Sorry for the long absence! Things were hectic here in America what with the "Four-Year National Poll" and my grandmother going to the hospital. Luckily, both of those things aot everyone will get their happy ever smoothing out now. Thank you to those who sent me messages checking in; they helped get this out before December. Now, to reviews!

Gamelover41592: Thank you.

kentaurus199: Yeah, not everyone will get their happy ever after. Glad you enjoyed it!

LEGOBRICK13: It's too quiet in here... Anyway, yeah. You're right on all accounts. This chapter is shorter, but I hope it has enough in it to wet the palette.

256: Your words mean a lot to me. Thank you! I do always try for plausible realism. I don't want anything coming in from left field.

maxperseus130: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! I hadn't considered the possibility of Izuku using the Animus to learn hacking skills, but that will have to wait until he has more influence from outside the Osaka, given their resistance to Animus learning. It's possible, though!

Monkey D. Conan: Izuku, even in Canon, has never been the type to recognize the little victories, and being involved in a century-long, worldwide war has not changed that. Hope he doesn't lose himself! Or... has he started already?

Monster King: Here you go!

nbjdawe2001: Maybe, maybe not. Will they get that happy ending?

Pirohiko-Baltazar: Yes, perhaps, but where would one find such a thing? As for your other questions: maybe and yes.

Shadowwolf1997: Yeah, Sigma Team Bakugo would have been terrifying. As for Jacob, I always thought that final scene of the Jack the Ripper DLC seemed like a death scene given the fade-out of him - now silent - in his sister's arms before you go right back to playing as Evie. Sort of Jacob's final "bit off more than he could chew" if you ask me.

stevenpiskunov2: Oh, Izuku still has his mission, he just might not be the only only one doing it anymore. I did say I want this story - this trilogy - to mirror the Ezio Trilogy, so Izuku has a long way to go and a lot to learn. And yes, Izuku can use the Pieces of Eden. It was also suggested that David and Melissa Shield could as well. I'll let you draw conclusions from that.

zakan: Thank you.

Guest: All is now well. Enjoy!

Anyway, on to the chapter!

Chapter 66:

Cultural Festival Day 1

It was a sunny Wednesday, the great ball of fire in the sky having reached its zenith and begun its decent recently, and the buzz of excitement had yet to wain from the grounds of UA. With Monday and Tuesday to prepare, the school had opened its doors to the public for their take on Japan's second major school festival. And while some class's performances were all-inclusive and limited, others switched out and lasted all day. Class 1-A's carnival row was one such attraction, with its current most-popular scene being —

"Come on, you old hag! Is that all you got‽"

"I wonder where you got that mouth, brat!" The tall blonde threw another ball, the projectile narrowly missing the target to bounce off the tank. Inside, Katsuki Bakugo burst out laughing.

"Nice aim, hag!"

"You brat! Masa! More balls!"

"Ah~ This is great!" Ochako grinned, watching the scene, her comment reaching Izuku next to her. She thumbed through a stack of yen notes, recounting how much 1-A's carnival row had made and doing mental calculations. "We monetized Bakugo's dislikability. It's amazing."

"I never thought I'd see the day," Izuku chuckled, though his focus was split between her, the Bakugo family, and the crowd. Despite the relaxed atmosphere, his eyes would not stop moving. His hand twitched, the healed stab wound in his side from the weekend giving him a phantom pain and itchiness.

"Are you okay, Midoriya?" Ochako asked. "You seem tense?"

"Sorry, just… nerves, I suppose," Izuku replied, though he knew the technical truth was a vast understatement. He'd been tense ever since Momo's parents had visited the shooting gallery he and Momo had put together. There was a look they had given him, one that sent a shiver down his spine. Despite knowing he was safe on the grounds of UA, his paranoia would not leave him alone.

"Nerves?"

"Yeah, it's nothing, really. Hyperactive mind."

Very nearly every school in the country held its own Cultural Festival, but those from Hero schools were always something else. It was a time for the students to make connections that could change the course of their lives; for Support students to show off to investors around the country, for Business students to meet advertisers and business moguls in search of up-and-coming talent, and for Hero students to relax and just feel like normal students for a while.

Most Cultural Festivals were only one day, held on a Saturday or Sunday, but UA held theirs for four days, between Wednesday and Saturday, at 12 hours a day. This was because the festival only covered so much area, and thus could only hold so many people. Being the most famous Hero school in Japan, as All Might's Alma Mater, the festival had to be extended so everyone who wanted to had the chance to attend and see everything.

