Okay, I have a little announcement to make with this. Don't worry; it's nothing terrible like my cancelling this series. It just…I was expecting a little more of an impact, you know? But I've seen that the number of readers has decreased since the first book. By far, I would say this is the weakest of my current works in terms of readers, so I'll be going on hiatus for a bit; give it time to build something of a following and maybe alter future plots to try and add some spark to this. I don't know when I'll be back with something, but I hope you continue to read my other stuff.

Chapter 10: Internships

It was a little while later that the girls finally came down. All of them were in a great mood as Mina and Hagakure wouldn't stop giggling over what they must have done. "You all look pleased with yourselves," Shoji noted as Mina bounced on over.

"Of course we are. It took some work and elbow grease, but we spruced those two up." She replied, still giggling as Hagakure took a seat next to Ojiro.

"You didn't dress them in your clothes, did you?" The tailed boy asked them, only for Hagakure to start playfully beating on his arm.

"Ojiro, what do you take us for?" She asked them, even as he tried to defend himself from her.

"No, since we're all different sizes, we got Yaomomo to make what we needed," Asui answered.

"I thought she didn't like that," Sero stated, recalling the few times they asked for stuff. She thought they meant she could buy it for them. When they said no since she could make them, he and Kaminari got a 10-minute lecture from her on why she wouldn't abuse her quirk for such things and the possible ramifications that could arise from people like her doing just that.

"She doesn't, but we paid for all of it. She can spend that money however she likes to ensure that the flow of funds and goods continues uninterrupted." Jiro answered, patting Yaoyorozu's back as the girl took a little convincing. Then, Izuku's body type was nothing like the rest of theirs. It was the only viable option.

"We did have to cut down on trying stuff since that would have meant creating a bunch of stuff we didn't want." Uraraka was happy about the part about less waste, but I think we made two masterpieces.

"That'll be the day." Bakugo, whose attention was still on the TV, added.

"Oh, hush, Bakugo. Now, gentlemen, allow me to introduce Intelli's new look to you." Mina jumped as the elevator light dinged, allowing them to see their transfer classmate in her new clothes.

Stepping out, Intelli looked nervous, as the style they had gone for with her was nothing like anything she owned. Wearing a lacy white tank top with its top was decorated with black petals. This is tucked into a pair of blue slim-fit jeans, held by a small black belt with a cat-themed buckle. Her footwear was a pair of inch-high strapped heels. Finishing the look, Intelli wore an oversized pink and black sweater that hung off her shoulders and went as far as her knees. She also pattered to have a hot pink cat face on its back.

"What," Moving a lock of her hair behind her ear, Intelli awaited their judgement. "What do you all think?"

"Wow." Ojiro was speechless. He didn't pretend to be the type who understood fashion all that much, like Shogi, but he liked to think he knew a winner when he saw one.

"Man, she looks good before but is great now." Kaminari whistled.

"I 100% agree. That look suits you. You look like you're about to have a night on the town." Sero replied with a thumbs up, leaving Intelli blushing at all the positive attention. She still smiled as Mina cheered. She knew she had a winner with that one. Her mix of pink and black looked great on her; it went with Intelli's eyes and hair colour and made them pop.

And with one win in the back, it was time to show off their second one. "Come on, Midoriya, let them see you rock it!" Mina called out to her as the two girls rode down the elevator together, but Izuku was still hiding in it.

"But I feel so weird!" Midoriya yelled back from inside it. Jiro had pressed the button on the panel to keep the door open.

"Oh, come on, you look great. It's time you show that off to them," Hagakure encouraged. The girls joined in, clapping for her to reveal herself. They could hear her 'hmmm' as she tried to say no but eventually caved.

"…Okay, I'm coming out," Midoriya stated, and after a few moments, she stepped out.

And Fumikage's jaw might as well hit the floor.

Izuku opted for loose, baggy clothing that she could wear outside school. She dressed like the girl next door, the childhood friend who played with the boys in the mud. This wasn't that, not at all.

