Regret is the echo of a guilty heart.


Thirty Minutes Earlier…

Izuku raced along the footpath, stopping every few seconds to confirm the trail of slime drops he was following was still there.

Turning the corner into an underpass, Izuku felt panic rising in his chest at the sight of the trail ending. Coming to a halt, Izuku looked in every direction, desperately searching for a sign of the sludge villain.

I need to find him, I have to.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief to find the trail had doubled back on itself in an attempt to confuse him.

It's my fault the sludge villain managed to escape, if All Might hadn't been so distracted by me, he could have caught him there and then.

Retracing his steps back to the footpath, Izuku followed the path to the left.


Unbeknownst to the green-haired boy, inside the underpass a giant glob of slime dropped to the ground, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Nice try, kid." Hedeoro breathed. "They never expect the second double back."

Exiting the underpass, Hedeoro attached his body to the side of the elevated road and began to move up it.

"Just need to find another meat-bag I can hide in." Hedeoro groused.

Upon reaching the top of the overpass, Hedeoro ducked back down again at the sight of All Might standing in the middle of the street, checking in every direction for him.

Taking a breath to steady himself, Hedeoro extended one of his eyeballs on the end of a slime tendril.

"Bastard's still there, of course he is." Hedeoro sighed. "Come on, fuck off already."


Toshinori strained his ears, trying to pick up the faintest whisper of any sounds that the sludge villain might be causing.

A sound pricked his awareness, leading him to walk to the edge of the elevated roadway and lean over slowly.

There was nothing there.

"Help! Help us!"

Turning towards the source of the cries, Toshinori crouched down and leapt into the air, quickly clearing two city blocks and landing in the middle of the street to find a villain spraying neon green ink from her hands. Around her neck and wrists were multiple expensive-looking diamond necklaces and bracelets.

"Your reign of inky terror is at an end!" Toshinori announced, with a flex that made his already nearly empty tanks drain a little faster. "I am here!"

"Ah, crap, not All Might." The ink villain bemoaned, turning her attention to trying to spray him as well.

Toshinori deftly dodged the spray of ink, using One For All's speed to disappear from the villain's view, before reappearing behind her, tapping her on the shoulder.

"I recommend you surrender." Toshinori urged.

The ink villain's shoulders slumped as they raised their hands. "Alright, All Might, you got me."

However, just before Toshinori could reach for his handcuffs on his belt, the ink villain turned her raised hands so her palms pointed at him and fired her quirk.

Toshinori softly cursed as he wiped the neon-pink ink from his face, opening his eyes to see the villain attempting to flee the scene.

Sighing, the blond-haired man called on One For All and exploded down the street, tackling the villain and having her in cuffs before she was even able to react.

"Here." Toshinori spoke as he handed the villain off to an awaiting police officer. "Be careful with this one, she's ink-sensate."

The corners of the police officer's lips twitched upwards as she took over control of the villain. "Thanks, All Might, been trying to catch this one for a while, hits jewellery stores and inks up the cameras. This time she got bold, attacking during the day, stupid really."

The ink villain growled as the police officer escorted her away.

I have to find this sludge man as soon as possible, if he tries to take over someone's body, he could very well kill them.

Toshinori wiped his brow, it was slick with sweat, he could feel the seconds he had left of his limit for the day counting down.

But at least he didn't cough up blood at a moment's notice anymore.


Izuku came to a halt at the end of an alleyway, catching sight of All Might with a villain, not the sludge villain, restrained, handing them over to a police officer.

Seeing that this wasn't who Izuku was searching for, the green-haired boy returned to his search, following the trail left by the sludge villain.

"Hey Katsuki, you want to go to the arcade?"

Izuku's ears pricked, hearing what he recognised to be Yubi's voice. Leaning over the edge of the elevated roadway, Izuku's eyes landed on Bakugo, Yubi and Same walking through the underpass below.

"Nah, need to go to the agency and work on my jetpack." Bakugo replied nonchalantly, opening a canned drink.

"Alright, alright, you can stop bragging you've got an internship with a pro hero." Same complained, producing a packet of cigarettes from his gakuran.

