It had sure been a long, exhausting day. I was completely wiped out, but everyone was chatting excitedly about the day's events. Ashido immediately started trying to tease Uraraka again. "You sure got -"

Tsu interrupted her, "You did great today, Mina."

"Oh, thanks! Though it could've gone better if it weren't for that sadistic little creep!"

We all nodded. Mineta.

"It's about time somebody did something about him!" said Ashido.

"Yes, indeed. I think he went too far today," Yaomomo agreed.

"For real?" she cried out.

"Yes...Do you have something in mind?"

"A few ideas!"

We all gathered again in uniform and headed back towards Heights Alliance, following Iida. Suddenly -

"Iida!"

Kendo, with the rest of Class 1B behind her - excepting Monoma - was smiling at us.

"Kendo. You fought valiantly today!" Iida bowed to her.

"Thanks," she said, scratching her head a little. "We were wondering - would you mind if we came and hung out with you guys?"

"Of course not!" Iida cried out. "We would be honored to have you join us!"

"Great!" said Kendo. "See you there."

Class 1B joined us in our walk back from the campus to the dorms, falling into line with us.

Kendo came up to me and Yaomomo and fell into step beside us.

"Great match today, Yaoyorozu. How're you feeling?"

"A bit better. I keep spare food in my locker in case a training takes a lot out of me, so I've had a chance to replenish my energy a bit."

"She's pretty much prepared for everything," I told her, a bit defensively. You may have won, but you don't need to gloat about it.

But honestly Yaomomo didn't look upset at all.

"I look forward to a rematch some day!" she told Kendo. "I think of you as a wall I have to overcome now."

She blushed a bit as we walked into Heights Alliance. "That's very flattering...but I don't exactly feel like I won this completely. You had a backup plan for everything, anticipated every outcome...it took everything I had to keep up with you."

"Oh, really!" Yaomomo flushed even more, and I tried not to roll my eyes a bit.

"I'll prepare tea for us all!" she called out as everyone assembled, accompanied by Sato saying "And I think I've got some extra cake upstairs, just hold on a moment!"

She rushed off and Kendo turned to me. "Congratulations on your win, by the way."

"Oh, thanks. You too," I added, feeling like maybe I'd been a bit petty before.

"You guys somehow managed to work with Bakugou. I was kinda surprised. I mean, he doesn't seem like the easiest person to get on with."

"He can be ok. He did good drumming for our band."

"He was in your music show?"

"Yeah. He was our drummer. Mine and Yaomomo's."

"Yaoyorozu was? What did she play?"

"Keys. I'm on bass, Kaminari and Tokoyami on guitar."

"That's pretty awesome," she smiled at me. "Wish I coulda seen it."

I took a deep breath. I was still new to being open about my music. But I was too tired to be defensive now.

"I basically wrote the songs."

"Wow, really? You write music?"

"Yep. It's my hobby. All music, all the time."

Yaomomo rejoined us as Kenedo was telling me once again how cool she thought that was.

"Jirou was just telling me about your band," she said to Yaomomo. "We didn't get to see it during the School festival. Wish you'd recorded some of it."

"Oh, really!" Yaomomo flushed up more. "Jirou did it all. She's the musician!"

"You had all the piano skills," I replied, and looked over at Kaminari and Tokoyami. "Makes me wish we could get the band together again..."

"Perhaps we will some day."

"Bakugou probably won't agree to that."

"Where is he, anyway?"

I glanced around. He and Midoriya had both disappeared. "I don't know..."

Kendo shrugged. "Bakugou is kind of your class's Monoma, isn't he?"

"In a different way," Yaomomo sighed.

"You're the deputy Class Rep, right Yaoyorozu? How do you deal with him?"

"I don't really 'deal' with him," she admitted. "I mostly just...let him be. Bakugou's actually fairly well-behaved, even if he's foul-mouthed. In some ways Midoriya is more trouble."

I sipped some tea. "Bakugou made a surprisingly good leader today."

"Your team really showed us up," Kendo grinned. "Good work out there. Guess playing in a band with Bakugou made him easier to work with, huh?"

"Didn't hurt, I guess."

Kendo crossed her legs. "Maybe that's the biggest thing -"

She stopped herself.

"What?"

"Never mind..."

"Please, go ahead," Yaomomo asked her.

"Maybe that's the biggest thing that helped you guys beat us today...that makes you guys - famous, better than us, like you are? Teamwork, I mean."

"I don't think we're better than you," Yaomomo reassured her. "And remember, I didn't win today. You beat me, fair and square, and your teamwork was flawless!"

"I suppose...Well, anyway, it doesn't hurt to get along well with the people you work with."

As we spoke, Bakugou and then Midoriya rejoined us. We continued to chat about the day; I suggested Kendo try Punk rock. At last we all headed up to bed, though I was still dwelling a bit on the possibility.

Maybe, some day, we'd be up on a stage again.

DEIKA CITY

Spinner and Shigaraki, Dabi and Mr. Compress, had been separated from Toga's fight with Chitose. Fighting back on their own sides against the seemingly never-ending onslaught of Meta Liberation army warriors, they looked like blips surrounded by human waves.

"How much longer until wakey-wakey time?" called Spinner.

"One our, 20 minutes," said Mr. Compress.

"For real? Even though we knock em down, they just keep on coming!"

"You haven't taken a single one out yet," snapped Dabi.

"Where'd Toga run off to?" asked Twice.

A car came driving through, a car with a dias on top labeled "Hearts and Minds Party". Atop it stood the Meta Liberation Army Member with the dark glasses and long twine of hair.

"ATTENTION! I HAVE TRAGIC NEWS TO REPORT!"

"An election campaign van?" wondered Mr. Compress.

"MISS CURIOUS HAS FALLEN IN BATTLE! SHE HAS GIVEN HER LIFE TO THE LIBERATION CAUSE!"

"Ahh! How awful" Shrieked the audience members, in a wild display of feeling. "Any word from the grand commander about this?"

"DO NOT LET HER SACRIFICE BE IN VAIN, HE SAID."

"I see," said Compress. "Hanabata's playing the role of the preacher gathering his flock. This isn't an army. It's more like a religious sect."

A giant wall of warriors, all at once, were headed towards Shigaraki. He seemed almost dwarfed by their size.

"Shigaraki!"

Shigaraki's hand had seized the face of the first, which began decaying from his touch -

And it spread to the person next to him - and the next -

and the next

and the next

Until the wall was a pile of ash.