji alerted me that something was wrong, now I was just waiting for you two so we could go over it and if we need to decide what happens to Himiko if she's the perpetrator of anything or find out who did something to her and bring them to justice." He added at Izumi's outraged look.

"I'm only being fair, I believed you when you told me that some fools locked her in a broom closet, that makes sense based on evidence our janitor found, but I still have to at least pretend to be impartial."

They sat down as a screen popped up out of the wall, and the security footage started playing.

Hearing about what had happened from Himiko earlier that day was one thing.

Actually seeing it was another. By the end of the security footage, Izumi had to hold her prosthetic arm off the armrest of her chair to prevent herself from crushing it, while Inko was glaring hatefully at the screen.

They both turned to the principal, Izumi fully expecting him to try and throw this under the rug, but honestly, even she had to admit that she had forgotten who was in charge during the viewing.

Unagi looked just as pissed as Izumi felt, though Izumi only knew that based on how his eyes looked.

He clicked his tongue. "Well, that's rather cut and dry. I'll ask the teachers into a meeting, we'll find out who those three were and show their parents this, after that we'll call you in for a meeting with them and decide on punishments."

"Uh," Izumi blinked, surprised while Inko nodded. "That's it?"

"Hmm? I mean, corporal punishment hasn't been legal in the Japanese school system for two centuries but I could see about persuading parents to bring it back if you want?"

"No I mean it's that simple? Just see the footage and then bam, punishment?"

"Yup," He nodded before his eyes widened in realization. "Miss Midoriya, this isn't the Aldera I left behind or the Aldera you were expelled from. I know it's hard to trust authority when that authority has burned you, but have a little faith in the system." He grinned.

Inko looked smug and Izumi swore to pop a wheelie on the way home.

They stood up and bowed. "We'll keep Himiko out of school for the next few days if that's okay, we'll bring her back on the day you set up the meeting between my mom and those girls' parents."

Inko looked surprised. "Me? You don't want to be part of it?"

Izumi shrugged. "I'd end up hitting someone with a chair again."

"We definitely don't want that," Unagi added with a chuckle. "By the way, please reiterate to your sister that she can enjoy her drinks anywhere on the premises. They're for medical purposes, after all, we aren't going to stop her and if she faces bullying for it she can tell Fiji and he'll deal with it."

Izumi nodded before grinning. "Tell Mister Fiji I said hello by the way! I didn't even know he was still teaching here!"

"Oh, his students adored him, so he was allowed to stay," Unagi chuckled. "Even got offered to be the new principal but he turned down the offer, he just enjoyed teaching too much."

They bowed once again and thanked him before leaving, he promised to contact them when a meeting time was set.

Inko looked smug the entire way to Izumi's motorcycle.

"Yeah, yeah, look smug all you want, Ma," Izumi mounted her bike and put on her helmet before handing Inko her own. "You still gotta get on the bike."

Inko's smile fell quickly as she hesitantly put on the helmet and climbed behind her daughter once again.

"...Mistakes were made."

"You bet your ass they were!" Izumi started the engine. "Hi ho silver! Away!" She popped a wheelie and sped off, causing her mother to break her previous cursing record.

Izumi pulled into the parking garage and helped her shaking mother off the bike, who immediately started pounding her fists lightly on Izumi's back.

"Never again, you hear me?! Never again! I'll walk!"

Izumi laughed, "Okay Mama, I got it, we'll take your car next time."

"And I'm driving!"

"Yes ma'am, you're driving." Izumi gave her mom a one-armed hug and walked with her to the dorm. "I'd love to talk about how you cursed more in twenty minutes than you have in my entire life, but I do have to hurry though, gotta get Eri to her check-up before my after-school class starts to meet."

"Didn't you run heroics classes all day?" Inko asked worriedly as she walked in step with her daughter. "Aren't you gonna burn yourself out?"

"Yeah, but my class is mainly focused on general stuff, this is more personalized training, helping the students fill in gaps more than anything," Izumi waved off her concern. "I'll be fine, this isn't even close to the worst work week I've had, and we have the day off Wednesday."

Inko shuffled anxiously, but she had to trust Izumi to know what she was doing. "Okay sweetie, but don't overwork yourself."

"Of course, I won't, Ma," Izumi tells her.

The rest of the walk is in silence, and as soon as they get back Izumi goes to grab Eri from the couch.

Leaning over the back and looking down at Eri, who was distracted playing with Cat, Izumi said, "Hey there, you little critter."

Eri gasped as she noticed Izumi, and immediately hopped up and stood on the couch. "Miss Izumi, you're back!"

"Yep!" Izumi scooped Eri up into her arms, the little girl gasping in surprise. "How was the show?"

"I like it," Eri said as she got comfortable in her guardian's arms. "I like the pig."

Izumi nodded in agreement. "Yep, Waddles is indeed adorable, like you."

Eri's cheeks turned pink as she shyly looked away. "I'm not that adorable."

