She disliked how the grime would attach like a second skin over every inch of these streets; she disliked how black smog would occasionally billow out of the dozen-story building, blotting the sky when they did; she disliked how crestfallen lines would weigh down the faces of everyone here, making them look like soddened burlap.

She disliked many things—the Slums of Musutafu was merely one of many.

Fortunately, today she stalked through the night. The dirt, soot, muck, and whatever filth permanently lived here seemingly merged into one under the silver-bathed shadows. Today was a full moon, sitting in a cloudless yet vaguely smoky sky, giving the darkness a greater sheen.

She disliked the moon, as well, for some reason. It felt second nature for her to say it looked like cheese...

Yet, no matter how much she squinted her big, red eye, she couldn't understand where the similarities lie.

"Move along." The voice growled.

In her mind, she meekly nodded. Crawling forward upon her spider-like appendages, she carefully slinked into a dark alley. Before, she would have to turn on a dim flashlight to see it but now, she already knew where the grate was by memory. Like always, it would sit beside the huge garbage can, which was easy enough to spot. She shifted her body, allowing four of her six legs—thin, sharp, and distinctly metal—to press into the slits of each nail. They let out a low hum as they spun, quickly loosening them just enough that she could easily pry the grate open.

Suddenly, she saw a hairy figure smaller than herself slip out of the opening. Instinctively, one of her legs extended out and impaled the creature, sending a web of cracks and a dark red splatter across the concrete. The thing didn't even manage to screech before it gave its final twitch.

Spinning her head, her eye gave off a dim glow, shining some light on what it was she just killed—a rat. She stared deeply into their small, beady eyes.

"Move along." The voice repeated.

She gently took her leg out of the rat, causing an inevitably sickening squelch as she did. The robot offered one final stare at the cold corpse before plunging into the small, dark tunnel.

SMACK

A pained groan huffed from his throat. As his hands left his cheeks—the skin still stinging in the aftermath—Izuku stared, deeply and with furrowed brows, at the cardboard box laid on his desk. It was coloured vibrant blue and yellow, the top of which was stamped by U.A.'s logo.

The package had arrived early into twilight. When his mother had opened the door to be greeted by the sight of it, she had almost fainted; when she presented it to him soon after, he did, in fact, faint for a few minutes.

After sending his mother away from the privacy of his room, he had set it down on the table, and now, he was ready to finally uncover it. Taking out a cutter, he split open the tapes covering the top. Then, his fingers worked to blossom the folds of the cardboard. As he opened the last layer, he sucked in a breath at what he saw inside—an inconspicuous cube with a round button jutting out.

He held it up to his eyes, gazing at it with reverie. Setting it down, he eagerly pressed the button, only to jump back as it suddenly began twisting like a Rubik's cube. A holographic screen escaped from within, displaying a strange sight.

"Good day to you, my young viewer!" A male voice echoed.

That of an animal—a hybrid of a mouse, a bear, and a dog—donned in a black tuxedo, of all things. He seemed almost innocent... but the large scar that ran over his right eye dispelled that particular notion.

"You may be wondering who I am, but all you need to know now is that I, Nezu, will be the one to reveal whether or not you succeeded in U.A.'s illustrious exam, a battlefield notoriously known for its low acceptance rate," Nezu said, his words flowing with a flair. Hearing this, Izuku unconsciously leaned forward.

"Now, this recording is sent only to those applying for the Hero Course. By that logic, shouldn't I go and reveal the results of the Practical first?" He suddenly smirked, twisting to face someone outside of the camera. "Or should I do the Written Test first instead? What do you think?"

"U-Uh?" The voice coughed. "Well, I think it's best to announce the Practical first! Isn't that the main requirement?"

Just as those words came to an end, Izuku blinked in surprise. Was that Present Mic's voice he just heard? Sure, he'd already met the Hero and radio host a mere day ago, but it still felt rather magical to hear him—in a context like this—again.

The animal hybrid smiled wide. "Indeed! That was my thought, as well." As Present Mic's grumbles went ignored, he continued, facing the viewer—Izuku—once more. "Now, now, I'm certainly you're already quite restless. Worry not, I won't waste your time any further.

