To Felipe1402XZA, Aizawa didn't threaten anyone with expulsion because the "Bakugou Rescue Squad" never had to expose themselves on national TV; assuming the choppers were already in position by that time. This was one consequence of Koichi Haimawari's presence that day; another was Tsuyu not having her heart broken over what she'd done, or "not done" depending. As for Todoroki's "conspiracy board" moment, that just felt like too good an idea not to use, and I think hiding it under a Tatami Mat was pretty inspired.

To LoamyCoffee, the side-effects were a good excuse for the added nuance to the whole thing; not to mention, Genki's conscious mind was very "traditional" and he wouldn't contemplate accepting the idea of a Harem unless his altered brain chemistry demanded it. Plus, I'm sure there's more-convoluted plots in plenty of H-Manga out there. As for Momo's opening salvo, I was particularly proud of that one~
The "Harem Agreement" was a Big Bang Theory reference, and I wonder if anyone caught that.
As for "All-Shrine", yeah, that snippet had a bit of staying power, didn't it~?

To The Viking Stranger, though I did in fact will the "Harem Route" into existence with my higher-dimensional powers, unlike other Harem Protag-kuns, I intend for Genki to get laid at some point; most likely on AO3.
As for Genki's insider knowledge, it probably helps that he was the most-connected to the Hero World than anyone in his class. Todoroki's dad may've been No.2 his whole life, but that was a man at the top of the Hero World; not someone who dealt with the nitty gritty on a daily basis. Not to mention, Genki's net of family friends is much wider.
As for the "Coma Dream" snippets… I might do something along those lines if the mood strikes me while I'm going over the Final Drafts pre-posting. Having it be just snippets takes some of the edge off because Genki's holes in that area will be spotty.

To Reptil, it's up in the air whether Genki will ever "fully recover", but his nervous system was damaged significantly by Sasori's nerve agent, so he will have to change up his fighting style; not unlike how Izuku had to change up his fighting style (or lack thereof) after treating his body like a Rental and almost losing the use of his arms. Of course it does help that his new body has longer arms, legs, and plenty of lean muscle to work with.

To djinn (guest), even though the identity of the Yuuei Traitor has finally been revealed and the series itself is over, I hope that for as long as My Hero Academia has staying power among writers, that people will be brave-enough to make the Traitor someone else.
Of course, the fact that My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is getting its own anime adaptation, has me excited since it's completely Canon to the mainstream My Hero Academia, and it'll be a treat to see snippets of All Might when he was more-powerful. Sure, he'd wasted away into a talking fishbone, but there's nothing wrong with seeing more All Might, especially when he isn't just throwing hands with complete scrubs.

*MHA*

Just as Aizawa had mentioned the day before, the primary goal of their Training Camp was to get everyone ready to earn their Provisional Licenses. Since the only way to legally save people's lives at a moment's notice in the early stages of their academic careers was to be licensed, proper qualification was a must-have. And with the abstract "death" of All Might, now more than ever, Japan needed more Heroes of greater quality than in generations passed.

Naturally, the Provisional License test was incredibly difficult, despite how the now-current "50% success rate" spoke to the contrary. What made matters for the students of Yuuei particularly pressing -at least for those that knew- was the sheer amount of exposure their Quirks, physicality, and thought processes had received as a result of the nationalized Sports Festival, juxtaposed by the fact that not-only did all their competition have confirmed intelligence as to their abilities, but that nearly all of their prospective rivals had far more advanced training. As it stood, first-year Hero Course students almost never participated in the Provisional License Exams because they'd be at a disadvantage against all those that would be repeat test-takers.

The vast majority of those that failed the Provisional License exam the first time passed on the second, with their chance of success only growing on each subsequent attempt as they collected first-hand experience, refining their minds, bodies, and Quirks. However, this only applied to those that continually improved during the cool-down period; those that remained stagnant almost always washed out of the program altogether. Even assuming you began taking the PLE during your first year, that offered 6 opportunities in total. As it stood, no-one who ever failed the exams six straight times ever became a Hero, which was sort of the entire point of this rigorous vetting process.

Genki for his part, considered the now-current cutoff point a bit high for something so-important as legalized Quirk usage, but he kept his mouth shut. While there would be those that would appreciate that sort of insider knowledge, many others would treat it as condescension, and he assumed that finding out the hard way about the "Yuuei Hunt" was just a right of passage that Aizawa would be unappreciative of in regards to potential spoilage.

"That's why starting today, each of you needs to come up with at least two Ultimate Moves," Aizawa said making a 'come-here' motion with his finger, the door sliding open dramatically and admitting Midnight, Ectoplasm, and Cementoss into the room, as well as a fourth Hero unfamiliar to most of them.

Said Hero was clad in a full-body red suit and mask that covered the upper half of his face, a number of silver lines framing their pectorals, the undersides of the arms, their abdomen and the interiors of their legs, and pectorals in black. His shoulder pads were the same shade of silver, and on those, his chest, and ears were silver disc-shaped insignia with a yellow C-shape broken up by a red triangle, vaguely making a concentric OC insignia.

"Oh my gosh! It's the High-Speed Hero: O'Clock!" Izuku gushed.

The man was way more muscular than he remembered, but that black-on-red-with-silver-accents costume was impossible to miss.

"My word! It actually is O'Clock!" Iida gasped as he adjusted his spectacles.

"O'Clock? Who the heck is that?" Kyoka asked.

"He was the fastest Hero in the country, second only to All Might," Bakugou huffed. "Then one day he just up and vanished from the face of the earth."

"Geez, where'd they dig up this old fossil?" Kaminari asked.

"Ugh, I do not remember the body glove being this tight," a familiar voice came from the fourth Hero's mouth as he turned his back on them and shamelessly pulled at his crotch, the classroom freezing before they shot up in shock-

"OGURO-SAN?!"

"That's me, kiddos, don't wear it out," the man said, still adjusting his undercarriage in the midst of their chairs scraping the floor.

"Wait, you were O'Clock this entire time?!" Iida gasped, more-shocked than anyone.

"I haven't been O'Clock for a long time. Not since All for One stole my Quirk the moment I got too close to him," the man waved off, everyone freezing up at the mention of the SS-Rank Villain's name.

"Wait, All for One stole your Quirk?!" Izuku gasped. "How did you get away?"

By the looks on everyone's faces, having seen what the guy could do on national TV, they too were curious.

"He fried his brain with my [Overclock] the first time he used it, so I ran like hell, went to ground with Cockroach King's help, and since I didn't rock the boat, he just let me be. Probably got some sorta sadistic pleasure out of it," he said once he got his undercarriage properly arranged.

"We've gotten way off track, here," Aizawa huffed, his crimson glare and swirling mane making those that had gotten up fall back into their chairs.

"Ultimate Moves are your finishers; your most unique techniques!" Ectoplasm announced.

"Internalize these moves until they become second nature. Make them your own until they become unparalleled. Combat is all about finding and making use of your own particular strengths," Cementoss added.

"Your Ultimate Moves symbolize who you are!" Midnight announced flamboyantly with a wink. "Nowadays, Pro Heroes without Ultimate Moves are a dying breed!"

"But more important than all of that, is that you don't treat your body like a rented mule," the retired O'Clock stated, his downer words like a bucket of cold water over their growing exuberance. "Minimize the backlash of your Quirks as much is practical, because if you yourself need to be saved as soon as you blow your load, you'll only be a liability."

"Not exactly how I would've phrased it…" Aizawa hummed.

"I would~" Midnight purred. "Tell me more about your 'load' sometime~?"

"I'm married," Oguro rejected flatly.

"But let's move on with a more-detailed explanation and practical demonstration," the Erasure Hero continued as Midnight started to get weird. "Change into your costumes and meet us at Gym Gamma."

*MHA*

Yuuei Academy's Gym Gamma was also known as the "Training Kitchen Lab", or TKL for short.

Unlike the Unforeseen Simulation Joint which had the same abbreviation as United Studios Japan, the TKL sounded majorly "uncool".

The venue itself was as big as an indoor sports arena, with two tiers of catwalks hugging the walls and lots of windows to let in natural light. The wall and floor panels were all done with concrete, maybe designed to be modular. With how-much damage the second and third-years could dish out, it was a distinct possibility.

