Day Twelve-Hundred and Thirty-Six

The Day Izuku Stopped Counting

"Gooooooood morning Musutafu! Rise and shine, folks!-" Click~

Today, Izuku was ready, switching off his alarm clock and out of bed with a spring in his step before the KCCP crew could even give the traffic update. That previous night, he had made a new plan for himself, something to break apart the monotony he was forced to be a part of into an even smaller step. He was going to get some help. UA was the best hero school in the country for a reason, chances are there was someone there who could help him out. It was just a question of who.

He was on his way down the hall, getting his coat ready, just as his mom emerged from her room. Quickly, Izuku gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, "I'll see you later, Mom! I'm going to get a quick run in before school starts. Oh and, stay off Yavin Street! The traffic's terrible!"

Before she could respond with more than a "stay safe," Izuku was off, leaving behind the sound of a closing door and... an explosion? No, it couldn't be. Shaking her head affectionately at Izuku's enthusiasm, Inko proceeded to prepare breakfast.

Above the city, several miles high, following anAll Might worthy launch, Izuku allowed himself a moment to daydream. To his best estimates, this was roughly 60% of One For All, and it felt incredible. Much more enjoyable than those 45 consecutive days where attempting to jump resulted in both his legs breaking.

It was a revelation that the quirk was more mental than physical, it turned out he really did have the power within him the entire time. Occasionally, though, it felt a bit off, as if other facets of the quirk were trying to emerge, or his movements and abilities didn't quite align with All Might's descriptions. Then again, a lot had been happening to Izuku lately that even All Might couldn't explain.

He glanced at his watch to check the time before executing a mid-air turn (one of those 'difficult to explain' things), zipping toward a nearby convenience store. With a powerful slam, minimal effort, and practised avoidance of any attention, Izuku had subdued three would-be robbers, leaving them tied up and thoroughly shaken. A baffled All Might arrived moments later, only to find the scene already under control.

Back in the air, Izuku tensed his muscles and somehow gained even more speed. Next stop: UA, and the first step on his tour - The Development Studio.

Most of the classroom doors at the school were designed to accommodate a wide variety of quirks, so the 12-foot-tall entrance to the support course room wasn't out of place by any means. However, this door was unique for two reasons. First, it was made of solid steel, appearing to be at least a foot thick. Second, the enormous dent in the centre, as if it had been struck by something incredibly hard and incredibly fast.

"Hatsume! For crying out loud!" a voice called out, barely audible through the small gaps where the door had warped on the sides. "I told you, no rail gun privileges until next week! Not after last time! Get down from there!"

"You're stifling me, boss!" another voice responded.

Izuku took a step back, contemplating whether he should return tomorrow. Then it dawned on him—this essentially was tomorrow. The saying "no time like the present" had never felt more fitting.

With a steady hand, he knocked on the imposing door. "Hey, can I come in? I wanted to see if anyone could help me with something?"

In a flash, the door swung open slightly, revealing a pink-haired girl wearing goggles and a manic grin.

"A client?!" She shouted. Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Izuku roughly by the arm and yanked him into the cluttered studio.

As she continued to drag him along, her grip surprisingly strong for someone her size, Izuku stumbled slightly and took in the disarray around him. There was a chaos of blueprints and wires and open books and half-finished gadgets, a short man with an oversized helmet trying his best to tidy up. The girl's enthusiasm was palpable, making Izuku feel slightly apprehensive, but also more than a little interested in where this day might take him.

"So!" She said briskly, already putting a tape measure up to him, "What did ya need? Utility belt sturdy cape jetpack jet shoes shoelaces lasers phasers tasers tassels?" She rattled off without taking a breath, face incredibly close to Izuku's.

"Hatsume," the helmeted man said, "First rule of meeting a new client."

'Hatsume' raised an eyebrow and looked taken aback, "Where am I supposed to find a restaurant taking bookings this early in the morning?!"

"No, no," he corrected, "Introduce yourself."

"Oh right!" She finally took a step back and performed an exaggerated bow, her arm sweeping out to the side. "Mei Hatsume! World's greatest inventor and top ranked student of the UA support course!"