"You should get going," Ochako said. "I mean, you could give it a few throws and dunk Bakugo before your turn in half an hour, but I figure you'd rather explore some."

"Yeah, I think I will," Izuku agreed. Momo could handle the gallery without him and this was supposed to be his break time. Some time exploring may do him good before it was his turn to sit in the tank and then return to his own booth.

Izuku turned and walked into the crowd, only having to travel a little way before he saw someone familiar. Someone he didn't expect to see.

"Oh, Shota~!"

Aizawa, dressed in his full Hero costume, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned. Emi walked toward him dressed in civilian clothing, Eri holding her hand and following a half a step behind. The little horned girl's hair had been dyed so it was no longer white, now sporting the same teal-green as Emi. Her eyes could not stop moving, trying to take in everything at once.

"You're going to start rumors, you know," Aizawa said as the woman and girl approached. Emi let out a happy laugh and slapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't be like that! You need to live while we're still young! And think of Eri's feelings!"

"I prefer to first think of safety," the man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Even so, he did not pull away when Eri reached forward and took his other hand in hers. She looked up at him, her red eyes wide and pleading. Unable to face her cuteness, Aizawa turned to Emi. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching right now?"

"I took the day off and called a sub," Emi waved off. "Unlike you, I don't shelve my PTO."

"Yeah, yeah. Just remember, I'm still technically on security."

"Sho…?" Eri asked. "Can you show us around?"

Aizawa stared at her. "Emi told you to ask that, didn't she?"

"Will you?" The girl tightened her hold on the Hero's fingers, her eyes widening the way Emi had taught her.

Aizawa cracked. "Fine. But only for a little bit."

"Yay!" Eri tugged, trying to drag the pair along, but only made it a couple steps before getting bowled over with enough force to pull her hands out of theirs. Izuku quirked an eyebrow as he watched the green-haired girl push herself to hands and knees over the red-eyed child.

"I'm so sorry, kero!" Satsuki Asui croaked. "I didn't mean to!"

"It… It's okay…" Eri replied, truly disoriented. Satsuki got off her and offered a hand, her tongue poking out a little from her mouth.

"I'm really, really sorry! It's just, everything's so colorful and pretty, kero!"

"Y-Yeah." Eri took her hand and got to her feet.

"We're about the same age, right? I'm Satsuki Asui, but you can call me Tsuki if you want, kero! What's your name?"

"Eri. E-Eri Fukukado."

"Your eyes are really pretty, Eri, kero! Do you want to explore together? It'd be so much more fun than having to walk with my big brother. He's broody, kero."

"I am not, guo!" Samedare protested closer to where their mother was (faking) an apology and first meeting with Emi. In one of his hands was the leash attached to Lady's collar, the blue cat watching both girls.

Eri giggled. "Maybe. If Sho says it's okay."

"Mom!" Satsuki called. "Can our family and Eri's family walk together until we find Big Sis?"

"I don't see a problem with it," Emi said, directing her words to Beru. Izuku caught Aizawa's tired eye, smirked, received a look demanding silence, and went on his way. Izuku would needle and tease Aizawa later — and almost certainly receive some ungodly training because of it — but it was worth it to see his teacher's face.

Chuckling to himself, Izuku turned toward the Support Course wing of the festival to check in with Mei since it had been a while. Unbeknownst to him, he passed a group of middle school students who would have otherwise been of interest.

"Hey, look at this!" The girl with fluttering clothes pointed at the poster advertising the performance class 1-B would be starting (for the second time) in half an hour. Her best friends leaned over to look at the poster, one over her shoulder and the other around her torso. "This looks super fun!"

"It's in English," Taiga complained. She understood the alphabet to a point — Why did they need three letters that made the same clicking sound? Why was one of them always paired with U? And why were their vowels so inconsistent? — so the title of the performance remained a mystery to her. The picture on the poster, however, opened the expectation of an epic tale.

On Beki's other side, Anya tilted her head in confusion. She understood English well enough — both her Mama and Papa knew it and thought in it regularly — but the jumbled mass of words failed to really click.

"You want to waste your time watching a play?" the snobbish voice of Daigoro Desmond questioned, causing all three girls to turn eyes on him. "We only have four hours for this field trip; we won't spend three of it watching one thing."