"Ain't nobody from our shithole of a school getting an internship like me!" Bakugo bragged.

Something moved in the corner of Izuku's eye, a dark green shape vanished behind a car further up the road. Slowly backing away from the guardrail, Izuku turned and raced down the road towards the car, clutching three yen coins in his closed fist.

Skidding to a halt beyond the length of the car, Izuku found only a few drops of sludge littering the ground.

Izuku groaned, before crouching down to look under the car.

"Nothing."

Standing, Izuku turned in every direction, trying to find any trace of the sludge villain. Making a decision, Izuku ran off in the opposite direction to where he'd seen Bakugo and his friends.


Breathing a sigh of relief, Hedoro oozed out from where he was hiding, inside the car's engine block.

Making his way in the opposite direction to the way the green-haired brat had gone, Hedoro bled through the guardrail and onto the underpass below.

"How many times do I have to fucking say it, no cigarettes!"

Hedoro heard the shout from further down, where the underpass turned into an alleyway, a blond-haired brat glared at one of the two brats that were following him.

Huh, three potential invisibility cloaks.

Moving to the wall, Hedoro slid up it and began to follow the three boys, watching them from above, before taking his chance when they weren't looking to ooze down and behind a dumpster.

Just as he did, a plastic bottle hit him, sticking to his body with a faint popping sound.

"Did you two morons hear something?"

Hedoro froze, holding even his breath, only releasing it when the main brat decided he hadn't heard anything. Sticking to the shadows, Hedoro studied the boys, trying to determine which one would be best to inhabit.

The blond boy's palm suddenly exploded, destroying the can in his grip.

A powerful quirk, how perfect.

Hedoro surged forwards before swinging around to come out from under a dumpster behind the blond boy.

The blond boy turned around, and Hedoro lunged at him.


Katsuki couldn't breathe, the thick sludge trying to force itself inside his body via his mouth.

Not a fucking chance, you bastard!

Katsuki activated his quirk, letting two explosions rip from inside of the sludge. The slime buckled, venting the blasts to the outside of it, blowing the walls on either side of the alleyway apart.

However, to do it, he had to retreat from Katsuki's throat, allowing him to close his mouth tightly, now able to breathe through his unobstructed nostrils.

"Damn, kid, you really do have a powerful quirk, not a dud like the last guy." The sludge bastard's foul voice issued into Katsuki's ear.

Well, if you liked that!

Katsuki curled his hands, cupping them as Airjet had shown him, narrowing the area his explosions could issue through.

Two far more concentrated blasts ripped through the villain's left side, blowing the sludge away and freeing Katsuki's arm.

Bending his arm, Katsuki released another explosion, aimed at where he thought the sludge villain's face might be.

"Enough!" The villain roared, swinging his body around and slamming Katsuki against an alley wall, making his head ring like a bell.

Katsuki felt himself go limp, the sludge creeping back up his body and engulfing him once again. But he would not go gently into that good night.

RAGE!

Katsuki activated his quirk, again and again, too dazed to focus his blasts like before, but aiming to overwhelm the sludge villain with the sheer volume of them.

Howling in pain, the sludge villain listed from side to side as he surged down the alleyway, bursting out onto Tatooin Market Street. His slime roiled and twisted, the odd explosion managing to escape its surface, hitting stalls, windows and even starting a fire in one of the buildings that lined the street.

"Why won't you stop!" The sludge villain bellowed, swinging a slimy arm out and sending a market stall flying at a man trying to shield two young girls with his body.

Just before it could hit the man, the stall was plucked out of the air by a wooden tendril, which set it down on the street.

"Villain. Stop this madness!" Kamui Woods declared, wincing under the heat that was coming off the burning building.

The sludge villain only roared in response, swinging his arms in every direction.

Kamui Woods fell back, escorting the man and the two girls from the street and behind the police cordon that was being hastily erected.

Katsuki could only watch as this unfolded, his explosive sweat had run dry, putting an end to his attempt at a blitzkrieg. More heroes began to arrive, but they all stopped short of entering the street, hanging around at each end.