Top ranked?! Izuku's eyes widened. She might be exactly the person he needed! "That's amazing!" he exclaimed, "I didn't even know the classes had individual rankings like that!"

Hatsume put on a show of false modesty. "Well, technically, we don't have official rankings. But if we did, I'd be at the top! I mean, who else is here at 6:15 AM?" She leaned in close, the lenses of her goggles zooming with a slight whirr. "Besides you, of course."

Too close, way too close! Izuku's heart raced. "Uh, w-well, it's a very, uh, v-very important," he stammered, swallowing hard, "big, um... big issue I'm dealing with."

If it wasn't already apparent, looping the same day for years at a time had not, in fact, changed Izuku's fundamental nature. He might have gained knowledge, had his mind opened to new experiences, even made great strides in understanding his own quirk, but he was still, at his core, a 15-year-old boy. And now, a 15-year-old boy standing closer to a girl than ever before.

"Uh huh, uh huh, keep going!" Hatsume encouraged, nodding enthusiastically.

"Well it's actually kind of… personal, I guess?" Izuku admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "And... a bit complicated."

Hatsume's perpetual grin faltered as she lifted her goggles, revealing brilliantly bright eyes with crosshair irises. "Chafing, huh? Best I can do is recommend a good powder, but-"

"No, no, nothing like that!" Izuku waved his hands frantically. "The problem is actually... Do you know anything about time loops?"

Hatsume's grin slowly returned, even wider than before.

"So, how many days?" Hatsume asked, shining a torch into Izuku's ear. He had no clue why she was doing that, but decided it was best not to question her methods. Either way, she seemed to find whatever it was she was looking for and started jotting down notes. The two of them had moved to a specialised research section of the support labs, a room equipped with a large conference table, a well-stocked library, and several computers.

Shrugging slightly, Izuku answered, "I'm uh, really not sure, to be honest. I've lost count a few times, but I think it's been about 2 or 3 years?"

"Years?!" Hatsume exclaimed, her eyes widening. "Hold on, how many times have we had this conversation? What number am I thinking of?!"

Izuku shook his head, "I don't know. This is the first time we've met."

She narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head slowly and in a very disappointed manner. "You've been looping the same day for that long and you only just now decided to find me? I am hurt, Looper."

"H-hey! To be fair, I was a little distracted by other stuff! And also, I didn't actually know you existed, so…"

Hatsume gasped dramatically, her eyes widening further. "You didn't hear a single person talking about me this entire time? I need to up my game. This won't do at all…" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

Trying to calm her, Izuku explained, "Maybe someone did mention you! But I didn't know your name until today, so I wouldn't have known it was you they were talking about. In fact, I think I might remember someone mentioning the girl in support… Maybe…"

He hadn't actually heard anyone mention her. But it seemed kinder to suggest he might have heard about her in passing, rather than admitting that in hundreds of conversations, no one had brought her up even once. He wasn't heartless.

It seemed to have the intended effect, as Hatsume started to nod slowly, seeming to mull it over. "Alright, I guess that makes sense," she said, more to herself than Izuku.

Relieved that she wasn't upset anymore, Izuku pressed on. "So, where do we start?"

"Well," she said, sliding a chair over to a computer, "First is the boring part, gathering data. Pbbt, boo, boring. I know what you're thinking Looper, where's the fun in that!? Well, there isn't any! But not every part of the baby-making process is a fun one, let me put it that way!"

"The… The what now, sorry?" Izuku blinked.

"Obviously I'm going to have to make you a baby to fix this. Come on, keep up." She turned away again and started typing. "You say it's been about 3 years, right? Can you tell me exactly what happens when the day resets?"

Izuku nodded, "It's like I wake up in the same spot, at the same time every morning. Everything is exactly the same, like nothing from the previous day ever happened. I can remember everything, but no one else does."

Hatsume tapped away, "Can you be more specific? Where do you wake up, what time?"

"I wake up in my bed, at 6am. The same time I woke up the first time I lived this day, my alarm woke me up."

"Uh huh, uh huh," Hatsume said, typing much more than Izuku had said. "And you wake up in clothes, right? Not naked?"