"How stupid," one of his yes-men, Maaiika, sneered.

"Stupid! Stupid!" his shorter twin, Sonasu, parroted.

"That is quite enough, boys," the aged voice of Headmaster Henderson chided. "A lack of manners is most inelegant, especially when directed at young women."

"Tch," Daigoro huffed, clicking. "I hope we get to the Support Course booths soon. At least that stuff would be interesting."

Simon Atsa Simmons-Garcia — or as his classmates and teachers knew him, Shay Patrick Lee — rolled his eyes and ignored the staring contest the rival trios had started. Eden's year nine classes had always been given a field trip to UA's Cultural Festival for its first day, and indeed would receive the same for the festivals put on by Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu later. He glanced at the poster that had started the argument and, after the full 13 seconds it took to read the title upon the paper, was unable to prevent himself from visually cringing and audibly groaning.

"What is it?" Ren asked at his side.

"That poster," Simon replied. "It is the worst thing I have ever read."

Ren read the poster for himself, taking longer since English was not his first language as it was for Simon. "Doesn't seem so bad to me."

"You do not understand because you are not American," Simon sighed. "That… thing looks like someone grabbed America's internet and threw it into a blender with a dash of Japan. Half of those things are only relevant because of required school reading, not because people like them."

He looked at the poster again, his eye twitching, as he fought the urge to rip it down.

The poster read: Mighty Morphin' Oliver Twist-Hamilton and the Importance of the Chronicles of the Legend of the Earnest Demon Lord of the Lion, the Little Red-Hooded Matchstick Girl, and the Prisoner of AzkaMontiCristo: Count Dooku, Pirate King of the Flies, the Ring, and the Caribbean, an Isekai Musical!

"It's a musical?" Misa asked with interest.

"Sounds like a mystery, too," her twin brother Raito added

"And it's by class 1-B," Kerori commented. "That means Battle Fist-sensei will be in it."

"I am sorry to say we will not have time to witness it today," Headmaster Henderson said. "If you wish to experience it, you will need to return with your parents later."

"Boo," Taiga pouted. "Can we at least stop by and say hello?"

"…We may have some time for a quick detour," Henderson agreed after a moment. It had been a long time since he'd spoken to Sekijiro Kan, after all. "We will then visit 1-A, the Support Course, and then the rest in descending order. Come along."

Izuku remained ignorant to this interaction, unknowing of the situation with Eden and focused as he was on his own destination with his limited free time. Of all the classes, the Support Course had the largest section of the festival area because, rather than class projects, each class collaborated on one machine and then each had individual booths, leaving their class project presentations to their teachers.

In the case of 1-F, that meant Power Loader oversaw their Immediate Personal Refreshment Machine, a portable box that acted out a full morning routine for the person inside in the span of 30 seconds, shower, clean clothes, breakfast, and all. According to the plaque, they planned to shove Hatsume into it every morning, which gave Izuku a good chuckle. He watched as Power Loader finished the demonstration for those watching and waved them off toward his students, breathing a sigh of relief, before he noticed a shock of green hair in the crowd.

"Midoriya! A word please."

Izuku blinked at the voice, his eyes landing on Power Loader who was gesturing for him. The verdet stepped over.

"You want to talk, Power Loader-sensei?"

"I don't know if I should hug you or punch you, kid."

"I'm not sure I know what you mean, sir."

"You sent Shinso to Hatsume, didn't you? And he connected her to that work-study. She's gone obsessed."

"I'm still lost, Power Loader-sensei."

"Hatsume's started willingly going to her other classes," the teacher said. "I haven't needed to kick her out of the workshop since she returned."

"That's… good, right?"

"Yes, but it's come with a whole new set of problems. She's going to her Ethics class so she can ruleslawyer me. And when she's not arguing about why her otherwise-illegal tweak is, by all technicality, damn legal, then she's talking everyone's ears off about Shinso or Gateway Labs or bragging about getting to go to the HTSE."

Izuku blinked. "Forgive me, sir. I can't imagine Hatsume bragging about anything except her 'babies.'" Izuku made air quotes with his fingers.

"Every fourth sentence out of her mouth nowadays starts with 'At the HTSE' or 'I saw this booth' or 'Okabe-sensei showed me.' It's a whole new kind of maddening!"

Izuku closed his eyes and took a breath, internalizing the information. "I now understand the punching part of your feelings, but why the hugging?"