She came out wearing a slim, dark green sleeveless shirt that exposed her scar-covered, muscular arms to the world. This shit tucked neatly into a pair of equally slim-fit dark green pants, which had a white line going down its sides, held up by a large, thick belt/sash that wrapped around her midsection, emphasising her bust by making her waist look slim. She wore black and red-soled boots, not heels like Intelli; finishing the look, she came out with a light green and white jacket which hung over her shoulders like a cape.

Seeing her dressed like she owned the place like she commanded authority with her presence was enough to a shock that even Bakugo, who had only spared Intelli a glance before, couldn't help but stare at her. Mineta felt like he had seen true beauty for the first time, as she didn't show off much skin aside from those powerful arms, but it was still hot as shit. Almost enough to make him break his fear-induced silence. Almost. If Midnight dressed like a dominatrix, Izuku was dressed like a ruthless boss. It would have been perfect if not for the fact Izuku's face was as bashful as ever.

"So," Izuku started, though her eyes went over to Tokoyami out of all the boys. The boy still slack-jawed as Midoriya held her arm to her side, wondering how Curious pulled off something like this every day in the office. "What do you think?"

"You're an avatar of Kisshōten. Beauty and strength that's near unnatural." Fumikage spoke without thinking, without filter. He was a poetic boy at times but always leaning towards darker things, perhaps because that was his interest, perhaps because of Dark Shadow's effect on him.

However, that statement was nothing like that; it was much brighter and thoughtful, leaving Izuku feeling warmer than she thought possible as she respected Tokoyami and his opinions. Hearing him compare her to such a thing made her more than a little flustered, so much so that she accidentally activated her meta-ability, but there was an issue. She wasn't wearing her costume clothes, which meant that her slim-fitting set of clothes and boots all tore to shreds, leaving her only in her bra and panties, as those were the only things that were made for her.

There was silence for a moment, as everyone in the room was seemingly slow to react, as faces shifted from amusement to shock and horror. At the same time, Fumikage was given a look at her form, which he had wished for in the corners of his mind but never wanted to see like this. Intelli covered her eyes, her face as red as a tomato as she couldn't believe this. With Midoriya, she felt the fabrics covering her, tearing, and slowly looked at herself. If she was red in the face before, she went nuclear now as she screamed in embarrassment and terror, dropping to her knees and hugging her knees to her chest to protect her modesty.

"Dark Shadow!" Tokoyami was the first to act, as his quirk rushed in faster than Yaoyorozu could create a blanket for her as the shadow wrapped her up, shielding her body from their gazes.

"Midoriya!" Mine and the rest jumped up at that as Yaoyorozu rushed in. With Dark Shadow opening her for her, the heiress quickly covered her up with the blanket. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she just passed out from embarrassment." Yaoyorozu breathed out, as of all the things they could have expected. This was the last thing, and the mood went straight to hell.

"I'll…I'll just take her to her room now…" Tokoyami awkwardly shuffled with the passed-out Midoriya in Dark Shadow's grasp. Even with her gone, none of them could pretend they didn't see that, even as some, like Sero and Kaminari, worried what Mineta would do with that undeserved viewing, which was most definitely burned into his memory. Others felt like they had ruined the mood. "Did we…perhaps take things too far?" Uraraka asked.

"What gave that away? You should have known she'd react like that." Bakugo sarcastically asked, his back to them so they didn't see that he was still red in the face.

"And what makes you so sure this would happen? You didn't say anything before." Mina rebutted that, as sure, they pushed for her to dress up, but she looked great!

"I didn't because I thought you'd have some brains. She likes bird boy, he likes her and she's incredible…that," He didn't have a polite way of saying as meek as a fucking church mouse whenever it wasn't a hero or Eri related. "It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Now I have to try and forget the colour of underwear Midoriya wears." He groaned into his hand as that was something he didn't need in his memory. His only hope was bashing his head a little before bed and hoping the concussion dealt with that by morning.

"Shinso?" Shji turned to his fellow silent watcher.

"I'll bleach my mind to forget that." He answered the unspoken question because he didn't want to be the unlucky bastard who didn't when she calmed down.

