Sunday April 18th 2151

Izuku kind of regretted telling Mei-chan about the impromptu excursion in the late afternoon as she had been too excited to actually sleep. He eventually found some sleeping pills that Mei-chan had laying around in her bedroom and gave them to her. ~"Mei-chan you won't be able to enjoy anything if you're busy vibrating out of your own body the entire time."~

And now Izuku found himself in front of the Endeavor support company, which was really just part of the Endeavor agency, located in Shizuoka City. The actual factories were spread across several cities all over Japan. Besides Mei-chan he had also brought along Kacchan, since his birthday would be the following Tuesday on the 20th and they really wouldn't have any time to celebrate anything then. Besides, Todoroki-kun said he was allowed to bring two people and Kacchan did respect Endeavor's hero work so he agreed to come along. ~"There's no damn way I'm letting you two fanboying gremlins run around in there without keeping you on a fucking leash."~

Izuku was actually surprised that Todoroki-kun had managed it in the end. Sure, as Endeavor's son there was a much higher chance of succeeding than if Izuku himself had just come up to Endeavor but it was still a surprise that they were getting a private tour. Normally the R division of Endeavor's agency was off-limits, even for normal agency tours.

Looking up, Izuku marvelled at the sheer scale of the agency. The skyscraper definitely gave off an air of power and professionalism but the highly stylised flaming E above the entrance did put a bit of a damper on that sense of professionalism.

Upon entering the building they found themselves in an open reception area with a few civilians lounging around and your typical disinterested receptionist sitting behind the desk. Not knowing what to do, Izuku started walking up to the receptionist until he noticed Todoroki-kun entering the room from the corner of his eye.

Izuku gave a quick wave upon seeing him and walked over, his friends following suit. "Hey Todoroki-kun, I probably should've asked for more information yesterday but I'm happy to see you here."

Todoroki-kun stared at the three arrivals and shrugged. "I'm just here to get you to the R department and to confirm to the head researcher that you're allowed in so don't think much of it. I've never bothered exploring Father's agency so this might take a while."

They got into a nearby elevator and started going up. The R was pretty far up apparently and the elevator ride was getting awkward with Todoroki-kun silently scrolling on his phone, Kacchan's impatient crackles of his quirk and Mei-chan's constant vibrating so Izuku spoke up. "Say Todoroki-kun, I didn't actually expect Endeavor to allow this. Did you have to do something for him? I'm sorry if I caused you too much trouble with that request."

Todoroki-kun eyed him and pocketed his phone. "I was expecting difficulties, yes. Father has kept his work and home-life separated for most of my childhood so I didn't expect him to agree. He seemed displeased at first and asked me who requested it but when I gave him your name he just huffed and told me to alert the head researcher in advance myself."

The elevator dinged and they stepped out, Izuku nearly banging his head against the reinforced door that was standing just a meter or two in front of elevator doors. Todoroki-kun gave a deadpan and moved to a panel on the side, which was probably an intercom, and spoke through it. "Hikoshō-san, they're here." 'A man of few words, about what I expected from Todoroki-kun.'

It took another minute of waiting but the reinforced door suddenly slid open, revealing a man with a similar build to Endeavor with black hair in a buzzcut and wearing your typical lab coat and safety goggles, though he appeared to have normal glasses underneath the goggles as well.

Unlike Endeavor though this man seemed to have a pretty eager, open demeanour when he addressed them. "Ah it's the teenagers Todoroki-kun told me about. Come in please. Quickly, these doors only stay open for a few seconds and I've had a few colleagues get their hair stuck in it. Not that I can relate." He smirked and pointed at his own head and they quickly followed him in. "Ah where are my manners, my name is Teikō Hikoshō, I'm the head researcher at R . Normally my schedule is packed but I just couldn't resist showing some younglings around! This hasn't really happened before you know?"

Right behind the reinforced door was a pretty normal looking lounge area. Izuku looked at his companions and noticed that Todoroki-kun hadn't come in with them. 'I guess he wasn't lying when he said he'd only get us to this place.'

Hikoshō suddenly turned around and eyed Izuku. "So you're the kid that initially asked for the tour, Midoriya right?"

He gave a nod of affirmation. "Yeah good, just one last check. From what I know Todoroki-kun doesn't always pay a lot of attention when it isn't needed so I wouldn't be surprised if he hadn't looked up from his phone at all when he brought you here. Your name does sound familiar though…Oh well, we don't have any time to waste!"

They walked into a hallway adjacent to the lounge area where a bunch of different items were put on display. "Here we keep all our support items on display. Not for the public to look at of course since they can't come here, but it's nice to see our accomplishments in one place whenever we're going to work. It gives a pretty motivating feeling."

The support items seemed to be getting older as they went further through the hallway and they eventually got to blast doors, with one final display right in the middle of the hallway housing- "OH MY GOD is that Endeavor's original hero costume from when he debuted?!"

It seemed Mei-chan's outburst had startled both Izuku and the researcher but Hikoshō seemed to calm down pretty quickly. "Ah yes it is, honestly it doesn't really fit here since it was designed before this place even existed, but it does have to do with how this place was created."