Death Arms. Slugger. Backdraft. The gigantification one that Deku had been muttering to himself about in class.

The only ones doing anything were Backdraft, spraying the burning building, and the giant woman, who was using her hand as a platform to evacuate civilians from the building.

And then Katsuki saw him, standing in the crowd.

Deku.

Their eyes met, and then the idiot was running towards him, vaulting the police cordon and drawing his hand backwards, golden energy crackling all around it.


Five Minutes Earlier…

Izuku stopped in his tracks, hearing the sounds of screams and explosions from the direction he had come.

Turning, Izuku set off running towards the sound of the disturbance, sprinting around a corner and directly into All Might's back.

Izuku stumbled backwards, before falling on his behind.

Looking up, Izuku saw his mentor desperately trying to keep his transformation in place as great gouts of steam rolled off of him.

All Might was at his limit for the day, he was out of time.

"A-All Might!"

Swivelling to face him, All Might regarded him with concern, before he suddenly vanished in a puff of steam. As it cleared, Izuku saw Yagi, the abrupt change highlighting how frail the man looked in his natural form.

"Young Midoriya, I thought I told you to go home and tell your parents about what happened?" Yagi questioned.

"You did." Izuku admitted, bowing his head. "But I couldn't just go home, it's my fault that this villain got away, and now that's probably him causing chaos right now, because I distracted you."

"Midoriya, you weren't breathing." Yagi refuted. "You didn't distract me. I rendered first aid to you instead of restraining the villain because it was the correct thing to do."

"But—"

"No buts." Yagi interrupted, his tone firm but gentle. "I do worry sometimes, you don't want to die, because of your quirk, but I feel like you don't value your life enough."

Yagi knelt down, placing his hands on Izuku's shoulders.

"Young Midoriya, Izuku, you have value. With or without your quirk, I am honoured to be your mentor."

Izuku felt himself welling up, before reacting on instinct and hugging Yagi.

Yagi froze for a moment, taken aback by the sudden gesture, before his expression softened. Gently patting Izuku's back, Yagi returned the hug.

Another explosion ripped through the air, vibrating the road and setting off car alarms. Izuku and Yagi broke apart, turning to see the plume of smoke had become thicker and darker.

"I need to—"

"But you're out of time!" Izuku exclaimed.

"I have to go, Young Midoriya, meddling when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero." Yagi declared, setting off in the direction of the disturbance, Izuku following him closely.

As they got nearer and nearer they could see a large crowd gathered around the mouth of Tatooin Market Street, a police cordon holding them back.

Arriving at the back of the crowd, Yagi straightened to his full height to see over the crowd.

"It's him."

Hero and intern began trying to work their way forward to the front, with Izuku having more success due to his much smaller size.

Glancing behind him, Izuku saw Yagi stopped, leaning against a lamppost with one arm, clearly winded. Making his decision, Izuku continued his path through the crowd, finally reaching the front.

That's when Izuku saw him, the sludge villain who had come so close to killing him less than an hour ago. He was at the midpoint of the street, surrounded by flames, one of the buildings next to him completely engulfed by them.

The sludge villain was twisting this way and that, orange spurts of fire issuing from him every few seconds. Various heroes were scattered around, Mt. Lady, unable to fit down the street, was evacuating civilians from the building next to the one on fire, using her hand to ferry them to safety. Backdraft was attempting in vain to pull out the raging fires, being forced further back with each passing second. Kamui Woods was using his arms to lift civilians close to the fires away.

"What is that thing?"

"Could it be a Super Villain?"

"Yeah, a sewage quirk and a fire quirk, a binate maybe?"

Kamui Woods darted forwards, into the flames, before reappearing a few seconds later with four people wrapped in his branches.

"Why aren't the heroes stopping that guy?"

"I heard he's taken a middle schooler hostage, they can't get near."

"You!"

Izuku looked around to see Death Arms stalking towards him. "W-What?"

"I told you to stay away!" Death Arms barked. "I told you I'd have you arrested if you did this again."

"I-I'm just standing here?" Izuku replied with confusion writ across his face.

"And about to interfere in the operation of the pro heroes." Death Arms retorted.