Izuku nearly fell out of his seat, "Why would I wake up naked?!"

"Maybe your body goes back in time but nothing else does, and if that were the case your clothes wouldn't have gone back with you! This is basic temporal theory, have you never seen The Terminator?!"

"Uh, no, actually."

"Wow. You have some great movies to watch, you should get on that. Anyway, have you tried doing different things to see how it affects the loop?"

"Boy have I… I've tried loads of things, nothing seems to work." Izuku admitted, feeling a bit dejected.

Hatsume looked up from her tablet and grinned, "That's what I'm here for! Next question, what triggers the loop?"

"Sleeping, usually. But I've tried staying awake all night as well, I just sort of teleport back home at 6am." Izuku thought about it for a second, "Oh! And if I get hit hard enough." He decided to lay off on telling her about the times he'd been killed at the USJ.

"Hit hard enough, huh?" The grin on Hatsume's face suddenly got very sinister. "How hard exactly?"

Izuku hesitated, but answered. "Pretty hard. Like, enough to knock me out or cause serious injury."

"Sorry Looper, but this is for science, you know." Hatsume said, picking up a desk chair and brandishing it like a weapon. She really was a lot stronger than she looked.

"H-hey! Hey wait!" Izuku protested heavily, waving his arms around. "If you do this the day might restart! You won't remember any of this conversation!"

Hatsume placed the chair down, a little disappointed. "Oh, yeah… Wait, I know! Come find me again tomorrow, and just tell me I sent you! She's pretty smart, not as smart as current me but I think she'll be able to figure things out… Tell her what we did, and how the experiment went!" With that, she picked the chair back up again. "Think fast!"

Izuku barely had time to register what was happening before the chair came crashing down on his head, and everything went black.

Izuku's eyes snapped open, finding himself once again in the familiar surroundings. The room remained unchanged, the bed just as he left it, the radio playing the same recording. With a resigned exhale, he sat up.

First on the agenda, get to Hatsume as quickly as possible. Nothing too difficult, he knew where she'd be and at what time - the difficult part might be convincing her of what's happening. Actually, he thought, that might not be that difficult at all? She seemed fully on board with it yesterday, and this time Izuku had a little headstart. This should be a cakewalk.

He was out of the house even faster than yesterday, electing to leave those robbers to All Might to handle. Izuku was dressed and out the door in no time, reaching the support labs by 6:10am.

This time, he didn't dawdle at the huge steel doors, opening them up himself and not so ceremoniously barging his way in. In the middle of the room, sitting on a ladder next to a very dangerous looking machine, was Hatsume. Holding a wrench in one hand and a drill in the other, it looked she had no idea what she was doing up there but enjoying it immensely all the same.

"Hey, hey," the helmeted teacher interjected, trying to push Izuku back through the doors. "You can't just barge in here. It's dangerous. You need to make an appointment or—,"

"Hatsume!" Izuku shouted over the man's head, catching her attention.

Hearing someone call her name instantly brought joy to Hatsume's face. She practically leaped off the ladder, landing beside him. "At your service! What can I do for you?"

"Um, actually, you sent me. Future you. Well, your future you, my past you. Or… they were the past you but now they're the future you and I'm the past me who knew the future you…in the past?"

"Time loop?" Hatsume instantly guessed.

"Yeah," Izuku sighed. "Time loop..."

"AWESOME!" she exclaimed, grabbing Izuku by the arm and dragging him away.

"And then you hit me with a chair, and the day restarted." Izuku concluded his recap of yesterday's events, observing as Hatsume furiously scribbled in her notebook, her eyes never leaving his face.

"That definitely sounds like something I'd do! So, Looper," Apparently, that nickname was sticking around, "did my other self give you any additional clues?"

Izuku paused to think, then shook his head. "No, she was too excited about knocking me out to show me her notes."

"That's not helpful at all! Alright, if my theory holds true—and it does—I have the same knowledge and experiences as my other self, so anything I do will be exactly what she would do! Any notes I make now will match hers perfectly!" Hatsume beamed.

Izuku, however, wasn't convinced. "But you don't have the same knowledge and experiences. Yesterday's Hatsume, uh, I mean, my yesterday's Hatsume—"

"Pastume!"