Izuku perked up. "Really? I just thought that Endeavor decided to get his own independent support engineers when he graduated and took over the agency his mentor headed."

"Hmm, there's a bit more to it than that. You see, normally agencies get a contract with a larger Hero Support company but Endeavor had a lot of trouble getting a reliable suit that could survive the constant heat he generated from the one his mentor's agency was contracted with. After several inadequate attempts and eventually finding out that the support company he was getting his suits from didn't even have a single fire-quirk user employed he got fed up and decided to take things into his own hands. Apparently he hired a bunch of scientists and engineers from all over Japan who he thought would understand how to help him and gave them a secure spot in his growing agency in their own secure R department."

Hikoshō felt around in his lab coat's pockets and pulled out some goggles. "Now let's head in, you'll need these of course since experiments can get quite dangerous."

The blast doors opened and inside was quite a hectic display. Multiple people in lab coats walking around each other, several things were on fire, controlled hopefully, and rock music was being played loudly from a boombox in the corner.

They looked back at the researcher to see him awkwardly scratching his head. "Ah okay…so maybe part of the danger is coming from us and not the experiments but hey, we need to have some fun too. We spend a lot of our time in this place and this whole lab is fireproof anyway."

Mei-chan didn't really seem to care about any of the hazards and was already wandering off when she got pulled back by the scruff of her shirt. "Hold on missy, we signed liability wavers but you three didn't so stay behind the safety tape please."

Mei-chan huffed and pouted 'Cute' but complied. Eventually they were led through the lab and ended up in a room labelled 'Head Researcher's Office' which honestly looked pretty similar to Mei-chan's room in the Support Studio but slightly less charred. There were a few blueprints laying on a desk and Mei-chan's eyes seemed to light up in recognition. Hikoshō spoke up first though. "Ah now I remember where I recognise your name from Midoriya-kun. You're the kid we had to build and test that hero suit for. Not much correcting was needed from our side though since the blueprint was basically top-grade already."

Mei-chan started vibrating again, grabbed Izuku's shoulders and started shaking him. "OH OH OH, that's me! I made that! Mei Hatsume, H-A-T-S-U-M-E!"

Hikoshō chuckled. "You've got some real fire in your corner Midoriya-kun. Seriously though, I was wondering if UA pranked us and had Powerloader make the blueprint instead so good job. The only modification we had to make was adding our patented Solarium." 'How did he just voice that?'

Getting out of that train of thought Izuku just realised what the researcher had said. "Wait so my hero costume is actually made with Solarium?! 'Wait, how'd I just voice that?' ...I mean now that I think about it it's obvious since it's survived my quirk for so long already. In the scientific world Solarium is the only material that can survive temperatures like those at the surface of the sun."

Hikoshō agreed. "Yes, the reason the request was sent to us was because of your quirk. Not gonna lie, when we saw the data of the quirk we needed to accommodate for we collectively gulped. It's not every day that you see one that can push the boundary of what our miracle material can handle."

Izuku hung his head. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

Kacchan tsked in the background and he received a slap on his head. Hikoshō was the one to respond though before Kacchan could speak up. "No worries, seeing how Solarium fares with your quirk will be great for future development, especially if quirks keep getting more powerful over time. No asking about it any further though, it's the one thing we're pretty tight-lipped about here. Honestly, even if you see the actual formulas you'll still scratch your head. I have no idea how Endeavor's original support partner worked it out in the first place."

He focused on the trio again. "Enough from me though, do you have any questions?"

Surprisingly it was Kacchan that asked the first question. "Yeah, where the fuck do you test all this shit on people?"

Mei-chan huffed in indignance. "Don't talk to these amazing people in that way Pomeranian-kun!" (Yes that was the name she gave Kacchan, he didn't particularly like the nickname).

"I'll speak however the fuck I want Goggles!" 'Oh no, it's another nickname-off again!'

Before it could devolve further Hikoshō intervened. "Ladies, you're both pretty. As for your question though, you're looking at the test-dummy right now."

Izuku blinked and looked behind the researcher only to find a wall. Hikoshō chuckled. "My quirk makes me the perfect test dummy. You see, I have amazing heat and fire resistance, but due to a freak defect my heat receptors on my skin still use the temperature scale of a regular person."

Izuku's hands itched for a notebook but they weren't allowed to bring any items like that with them. "So you still feel like you're being burnt when you're on fire?"

"Yes exactly! Don't worry though, I have a pretty high pain tolerance and I'm in no actual danger of being burnt, but it makes me an excellent human test dummy."

They were shown a few of the testing chambers but the tour eventually ended when the display room they had just returned to got hotter by a few degrees. Not that Izuku could know that, he only realised when he noticed Kacchan and Mei-chan sweating more than before.

Hikoshō perked up though and turned around and Izuku finally saw the source of the heat as Endeavor himself, wreathed in his flames and donning his hero costume, walked into the lab.

