"Focus."

Izuku stood alone in the elevator, his assorted Dungeons and Dragons supplies held in a box under one arm as he attempted to settle down.

"Focus on the game. You told them there'd be a session today. You told her there'd be a session today. There will be a session today."

He took a deep breath, then another, trying to suppress all of the other thoughts that have been swirling around in his brain as of late. The situation with Eri and Chisaki. The repeated insistence that he'd never measure up as All Might's successor. The prediction that All Might was going to-

"Focus!" Izuku repeated in his head, more determined than ever to root these thoughts out. He had made his friends a promise and he was going to keep it. He was going to run this session, and he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that he did it well, without any of the things that had been weighing him down all week. His friends deserved that much; things had never been easy at U.A., and he wasn't about to make them worry about him even more on top of everything else they had to deal with. That's what being the Symbol of Peace meant, at least how All Might had defined the role. It meant putting on a brave, joyous smile no matter what. A smile meant to reassure everyone that things would be alright, even when they weren't. That you had the situation under control, even when you didn't.

That you were okay, even when you weren't.

The elevator doors opened, greeting Izuku with the welcome sight of the common area and the even more welcome sound of his friends' conversations. As the party came within view, he noticed that Jirou, Kaminari, and Momo had retained their seating arrangement from last time, with Jirou in the middle and her partners sitting close to her on either side. He was also happy to observe that Jirou had gotten a bit more comfortable being affectionate with her partners in public, as she let her head rest contentedly on Momo's shoulder while Kaminari held his arm around her. A part of Izuku contemplated asking Jirou how she had grown accustomed to it so quickly. The thought of one partner being that affectionate with him was already enough to make him nervous; two, he reasoned, would send him into cardiac arrest. Not that he had been thinking about anyone in particular hugging his arm and laughing happily as they walked around the city, of course.

Turning his thoughts to other avenues, he gave a polite greeting to the happy couples and turned towards Koda in order to greet him as well. The quiet boy had taken a seat to Izuku's left, likely wanting to be closer in order to get across what Whisper was doing without talking too loudly, and he simply smiled in response. Across from Kaminari, Toru greeted Izuku almost eagerly, while Mina, sitting next to her on Izuku's right, smiled at him with a look that seemed to say a thousand words at once.

"Hey," she said warmly, looking straight into his eyes and seeming to blush just a bit upon seeing him sit down at the table.

"Hey," he replied back, surprised by how quickly he had managed to compose himself. The fuzzy feeling was back, and as much as it made him even more nervous, he had to admit it was doing a better job keeping his mind focused on the task at hand than his elevator pep talk. Coughing awkwardly, he put his things down on the table and began to set everything up for the session itself. He was so focused on this task that he failed to notice the way Mina continued to look at him, a look which lasted long enough for everyone else to notice it first. A slight chuckle from Momo brought Izuku's attention back to his friends for a moment, but by that point, Mina had realized what she had been doing and coughed awkwardly herself, blushing a fair bit more. Deciding to ignore it, Izuku pressed on, his preparations complete.

"So! Are we ready to start?" he asked, looking around the room. The question prompted everyone else to ready themselves, Jirou and her partners separating for the moment while Toru turned her attention away from Mina as she regained her composure.

"You bet!" Mina replied eagerly, shifting into her Joy voice. A few of the party members chuckled lightly, and decided to follow Mina's lead.

"Sure," Toru said, the harsh voice of Scratch coming to her surprisingly easily.

"I was born ready," Kaminari said, trying to sound cool the same way he had tried before.

"Always," said Jirou, once again adopting Alis' prim and proper accent.

"Let's go," Momo said, more comfortable with the gruff voice she had devised for Rona than during the first session.

Koda, in a rare instance of impulsiveness, let out a cawing sound, having learned from a young age how to mimic many of the animals he commanded through his quirk. Judging from the table's laughter in response, he surmised that the joke had been well received. Izuku chuckled himself before launching into the recap he had written up beforehand.

"Alright, so, when last we left off..."

After the group had gotten their bearings and the freed elves had departed for the safety of the tavern, figuring out what to do next proved to be fairly simple. The dryad, Fernis, was bonded to the tree that had been corrupted by the strange moss, causing him to become corrupted as well. Neither can be separated from the other, and should one die, the other would follow suit within 24 hours. From what Fernis could remember of when he was infected, the corruption compelled him to spread the infection to other fey creatures like himself, as well as creatures descended from fey, like the elven travellers. As such, the fledgling adventurers were left with two problems: stopping whoever had infected Fernis and the others from hurting anyone else, and finding a way to save Fernis' life in less than a day.

"Joy is gonna look at Fernis and ask him 'Is there anything you remember from before all this happened?'"