"The test's results will be displayed on your screen. You see it?" Without fanfare, like a sudden bolt of thunder, Nezu was clouded by a dim, grey filter. A text box popped on-screen, shaded bright green. Within was a single word, one that almost instantly made his vision blur and his cheeks wet.

PASSED

Still in shock, he barely realized when the filter faded. Nezu continued, his smile seemingly wider than before. "So yes, you've gotten into U.A., Midoriya!"

The boy gasped. His previous reverie quickly grew, unable to believe his ears. "M-Me...?"

"Why yes, you!" The hybrid cheered animatedly as if actually responding to his words. "This is pre-recorded, of course, but did I get you there? I hope I did." He chuckled, slapping his knees.

His words were followed by close to a minute of an entertaining conversation that seemed to loop around itself. The man—or animal?—certainly did love his own voice. Finally, though, he got to the kernel of the matter.

"Now, how does the scoring system work? As Ectoplasm may or may not have told you—we first take the total points a team has attained in any given raid, then we divide it based on how much they contributed. That way, no one can freeload off of another's back.

"As for the last, unrelenting portion, where the battle is taken up on the surface... I have a bit of a surprise." Hearing this, Izuku furrowed his brows... which quickly faded when he heard the faint sound of drums emitted by the video. "The points become fixed! So even if the robots you've worked hard to rescue are destroyed, you wouldn't lose anything, not really."

"...What?" Izuku visibly recoiled. "Then all we did was for nothing?"

"Of course, that doesn't mean your efforts were for nothing."

Izuku stared at the screen wordlessly. "...Is this really a recording?"

"Let me share with you a little trait that all the successful Heroes have: they never stop fighting. Even if the tides have turned, even when they're drowning in a sea of enemies... if there are still people they must save, then they will do just that. This portion was meant to see who among our contestants has a hint of that trait.

"While it's certainly plausible that a group of students could eliminate all the enemies, it's not expected. Also, in this portion, the team distribution system is abolished; in its stead, we give away points individually. The students who ran away from their duty had their points deducted by 20. Meanwhile, those who didn't shy away, who fought despite the overwhelming odds, had their points bolstered by 30.

"And... that's about it for the Practical! As for the Written Test, you passed as well; hope that wasn't a surprise."

Now bearing the truth of the exam, Izuku could feel the corners of his lips tug up. Sure, it made a part of him somewhat empty that he'd been glued to his worries for basically nothing, but that hole was quick enough to be filled up by Nezu's words.

'He... He called me a Hero. That's the jist of what he said, right?' When he thought about it like that, his lips twisted wider.

"Lastly, you must be wondering about the specific details of your Practical results. First of all, you placed well above the average of your future peers, marking you 7th out of 36 students! Excluding the recommended students."

He could scarcely believe those words. When Nezu gestured to his side, where a list of names—alongside their pictures—was displayed, Izuku paused the screen and eagerly drank it all in. He quickly noticed that Uraraka sat on the 13th spot. Right after, he found his name, before dragging it up to the one right above him...

7. Izuku Midoriya (Team A-09)

6. Mezo Shoji (Team E-02)

5. Toru Hagakure (A-No Team)

4. Tenya Iida (Team A-09)

3. Kyoka Jiro (Team B-01)

2. Ibara Shiozaki (Team B-01)

1. Katsuki Bakugo (Team B-01)

Izuku went still as his eyes wandered towards the top, his gaze meeting the familiar arrogant smirk Bakugo always seemed to have. There was a degree of surprise surging within him; Bakugo had always been the cream of the crop back in Aldera, but Izuku didn't expect things to remain that way even in U.A. However, the most shocking of all... was that Bakugo found himself a team.

The boy has always made sure to distinguish himself from the rest. He's always went at things alone, refusing help from others, all in the view that they were merely 'extras'. Yet now, he found his belief challenged. 'This... doesn't seem like the Bakugo I'm used to.'

But it's been months, close to a year, in fact, since they last spoke. After so long... they were practically strangers.

'No.' He shook his head. 'I may not be the only one who's changed... but our past remains the same.'