The researcher quickly walked up to the pro. "Ah Endeavor-sama, I-I wasn't expecting you to visit yet, you only check up on our progress at the end of the month."

Endeavor huffed. "It's supposed to be unexpected. Don't think I never noticed that you all clean up your messes the day before I normally visit."

Hikoshō shrunk back a bit but quickly turned around and started shoving Izuku and his friends to the entrance door. "Hehehe alright you three I think that marks the end of your tour. You know the way out already. Hope you had fun, bye!"

The whole time they were being escorted out Izuku felt someone's gaze piercing his back. When they eventually got shoved out the reinforced entrance doors he turned around to see Endeavor giving an undecipherable stare directly at him right before the doors closed shut again.

Tuesday April 20th 2151

Izuku was pretty excited about today. As they grew older his and Kacchan's birthdays had gotten less childish and at this point it was usually just him spending the night at Kacchan's place for a 'sleepover'. He wasn't quite able to leave UA yet though, even if classes had just ended. Instead he found himself going to the 1-H Support Studio. During Heroics the day before Aizawa-sensei had given them an optional assignment before starting the class.

~"Alright class, this will be the last introductory Heroics lesson before we delve into more of the specifics."

Everyone shuffled around nervously as Aizawa-sensei walked to a large covered table set up in the middle of the gym and removed the cloth, showing a bunch of different weapons laid out on it. "For some of you this will sound redundant but I want every single one of you to try and choose a weapon to work with before this lesson ends."

Aizawa-sensei tugged on his capture scarf. "Since my quirk doesn't directly aid me in fighting I need to make use of a weapon to win fights. Some of you will be facing the same problems because of your quirk so I highly advice those people to take this seriously."

He then focused on Izuku, Kacchan and Todoroki-kun specifically. "Though even for those of you that don't have this problem I still encourage you to do the same. If you ever come across a situation where your quirk can't be used without seriously endangering yourself or civilians or if an opponent has the perfect counter for it, having a weapon you know how to use well will be a literal lifesaver. You might be able to win using just quirkless hand-to-hand combat skills but if your opponent can use their quirk or has a weapon then you'd be severely disadvantaged."

He then addressed the entire class again. "There won't be any further classes focusing on wielding specific weapons beyond this introductory one for a while so I hope that all of you will keep at it outside school hours. There are a few facilities near the main building where you can ask for further lessons on most of the weapons laid out on this table so make use of them, or don't, there are sadly too many pros who purely rely on their quirks."~

Izuku personally really liked the Bo staff and the Tonfas, purely for their simplicity and lack of danger, unlike knifes or guns, though they weren't allowed to use guns yet, but also for how they could work with his magnetic field if they were made from metal.

While it was true that he might not always be able to use Starborn's full functionality, mainly his heat and plasma abilities if he was in a flammable and explosive environment, he'd still be able to use his magnetic field, unless he was under a quirk suppressing effect. Though if he really got into a situation like that he'd have much more stressful things to worry about, mainly the whole burping fiasco followed by fainting and potentially death.

Luckily, besides Aizawa-sensei's Erasure, there weren't really any ways of suppressing a quirk. If there were then the police would be using those on every villain they detained instead of having to come up with numerous ways of countering someone's quirk.

He liked the idea of a Bo staff or Tonfas so much that he decided to skip out on today's Urban Parkour gathering, he did notify Fuwa-senpai beforehand of course, to discuss the possibilities with Mei-chan. Due to their simplicity there were a lot of functionalities you could add onto it. Izuku was even toying with the idea of having a Bo staff that could split up and turn into Tonfas just so he could have his cake and eat it too but he was getting ahead of himself.

Mei-chan had been pretty receptive to the whole idea, though Izuku was kind of wondering if he had bought her undying loyalty with the whole private tour of Endeavor's support company thing.

"-and I'm wondering if we could convince those guys to give us some Solarium 'Does Mei-chan realise she's pronouncing the too?' to make the weapon out of so it doesn't get destroyed by using your quirk 0-pointer-kun."

Izuku smiled at how excited Mei-chan was being about the whole idea but he kept being distracted by muffled yells and other concerning sounds. They definitely weren't coming from the 1-H Studio though so he couldn't do much about it.

"That sounds like a great idea Mei-chan. It's getting late though and you can brainstorm ideas back at home so I'll be forcing you out of the Studio now if you don't come with me willingly."

She groaned but complied. After Izuku was sure that Mei-chan was far enough away from the Studio to not sneak back in once he left he decided to check in on the noises. Though the noises had stopped not too long ago he thought they came from the 1-F Support Studio so he walked up to the blast doors and was surprised when they were still unlocked.

As he peeked his head through the crack he noticed that basically all the 1-F Support students had gone home already. 'Huh, maybe it was just someone's experiment gone wrong and they just left in the hopes that their teacher won't find out who did it.'

Izuku was about to turn around when he heard an almost inaudible sob coming from one of the student rooms.

