The clock's alarm turned on, the radio kicked in and smooth jazz filled the room. In the early morning hours, the sole occupant of the room stirred. There was a sigh, and he sat up. His bedhead made his hair even messier than usual, so he reached up and used his finger to comb back into its typical messiness. He slowly got out of bed, put on some clothes, and meandered to the kitchen. He opened the fridge, removed leftovers from yesterday's breakfast, and tossed them into the microwave. While it was slowly reheated, he merely stood in the dim kitchen as the seconds ticked by. The microwave beeped, signaling its completion and he removed the bowl.

He ate in silence, the wall clock in the adjacent living room, the only other noise apart from himself. When he was finished, he took the plate and cutlery to the sink, washed them, and them putting in the drying rack. When that was done, he went about prepping himself for his day. Washing up, gathering his essentials for the day, and finally grabbing his small backpack. Without so much as another look back, he left the apartment.

The walk to the main building of U.A. took a few minutes, even with his slower gait. He passed by several students, greeting them as he passed, and they did the same. He was relatively well-known around the campus at this point, owing to his skill in developing support gear for the various students. Today, however, would not be spent on support gear, he had his project that consumed much of his time and life at this point.

When he finally got to the main building, it was another few minutes to make his way to the support division located in the basement. The door slid open, the room not yet filled with students from the support education department. For now, only David Shield was present, sitting on a stool, a mug of coffee in his hand while using his phone in the other. When Izuku entered he smiled at him.

"Morning Izuku, sleep all right?" He asked.

"Yes, thank you," Izuku said.

"You're going to be working on your project today I take it?" David continued.

Izuku merely nodded, and made his way to the far end of the room, moving deeper into the development studio.

"How's progress going on that by the way? Still stuck on the transference lines?" David asked before Izuku went through the door.

Izuku sighed. "Yes, it's the last hang-up in it. I've got a couple of ideas I'm going to try but I'm not confident with any of them." Izuku said.

"Well... if you want any help in the final stretch, don't hesitate to ask," David said, and then Izuku went through the door.

Izuku went through the door and into the second room, one devoted to putting various inventions through stress tests for safety. The first and second rooms took up 75% of the support department space in the basement, the third was a shared office space for Izuku and David, and the fourth, however, had several locks to ensure students couldn't get in. That is where more personal projects were located amongst more specialized equipment. Izuku would be spending all day in this room, just him and his project. Only taking breaks for food and drink. Such as it had been for the past year and he wasn't breaking this routine anytime soon.

.

.

Bakugo walked down the street suitcase rolling behind him, hood up both to prevent him from being easily recognized and to keep the rain off him. It was one of his rare weeks off, and he had decided to pay Tokoyami and Tsu a visit. They were several hours away, but it was worth it, given how rarely they all got to see each other. Especially after Ochako was put on ice. As he walked, his mind drifted and he couldn't help but think of how things had changed in a year.

In a lot of ways, it was all the same as how it had been before the Demon Mask Incident. Slowly building social unrest, rebuilding the country, their group continuing hero work, and no major incidents. Things had slowly been looking up for the country, the economy was recovering, and industries were starting to thrive. Yet for them, this past year had been anything but pleasant. Despite reassurance that Ochako wasn't dead, they felt as if she was. There had been no word on progress for a treatment or cure for the quirk-based virus Ochako had been afflicted with. Neither had anyone been able to find Aria Lin, since her escape, she had truly vanished and attempts to find her had largely been abandoned.

Amongst the group itself, Tsuyu had started having bouts of mild depression. Ochako's loss had hit her hard, and Tokoyami did his best to help. Todoroki and Momo had thrown themselves into their work with a fervor not seen since the war. Turning into workaholics and since taking over Endeavors agency, had brought it back to its former glory. Close friends and colleagues, however, were all wondering when they would either burn themself out or snap under the strain. Mina had sunken even deeper into her depression that had started after the Zeus conflict and had dropped out of all work entirely, opting to stay home in relative isolation. Kirishima tried his best to keep the spirits amongst the group up, but a great deal of vitality had been sapped from him as well; he still did excellent hero work despite that. Kirishima had never told the rest of them why Mina's mental health had deteriorated since the Zeus conflict, despite them asking numerous times over the years.

As for himself, well, Bakugo wasn't sure if he had changed much really. He and Tokoyami were the only ones who had managed to take the loss relatively well. Relative being the optimum word, he doubted the others would look past his increased drinking if they had known. Still, it wasn't like it was a problem or anything. Not like it had been during and just after the war. He managed to restrain himself enough.

Finally, there was Izuku. He didn't even know where to start with his thoughts about Izuku. Izuku had been in rough shape even before the Zeus conflict. Resorting to vigilantism to cope with his crippling guilt and desire for revenge. While The Hunter had yet to re-appear after the Demon Mask Incident, Izuku was suffering. He no longer initiated social interaction on his own, requiring others to often "force" him to be social. All his time and energy had gone into whatever he was working on at the U.A. support department alongside David Shield. He never talked about Ochako if he could help it, indeed it seemed like he was trying to ignore everything that had happened. Yet once a month, when he wasn't working on his project, or being forced to be social by Tsuyu, Tokoyami, or Ahmya, he would visit Ochakos pod at the hospital's secret room. From what Tsuyu had told them, he would spend hours there. Sometimes he would return depressed for several days, and other times would be filled with manic energy. On a more positive note, he had started seeing the same therapist Ochako had before the incident recently. Tsu and Ahmya had been working on getting him to go see the therapist for quite a while.