"What operations were you doing?"

Death Arms's face contorted. "That's it, you've crossed a line, brat. Just remember, you brought this on your—"

A large explosion erupted from the sludge villain, shaking the earth.

"Midoriya!"

Izuku turned his head to see Yubi and Same being placed down by Kamui Woods, behind the cordon.

Looking back at the sludge villain, Izuku saw a portion of its body had been blown away, revealing a person within it.

"Holy shit, there really is a kid in there!"

The person inside the sludge villain's body opened their eyes.

Their red eyes.

Kacchan!

Izuku surged forwards, leaping the cordon and towards the sludge villain.

Why am I running? I don't even have a plan!

Reaching into his pocket, Izuku grabbed a one-yen piece and closed his fist around it.

I can use an energy attack to blow the sludge away, like Kacchan managed to do with his explosions.

"You again!" The sludge villain hissed. "I thought I gave you the slip!"

Izuku ducked under a slimy tendril before lifting his backpack off his shoulder, hurling it at the villain. A howl echoed as a pen case came out of the backpack and hit the sludge villain in one of his eyes, making him recoil.

Activating Overhaul, Izuku focused on breaking the yen piece into energy.

Don't break your arm. Don't break your arm. Don't break your arm!

Izuku closed in on the sludge villain, golden energy crackling around his right arm as he held it diagonally across his chest.

NORTH CAROLINA SMASH!

Just before he reached the sludge villain, Izuku swung his right arm out in a chopping motion, creating a blast of air as he did.

Sludge spattered across the ground as the force of Izuku's attack blew it away, freeing one of Bakugo's arms.

"Take my hand!" Izuku cried out, holding his own out.

"I don't need your help, Deku!" Bakugo retorted. "You're not better than me!"

"You just looked like you needed help!" Izuku called back, his arm still outstretched.

But still Bakugo didn't take it, instead opting to turn his free hand backwards and release an explosion on the villain, to little effect.

The sludge villain roared, his slime consuming Bakugo again and forming an arm, swinging it towards Izuku, with no time for him to avoid it.

"Get out of my way!"

Izuku raised his arms to protect him, closing his eyes as he did.


"Hey kid, get back here!"

Toshinori looked up, watching in horror as Midoriya ran towards the sludge villain, throwing his backpack at it.

Pathetic!

Midoriya's arm glowed with golden light before he delivered a textbook North Carolina Smash.

I'm so pathetic!

Steam began to issue from Toshinori's arm as he gripped the lamppost, anger at his own weakness coursing through him.

Just a little longer…

Toshinori forced One For All to respond, allowing him to transform into his hero form, albeit slower than normal.

"It's suicide, the kid's going to get himself killed!"

"Get out of my way!"

Toshinori exploded into action, rocketing towards the sludge villain and catching his arm with his own before he could hit Midoriya.


Izuku hesitantly opened his eyes to see why the attack he'd been expecting never came.

"All M-Might!"

All Might flashed him a winning smile as he strained to hold the sludge villain's arm from hitting them.

"Young Midoriya, it's okay now." All Might reassured him. "I am here!"

Izuku watched in awe as All Might pushed the sludge villain's arm away before drawing his own arm back and forming a fist.

"DETROIT SMASH!"

An immense blast of wind shooting up into the sky, like a hurricane. Izuku used Overhaul to create anchors in the ground to cling onto, he could see Mt. Lady shielding civilians with her gigantified arms.

The force of it hit the sludge villain, tearing him from Bakugo and sending him flying down the street. Sailing through the air, Bakugo was about to hit the ground when Airjet suddenly soared over their heads and caught the blond-haired boy.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, returning his temporary hand and foot holds to their rightful state. The sky rapidly darkened, before heavy drops of rain began to fall.

That wind pressure, it's created an updraft that's changed the weather.

The rain quickly began to soak the street, beating back the flames of the burning building enough to allow Backdraft to finish it off.

All Might, with a few wisps of steam rolling off of him, straightened up and moved to raise his clenched fist into the air.

"No, no, no, not enough!"

All Might froze.