At the sound he ran over to the room only to notice that it was in quite a chaotic state. In the corner of the room sat a small, trembling, curled-up figure with curly black hair and-

Izuku ran up to Akatani as calmly as possible and squatted to get on eye-level. "…Akatani-san, are you alright?"

Apparently he had been a bit too quiet as Akatani jerked up, revealing blotchy red eyes, before quickly burrowing them in his arms up again. "P-Please just l-leave, i-it's nothing t-to worry ab-bout."

He huffed in response. "I'm not just gonna leave you like this. What happened in here?"

Akatani remained silent. "Can I at least help you up and into that chair? The corner of the room doesn't sound very comfortable."

A silent nod was all he got as an answer and he quickly pulled a desk chair, which had been toppled onto the ground, back up. As he guided Akatani from his prior position to the chair though he accidentally brushed past his arms, which elicited a hiss from Akatani. "Oh crap, I'm sorry Akatani-sa-" It was then that he noticed some red discolouration of the skin peaking out from under the uniform's sleeve.

"Akatani-san how'd you get that burn?" Akatani flinched and Izuku was only just able to guide him into the chair. "I-It's j-just from a s-stupid ac-accident."

Izuku furrowed his brows. "I don't see anything here that could give you a burn like that. Besides, you seem more like the idea type than the building type and-"

"P-P-Please just g-go, I'll be f-f-fine in a b-bit."

"I'm not just gonna leave you when you have injuries Akatani-san! You need to see Recovery Girl at least! Did somebody hurt you? I heard yelling not too long ago. Who was i-" Izuku paused when he noticed Akatani getting even paler and breathing even heavier. 'Oh crap is he experiencing a panic attack? Dangit Izuku you idiot.'

"Oh crap Akatani, I'm so sorry. Do you know anyone I can bring here?"

He heard a slight mumble under the panicked breaths and he leaned closer. "W-War-Warushi-ch-chan p-please."

'Who?...Oh right.' Izuku turned around and bolted out of the 1-F Studio and ran to the 1-G Studio. 'I hope she's still here. Dangit how stupid can I be? Oh thank god it's still open.'

Izuku didn't care if someone was standing right behind the blast doors as he slammed them open. "IS GENDEKI STILL HERE?!"

He mentally sighed in relief when the split-ponytail girl peeked her head out from one of the rooms. "Hello hello Midoriya, no need to shout, I heard you loud and clear. Did you need someth-"

"Akatani's having a panic attack."

Gendeki's face turned into a concerned frown "That's no good, c'mon let's go!" and ran right past him, grabbing his hand and forcing him to run back with her.

Akatani hadn't really moved from his chair when they arrived and Gendeki immediately ran up and put her hands on his shoulders. "Shhh I'm here Mikumo. Calm breaths. Caaalllmmm breaths. Can you tell me five colours you're seeing right now?"

As Gendeki went through a clearly practiced method of calming someone down Izuku paused to look more closely at his surroundings. There were several screens on the wall, with one of them slightly cracked and multiple half-burnt papers on the ground. 'More burnt things…I don't think I like where this is going.'

Apparently Gendeki had succeeded in calming down Akatani enough to start asking him questions. "Mikumo, who did this to you?"

He squirmed under her gaze. "I-I don't w-want to s-say." He glanced at Izuku. 'Oh that's definitely not a good sign.'

Gendeki sighed in resignation. "I guess it was naïve to think that this wouldn't happen at UA eventually huh."

Izuku spoke up in confusion. "Uhm, can I know what you're talking about?"

Akatani and Gendeki shared a look but there was no denial coming from Akatani so Gendeki turned back to Izuku with a scowl on her face. "What I mean with 'this' is some quirkist asshole learning that Mikumo here is quirkless and then giving him shit for it."

Izuku was a bit taken aback by the uncharacteristically fierce expression on her face and he put the unfortunate puzzle pieces together as he looked at Akatani. "Uhm…w-was it Kacch-Bakugō?"

The flinch at the name was enough of an answer and Izuku had to sit himself on the ground in disbelief. 'I-I know he has quite a bit of a temper but actually attacking someone over something…'

Before he could think about it any further he got snapped out of it when a murderous aura filled the room as Gendeki palmed her fist and cracked her knuckles. "Thanks for the info Midoriya, I hope you don't mind if I had a word with him about Mikumo."

Izuku was still a bit shocked at the normally cheery girl's demeanour doing a full 180 but managed to speak back. "W-wait hold on, I should be the one to talk to him."

Gendeki shot him a doubtful look. "If you're saying this because you think a girl like me would get hurt against the big bad wolf then go ask Mikumo's middle school bullies how they were faring after I had a word with them."

He paled at the images she was invoking 'I get the feeling that she didn't just lie down and take it when those two expelled Support students gave her those chemical burns.' but responded. "Kacc-Bakugō's my childhood friend so this is my responsibility. B-besides, I need to hear his explanation for what happened here myself."

She still didn't look convinced but relented. "Ugh fine, I can tell that you're the type who would put this off for forever though, so if I see that you haven't talked with him yet before the Sports Festival begins this Friday then I'll be having words with him anyway, preferably during the tournament round if that's what it takes."

