Katsuki made another pass over the living room rug with the vacuum, the machine whirring loudly as it was guided into a gentle turn. The process repeated several times as he worked his way around the couch and under the coffee table, before he pulled the device back and looked across the room to the kitchen. Izuku and Inko stood in the smaller room, talking about something or other while the boy was showing his mother something within a textbook that laid atop the kitchen island. Katsuki watched a moment as the pair smiled at each other and Inko laughed, keeping a coffee cup held close to her chest. The sight caused Katsuki's nose to wrinkle in annoyance before he turned his attention back to the carpet and pulled the cord out of the way of the machine as he pushed it forward.

A sudden flash upon the TV screen caught Katsuki's attention, and he turned his head toward the display. Shaky video of a building with flames rising from its rooftop was playing upon the screen with a ticker reading BREAKING NEWS along the bottom. Katsuki immediately turned the vacuum off and grabbed the remote from the coffee table, holding down on the volume until the report became audible.

"-ro Sound Selections, a local music store. No motive for the attack has been determined, though there was extensive damage to the building, as well as three casualties. One of the three attackers is now in custody, while another was killed at the scene, and a third managed to escape."

An unkempt man with shoulder-length blond hair appeared onscreen before a microphone, the blackened storefront with its broken windows behind him. He looked out of breath, sweaty, and his face and rumpled dress shirt were streaked with dirt and soot. The subtitle KYOTOKU JIRO, STORE OWNER appeared below him as he spoke, his voice wavering and frantic.

"I-I don't know, it was just a normal day, a-and then these… these people I'd never seen before came into the shop and started acting belligerent. One of 'em had like… burned, rotting flesh beneath his eyes and on his arms, a-"

"Another attack?" Izuku interrupted as he made his way into the living room, closely followed by Inko. "Wh-"

The boy stopped talking as Katsuki shot him a venomous look and held up a hand before turning his attention back to the TV.

"And you and your wife managed to fight them off?" a disembodied voice from the other end of the microphone asked.

"Oh, no," Kyotoku corrected as he held up his hands sheepishly. "I mean, we fought, sure, but it wasn't just us. A bunch of customers, regulars, jumped in and tried to protect us. It got ugly, fast, a-and… people were killed, almost everyone involved was injured, the entire store is a wreck, I-I don't know what we're going to do… I'm just thankful my daughter was at school when it happened, so she didn't have to see any of this…"

Katsuki clenched his teeth, the tendons in his neck pulling tightly as he balled a trembling fist.

"…what the hell is going on in Japan lately…?"

Izuku looked over at his mother, only to find her expression mirroring his own. Both of the Midoriyas appeared unsettled and worried, though Inko had taken to wringing her hand around her coffee cup as she continued to watch the news report.

"I think… it's a lot of things," Inko said slowly. "And I don't think it's going to stop, either."

"But it has to," Izuku said matter-of-factly. "The pros are going to crack down and probably ramp up patrols, right? All Might isn't just going to sit back and let brazen attacks like this keep happening so frequently. This is his turf!"

"All Might is one man, and this kind of thing isn't just happening here," Katsuki spat. "Japan is a big place. Even with the top ten, they can't watch everywhere, all the time. We need more heroes. Better heroes. Villains being unafraid to carry out random attacks is a bad sign of the direction things are headed…"

The trio continued to watch as two anchors appear onscreen behind a desk and began to speak, providing a history of crime within the area. Katsuki listened intently, while Inko furrowed her brows and stared into her coffee for a while before speaking up.

"…Izuku, sweetie?" Inko began, only for her son to perk up and look at her. "Could you make a quick run to the corner store? There's a list on the refrigerator…"

"Of course!" Izuku acknowledged as he moved his way back into the kitchen. "I'll be right back!"

Katsuki watched his friend snatch the list on his way out the door, leaving him alone with Inko. As the woman moved to sit upon the couch and set her cup upon the table, he snapped the vacuum back into a free-standing upright position. Katsuki folded his arms across his chest as he looked at her expectantly, his face pulled into a scowl.

"…what do you really think it is, Mrs. Midoriya?"

Inko folded her hands within her lap, rumpling her skirt in the process. She gave Katsuki an uncertain look, and then shook her head with a wistful sigh.

"…I think hero celebrity culture is partially to blame… but I don't think Izuku would agree, given how much he idolizes All Might. I know you do, too, but… you don't seem to be nearly as obsessed."

Katsuki merely shifted his weight and remained silent as he redirected his eyes to the carpet.