Izuku looked down the street to see the villain had reformed into a single mass, in a tendril was a syringe of red fluid.

"Witness me!" The sludge villain shouted as he plunged the end of the syringe into his body and injected the red fluid.

"Trigger. Shit." All Might uttered, he and Izuku watching on as thick red veins of slime appeared in the green sludge that made up the villain.

The sewer covers around the villain burst open, sludge and sewage flowing out of it and into the villain's body.

The sludge villain let out a roar, his overall size had massively expanded, he had grown to three times his previous height.

Sludge flowed together to form a titanic, dripping arm, before the villain swung it at Airjet as he hovered above the street, with Bakugo over his shoulder.

Airjet pushed backwards, narrowly avoiding the arm whilst keeping Bakugo from falling from his grip.

"I ain't done yet!" The sludge villain howled, swinging again at Airjet again, this time clipping his jetpack, sending him soaring backwards.

Airjet, his jetpack billowing black smoke, managed to get himself steady. "All Might, could really use another one of those super moves of yours."

In response, All Might burst into a run, heading straight for the sludge villain, his arms crossed over his chest.

"CAROLINA SMASH!"

Swinging his arms in a chopping motion, All Might created a blast of air in the shape of a cross, far weaker than his previous attack. Instead of exploding in every direction, a large crater appeared in the centre mass of the sludge villain's body, but he remained in one cohesive mass.

Within a few seconds the sludge villain filled the hollow back in before a fist shot out of his chest, hitting All Might and sending him careening down the street.

Flipping over and rolling, All Might managed to stagger back to his feet and plant them into the asphalt, tearing it up as he came to a halt.

Izuku saw a frown stretched across All Might's face, the steam rising from him rapidly increasing in volume.

"All Might?" Izuku queried.

"I can't." All Might admitted quietly, so that only Izuku could hear. "I haven't got enough power left, Young Midoriya, I'm already beyond my limit."

Izuku looked back at the sludge villain as he was quickly barreling towards them, his red slime veins twitching and writhing.

This villain's quirk is heteromorphic, his mutation is full-body, so the drug should have affected his entire body.

The sludge villain came closer and closer, his eyes bulging.

But the drug did affect the villain's full body, the remaining green sludge isn't part of his real body, it's just detritus he's added to his form, like the sewage he dragged in when he took the drug.

"All Might, I have an idea." Izuku spoke. "Please let me help!"

All Might gritted his teeth in frustration. "Fine, but be safe."

Izuku nodded, before sprinting forward, charging at the slime villain, and leaping towards the slime.

"I'm going to regret this."

Izuku took a deep breath just as he hit the sludge and slime, instantly being pulled inside of it.

"Round two!" The slime villain snarled, his voice more guttural than it had been before. "You're really stupid for coming back, I'll kill you properly this time!"

You may try.

Izuku reached out with Overhaul, using it to sense the composition of the red slime. It was a body, a human body, it only looked different, like slime, he could sense all the normal organs suspended within it.

Clearly the slime villain had been deliberately mixing his body with sewage and other viscous liquids to bulk himself out.

That's why I couldn't use Overhaul on him earlier, without the drug, the slime of his real body and the added sludge were completely homogenised. But now they're separated, immiscible, held together by whatever liquid attraction his quirk creates.

Turning his attention to the sludge, his lungs starting to burn, Izuku found it was filled with a dizzying mix of fluids, just as he'd suspected.

Focusing on the outer membrane of the red slime, Izuku found the layer of water he expected to see and activated Overhaul, beginning to alter the very outer surface of it, focusing on the hydrogen in the water and overhauling it into silicon.

Izuku could feel his lungs burning, a clawing in his throat, all the while the slime villain attempted to pry his mouth open.

Within seconds Izuku managed to convert the entire outer layer of the red slime into silicon dioxide, before overhauling it into a hydrophobic fumed silica.

Suddenly, the slime villain collapsed, the sludge sloughing off of his body, leaving behind only the red slime and freeing Izuku. Hitting the ground, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he rolled to a halt near All Might, the feeling of exhaustion pervading his body.