Izuku took a second to consult the module before coughing a bit, getting into character.

"'Just a...vague image.,' he says, speaking, you know, very slowly, very deliberately. 'There was...an elven man...holding a wooden staff. He cast some...spell at me, and then...nothing.'"

"'Hm. You think he's still around?' Scratch asks the rest of the group as she casually sharpens her dagger."

"Alis is gonna chime in. 'It's a possibility. If we assume that this spell was what brought about the infection, then it is likely that only a fey can spread the infection, rather than a being of fey ancestry such as myself and the other elves.'"

"'Yeah, it seemed like the moss monsters just wanted to kill everybody,'" Kaminari remarks, leaning back in his seat as Rai was presumably doing in that moment.

"'And if he already found one fey in a forest as big as this, chances are he's found another,'" Momo adds, her expression doing a lot to convey the impression of her being a tall and imposing warrior. Jirou couldn't help but look at her girlfriend in awe for a second before her ear twitched, and she overheard Koda whispering something to Izuku.

"Hm? Uh, yeah, you can do that. Make an Arcana check," Izuku answered, prompting Koda to roll a d20 and whisper the result. Izuku nodded in response, and took a moment to formulate what information to reveal to Koda before clearing his throat.

"Whisper, you, uh, you naturally have a bit more knowledge of this forest than most, particularly the animals, plants, and people that call this forest home. You remember hearing stories of mischievous pixies and other fey creatures causing travellers trouble, leading many people to avoid the woods. A, uh, exception to this trend is the story of the lubberkin, large hairy figures with a tail who would guide lost travellers. You, uh, you don't remember much else about them, or any of the other fey you've heard about. Do you tell the rest of the group about this?"

Koda nodded, and leaned towards Jirou, but Jirou was already on it. "Once Whisper says all that to Alis, they'll first thank him for the info, then address the group. 'Whisper here was just telling me about different kinds of fey creatures, one of which are lubberkin, who act as guides to lost travellers. I believe that information may prove significant.'"

"'Huh, yeah. Person like that would probably know where people are most likely to be.' Scratch kinda puts away her dagger; it's as sharp as it's gonna get."

"'And they wouldn't be stuck to one spot like ol' Ferny here,'" Kaminari adds, causing Izuku to chuckle a bit.

"Fernis, he, uh, he isn't gonna dignify that nickname with a response. He, eh, he does say one thing, though."

"Oh?" Mina asked, curious on what Izuku was about to add.

"Fernis says 'There's one lubberkin...I know of...in these woods, named Corey. He dwells deeper within the woods...near the center. Of course...if he has been taken over...he may likely have moved...but if not-'"

"'He'll be there,'" Mina finishes for Izuku. "'And we gotta help him.'"

"Fernis just nods, groaning a bit. 'You...you should go. In my weakened state...I'll only slow you down.'"

"Joy speaks up pretty much instantly. 'Without you, we might end up getting lost along the way, though, and that would just slow us down more! Besides, we need all the help we can get, right, guys?'"

The rest of the group generally nodded, although Jirou seemed intent on saying something.

"'There is the risk that, should we find this old man, Fernis will become infected once again, leaving us with the unenviable position of fighting a battle on two fronts.'" Mina nodded slowly, not really being able to argue with that, but still not wanting to leave Fernis alone.

"'I may be able to travel...part of the way,' Fernis says to you, Joy."

"Joy smiles. 'Sounds good! And hey, who knows? Maybe we'll find a way to help you at the same time!'"

Izuku paused for a second before continuing. "Fernis smiles weakly and says 'Perhaps,' but he doesn't sound entirely convinced."

"Oh, Joy's gonna change that, trust me," Mina said with a chuckle, leaving Izuku to reply in kind before turning to the rest of the group.

"So, are you all ready to head out, or would you like to take a short rest first?"

"Rest!"

"Rest."

"Rest, please, I am literally on 1 hit point," Jirou said, chuckling a bit in order to ameliorate her nervousness.

"Yeah, I figured," Izuku said good-naturedly. "Alright, you guys, you know, take your short rest, heal what you can, and as soon as you're done, you can head out towards the center of the woods. That sound good?"

The chorus of agreement which followed set Izuku at ease, reassuring him that he was doing a good job thus far. He wasn't sure why he had been so worried earlier; as long as he kept himself busy, everything else that had been on his mind before never even came up. He could just focus on having a good time with his friends, exactly as he had intended, and he anticipated that he would be able to wrap up this leg of the adventure much earlier than the previous session had ended.

