I don't know which one of you upset Shoto but looking at the return of all this snow in recent days it had to be pretty bad. I'm not angry but I would recommend apologizing before Izuku finds you.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 68: No More Regrets

As much as Eijiro wanted to save people a while earlier he couldn't even imagine how the night would end. Mostly he was just excited to be actually patrolling as a hero walking next to Mr Brave with a wider than usual grin on his face.

Even strange looks people gave them every now and then couldn't change that, but even if Eijiro wasn't always naturally the most perceptive person he noticed it after a couple of times and overhearing people talking about the topic of the day.

His smirk was briefly replaced by surprise and there was screech, crash and shouting. Mr Brave had already ran several steps before Eijiro got moving, but he quickly caught up to the man.

There had been a motorbike accident. An old man was just getting up from the ground at a pedestrian crossing after falling, but seemed to be okay. The big motorbike had hit the wall of a building and fallen over. The driver was under the bike. His helmet covered head was moving as he tried to push the heavy bike with help from someone else, but they had difficulty with the large bike just dragging it more than lifting.

"Be careful!" Brave told them. "If there are injuries dragging the bike against him can make things worse. We need to lift it up cleanly. We s…"

"Okay,! Eijiro said as he hardened his entire body and reached over the bike to get a grip. He smiled at the biker.

"Let's get this off you. I'm sorry if there are any dents but looks like you need to get out quick."

"Wha… sure don't worry about it. Agh…" the man finished with a painful grunt as he made the mistake of moving.

Eijiro felt metal bend under his rocky fingers as he made sure to get a good grip and pulled. People often thought he was just as strong as he looked, but you don't punch through concrete walls with just that no matter how hard your skin is. Izuku had reminded him of that more than once whenever Eijiro doubted his abilities.

The bike came up smoothly and Eijiro set it against the wall. He turned to give Mr Brave thumbs up. The hero had a strange look on his face and his shoulders were down.

"Eh, did I do something wrong?" Eijiro asked. Surprised look on Brave's face was a relief.

"What, no, no. Great job. I'll see to his injuries until ambulance arrive. Check on the other man." He nodded to the old man who had now gotten away from the street. Eijiro rushed to the man, but the situation was over quickly as soon as an ambulance arrived for the biker.

As the injured biker was lifted in Eijiro pulled out his phone to tell everyone he got to help save someone. Hitoshi had apparently changed the chat name again. Eijiro chuckled seeing the name 'Izu's nappy time.'

Eijiro preferred the manlier Midobro. Izuku punched more than hard enough to have earned a manly nickname, but Eijiro could see how Hitoshi would have some fun with the cuter name.

'Midoriya changed Izu's nappy time into Just wait for the weekend.'

So Midobro was awake.

"Good morning," Eijiro quickly typed.

"I want to see the miracle maker that actually convinced him to sleep," Hitoshi added soon after. Eijiro had to agree it was impressive of the hero Izuku was interning with.

"I'm not that bad," Izuku responded.

"How many full nights have you slept after getting that quirk?"

Eijiro was left waiting for a response but had to look up from the phone as couple people stopped next to him. They were other heroes.

"Hey Brave, who's the kid," one of them, a giant man twice Eijiro's height and probably three times his weight, all muscle, asked smiling.

So manly.

"My name is Eijiro Kirishima," Eijiro declared louder than necessary and bowed politely. "I am student at UA interning with Mr Brave."

"Oh right, he mentioned about getting an intern. How does it feel to be working as a hero?"

"It is amazing. We just got to help someone from an accident. I really just wish Brave gave me harder training."

The group laughed.

"Sounds like you are going to do fine, hey Brave," the man looked up at Brave behind Eijiro. "Seems you go… What happened to you dude? Your face looks like someone poured purple pain on it."

"Oh, this…" Brave responded. "Just a little… accident. It's been a while since I trained any students."

"The kid did that?" the large man asked and smirked while glancing at Eijiro. "Well, I guess it is not that surprising. He looks like he can throw a mean punch."

"Thanks," Eijiro beamed at the hero. "I train really hard with my friends every evening and weekend."

"These friends, might we have seen them at the sports festival."

"Sure did. If you want to see a good punch you should see Izuku's Dragon Fist. He's the one who kicked my ass at the festival."

"So you lost to hi…" The large man stopped. He and his fellow heroes had a strange expressions on their faces.

"Yeah," Eijiro broke the silence. "He's really tough and even better at figuring out what I need to train. He even installed this big metal cube on his yard as a kind of punching back for me."

The group didn't seem to get caught up in his excitement. Another man with white hair in white costume with hands that looked like tiger paws spoke first.