He'd pushed Overhaul to his limit, that was the biggest thing he'd ever done with it.

"Young Midoriya!" All Might exclaimed, helping a slightly unsteady Izuku to his feet. "When you said you had a plan, I didn't think you meant diving into the villain! We just spoke about you valuing your own life."

"I know." Izuku answered, opening his hand to reveal a five-yen piece. "I had a backup plan to get myself out."

All Might shook his head admonishingly. "Your parents are going to kill me for letting you do this."

"What the fuck have you done to me?!" The slime villain roared, now entirely red and smaller than he had been before he'd taken the quirk-enhancing drug.

Howling in frustration, the slime villain pulled the sludge covering the ground around towards him, but every time it made contact with his slime body, it rolled right off.

"I coated his outer membrane with hydrophobic fumed silica, it should wear off in a few days." Izuku explained. "But until then he can't dilute his true form in the sludge to protect himself."

"Understood." All Might nodded his head, dropping to a fighting stance and charging at the slime villain.

"Oh fuck."

"DELAWARE SMASH!"

Two metres short of the slime villain, All Might came to an abrupt halt and clapped his hands together in front of himself. A wave of air slammed into the slime villain, who without his sludgy armour, was blasted away, landing down the street in a loose puddle, knocked unconscious.

This time, All Might fully raised his fist into the air, victorious.

Izuku smiled, relief coursing through him before he suddenly felt his arms being grabbed from behind and held, restraining him.

"I've got you now." Death Arms hissed in Izuku's ear, the smell of stale alcohol and cigarette smoke invading his nostrils.

Izuku twisted and turned, but was completely unable to break free, not that particularly surprising considering his state of exhaustion and Death Arms's own quirk.

Volume 7, page 93. Quirk: Arms of Atlas. Holder: Death Arms. Grants the user an increased level of strength in their arms.

"Under the Villains Act 2102, I am arresting you on suspicion of illegal quirk use and interfering in the activities of Pro Heroes. You have the right to remain silent, anything you do say—"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" All Might spoke, his voice gentle, and utterly terrifying.

Death Arms froze in place, Izuku could feel him trembling as All Might's blazing blue eyes bored into the pro hero that had Izuku restrained.

"I-uh, I didn't think you—" Death Arms started, only to be interrupted.

"You're right, you didn't think." All Might retorted, drawing himself to his full height. "Unhand my intern this instant."

"Your intern?"

"My intern." All Might stated firmly, taking a step towards Izuku and Death Arms, despite the steam issuing from his body. "Acting under my expressed orders."

Finally, Death Arms released Izuku from his grip, hailed by the sounds of cameras clicking.

"What the fuck?"

Izuku turned his head to see Bakugo staring between him and All Might.

"Kacchan—"

Bakugo lunged at Izuku, only to be stopped by Airjet putting a firm hand on the blond-haired boy's shoulder.

"You're his fucking intern, Deku?" Bakugo demanded. "Tell me!"

Izuku hesitated before nodding. "I am."

Bakugo yelled in frustration and stalked away, ranting and raving to himself whilst Airjet tried to keep up with him.

"T-That ID card? It was real?" Death Arms questioned.

"It was." Izuku answered. "I tried to tell you, but—"

"I wouldn't listen."

All Might moved forward to put a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I suggest you should leave now."

Death Arms nodded furiously, looking almost comical considering his size and normally gruff demeanour.

"Let's go, Young Midoriya."


Takumi Aozora stood in the doorway of his agency's gym, watching Bakugo as he pummelled a punching bag, using both his fists and his quirk.

"You ready to talk about it yet?" Takumi called.

"Go fuck yourself!"

Takumi chuckled. "I'll take that as a no."

"Do what you want with it, I don't give a shit! DIE!"

Breathing out a sigh, Takumi shook his head. Bakugo reminded him so much of himself at that age. Angry. Bold. Prideful. Absolutely terrified that everyone would find out he wasn't as good as they thought he was.

Imposter syndrome is one hell of a bitch.

Takumi could only hope his mentoring could help Bakugo realise that it wasn't fair that others put those expectations upon him, and that he didn't need to push himself to his breaking point to try and prove that he could meet them.

"I said fucking DIE!"

With one final explosion, Bakugo lifted the punching bag off of its hook and blasted it against the back wall, where it split open, spilling sand from a gaping hole.

"That's the third one this week." Takumi noted casually.

"I thought you said this was stronger, that I wouldn't be able to destroy it." Bakugo barked.

It was, and you shouldn't have been able to.

"I'll make the next one so you can't." Takumi assured.

Or so I hope.

"So, are you ready now?" Takumi questioned.

Bakugo shot him a death glare.

I've seen worse, kid.

"It's not fair." Bakugo blurted out. "Why is he, of all people, All Might's intern?! All Might doesn't even take on interns, he never has before. It's all I've ever wanted."

Takumi raised his eyebrows. "What am I? Chopped liver?"

"You're not the No.1 Hero."

"Ouch." Takumi spoke, a small smile on his lips.

"You know what I mean." Bakugo growled. "Why does that bastard get the golden ticket? All Might has only ever taken on three sidekicks! But then he decides he wants fucking Deku as his intern."

"I know what you mean, I grew up idolising All Might just like you." Takumi admitted. "There was this kid in my class at junior high, man, I hated him, he had a great quirk, everyone loved him. He got in the UA Heroics course, and I didn't, and that only made me hate him even more."

Bakugo is actually listening.

"He was the one who beat me in my first-year sports festival, knocked me out in the third stage. And the worst part was that he was such a good sport." Takumi continued. "It was holding me back, I was so focused on hating him."

"What happened?"

"He died." Takumi sighed. "In our second year, he was crushed by a building while on his internship. I'd hated the guy for years, and all he'd tried to be was my friend. So I vowed I'd change, that I'd be more like him, to try and put the good into the world like I knew he would have done."

For the first time since Takumi had taken Bakugo on as his intern, the blond-haired boy seemed at a loss as to what to say.

"Anyway, there was something I wanted to talk to you about." Takumi changed the subject.

"What is it?" Bakugo asked, his tone ever curt.

"You're planning on trying out for UA, right?"

Bakugo nodded, his expression making it clear he thought Takumi was an idiot for asking the question.

"I was thinking, I've never done this before, but I wanted to ask." Takumi spoke. "The UA Recommended Exams, I want to put you forward from them."

Bakugo stared back at Takumi, not speaking.

"Bakugo?"

"No." Bakugo stated firmly. "You said it yourself, if you always choose the easy option, you will never know what you're truly capable of. I'm gonna go in via general heroics admission, I'm gonna fucking ace it."

Takumi smiled.

Damn right you are, kid.


Izuku sat on the sands of Dagobah Beach, watching the sun set.

Groaning, Yagi dropped down beside him, holding his side. "I'm going to be feeling this one for a while."

"I messed up, didn't I?" Izuku sighed.

"By running and jumping into that villain's body, yes. Your parents are going to kill us both when we tell them about that." Yagi replied. "But I get the feeling that's not what you mean."

"I meant after you beat the villain, Death Arms, the reporters. By lunchtime tomorrow everyone will know that I'm your intern." Izuku explained. "They'll find my school, my home, Eri's school, they'll hound us."

"Nah, they won't." Yagi assured him. "Hero Agency Internships Act of 2123, the media cannot publish nor share the name or appearance of any intern working for a hero agency prior to their sixteenth birthday."

"So, those reporters can't tell anyone that I'm your intern?" Izuku queried.

"Their lips are sealed, for now at least, it'll run out in about fifteen months, right?"

Izuku nodded.

"But you'll be in UA by then, and have had the Sport Festival, you'll be fine, probably." Yagi continued. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you, the UA Recommended Exam. Do you want me to put you forward for it?"

Izuku didn't hesitate shaking his head. "No, I want to get in via general admissions, like you did."

Yagi chucked. "Should have seen that one coming, you fanboy."

Izuku shrugged, as the two continued to sit on the sand in companionable silence.

"So, I'm guessing that sludge tasted as bad as it looked?"

"Honestly, worse."

-Origins Arc-