It shouldn't be that difficult, he figured. There were only gonna be a couple brief encounters before the group reached Corey's cottage in the woods, dealing with some natural hazards and a couple wild animals. Then, of course, there was the cottage itself, which they would find surrounded by a couple of moss monsters while some commotion was going on inside. Taking out the moss monsters, they'd go in only to find that they were too late: the old man, known as Tiren, had already infected Corey, ordering the gentle giant to attack the party. The two of them together were a fairly formidable team, but with so many players in their group, the party should have had no problem defeating both of them and advancing to level 3. The encounter was balanced; Izuku had double-checked himself, just to be certain.

As far as he was able to tell, there was nothing that could possibly go wrong.

Everything went wrong.

It started out pretty much exactly as he had predicted. Whisper was able to identify the dangerous plants growing along the road, and was able to steer the others around them before anyone had to start making Constitution saves. The river they had to cross had seemed daunting, but between Rona's great strength and Whisper's ability to turn into animals, the party made their way across easily enough. The situation had even led to some fun roleplaying, even if most of that was just Jirou and Momo flirting with each other as Rona bridal-carried Alis across the river. Thus, after a brief run-in with a pack of dire wolves that were swiftly routed, the group was able to make it to the cottage and fight off the moss monsters with only moderate difficulty, leaving Fernis in a glade nearby for his own safety.

It started to go awry once they got inside.

"'Fools!'" Izuku said, cackling and doing his best to sound as cartoonishly evil as possible. "'You are already too late! Now rise, minion! Rise and destroy these interlopers!'"

The entire party, Mina especially, couldn't help but laugh at how over-the-top Izuku was acting while roleplaying Tiren, and seeing that they liked it made Izuku smile brightly. Nobody at the table was likely to know he had based Tiren's voice on the main villain of the poorly-received "All Might Adventures" cartoon from ten years ago, but the reference still made him happy anyway, and that was the important part. In any event, there were other things to focus on at the moment.

"Alright, Corey begins to lumber forward, covered in moss, while Tiren holds up his staff and prepares for battle. Roll initiative, everybody." After the process of rolling dice and giving out results had been tallied up, the actual combat began, with Scratch going first.

"I'm gonna Dash as a bonus action and get right up in the old guy's face!" Toru called out excitedly, eager to set up her Sneak Attack in advance. Izuku chuckled.

"Okay, you going for a shortsword attack?"

"Yes please!"

"Roll it," Izuku said, and before Toru even finished rolling, Izuku figured it was going to hit. Spellcasters were not known for their high AC.

"16! Does that hit?" Toru asked, to which Izuku nodded, causing her to grin. "Alright, so that'll be...9 damage!"

Izuku blinked, not expecting Toru to roll maximum damage, but continued on without much interruption, subtracting the number from the boss' hit points. "Yeah, with that one swing, he's looking fairly injured already. You figure, ah, few more attacks like that and he's done."

"Nice! Scratch is gonna kinda smirk and be like 'Ha! Pathetic.'"

"Hey, Midori, you mind if Joy calls out something real quick?" Mina asked, the look in her eye suggesting she was planning something.

Izuku considered it for a second. "Sure, I'll allow it."

"Awesome. 'Hey, Scratch, move off to the side of that old guy!'"

Toru looked over at Mina for a moment before nodding. "'Yeah, alright,' and I'll try and move around so that I'm next to the old guy."

"Got it. Mina, you're up," Izuku remarked, and his use of Mina's first name hardly went unnoticed by the rest of the group. Mina chuckled, looking back at Izuku with a smirk on her face.

"Remember when I said my new spell was going to wreck everything?" she asked, causing Izuku to chuckle in kind.

"What are you doing, Joy?"

"I'm gonna run right up in front of the big guy and cast Thunderwave," Mina answered promptly. "And if I read the thing right, both the big guy and the old guy gotta make Con saves."

"Alright..." Izuku muttered, rolling a couple of dice before looking back at the group. "They both failed. What happens now?"

Mina grinned, eagerly stretching her fingers out in front of her like she was about to work on something. "Joy's gonna stomp on the ground, and as soon as she does, a big wave of energy erupts in front of her, sending the bad guys flying ten feet away from her and dealing..." Mina's eyes widened as she looked back at the two d8s she had rolled. "16, holy heck, what is with our dice tonight?!"

"Max damage again? Damn, I might not even get a turn in at this rate!" Kaminari chimed in somewhat dejectedly, lamenting his natural 1 on initiative earlier.

"I wouldn't count out Corey just yet..." Momo replied, remembering how big he was according to Izuku's description.

"Indeed; the, uh, the blast messes Tiren up pretty badly, sending him flying into a wall, but Corey only appears to be moderately injured, albeit, you know, really pissed off. Anything else, Joy?"