"Right, Pastume," Izuku chuckled, "She didn't know how her" assault "experiment would turn out. Now you have that extra information to work with. A single new experience could make you a totally different person by the afternoon. I think that makes a difference, anyway…"

Hatsume stared at him blankly for a moment before her usual enthusiasm returned. "I knew you were special, Looper! The memory theory of personal identity! You really know your stuff!"

"The memory of…what?"

"Personal identity! It's a philosophical theory that suggests your identity isn't based on your physical self, but on the culmination of your experiences and memories! In this case, Pastume and I have different memories because my past experiences don't include your future memories of me. But if we are, as you suggest, in a stable time loop, each reset could build on our cumulative knowledge!" Hatsume explained with barely contained excitement.

Though a bit overwhelmed, Izuku nodded along. "So we gather more data," he said, struggling to hide his slight disappointment. Privately, Izuku had hoped for an immediate solution to their problem. Maybe a magic watch or something. But if not, he supposed gathering more information couldn't hurt.

"Exactly, Looper." Hatsume said, slamming her notebook shut with a confident grin. "Your job is to survive each reset and report back. We'll make adjustments and try again. Capiche?"

"Right, yeah, capiche." Izuku responded solemnly. "But there's one thing I'm still not sure about. If I can remember and you can't, how do we keep track of everything we learn? There has to be a way to make this easier, otherwise, we'll be starting from square one every day."

"Oh, that's easy," Hatsume said nonchalantly. "You're just going to have to remember everything we talk about every day."

"How am I supposed to do that? I don't know anything about quantum theory or temporal fluxes or any of that stuff! There's no way I'll be able to keep track of everything!" Izuku exclaimed, throwing his arms up in distress as he paced the small room they occupied. "Can't you… I don't know, invent a time-looping voice recorder or something?!"

Hatsume sighed, placing a hand on her hip. "A time-looping voice recorder? I'm a genius, not a magician. Remembering things is easy for me; I'm an expert at it! It's all about precise recall. With the right techniques, I can help train your mind to retain information like a steel trap full of...stuff you keep in a steel trap! Badgers, maybe?" She trailed off at the end.

"But… learning all of that could take forever!" Izuku protested.

"What, got somewhere better to be?" Hatsume retorted. "Sorry, Looper, but this is the only way we'll keep track of everything. We'll start with some simple methods today. Come back tomorrow slash today, just tell me you heard I won the city-wide memory recall challenge in middle school and that you want some tips. I'll help you out step by step. When you're ready, we'll crack this loop. How's that sound?"

With a hint of reluctance, Izuku shrugged. "I really would have preferred a magic watch or something, but… Sure, help me with my memory, Hatsume."

With a determined grin, she pulled down her goggles and declared, "First lesson, call me Mei."

The routine of spending the early mornings in the care of Mei Hatsume became Izuku's new normal, learning to retain information and recall it accurately. His theory that a new experience in the morning could result in a vastly different person by the afternoon was holding more water than he had expected, even when compared to the hundreds of iterations of the USJ Izuku had lived through, and it was all due to the absurd mind possessed by Mei.

If she hadn't explained Zoom to him early on, Izuku would have been certain her quirk involved piecing together seemingly unrelated strands of information to develop new concepts and theories. Her mind worked in a way he had never encountered before; her thoughts would seamlessly flow from one idea to another, often diverging into intricate theories and hypotheses. Just a single altered word in a conversation with her could spark an entirely new line of dialogue. She was, to put it lightly, fascinating.

It was almost as though the days weren't quite as fixed as Izuku had initially assumed.

What began as an attempt to escape the loop became something he had never intended: a time he found himself looking forward to. No matter how often he spoke to Mei, she had something new to offer. Though the friendship remained relatively one-sided, he relished the time they got to spend together for the new experiences it offered.

Sometimes, Izuku would confide in Mei about the real reason for his visits and the truth behind their numerous interactions. Other times, he kept his mission a secret, choosing to live in the moment—her moment. This approach didn't always work out, as Mei figured out the truth on her own no less than ninety-seven times.