"The USJ was Thirteen's brainchild, but the TKL is mine," Cementoss said as he stepped forward and began to manipulate the concrete in the floor in front of him into a complex geometric pattern. "Here, I 'cook' up the perfect terrain and objects to fit each student's needs; hence, 'kitchen'."

'That's such a Dad Joke…' everyone thought.

"Sensei! Might I ask a question?" Iida demanded far-too-eagerly. "Why must we create Ultimate moves in order to acquire our Provisional Licenses? Please explain the intention behind such a requirement!"

"All in good time. Now calm down," Aizawa grumbled. "Heroes deal with accidents, catastrophes, and disasters both natural and man-made. It's our job to save people from just about any situation imaginable; a duty that'll only become further difficult as Quirks of greater complexity fall to villainous usage. In the licensing test, your ability to adapt in those unique situations will be paramount as hundreds of Quirks are rallied against you."

"Intelligence gathering, decision making, mobility, combat prowess, as well as communication skills, charisma, and leadership abilities. The test contents vary from year to year, but applicants are always tested on a wide variety of criterion," Oguro went on to explain.

"Among those criteria, you can be sure that combat prowess will be heavily prioritized for potential Heroes; especially with the League of Villains still in the wind as they are," Midnight explained in a serious tone. "Be prepared, and you've got nothing to fear! These moves could have a big impact on whether or not you pass these exams."

"If you can keep a cool head and act with decisive, stable moves, that means you have a high level of combat prowess," Cementoss explained with a grin.

"There's nothing that says your Ultimate Moves have to be an attack," Extoplasm added. "Take Iida's Reciproburst for example; that sort of extreme speed boost on its own is intimidating enough to be called an Ultimate Move."

"Is it… truly suitable to be called an ultimate move…~?!" Iida tingled in his armor to the point that it rattled.

"Sooo… we gotta come up with moves that'll give us a big advantage in battle?" Sato asked as he sidled away.

"Yes!" Midnight announced, cracking her flogger. "Remember how Kamui Woods showed his stuff last week? His Lacquered Chain Prison is a cookie-cutter Ultimate Move. It's simple, easy to understand, and gets immediate results."

"Your summer camp was cut short, but the Quirk training we began there, was part of the process of creating Ultimate Moves," Aizawa explained. "If you treat a Quirk like a vehicle, it won't matter how much horsepower you have under the hood if you don't have the traction or the power steering to make use of that power."

"In other words, until the second semester starts, you'll be using the ten remaining days of summer vacation to further enhance your Quirks and put together your ultimate moves through some ultra-intense training," Oguro explained as Cementoss and Ectoplasm showed off their Quirks at their fullest like something from a battle shounen, filling Gym Gamma with a varied concrete terrain and sentient punching bags.

"In addition, as your Quirks grow and you start to formulate your Ultimate Moves, think about whether you need to alter your costumes," Aizawa explained. "Use that Plus Ultra mentality to go beyond your limits. Ready?"

"THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD!" the more-excited members of their class whooped.

*MHA*

"Sensei, what'd you pull me aside for?" Tsuyu asked when one of Ectoplasm's clones sent her back to the front.

"Apart from Gokiburi, your Quirk has changed the most since the Training Camp. To that end, we're going to re-do the Quirk Apprehension Tests from the start of the year," Aizawa explained with a jabbed thumb over his shoulder.

"Asking for a friend; will Genki be re-doing his test too?"

"Oguro oversaw that exercise as he was getting moved in, so he's already moved on to his own training."

"I see," Tsuyu nodded. "I have nothing else to ask."

"Good girl," the man nodded. "Come on. The sooner we archive your results, the faster you can get back to your training."

*MHA*

Elsewhile…

"Oguro-san."

"Iida."

"As a fellow speed-type Hero, even if only in the former tense, what advice do you have in regards to easing the burdens caused by my Recipro moves?"

"Well, for one thing, traction on your footwear is really important," Oguro said raising a finger. "Some Heroes get by through a slow acceleration speed to prevent 'wheelspin', but that's become less of an issue as meta-material sciences have improved. Nowadays, most aspiring Heroes shortchange the process by installing boosters that do the accelerating for them, but that comes with its own drawbacks."

"I see, I see," Iida nodded as he pulled a notepad from a compartment in his armor.

"Next would be your posture, or 'technique'. From what I've seen in the Sports Festival, the length of your strides is far longer than mine, but at the same time, the explosive force of your footfalls wastes a great deal of energy and your upright posture creates an enormous amount of drag," Oguro said raising a second finger. "While your feet spend less time in contact with the ground than mine did, it seems like you haven't quite figured out how to make sharp corners without large reductions in speed. If you don't want a Villain to counter-attack at that moment of vulnerability, that's something you'll have to correct."

"I hope your technical use of [Overclock] is compatible with my Quirk," Iida said scribbling Oguro's words verbatim.

"Next would be your… costume…"

"Why? What's wrong with my costume?" Iida asked defensively.

Or at least as-defensively as someone who thrived on the wisdom and validation of their teachers could.

"Supposedly it's meant to be aerodynamic, but does your costume designer have any actual credentials in the aerospace field, or was he just a whiz in photoshop?" Oguro asked as he began tracing over his costume. "For example, the embellishments here, here, aaaand… here," he said tapping the winglets on his helmet, the wraparound mufflers behind his shoulders, and the pointed edges on his gauntlets. "These and other sharp corners produce unnecessary drag that only compounds with higher speeds. Racecars overcome this issue by adding to the sleekness of their chassis, lowering them further to the ground, and adding fins that help apply a positive pressure in relation to the track. Airplanes on the other hand use winglets to weaken the formation of wingtip vortices," he said making somewhat unhelpful gestures with his hands. "I myself sidestepped the issue by going with a skintight catsuit with minimal rounded armor plates and a Kevlar weave over my vital areas. Some people use baby powder, but I'm a firm believer in cornstarch."

"Well, I do have small issues with chaffing…" Iida admitted bashfully.

He'd considered such expenditure of resources to be wasteful in the face of something as comparatively minor as "discomfort", but if one of the greats advocated for it, he might have to re-assess.

"Honestly, I get that you're trying to maintain the family legacy; especially with what happened to your brother. But tradition is just peer pressure from dead people. Your brother's armor wasn't only dominated by curves instead of harsh bevels, but it was modular to include mountable airbags in the event of sudden stops. The only real flaw that's completely inexcusable was the forward-facing 'horn' on his helmet, given its position in relation to his center of mass."

"So more curves instead of bevels… reduced embellishments…" Tenya muttered, adding a note to get in contact with his brother and his own costume designer, since even now he couldn't find the same Makers' Marks.

*MHA*

Halfway through 1-A's allotted training time in Gym Gamma, one absence in particular was noticed.

"Sensei," Momo asked as she raided the refreshment table for snacks.

"Yaoyorozu," Oguro nodded.

"Where… Where is Genki, right now?" she asked trying to keep a straight face.

"He and a 1-B student are undergoing special training to reel in the more… unruly aspects of their Quirks," the former High-Speed Hero answered.

"Unruly?" Momo blinked before recalling what happened at the Sports Festival, I-Island, and to a lesser extent the Training Camp buffet table.

"More or less," he responded to her comprehending look. "We still don't know in full what juvenile exposure to neo-steroids on Heteromorphic bodies will do, and Shield's Quirk Amplification Device only muddies the waters further. All I can tell you for certain is he's in more than capable hands, and you'll be able to see him again this evening."

"I see…" the heiress nodded, while off to the side, All Might came in to dispense his wisdom.

*MHA*

At the end of their allotted time in the TKL's morning slot, Class 1-A was given one of two options in the wake of 1-B's arrival.

They could either return to their dorms and brush up on the written material that may very well be tested at the Provisional License Exams, as well as handle any costume-related errands, or they could go to Ground Omega where a number of guest instructors would help them out with the Quirk Reinforcement that had been interrupted by the League of Villains. There was no "wrong answer", but instead the choice was to be treated as another exercise; once you left academia, any training or Quirk Reinforcement you wanted to do, had to be done either on-the-job as long as it didn't prove a public nuisance, or on your own time which could be in short supply depending on what kind of work you did.