With Tokoyami, he awkwardly continued to carry her, even if Dark Shadow was doing the heavy lifting. To keep himself distracted from the forbidden fruit he had seen, he kept his focus on searching for her room, an easy thing as he had been there more than once, but like what he had seen, he made a choice to not think any deeper about that as they had always been friendly visit, nothing more!

Reaching her door, he thanked the heavens for small miracles as the door wasn't locked, allowing him to silently open it and turn on the lights. Ignoring her knick-knacks and gifts from the rest of the class, she placed her on her bed. He noticed, not for the first time, that while there were plenty of pictures of Eri and her mother, even the few images of Bakugo when he was younger with her in the frame, there was none of her father. He was curious, but he never asked.

He supposed he should just leave now, but he felt that a discussion needed to be had. That reaction, on both their parts, wasn't normal, and they couldn't just play it off like it was, either. So, with some hesitation, he adjusted Midoriya so she wasn't just by Yaoyorozu's emergency blanket but under her blankets. With that done, he took a seat at her desk and waited. As he did so, his eyes spotted her notes sprawled all over her desk, next to her laptop, a pretty high-tech one, but she said she got it as a gift from her mother's new boss.

Glancing through the notes, he sees most of it is for school while some are on her abilities, tracking her growth and theorising possible ways to increase its potency. But as those were private, glancing was all he did as he instead picked up a book she had on the desk. That was her copy of an old villain's autobiography, the Meta Liberation War. With nothing else to do, he cracked it, opened it to page one and started reading.

Sometime later, he heard Midoriya begin to stir and placed the book down, waiting for her as she opened her eyes and got up. She looked confused for a moment as to why she was in her room when she recalled being downstairs. "Was that a dream?" she thought aloud.

"I'm afraid it wasn't," Tokoyami replied as Midoriya yelped out in shock; I hadn't seen him there. But wait, if that wasn't a dream, her face went red as she dived into her blankets and screamed. How stupid could she be? A boy tells her she looks pretty, and she tears her clothes off? What would her mother say?!

Tokoyami didn't have much he could say here, so he just remained silent until she eventually pocked her head out from the blankets, looking like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "I apologise for what happened. If I had known my words would gain such a reaction," Midoriya shook her head, interrupting him.

"No, no, it's not your fault…I should have had more control over myself." She couldn't let him take the blame, not when all he had done was be nice to her. But was that all it was? "Did…did you mean it?" She was the plain one, the girl people never had anything positive to say about. She knew that she had accepted that compared to the others, she was just…average.

"Every word." Looking up, she saw that Tokoyami might have been red under those feathers, but he was sincere. He truly believed that he was beautiful, and knowing that it came from him made it feel…better? She couldn't describe it. "Are you…unused to hearing such truths?" There it was again; he didn't say compliments or praises. No, it was truths, like the fact she was beautiful was an ironclad rule.

Bunching up the blankets, she sat up in her bed. "I guess... not from a person that I…like. It's been a while since I've had a crush, to be honest." She recalled the last time she had a crush and shivered, as that wasn't pleasant in the slightest. And I can safely say I dodged a bullet with Bakugo."

"Him?" Tokoyami didn't seem judgmental or amused by this like she would have expected. He merely seemed curious. It was an open secret that she and Bakugo knew each other before U.A., but neither went into details on that.

"I was 6, and he wasn't so bad back then." She still felt the need to defend herself, even if he wasn't acting like she was an idiot for liking Bakugo like that. "Once he started treating me like I wasn't even a person, that crush died."

Frowning, Tokoyami took a risk and got up, walking to her; he knelt by her bed and gently grasped her hand. Despite how flustered this made the both of them, he pushed on. "I've always seen you as an amazing person. How could I not when I first heard your story and met you for myself." He told her, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, but that only made her remember how many people she'd killed with those same hands.

"You don't know the things I've done…" She uttered, her hair covering her eyes for a moment before Fumikage moved her locks from her face, letting his piercing red eyes stare into her emerald ones.

"No, but I know why you do them. I love that you love Eri, your mother, and fight for the protection of others and to better the world." He spoke with such a conviction that any arguments died in her chest. How? How could he look at her like that when she was a killer? When she enjoyed breaking people under her? When she was a broken mess at her core.