Mina murmured to herself for a bit before deciding what to do. "Joy's a bit bummed that the blast didn't take out Corey, so she's gonna look over to Rona and say 'Alright, time to bring in the big guns! Literally.' And she's gonna give a little wink, while Rona gets bardic inspiration."

"Rai kinda looks between Joy and Alis like, 'Being big and strong, huh, is that all it takes? That all it takes for people to flirt with you all the time?'"

"'Not the time, sailor,' although you notice Alis is blushing a bit."

"'Hmph.' Rona rolls her eyes, but she does appreciate the encouragement."

"Anyway, uh, in that case, it's Tiren's turn now. He looks around at you all, ah, pretty nervously, before glancing towards a window and suddenly disappearing in a cloud of mist."

"Ah, crap, can we see him?" Jirou asked.

"He's, uh, he's visible out one of the windows, but he quickly disappears from view. It seems like he's making a break for it as fast as he can. Whisper, what are you doing?" Koda leaned over to whisper to Izuku, who promptly nodded. "Alright, roll it," he said, waiting for Koda to do so and glancing at the result. "Yup, you hit. Roll damage, and both Corey and, unfortunately, Joy need to make a Dex save as a shard of ice flies from Whisper's hand and hits Corey."

Mina nodded, rolling her save and breathing a sigh of relief. "Phew, 18!"

"Okay, and Corey failed, meaning he'll take another 2d6 cold damage on top of...3 piercing damage," Izuku remarked, glancing at Koda's dice again. After another quick glance and a short conversation, he added, "6 more, so 9 damage total. Corey's getting there, although he's not down yet. Alis, you're up."

"Alright, I'm gonna move up and see if I can find anywhere where I can get a clear shot at Tiren."

Izuku considered this for a moment. "Hm...yeah, that should work. You move up closer and spot him out of a different window, much further away."

"Like 120 feet away?" Jirou asked, causing Izuku to chuckle.

"Not even close."

"Cool. Alis sings a short melody before three darts of magical energy form around them. They point a finger towards Tiren and mutter 'Go,' causing the darts to fly off towards him, seeking him out. You guys got some extra d4s?" Her partners readily volunteered theirs, causing Jirou to smile a bit before rolling for damage. "13. Hopefully that's somebody's unlucky number," she said with a smirk. Izuku nodded.

"Yup, as the darts, uh, crash through the window and fly towards Tiren, you watch as the fleeing old man is pierced by the darts and falls to the ground, unmoving."

"Haha, nice!" Toru cried out.

"Excellent work, Jirou!" Momo added, causing Jirou to blush a bit.

"Okay, so, is the moss still on that Corey guy? The old guy cast the spell; did taking him out undo it?"

Izuku took a quick breath before responding. "Unfortunately...the moss is still covering Corey."

The group briefly voiced their disappointment, although they had had a feeling it wouldn't be that easy.

"Dang. Alright, I move back a bit and end my turn."

"Okay, it's, ah, Corey's turn now. Since he's still infected...he's gonna move towards you, Alis, charging past Joy in order to slam down on you with his fists. Joy, would you like to make an opportunity attack?"

"Yup! 'Oh, no, you don't!' and I try to stab him with my dagger." Mina rolled her d20 and grimaced when the result came up. "12?" she asked, her tone hopeful, before Izuku shook his head.

"Unfortunately, you just barely miss, carving off some moss on his shoulder as Corey goes to attack." Izuku paused to roll his d20 behind the security of his DM screen, glancing down at the result with a look of growing apprehension. "Uh, okay, so, he just landed a crit."

"What?!"

"Oh, boy."

"This isn't good..."

Izuku took a deep breath. This was unexpected, but, he reasoned, it would be fine. He'd probably just roll low enough to just knock Alis out real badly. True, he had double the damage to worry about now, but as long as he rolled low, nothing too bad should-

"27," he muttered, dumbfounded. He stared down at the dice, doing the math in his head twice, then three times just to be certain. The results were the same.

"Uh, Midoriya?" Jirou asked.

Given the minor injuries that Alis had received earlier, coupled with their low hit point maximum, 27 damage was enough to...well. He wasn't about to fudge it; he couldn't. It'd go against his instincts as a dungeon master. And yet, to do it so soon, so suddenly, felt almost...cruel.

"Midoriya, you good?" Jirou asked, a little more forcefully this time.

"Midori, what's wrong?" Mina added, her voice laced with concern.

Izuku took a deep breath. There was no getting around it. He tried to ignore the thoughts that were coming back around now that he'd let down his guard, pushing them down just long enough to say what needed to be said.

"You all watch as Corey, ah, rushes towards Alis and slams down with all of his considerable strength. Alis...they take 27 bludgeoning damage, uh, from the attack. They fall to the ground...not moving."