In fact, a large part of the reason that most Heroes "peaked" during academia in terms of raw power in the current commercial climate, was the fact that growing stronger took time. Time that many people willfully chose to squander after "settling" on this or that amount of power. Because complacency in of itself could be more seductive than the potential for failure found in growth.

As for who would be presiding over 1-A's continued Quirk Reinforcement, at a training ground not too uncommon to where they'd just been forced to vacate…

"Rock on with these sparkling gazes!"

"We're back to lend a paw!"

"We come from our forest home…"

"The Wild, Wild Pussycats (Incomplete Version)!" three familiar Heroes said striking very Super Sentai-esque poses.

"The Pussycats?!" a portion of Class 1-A gawped at the sight of these familiar figures.

"Wait, aren't we missing someone?" Kirishima asked.

"Er…" Mandalay said as her gaze drifted, 1-A following her line of sight to find the once-boisterous Heroine, Ragdoll, bent over an earthen table far from her posing teammates, repeatedly assembling and disassembling a military rifle. Further distancing herself from her previous persona was that her Idol-like costume was nowhere in sight, but she was instead wearing unflattering sweats.

Compared to Oguro who had been retired from Hero work for years yet came to work that day in a flashy skin-tight number, Tomoko's understated attire was an extreme juxtaposition.

"Oguro-san, or, O'Clock, I guess… has already gone through the same thing that Tomoko has in regards to… her Quirk," Pixie-Bob answered awkwardly, "so we took the posting here not only to wait out the installation of the new sensor net at our property, but also so she'll have someone to talk to who isn't just spouting platitudes."

Her words were uncomfortable to hear, but not untrue. As it stood now, and something that those with strong Quirks seldom thought about, was that a person's sense of self-worth could become so-intrinsically tied to their Quirk, that if they were ever injured to the point that they could no longer use their meta-ability -even if that meta-ability wasn't a part of their occupation-, clinical depression and even suicidal thoughts if not self-termination outright, was a common response.

Damage to one's Quirk Factor in terms of what part of the body that Quirk was expressed through was uncommon, but not so rare that no-one knew about it. Tomoko, until she mentally recovered from her ordeal, was in a precarious position until she could recover her sense of self-worth.

"BUT!" Tiger cut in, clapping his gloved hands loudly together. "Our personal drama is no excuse not to better yourselves. We expect you to give your training 110%, Plus Ultra-style!"

"YES, SIR!" those in attendance shouted, snapping up a salute.

*MHA*

Elsewhere, back at the Class 1-A dormitory…

"GENKIIIIII!" Momo cried as she and the others beheld a chain of meat spilling across the kitchen floor from underneath his muscular body, his white hair spreading out above him in stark contrast to his tanned skin.

"H-Holy shit! Is he dead?!" Kaminari cried out in fright.

"I… I'm alive…"

"Holy shit he's aliiiiive!" Sato cried as Genki shakily got to his hands and knees, revealing that the 'chain of meat' spilling out from underneath him was just a string of sausage links.

"Why-why were you on the floor like that?" Momo asked as she helped him to his feet.

"He's been busting his ass off, all day," a new voice spoke up.

"Kabutomushi?" Sato blinked as he turned his eyes to the kitchen, and then quickly whirled around when the Herculean Heroine stepped out from behind the counter in a French maid outfit. "Wh-Wh-Wh-Why are you dressed like that?!"

"Why not?" she asked with a shrug, an enormous bowl of fried rice held up in one hand. "Genki, stop making a mess and clean up. If you wanna endure your training, you need to keep your engine fueled."

"Y-Yes ma'am…" the future Devil Bug Hero panted out as he shakily got to his feet, only to nearly collapse had Momo not caught him.

"Genki, what kind of training have you been doing all day?" the heiress asked worriedly, her hand going to his cheek and making many feel like they were intruding.

"Quirk Reinforcement I couldn't do out in the woods," Genki answered as Momo helped him into the dining room, Kabutomushi planting the big bowl of fried rice in front of him.

"Oh? What're you training?" Kaminari asked.

"My Hail Mary from the Sports Festival," the whitette answered.

"Hail Mary?" Sero blinked. "Wait, you mean that 'Hail Mary'?"

"The one from I-Island?" Momo gasped, remembering how his berserk self had clashed against a Trigger-boosted Wolfram.

"Yeah. Ever since my 'Awakening', Aizawa and Nezu have been worried that I couldn't control it like the other times I 'hulked out', so that line of training was going to be shelved until after the Provisional Licensing Exam. Thankfully, there weren't any signs I was going to lose control, or I'd have had to wait another six months," Genki answered. "With the dorm system and being back on campus, that plan got bumped up the line. Not to mention, with the League of Villains still out there, we're going to need as many heavy-hitters as we can get if they still have a way to keep manufacturing Noumu," he explained before digging into his fried rice, attacking it like a ravenous beast.

"Hey, easy there. You aren't going to molt again, are you?" Kaminari asked before Sero jabbed him in the ribs. "What?!"

"Well… just ensure you get a good night's rest," Momo said patting him on the shoulder before heading to the kitchen to make her own after-training meal. " . . . "

"Momo?" Genki blinked, the heiress looking at him like she wanted to say something.

"I'll tell you later this evening."

"You dog~" Kaminari grinned, slapping a hand on Genki's shoulder.

*MHA*

"Genki, can I be completely frank with you?" Ochako asked as everyone gathered together for dinner in their own cliques.

"Of course."

"You look like shit."

"Yeah, feel like it too," Genki said, rubbing at his wrists. " . . . What's with you?" he asked turning Izuku's way.

"I got blown up…" the greenette groaned. "Oh, and I almost got twisted in half."

"Let me guess. Bakugou?"

"No, Hatsume."

"That would've been my second guess."

"Both were fair guesses," Izuku said rubbing the back of his neck. "On a separate note, have you given any thought to your costume?"

"Ah, that's right…" Iida hummed. "You've literally out-grown your old one, haven't you?"

"Well, I mean…" Genki said as he looked down at himself, stretching his muscular arms in front of himself. "Kinda hard to forget when you have your own ensuite."

"Private bathroom…~" Ochako sighed wistfully like a girl discovering luxury for the first time.

"Izuku, you just worry about yourself, 'cause last I heard, you've been kinda treating your body like a rental," Genki hummed.

"Oh… Yeah…" Izuku hummed awkwardly, rubbing his scarred-up arm.

"Say, mind if I ask you a question?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"What's it like having All Might teach? The real All Might?"

"Well…" Izuku hummed, remembering the title of the book that All Might had had in his back pocket. "It's been… enlightening."

"Enlightening how?" Genki asked quirking a snow-colored brow.

"I… I… I'm too embarrassed to say."

" . . . Friends don't laugh at friends, so you can tell me when you feel like you're ready."

*MHA*

Later that night, Mei Hatsume made her way toward Alliance Heights from the main campus, obscuring her approach with an industrially prefabricated box; an ultra-light mobile cover constructed out of a thin pasteboard with a corrugated paper center. The secrecy of her approach was entirely dependent on this box, as it had been for centuries before by special forces operatives the world over.

Allegedly.

After slinking behind her infiltration target, being seen by nothing and no-one, Mei disengaged the Support Item she'd made for this very purpose, collapsing it into its foldable configuration. Crosshair-patterned eyes zooming in on her target under the pale moonlight, calculating the needed thrust to get her grappling hook to its destination with minimal noise, she raised her second Support Item of the night and pulled the trigger.

Attaching the portable motor to her harness and ascending to the top floor of the boy's side, after ensuring no-one had been made awares of her approach, she approached the veranda door and opened-

*Cluk-lunk*

. . . opened-

*Cluk-lunk*

. . . OPENED!

*Clunk-lunk*

*Thump!*

"AH!" Mei cried out as a feminine palm and a sheet of paper both were slapped onto the interior of the sliding door, that Momorozu heiress looking at her with a flat, sharp-eyed stare, clad in modest red pajamas. "Oh, hey there, Momorozu! Just exercising my benefits!" she said pulling on the door handle again. "I seem to be… having a difficult time… getting it to open…!"