"Oh, sure you are," Izumi insisted. "You've got a cute little squishy face and an adorable horn!" Eri squirmed as Izumi emphasized this by lightly pinching her cheek and then tapping her horn.

"Stooop!" Eri whined as her blush grew with her embarrassment.

"Okay, okay, I will," Izumi laughed. "Are you ready to go for your check-up?"

Eri seemed nervous, fiddling with her hands. Eventually, she asked, "Will you be there?"

Izumi nodded, saying, "Of course."

Eri didn't say anything for a moment, but then let out a quiet, "Okay."

Izumi quickly turned to leave, not wanting to tempt the wrath of Recovery Girl for being late to their appointment. Before she left though, she noticed Inko staring at her with a bright smile on her face, obviously trying to hold back tears.

"Ma, something wrong?" She asked skeptically, not fully trusting the look in her mother's eye.

Inko sniffed, "Oh nothing, you two are just adorable together."

"Ugh, I'm not dealing with this," Izumi playfully groaned as she swiftly exited the building.

"She'll accept her fate, one day." This she was certain of. Inko may not have a precognitive quirk of any sort, but she knew her daughter too well to be wrong. She chuckled and started to walk down to the armory to get the three introverted inventors upstairs for lunch.

While that was going on Izumi had placed Eri on her back and was happily showing her around UA as they made their way to the hospital wing. The walk didn't take long though, since Izumi was cutting it close and thus was power walking. And as a certain police Captain once said, power walking is a far more efficient and sustainable method of hurrying.

She made it to Recovery Girl with a few minutes to spare, placing Eri on the examination bed before turning to greet the youthful heroine. "Evening Recovery Girl, sorry for almost being late, had to deal with Himiko's school."

"Yes, the whole school could hear your poor mother's cursing," Chiyo said as she was moving about the room.

"Hey, she asked for it." Izumi walked over and sat in a chair nearby. "Anyway, not trying to rush you at all, but how long will this take? Gotta be able to get to my after-school class."

"You'll make it there in time, dear. Don't you worry." Chiyo walked over to the bed and looked at Eri, who looked very nervous. "Hello there, you must be Eri. I'm Recovery Girl, but you can just call me Chiyo if that's easier."

"O-okay." Eri tried not to be nervous, Izumi wasn't scared so she shouldn't be!

Chiyo reached into her pockets and pulled out some gummies. "I heard from Izumi that you like apples. Here, have some gummies." She waited for Eri to stick her hands out before dropping the green and red gummies into them. She leaned forward conspiratorially, "The red ones are sweet apples while the green ones are a little sour, gotta have some variety in your life ya know?" Eri giggled when Chiyo winked at her.

Izumi smiled at seeing Eri laugh a little. Even if she didn't see an actual smile, she'll take a laugh.

"Okay, first things first, let's see how much you weigh and how tall you are." She gently led Eri over to the scale. "Stand still on this dearie." Eri did as she was told and Chiyo hummed before pulling the measuring stick on the side out. "Not counting your horn you stand at about one hundred ten centimeters, a bit tall for your age hmm." She grinned and Eri stifled another giggle. "A little underweight but I assume Miss Midoriya is handling that."

She walked Eri back to the examination table and let Izumi help her up before Chiyo pulled her stethoscope out. "I'm going to put this on your chest, okay? It's going to be a little cold." Once she received confirmation she lifted Eri's shirt a little and put the stethoscope on her chest, letting Eri flinch a little at the cold. She listened to Eri's heartbeat for a moment before nodding. "I'm going to put it on your back now, when I do I want you to breathe in for me okay?"

At Eri's nod, she continued, and once the stethoscope was in place Chiyo asked Eri to breathe for her. "Nice and deep, hold it for a second and then let it out, do it three times okay?"

Eri obeyed and did as she was instructed, Chiyo nodding the entire time before pulling back and walking back to her notepad. "Your heart and lungs sound fine, so that's good." She quickly jotted that down and continued to go through with minor tests. Ranging from taking Eri's temperature to her blood pressure, jotting all of her findings down all the while.

Izumi was super proud of how brave Eri was being, and she was about to voice that thought when her phone buzzed and the HUD in her eye pinged her, showing her the caller ID. Her smile almost fell immediately.

Her CIA handler was calling her.

'The hell do they want?'

Izumi tried not to curse, instead turning to Eri. "I have to take a phone call real quick. It's important, but I'll be right outside the door okay? You should be able to see me in the window." She pointed to the window and was pleased to see that Eri didn't even flinch at the thought of her leaving.

"Okay," she nodded as Chiyo inspected her scars.

"Oh, you poor thing, to have so many scars at such a young age," Izumi heard Chiyo say as she exited the room.

Once out in the hallway, she pulled her phone out and answered the call, having already used her eye to scan the area and knew no one would hear her.

"You've reached the voice mail of Izumi Midoriya, please a message after the 'go fuck yourself'."

"Funny," she heard the voice on the other end say. "That was one of the happiest greetings I've gotten from you to date, Miss Midoriya. Day not going well?" The voice mockingly asked, causing her to snort out a laugh.