Jirou and a couple of the others nodded slowly, not quite understanding the gravity of the situation. "Well, yeesh, alright. Guess I gotta start making saves and-"

"Hang on," Mina interjected, feeling like she understood what had left Izuku so upset. "Wasn't there a rule somewhere about getting knocked out? Like, if the damage goes above a point..."

Izuku nodded, not being able to say much in that moment. "The leftover damage after they would have dropped...it, uh, it's more than their hit point maximum. Which means..." Izuku took another breath. This was a lot harder than he could have imagined. "Which means they didn't make it," he finished, looking down at his dice to avoid looking at Jirou and the others.

"Didn't...wait, they're dead?" Kaminari asked, surprised. "No death saves, no chance to heal, they're just...dead?"

"I'm...I'm afraid so," Izuku replied. He could feel the thoughts coming back, as much as he tried to stop them. "There's...there's nothing you can do." They kept getting louder and louder, so much so that he didn't even realize he had voiced one of them aloud, albeit so softly that only Jirou heard him.

"You can't save everyone."

Izuku heard the party discussing something, but his mind was so preoccupied that he couldn't make out any of it. All he could make out was that it was loud, too loud. He instinctively covered his ears, knowing if he didn't that it'd make a meltdown even more likely. He imagined that the others were probably looking at him as he hid behind the DM screen, but he couldn't help it. He needed to pause, breathe, get a handle on these thoughts before he blurted something out and made them worry about him even more. All he'd wanted was a couple hours of fun with his friends, and he couldn't even manage that. He had rolled the dice and now Alision was dead. Not even two sessions in and Jirou's character was dead. He knew on some level that it wasn't his fault, but that information hadn't seemed to click in his brain enough for him to not feel guilty about it anyway.

Was she mad at him for what happened? Would she stop playing after this session? If she did, what about everyone else? From what he had gathered, Jirou's presence was part of what made Koda comfortable enough to play. If she left, would he end up leaving too?

"Midori?"

What about Momo and Kaminari? If Jirou was mad at him, they probably wouldn't continue playing either; she was their girlfriend, after all. Those four players had been responsible for most of the cool moments in combat, as well as most of the roleplaying. Without them, the game would be a lot less fun. Sure, he could invite other people to play, but who would want to play with him after such a massive screw up?

"Midori," he heard this time, as he looked up and noticed Mina's hand on the DM screen. He blinked, not aware that he had been on the verge of crying.

"Y-yeah?" he said, uncovering his ears as he attempted to compose himself.

"Jirou has a question," Mina explained, her soft expression clearly indicating her concern. Izuku looked over to Jirou, who seemed to be similarly concerned, along with the rest of the party. Exactly what he'd been trying to avoid.

"Uh, sure. W-what's up, Jirou?"

Jirou took a deep breath before asking her question. "So, uh, before Alision...dies...is there a chance they could give any last words?"

Izuku blinked again. Jirou sounded...disappointed in the way things had turned out, but not...overly upset. He stopped to consider her question. One might be inclined to answer no, that dying instantly means dying instantly. That was probably what the rules had intended. And yet, at this moment...Izuku figured that the rules could be bent a little.

"Uh, yeah, go, ah, go right ahead."

Jirou nodded. "Cool," she said, taking another deep breath. She hadn't been playing her character for a long time, but everyone at the table still felt something in that moment. Maybe part of it was a sense of needing to feel something, or maybe the game had affected them more than they realized. Regardless, something needed to be said, and after talking to Koda a moment earlier, Jirou had a good idea of how she wanted Alision to go out.

It'd put her on the spot a bit, requiring her to do something she had never done in front of other people before. She couldn't deny feeling nervous at that prospect. But, then again, she had done a number of things that she had been extremely nervous about recently; taking the plunge in those cases had proven to quite possibly be one of the best decisions she had ever made. If she could confess her feelings not once, but twice, in the same day, then she could do this easily. With this newfound confidence, she engaged the first part of her plan.

"As Alis is lying on the ground, they...briefly look over at everyone in the party, starting with Rona and working around until they make eye contact with Whisper. They smile at him before humming a melody they shared with him, hoping that he can hear them even though he's so far away." Having said that, Jirou began to hum herself, a sweet, yet almost melancholy tune that nobody at the table could immediately recognize. When she was done, she took another deep breath before looking up at the group. "That's it," she said simply. "That's the last thing they do before...well. Everything fades to black."

The group sat there in silence for a moment, processing what had just happened, while Izuku continued trying to pull himself together. When he felt he had done that about as well as could be expected, he cleared his throat and attempted to get the ball rolling once more.

"Rona, you're up," he said, snapping Momo out of her own self-reflection.