"Mei," the sharp-eyed girl said curtly, gesturing to the paper with her free hand. "Business hours are over. Try again earlier in the evening."

"Business hours?" Mei blinked, reading the precision-made print under moonlight and then turning to Genki's bed, the sheets on the anterior side upturned.

"My advice… Try to leave the Support Studio a bit earlier," Momorozu said curtly before she drew the curtain shut in front of her, leaving the Support Course student alone on the veranda.

" . . . Well that wasn't in the contract at all," she hummed pulling a sheaf of documents from her cleavage.

*DAY 2*

"Momo?"

"Yes, Genki?" the heiress asked back from across the breakfast table.

"Why was there a list of 'business hours' on the inside of my veranda door?"

"I had to lay down the law last night. That's all," Momo replied primly as she drank her juice.

"Wait… Does that mean last night you…?" Mina blinked as she tried to put the pieces together.

"I was merely exercising my contractual benefits," the heiress replied primly as she turned her attention back to her meal, Genki blushing a little at the cheeks as his guy-friends ribbed him playfully and pat him on the back.

*MHA*

On the second day, Class 1-A started out at Ground Omega under the purview of the Wild, Wild, Pussycats and O'Clock; the latter of which the bulk of them were still trying to wrap their heads around. Just like their sister class the day before, they too would have access to the TKL in the afternoon, the more-astute members of 1-A assuming this alternation was being done to reduce inter-class tensions between 1-A and 1-B.

This of course meant that instead of practicing Ultimate Moves on Ectoplasm clones, 1-A's morning was being dedicated more toward Quirk Reinforcement. Something that was sure to help their future endeavors. Not to mention, if the Training Camp hadn't been interrupted, this was exactly the sort of thing they'd be doing anyway.

Compared to their time at camp however, the atmosphere was a bit more relaxed. Possibly because their dorms were a short walk away, and that at the end of the day they wouldn't have to make their own food if they so chose.

"Ano… Oguro-sensei…" Ochako spoke up as she hobbled over to him after discarding her latest barf bag.

"Uraraka," the retired Hero nodded, rubbing at his face underneath the bullet-shaped helmet.

"Can I… ask you for some advice that doesn't have to do with our exams?" the brunette asked with a nervous glance Aizawa's way. "A-Asking for a friend," she deflected.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" he asked in turn, gesturing to some earthen benches away from the sleep-deprived man.

"Well…" Ochako hummed, twitting her thumbs together. "How did you balance being a Hero and a husband?"

"In all honesty… not well…" the man sighed tiredly, his powerful, muscular frame seeming to deflate just a bit. "It was fine at first. We were young, the money was good, and we had lots of… cardio."

"Sensei, I'm fifteen and I have Midnight as my art teacher. You don't need to beat around the bush about sex," the round-faced girl said with a flat look that looked completely alien on her face.

"Right…" the man said nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, things changed after my daughter was born. The missus… She wanted me to be around more, to be 'the good father', but she also didn't want to 'take me away from' the people that needed my help as O'Clock. As you can imagine, that began to put a strain on our relationship because if she did ask me to work fewer hours, she'd just feel like 'the bad guy' for taking me off the beat. My work back then was very important, and we didn't really communicate our feelings, so things only continued to deteriorate."

"But… it got better, didn't it?" Ochako asked hopefully.

"No. No it didn't," he said with a shake of his head, dashing her hopes. "When my Quirk got taken away, I fell into a depression. I drank, I neglected my family, when my daughter started hanging out with a rough crowd, I didn't try to understand her. When my daughter ran away from home, my wife got really sick, and it got to the point that she couldn't even speak properly, so I put everything I had into bringing my daughter back. Then, when I found out that Trigger was being manufactured again…"

"You became a Vigilante?" Ochako asked, putting the pieces together since every once in a while, Koichi would let something slip.

"Eh, technically a 'Vigilante' is someone who uses their Quirk to do Hero work without a license, so I was in a bit of a gray area because I didn't have a Quirk anymore," he chuckled merrily, cracking the knuckles on his ham-sized fists.

"Iwao, don't go giving her any ideas," Aizawa huffed sternly before he turned his attention back to another student.

"Point is, if you and Izuku don't last past academia-"

"Wa-wa-wa-wa-wait a second! Wh-wh-why do you think this has to do with Deku-kun?!" Ochako blushed.

"Well, why else would you be asking about the married life? Unless you're actually dating Iida?"

" . . . So about what you were saying?"

"Right, right," Oguro hummed. "What I wanted to say was, if things between you two don't work out, try and settle down with someone that's also in law enforcement. Someone that'll understand why you can't be home all the time, or why you have irregular hours. Because, the thing about being a Hero, is that your time belongs to everyone, not just your family. And that's probably why so many Pros are socially maladjusted wackos who only date other socially maladjusted wackos."

"I can't tell because of the mask, but I feel like you're glancing at Pixie-Bob when you say that."

"Knowing something and being able to prove it are not the same thing," Oguro hummed. "Anyway, if you and Midoriya actually do stay together after high school, just… talk to each other. If you're upset about something, don't expect him to be a mind-reader, just tell him if you're upset about something. If you think he's upset about something but he's bottling it up, don't be afraid to call him out on it. If you have an anniversary coming up and he misses it or you miss it, don't treat it like the end of the world. Don't let your relationship deteriorate because you refuse to talk to one another. And if things fall apart anyway, at least no-one can tell you that you didn't try to hold it together."

"Thanks. That really helped… I think…"

"No two relationships are alike," Oguro hummed as he got up from his seat. "That you two are a couple of Hero kids, growing up in the most-tumultuous time since before All Might became the Symbol of Peace, only complicates matters further. I can't tell you if my advice is actually a good fit for you two or not, but just… Just try to make the most of the time you have together. Because you never know when that time will run out. For us, the future is never certain."

" . . . Is that last bit because of what happened to Genki's dad?"

"Who can say?" Oguro shrugged. "Heroes die every day, and now that All Might isn't here to pick up the slack, all the show ponies that've been phoning it in… well…"

Ochako wasn't sure if she wanted to hear more, so she wisely walked away to resume her training.

*MHA*

"Toru, you cut your hair?" Genki blinked that evening.

"Oh, you noticed?" the Invisible Girl asked back from across the dinner table.

"I'm probably one of the few that can notice."

"Hm. Quite," Tsuyu hummed.

"Do you… Do you like girls with long hair?" Toru asked as she fidgeted with her hair, which had been buzzed down close to her scalp.

"It isn't the length of the hair that's important to me. It's the brain beneath the hair that I fall for," Genki said as he reached his hand across the table, his fingers closing around a hand that most of the class couldn't see reach across.

"Wait, why'd you cut your hair?" Kirishima asked.

"Well, with winter right around the corner, I figured now was as good a time as any to get some DNA-reactive thermals that'll work with my Quirk."

"But, didn't you get a nanotech costume from I-Island?" Mina asked.

"The nanotech doesn't turn invisible like I can, it's just something that can cover me when I need it and collapse when I don't," Toru answered. "Plus, I'll still need to drop my costume to go full 'Stealth Mode', and it's going to really suck going au naturel in the middle of winter."

"Oui, pardon your French," Aoyama huffed, seemingly offended by the way she aspirated that bit of French.

"Hm. I'll probably have to get my costume upgraded too," Tsuyu hummed, since she too had outgrown her costume.

Her underwear, had been replaced prior to moving into the dorms, but it was breaking them in that was the present issue.

"Why?" Ochako blinked, spit-taking when her friend suddenly vanished inside her clothing.

Wait, no, not "vanished". More like "really convincing camouflage" of the light-green wall right behind her.

"Whoa! When did this happen?" Kyoka blinked.

"After, well… After this," she said gesturing at her taller, fuller body.

"Yeah… Yeah, that'd warrant an upgrade," Mina hummed appreciatively.

"Although it isn't all that effective if you know where to look," Momo mused aloud.

"Unless she has the high ground and/or it's dark," Genki hummed. "Even a cardboard box can make you practically invisible if you use it at the right time and place."

"You mean like that thing Mei has been using to sneak around?" Ojiro asked with an eyebrow waggle.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," Genki said turning back to the food.