Suddenly, he heard his mother's voice, echoing alongside a knock on the door. "Izuku! I just got an invite from Mitsuki. She wants to throw a celebration party for Katsuki tomorrow; you want to join in?"

For a moment, he didn't know what to say. But then he turned once more towards the screen. A pair of green eyes, twinkling equally with fervour and curiosity, simply stared at Bakugo's team.

No matter how much he says it, those two words still roll uncomfortably on the tongue.

"I will, mom." He finally responded.

As Yotaro walked down the frosty roads of the slums, he couldn't help but shiver. Not from the temperature—his rocky skin protected him from that—but from the even colder gazes that peered out of the deep shadows. Of course, he knew those weren't the eyes of predators; instead, they belonged to gaunt eyes that hoped to one day escape the deathly chill of the alleys they call home...

And into the gaping maw of Boletaria, the accursed place he called home.

His head flickered around warily. Even now, weeks after, the Messiah's words continue to endlessly echo within the depths of his soul.

"Traitor!"

Yotaro let out a shuddering breath. No, he was anything but that... he was never part of them, to begin with, he assured himself.

He shook his head, hefting up the large bag that was slung over his shoulder. Soon, he stopped himself in front of an alley, where the corner of a large garbage can could be peered. An odd smell permeated through the already putrid air. With the deep, impenetrable darkness that fettered him from knowing what was inside the alley, an inevitable fear overcame him.

After all, the one thing most humans dread most is the unknown... but for him, he dreaded something else more—the Messiah and all his obedient pawns.

And so, he powered through. Still standing on the moonlit road, rock-protected fingers dipped into the ink to rub its surroundings. Noticing the familiar handle of the cover, he swung it up and open. He hastily threw the bag inside, impacting the side and causing a wide clamour.

But the job was done.

He didn't realize it yet but when the first light emerged and he had another bundle of tasks to do, his fear had been blown out of proportion—the rotting stench came from nothing more than a rat's corpse, already blanketed in black plastic.

For now, as his legs burned with agitation, he hurried back towards the dark, towering monument in the distance. He had a small celebration to go back to, after all. When he thought of that, he couldn't help but smile. Who would have thought that the rough little girl he called neighbour would one day be able to go to U.A.?

The ever-lingering smell of the Slums suddenly began to fade, instead replaced by a familiar, alluring scent. 'I should... probably get her something.' He thought, gazing at the pink walls of the store, and the veritable mountain of cakes and sweets displayed along the glass.

Today was the day.

Bakugo's celebration would be held early on into the evening, so Izuku and Inko would be leaving two hours prior at 3 o'clock. For now, as the day was still young and his mother had business to take care of, Izuku found himself raring to go to his teacher's abode. Before that, he made for a quick stop in a nearby store.

As the familiar white and blue colour scheme of LAWSON came into view, Izuku was rather surprised to find Rikika hanging out with Touma under the steel sheet that jutted out of the store. Yosuke was buried between the old man's feet, nuzzling against the fabric. The rain pattered on the canopy, echoing a constant tune.

Izuku greeted them first. They then turned to him, initially smiling, before their pupils shrank and their lips thinned. "Wha-What are you doing out there? Come in here already!" Rikika yelled.

With the boy ushered under the slanted roof, Touma shook his head. "I never thought I'd see someone walk around in the rain without an umbrella, but here we are."

"Oh?" He blinked, twisting his neck. Blades of water continued to shower the earth, darkening the morning sky. His clothes stuck wetly to his skin. "I didn't realize." His friends shook their heads exasperatedly; Yosuke even barked.

Shrugging internally, Izuku turned back towards them. With lips twisting into an excited grin, he spoke to them about how he got into U.A. When their eyes turned as wide as saucers, followed by words of praise and encouragement, he couldn't help but feel happy.

"No, seriously, it's amazing." Touma smiled. "You have a bright future ahead of you. Cherish it."

"I will, Touma," Izuku whispered.

They continued to talk for what felt like mere minutes, hopping around from topic to topic. They first began with the weather, a short conversation of the unnaturally long rainy season. From there, they devoted the rest of their time to converse about the recent job Touma was offered—and subsequently took.