"Hm? Oh, yes, of course," she responded, taking a quick breath before adopting a look of pure determination. "Rona isn't going to say anything; she's simply going to hoist her longsword and charge at Corey, attacking with a ferocity none of you have seen from her thus far." Momo rolled her d20 and looked down for a moment before turning to Izuku. "I'm going to add my bardic inspiration," she announced, rolling an extra d6 and looking at that as well. "Well, I'm assuming that a 20 hits," she said, half-jokingly, to which Izuku nodded, almost on autopilot, as Momo rolled several dice at once and grimaced at the result. "Hm, only 8 damage. But, on the bright side, he must make a Strength saving throw to avoid being knocked prone by my swing."

Izuku nodded, rolling the dice and checking the stat block right in front of him. "Yup, that fails. He's on the ground."

"Excellent; I would like to use Action Surge," Momo said, catching the attention of everyone else at the table, who were now watching her battle with great anticipation. "Rona attacks again, with advantage, if I recall correctly, and aims to hit him with a Menacing Attack. He must make a Wisdom saving throw." Izuku rolled the save and looked down before nodding, confirming that the save failed, while Momo rolled her d20 twice, taking the higher result. "19, for a total of...11 damage," she remarked, with evident satisfaction.

Izuku glanced at the stat block, double checking to make sure that he knew the outcome. "He's down," he said, prompting a quiet murmur of relief to spread among the party members. The time for loud jubilation had passed, but they could still enjoy their victory to some extent.

"Rona knocks out Corey with the hilt of her longsword, hitting him perhaps a little harder than she should have...before her anger subsides."

"Okay," Izuku said, sighing. He could feel himself starting to crash, and it was getting harder and harder to focus amidst his own inner turmoil. At the same time, though, it was still a good half an hour before the session was supposed to end, and he didn't want to ruin everyone else's fun. He sat there muttering to himself, trying to figure out what to do before a voice snapped him out of it.

"Midori? Are you okay?"

He paused. He could do what he had been doing; smile and say that he was alright, and press on through the rest of the session for everyone else's sake. However, at this point, he wasn't sure he'd be able to sell it convincingly enough. So, he settled on the next best thing.

"I, uh, I am a bit tired. Today's been a long day," he admitted, prompting Mina to look around at the rest of the group, whose expressions spoke volumes.

"We can stop now if you want," Mina suggested. "Wrap up all the loose ends and stuff next time."

Izuku was about to shake his head before he considered the situation again, and came to the same conclusion as before. "I could probably get through everything real quick. Is that okay with everyone?" he asked, to which everyone rapidly agreed. He had expected that they'd be understanding, but it unfortunately didn't make him feel much better. "Alright, well...Corey wakes up after a bit, unless somebody heals him. He's, you know, very distraught over what happened, and he promises to make up for what he's done. He says he knows of a way to bond Fernis to a new tree, located in the center of the woods. He, uh, he asks if you guys would like to tag along. Do you?" The group deliberated for a moment before signaling their agreement. "Okay, well, uh, the journey proceeds without incident, Corey completes the ritual, and before you know it, Fernis is back to his old self. There's still a couple of moss monsters left roaming the woods, but the two fey assure you all that they can handle the situation from here. You're, ah, you're free to head back to the tavern, if you'd like."

"A-actually, c-could we, ah, do one thing before we leave?" Koda asked, speaking up for the first time that session. Izuku noticed the nervous glance at Jirou, and her accompanying nod.

"Uh, yeah, sure. What, ah, what do you want to do?"

Koda gulped before preparing himself to speak. "W-Whisper's gonna walk up to Fernis. He's, uh, he's gonna kinda gesture to the ground, ah, in front of his tree...then to Alis. He, uh, he doesn't have the words."

Izuku paused for a moment, processing the request. "'Ah, yes, of course. Take, uh...take all the time you need.'"

Koda nodded rapidly before an idea occurred to him. "You, uh, y-you can go back upstairs, i-if you want, Midoriya. I-I can record it, uh, the rest of the session, I mean, and you can watch it, y-you know, later. When y-you're ready."

From the brief nods around the table, everyone else seemed on board with Koda's suggestion. Nevertheless, Izuku pondered it for a moment. His gut instinct was to brush it off, say he was fine, but...then Mina smiled at him gently, with a look that once again seemed to say so much. A look that told him that it was okay to be vulnerable...at least a little.

"Okay," he said firmly. "I'll, uh, I'll leave you guys to it, then. You guys are all level 3 now, so, uh, let me know if you need any help leveling up. Jirou, uh...let me know who you wanna play as next. You know, when you, uh, figure it out. Okay?"