"Hey, Genki, inquiring minds wanna know," Sero spoke up.

"I temper my sense of decency in expectation," Kyoka deadpanned.

"Big boobs or small boobs; what's your jam?" Kaminari spoke up, shielding his ears -and eyes- from Kyoka's [Earphone Jacks].

"Dude, seriously? We're in mixed company here."

"No, no, I wanna hear your answer too," the punk rock girl sent a deadpan his way. Compared to Ochako who didn't really care that one of her classmates had become a 'harem protagonist' with most of the girls in the class, Kyoka felt like the only sane one for thinking the polygamy was weird, and frustrated no-one else cared enough to back her on it.

"It's the same as my leanings towards hair length; the heart behind the boobs is more important than the boobs themselves," Genki replied with a completely straight face. "You could put two girls in front of me with boobs as big as their head, but obviously the one that 'owns it' the best will shine brighter in my eye."

"If Mineta were still here, I'm sure this would inspire some huge philosophical debate that'd last into the night," Shoji hummed aloud.

"And yet, we're still talking about boobs at the dinner table," Kyoka deadpanned.

"To be fair, no-one probably ever thought we'd see a dorm system implemented during our time at Yuuei," Momo hummed as she ate, ever the picture of poise and grace.

"Kyoka."

"Yes, Genki?" the rocker girl asked. "Oh, but quick warning; if the words 'kawaii' and 'boobs' come out of your mouth in the next thirty seconds, I'm going to stick these things somewhere very unpleasant," she said making her earlobes rise up like cobras.

"Ah, well…" the whitette stalled. "Plenty of Japanese men like small breasts. It's only the foreigners that like them extra-large."

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . You get a pass because I'm too-tired to care about all this nonsense," the petite girl deadpanned as she turned back to her food, willfully ignoring the fuller figures of her peers.

*MHA*

"Infiltration successful," Mei grinned eagerly as she disengaged her ultra-light mobile cover behind Alliance Heights, her eyes never leaving the timepiece on her wrist which showed she was still within the bounds of Genki's room's 'business hours'.

Like clockwork, the nutty inventor launched her grappling hook up to Genki's veranda, reeling herself up, and vaulted the wall. Checking the piece of paper that Momo had slapped on the other side of the glass and comparing the numbers against her timepiece, the eccentric, touch-starved girl pumped her fist in victory at the surety that she was well within the margin for error.

Sliding the door open and shimmying out of her coveralls, revealing a modest pair of blue panties and sports bra, she approached the vacant half of Genki's bed and threw back the covers. The Mutant teen sleeping like a stone, Mei shimmied on in only to bounce back against something soft and pliant.

*Pon~*

"Hey, watch it!"

"Invisigirl?" Mei blinked, finding an over-sized white Tee now that the sheets had been pulled back.

"I have dibs tonight. Come back tomorrow."

"Oh come on! I even left the studio early to get here!"

"Shh! Shh! Genki's exhausted-enough as it is! Don't wake him up!" Toru hissed angrily.

" . . . Sure there isn't room for one more?"

"Go back to your room, Mei."

*DAY 3*

"Izuku, I heard you made a huge breakthrough with your training," Genki hummed after their fourth day of training. "I suppose congratulations are in order. Great job."

"Oh, um, no, it was hardly anything…" Izuku answered, mulling over his words before saying- "For the longest time, people have been saying that mine and All Might's Quirks are similar. All Might's ultimate moves are all about his fists, so without even thinking about it, I subconsciously decided that's how I'd use my Quirk too. For the longest time I'd been worried about my arms, but the answer to that was so simple that I never even realized."

" . . . So you're telling me you forgot that legs were a thing?" Genki blinked after reading between the lines.

"O-Only up until now!"

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . Dammit, Midoriya, give me back my respect and admiration."

-is what Genki was smart-enough not to say out loud.

"Well… After the exams, we'll have to throw hands sometime," the whitette eventually hummed. "After letting Kabutomushi smack me around a little, I'm going to need a sparring partner with a little more stopping power than before."

"So it wasn't just your body, your Quirk got stronger too?" Ochako blinked. "OH! Just like in Pokémon!"

"I mean, sure, if you want to frame it like that…"

*MHA*

"Oh come on!" Mei hissed finding Genki's bed occupied, this time by three instead of two.

"Hey, keep it down, will you?!" Setsuna hissed, her head floating out of the bed from where her body and Kinoko were snuggled up to either side of Genki, using his muscular frame as a shared body pillow.

"How do you keep getting here before me?" Mei hissed quietly when Genki stirred, but didn't wake.

"We don't wait until the last minute," Setsuna said eyeing the nearby clock.

" . . . Can I-"

"No. Try again later."

*DAY 4*

"Jurota, how are you holding up?" Genki asked during a break in their training, down in the bowels of Yuuei where their respective frenzies could be adequately contained from the more-helpless of the student body.

Sure, the vast majority of the student body had Quirks, but there was a definitive divide between "strong Quirks" and "weak".

"Not great, but not worse…" the beastly teen said as he rubbed his wrists. "How about you? How are you holding up?"

"Much the same," Genki said, rubbing his own wrists.

"I was actually referring to your harem, but that works too."

"Well, not like I could hide it when two-thirds of your class' girls are pining over me," Genki answered as he rubbed the back of his head, nibbling on a bread roll. "It still feels a little unreal. Having so-many girls just… into me like this."

"Yeah, I felt the same until I met Miti-chan," Jurota hummed as he looked down into his phone, exchanging a text. "Not like I'm jealous or anything, but when you're a 'Furry', the dating pool gets pretty slim."

"I still can't believe that antiquated term is being bandied around, even after all this time."

"Yeah, me neither, but, what can you do?"

"I'm sure Shigaraki can offer something to the downtrodden. It's real easy to rally the victims and the persecuted against their oppressors. Especially in a conservative country like Japan," Genki hummed somberly. "Everything that's been built up, everything All Might built up…"

"Do you really think that's what the League of Villains want? A civil war? A revolution?"

"Well, without All for One to lead the charge, they're gonna need some kind of selling point. And it's not like all of their grievances with the status quo are illegitimate."

"Genki, you can't really think-"

"Have you ever been treated unfairly? Persecuted against? Considered something less than human just because of what your Quirk is?"

" . . . "

"Your silence is your answer," Genki answered as he rose to his feet, rubbing his chaffed wrists before turning back toward his training. "Make no mistake, All Might's era is over. It's up to the rest of us to pick up the pieces. Correct his mistakes."

" . . . I'm sorry about what happened to your dad, but I don't really think it's fair to blame All Might for-"

"Why, pray tell, did All for One's head look like a fried potato?"

"What do you mean?"

"Next time you see All Might, maybe you should ask him. See if he'll look you in the eye or not."

*MHA*

"Thanks for helping me with this," Mina hummed as she went back over her coursework in Genki's room, Tsuyu alongside.

"No thanks needed. I'd be a pretty bad boyfriend if I didn't help… my girl," Genki answered, rolling that last part over on his tongue.

"Well, you've certainly got a nice-enough bed for it~" Mina hummed, eyeing the queen-sized in the corner with a fuchsia blush on her cheeks.

"Keep it in your panties, Mina," Tsuyu hummed. "If you fail any sort of written exam, you'll have to wait even longer before you can go out on patrol with him."

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Mina pouted, pouring over her textbook and the notes she'd taken on law enforcement, rescue operations, and everything else she'd gone over in Hero Informatics. " . . . Without All Might, we're all going to have to pick up the slack, aren't we?"

"That's what happens when all of hero society is propped on the shoulders of one man," Tsuyu answered. "I didn't want to accept that it's true, but seeing All Might, the man who saved everyone, needing to be saved…" she said gripping her fists. "That really drove it home for me. That All Might isn't 'here' anymore."

"It was going to happen eventually," Genki hummed as he took a highlighter to Mina's textbook. "Honestly, anyone who thought he was going to be a Hero forever was a damned fool."

"Don't let the public hear you say that, otherwise it'll be hard to take your dad's old post," Mina hummed.