Power Loader sighed, running a hand over the front of his mask. "As much as I complain, she's… she's better. She's down to only two explosions a week. She's got inventors willing to listen to her mad ramblings so we don't have to. Did I mention she's willingly going to her classes? She's willingly going to her classes! And she's actually sleeping more than three hours a night, which might be the contributing factor to fewer explosions." He sighed again. "I'm both relieved and terrified."

"I'm sorry, Power Loader-sensei, but this sounds like Shinso's doing mostly."

"You directed him there," the pro argued. "I've also already complained to him. He should be talking to Hatsume right now if he hasn't managed to run for it, which seems unlikely since he hasn't come barreling past screaming at the top of his lungs."

"I suppose I'll go do my part in distracting her, then," Izuku joked. Power Loader waved him off, allowing Izuku to walk by into 1-F's area. The students were all ecstatic, each doing their very best to impress the representatives watching. 1-A had put focus on the first year's Sports Festival and Mei had brought attention to the Support Course; this was a chance they would not miss.

Izuku, however, was not in the area for any of them, the excited chatter of the pink-haired inventor reaching him from several booths away. She was barely paying attention to the men and women around her booth for preference to the taller purple-haired teen there. Rather than showing off what she'd built, her booth was a miniature workshop, the girl bent over another invention even as she spoke.

"— looking over all your data. It's a shame your Quirk doesn't work through two-way radio, but Okabe-sensei showed me this booth all about sound at the HTSE. If we combine the voice-mimicry system with —"

"Having fun, Shinso?" Izuku grinned, slapping a hand down on his friend's shoulder. The other boy sent the verdet a thankful look as the shorter teen's entrance offered Mei a new outlet.

"Freckles! Do you know Shinso? You're good at Quirk theory; any ideas about how to get Brainwashing to effect wider areas or enact more fine motor skill actions?"

"Not at the moment, Hatsume," Izuku replied. "I'm afraid I can't stick around too long, but I wanted to stop by."

"How are my babies treating you, then? Holding up, I hope."

"I haven't had any problems with the Edison. It served me really well during the Licensing Exam. I'll need to put in an order for more consumables, though."

"Good. Good. Just send me a list." Mei straightened herself, her back popping with a sigh. Izuku leaned over as she stretched.

"She remembers your name, Shinso?" the verdet muttered.

"I'll tell you later," the taller student replied.

In a flourish, Mei revealed the item she'd been working on, draping a new scarf around Shinso's shoulders and ending their conversation. It was interwoven with the primary colors, the three weaving over each other before separating into three distinct side-by-side blocks of red, yellow, and blue in three sections in the body of the scarf and on each end. "Behold! The Trinity Scarf MRK.3! It's made of the same nanofiber you liked from the MRK.2, so it will respond the same way, but, as you can see, I've separated the weave at five points, so there won't be any accidental overlap anymore. Let us demonstrate!"

Mei, with some difficulty, pulled out a large bucket of water and dropped it on the table. Given her strength from her time in various forges, her struggle said a lot about the size of the bucket.

"Alright, Shinso! Wrap the Trinity Scarf around this bucket with the blue part on the inside!"

Glancing at Izuku, the purple-haired teen shrugged and did as bid, the capture scarf moving at his command to wrap around the bucket with the blue of the colorful weave folded inward, putting the red on the outside and the yellow in between. The inventors, innovators, and talent scouts around leaned in for a better view.

"Good!" Mei grinned. "I added a function that increases the strength of the effect based on the tension of the fibers, so the harder you pull —or the harder the Villain struggles— the stronger the effect! Well? Give it a tug!"

Shinso tugged, the weave in the scarf shimmering slightly. Izuku felt the temperature drop as, slowly at first but then speeding up, the water in the bucket froze over.

"Oooohh." The onlookers clapped politely.

"Wow," Izuku blinked. "That's… effective." Silently, he considered it too much. It seemed like something Mei could only build because the secretly-Brotherhood inventors taught her how to search for legal loopholes.

"Isn't it, Freckles‽ Now Shinso, do it again but with the red weave."

Emboldened by the first success, Shinso gave a little flourish as he adjusted the capture weapon at Mei's request. Once it was secure, he gave it a tug. Within seconds, the ice began to melt back into water. Mei turned to bystanders watching.

"As you can see, the blue weave sucks in heat while the red weave puts it out. The nanocarbon mesh has technology to store heat until needed, as you just saw, but the Hatsume-brand Trinity Scarf has one other effect! One generated by said heat flow! Shinso?"