Izuku carefully nodded and he felt the tension disappear as quickly as it had appeared. "Alrighty, I'll hold you to that Midoriya." She flashed a toothy smile and turned around to Akatani. "Could you help me bring Mikumo to Recovery Girl before you leave? He's heavier than he looks and I don't want to disturb the remaining bandages I still have. Not if I almost get to finally take them off."

He nodded and draped one of Akatani's arms over his right shoulder for support while Gendeki did the same on the other side. "Alright Mikumo, let's get you to RG and then home. Would you mind if I stayed with you and made some hot cocoa before your dad comes home tonight?"

Izuku noticed Akatani blushing but decided to stay out of their personal matters as they walked to the nurse's office. He had a lot of thinking to do once he got home though.

Wednesday April 21st 2151

Izuku didn't end up going to Kacchan's house for his birthday's annual sleepover that night. Kacchan had definitely noticed though as his mood was worse than usual when homeroom started that day. He didn't confront Izuku about his absence though and well, Izuku wasn't really ready to confront Kacchan about what had happened to Akatani yesterday either. Sue him, he hoped that there had been some sort of misunderstanding and that it wasn't what it looked like but there was that gnawing bit of doubt in the back of his mind that he didn't want validated once he did end up talking to him.

To get his mind off of things for now Izuku had been walking to one of the smaller buildings on the campus. Now normally 1st years didn't really have any business going where Izuku was going but he had his reasons. Entering the building he started looking for the signature mask and cowboy hat of Snipe, who should be here on the Wednesday afternoons.

Luckily it didn't take too long as Snipe eventually approached him instead. "Howdy, what's a 1st year like you doin' in a place like the ranch?"

"Ah hello Snipe-sensei, I uhm was hoping to use the dynamic shooting range for the foreseeable future?"

Because of Snipe's mask Izuku was forced to imagine the facial gestures and because of the silence Izuku envisioned a quirked eyebrow. "Ya do know we don't teach y'all 1st years how to shoot firearms right?"

"O-Of course Snipe-sensei, I wasn't actually saying I wanted to use a gun on the range."

Izuku took the silence as his sign to elaborate. "Right, so I actually have two separate ranged moves in my arsenal and I realised that I won't really have any opportunity during the Heroics lessons this term to practice shooting targets with them so I was hoping to work on them here…under supervision of course."

Again, because of the mask, Izuku was forced to imagine a stoic face suddenly lighting up into a smile as Snipe spoke up. "Ah of course Midoriya, I like yer initiative. It's great to see one of you 1st years really putting in the extra work, Plus Ultra and all. Now I assume yer quirk is not that much like a gun so I'm not sure how well my advice would work for ya but wait a few more minutes and then the dynamic shooting range will be available for a little while."

The dynamic shooting range turned out to be really fun. It was set up like an underground bunker with several maintenance tunnels and targets hiding and moving around and Izuku had to get from the centre to the open exit. It was pretty interesting how UA really loved using robots wherever they could as the targets weren't stuck on prebuilt tracks. For his first run the difficulty was set at the bare minimum which meant less aggressive and slower moving targets with the exit relatively close by and Izuku. was. loving. it. He may or may not have whooped and cackled several times as his Solar Flares knocked a target out.

When he came out he got some feedback from Snipe about his form and a few corrections to his aiming and he was then put right back in, at his request of course. In the end he hoped that no one else wanted to use the range as he was eventually forced to stop by Snipe because it was officially UA's closing time. As he walked home he had mostly forgotten about the impending Kacchan conversation and was feeling pretty good.

Thursday April 22nd 2151

The good feeling didn't last for that long though, as Aizawa-sensei told Kacchan to stay after class when the last bell rang. Izuku wasn't normally one to eavesdrop but he was a bit curious, maybe Aizawa-sensei somehow knew about what happened and was going to talk to Kacchan about it. That'd hopefully save him from doing the talking himself and Izuku didn't have any time to push it off again since the Festival was tomorrow already. Hopefully Fuwa-senpai didn't mind him skipping both sessions this week.

The sounds were a bit muffled behind the door but Aizawa-sensei still spoke clearly enough for Izuku to understand what he was saying. "Alright Bakugō, I got you the papers you need to fill in to request a Support partner change. I think it's a bit illogical to do it this early in the year but it happens at least once every year. Normally I'd bring it to Nezu to finalise it but I'm busy preparing for the Sports Festival right now so you'll have to do it yourself."

A grunt of agreement alerted Izuku to the fact that Kacchan was about to come through the door and he quickly ducked behind a nearby corner to avoid getting discovered. 'What did Aizawa-sensei mean with Support partner change? This has to do with what happened to Akatani then, but I'm still no closer to knowing what happened. I guess I don't have a choice then.'

He carefully trailed Kacchan as they left the Hero Department tower and got closer to the Principal's office and when Izuku finally saw the sign indicating they were nearly there he sped up and spoke up in a cautiously composed tone. "Katsuki Bakugō, I think we need to have a talk."

