And we're at the end of April, everyone! Looks like we've got this chapter and 19 more before we're completely caught up with what's on Archive of our Own! By then, there'll be longer chapters and a lot more fun content for this story!

But for now, it's time to get into the last arc of Season 2: the final exams! How will Class A's 24 students fare? Well, let's find out with this start!

"Huh..." Rebecca exhaled, sitting down in her seat without so much as a worry in the world. She was back at U.A. to continue studying for the final exams of the first semester. And as such, she immediately bombarded by both Mina and Toru with questions.

"What were the IUA Heroes like?!" the Acid Quirk user inquired excitedly.

"Did you get to meet all of them?!" the invisible girl beside her asked.

"Ooh, is Justice just as handsome in person?!" Mina questioned on, not relenting for a second.

"Uh..." Rebecca uttered out, chuckling nervously. Like with what happened against Stain, there was a bit of a coverup when it came to what happened against Müller. Anything related to Elsie and her involvement was kept under wraps... along with that of the League. It was frustrating. But in order to keep the peace in Japan, it had to be done.

"Sounds like quite a time you had, Steiner!" Denki's voice noted from nearby, catching the Leaper Quirk user's attention as she noticed him and Eijiro talking to Weisz, who seemed... a bit sullen. That surprised Rebecca, especially upon hearing that he had singlehandedly taken down a villain during the raid mission. He was definitely not satisfied with himself, staring at the wristwatch that acted as the container for his Arsenal armor.

'My legend's definitely gonna begin soon...' he vowed inwardly, taking on a determined expression. Seeing that, Rebecca cracked a small smile. Maybe he was a little more endearing than she thought. Just then, the door slid open.

"Morning, everyone," Izuku greeted as he entered, having bandages over his left arm as he yawned.

"Izuku!" his best friend called out, getting his attention as he looked to see her shoot up from her seat and hurry over to him.

"Oh, Rebe-!" The One For All inheritor found himself interjected by the sudden embrace he received from her. She smiled warmly as she held onto him.

"Recovery Girl get your arm fixed up okay?" she assumed.

"Uh, um... y-y-yeah!" Izuku stammered out, blushing a mad red as he was frozen stiff from the public display of affection. Mina was squealing with delight, hopping up and down excitedly. Everyone else looked on and smiled, save for Katsuki as he just scoffed. Rebecca didn't care what anyone thought though. She was just happy that her best friend was alive and well, still on his track to become a great hero.

"Bluegarden, Midoriya," a familiar voice chimed in, getting their attentions as they turned to see Shota come into the room, "what are you two doing?" he inquired, sounding annoyed.

"N-NOTHING!" they both stuttered loudly, completely going red in the face as they broke away from each other. They quickly went to their seats, giving each other one last small smile for the morning before classes began. In between lectures, the students talked quite a bit about their internships.

"You know, I think there's a few guys here who really got their feet wet out there!" Hanta pointed out.

"Oh yeah, the whole Hero Killer deal!" Denki recalled, "You girls were involved in that too, right?" he inquired to Momo, Homura, and Rebecca.

"Uh... sorta..." the latter of the three girls replied, "If it wasn't for Endeavor, Mirko, and Jaguar, I don't think we would've been able to do anything else..." she admitted.

"Yes," Homura agreed, "Although-" Before she could speak any further, Shoto grabbed her right hand with his left. She looked over to him in surprise, seeing him slightly shake his head. Upon realizing what he was trying to do for her sake, the Soul Blade Quirk user blushed a little. "N-N-No... i-it was completely thanks to them that we emerged victorious..." she stammered out, covering her mouth with her left sleeve as she trembled.

"Uh..." Denki uttered out, quite confused.

'Homura's really not good with secrets, huh?' Rebecca inwardly noted, giving off a nervous grin. Before too long, other classes went by as discussions about the internships continued. Tenya had been completely reaffirmed from his experience, vowing to become a better hero than the man who confronted Stain seeking vengeance.

Meanwhile, everyone was surprised to see how changed Ochaco was. Her internship was at Gunhead's agency. Thus, she had been trained in martial arts befitting what she desired as a hero. And she seemed very hyper-focused...

"That's so cool, Ochaco!" Shiki complimented as he approached her from behind, putting a hand onto her shoulder, "Next time, I'm sure you'll totally beat-!" All of a sudden, the Zero Gravity Quirk user pivoted around, swept him off of his feet before he could even react in time, and pinned him to the ground. "Ah...!" he gasped out. That sound snapped Ochaco out of her hyper-focused state as she looked down to see what she had done.

"AH!" she yelped out of shock, getting off of her classmate, "Sh-Shiki, I'm so sorry!" she stammered in apology.

"No... it's okay..." he assured as a response despite wincing.

