School kept progressing normally since the incident with Bloodsoaked and the many heroes of Japan. People were becoming less paranoid while security throughout the streets slowly declined to give people a sense of normalcy in their daily lives. Heroes were allowed to return to their original posts in order to keep the peace throughout the country. All of the horrible things that happened to the country was starting to seem more and more like a bad fever dream with every passing day.

For some, the fever dream was still very much a reality.

Although Izuku readmitted himself back into UA without too much incident, Bakugou remained to be MIA from school. It worried Izuku enough for him to try and pay his childhood friend a visit after a week of not seeing them.

Mina had felt an obligation in dragging herself along with Midoriya to confront the missing Katsuki. Her stronger demeanor had Izuku weakly agreeing to letting her stick along for the visit. In his opinion, he wasn't confident in facing Bakugou by himself.

They took a weekend to go and visit Bakugou's home to go and check up on the temperamental youth. Despite her mild questioning, her lack of an answer being offered to her told the young woman enough that she should just be patient with the situation. They took the train and a bus line to then walk for about fifteen minutes towards their friend's apartment complex. The building kept looming higher and higher over Izuku as he approached on foot.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm here for you."

Having Mina here helped keep Midoriya relatively even kilter in the face of this up and coming meeting. She didn't quite understand why he was so nervous, but she would stand by and offer her support however she needed to for Izuku.

With one last squeeze between their entwined hands, they set off towards their destination.

Later

Both young adults stood in front of the threshold of the Bakugou residence with slight apprehension in their hearts. It had been Izuku who wanted to make themselves known, so he reached for the doorbell before pausing for a moment and pressing down on the door chime.

Nothing on the first two button presses.

Reaching for the chime a third time, there was a click on the intercom which indicated someone had finally come to respond to the door.

"... Izuku. Mina…"

A woman's voice let them know who had been inside when they rang.

"Mitsuki-san. I hope we aren't bothering you, but we just…"

Quick on the draw, Mina picked up after Izuku suddenly felt his words fail him mid sentence.

"-We just wanted to check up on our friend. Is he here?"

"..."

"... Um-"

"Give me a few minutes. I'll be right out."

Izuku had unknowingly let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. It still concerned Mina as to why her boyfriend looked so bothered by this visit. All she had to work off of was the fact that both he and Bakugou went on their extended sabbatical roughly around the same time Nakamura had mysteriously disappeared. Although she didn't want to make assumptions, all this mystery kept nagging her relentlessly for over a month. Keeping her respectful distance was the one thing she knew she couldn't compromise on for Izuku.

The door eventually swung open to show a rather tired looking Mitsuki in her home clothing. A simple looking tank top with cardigan and long skirt. Her clear exhaustion did little to detract from how well the years have been to the single mother.

"Mina, Izuku. Please, come in."

Entering the threshold of the Bakugou home already let the young man know that the person he wanted to face wasn't home. One of Katsuki's pairs of shoes was missing from the lineup of footwear in the entryway.

Izuku and Mina still graciously accepted Mitsuki's hospitality for the time being. Passing through the hallway and into the living room, both teenagers felt the home had somehow become colder than what they remembered.

This place would often be filled with the temperaments of the family that occupied it, with mother and son often bickering or doing their due diligence for their guests. Midoriya felt almost all of the welcoming atmosphere when this family had been a whole one many years ago. Now it felt like a withered husk of what used to be a family's sanctuary.

"Please, have a seat at the coffee table."

Taking their seats, Mina already could tell how lonely this woman was by how little use the leather couches seemed to have. Everything was spotless, but to the point of being overly sanitary.

Mitsuki looked to be looking over her house in a purely physical sense to retain some sense of normality.

Both Izuku and Mina didn't need to speak to know that they were concerned for the mother. A normally passionate woman such as Mitsuki being so exhausted with a house that looked to be untarnished with the wear and tear of casual usage left the young adults feeling deep concern. Only Izuku could wager a guess at the cause of the single mother's decline into such a dispassionate state of limbo.

Returning with hot tea and snacks, two cups were placed in front of Mitsuki's guests before she took her own cup and sat across from them with a somber looking smile.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, today?"

Phrasing the question as such had Izuku guessing that Mitsuki didn't want to share the truth of their unfortunate circumstance with someone who likely didn't know the cause of their predicament. It fell upon Izuku to start the conversation off.