"Yeah, they want me and a couple dozen others to clear out Zukunft's underground."

"The place near Boletaria? The one that got scrapped?" Rika furrowed her brows worriedly. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"

Her concerns were quickly dismissed by a wave. "I'm familiar with the area. Dandy is all I'll be after this."

After a while, as Izuku noticed that an hour had listlessly drifted by, he bid his goodbyes towards them. "I want to head over to Frieren-sensei." He explained.

"Make sure to tell her we want to see her again!" Rikika chirped up. To her side, Touma nodded while to the spot between his meet, Yosuke's little nuzzle yelped.

Walking on the riverbed that separated civilisation and the dense forest, Izuku scanned the area around him. Frieren told him that she had sent... something to pick him up, only cluing that it would be around here—by the abandoned shack between the entrance to the Musutafu Highway and a gaudy clothing store, around the brook that wrapped halfway around it. He decided to traverse through the rivulet itself, letting the soft, cool water wrap around his legs.

The sky twinkled. At this point, it was no longer raining, but Izuku was sure they would stay longer on the morrow.

Then the next, and the next, until there was nothing more but a dark sky.

Unleashing his mana through the vicinity—his range had grown, slight as it may be, up to 50 meters on all sides—he began to rub around his surroundings. Instantly, he felt a few thousand motes popping up all around him; largely insects with a few animals sprinkled on top.

No, he needed to detect a hint of Frieren's mana. An educated guess told him that his teacher had sent one of her summoned creatures, perhaps a golem or a scarecrow or something of the sort. Thus, as they were made entirely from her mana, they must be giving off residues of said source.

Scrunching his eyes, Izuku tried to concentrate. Slowly, the thousands of irrelevant motes began to dull as he tried to focus on only the mana signature an elf would have. The seconds ticked by without much result...

After almost a minute, he snapped his head to a cluster of trees nearby, their low-hanging branches looming above the river. He smiled in satisfaction.

"Come out! I already know you're there."

There was a period of silence before the trees rustled. A mound of darkness fell onto the ground, two beady orange eyes peering at him. With an audible crack, the heap stood and straightened into a vaguely human form—though Izuku didn't know anyone who was so thin. The creature stalked out of the shadows, revealing that it was one of her scarecrows—only stripped to the straws that bundled around its wooden limbs.

"Shall we go?" The effigy spoke, its voice akin to the creaking of an old door. At that instant, something heavy snapped, and then a pair of straw-fleshed wings bounded behind it.

Wrapped tightly by a scarecrow's spindly arms was a sensation utterly unfamiliar to Izuku. It was indeed interesting, however.

Though, he'd much prefer to be able to fly by himself, atop his staff like the wizards of old. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Carried through the clouds, the moisture within slapping against his features, the rush of wind pelting his face... it was all so delectable.

As they flew through Treiben, a voice echoed from above him. "Master Frieren is awaiting for you in the circle of Riese der Heilung."

He stared down. There was the familiar cabin, wrapped by steel fences, sitting near the peaceful forest; a few dozen meters away was the lake; and between those two were the familiar pillars of Riese der Heilung, plumes of blue perched on top. In the middle, he could see a white dot.

After descending, Izuku gave his thanks to the strawman. It responded stiffly—"You're welcome"—before returning to its post along the cabin's fences.

He wondered how his mother would react if she saw them move. They were different from the ones used to hone his mana detection, after all; there was more... life to these stacks of straws.

Though, that was a low bar.

The leaves swayed with the wind, like a field full of dancers in harmony. Trudging past them, he saw Frieren in the distance. Izuku noticed that she seemed to have a long bag slung over her shoulder.

"Sensei!" Izuku said smilingly as he walked into the formation. Already he could feel his mana swell up.

"Hey." When Izuku was close enough, the elf shifted the bag off of her and threw it at him. "Catch."

Taken aback, he scrambled to grab a hold of it. "What's this?" He said as he inspected the cloth, which ran like a long shaft that flared out into a ball at the end. It felt firm, smooth... and a fair bit cold, even with the fabric in the way.