"By your command, my lady," Shinso said, his voice dry. Mei either didn't notice or didn't care for his tone, her eyes — and the eyes of those watching — boring into the Hero student. He flicked the scarf one more time, placing the yellow weave on the inside with the blue outside and the red in the middle. He pulled.

The air became charged, the scent of ozone permeating the area. Izuku felt the hairs on his arms stand on end under his sleeves as the water in the bucket began to bubble, the electricity further heating the already-warm water to the point of boiling. At Mei's look, Shinso tugged a little harder, speeding up the boil until, in under a minute, all the water had evaporated.

"Cold, heat, and electricity, all bound flawlessly into fiber strong enough to stop a blade!" Mei called, flinging her arms wide. "Behold, Hitoshi Shinso, the Hero Mockingbird, the next Number One! As his personal technician, you can see that my tech in such skilled hands is equal to any powerful Quirk!"

The crowd muttered to each other. Izuku considered the boasting a little overmuch, more than a dozen known Quirks passing through his mind from both pro Heroes and students that could overpower or otherwise circumvent the Capture Scarf unless Mei was able to find a way to weave a Quirk dampener into the fiber without it affecting Shinso. Given Mei's mind, that was something Izuku should suggest to her new contacts. He wasn't sure what sort of Quirk-dampening technology the Brotherhood had access to. He turned to Shinso to ask what he thought of the new scarf but stopped.

"…Are you blushing?"

"No," Shinso grunted, unlashing the Trinity Scarf from the bucket to cover his face.

"Wahaha!" a voice laughed, a man stepping out of the crowd. "Excellent use of the TFNM, Hatsume!"

"Okabe-sensei!" the Support student gasped. The man was of median height, thin with messy black hair, his plain clothing mostly hidden under a dirty lab coat. He'd taken a dramatic stance with one hand combing through his hair. Slightly behind him and to his left was a woman with long red hair, rolling her eyes. She was dressed in a white button-up, a black tie, and a loose brown hooded jacket. "Yeah! The Temperature Fluctuation Nanomachines were just the thing to get the hot and cold fibers to not interfere with each other!"

"But of course!" the man grinned. "I staked my pride as a [mad scientist] on it!"

Izuku recognized the man was Rintaro Okabe, the head of the Osaka Assassin Brotherhood's Experimental Division. His Quirk: Death Warning gave him flashes of future events that would kill him in the moment before he'd push over the first domino, so to speak. It was an ability that had saved his life — and the lives of his associates in the field — several times over. His public job was as the head of Gateway Labs where he and his team had hosted Mei for her second internship.

The woman at his side was Kurisu Makise, an American duel citizen who was assigned as Okabe's bodyguard after him getting wrapped up in a mission of hers some years ago. It was now he had come to the Brotherhood's attention in the first place.

"Well, it looks like everything is under control around here." Izuku commented. Mei and Okabe were locked in a fast-paced conversation while Makise watched with a sigh. She too was a scientist of some skill — plenty enough to follow Okabe's wild plans — but it was not her passion in the same way that it absorbed every waking thought of the two inventors. "Shinso, don't you need to get back to your class?"

"Right, our play," the teen blinked, having apparently forgotten. He raised a hand, getting Mei's attention. "I've got to go, Hatsume. Thanks for the upgrade. I'll have notes for you next wee—"

"Okay!" Mei grabbed his hand. "Bye, Shinso! Have fun at your play! I'll have to come see it sometime!"

Izuku swallowed wrong, nearly coughing up a lung. Shinso stared at now-empty air as Mei immediately returned to her conversation with the older scientist. So, not only did she remember Shinso's name, but she was also willing to set aside a considerable amount of time from the Cultural Festival (albeit later when the crowds were not so dense) to go watch his class perform. Izuku turned to him.

"…I am so sorry."

"You better be," Shinso grumbled through his scarf, turning away from the booth and starting back toward the amphitheater where 1-B were to perform. "This is all your fault."

Izuku rolled his eyes, following after. "Yeah, yeah."

Toshinori Yagi swallowed hard, his sunken eyes staring at a sight that would have warmed his heart in any other circumstance. He had been exploring the Cultural Festival in his smaller form, enjoying the anonymity it gave him, when he'd seen her.

"Come on, Eri!" the little frog-girl smiled, jumping on the lights below their feet as they lit up.