"We, uh, we wanted to check up on Ka-chan. None of us had heard back from him for over a month. So me and Mina wanted to come over to see how he was doing…"

A twinge of pain crossed Mitsuki's expression. Not even Mina could miss the genuine look of hurt in the eyes of the woman sitting across her.

"... Does she know?"

Now Izuku needed to make a decision. Does he reveal a horrid truth for Mina regarding someone she still considered a mentor in her life? Did he have that right? Turning to his significant other, all he could see were the eyes he so desperately loved peering back at him with a conviction that helped ease his restless spirit. Such strength from a girl who knew him so well had Izuku thank the heavens that they were together. She would be by his side, no matter what.

"Mina… I have to tell you something. Something… Something horrible. If you want, you don't have to listen to it… But if you do-"

Nothing shook the woman who loved him. With a deep sigh, Midoriya began to share from the start the truth of the matter between himself and the Bakugou family.

Thirty Five Minutes Later

Of all the things that she could have heard, what Izuku shared impacted the acid user unlike anything else.

How was one to process the fact that the man who saved them from childhood was also the world's most notorious mass murderer? Not only that, he taught her so much about how to improve herself as both a person and a hero. She owed him a great debt of gratitude for everything he's done for Mina.

Neither Mitsuki or Izuku took any sort of joy to shatter Mina's once ideal perception of Nakamura. They knew how positively he impacted the lives of others; so none of the truth brought them peace for those who they brought said truth in front of for all to see.

"... That's… It's… It couldn't… I don't-"

Looking deep into both sets of eyes looking at Mina with great remorse told her enough. Slowly, the cracks were starting to show in Mina's heart after realizing the truth.

"... Oh… Oh, god… It can't be true, right? Right?"

One last hope for all of this to be a very cruel joke died without putting up a fight. A deep pitted sorrow swallowed the pink girl, making the usually jovial, bright girl start to tear up and choke on her sobs.

Pulling Mina into a hug was all Izuku could do to provide her with some sort of security. Her sobbing got stronger by the seconds, leaving a crying girl desperately clinging onto her lover while she mourned the loss of her beloved mentor and role model.

Even Mitsuki remained silent while silently letting her tears fall down her face. She watched as Izuku kept holding onto Mina while whispering sweet nothings to her. A painful emptiness left a stabbing ache in her chest as she suffered in silence. Mitsuki was reminded of a love she once had before she lost her husband. A love that meant so much to her. A love that was taken from her from someone she trusted as her one and only friend in this lonely world.

In reality, he was the one who took that away from her.

Her rage paled in comparison to her misery. She didn't know what to think anymore. These past few weeks were all passed by with her mind on autopilot for the whole time. Worst of all, Katsuki seemingly disappeared randomly whenever she could manage to muster up the willpower to at least open up the dialogue. Their silence had been taking its toll on the single mother.

"Mitsuki-san."

Brought out of her stupor, hearing a man's voice had shaken the woman enough to return to reality.

"I'm sorry for all of this. I should have seen this coming. If I had only known… If I only didn't let the truth slip by…"

This wasn't fair for Izuku at all. For her, Mitsuki saw no justice in letting Izuku bear the burden of taking the blame for the actions of someone else. All he ever wanted to do was the right thing. None of this was even remotely his fault.

In her emotionally compromised state, Mitsuki did something she would never do in her right mind. She started with getting up from her seat after placing her piping hot drink down before sitting on Izuku's left hand side; opposite to Mina. Not even Izuku expected the sudden closeness from the grieving mother. What especially threw him off was how Mitsuki started to run her fingers through the thick waves of hair on his head. He couldn't break the intimate stare they were sharing as the gentle touch of this woman kept working its magic.

"Listen to me, Izuku. You are not at fault. You do not bear the responsibility of doing something that was never your responsibility to begin with. What you're feeling is completely normal for someone who is grieving…"

Suddenly, Mitsuki realized she was currently parroting the words that Haru told her when he came to help bring her out of her darkness while mourning for Masaru. These words were the same ones that her husband's murderer told her to comfort her. Still, something compelled her to finish her sentence. A part of her felt as though she needed Izuku to hear what she had to say to him.

"... So stop that, because you're not doing anybody any favors for beating yourself up."