"Been having a busy day," she said as she leaned against the wall. "Hasn't exactly been sunshine and rainbows, lots of personal shit. But I take it this isn't a personal call. What do you want?"

"Got an update for you on the data from that dart you sent us, along with new orders."

"Oh, this should be fun to hear," Izumi glanced into the room to check on Eri, glad to see everything seemed to still be going smoothly.

"We ran multiple tests and analyses on the formula in the darts. Turns out whatever exactly it's composed of targets the quirk factor."

"Some kind of new Trigger?"

"No, it's almost the opposite, actually. It's believed the darts are capable of temporarily disabling the quirk factor of any individual struck by them, maybe even permanently disable it."

Izumi hissed, "That's not good."

"Indeed. But the good news is that we don't need to worry about just anyone coming up with this formula. During testing, it was discovered that human cells were found within the dart, suggesting a quirk may play a vital role in their production."

Izumi hummed, already having an idea where this was going. "Let me guess, you want me to find whoever is making these things and… get them out of the picture."

"The method will be left up to you, but ultimately we just need you to prevent the production of any more of these quirk-erasing bullets. I don't think I need to explain to you why they are incredibly dangerous."

"Yeah, yeah, societal collapse, heroes being killed, the usual. I'll look into it."

"See that you do. We sent you the data we found to use in your search. Good luck." With that, the line cut, and Izumi sighed. Well, at least she could set her eye to scan anyone she came across in case she ran into the person who matched the DNA in the bullets. That would make her search easier.

Technology was awesome.

She had just finished setting up her eye scanner when she noticed that Aizawa was making his way toward her.

"Rough phone call?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just the brass back home making sure I'm not starting international incidents. What are you doing here?" Izumi asked, though not unkindly.

Aizawa was about to answer when a scream of "No!" caught both of their attention.

Both heroes looked to the examination room only to be blinded by the sudden bright light of energy being emitted.

"What the- Aizawa!" Izumi yelled. Not a second later Aizawa managed to activate Erasure, and the bright energy immediately ceased. The two ran in, and looked around, seeing Eri who was now unconscious on the bed, but not seeing Recovery Girl.

"Recovery Girl?" Aizawa called out. "Chiyo?!"

"I'm fine," a… voice, called out. "I was just going to take a bit of Eri's blood, then she lashed out and I think her quirk went off."

"Where are you?" Aizawa walked forward, noticing movement on the floor beside Eri's bed. He walked forward, intent on helping Chiyo to her feet when he froze in place, his eyes widening.

Chiyo looked up and groaned when she saw Aizawa just standing there in shock. "What? What is it? Don't just stand there and help this poor old woman!"

"…I don't think that description exactly fits anymore." Aizawa saw a handheld mirror nearby and grabbed it, holding it out for Chiyo to take it.

"What are… you…" Chiyo trailed off as she looked into the mirror, and what she saw was a person she hadn't seen in decades. In the mirror was a woman fifty years younger, her wrinkles were gone, the saggy skin that came with old age was gone as well, replaced with firm defined lines that outlined a beautiful face and dare she say, youthful body.

She stood from her place on the ground and found that the movement didn't provide any pain, no creaking knees or old injuries hampering her movements, and no back pain causing her to struggle.

She was thirty again…

"Oh my god… I'm… I'm..." She looked down at herself. Her clothes were a little baggy on her, with her younger body being slimmer than it had been, and though she was a little taller her height thankfully hadn't changed much, as she was never a very tall woman to begin with.

She snapped out of her shock, though only barely, and focused on the situation at hand. She can gush over being young again later.

"Eri's quirk must have done this…" She started looking at the sleeping girl before turning to Aizawa. "I'm thankful that you got here when you did, there's no telling what prolonged exposure would have done."

"What is this?' Aizawa held his chin in his hand in thought. "Some kind of de-aging quirk? What do you think, Midoriya?" He asked, though noticed his question went unanswered. "Midoriya?"

He looked over to the examination bed and saw Izumi looking over at Eri, her back to Aizawa and the once more youthful Chiyo.

They couldn't see her face, otherwise, they'd see the absolute shock and horror on her face as she looked down at Eri's sleeping form.

When she entered the room with Aizawa, she left him to help Chiyo while she checked on Eri. It was then as she was looking at her ward that her eye notified her of something that caused her blood to turn to ice.

A match to the DNA that was found in the quirk-erasing darts.

Immediately pieces of a puzzle started to come together in Izumi's head, each new piece causing her blood to boil. Eri's skittish nature, the clothes Izumi found her in… her scars.

Izumi's face didn't convey that of rage, but if one were to look into her eyes and actually study them they would find a cold fury that rarely ever came out.

"Midoriya?" Aizawa stepped forward. "Is something wrong?"

It took everything she had to keep her voice calm and even, but even then Aizawa and Chiyo could make out the hidden anger within it.

"No." Izumi lied, not turning to her co-workers. "Nothing is wrong."

"Everything. Is. Fine."

She didn't think she'd be able to run Hell Class that day.