One such example occurred during one of Izuku's final memory training sessions.

"...2164201989." With his eyes scrunched closed and a hand placed over them for good measure, Izuku finished his recitation and finally looked over at Mei, hope evident on his face. "How was that?"

It took a lot to surprise Mei. She had an uncanny ability to discern how things were connected and reverse-engineer the reasons behind people's actions and words. Many perceived her as standoffish, brusque, with poor people skills and an arrogant streak. In truth, Mei was as much a student of psychology and sociology as she was of engineering. The problem was that when everyone could be broken down into patterns and statistics, it became difficult to see the person beneath it all.

For once, Mei couldn't decipher the patterns.

"That was exactly right… The first thousand digits of pi, no mistakes."

In all their hundreds of interactions, Izuku had never seen this expression on her face. "You don't seem, um, that impressed."

"Why?" Mei asked, a deceptively simple question tinged with something deeper.

Izuku bit his lip. "Why what?"

"Why did you ask for my help? Look, you obviously didn't need it." She shook her head. "Memory recall like that takes years of practice, longer to master. So, why?"

Hesitation. It was clear he was keeping something from her. "I'm really sorry, sometimes I don't… There are days when I just, don't want to…" Izuku began, struggling to find the words. His eyes swept the room, seemingly searching for the answer, when they landed on the time display on a nearby screen. "Sorry, is that clock right?"

"Yes? But it feels like you're avoiding the questio-"

Before Mei could finish her sentence, a sudden blast of energy erupted from where Izuku had been standing, books flew chaotically through the air, and Mei was knocked back into her chair. She took a moment to gather herself, only to be interrupted when a particularly dishevelled Power Loader appeared in the doorway.

"Hatsume, get moving! There's been an attack, full lockdown measures are in, uh, effect... What the hell happened here?"

"I think my client might be a time traveller?" Mei replied, sounding unusually uncertain.

Power Loader frowned. "Seriously? Didn't peg him as the type." His attention was then drawn to the short ringing of his earpiece. Pressing a finger to it, he answered, "What's the situation? ...Really, no kidding? Alright, thanks for the update." Ending the call, he turned back to Mei. "It's all handled. Apparently, one of the first years just took down all the villains. Flew in, knew exactly where they'd be, and took them out…"

Mei shot up, slamming her hands on the table. "He's a fucking time traveller!"

"He's a fucking time traveller." Power Loader nodded in agreement.

The end of the day came quickly, but of course, Mei had no intentions of heading home just yet. There was a question out there in need of an answer, and she was very very good at finding answers. What she wasn't quite so good at was finding Midoriya. They hadn't spent much time together, certainly not enough to know his usual routine. Given the chaos from earlier, it was likely his routine was disrupted anyway. So, she chose to do what she loved most: she stayed in the lab.

A smart move, as it turned out, because Midoriya found her instead.

"Mei-" he stopped himself, knocking on the doorframe to her research room. "Hatsume. I think I have some things to explain…" Ahead of him, Mei stood with her hands on her hips, obscuring a whiteboard.

Without turning, she posed a question of her own. "How many times?"

Izuku didn't say anything, prompting her to turn with a sly grin on her face. "At first I thought you might be from the future, sent back to fix things."

"Like Terminator."

"Yeah," she smiled. "Like Terminator. But that didn't add up for me, this wasn't someone fixing the past, your timing was too good, and why would you waste all the morning here with me? So there was only one possible explanation."

At last, she moved out of the way of the whiteboard, showing a rudimentary drawing of what Izuku assumed to be, well… A time loop. A large circle looped around itself many times over with one long strand on either side. In the centre was a cartoon depiction of Izuku himself.

She gestured towards it, the excitement in her voice starting to emerge. "Well!? I'm right, aren't I?!"

Izuku smiled calmly and nodded. "Yeah. It's a time loop."

"How long?"

With a resigned sigh, Izuku took a seat in a desk chair. "Honestly? I have no idea. But I think it's been at least ten years."

"Ten years?" Mei asked, slightly more subdued than before. "Then how many times have we had this conversation?"

Izuku shrugged. "I usually just straight up tell you about it, but sometimes it's like, I just want things to feel normal? …It's tough, Mei. Doing this."