It had apparently worked to resonate with Izuku after he heard such words of wisdom. His eyes were slowly clearing up with a realization on his part. That realization being how little good being so negative was for his loved ones. Bringing his attention back to Mina, her crying had finally subsided into sniffling and little hiccups. Her beautiful eyes kept his attention while Izuku realized how much Mina needed him now more than ever. He saw her love for him and remembered how far they would go for one another. Adding more burdens for her to deal with while she had her own didn't seem fair. For both of them, he can at least try his best to make it easier for both of them.

"I love you, Mina."

Capturing her lips in a deep kiss felt like the most appropriate way to show how strongly Izuku felt at that moment. They shared their kiss for several moments while Mitsuki looked at the intimate act in a daze. She couldn't remember the last time she had such a lovely act of intimacy with someone she cared about. Without thinking, Izuku had broken off the kiss when he felt a hand pull on his left shoulder and pull his head into the opposite direction.

"Mitsuki-sa-"

A pair of plump lips cut him off before any other words could be uttered. To his shock, Midoriya had been pulled into a very deep kiss by the mother of his best friend. Every coherent thought went straight out the window when he finally registered the lip locking Mitsuki had initiated between them.

For years, Mitsuki kept herself off of the dating market so that she could focus on her son. Her fortunate promotion after her husband passed kept things simple for her while she remained committed to her family. Working from home, disciplining her temperamental son, being an adult role model for her child; all of this required sacrifice on her part to maintain the spinning plates she already had going.

Still, this didn't make things any less lonely for herself.

Too much of Izuku reminded her of Masaru. His kind demeanor. The way he sought a diplomatic solution over a violent one. How Izuku acted wise beyond his years. Some part of her hated that she saw the young man as more of a substitute for her husband, but everything else within her didn't care anymore. She just wanted this heartache to stop, even for just a moment.

Mitsuki hadn't realized how deeply she had pushed into the kiss until she managed to separate from the younger man. Both she and Izuku were breathing heavily with the older woman looming over him while his head sat on the backing of the couch. Sharing an intimate stare, stabbing pains in her chest reminded her of the guilt of what she had just done. Kissing her best friend's son didn't sit right for the mourning widow.

Shaking her out of the potential pitfall of guilt, a calloused yet steady hand brushed the right side of Mitsuki's face. Looking deep into her eyes were the most beautiful set of emeralds she ever laid her own eyes upon.

"It's okay. If you're lonely, I can be here for you. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Those words cracked the emotional shell that Mitsuki had struggled to build for the past few years. She could no longer stop the overflow that poured through the widening cracks anymore.

Meanwhile, Mina had been looking on in a daze at the intimate actions of Izuku and Bakugou's mom. In the past, the pinkette had her fair share of fantasies about the MILF that was Katsuki's mom; though actually seeing her opportunity to actually partake in having her way with the absolute bombshell of a woman was a fantasy she never thought could happen. If only the circumstances were under better pretenses.

A passionate Mitsuki deeply kissed Izuku while trying to get him undressed without breaking their lip lock. Mina elected to help the older woman out of her clothes while licking, sucking, and nipping the skin that was being exposed while doing so.

All they needed right now was each other.

Several Hours Later, Elsewhere

"Last call! Last call for drinks! Make your orders now!"

Grumbling from being yelled at, an unkempt head of blonde hair glued to the counter struggled to raise its head from the varnished wooden surface. The owner of said head of hair had a nearly empty glass with just the settled foam lining the bottom of the glass. Hearing the last call for drinks had the young man down the last of his glass before stumbling out of his stool after clumsily pulling a five thousand note and leaving it where he had been seated. He ignored the bartender who asked him if he wanted change.

Back outside, the night time air helped him regain some of his faculties before he started walking aimlessly through the seedy part of the city the bar had been located within.

Three weeks of spending his time out in the streets, Katsuki found himself floating from one bar to the next without a care in the world.

Over a month of dealing with the truth about his lifelong mentor left the young man emptier than anything he had ever endured in the past. Someone he depended on for guidance through the hardships of life. An individual that shattered years of guidance and history in one fell swoop for Katsuki.

Each step looked less coordinated than the one before it as Katsuki wandered aimlessly, looking for a place to sleep for the evening. Only reason he wasn't heading home was in his pocket in the form of multiple bills he pulled off of criminals he wandered past for the past few weeks. He couldn't stand being at home with his mother while they both struggled to come to terms with their situation. Neither knew what to say to each other throughout this nightmare they found themselves in.

So Katsuki resorted to the one thing he knew better than anybody else he knew.

Fighting.