Jirou smiled, hoping that her expression conveyed that she wasn't mad at him in the slightest. "I'll text you. I've already got a couple ideas going; should be easy to settle on one."

"Okay," he said, not sure how else to respond. After an awkward silence, he added, "Well, uh, see you guys tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you, man."

"Take care."

With that, Izuku gathered up his things and headed for the elevator, the unwelcome thoughts returning in earnest, perhaps worse than they had been before. And at this point...he had no idea how to stop them.

Jirou: I'm not mad, you know.

The text from Jirou arrived much sooner than Izuku had anticipated, only 12 minutes after the session would have ordinarily ended. Mulling over it for a moment, he responded as honestly as he could.

Izuku: I know, it's just, I can't help but feel guilty about it anyway.

Jirou: I get that, but like, I'm not mad, nobody else is mad, we're all still down to keep playing. You're totally, without a doubt, 100% good. Okay?

Izuku took a deep breath and sat there silently for a moment, before typing out a response.

Izuku: Okay.

Izuku: Have you decided who you'll be playing as next?

Jirou: Yeah, I'm thinking I might go for an Arcana Domain cleric. Variant Human this time, with that one feat, War Caster? Figured Arcana lets me do some wizardy things while also being able to heal everybody, you know?

Izuku: Makes sense. Any details on their backstory?

Jirou: Thinking I'd call her Yoko. Basically, she went to like a wizard school or whatever, then started getting visions from a goddess of prophecy, so she dropped out and is getting magic from her so that she can prevent some stuff from going down. Haven't really figured out much beyond that.

Izuku: Hm...okay. I should be able to work with that.

Izuku: You need help with anything?

Jirou: Nah, I'm good.

Jirou: Well, there is one other thing I was thinking about, but we can talk about that tomorrow.

Izuku: Hm. Alright.

Jirou: Actually, wait, another thing: Koda sent me the video from the rest of the session. Here.

Jirou posted a link.

Izuku: Thanks. I'll be sure to take a look at it soon.

Jirou: Cool. See you later, dude. And take care of yourself, yeah? A lot of people really care about you.

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

Izuku: So I've been told.

Jirou: Tch. Yeah, cuz it's a freakin fact. Don't go making us repeat ourselves, now.

Izuku: Night, Jirou.

Jirou: Night.

With the conversation over, Izuku looked up at the ceiling of his dorm room, appreciating the relative silence he could enjoy every night now that Mineta wasn't right next door. He debated whether or not to watch the video for a good couple of minutes. He wasn't entirely sure what persuaded him to do it in the end. All he could determine was that it seemed like something he had to do. If nothing else, it probably wouldn't make the stuff he was dealing with that much worse. He tapped onto the video and let it play as soon as he had plugged in his headphones.

The group sat around the table in silence for a moment, not sure how to start. Eventually, Momo spoke up.

"'I can set up a nice coffin for them. I've, uh...got some experience there.'" There was a softer edge to Rona's typical harsh voice that the others noticed pretty quickly.

"'Okay,'" Mina remarked, her Joy voice having lost some of its energy.

"W-Whisper will, uh, make a big enough hole with Mold Earth, t-then f-fill it up again as soon as the coffin is placed inside."

The group nodded, assuming that the tasks were completed after a while. Surprisingly enough, Toru spoke up next.

"'Anyone got anything they'd like to say? I gotta be honest, I'm kinda drawing a blank myself.'"

The group was quiet for a bit before Mina spoke up. "'I can go. Uh, it's kinda hard to think of anything, to be totally honest. I...I haven't really experienced anything like this before. I guess I've been pretty lucky there. But, uh, the one thing that does come to mind is...I would've liked to have the chance to get to know them better.'"

The group was quiet for a brief period once more, before Kaminari spoke up next.

"Rai just kinda nods along. She'd said pretty much everything he wanted to."

"Rona nods along as well. There was perhaps more that she could have said, but...she doesn't quite have the strength tonight. ...Perhaps she never will."

"Gotcha. 'Anyone else?' Scratch kinda looks around at everybody else."

At this point, Koda spoke up from behind the camera.

"W-Whisper is gonna open up his mouth to speak. When he does, w-well...y-you'll see."

As if on cue, Jirou cleared her throat.

"'I'd like to share with you a song a dear friend taught to me,'" Jirou said, in Alision's voice, which left the rest of the group a little confused, yet filled with a sense of anticipation as Jirou took a couple of deep breaths, clearly nervous.

It clicked in Izuku's brain based on something he had read that last week. Kenku were apparently able to mimic voices, which is what they used in order to speak normally. And seeing as Whisper was taught Common by Alision, then…

"Every word," Izuku muttered. "Every word he says for a while...it's gonna be in their voice."