"Open it."

As he planted the thin bottom onto the floor—it was almost as tall as he was—Izuku twisted and peeled at the cloth, letting it slowly bloom. At first, he saw a glint of silver, curving in all directions. Then, he saw exactly what it was circling around.

His eyes glimmered wide. It was a beautiful sphere, shifting constantly from transparency to a bluish-white to a turquoise blue. Interestingly, two other orbs were attached to it, their colours morphing alongside the main body—whenever it was transparent, they would each become a bluish-white and a turquoise blue, and so on. The pair glided in perfect synchronization, akin to two moons, as if they were halfway sinking as they surfed around a complete water planet.

A silver pillar protruded off of the top point, branching in various directions to encircle the large sphere—they all hovered mere centimetres above it—and culminate in the opposite end where they all coiled into a single, ergonomic rod. The bottom of the staff flared out like a miniature of an axe's steel, one side larger than the other. It was probably the size of his opened fist.

There were other embellishments, of course. Like the thick bangles dotted along its handle; the dark-green ribbon with a red feather at the end, tightly wrapped around near the bottom of the orb and the top of the rod.

"So... what do you think? It's good, isn't it?"

He stayed silent, simply staring at the gift as tears began to pool in his eyes. Wiping them away before they could fall, he hugged the staff close, feeling their firmness and frosty surface. "It's... amazing. Everything I ever wanted." He eventually breathed out. Izuku glanced up at his teacher, lips twisted into a soft smile. "Thank you so much, Frieren-sensei."

The elf's heart fluttered at the sight. She quickly smiled back. "It's my duty."

Forcing out a cough, she walked closer as she ran her hand along the silver-wrapped sphere. "I combined the orbs in the shape of a water molecule... based on what I saw online. Also," Her fingers dipped past the silver, lightly touching against the ball before bringing them up to his eyes. "it's permanently wet. That's because the orb itself originates from a creature who lived under a frozen lake that I—alongside a few others—hunted. It was capable of manipulating the sea and a smidge of ice, so now, it reduces mana cost relating to those two.

"Though, it doesn't actually affect your spells. You won't be able to do things you never were able to before." She shrugged. "It's only the creature's heart, after all; not its mind."

"I see," Izuku murmured, tightly clutching the staff with his fists. He reached up, stroking the green fabric.

"As for the steel, it's made from a special kind unearthed by an old dwarven friend of mine. It's stronger than most, the lightest of all, and naturally cold." She then continued, elaborating. "Besides that, it doesn't have any special properties, but the temperature is supposed to make you more used to the ice you constantly spew."

"Which, in return, makes my spells even better." A grin easily wormed its way to his lips. "I'm loving it more and more by the second. And the green ribbon..." He looked up at his teacher, suddenly blushing as he opened his arms, his eyes glassy. "Can I...?"

"You can." The words spilt out of her mouth before her thoughts could catch up.

Despite her consent, it still felt like a surprise to feel a pair of arms wrap around her, to feel someone's head buried into her shoulders, to once again feel another's warmth. After a few seconds, she hesitantly returned the hug.

"It... feels like it's made for me. Me, of all people." He whispered. She could feel her shoulder moisten from the spot where he buried his head.

"Make sure to keep it safe, then," Frieren said, her tone soft. 'It's made for my sake, as well, after all.'

Many things had gone unspoken between them. The staff, more than a fitting reward for all of Izuku's training, had been a truly personal project for her.

The orb had been a gift Lawine wished to get for Kanne, so she had invited Frieren, Fern, Stark, and another friend of hers from the Academy—Mara—to hunt for it. But when the unexpected happened and the creature dropped a pair instead, Lawine decided to give it to the elf.

The Stahleis steel that made up the staff's body had been a gift, as well. It was given to her by Eisen a few days after Stoltz's funeral.

The red feather at the end of the fabric had been a sort of tradition ever since she picked up Fern as her apprentice. Since then, all of her mage children had their staffs adorned by one.

And the little axe by the bottom was formed in the shape of Stark's own weapon of choice.