"Weren't you beaten by that quirk stealer kid, and didn't he take your quirk?"

Eijiro frowned, at least a bit, as much as he was capable of, and raised his arm which hardened with a snap in front of the group.

"I loaned it to him. He hasn't stolen anything."

"Hope so, imagine what people would say if a hero started stealing people's quirks."

"I think we already got the answer today," the large man interrupted crossing his arms. "That's frankly a bit more serious than someone having the ability to take quirks."

"That's for sure. The media is turning into bloodhounds," the white dressed man said. "Getting stopped by reporters for a few words is almost daily business, but now some of them are questioning what we think about Long Arm and if people should still trust us since he worked with our agency."

He shook his head.

"That guy couldn't just keep his mouth shut. Really had to mess things up for all of us."

"But then he wouldn't have been exposed as criminal," Eijiro said as the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's the point," the white dressed man said annoyed. "Not like it changed anything, not anything good for us at least."

"People know the truth about it."

"They think they do. Just because he had his way with women doesn't mean he wasn't a hero, even if some of them decided they didn't like it afterwards. And now people think they know him, or us. They should just shut up and let us do our work if they want to be protected be heroes."

The white dressed guy turned away crossing his arms.

"It has been a tough day," a woman next to him said. She was dressed in all black skintight costume and also had animal like hands covered in black fur like some big cat though they weren't as large paws as the man. She leaned closer to Eijiro with a smirk looking him over.

"But I think it is turning better. You are the first person I've liked to see today. Next time you are looking for an agency perhaps you will consider ours. There's always room for a man who is… hard enough to not scratch too easily," She held one of her hands between making scratching motion as her long sharp looking claws came further out her hands, "especially once you get old enough."

"Black Cat," the white dressed man with claws said quieter than before, "don't flirt with highschoolers in front of people."

"Oh, you're no fun," she leaned back straight and waved her hand dismissively. "Or perhaps you are worried he is already more of a man than you dear brother?"

The man sighed and started walking away muttering something incomprehensible. The woman, Black Cat, winked at Eijiro and stepped past him brushing her hand against Eijiro's upper arm. The arm hardened under the touch.

"Hmm, nice. See you around."

She followed the man. Eijiro soon turned his eyes down to watch his hardened arm. He hadn't intended to do that, it had happened instinctually before he even though about it. Usually that only happened when someone, usually Izuku, was about to strike him fast enough that there wasn't time to think.

Why'd he done the same just because a hero touched him?

"Sorry about that," the large man interrupted Eijiro's thoughts. "She seems to be a bit… flirty, even with some villains. I don't think she really meant anything."

"I hope," he muttered quietly and raised his hand in goodbye. "Well, maybe we see again. Make sure the take full advantage of the internship."

He said separate goodbyes to Mr Brave and followed his companions.

"Well, seems like are already getting some attention," Brave said and put his hand suddenly on Eijiro's shoulder. "Maybe it is good thing I managed to snatch you first. Come on, we have to continue the patrol. Sun will go down soon and that is when the most action happens."

"Right. I'm excited for my first night as a hero," Eijiro said, still looking after the trio walking away.

"It is a big moment, but are you sure you are going to be okay. The air is going to get cooler after it gets dark.

"I'm fine," Eijiro declared punching his chest. "Some cool air isn't going to stop me. It just reminds me to exercise more to keep warm."

"I doubt you need that but hey, you are the one going to be cold, so at worst it is a lesson. You kids often care more about style and showing off than being warm, until it comes back to bite them."

"Heh, if it does it should watch its teeth."

Brave shook his head as he kept walking. As they weren't talking right then Eijiro checked if Hitoshi had gotten an answer from Izuku yet. He hadn't and the talk had moved to a different topic, the same that the group of heroes had just talked about. Thinking about it as he read made Eijiro sadder and a bit angry. He had dreamed his whole life about being a hero, but what if heroes weren't what he thought?

"It can't be true, can it? That's SO not manly, especially for a hero," he wrote in response to the conversation. The chat remained quiet for a moment but soon 'Izuku is writing' -text appeared. Eijiro tensed afraid of the message.

"I'm not surprised."

"Really?" Eijiro asked. "I mean I know you can be pessimistic about how things are but why would you expect so…"

Eijiro felt bad about the question he was about to write and started deleting it, but his finger slipped and he sent part of the message by accident. He rushed to write another message.

"Sorry, I…" he never finished that either.

"With so many protections and privileges for heroes, stuff like that is inevitable as long as they think they won't get caught or held responsible," Izuku responded, "and no one is even seriously trying to filter them out. Remember how egomaniacal almost-murderer got into UA?"