"And my opinion has only grown stronger the more time we spend together. You are an avatar of Kisshōten." He brought his other hand to her cheek, hesitant at first, before Izuku leaned into the touch, closing her eyes at how soft his hands were.

Their moment was interrupted by Dark Shadow, who popped out. "Oh, just come out and say it, Fumi! Hey, Izuku, do you want to go on a date when work studies are over?"

"Are…are you asking me out?" Izuku asked as this was new for her in more ways than one.

"I wanted to wait for a better time," Fumikage started, glaring at his quirk, who only giggled. "But yes, I'd like to date you if you'll have me." She pursed her lips at that, as part of her thought this was a bad idea, that she had to remain focused on her mission, but another part wanted to just say screw it and take this.

"Eri will always come first for me, no matter what," she stated, as firm as she could be, even if it came off as a means to drive him off. She had seen plenty of guys lose interest in girls who already had kids, even if that was only on her mother's soap operas and dramas.

"You wouldn't be the girl I liked if it was any other way." Fumikage laughed, to which she joined in as maybe she could have this.

An hour later, 2 hours since they went up, the two returned to the common area. The rest of the class and their guest looked up to the two as they entered the space. Izuku was back to her usual stuff and leaning close to Fumikage, with the shorter boy holding her hand tight. It was clear that something had changed between them since they left. "Hey, we. We wanted to apologise for that mess." Mina walked up to apologise, followed by the rest of the girls.

"Yeah, it was super uncool for us to put you on the spot," Hagakure added, as they didn't want things to end like that.

"It's fine, I liked how I looked in it…" Midoriya replied, leaning closer to Fumikage, who squeezed her hand.

"Then we just have to get you more, but this time, just us girls," Uraraka suggested that they could perhaps ask for some time off campus.

"I'll like that." Midoriya smiled as she walked over with her new boyfriend and sat beside Intelli to enjoy dinner.

For a small chimera, Nezu could move when he wanted to, and he made it seem so easy, as Midoriya had to walk faster than normal just to keep up with his pace. The principal she had decided to intern under was busy on the phone, discussing an issue relating to a police case he was involved in, which wasn't anything new, as she had come to learn in her two days under him that he was involved in at least a dozen cases at any given time.

"But didn't you say that the investigations are normally left to the police?" Midoriya had asked on their first day as she walked behind Nezu, which had become a norm.

"In normal circumstances, yes, but heroes can apply for a license to handle some investigation and evidence analysis elements. As I'm a command-type hero, it only made sense that I acquired such." He replied as they continued to move about. Their location wasn't even a regular agency because Nezu spent most of his time on campus; he also had his agency built on U.A. grounds. When she and Intelli first started, it was weird that the older girl was given more important work than being a glorified secretary, but Izuku couldn't complain too much.

Besides, it was a nice change of pace to be around pros who weren't her teachers. Nezu had 20 sidekicks working under all, and most people had more technical quirks or talents for observation and analysis, like the chimera. As he spoke, he also read through a report that had been sent over. Once he was done, he passed it to her without a word, which she took as he expected and placed it into the stack she was carrying for him. At the same time, he would explain things to her, ask her questions about things he had already gone through, or ask entirely hypothetical questions to gauge her responses.

"You understand the role of a sidekick, then?" Nezu asked her.

"I think so. Contrary to what people think, sidekicks aren't merely backups for their agency heads but full pros in their own right. As such, they're expected to act and react as their employees would. Also, sidekicks might be trusted to meet with law enforcement more often to help them build a stable relationship and learn more about how things are done." Izuku replied, recalling what he had already told her about the profession.

"And?"

"And because they're also there to aid their boss, they cover for their shortcomings." She quickly added that many sidekicks were hired not just for their skills and meta-ability, as annoying as that was to accept, but because they could cover gaps in their boss's stats. For example, Endeavour hired the most fire-related pros out there, from fellow fire users to people with smoke-based quirks or extreme resistance to fire and heat. All this meant that despite being known as the flame hero, he was one of the best people to have on hand during a fire.