She was snapped out of her musing as Izuku breathed out, burying his head deeper into her shoulder. "I... Thank you. So, so much."

She fiddled with her hands, their lengths still loosely looped around him. "You already said it before. You deserve the staff, Izuku."

"Not..." He quickly began. "Not just the staff. I wanted to thank you for... everything." He sniffled. "No one ever believed that I could get into U.A., not the Hero Course. You were the only one who did.

"You're almost–" His whisper grew still as he shook his head. Louder, he spoke, "You're family to me."

For a moment, a deafening silence met his words. Izuku's feet shifted nervously, wondering if she even appreciated his gesture.

Eventually, his worries were quelled.

Because even though the silence continued to stretch, Frieren began to hug him tighter. The drum of a light rain tapped along his nape... and only there.

Despite himself, Izuku was in a pep mood as he walked up the spiral stairs that led to the restaurant. Beside him was his mother, her slim body donned in a simple black dress. Unlike usual, her green hair cascaded in rivulets down her back.

There had been no dress code, of course—Mitsuki was just free-spirited—which was why Izuku decidedly chose to wear a white polo shirt and grey jeans. A necklace looped around his neck, ending in a closed locket. He needed it for where he was heading.

Bakugo's celebratory party was not held at his house. Instead, Masaru rented out a floor of a restaurant, a commonly bustling place near the centre of the city. They had initially planned to go to Musutafu City Mall... but after the raid there by the Messiah and his Free-Seekers, they scrapped that idea. It wasn't like the restaurant—Ginza—was that much of a downgrade. In fact, its location promised a safe experience; across the street, Endeavor's Agency stood tall, its presence alone akin to a watchful sentry. The agency assuaging some of the cost was just the cherry on the top.

While ascending the spiral, Izuku felt how his anxiety grappled at him, like a fist was clenched over his heart and constantly tried to pull it down. When they finally reached the top, in front of a pair of intricately carved doors, that feeling grew all the more vivid. Sucking in a breath, he pushed the mahogany slabs open.

They were instantly bathed in a warm—almost hot, Izuku thought—pillar of light, speckled with the glittering crystals of the chandelier. The floor was made of smooth aspen. Along the glass walls—providing a stunning view of the city—rose thick, steel beams that converged into a sheet of black, serving as the roof. It was hard to see but the surface was littered with holes, each filled with reflective glass that was brought to light by the chandelier, making the roof appear like a starry night.

Izuku gawked at the sight for a moment, scarcely taking note of the sharply dressed server that greeted them. His sight panned across the crowd, formed of Aldera's teachers and staff, most of the socially active students, family friends—most were Mitsuki's, though a few were Masaru's—a few he did not recognize, and...

'Is that Burnin'?' Izuku blinked, surprised to find Endeavor's most popular sidekick here. Of course, she wasn't wearing her usual costume, only a messily strewn-together suit. 'I... think I do recall mom once saying that Bakugo was being taught by her.'

Then, as Izuku stared at the centre of the crowd, his eyes lasered in on a familiar mop of blond hair, a gesture that was almost instantly returned. Pools of green and red clashed. He only tore his gaze away when a loud, boisterous voice popped up.

"Izuku-chan!" Mitsuki strode forward with a laugh. She was dressed in a white crop top and ripped jeans, her grin infectious as she slung her arm around his neck. "It's been a while since I last saw you! What, too busy to give me a visit?"

Izuku chuckled, his gaze quickly darting back to Bakugo. He had long already looked away, though, preferring to give his attention to a vine-haired girl beside him. As Mitsuki continued to swing around a frowning Midoriya, his mother came to his aid. "Let him go, Mitsuki. The poor boy's choking."

He wasn't, but her words had the intended effect. She let go of him... instead, she crushed Inko in a mighty bear hug. "And you! Oh, what have you done to my friend?" Mitsuki grinned as she held Inko by the shoulders, her arms locked straight. "When did you let down your hair?"

"Does it... look good?" Inko asked under her breath. Her eyes darted around to the huge crowd.

"Girl, you are stunning!" The blonde quickly assured her. "Why the sudden change?"