"I-I'm trying, Tsuki! You're too good!"

The pair were enjoying the booth put together by Jiro, Kaminari, Tokoyami, and Hagakure, a rhythm dance game. If Toshinori remembered right, they had asked for Momo Yaoyorozu's assistance in how to build and maintain the machine, Kaminari recharged it semi-regularly, and Hagakure had asked Ashido to help her choreograph the music Jiro had anonymously written, all programmed by Tokoyami and Dark Shadow. The machine was a true feat of class cooperation.

No, what had chilled his blood was the presence of one of the adults in the group watching the children. One woman and boy were obviously related to one girl and clearly family to Tsuyu Asui. The boy held the leash to a blue cat, both frog-boy and pet watching the girls dance. The other woman shared the same hair as the second girl, the one who now had Toshinori's attention. Beside her, her arms wrapped around one of his, stood Aizawa. The sight alone was nearly enough to give Toshinori whiplash.

His mind flashed back to the end of the conversation they'd had after Toshinori learned of the dour man's loyalties.

"Mirai's letter said a little girl was rescued on that raid he saw. Where is she now?"

Aizawa took longer to answer than anyone without information would, the Underground Hero clearly considering his words.

"Who knows? Wherever she is, I'm sure she's much happier than before."

Toshinori's jaw clenched. 'I found her, but… she looks so happy,' he thought, watching the scene. Jealousy gnawed at the blond's insides (since he didn't have a stomach anymore). Why? It wasn't fair. Why should that murderer get to live out the happy family fantasy when he'd never gotten to? Why should the unrepentant killer have that happiness when the Number One who had sacrificed all his life did not?

Toshinori looked around, confirming that no one was paying him half a mind. His shrunken form was especially good at flying under people's notice. He nodded to himself and, in one second, buffed up to his well-known form.

"Aizawa! Taking some liberties with your rounds, I see!"

The dark-haired man sighed as the interaction he'd wanted to avoid walked up to them, hand raised in greeting. Eri and Satsuki continued their game of Colors Dance (to avoid copyright) as the adults and the older boy turned to the newcomer. The cat sniffed him.

"Hello, All Might," Aizawa sighed.

"Come now, Aizawa! You don't need to sound so down! Today is supposed to be a festival!"

"We're still working."

"That's no attitude to have!" All Might offered his bright, disarming smile. "Please, introduce me to your companions! I've never seen you with anyone other than our coworkers!"

"Hello, you're All Might," the shortest woman said, offering her hand. "I'm Beru Asui, Tsuyu's mother. This is my son Samedere, that is my second daughter Satsuki, and this is our cat Lady."

"What a lovely family!" He did not ask about her husband; all the teachers were informed of the family's loss and Tsuyu's subsequent absences. He turned to the other woman. "I don't think we've met?"

"Emi Fukukado," she said, shaking the Number One Hero's hand just like Beru had. "Pro Hero Ms. Joke and teacher at Ketsubutsu. That's my daughter Eri."

"How do you know Aizawa?"

"We're dating~" the woman singsonged, making the black-haired Hero roll his eyes.

"Really?" All Might asked, floored. "He's never mentioned that."

"I've never mentioned a lot," Aizawa commented. "One's personal life and one's professional life should stay separated when the latter comes with enemies."

"I think he's being dramatic," Emi stage whispered. "He likes being dramatic."

"I will not dignify that with a response."

"Haha!" All Might laughed alongside Emi. "Well, tell me, how old is little Eri over there?"

"Six," Emi answered easily. "Sho and I rescued her back when we were still independent Heroes."

There was a curling of her fingers at that, All Might noted. Emi's eyes glanced away for a fraction of a second. Her smile was genuine, but the twitches of her hands and eyes stood out to the higher-ranked pro. Something about her story was untrue, and she knew it.

"Ah, I see." All Might and Aizawa shared a look, the former silently telling the latter that he'd put the pieces together.

"Woah!" The adults looked down to see the two little girls staring up at All Might. They barely reached his thigh. It was the youngest Asui that spoke, Eri hiding behind her. "You're super tall, kero!"

"I suppose I am!" the Hero laughed. He knelt, getting closer to the girls despite still dwarfing them even on bended knee. "I'm a teacher here at UA."

"Then you might know Big Sis Tsu, kero!"