"More and more names are getting bigger and bigger, and heroes have almost entirely replaced celebrities in other fields. Bigger, flashier Quirks than ever before are becoming commonplace, and those born without ones that provide a good show are starting to feel downtrodden and unable to chase after that pro hero dream that it seems all of society has, at this point. I think that is driving a lot of this villainy. It's a call for attention. A voice from people unheard that demands to be listened to."

"…tch. Doesn't give them the right to make a mess of everything for everyone else," Katsuki protested with a snarl. "Being born with a powerful Quirk or a… less than powerful one isn't anyone's fault."

"No, it isn't," Inko agreed. "Izuku has told me over and over that you're planning on becoming number one in Japan and taking the hero world by storm. Given your Quirk, it sounds very possible to me. It's a very dangerous job, Bakugo, and it's only becoming worse as the days go on. Are you sure you want to put yourself at risk like that? People are dying almost weekly in these attacks. Some of them aren't much older than you."

Katsuki watched as the news reel began to loop, Jiro Sound Selections burning on screen once again.

"…I'm not letting that become the new normal," the boy asserted. "If villains are getting frustrated that they're not good enough, then they're just not putting in the effort to maximize the potential of their Quirks. Anyone can become a pro if they work at it hard enough. It's just an excuse to behave like animals. They'd be even worse if they'd gotten a Quirk like mine. Garbage people are going to be garbage. They'd just use a different justification."

"Maybe so…" Inko considered with a frown. "But the frequency of incidents is increasing at a worrying pace. Animals can be incredibly dangerous when their numbers grow…"

"Tch. They can still be put down," Katsuki reassured. "And if they're getting complacent and comfortable doing this kind of thing in our society… then I'll be the one to give them something to fear again."

"So, d'ya think we'll get formal invites to audition soon?" Mina asked as she leaned into Eijiro's arm and intertwined his fingers with her own. "U.A. is only a couple of months out from entrance exams, and we're getting closer and closer to graduating high school…"

Eijiro blushed as Mina latched onto him. No matter how many times she had insisted on publicly displaying her affections for him, he had never found it easy to ignore the resulting stares. Though he absolutely thought that the tradeoff of a few dirty looks from adults at the surrounding storefronts and upon the sidewalk was worth it, he couldn't help but feel vulnerable all the same. He offered a nearby woman an uneasy grin as he and Mina passed, only for her to quirk a brow and smirk back at him. The look only made him blush harder as Mina gave his hand a squeeze.

"Huh? Oh! Uh, yeah, probably… if we get picked for auditions," Eijiro reminded. "Competition's gonna be fierce, even before they filter the applicants."

"Oh, we'll at least make it that far," Mina insisted. "Trust me. I've got a sense about these kinds of things."

"Are you sure you're not just hoping really hard? I mean, our grades are just okay," Eijiro pointed out, only to receive a backhand to the chest in response. "Alright, alright! We'll make it into auditions!"

"There you go," Mina praised. "Have a little faith. I've got… connections."

A sudden sense of overwhelming dread gripped Eijiro's chest like a vice as the pair turned the corner at the end of the block.

"…what did you do this time?"

"Pff, I didn't do anything!" Mina replied with an air of feigned offense. "I used my resources to get a little dirt on U.A.'s fall semester, and I've got a friend who can help us at least get to the entrance exams. That's all."

Eijiro wracked his brain to try to figure out just who Mina was talking about, only to come up short. Ever since he had started sitting at her lunch table a few months back, he had been introduced to an entire cast of colorful girls- sometimes literally- as well as a few other boys. Eijiro could barely keep all of their names straight in his head, to the point where he wondered if Mina wasn't friends with the entire school. In truth, he wouldn't have been surprised to learn that she was.

"Uh… help me out, here?" Eijiro pleaded. "Which friend, and what do you know?"

"Oh, you haven't met her," Mina reassured with a smile. "Amaya Kan, from my history and math classes. White and red hair, bat wings, usually looks pissed off. She sits with the goth kids."

"Huh. Sounds… familiar. I think I saw her jam someone in a locker not that long ago?" Eijiro mused as Mina stepped ahead of him and tugged his hand to drag him into a convenience store.

"Yeah, that sounds like her," Mina confirmed as she passed through the automatic doors. "Turns out, her dad is Vlad King."