"It's not... really a change," Inko murmured, her cheeks flushed pink. She shook her head. "I'll tell you later. Right now, it's not my special day; it's yours."

"My son's." Mitsuki fixed. "That brat, I always knew he had it in him, but still..." She glanced to somewhere within the crowd. "My boy. The future No. 1."

Izuku listened to her words with a face devoid of emotion. He followed her gaze, to a boy others would say is the spitting image of her. But Izuku never agreed with those people. He's seen Mitsuki many, many times over the years, after all. No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't image her face twisted with so much hubris and anger.

The affair went by under a droll, grey filter. Though, it wasn't the Bakugo Family's fault.

It was entirely self-imposed by him. Even as the lights flashed and the music flared, even as laughter rang abound the spacious room, even as admittedly appetizing foods and drinks were passed around—how could Izuku ever hope to enjoy it? While they paraded around this Heroic image of Katsuki? Future Hero, they said. The one who got the top spot at U.A., they said. To his ears, it was all hollow compliments.

He knew the truth, after all.

But he didn't want to ruin the party for everyone here. At least for Mitsuki and Masaru, he wanted them to have a night they could remember fondly. You can't always have that experience with your whole family.

And so, after finding a seat by the corner of the room, he remained there as a little over an hour ticked by. His mother had shown concern for him, but after he repeatedly reassured her that he'd be fine, she reluctantly went to Mitsuki and only told him to hang out with his friends.

He... couldn't fault his mother for suggesting that.

He should be grateful, actually, that she would think that way. It had been a small, wordless understanding between him and Katsuki that neither of them wanted their parents to know what their relationship had soured into. At some point, for that purpose, Bakugo reduced his bullying to spiteful words or explosions light enough that they would only leave behind soot. And Izuku took it all in silently.

He watched as his mother joined Mitsuki in the crowd, their lips soon opening wide in laughter. A few minutes later and the two were practically already attached by the hip.

It was odd, Izuku thought. How could the sons of such close friends grow so distant from one another? Not to mention that there was a time when he and Katsuki took after their parents...

He forcibly shook those thoughts away. With nothing much to do other than occasionally devouring the food being given—which, though delicious, was in such small portions his hunger was barely tickled—Izuku decided to practice a spell. Earlier today, under Frieren's tutelage, he had dipped his toes into the baby steps to learn the spell capable of storing items, the same one the elf used to carry around her staff.

Speichern.

So far, it was perhaps the most arduous spell he had ever tried to learn.

His water and ice spells were all rooted in reality. As for Zoltraak and his defensive mana spell, in a way, they were even easier; after all, the basis of them was in taking his own mana, gathering them into tangible clumps before either shooting it or forming them into hexagonal walls. It still took a while to learn but it was far from difficult.

Now, Frieren's explanation for Speichern made it seem just as easy. Like how Izuku made his mana tactile and visible with Zoltraak, he needs to do the opposite for Speichern. He must take an object and pull it into the immaterial world of pure, unadulterated mana; basically, it would be stored in one's mana core. It was already clear at that point what he needed to do to push whatever he was storing back out, which was why whenever Frieren did so, motes of light would first form and lump together into an object.

But again... easier said than done.

As he held a spoon under the table, Izuku tried to impose Speichern upon it. He kept the utensil under, hidden by the white cloth draped over the table. It was rather difficult to vividly imagine something just disappearing out of thin air but when it was only his sense of touch, the task became visibly easier.

Soon, he felt the spoon disappear from his open palm. His eyes widened before he dug around in his mana core for the– where was it?

"Looking for this?" A heavily accented voice, tinged with amusement, echoed from the side.

Dragging his gaze towards it, Izuku found a girl his age with a mop of green vines, each thick strand brushing against her waist; two sets of rings looped around her forehead, shaped like an 'X', akin to a crown. Her eyes were a shade of green dipped in black. She wore a modest black dress with a dark green shawl on top.

One of her vines—longer than the rest—brought the spoon up to her eye, to which she then scrutinized it. Eventually, she dropped it onto her right fist and gave it back.

"As odd as your behaviour was, in a way, I am relieved." She smiled after he warily took it. "What with your hands dropped below your navel and with your face so scrunched up, why, I thought you were committing a sinful act."