"That... was strangely hot..." Minoru bluntly noted, causing Rebecca to whip her head over to glare and growl at him. Everyone had gained a good experience in some way, shape, or form. And putting it into practice would be quite the experience.

"Yaomomo, that was amazing!" Toru complimented to Momo, who wiping some sweat off of her brow. Hero training at Field Gamma that afternoon had proven to be quite an eye-opener for those who had yet to see the experiences of their classmates in action. The Creation Quirk user managed to keep pace during her group's race, winding up just barely finishing second behind Shiki.

Everyone was improving, at least based on what All Might could determine. Rebecca smiled, having seen Izuku beat out Hanta for first place during their group's race to the finish. But afterwards, she noticed a troubled look on his face. She wasn't sure what had happened, giving off a worried expression.

"Is everything alright, Rebecca?" Homura asked as they had returned to the locker room later that day to change back into their uniforms.

"Oh, uh, yeah..." the Leaper Quirk user assured, "Just thinking back to the internships..." she admitted, glancing down at the floor, "I'm really glad I got the experience I did with Mister Jaguar and everyone else..." she said while smiling.

"I am as well," Homura added, "Mirko reminded me a lot of Valkyrie... and inspired me to move forward," she pointed out with a grin. Rebecca giggled, glad for her classmate. They had become good friends.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..." Kyoka muttered out, getting their attentions.

"Something wrong, Jiro?" Tsuyu inquired upon overhearing. They watched her walk over to the wall, using her left cable-like earlobe to motion toward a small hole in the wall.

"A... hole?" Ochaco uttered in confusion.

"Wait... doesn't that lead to the boys' room?!" Mina shrieked out in question. And then they started hearing Minoru. He was ranting and raving about peeping on his female classmates, not letting anyone stop him from peeping.

"I wanna see Yaoyorozu's curves, Ashido's slender waist, Hagakure's floating underwear, Uraraka's super fine body, Asui's unexpectedly soft boobies, Kogetsu's perfect ass, and Bluegarden's-!" His ranting was almost stopped by Kyoka's earphone jack. But he had gotten pulled out of the way at the last second before it could jab his eye. Although, when he looked back to see who had saved him, he almost wished he had let his eye get jabbed. Because he could see the anger building in Izuku's face as he held onto the perverse teen's shirt by its collar.

"Mineta... that's enough," he insisted firmly, causing him to shiver in fright. The other boys looked on in shock at the sheer change in attitude from their normally kind classmate. The girls, who had overheard, were just as surprised.

"Wow," Kyoka said, "Guess chivalry's not dead..." she remarked with a shrug.

"I... have a perfect ass?" Homura inquired, glancing back curiously at her posterior. Meanwhile, Rebecca felt the heat rise to her cheeks upon hearing Izuku step in before Minoru could've said anything about her. Clearly, their relationship was more than just a longstanding friendship. But it would be tested in time...

As the sun set, Rebecca stared at her phone while waiting at the front gates of U.A. Izuku told her that he had gone to have a conversation with All Might at his behest. From how serious it sounded, it seemed like it would be a while before the One For All inheritor would return. But before too long, she spotted him coming. He smiled as he saw her waving to him before they walked off together.

"So... All For One?" she inquired after hearing what the conversation her best friend had with All Might was about.

"Yeah..." he responded with a simple nod, "All Might was really worried about putting this onto me, but I'm ready," he pointed out firmly, "After the Hero Killer... and Müller, I won't look back in fear anymore," he vowed. Rebecca smiled at his determination. She then remembered what had happened earlier in the locker rooms.

"Thanks for sticking up for me back there, by the way..." she said in gratitude, right before blushing a bright red, "I-I mean for us!" she stuttered as a correction, chuckling nervously.

"Oh, uh, no problem..." Izuku stammered back in reply, "I just... kinda wanted to be a good guy, you know?" he noted to her.

"I know," she responded with a giggle, "You've always been a good guy, ever since we were kids," she mentioned in remembrance, letting out a content sigh, "Even if things turn out rough for us to start, we're always finding a way to push through," she added as she smiled.

"Yeah," her best friend agreed. He then took notice of her left hand freely hanging as her backpack rested over her shoulders. A blush came across his face at the thought of doing something he'd regret... but something else told him that the time was right. He reached his scarred right hand over... and grabbed hers. She blinked in surprise before looking to see that he was holding her hand, albeit nervously as his lips quivered. She blushed as red as he did... but smiled as she took a gentle grip on his hand, allowing their fingers to interlock.

Their relationship was becoming more than just a friendship. But in time, it would be tested, as the threat of All For One was lurking around the corner...

So we have a little slice of life before we get started on the final exams! There'll be one more chapter before things start for real, but I hope you're all looking forward to what's ahead!

Thanks for reading!