Based on the way Kacchan tensed up and rigidly turned around to face him Izuku knew he had mimicked his mom's 'No more bullshit' tone well enough. The rigid posture didn't last long as Kacchan relaxed a bit and spoke up. "Oi Zuku, why the fuck are you stalking me? Also where the fuck were you on Tuesday huh?! I stayed up way past my normal bedtime waiting for you and you were a no-show!"

Izuku stayed calm and repeated himself. "I told you already, we need to have a talk…about that." He pointed at the papers Kacchan had been holding.

"Hah? Why should some stupid paperwork matter to you?"

"Because, that 'stupid paperwork' is related to something that happened between you and Akatani in the 1-F Studio and I'd like to know what happened because Akatani didn't want to speak up about it."

Kacchan had a puzzled look on his face "Who?" before it turned into a sneer. "Oh, you mean that Support nerd. Why the fuck do you care about some stupid extra?"

At that he turned around and Izuku could tell that Kacchan wasn't going to continue talking anymore like this so he darted forward and snatched the papers from him as he passed.

"Hey what the fuck Zuku! Give those back!"

Izuku crossed his arms and huffed. "I'm not giving these back until I'm satisfied with your answer. And don't even think about snatching them back, I can easily burn some papers, just like how you burnt some of Akatani's for some reason. Now get talking, what happened between you and Akatani?"

The annoyed look on Kacchan's face stayed but he backed down. "Tsk why do you care? Turns out that nerd was looking down on me and was hiding something pretty important and I decided I didn't want to put up with him any longer."

"Kacchan that doesn't explain the damage to his room, and what do you mean with 'something pretty important'?"

Kacchan growled but relented and threw his hands up. "That stupid shit was hiding the fact he was quirkless! Like hell I'm gonna let some shitty extra who doesn't even know anything about having power design my hero costume, let alone hide that from me!"

Izuku's hopes at a simple misunderstanding shattered in an instant and he lost his composure for the first time in forever as all his doubts and stress from the past week boiled over all at once. "WHY THE FUCK DOES THAT MATTER?! WHAT ABOUT THE THINGS HE'S ALREADY DONE FOR YOU, LIKE THE THINGS I DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF?! AND THAT STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY YOU DID ALL THAT DAMAGE TO HIS ROOM!"

He tried calming himself down again but Kacchan ruined that attempt by speaking up. "Oi Zuku the hell are you getting so worked up about? If you really want to fucking know, that shitty nerd pissed me off because he thought he could just hide it from me. I don't need help from some powerless nerd that has the gall to look down on me so I pushed him around a bit."

"YOU CALL THAT PUSHING AROUND?! HALF HIS ROOM WAS DESTROYED AND HE WAS COWERING IN THE CORNER WITH BURNS ON HIS ARM AND THEN WENT INTO A PANIC ATTACK! THERE'S NOT A SNOWBALL'S CHANCE IN HELL THAT HE'S LOOKING DOWN ON YOU! WHAT KIND OF FUCKED UP LOGIC IS THAT?!"

Kacchan still had that frustratingly annoyed look on his face as he dismissed the yelling. "Jesus Christ Zuku, I haven't seen you this worked up like ever. Why do you even care about that shitty extra so much anyway? Especially if he really is that weak to let some pushing around scare him that much."

"SHITTY EXT-?!" Izuku tried to calm down again since he was probably being heard by anyone close enough. "What gives you the right to push someone down just because they lack a quirk?!"

"Eh? Hey it's not like I go around deliberately doing that to everyone! Just to those fucking extras with shitty quirks who think they're stronger than us and look down on us."

Izuku snapped back. "Don't lump me in with this!" He paused as he started viewing certain things in a new light. "I-Is that why you call everyone extras, because you think they're not worth your attention?! H-How long have you been 'pushing around' other people?!"

Kacchan huffed in annoyance "See this is why I never did it with you around Zuku. You're too fucking heroic for your own good, but those fuckers need to know their damn place. Besides, I'll begrudgingly admit that most people in our class are strong enough to at least try so this was the first time I did it at UA at all."

"Y-You really think everyone that's weaker than you is worth less than you?" Izuku couldn't help but voice his disbelief and didn't even want to think about how Kacchan basically just told him that he's been doing it for who knows how long behind his back.

Kacchan growled. "Duh, why should I care about anyone who I won't encounter on my path to becoming the number one hero? But those weak shits who think they can look down on me and force themselves on that path because they think they're just as strong or stronger piss me off."

Izuku stepped back, still in shock, as a gut-wrenching realisation crossed his mind which he whispered in horror. "W-What if I had been like Akatani?"

He was met with an infuriatingly incredulous look. "Hah? We back to talking about that quirkless shit again?! Why do you still care about that extra? And what the fuck does that even mean? If you're just talking nonsense then give my papers back already."

"W-What if I hadn't been born with a quirk like Starborn? What if I, in your own words, had a 'weak' or 'useless' quirk. Would I have just been another 'extra' to you? Would we have even been friends at all?!"