"Good, but do you know why so many remain as sidekicks, even the more successful ones?" Nezu asked, looking through another case folder at the same time.

"Because they can't cut it as solo acts?" Midoriya guessed, to which he gave her a smile that she knew she was wrong.

"Partly, but it's more a practical thing as while heroes are expected to work together in a pinch, at the end of the day, they're still competing for incidents to solve to earn their keep," Nezu stated as they passed by a cubicle where he handed the case folder to a woman she didn't recognise, who seemed to vanish from her sight without warning.

"Pros under the same agency don't have that as they all are paid a percentage that is judged by regulators, thereby encouraging teamwork, which leads to greater efficiency in most cases when you have more minds working towards solving an issue." That made sense. She had heard from her friends that part of the reason the license exam had been so demanding was because pros needed to be as effective and, at times, cutthroat as they could be to get to where they were required, assess the situation and act quickly.

That would be made all the harder, with others getting in the way. Sure, say you did stop the villain, but as she saw during Mt. Lady's debut if you don't land the finishing blow or are seen as instrumental to their takedown, then you'll face a decreased pay if you're paid at all. But if you're all working in a team of sorts, that it's more evenly spread.

"Solo work vs. a group assignment. It seems smaller, but only when you look at it on an individual level. A group can handle larger, more complicated tasks than what a single person could do." She tried to picture it in a way related to school work that made the most sense, which pleased Nezu.

"Precisely right. But alas, so many people have it in their heads that it's a zero-sum game where for them to win, someone needs to lose." He saw many things that needed to be changed, but people dragged their feet or flat-out ignored them.

"You don't seem to believe that, seeing how many people you have, but I don't recognise most of them," Midoriya replied, as even after three days here, she still couldn't put a name to most of the faces she was seeing.

"That's because many of them are underground heroes, or did you think Eraserhead was my only connection to that side of the business?" Nezu's eyes seemed to glitter, making her giggle as she should have expected nothing less from him.

"It pays to have eyes and ears there." She agreed as she knew that Curious and Trumpet had plenty of lesser-known or secret agents—people whose job it was to neither be seen nor heard.

"It also helps that we coordinate our strikes against crime, both with more flashy daytime attacks and operations that don't make the evening news," Nezu added that there was plenty of hero work that wasn't suited for the public knowledge, something he suspected she understood very well as it wouldn't do to make it known that you're going after villains or what you know about them unless necessary.

Finishing up what she had been given for him to review, the two returned to his workplace. She was pleasantly surprised to see a familiar, skinny face working at the desk outside of Nezu's office. "All Might?"

"Morning, young Midoriya. I trust you're all." All Might, wearing clothing that fit his more petite frame, greeted her with a smile, though worn by stress and years.

"I'm doing fine. Keeping up with the principal is just a little bit of a challenge. But what are you doing here? Didn't you retire?" She asked as it was a big thing; the news couldn't stop talking about it, with people acting like All Might had died with how they worked. But…maybe they weren't far off. All Might once told her why he hid his wound and pretended like he was still as invincible as ever.

Because after he fell, it didn't matter if the man was alive because the legend died that day, and they were living in that aftermath.

"I did, but I'm still adjusting to retirement, so I pop by now and then to help." All Migh…Yagi-sensei replied it felt wrong to call him that.

"He says that, but he acts more like he's semi-retired, mainly helping around with office work and giving wisdom where he can—something he should be doing as a teacher." Nezu shook his head as Yagi-sensei chuckled, though he was a bit nervous around their boss.

"It's not the worst thing. I might be old, but if Gran Torino can handle it, I can, too." Yagi-sensei brought up another name she didn't recognise, but context clues said they must have been an older hero.

"I figured. For a man that claims he only got his hero license to use his quirk and train you, he doesn't know when to stop." Nezu shook his head.

"Between the three of us, I think part of why he does it is because he can embarrass pros a third his age with his skills." Yagi-sensei chuckled, which seemed to paint the picture of a man who seemed to care but also had an ego and didn't like expressing that he wasn't just in it for himself.

"Well, as fun as this is, I must review some cases. Midoriya, I trust you'll manage." Nezu turned to her, with Midoriya bowing her head to him.