" . . . "

"Ah, Genki, I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine," Genki said wrapping his arms around her, gold-on-black eyes going wide before she leaned into his embrace and hugged him back. "Honestly, the fact that he's still alive is amazing… I just hope he can hold out long-enough to forgive himself. Because that's what I want. It was never about becoming the No.2 Hero, that was just a goalpost."

"That's some straight up shounen protagonist shit right there…"

"More like harem protagonist," Tsuyu chimed in.

"Still getting used to hearing that about me…" Genki sighed. "So, you two staying over tonight? I figure, but I don't want to assume…"

"Yes, please!" Mina smiled, giving his muscly body another squeeze before turning her attention back to her books.

After all, why would Genki lie about saying he liked girls that were smart?

*DAY 5*

The following day…

"Mei? What're you doing here?" Genki blinked as he found the nutty inventor on an intercept in the bowels of Yuuei.

"I'm here to get my snuggle-time."

*Cli-cli-i-i-i-i-ick*

"And I ain't leaving your side until I get it," she said ratchetting a yellow-and-black titanium handcuff to his wrist, the other half on hers.

"When Setsuna said not to wait until the last minute, I don't think this was what she had in mind…" Genki said firing off his [Oilpiration], slipping his hand out of the cuff after popping his thumb.

" . . . Note to self: account for sudden introduction of industrial grade lubricants," Mei chattered into a voice recorder.

"Mei, I'm not going to exclude you," he said un-popping his thumb. "If you want, I'll pencil you in for tomorrow night-"

"What about this night?"

"Pony and Yui double-booked," Genki said pulling up his planner on his phone.

"Damn," Mei hissed, biting her thumbnail. "What about after?"

"All the other girls got their turn, so yes, tomorrow is your night," Genki answered putting her name down.

"Oh, fiiiine…" the inventor sighed.

"Ah, Mei, one more thing."

"Hai?"

"Please use the door like a normal person… People are starting to talk, and Nezu's getting tired of all the false alarms."

"Isn't a bunch of girls from another class going into the 1-A dorms and leaving the following morning going to make people talk anyway?"

"People were always going to start talking. Honestly, I'm amazed it hasn't hit the tabloids already," Genki hummed, remembering his latest 'ego search'. "Of course, part of me is more worried about when Midnight finds out."

"Why? You worried she'll wanna join in?" Mei blinked. "Because I certainly wouldn't mind it. Think of everything she could teach us!"

"And like that, this conversation has officially ended."

*MHA*

"Ochako, you look like hell. What's wrong?" Genki asked over dinner.

"Well… It all started when O'Clock-sensei caught me practicing my Gunhead Martial Arts."

"Uh-huh."

"When I told him who I learned it from, the guy laughed at me."

"I see."

"So I told him to put his money where his mouth was!"

"And then what happened?"

"After that, he had Momo make him a rubber practice knife, and then he spent the next hour clowning on me…"

"To be fair, Gunhead doesn't peruse the seedy underbelly where the real knife fighters live. The most a guy like that could prepare you for is fighting a yandere with a box cutter."

"That's… oddly specific…" Iida chimed in.

"It's a more-common problem than you would think."

"Well, you aren't wrong…" Ochako said rubbing her thigh where she'd been stabbed. "Although it wasn't a box cutter, by the by."

*MHA*

*Knock*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Well…" Genki hummed as he looked out his window to see Yui out on the veranda, Pony sitting sidesaddle on one of her gigantified horns like a witch's broom. "I certainly wasn't expecting this combination."

"Why not? We booked in advance."

"I meant that," he said pointing at the motorcycle-sized horn floating right outside.

"Funny thing. It's not harder than floating the one," Pony hummed thoughtfully as she hopped onto the veranda and propped her horn against the wall.

"Well, that definitely solves some mobility issues," Genki hummed as Yui stepped out to shrink the horn, before pulling a tiny overnight bag from her pocket and returning it to full size. "Have you given any thought to my offer?"

" . . . I think I could learn a lot by interning with Edgeshot. If he'll have me."

"I'll send it up the ladder," Genki said going to his phone.

Being able to network within the realm of the Top 10 was almost as valuable as interning within the double-digits.

"So… What made you two girls double-book?"

"It's less-suspicious if we go to 1-A's dorm after dark in pairs," Yui answered, her stoic expression incredibly cute.

"At least until everyone finds out about your harem," Pony hummed as she stripped out of her loungewear, revealing a modest blue bra and panties before slipping on some Stars & Stripes-themed pajamas. "After that, they'll know exactly why we're coming here in pairs."

"Well, you aren't wrong…" Genki hummed, remembering a few other cases where polyamory and professional heroism collided. " . . . All I can promise is to do right by you girls."

"Umu," Yui nodded.

"Yeah! We're all in this together!" Pony whooped in English, pumping a fist in the air. "Oh, wait..."

"What?"

"My horns might be a bit of a problem..." she said looking at the plush pillows up against the wall, her hands feeling at her horns standing proudly above her head.

A moment later, Yui shrunk down Genki's bed with her Quirk, spun it around, gave it a little nudge, and then grew it back to full size so the pillows were pointed away from the wall.

"Okay, that... was really, really cool," Genki nodded appreciatively.

Yui blushed at Genki's praise, but didn't disparage him for the hug he gave her.

*DAY 6*

"Guys… Should we tell Genki about this?" Izuku asked the next morning as he and the rest of Class 1-A passed by a festival-style kiosk, Mei Hatsume sitting behind it and selling Gokiburi Genki dakimakura.

Or more-specifically, Genki's "post-Awakening" body dakimakura, with the longer line to match.

"How does she keep getting these pictures?" Ochako asked.

"And with so much image fidelity…" Momo added, halfway between being impressed and offended.

"Do they… Do they not know who that is?" Mina blinked, seeing that the sign had no name.

"Those girls must be damn thirsty," Toru hummed.

"Toru, please put your wallet away," Tsuyu chastised.

"Then it's agreed. We let Genki find out about this on his own," Kyoka hummed, adjusting her Support Items on her wrists.

"Agreed," the bulk of 1-A chorused unanimously.

*MHA*

*BAM!*

"Genkiii! I'm hoooome!" Mei yelled boisterously as she threw the door open.

"Hello, Mei," Genki replied. "Whoa! What the-" he yelped as the pinkette shed her coverall to reveal a modest set of white cotton panties.

And nothing else.

"They say skinship is the key to any healthy relationship!" Mei said sauntering through the room with the same amount of swagger as she always had.

"Mei, the window!" Genki yelped as he drew the curtains.

"I've got nothin' to be ashamed about," Mei said planting her hands on her hips, her full bosom bouncing.

"M-Maybe not, but there's still such a thing as propriety…" Genki answered as he drank it in, chemically incapable of realizing that he wouldn't have done so as-openly before his Awakening.

"So, you try your new costume yet?" the salmonette asked eagerly.

"I started putting it through its paces a few days ago. The day we have 'Show & Tell' will be its official debut in front of a live studio audience."

"Well, make sure you set some time aside for a photo shoot," Mei nodded. "Remember: merchandising, merchandising, merchandising!"

"Oh, I'm aware."

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . Wait, was that more than a generalization?"

"Mei."

"Yes?"

" . . . Never change," Genki nodded after a moment, Mei's cheeks flushing as he put his hand on her cheek in what he hoped was a tender gesture.

Because it didn't matter how wacky or atypical the girl was. How could he expect the girls to accept his own condition, as mind-numbingly ludicrous as they were, if he didn't accept all of their eccentricities? Sure, Mei was arguably the "wackiest" of his, erm, in-group… but everyone on the Hero track had their baggage, even if it wasn't readily apparent.

"Didn't plan to!" Mei grinned eagerly. "But… thanks," she said smiling more-softly, putting a hand atop his own as he cradled her cheek. "It means a lot."

"You're welcome…" Genki hummed. "So, do you wanna study or-"

"Not tonight. Tonight, I want me some snuggle-time~" she said making grabbing motions with her hands.

"Well, at least you're honest…" he hummed, letting the excitable girl get a handful. "Keep it above the waist, please."

"No promises."

*MHA*

"Izuku."

"Oh, Genki, what're you doing up?" Izuku asked, his recent Hero Analysis notebooks on the ground, his clothes marred with grass stains.