"I can't say I understand," Mei said sympathetically, "But, if I was able to help you out at all, I'm glad."

"You know, you've actually figured it out, God, must be close to a hundred times by now. You were pretty slow this time around, to be honest. One time you worked it out when I accidentally called you Mei before you'd introduced yourself."

"Hah, Mei Hatsume, genius in every timeline." She joked. "But what are we going to do about this? You have a plan to get out, right?"

"I don't know if I can. Nothing I ever tried has worked."

For some reason, Mei's grin widened at his response. "That's because we weren't trying hard enough! Once you've got a Hatsume on your side, you can't fail! I'm assuming I won't remember any of this tomorrow, right?"

"No, nothing," Izuku replied sadly.

"And I bet you were training your memory so you could recount all our conversations to the new versions of me?"

Izuku looked somewhat surprised. "Right! Yeah, that was your idea!"

"Yep, thought so. RIGHT!" Mei slammed the desk. "Here's what you're gonna do. Starting tomorrow, we are cracking this. You and me and me and me and me, however many 'mes' it takes, I'm gonna help you out! No beating around the bush, be direct, tell me the truth straight away! Here," She quickly scribbled something on a notebook page and tore it out. "My address. If you can't see me in the mornings, see me after 6. I might ask you what number I'm thinking of, that won't be a problem, right?"

The sudden question caught Izuku off guard, and he blinked. "Uh, actually, yeah. You've never told me what number it is you were thinking of. I'm always wrong."

"Midoriya…. Izuku." She put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him intensely. "It's always 69420."

6:05. The fastest Izuku ever got to UA. Support course doors opened with no dawdling.

"Mei Hatsume. Izuku Midoriya. Time loop. You sent me. You're thinking of the number 69420."

"...Dope."

"From my own rudimentary understanding of how time operates, the past versions of ourselves should cease to exist once the present becomes the past." Mei's face lit up, surrounded by a fortress of increasingly verbose textbooks.

Izuku picked up one of the hefty tomes. "Time Displacement Theory and the Mechanics of Temporal Unduancy?" He read aloud, squinting at the title. "I'm not sure that's a real word."

Impatiently, Mei began tapping her pen against the desk. "Hey, hey! Focus! What I'm saying is, the past version of you, the one that's supposed to be left behind, has gotten caught in something. You're like a speck of dirt on a record player, making the track skip. No offence."

"Taken." Izuku responded with a smile. "But what was the something? A quirk? It was probably a quirk, right?"

"No idea," Mei was happy to admit. "But that's what makes this so exciting! There's no rulebook here, no peer reviewed studies, it's unprecedented! I haven't been able to find any non-theoretical instances of time loops anywhere!"

"Because nobody can ever remember the solution!" Izuku exclaimed, his hand slamming on the desk as if struck by a revelation.

His partner in time, however, scratched the back of her neck, clearly less convinced. "Uh, sure, let's go with that… But back to the task at hand. Do you know any quirks that might be to blame?"

Izuku shook his head, "According to all known rules behind quirks, time quirks shouldn't exist. There are three things they're incapable of effecting: the passage of time, telepathy, and the sense of self. Nobody has ever been able to read minds, change a personality, or travel through time."

"I knew you would be a quirk nerd, Looper!" Mei grinned.

"Technically," Izuku continued, leaning forward. "Quirks can come close to each of those things, but none have been able to break that last 'barrier', I guess you could call it. Sir Nighteye's foresight quirk might seem like he's telling the future, but I think it's more probability-based. The quirk analyses consistent elements within a situation and extrapolates a highly accurate hypothetical scenario." If there was one thing Izuku loved doing, it was infodumping about quirks on a willing participant.

"Isn't that mind-reading?" Mei interjected with genuine curiosity.

"Sort of?" Izuku clarified. "Only he doesn't get to retain any of that information, just what his quirk turns it into."

Mei squinted thoughtfully at him, "You sure know a lot about this guy's quirk."