Yeah he did, to think Eijiro had tried to make friends with that guy. For a moment Eijiro even thought he was really manly, but maybe he was just blinded by the guy's strength. He should have seen the warning signs, they literally blew up on his face and hurt even his ears.

And then there were those heroes he just met.

"I guess you are right," Eijiro responded. "I heard some heroes talking about it. They sounded more worried about how people reacted to what he has done than what he did."

"That's how they get away with it," Izuku responded. "I would be careful if you meet heroes from his agency."

Too late for that.

"I think I already did. They are the ones I met. Still, it is hard to believe. How could he? Heroes are supposed to save people, not, what he did."

They were supposed to save people. That was why he wanted to be one.

He had never doubted that.

Today he had heard several people doubt if they could trust heroes. For the first time he had to ask it of himself. It felt unreal.

"Could it be fake?"

"Could be, but some news titles said there was more than just the video."

They talked about that for a couple of messages and even Hitoshi joined along. Soon they were talking if Izuku should make a website of his notes. Izuku helped Eijiro see things better, but Hitoshi really made them feel more at ease. Even Eijiro could feel it as soon as Izuku wrote the very first response to Hitoshi's message. Reading the chat was a joy. Now they were talking about how Izuku writing about Hitoshi would just be another sales pitch.

Eijiro quickly typed in.

"Can you add me on there too?"

"Didn't he already make a sales pitch of you to All Might?" Hitoshi asked. Eijiro tensed and might have gotten a little redder on his face not just hair. He tried to not think about the conversation between Izuku and All Might.

He wanted to be a great hero, but what he had heard was just overwhelming. No one had ever praised him quite like that, not even his parents. He wasn't anywhere near what Izuku seemed to think, though usually Izuku was good at things like this.

Did just his smile really matter that much? He knew people considered him happy personality, but never thought smiling would really matter like that. Maybe it was just Izuku. The dude really needed anything positive he could get in his life.

Eijiro was still shocked by that one night and morning after the sports festival. He had long considered Izuku one of the toughest manliest guys he had ever met. Seeing him scream in his sleep and crying just from being asked if he was okay had been bigger shock than any of his punches. Somehow the strongest guy in their training group had managed to look genuinely tiny and fragile when talking to Eijiro, like someone who really needed rescuing.

Even all of the mysterious instructions Hitoshi had given Eijiro while they trained hadn't truly prepared him for that. He could take lot of hits without cracking, but seeing Izuku like that stabbed straight through his armor.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and stretched his lips. If Izuku thought smiling was good it had to help others too. At least if he could save more people he could show Izuku how much good his training had done, anything to save Izuku from whatever dark place he lived in. Eijiro would regret it rest of his life if he wouldn't and he had promised himself to never do that again.

Eijiro had to respond something to the message though, nothing too serious for just a chat message.

"Oh yeah, maybe not that much."

"Yes, that much at least, but I'm not starting a website. I want to choose who gets my notes."

That was a relief actually and the conversation moved to the revelation that Izuku had prepared separate notebooks for each of them. Eijiro had actually noticed the line of newnotebooks that looked almost like a rainbow with their colours but never touched or asked about them. If there was something Izuku was willing to share he would do it when he felt okay to.

Eijiro smiled since that time seemed to be now. He waved at another hero they passed handing someone to police, a screaming woman with some black and yellow shapes on her skin from her quirk. She also had pretty thick looking gloves even though the weather was still pretty warm. She screamed she hadn't done anything. That Native was crook and no better than Long Arm.

Every criminal claimed they were innocent of course. She was probably just using the news as an excuse.

But now Eijiro couldn't be sure about that. He stopped to glance back at them as the woman was pushed into a police car. It was hard to make out any words in the screaming, but she shouted something about native just using her for cash, and something about wishing Stain would get him, or… Eijiro wasn't sure, but he thought she said something about 'Shadow sama'. Eijiro tried to think of something similar sounding she could have said.

"Kirishima," Brave called, "are you coming?"

"Oh, yeah!" Eijiro responded and took some running steps to catch up.

"Keep your eyes open," Brave said. "The sun is going down and after that is when the most trouble starts."

"Right," Eijiro nodded. Then sun reached the horizon as they kept walking, but it was quiet. There were no signs of trouble. Eijiro found himself disappointed at that, then at himself since trouble would mean someone was in danger. Quiet was good.

There was a distant explosion that rang out across the city and as Eijiro spun to look around he soon spotted a pillar of smoke in the distance. This time Brave didn't need to say anything. Eijiro was moving at the same time with him. His phone soon vibrated. It couldn't be a coincidence?

The message was from Tenya.

"Explosions and fire in Hosu, some kind of villain attack, multiple villains."