"Just thought I'd check in on you," Genki replied, crimson eyes darting into the darkness.

"Oh," Izuku nodded. "So um, how long… How long have you been watching?" he asked bashfully, realizing he must've looked quite foolish.

"Long enough to know you never got into any fights until you got into Yuuei," Genki reply, the greenette blushing.

"Ah, well, yeah…" Izuku hummed, rubbing the back of his neck.

" . . . Honestly, I'm glad to see you improving yourself like this," Genki nodded as he squatted down to look at Izuku's notes. 'Hm. Quite thorough. He'd make for a great teacher someday,' he mused to himself. "It's one thing to be overwhelmingly fast and powerful, but when the other guy can match you, that's where technique really matters. That's probably why All Might had such a hard time against Mr. Potato Head."

"Oh, you really think so?" Izuku asked defensively, his inner thoughts plastered across his freckled face.

"Remind me again; who won the first-year Sports Festival?"

"You…" Izuku sighed.

"That's right," Genki nodded. "If you want, I can get you an internship with the Kicking Hero. Or work study. Whichever happens sooner."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Izuku nodded. "What about you? Who do you intend to work with next?"

"I'd like to continue working with Edgeshot if he'll have me," Genki answered, "but I'm keeping my options open. With how my Quirk changed my body…"

"If you don't mind me asking, how has your Quirk changed?" Izuku asked curiously, going to Genki's dedicated page in his notebook in case he had to make amendments.

" . . . A lot of my setae feel deadened. Like they're smothered in a heavy blanket," he said rubbing his forearms. "I can still feel some of what's going on in my blind spots, but not with the precision I'd become accustomed to. Not to say that my new compound eyes aren't a fair tradeoff, but I'll have to completely adjust the way that I fight until the nerve damage heals. Assuming it ever does."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that…"

"Nothing for you to apologize over. If anything, I should be worried about you."

"I'm not that bad off…"

"Yeah, it only took you this long to remember that you can punch people with your feet."

"Oh ha ha. Very funny," the greenette huffed as he turned his attention back to his notes. "Do you want to help me with this or not?"

"Can't. I only came out to get some fresh air before going back to bedsitting."

"Bedsitting?" Izuku blinked, rolling the word over his tongue. "What do you ohhhhhhhh…"

"You know, I'm sure if you and Ochako talk to Midnight-sensei, she can get you an… 'after-hours hall pass'. All these Villain attacks can be very trying on adolescent psyches, and it isn't unusual for victims to find comfort with one another."

"H-H-H-How can you say that with a straight face?!" Izuku squeaked, completely red in the face.

"I blame the dain bramage."

"Don't you mean 'brain damage'?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I said," Genki sighed exasperatedly.

Izuku couldn't look him in the eye after that.

*DAY 7*

"Hey Mei, a thought just occurred to me," Kaminari hummed after giving the girl some feedback on his Support Gear.

"First time of the day?"

"Pointedly ignoring that…" the blond deadpanned since Mei wasn't being outright malicious. "Back after Genki won the Sports Festival, you tried this whole harem thing that far back, right?"

"That's right. That gold medal was great for his branding."

"Well… Did anyone actually apply back then?"

"Doesn't matter. After Genki's Quirk Awakening, I sent out CC'd emails stating they'd have to re-apply at the start of the next semester."

"You mean because he's a solid nine?"

"Well sure, if you wanna lowball it," Mei pouted, never once turning away from what she was doing.

"Hey, more power to ya," Kaminari grinned. "Still, that line's probably gonna go through the school gate after everyone actually realizes what Genki looks like now."

"Probably helps that they all think he's an upperclassman or an RA or something," the salmonette hummed before tossing Kaminari's Support Item back at him. "NEXT!"

*MHA*

"Genki."

"Shoto."

"Can we talk?"

"Of course we can. We're brothers from different mothers."

"Eeeek! Epic bromance!" Mina squealed off to the side.

"I was wondering if I could get your input on something," the Emitter-type continued. "I've been trying to use both halves of my Quirk at the same time, but…"

"You're coming to me for this just-now?" Genki asked tilting his head.

"I wanted to try making progress on my own before putting more on your plate," the two-toned teen answered. "With the way you transformed, it's bound to require an adjustment period."

"Fair," Genki shrugged. "Well, I guess the first question I need to ask is, do your ice and fire have to come out of your right and left sides respectively, or is that an ingrained psychosomatic habit because of… you know…" he said waving vaguely at the scarred side of Shoto's face; the side he'd most-readily associate with 'his father's fire'.

" . . . I've never thought of it quite like that," Shoto hummed, having never seriously attempted to use his ice from his left or his fire from his right. "I'll try that out tomorrow, but just assuming that my ice and fire are… 'locked'… to those sides of my body, how would you recommend I make it easier to use both of my Quirks at the same time?"

"Well, that is a bit of a unique problem because most people don't have a 'Compounded Quirk' running in completely opposite directions like that…" Genki mused aloud. "If it isn't a matter of the hardware, I'd say it's the software, or your mindset. I'm guessing you asked me because my Quirk basically gives me lots of smaller 'sub-Quirks' I've learned to juggle at the same time?"

"In as many words," the two-toned teen nodded.

"Mmmmmm… Me personally, I'd recommend an exercise my family had me do as a kid; play with a paddleball in one hand and a Kendama in the other, at the same time. The key to multi-tasking is being able to 'pull your mind in two directions' while still doing both tasks adequately well," he said sending a text to Momo asking her to make those very objects. "Driving a motor vehicle for example involves a lot of multi-tasking; minding your speed, paying attention to what's in front of you, what's to your sides, in your blind spot, what's behind you, that road signs are in front of you, and keeping abreast of any extraneous hazards that might suddenly crop up."

"Wait, you can drive?" Iida blinked incredulously.

"I've practiced on private lots in case there was an emergency, like having to transport multiple people simultaneously, but I can only drive an automatic, and I haven't exactly been able to dedicate time to that particular talent as of late," Genki answered. "Moving on, if you want some advice on multi-tasking, I'd highly recommend talking to Haimawari-sensei. During the Tokyo Sky Egg Incident, he didn't only fire repulsor blasts at multiple moving targets, but he also did that while 'clinging' to the underside of the building with his feet. If his concentration had lapsed for even an instant, it'd have been game over. And he's only done more-complicated mental gymnastics with his Quirk since then."

"Hm… You may be right," Shoto mused. "How about you? Do you have your Ultimate Moves ready yet?"

"I have a few in mind. The fact that my visual acuity and muscular density have increased exponentially, among other things, gives me a lot more latitude than with my previous 'build', and I'll probably be taking advantage of the fact that it's an exercise since Ectoplasm's clones can take a beating."

"Hm. I see, I see," Shoto hummed. "A follow-up question: what's it like sharing your bed with the opposite gender?"

All activity in the common room ceased as he said that, the two-toned teen the only one with a straight face while Genki's admirably-schooled features flushed a deep scarlet at the cheeks.

"Really going for the jugular, huh, Shoto?" Genki asked as he coughed into his fist. "Well… it's… been an adjustment, honestly," he said feeling the eyes of a couple girls on him, as well as the more-curious boys, "but it's also quite comforting. To have someone there for me at my most-vulnerable, and to be there for someone at their most-vulnerable. The LOV's attacks have left their marks on all of us."

"I know the feeling. Before my mother was sent away, I'd often sleep with her as well."

"Yeah, but, sleeping with a girl that isn't your mom is a whole other beast," Kaminari said patting Shoto's shoulder.

"Is it?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"Are you saying you wouldn't feel anything special if you shared a bed with Habuko-chan?" Tsuyu asked, similarly going for the jugular.

That Shoto's own face reddened at the inquisition, despite his stoic expression, was enough to tell those in attendance that he wasn't completely socially maladjusted.

*MHA*

"Jan! Ken! Pon!"

"Jan! Ken! Pon!"

"Jan! Ken! Pon!"

"What are you guys doing?" Kyoka asked that evening.

"Trying to hash out who gets to use Genki-kun as their dakimakura tonight," Toru answered with a completely straight face.

Or at least Kyoka assumed she was being straight-faced, since her words lacked their usual bubbly surplus.