As he said this, Jirou seemed to have gotten her act together, and what Izuku heard next left him speechless.

Jirou began to sing.

"I knew you once...and it was nice. I knew your brain, and your heart, all your insides."

The group watched wordlessly, utterly amazed themselves as she continued, keeping her eyes closed.

"Oh, I could tell...just with a look...what you were thinking...that's all it took."

Momo's wobbly grin seemed to indicate that she was on the verge of tears, whether from sadness or happiness, nobody was certain.

"You shared your secrets...and I shared mine. Silence was comfy, without having to try."

Mina couldn't help but smile as she listened to Jirou sing, while the others on camera followed suit.

"We swapped our smiles...gifted advice. Yes, I knew you once...and it was nice."

As Jirou finished, the party rushed to compliment her unexpected performance, Momo being the first to do so as she wrapped her up in a hug.

"Oh, that was lovely, Kyoka!"

"Yeah! That was so cool!"

"I didn't know you could sing so well!"

Kaminari chuckled. "Seriously! Cute, crazy talented, a total badass, and a rockin singing voice? My girlfriend's freaking awesome!"

Jirou flushed bright red in response to all the praise.

"It, uh, it really isn't all that special-"

"Disagree!" Mina countered, with a bright smile on her face.

"It was very much that special, extremely special, the most special," Momo said, hugging her girlfriend tighter and seeming to have briefly lost her usual mannerisms.

"You should give yourself more credit, Jirou, that was beautiful," Toru added.

Izuku smiled. On that, he was in total agreement.

Jirou chuckled. "Well, uh, thanks, you know. I'm glad you liked it. I guess the bright side of all this is that, you know, I wouldn't have had the idea otherwise. It just seemed...fitting, I guess." She paused for a moment before looking directly at the camera. "I'm not mad at you, by the way. You probably don't believe me, but I mean it, honest. Yeah, it kinda sucks that Alision died so soon, but hey, stuff happens sometimes. Doesn't mean I'm gonna stop playing or anything, so don't you panic about any of that."

"Yeah, man, this has been really fun so far!" Kaminari chimed in. "Hanging out with some of my favorite people, getting to play pretend for a bit, it's a good time!"

"Indeed! I feel inspired to flesh out Rona's story now more than ever! This session has given me ideas I might never have considered."

"And I get to sneak around and steal things!" Toru cried out happily. "Eventually, anyway," she added, a little sheepishly. "Not many opportunities for that so far, but I'm optimistic!"

Mina couldn't help but laugh in response to Toru's antics, before looking at the camera and smiling with that same look from before.

"We're all having a lot of fun playing with you, Midori," she said, in a soft, encouraging tone. "We know you've got a lot going on right now, and if you wanna take a break, we're totally cool with that. You don't need to add anything onto your plate for our sake. Just know that, whenever you're comfortable playing again, whether that's next week, or next month, or even longer...I'll be there, okay?" Mina blinked, beginning to blush lilac as she realized her mistake. "We'll! We'll be there! All of us, because we all lo-like you! Very much!" Mina hid her face in her hands as the rest of the party struggled to hide their amusement. Just when Jirou had finally begun to laugh heartily, Koda made the wise choice of ending the recording.

Izuku stared at the last frame of the video for a moment. Those last few seconds...Izuku might have still had some reservations, but even his own self-doubt had limits. It was getting harder for that part of his brain to convince him that she wasn't interested, that any evidence to the contrary was an elaborate misunderstanding on his part, particularly given what Ochaco had told him and his talk with Mina at the party. Still...it was difficult for him to believe it to be true, even when not believing what he could see unambiguously at this point seemed equally foolish.

He sighed, his exhaustion evident. This was something he could figure out later, when he wasn't all over the place, stuck waiting for a chance to do something, anything, while also left grappling with information he was still struggling to process. For now, he reasoned, it was time to sleep, and he definitely needed sleep. As he completed his nightly routine and settled into bed, there was one thing that he was happy to note, something that he had noticed from the moment he stopped watching the video:

The horrible thoughts had subsided once again.

Hoo boy, this one took a while.

Beyond just, you know, the general state of the world, college, all that, I don't really have an excuse for why this took so long. I just...didn't have the energy to write the next chapter, or to write much of anything, really. That's kinda been a problem this year. Still, in any event, it's here now, and I've got a decent idea of what I want to do with the next couple chapters. No idea when I'll get to them, though.

By the way, the song Jirou sings is a song called "I Knew You Once" by Dodie Clark! You can find it on Youtube, it's really lovely!

In any event, it's super late at the time that I'm writing this, and I need to take care of some things. Hope you all enjoy this, stay safe, wear a mask, and take care.