Finding criminals mugging or robbing people on the streets didn't require much effort for Katsuki to find. Those who were stupid enough to try and get away with their illegal activities were apprehended in the few moments before law enforcement arrived. At least wherever Katsuki happened to be wandering.

As a consolation, he would always pickpocket the criminal's wallet for some bills before wandering off to another shady bar or seedy hotel. This process of drifting through the streets kept the worst of it all from rearing its ugly face into his life.

After weeks of this, Bakugou didn't know where he was anymore. He would occasionally just pass out drunk in the cold if he couldn't find a room in time. That looked to be the case now as he felt the world swirl more violently than usual.

"Hey, asshole. Where ya goin?"

Passing Katsuki on the opposite side of the road were about six young men in their early twenties. One of them had noticed the lonely looking teen and thought it necessary to start harassing them.

"Yo, what's a fucking kid doing in this part of town? You lost or somethin?"

Katsuki didn't want anything to do with them. Ignoring them while stumbling down his side of the road, however, didn't sit too well with these cocky young men.

"Hey, we're talking to you! Are you deaf or some shit?"

Now they were crossing the mostly abandoned street towards Katsuki. All he could hear were the approaching footsteps of the group who wanted to harass him. Being too drunk, the young man just kept trying to keep his head low. Maybe these idiots would just get bored and be on their way.

"Is he retarded? Yo! Where the fuck you goin, fag?!"

They were all skirting behind him as he kept walking without responding. If he had been more sober, the young man would have reacted sooner and prevented what was about to happen to him.

"Listen to us-"

One of the young men of the crew thought it necessary to create a bat made out of his own bones and swing it into Bakugou's head as hard as possible. The impact immediately split the skin on his scalp while giving the intoxicated youth a minor concussion.

"Piece of shit!"

After that, all hell broke loose.

Everyone participated in kicking and beating the downed teen mercilessly. Bakugou couldn't fight back as he took the beating without resisting. His head trauma along with being drunk prevented him from being able to even get back up. All he could do was lie there and wait for these thugs to finish satisfying their violent tendencies.

Once they finished, Bakugou had enough injuries to turn the average man into a swollen corpse several times over. They all checked the back pocket of their newest victim and discovered the wad of cash scrounged off of criminals for weeks. None of their gloating or woops of joy could register for the beaten young man.

Before fading away into the black void, Bakugou wondered to himself whether or not all of this was just a bad dream. Perhaps if he were to wake up, all of this would be nothing but his mind making this all up.

Maybe he would wake up in his bed at UA and be welcomed with a feast made by Nakamura before class starts. Then his annoying classmates would be their usual annoying selves while he kept mouthing off to them to leave him alone.

If this was all just a dream, it would be all he could ever wish for.

If he could have his mentor back, none of this would matter anymore.

"Look at this, this kid was loaded!"

All of the young men were admiring their new payout while ignoring the dying teenager they just assaulted. Their attention had been too focused to realize the dark figure silently approaching them all from behind. Not even the most perceptible of them could detect the one who had just arrived on the scene, only to witness the aftermath of their cruel actions.

"Damn, we just got a night to ball out! Who's ready to get fucked up?"

Turning back around to the rest of his click, the leader of this makeshift gang saw four of his lackeys cheer in their usual manner. What confused him for a moment was seeing the two on the way back being suddenly taller than the four ahead of them. It took another second to register that they weren't just suddenly taller for no apparent reason. Something had them by their necks as they were visibly struggling against something hoisting them up.

Following the startled gaze of their leader, the others turned around one by one to also witness their fellow gang members struggling against whatever was lifting them off the ground. Their eyes were then drawn to the figure dressed in all black who had both hands firmly clamped around the backs of the struggling gang members being lifted off the ground.

At first, the gang thought this to be some sort of brooding new hero freshly minted from a hero academy. This thought went straight out the window when the two that were being lifted were suddenly sent face first into the sidewalk below. A violent crack accompanied by two splatters of red erupting from the sidewalk made everyone else witnessing this act of cruelty freeze for a moment. Nobody could process the fact that two of their gang members were suddenly dead with their faces splattered all over the ground in that instance. Half his head stuck out from the ground while the other half was now splattered in chunks and puddles all over the sidewalk.

There was an equally violent chill that caused all the thugs to start shaking uncontrollably. None of them could fight the shivering going through their entire bodies, leaving them petrified in place.

Looking up at them, a white maned demon pierced their souls with a gaze that would send the devil running.

Nobody there was going to live past tonight.