He could feel his eyes watering as he continued. 'Dammit Izuku, not right now.' "O-Or if I had been quirkless like Akatani, w-would you have been my…b-bully?!"

Kacchan's eyes softened and he reached forward with his hand. "What? Of course not, there's no way a friend of mine would've been born with a shitty quirk or worse Zuk-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!" Izuku screamed in alarm and slapped back Kacc-Katsuki's hand as him not even entertaining the thought practically confirmed his suspicions.

Kacc-Katsuki looked taken aback at the outburst but before he could react Izuku threw the papers he'd been holding hostage right into his face. "You can have your stupid fucking papers back!"

Katsuki went on the ground to gather all the papers again. "Dammit nerd, what's going on with you toda-?"

"Shut up Katsuki, I'm done talking to you!" Izuku's voice cracked and he could already feel his anger high crashing down as the despair grew and tried to finish things up before he could break down right then and there. "I can't believe what an absolute piece of shit you've been to everyone besides me!"

He faltered for a second but found his voice again. "B-But I know that you can be a good p-person if you want to be. A-and I can tell that you don't even comprehend how fucked up this is, s-so I'm g-giving you a chance at fixing it."

Izuku tried to hold a fierce pose again but his trembling and his wavering voice made him fail miserably. "U-Until you realise that everything you just said to me is absolutely disgusting, until you've p-properly apologised to Akatani at the very least, and until I know that Akatani and Gendeki are c-convinced that the apology is genuine. Until you've d-done all those things I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU!" And with that Izuku's last embers of anger were spent and he spun around and ran away to hide his blurring vision.

"Who the fuck is Gend- Hey nerd…IZUKU COME BACK!"

Izuku wasn't listening to anything anymore as multiple thoughts were flitting around his mind. 'Why didn't I notice anything? How did he even get to this point? Could I have stopped him if I found out? How many red flags did I brush away just because he's been my friend for all these years?! Is the only reason that we're friends now because I got lucky?!'

Eventually he stumbled on a janitor's closet and he shakily sat down between the mops and buckets as he finally allowed himself to break down in sobs.

After what felt like an hour Izuku's eyes had dried up and he somehow found his way home and to his room. He'd dismissed mom's fretting by saying that he was too emotionally exhausted to talk about it and locked his bedroom door behind him. He found that he couldn't concentrate on anything besides Katsuki's words and anything that seemed weird now that he was looking back on them with these new revelations.

In the end he decided that he couldn't spend the rest of the night like this until he had to leave for the Sports Festival in the morning and crawled out of his window. He knew that practicing parkour in downtown Korisato probably wasn't safe…or legal but he didn't care as he found the experience quite freeing.

During his running through Korisato he came across the Tatooin shopping district. His thoughts went back to when he and Kacc-Katsuki had accidentally freed that villain made of sludge and were forced to hold him back from the crowds that started gathering. He already felt himself getting sad and angry again but before he could spiral further he was pulled back from the edge he'd been standing on by a thick material that had wrapped around his body.

Before he could panic about someone ambushing him a familiar voice spoke up. "Why am I not surprised that you are the first I find outside during patrol Problem Child."

Izuku was turned around and Aizawa-sensei's unamused face came into view. "Ah h-hello Aizaw-"

"It's Eraserhead when I'm on the field Problem Child."

"-R-Right, Eraserhead. W-What are you doing here?"

Aizawa-sensei deadpanned. "I'm doing my nightly patrol. Now normally if I found a student of mine during one I'd ask them what they're doing out this late but given that it's you…"

"I uhm, i-it's nothing Ai-Eraserhead. I just needed to clear my mind before the Sports Festival tomorr-errr today."

Aizawa-sensei gave him a look-over and unwrapped his capture scarf. Then he did something unexpected as he sat down and gestured for Izuku to sit down as well. "You're not a very good liar Problem Child. I can tell that you've been thinking about something too much."

Izuku carefully sat down on the tiled roof they had found themselves on and tried to word his next sentence carefully. "Sensei, w-what would you do if, hypothetically,-" Aizawa-sensei quirked an eyebrow. "-someone you've known for a long time t-turned out to be…n-not as good of a person as you had thought?"

Aizawa-sensei was silent for a few seconds but indulged Izuku anyway. "First of all I'd try to figure out if them being a good person to me was an act or not. If they were acting then I'd leave them immediately. No reason to keep playing pretend with them. If they weren't acting I would try to understand why they aren't being a good person to others, or why they're being a good person to me specifically and then use that to see if I can help them be better. If I can't then I'd leave them as well, trying to exhaust or endanger yourself with helping someone who can't be helped when the consequences aren't severe injury or their death is just illogical."

The following silence told Izuku to speak up. "I uhm, I know that this hypothetical person definitely wasn't just acting like a good person to me. And uhm, I think they're being a good person to me because they…because my quirk fits with their worldview."

It was difficult to see because of the yellow goggles but Aizawa-sensei's eyes narrowed. "And pray tell what do you think Bakugō's worldview is?" 'Eh? Crap, he saw right through me!'