"Indeed, I do. She is one of my students." All Might reached forward to ruffle the girls' hair, though he noticed the slight flinch from the horned, red-eyed one. Eri shied away for a moment before accepting when Satsuki didn't pull away.

"So cute!" Emi praised, bending down to scoop up Eri as All Might retracted his arm. She must have also noticed the girl's hesitance.

"Well, I should get going," the Number One said. "It would be rude to interrupt your family time further."

"Bye, Big Hero Guy!" Satsuki waved.

Aizawa closed his eyes and sighed. This promised a long, tense conversation in the coming days, he was sure of it.

Meanwhile, several feet away and hidden from view by the machine she and her group were running, Kyoka Jiro stared down at the piece of paper she'd been given. It had been tucked into her locker that morning and she was still trying to come to grips with the order — how to pull it off a whole separate matter.

The note read: I did say I would have assignments for you. This is your first one: recruit Ibara Shiozaki. She rejected her family's offer to join the Templars and I worry about her safety. You have until the end of the Cultural Festival. Good luck! :3

Jiro sighed, a hand on her face.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

Bakugo was wet, and that only served to make him angrier. Many folks had come through just to try their hand at dunking him, and he wasn't sure how to feel about the part of him that enjoyed having so many people there just because he was the one in the booth. A good chunk of his classmates had come to try, and most of them had succeeded. His hag of a mother, too, had managed to dunk him after a dozen tries before moving on. Those were just the ones he remembered amongst the countless extras that had come through and thought to try their hand with the student on deck. Thankfully, his time was almost over, and the first thing he'd do on his break was dunk Deku as soon as the nerd sat down.

"Thank you for your patronage!"

Bakugo's eye twitched at the five words he was starting to hate after hearing them so often, Mina ignorant or uncaring to the emotions radiating off the blond.

"Alright, who's the next fu—?" He trailed off as his eyes landed on the one beside his pink-skinned classmate, the impassive face of Yui Kodai staring back. "Mouse? The fuck are you doing here?"

The girl tilted her head and raised the foam ball in her hand.

"You know what I meant! Aren't you supposed to be getting ready for your class's stupid play?"

Yui tilted her head the other way before raising one of her hands, a finger pressing against her unexpressive lips.

"Bakugo?" Mina questioned. "You knew 1-B is doing a play? I though whatever they did was below your notice."

"Of course I knew about their stupid play! The stupid Copycat wouldn't stop— Gleurgblub!"

Yui giggled to herself, the quiet noise lost between Mina's laugher and Bakugo's screeching. He sounded like a cat dropped in a bathtub.

"Dammit, Mouse! I was saying something!"

"Oh, I like you, Kodai!" Mina grinned, slapping the 1-B student on the shoulder. "You're welcome around here whenever you want."

A snickering got the blond's attention, making him turn.

"You got something to say, Deku?"

"No, not really," the verdet grinned, dressed for his own allotment for the dunking booth.

"I'm gonna wipe that fuckin' grin off your stupid face." Bakugo heaved himself out of the tank, dripping water. He sneered at Izuku but still accepted the offered towel, patting himself dry as Izuku climbed in. In the time it took to do such, Yui had made her way around the tank and was now waiting for him, her eyes roving over the tank top stuck to his abs. "Yeah, what is it, Mouse?"

The girl looked him over and, deciding he was dry enough, held out a single, small piece of paper. Curious but pretending to be uninterested, Bakugo took it.

"Is this a ticket? To your class's stupid play?"

"Mm," Yui nodded, no change in her expression.

"You realize I'm supposed to work, right?"

"Mm."

"…If I don't accept, you're going to give me one before every performance, aren't you?"

"Mm."

Bakugo stared at her for a long while. She stared back, unflinching.

"...Eh, the extras can handle it. This whole thing is a waste of time anyway. I'll dunk the nerd and get changed."

"Mm!" This grunt had a distinctly-happier sound to it. The girl turned and started off, a new spring in her step.

"Fuckin' Mouse," Bakugo muttered. He did not like the fact that she was inviting him. He didn't. It was an inconvenience that just so happened to get him out of dealing with his classmates' stupidity for a few hours. That was it! He breathed in, smiling. "Alright, now to dunk the nerd."

Bakugo was happy to say he did dunk the nerd on the first try.

End of Chapter 66

Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I wanted to get this out after such a long silence! Hopefully, now that I've got this started, chapters will be more frequent again. Happy early Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans!

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods