"Now then, I assume you two are from Academy City, correct?" asked All Might as they gathered in one of the conference rooms in the UA High building.

Touma answered, "Yes sir. We came here to look for 37; we hadn't known until recently that she had been abducted years ago. I take responsibility for that. I should have been more aware of whose care I was leaving her in. So you see, I felt obligated to help find her. Accelerator knew her as well, although I don't know the details of their relationship."

"They don't need to know our life story. She was presumed dead after an accident at our former Institute five years ago. Apparently, this guy found her and took her to the hospital and handed her off to some shady guy in a lab coat. Yesterday I found out that she was possibly alive, so here we are."

All Might nodded, "I see. So you're here to accompany her back to Academy City? I'm not sure if she's made you aware of it, but she doesn't have an Esper ability. She has a Quirk. We also have a theory on how she ended up here. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Magic side, but they've had a long history of clashing with your Science side and Academy City. We believe that someone on the Magic side wanted to develop 37's power to be used against Science. They left her in Academy City first, and when they didn't get the results they wanted, they took her and left her here for us to find. Now we have no plans of getting ourselves involved in the quarrels between Science and Magic, but we're not going to ignore the fact that 37 needs protection and training to control her Quirk. She's old enough to make her own decisions, however, and we can only recommend that she stay here. If she decides to leave, we'll respect that decision."

37 just sat quietly while listening to everyone speak. She was still surprised that Accelerator had come all this way to find her. She didn't expect that from him considering the way things were left between them. Once they were done here, she'd make sure to apologize to him.

"Well, now that we've all shared our motives for being here, I think we can safely say that we're all allies in this situation," said All Might. "You boys must be tired from your trip. We're happy to provide you with a place to rest here. If you'd like to have a look around, please feel free. I'm sure our students would be happy to take you around to our most popular sites. If you'll excuse me, I have a conference that I must attend. It was good meeting you two; please feel welcome here!" All Might stood up and left the room, flashing a huge grin that unnerved Touma a little bit. Accelerator was unaffected as he watched 37 from across the table.

Touma was the first to speak, directing his attention to Todoroki. "Hey, maybe we should step outside, give them a chance to speak privately for a bit." Todoroki didn't like the idea of leaving 37 alone with him, but reluctantly stood up and left the room. Midoriya followed with Touma stepping out last and closing the door.

"I'm sorry," 37 said as she finally met Accelerator's crimson eyes. "The way I left things, not taking your hand when you were trying to save me... I feel like I've wronged you with my actions. For all of that, as well as you not knowing where I was all this time, I'm truly sorry."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for, 37. You got caught up in the feud I had with Kihara, and for that, I'm the only one to blame. Your last words to me, they ran through my head pretty often back then. You refused to break me... I eventually found out the reason why you said that. Back then, I didn't understand what you meant. Your belief about those who break and those who fix, it seemed flawed to me at that time. But now, I've grown to understand the meaning behind it, possibly too late considering the things I've done, but I get it now."

37 smiled slightly, "It sounds like you've had a hard life. I can't help but think that I made it harder than it had to be. I never wanted to leave you, and now..." Tears welled up in her eyes, slowly falling down her cheeks.

"Stop that, there's no need to cry here," said Accelerator. He tapped his knuckle against the conference table in front of him and forced it to the other end of the room. He stood up from his chair and walked across the newly opened space between the two of them and took her gloved hand into his. "You had no control over what happened in my life since you left. Don't take blame that isn't yours. There were lessons that I needed to learn on my own. Some of them were harsher than others, but the decisions were mine to make."

She smiled and wiped away her tears with her free hand, the fabric of her glove slightly damp now. "You've grown up so much. I'm sorry I had to miss so much of it." She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, her forehead resting against his navel.

Accelerator was surprised by her sudden embrace but found it comforting. He replied back to her, "It's okay, you won't be missing anything now."

...

Todoroki and Touma were leaning against the wall just outside of the room. Midoriya had excused himself just after they walked out. Todoroki had his arms crossed, deep in thought and waiting for 37 to come out.

"I have a question for you, and I hope you'll answer truthfully. You must have seen the wounds on 37 as you were bringing her to the hospital all those years ago. Do you think it's true that he wasn't the one to harm her?"

Touma had to think about it for a moment. "Well, to be honest, I'm not familiar with who 37 is or how they know each other. He mentioned the Institute, so they must have met there. I do know him though, and I should say that we are not friends. In fact, we had a pretty severe fight just days ago. He can be a very sadistic individual, judging from what I've seen him do and the rumors I've heard about his past. But the way he reacted when he found out she was still alive... He genuinely wanted to find her safe and unharmed. So no, I don't believe he was the one to hurt her."

"I see. Thank you for your honesty," said Todoroki. He felt a little less on edge about her being alone in there with him. It did make him wish that she felt comfortable enough with him to share more of her past. He wondered if she had feelings for this Accelerator guy and if his sudden appearance had made the time they had spent together mean nothing. It's true that he hadn't confessed his feelings to her yet, but as close as they had gotten, she had to have noticed there was something between them, right?

...

37 let go of Accelerator and stood up next to him. "I suppose we should get going. I'm sure you guys must be hungry."

"Just a little. Oh, I don't think you know, but... I gave you a name before I left that night."

"A name?"

Accelerator nodded. "Sumire Yuuki. It isn't very original, but at the time I was more than a little overwhelmed and felt it was wrong for you just to be identified as a number. So I sat down and came up with 'Violet Courage' as your name. You don't have to use it. I'm sure you could come up with something better."

"No, I like that. Thank you for being so thoughtful." They opened the door to find Todoroki and Touma standing against the opposite wall. "You're the one that found me and took me to the hospital after the accident, right?" she said to Touma.

"Yes, that's true. I'm Kamijou Touma. I'm sorry that you ended up getting taken away by that fake doctor. I felt something was unusual but didn't act on it." He bowed to her to show he was genuinely sorry.

"That's not necessary, and I appreciate that you were able to find me at all! It must have taken a lot of courage to save me like that; I'm very grateful. I'm just curious, how is it that you weren't affected by my ability? Surely you must have come in contact with some part of my skin while you were carrying me to safety."

"Well, let's just say I have a natural resistance to that sort of thing," he said as he looked at his right hand. "But thank you for your kind words, I'm just glad that things have managed to turn out alright in the end."

Todoroki took the opportunity to approach Accelerator. "I want to apologize for earlier. It was unfair of me to accuse you of bringing harm to 37 without first learning who you were. I'm sorry," he said as he offered his hand out to Accelerator. He stared at the outstretched hand for a moment, then met it with his own.

"Sure. I suppose it was unfair of me to assume you guys were the bastards that kidnapped her as well."

Todoroki nodded as they shook and let go. "We should get going, did you want to get some dinner with us? We were originally heading to the store, but we can find something a little better to eat."

"That sounds great, we'd be good with whatever you want to get," said Touma, who was starting to feel hungry now.

"We should let Sumire choose the place," replied Accelerator. Todoroki and Touma both looked at him, confused.

"Who's Sumire?" asked Todoroki.

"That's me, Todoroki. After I was lost, Accelerator picked out a name for me, because he didn't want me just to be known as a number. My name is Sumire Yuuki now. Isn't it a lovely name?" she replied with a smile.

"Yes, yes of course it is. Sorry if I offended you," answered Todoroki, bowing slightly.

"It's okay; you couldn't have known. I just found it out myself. I guess we should get some dinner now. There's a place that Uraraka showed me earlier this week that I'm sure everyone will enjoy." They began walking together to their destination, leaving the school behind. Todoroki walked a few paces behind everyone, lost in his thoughts once again.

How can I compare to him now? I may have given her comfort, but he gave her a name.