"What? No way!" Eijiro balked as he finally pulled his hand away from Mina's and stuffed it into his pocket to avoid further public embarrassment. "Now you're just making stuff up…"

"Nuh-uh," Mina replied with a wicked grin. "We hang out every so often, and the other day, she was pissed. Turns out, daddy dearest and Eraserhead are running Class 1-B and 1-A in the fall. That means they both got their pick of two special recommendation students. Guess who didn't get picked."

"…Vlad King stiffed his own daughter on a recommendation?" Eijiro asked in disbelief. "But he seems so… actually, now that I think about it…"

"Yeah," Mina confirmed as she made her way toward the candy aisle. "Amaya isn't talking to him, apparently. He's forcing her to apply to U.A. the normal way, and she's livid. Livid enough to leak me that info, alongside some other stuff. The special recs are just as bullshit as you might imagine."

"What do you mean by that?" Eijiro asked, curious.

"Tenya Iida and Toru Hagakure are the picks for 1-A, while Shoto Todoroki and Momo Yaoyorozu got the slots for 1-B. See a pattern?" Mina asked flatly.

"…money," Eijiro deadpanned before sighing heavily and taking a bag of candy off the rack. "Money, and recognizable names from important families that could give U.A. a public image boost… though I don't know of a Hagakure family, unless I'm forgetting."

"Yeah, I had to look her up, too," Mina consoled as she led the way to the refrigerated coolers at the back of the store. "Dad owns an upscale restaurant in Kyoto that a lot of pros frequent, Mom runs a pachinko den. Odds are she's filthy rich. Like she might give the Yaoyorozu kid a run for her money."

"…figures," Eijiro muttered. "So, what, is Amaya gonna force her dad to give us a chance somehow?"

"That's the plan, yeah," Mina replied with a grin. "She'll use it as a bargaining chip to start talking to him again. She owes me a favor, so she's gonna help us out, along with another guy who isn't so hot on grades. A lot of getting ahead out of high school has to do with who you know, and who you blow."

Eijiro raised a brow and paused midway through grabbing a can of soda from the cooler.

"…what?" Mina asked, seemingly oblivious for a moment. "Oh! Don't worry, I only blow you. Duh."

"Mina!" Eijiro scolded as his blush returned in full force and he pulled the can out to his chest. "Do-"

A sudden loud bang echoed throughout the store before fragments of plaster began to rain from the ceiling a few aisles away. Screaming quickly broke out as several patrons began to make a mad dash for the exit, only for another bang to topple one of the displays and send it crashing to the floor nearby.

"Nobody move!" a commanding male voice boomed. "Don't do anything stupid! If any of us see a cell phone come out, you're dead!"

Eijiro instinctively crouched low and set his items on the tile floor as he leaned around a nearby rack to try to get a look at the speaker. Mina hunched over and moved to follow, pressing closely into the boy's side.

"Shit, I can't see anything…" Eijiro whispered as he leaned back and gave Mina a worried look. "Only way out's on the other side of the store."

Mina took a deep breath and swallowed hard, before giving her friend a look of steely determination.

"…and a pro would've made themselves known by now. You know what that means."

Eijiro held Mina's look for a moment, before nodding slowly.

"Yeah. I do."

Author's Note:

Heating up more and more. Only a matter of time before something wild happens. I also just noticed that Hawks' name is Keigo Takami, not Tamaki. Apparently I can't read. I went back and fixed the "Tama-Hawks" dialogue exchange in Chapter 14 to fix his name.

Original:

"Told ya they were smart. That's right, Tamaki #2."

"…Tamaki #2?" Keigo asked as he looked sideways to the woman leaning upon him. "So, am I Tamaki #1, just Tamaki, or Keigo, now?"

"Well, we need some way to differentiate between the two of you in front of other people," Rumi explained. "I've got it. From now on, you can be Tama-Hawks."

"…no," Keigo seethed through clenched teeth as he bristled and dropped his sunglasses back down over his eyes. "I hate that. Definitely not."

Fixed:

"Told ya they were smart. And here you thought we'd be able to control this entire situation without them catching on."

"Did I?" Keigo asked as he looked sideways to the woman leaning upon him. "I'm pretty sure you were the one who was banking on them needing an explanation."

"Details, details..." Rumi said flippantly as she idly traced a hand up through the feathers of Hawks' wing before plucking one of them and holding it aloft.

"Hey!" Keigo seethed through clenched teeth as he bristled and dropped his sunglasses back down over his eyes. "None of that. I hate that..."

"In public, you do," Rumi sassed with a knowing smirk.

-RD