Bakugo's thoughts were shattered by a peel of thunder and a flash of lightning overhead. It was so close, that he dropped his suitcase and spun around, heart rate spiking as for a brief second he though Zeus had reappeared. The people around him gave him strange looks but continued on their way. Bakugo relaxed and let out a deep breath, feeling his heart rate settle down. He grabbed his suitcase and resumed his walk, the rain starting to pick up, but he was close to where Kirishima and Mina lived.

A couple of streets later he was in one of the upscale housing districts of Mufustafu, near to where U.A. was located. He could see the luxury apartment complex where they lived and he started walking faster as he heard another peel of thunder. By the time he made it to their apartment and under some cover, it had started raining in earnest and he took off his jacket and shook it to get some of the water out before stepping inside the lobby. From the lobby, he quickly made his way up to the highest floor and to the end of the hall where a single door was located. He knocked on the door and waited.

A few moments later, Tokoyami opened the door, Dark Shadow perched on one shoulder. A rueful smile appeared on his face at the sight of a bedraggled Bakugo, and he stepped aside to allow him in. Bakugo walked in, glaring at Tokoyami's smile but there was no heat behind the gaze. Tokoyami closed the door behind him and pointed to a small walk-in closet beside the door where he could hang his jacket and change out of his shoes.

"You can hang your jacket there, and leave your shoes to dry. We bought a pair of slippers in size." Tokoyami said.

Bakugo quickly hung up his jacket and took off his shoes, grateful for their forethought. He had stepped into a puddle at one point and his shoes were thoroughly soaked.

"Thanks." He said.

Once he had hung his coat and changed into the slippers, he followed Tokoyami out of the entryway and to the living dining room combo located just a few steps away from the entrance. Where Tsu was sitting at a desk, various papers scattered about, and idly twirling a pen. At seeing Bakugo however, she broke into a wide smile. She hopped out of her seat and immediately hugged him. He gave her a lopsided grin and patted her on the back in return.

"It's great to see you Bakugo! It's been too long!" She said happily.

"Yeah, it has." He agreed.

"I'll show you the bedroom you'll be staying in," Tokoyami said and gestured for Bakugo to follow him.

The three of them walked down the hallway, passing by an open doorway to the kitchen which connected to the living dining room combo. The hallway split into a T-intersection, to the right was the bathroom, and to the left were two doors, one along the wall and the other at the end of the hallway. Tokoyami opened the door along the wall, letting him walk into the bedroom.

It wasn't much larger than the room he had grown up in, and naturally quite spartan as it was unused usually. Not that he would complain, his bedroom at his place wasn't much better, and unlike his, Tsu and Tokoyami had hung some art on the walls to liven the room up some.

"We'll give you a few minutes to get settled. We'll be waiting in the living room." Tokoyami said and he and Tsu left, leaving Bakugo alone in the room.

Bakugo sighed, stretched, and plopped his suitcase down at the foot of the bed. He quickly unpacked his clothes, and neatly stored them within the drawers. Then he removed some basic pieces of combat gear that he always took with him and laid them on the top of the drawers. Once everything was out of his suitcase, he stretched once more and made his way to the living room. Tokoyami and Tsu were seated on the sectional couch, and he joined them, sitting down on the other side of the sectional where they could face each other diagonally.

"Our apologies Bakugo, had we known it was going to rain we would have picked you up," Tsu said.

Bakugo waved away her apology. "It's fine, that aside, how's work at U.A. been going?"

"It's been going rather well. Student numbers have slowly been creeping up but are still a shadow of what it was when we first enrolled. Still, the student's spirits are pretty high and they are well-motivated to do well." Tsu said brightly.

"It's been rather impressive actually," Tokoyami said.

"Nezu has been doing excellently at assuring parents and the government of the school's commitment and dedication. Zeus's capture and eventual execution also made a huge difference. With the last of the league dead or imprisoned for life, the economic recovery going well, and geopolitical prospects also looking good, public sentiment about hero schools is quite high. That doesn't change the fact that tuition is still hard for many to pay, even with price cuts and budget rollbacks. Still, it's hard to complain about the current state of things." Tokoyami went on to say.

Bakugo nodded several times as he listened. "Good, we need all the heroes we can get," Bakugo said approvingly.

"Looking forward to your guest appearance at U.A.?" Tsu asked

While Bakugo had come to visit Mufustafu primarily to see Tsu, Tokoyami, and Izuku, Nezu had also asked him to make an appearance at U.A. While initially annoyed at the request coming during his week off, he had agreed. All Might had taught him the value and power of inspiration and being a role model. He didn't think he would be particularly good at it, but he owed it to All Might to at least try.

"I can't say I'm the best candidate, but I'll give it my best shot." He said with a shrug.

"That aside though..." Bakugo said, his tone shifting.

"I've been wanting to ask. How's Izuku been doing?"

Tsu glanced at Tokoyami briefly before speaking.

"He's... better than he was. I think seeing the same therapist as Ochako has had a definite impact on his outlook and attitude. David said Izuku's been a bit more personable as of late, and Ahmya and I have had less difficulty in getting Izuku out of his apartment." Tsu explained.

"His main fixation is still his project, especially lately. David believes Izuku might be on the cusp of a breakthrough and that it might be finished within another month or so. As a result, Izuku has been almost running himself ragged. David has been forced to monitor Izuku's time spent in the lab and ensure he goes home at reasonable times. At least when I don't swing by to drag him out after I'm done with my duties for the day." Tsu continued.

"We're planning on taking Izuku out to eat sometime this week, and we're hoping you'd join us," Tokoyami said.

"Sure, been a while since I've eaten out, and seeing Izuku at the same time would be good," Bakugo said, agreeing.

He wanted to see Izuku's condition for himself. He and Izuku may not be best friends, but since the Zeus incident, they'd at least started to patch things up. However, Ochako's condition for the past year had slowed that progress to a crawl. Still, he tried to remember to call Izuku once every month or so.