"Of course, sir." She moved to the other desk she had been given on day 1. It wasn't the biggest and didn't have nearly as much equipment as the rest, but it was serviceable. Especially since she spent most of her time filing, reading over reports, or handling questionnaires that Nezu gave her to complete. Also, it meant that she sat close to Yagi-sensei…not All Might. Looking at him, in his now permanently weakened form, twisted her guts. She didn't hate him; she could never hate him; she respected him to hell and back, even if she believed he went about helping the world in the wrong way.

But when he collapsed after his fight with that monster All for One, he had only been the latest of the top ten to go down, making it clear to everyone that if All Might, their God-like symbol, could be pushed to the brink, what about the rest of them? Other heroes had fallen. Some even died. Curious agents had been quick to hammer that home, fuelling fear and concern in the populace. This had the side-effect of emboldening villains, who saw that the time of All Might was over, which led to increased crime, even with more pros on the streets than ever.

Hawks was especially busy in his neck of the woods; Fumi texted that it was hard just keeping up with him as the laid-back pro went from incident to incident like a kid went through gummy bears. She didn't want to come as a worrywart, but that was in her DNA, the same as her mom, so she often told him to be safe and watch his back, even if Hawks was annoyed by how little he actually taught him.

She hoped he enjoyed the clip she found of a woman raising a duck before cooking it. Maybe that'll remind Hawks to stop horsing around.

Hawks wasn't the only top 10 hero that was busy, as Endeavour, their de-facto number one, came out of the hospital and hit the ground running; even now, she would check her phone on her lunch break and see that he resolved at least 3 incidents that morning. All images of the man seemed the same; he still had that fiery passion and drive, but his eyes looked…different. Before, they seemed to burn for no reason, as if whatever drove him was some abstract thing that not even he was sure of anymore.

Now, he had a sense of purpose. It took his rival being forced out of the game to get him to see that. Still, for all his increased arrests, Endeavour wasn't All Might. He wasn't a defender or protector, he was an enforcer, and it showed as, despite his hard work, his fan base remained small, an 8th that of a crowd-pleaser like Wash and a mere 15th of All Might's last official count. She didn't like how people were scared, but it was for the greater good. They needed to be shown that what they believed to be a perfect system was flawed, that it was failing and needed to be changed from the ground up.

But dammit, if only there couldn't be less pain in the process.

As the end of the work day approached, she started to pack her things to return to the dorms, which was now a 15-minute walk away, a trip which she knew wouldn't have as much life to it as she knew that most of her classmates were gone, having gotten spots for work studies that took them far from U.A. the only person aside from here still in the dorm was Intelli. Still, she wasn't scheduled back till later.

As she put the last of her things away, she got a notification on her phone, a news alert. Pulling it out, she saw that a train had derailed in Gifu, but that didn't make sense. Tragic as it was, her news feed was more concerned with hero and villain news; the system should know that. Was it because a train derailment was that big a story? Maybe. She certainly hasn't heard of one in years, if one has happened since she was born.

Skimming the article, she could tell that it was pretty bad, with people loading up the injured to be taken to hospital or their remains for later identification. It was such a tragedy that the city was already announcing that it would suspend public rail till they could be sure this was a one-off thing. As she walked towards the elevator, Nezu's door opened, and the principal came marching out, busy on the phone with a frown. That was concerning, as in the 3 work days she'd done with him, Nezu had never frowned at all, even when handling cases or unsolved murders.

"Follow," Nezu instructed, and she fell in line as while she was meant to be off work, she suspected he knew that and didn't care. This must have been serious. Dropping her things, she grabbed her clipboard and pen. She followed him into the elevator, where Nezu pushed the one for the underground parking instead of hitting the ground floor button. She didn't listen to the conversation; at least she tried to, but in a small space, it was hard to ignore how the topic seemed serious and involved that train since Nezu brought up a derailment.

When they reached the parking garage, they got into Nezu's car, and the driver was already waiting for them, so they drove off. Before she could even ask where they were going at 4 p.m., Nezu answered her.

"Gifu."

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