Izuku's face was quickly overtaken by a blush. Now that she said it, he could understand why someone would think that way.

Still, he tried his best not to show it, instead thinking it was more prudent to continue and observe her. After all, how could he not recognize the girl?

"You're... Ibara Shiozaki, right?" He asked. "The one who took the number 2 spot in the Practical."

"Indeed." She nodded, smiling softly. "And you must be Izuku Midoriya. I look forward to working together with you in the future."

"...Thanks." Muttered the aforementioned boy, not knowing what else to say.

He didn't know what to think of her. On one hand, she seemed to be a friend of Katsuki—and his experience with those has always been less than stellar—but on the other hand... her warm smile disarmed his notion of the girl's character. Izuku shook his head. 'What's going on with me? Who am I to judge her like that?'

The vine-haired girl, oblivious to his thoughts, spoke once more. "What's your relationship with Katsuki, Midoriya-san?"

'She's calling him by his first name.' He thought sourly. Izuku turned to better face her. "We're... acquaintances."

"Merely so?" Ibara hummed. "I do not think Katsuki would've gazed at an 'acquaintance' with so much fervour. Neither do I think someone of that status would return it." She folded her arms, staring pointedly—with the same fervour she spoke of—at someone amidst the crowd.

Izuku fidgeted in his seat. Instead of answering her question, he gave the girl one of her own. "Why do you want to know?"

Ibara became silent. Looking up, he saw that she was smiling as she gazed down at him. "I want to know him better. Oftentimes, people show one face to someone, yet show another face to someone else. I can't rely on my own perception.

"Everyone else has only given me mere... pictures, each carefully tailored to make him seem too virtuous. Even I knew they weren't all speaking the truth. You, though... you were the only one that stood apart. So I came to you."

Now, it was his turn to go silent. He could just ignore her but was that truly what he wanted? What did he want, when it came to his former friend? At that moment, a memory rolled into his mind.

"Still want to be a Hero, Deku? You think you can be one?"

The laughter of his lackeys echoed like nails scraping against a blackboard.

"Well, you can't. No matter how much you try..." Katsuki's lips twisted into a cruel smirk. "Actually, I got an idea. How about you take a swan dive off the roof? Maybe you'll get a Quirk in your next life."

"...That... view of him... is between the two of us," Izuku murmured, his voice growing firmer by the end.

In the end, faced with his refusal, Ibara simply made her way back to the party. It continued even as the moon drifted into the middle of the black sea, speckled with stars and thickening clouds.

It was starting to rain again.

Izuku simply continued to practice his spells. Neither he nor Katsuki exchanged a single word. They were far, far too busy indulging in their own little worlds.

When the room's occupants began to slowly leave, one by one, he was spurred by his mother to her side, so as to greet the Bakugo family with a goodbye. A tense blanket fell over Izuku and Katsuki as the silence between them continued to stretch. Perhaps it was because of the party's lingering euphoria that none of their parents seemed to comment on it.

With that, the pair left.

Standing by the exit, Izuku looked back for one last time. Katsuki was already pulled into a conversation between Ibara and Burnin', though just before the door closed, his red eyes darted to Izuku. They crumped together amidst the thin gap.

And then it was gone, obstructed by a slab of wood.

"Let's go, Izuku." His mother's voice called out from the side.

He muttered a quick agreement as he went through the motions. They stepped onto the outside world, where the rain already grew heavy, drenching the world with a depressing hue.

He knew their silence wouldn't extend for much longer.

When tomorrow arrived, so would his first day in U.A. And, with that, so would a confrontation with Katsuki.

Finally! This chapter came out only a week after Chapter 8, which I am quite proud of.

Also, I've watched the final Act of Arcane's second season. Though I personally didn't feel as impacted as I did with Arcane's first season—I think they could have done better with just a bit more time to flesh out the story; there were simply too many characters, I feel—overall, it's been another wonderful experience.

I heard they're going to make more stories set in the world of Runeterra, which I am certainly excited about. I'm guessing it will be set in Noxus this time.