Having been found out Izuku dropped the hypothetical part and answered. "Uhm, I think Kacc-Katsuki believes that he's destined to be the strongest. Because he…uhm they've always told him that he'd be great. And I think he believes that people who aren't strong enough to play a part on his journey to being the greatest are a waste of his time. A-And if anyone who isn't strong enough believes that they are part of his journey anyway then he takes that as them uhm…looking down on him? And because he- because Katsuki doesn't have the greatest temper he gets errr pissed off at them?"

Aizawa-sensei sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Great, so he has an inferiority complex masked by a superiority complex."

Before Izuku could reply Aizawa-sensei stood up and motioned for him to get down the nearby stairs. Izuku complied and followed when Aizawa-sensei started walking off. "I can tell that there's more to it than just 'Bakugō bad' Problem Child."

Izuku gulped but Aizawa-sensei wasn't slowing down his pace so he spoke up anyway. "I don't know. I'm just wondering how much…how much of this is my fault? Did I just reinforce his beliefs because his best and only friend also developed a strong quirk? How many times didn't I notice any weird behaviour? How many times did I notice but just dismissed it because he was my friend? Could Katsuki- Could I have helped him be a better person if I had known earlier?"

Aizawa-sensei looked over his shoulder. "Why do you think you can't start now?"

Izuku pouted. "I did start!...I guess, I don't know. I-I'm not doubting that I can't help him but, it's partially my fault isn't it? Katsuki got the belief that he's destined to be the greatest from everyone around him constantly praising him…and I didn't help in that at all since I was probably the one who told him that the most."

"Hmpf and there you have it. You're correct in saying that it's not fully his fault, but it was still his choice to keep going after all this time instead of pausing for a moment to rethink his actions. But Problem Child, it's in the name, you're both still children."

Aizawa-sensei stopped walking and squatted down slightly in front of him. "You said that it isn't fully Bakugō's fault because everyone told him it was normal. But you're forgetting that you were in the exact same environment as him, so the things he did show you were normal for you too. It's irrational to expect you to have known, especially if he hid it from you on purpose, albeit for different reasons than actually knowing that what he's doing was wrong."

Izuku pondered that last bit. "H-Hey hold on, how'd you know about the hiding part?"

Aizawa-sensei gave an incredulous look. "Your little shouting match happened right outside Nezu's office and he happens to have a great sense of hearing, not that that was necessary with your volume apparently."

Izuku got flustered from that but Aizawa-sensei continued. "Anyway, if he really doesn't know what he's doing is wrong then now's the perfect time to show him that, now that he's away from the environment that normalised it for him. From what Nezu told me though I'm pretty sure you're already on your way there. If I find out about any ongoing bullying or other types of harassment however I will punish him accordingly. UA has a strict anti-bullying policy and misguided thoughts are not an excuse to escape consequences."

Izuku's hair got ruffled again by Aizawa-sensei 'Was the last time really just over two weeks ago? I have the feeling I should have an achievement notification pop up somewhere or something.' "You're a good kid Midoriya, and I can tell that you and Bakugō are good friends too, so I think it'd be pretty illogical if he didn't start turning things around for you once he's thought about it for a while."

He then pointed to his right and Izuku noticed that they'd walked all the way back to his apartment block. 'Did he just trick me into being escorted back home?' "Now go back inside, I'm sure you have some thinking to do as well. If not about Bakugō then about that speech of yours that you'll be giving in a few hours."

Now Izuku thought he'd have to fake a realistic reaction to avoid letting Aizawa-sensei know that he knew about the ruse but in reality he'd completely forgotten about Yaomomo's warning after those two weeks and he quickly rushed to the apartment block's entrance in a panic, shouting a quick goodbye to Aizawa-sensei as he did.

In the end Izuku had only been able to come up with a few basic points with all his conflicting thoughts on Katsuki. He hoped he'd be able to fill in the gaps through improvisation as the sun rose and he set off to Dagobah Beach first.

Upon arrival he realised that he hadn't really visited the site the past week except for mindless cleaning but when he got there he was pleasantly surprised. Most of the Gen Ed and Support students he'd seen come and go in the past were gathered at the beach and beyond some lingering scraps the beach was squeaky clean.

Izuku bit back some happy tears as he stepped onto the promenade wall and flashed his aura, getting everyone's attention. "Hello everyone! I'm really happy to see so many of you here the morning of the Sports Festival. When this plan was first thought up I hadn't really expected many people to come, but I'm glad that turned out to be wrong. This might sound a bit condescending coming from a Hero course student for some of you but I'm proud at all the effort every single one of you have put into the combat training, as well as the actual cleaning. I'm sure that a lot of great parties will be held here over the summer!"

Everyone cheered and hollered from that and Izuku smiled. "Now then, this beach isn't just going to disappear on us. We have a Sports Festival to attend! Let's all show the world what we got and go beyond!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" echoed through the beach a second time that month, signalling the successful end of the GESFP.