"Where are your heroes?"

Okay, at least they knew. Might be there first, since Eijiro had spent the past hour walking in the opposite direction.

"T wher ar eyou?" Izuku messaged soon?Eijiro should have realized to do that. That's why he took internship with Brave in the first place. He still had a lot to learn to be a hero.

A moment later Izuku sent new messages. They repeated the fear they had about Tenya looking for Stain, and something in how Izuku wrote about it made Eijiro convinced running into the killer wasn't only a risk anymore.

And he recognized the locations in the messages.

"Brave!" he shouted. "This way!"

He pointed at an adjacent street.

"Kirishima! Wait! The fight it this way!"

"Sorry! There are others in danger and no pro knows.

Surprisingly Brave followed Eijiro.

"Kirishima! What do you mean there are other people in danger? What's the danger?"

"Stain!" Eijiro responded, "I think."

"How?"

Eijiro held his phone up.

"That doesn't explain any…"

There was a boom.

Ejiro slid to a halt as a window next to him shook visibly. This explosion was closer, a lot closer than what they heard before but it had reverberated from the walls surrounding them on every side.

"Stay sharp," Brave said holding a sword made of his own hair. Eijiro followed the instruction literally as he activated his quirk across his body.

"Did you catch which direction it came from?"

"No," Eijiro said. He pulled up his phone. No new messages he started typing 'wh' when a second explosion echoed around them. Both focused on it intently.

"Maybe ahead here," Eijiro pointed at the direction he had been running before trying to remember the map of the area. They continued moving but now slower. Two more explosions happened in rapid succession. Both Eijiro and Brave pointed at the same direction.

"That way."

They ran towards the sound, but there was a long break without further explosions so they could only hope it was the right direction. Finally there was an another explosion and saw a blue flash reflect from windows behind a corner down the street.

Something about these explosions was feeling really familiar, especially that blue flash. Eijiro ran a little faster pulling ahead of Brave. He dove into a nearby alley. There was a large hole in a corner of a wall where two alleys crossed and strange burnt smell hung in the air.

"Izuku! Izuku are you here?!"

"Kirishima don't run in alone!" Brave shouted, but at that moment Eijiro saw four other people on the alley, three of them on the ground. Izuku's bright white hair was distinct even in the darkness. He was one of the people on the ground and even from the distance Eijiro could see the blood.

Eijiro gulped while running. Someone who could do that to Izuku was a real threat. Could they even stop the man standing further down the alley.

No he couldn't think like that. This was what he had trained so much for. If he was too weak to save his friends, what hope did he have to ever be a hero? He would not live with regrets of failing to save them, refused to.

"Check on him, he needs first aid," Brave ordered as they approached Izuku. Eijiro hesitated a fraction of a second, but this close he could smell the iron stench of blood.

Eijiro stopped and dropped on his knees fast enough that he hardened his legs before hitting the ground. Izuku was laying on his stomach face against the ground.

"I should have paid more attention on the first aid lesson," Eijiro muttered. He was pretty sure the first thing was to make sure the victim was and could breathe. He grabbed Izuku's shoulder and tried to support his head and pulled to turn him around. Izuku hissed and whimpered like Eijiro didn't realize him capable off.

"Sorry, sorry, are you okay?"

"No… Tenya," Izuku gasped and nodded his head forward as soon as he caught his breath. Brave had reached the villain and took him on in a sword fight.

"It's okay. Mr Brave is a pro. Everything is going to be okay."

He wished he had believed that but if this was Stain he had already killed several pros and Brave hadn't yet shown Eijiro his full power, he hoped.

"Everything is going to be okay," Eijiro repeated trying to convince himself. He pulled out one of the tourniquets Izuku carried as part of his costume, though all of his wounds would probably take everyone both of them carried.

"Good thing you made all of us carry these eh," Eijiro said nervously as he started hastily tightening the first one on the most bleeding wound in Izuku's leg.

"No, don't worry about me," Izuku shouted and tried to push his arm away with the only one of his that still seemed to work, except for the continuing bleeding of his palm. "Help him. Stain will kill Tenya after he loses. My injuries aren't as bad as they look There's no point to help me if you don't stop him."

Izuku gasped for air.

"His, Stain's quirk needs him to lick your blood from his sword. Don't let him cut you. I don't think he can hurt you if you don't." Izuku somehow managed to smile, "You might be perfect man to stop him."

Eijiro pressed his hand firmly on Izuku's shoulder and hardened it.

"Don't die," Eijiro said.

The moment took less than a second before he pushed up and was already charging forward heart racing.

He wouldn't be too weak to help people, to help his friends. He wouldn't He was never going to feel that helplessness again.