For a moment, Izuku contemplated telling her about his connection to All Might and his shared status as an apprentice/sidekick. From the moment he was promised One For All, he went on a multi-day information bender on every hero to ever team up with the big hero. If she blabbed, well, the time loop made that a non-issue. But on the other hand, did they really need to be distracted by quirk transfer theory? Only so many hours in a day, after all.

Rather than cracking open that can of worms, Izuku shrugged nonchalantly. "I've had a lot of time to think about this, you know? It made sense to look into time-related quirks that are out there."

In the midst of their conversation, Mei made a show of pacing the front of the room, "Hmmm…" she said, stroking her chin. "Hmmmm…." She repeated.

Suddenly, she stopped and turned toward Izuku with an intense look in her eyes. "But what if…" She paused dramatically, before pointing a finger straight at his face. "What if a quirk, yours or someone else's, is giving you a better understanding of what's wrong with time? Like Mr Nighty Tights or whatever his name is! Your brain is wired differently to organise all the information!"

Izuku looked from side to side, before venturing forth with an "Uh,"

"What if you're not the dirt?!" She abruptly yelled, throwing her arms in the air

"... beg pardon?"

"What if you aren't the dirt." She reiterated, her eyes wide with the thrill of hypotheticals. "I was thinking of this like your timeline is the record being played, where some part of you is making the track skip and repeat the day."

Staring at her and trying to keep up, Izuku nodded along, "Sure, like the same word is repeating."

"Exactly!" Whiteboard marker in hand, she began scribbling. "Imagine that the timeline is a smooth linear path, can't go forward, can't go back, always playing at the exact same RPM. I could go into cyclical theory but we can save that for later," she mumbled.

"But you think my record is… scratched?"

Mei put a hand up. "Uh uh. It's not your record, it's everyone's. If the record was scratched, we'd all be reticent of the repeating day! You're not the record, Looper!"

Izuku frowned, "Then what am I?"

She leaned in close, and a grin began to form on her face. "You're the NEEDLE!"

"Oh my God!" Izuku leapt out of his seat and grabbed the sides of his head, before relaxing with a confused look on his face. "...What does that mean?"

"Well for starters, it would mean that the entire world really is caught in the loop, so if you were wondering if you were creating countless timelines that all continued on without you, you're safe." Mei said offhandedly.

"I hadn't actually thought of that terrifying prospect until just now, but that's good."

"it would also mean you're the only person in the entire universe who can prevent this. Good thing you're a hero student, huh Looper?"

Izuku sat back down in a chair, a little dazed. Finally, there was a chance that something could be done. Certainly, the fact it was now down to him to prevent the entire universe from being trapped in a never ending cycle of repeated 24 hours was a slight bit more than he'd bargained for, but he didn't really care about that.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel. The only problem now was that the tunnel was a 4th dimensional tesseract and he was riding two pogo-sticks. Also the tunnel was on fire. The thought of being the sole individual with this responsibility was exciting, but also terrifying. As the thoughts swirled around in his brain, he watched as Mei's mouth moved, not listening to the words that came out. He needed more information. He needed to figure things out. If it was up to him to stop this, then that meant stopping it was possible. There was something he could do, or something he shouldn't do.

Izuku took a deep breath, feeling that familiar surge of resolve that had carried him here. The USJ had been tough, for the longest time, but he got through it. Izuku Midoriya was a hero in training, and heroes didn't back down from impossible challenges! This loop was just another obstacle, another villain to overcome, and he was ready to face it head-on.

The noise of the room seeped back into Izuku's consciousness, the intense squeaking of a whiteboard pen being the most obvious. Mei was still mid-sentence "Which essentially means we make a list, and I can tell you're the kinda guy who loves making lists, so it shouldn't be-"

"Mei! If there's something I can do that might break everyone out of this loop, then I want you to help me work out what it could be! No matter how big, no matter how small, we're going to figure it all out!" Izuku loudly interrupted her, gesticulating wildly.

Mei frowned at him and made a show of pointing at what she'd been writing on the board. "Yeah dude, I know." she said, gesturing to the words "Figure out how to break the loop. Make a list of everything you do every day, work out what you're not doing. 1. Dev labs. 2. USJ"

"Oh, right." Izuku said sheepishly. "Guess I got a little carried away."