"So… wait, did you all sign on to have sex with him?" she asked rhetorically.

She hoped her inquiry would be treated rhetorically.

"As far as I know, only Mei and myself have made such… arrangements," Momo admitted with a blush. "Cuddling sans coitus falls within the purview of the 'Boyfriend Agreement', and we have endured a great deal this year."

"Way I see it, an emotional support person is the least eccentric thing we could angle for," Mina hummed thoughtfully. "Besides, I slept like a baby, even if I had to share~"

"Midnight-sensei is going to be impossible to deal with," Tsuyu said aloud.

"Well, that's just what you get for chasing the hottest piece of ass in our class," Kyoka sighed. "Even if he is a solid nine."

"I mean, sure, if you wanna lowball it," Toru hummed.

*DAY 8*

"Itsuka, Monoma. Surprised you knew to find me down here," Genki said after yet another day of intense training.

"Hm. We have our ways~" Monoma spoke before shielding his neck from Itsuka's chop of reprisal. "H-Hey! What was that for?!"

"Sorry. Reflex," Itsuka hummed unapologetically. "Anyway, Genki, some of the girls have been talking as of late-"

"Just an FYI, my pheromones don't work on humans unless they're part-bug."

"Not… where I was going with that inquiry, but… good to know?" Itsuka blinked at how-practiced that sounded. "Anyway, I can't really control what my friends do in their off-time, but… Just treat them right, okay?"

"Hey, I'm the one who suddenly bumped up to from a six to a solid nine. How do you think I feel?"

"I mean, sure, if you wanna lowball it," Monoma hummed, getting a look from his class representative. "What? Game recognizes game."

"Well, you aren't wrong. Honestly, you could be a pop idol with the right clothes," Genki mused aloud. "You'd easily warrant a high-eight."

"Awww, thank you~ I really try~" Monoma blushed at the praise.

"I feel like we've gone off the tracks a bit…" Itsuka sighed. "But… you're hardly the first hot piece of ass to have a bouquet of flowers in his academy days, and at least you're trying to be fair about it."

"Like I keep telling everyone, I hardly planned for it to turn out like this," Genki said as he fished for his wallet. "You guys want some drinks? Because I could go for some drinks."

"You aren't the only one…" Itsuka sighed while Monoma cackled at the byplay.

*MHA*

"Oguro, how do you think the students are coming along?" Aizawa asked the man across from him in the teacher's lounge.

"Their rate of growth is phenomenal, but then again, having legitimate Villains coming after them is as-strong an impetus as any," the former O'Clock hummed aloud as he went over his notes.

Honestly, the teaching job wasn't all that bad, but he'd sooner assumed he'd take up a post at Shiketsu instead of his rival school. At least, back when he'd had his Quirk and All for One hadn't split his face wide open.

"And how are things going with Tomoko?"

"Even the weakest man can shoot a gun. What matters is how good the shooter is," he mused, having popped a couple caps into the guy his own Quirk had been crammed into.

It'd been somewhat cathartic if he were being honest, but it was only after-the-fact that he realized how much self-hate he'd actually vented in that exact moment.

"With All for One just… gone, any hope of getting her [Search] back is gone with him. Then again, it's not like he'd have ever given her Quirk back to her willingly. But I guess it's better this way. There's no 'what if…?' in her thoughts, that chapter has been closed for good."

"Yeah. For her, and everyone else that's had their Quirk stolen."

"Well, in all fairness, with how-much a person's self-worth is tied to their Quirk nowadays, most of the people that do slip away tend to just off themselves," Oguro said making a shooting motion at his own temple. "Hell, I almost fell all the way down to the bottom of a bottle after losing mine."

"Well, in all fairness," Aizawa returned, "you've had time to chew on the fact that the guy your [Overclock] got crammed into burned himself out. Still can't believe you and Koichi threw hands with some sort of… Proto-Noumu."

"Eh, I'd say the Flying Bomber was the 'Proto-Noumu'. Rokuro was more of a… 'High-End' Noumu."

"A multi-Quirked bioweapon that can pass itself off as a normal human-"

"And get itself a legitimate Hero License," Oguro cut in.

" . . . Point being, I'm just glad the things All for One made could only follow orders."

"Perhaps, but the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence," Nezu hummed as he popped out of a desk drawer. "Oguro, apart from All Might, you're the next leading expert on All for One. What's your opinion on the matter?"

"I think that if you can throw enough money at something, even a monkey can type Shakespeare," the muscular man in the body glove sighed. "Until that Shigaraki brat comes up for air, we have no way of knowing how much of a war chest was left behind for him. If he were anything like his master, I'd say we had more than enough time to get the current batch of kiddos good and graduated, but if he's still hot-headed and impulsive…" he said crossing his arms, mulling over his words. "A thirst for revenge can turn a man into a demon and keep the dead alive, and with that boy following in the footsteps of the 'Demon King'…"

"We were always going to lose our Symbol of Peace," Nezu spoke up. "Honestly, anyone who thought he was going to be a Hero forever was a damned fool."

"Yeah, well, now we all have egg on our face," Aizawa grumbled, having thought long and hard about what All Might's fall from grace would mean after being brought in on what the formerly big man was hiding from the public. "I just hope that by the time the dust settles, we have enough of a country left to stand on."

*MHA*

"All Might, how are you holding up?" Koichi asked as he sat across from All Might in his own office.

"Oh, you know… I could be better," the former Symbol of Peace said as he rubbed at his cast.

"I'm surprised Recovery Girl didn't fix that up for you."

"Yeah, well… She stopped me from losing the arm, but the rest is a punishment for treating my body like a rental and passing on bad habits," the withered-away blond sighed.

"Oh? Passed on to who?" Koichi asked aloud.

"Not really important," the man said as he slumped back into his seat. "Koichi, what you had to do to All for One…"

"Hey, someone had to finish the job you couldn't. Or did his head look like a fried potato for some other reason?"

The Crawler's words cut All Might very deeply, especially since they weren't untrue. And doubly-so because he was such a flagrant All Might fanboy if his taste in hoodies was any indicator.

"I… I only wanted him to rot away in Tartarus. Not get the easy way out."

"Yeah, and Genki's dad paid for it."

Another lance of shame skewered through the former Symbol of Peace at those words.

"Heroes shouldn't kill-"

"You say that, but does the shoe really fit?"

No… No it didn't…

"If he dies, that kid's probably gonna hold you responsible," Koichi went on as he nursed at his tea. "He might not've been the No.2 Hero for very long, but he meant something to a lot of people, and saving you from All for One was probably the last 'heroic' thing he'll ever do. And honestly, if he ever gets well-enough to leave I-Island ever again, it'll be a miracle."

"I mean, it's not like I could've planned for him to get back up even after we all wailed on him with that 'Upper Quirk' that Gunvolt brought in…"

"Doesn't change the fact that you and Genki will have to talk this out. And it doesn't exactly help that Ares getting ripped in half is all over the internet ad infinitum."

"I can only promise to try, but he might not want to speak to me anyway."

"I'd be more worried about what he'll say if he does want to speak to you."

*DAY 9*

With the first-year Hero Course students' time winding down before the Provisional License Exam, everyone felt the pressure; even those that had already met their "quota" for Ultimate Moves.

Problem was, however, that aforementioned exam was going to need everything out of them they could possibly give, so the vast majority of 1-A and 1-B were having a "day of rest" before showing off to the teachers, which in turn would lead into another day of rest before the big day itself.

Once normal school hours resumed, they wouldn't have entire free days to Reinforce their Quirks outside the weekends. And it was as 1-A and 1-B were feeling this time crunch that they truly began to realize what an irreplaceable gift their days of academia were. Especially since Yuuei was footing the bill for their room and board.

Sure, on-paper they had "three years", but all that time could be come and gone before they knew what had happened. And with the League of Villains still an ever-present threat, many wondered if Japan would return to the "Dark Ages" from before All Might's return to Japan before they even graduated.

Since physical activity was strictly off the books for today, all that was left for them to do was to hit the books themselves. Some studied solo, some studied in groups, and a few even helped tutor the others in their weaker subjects. The cutoff point, last any of them checked, was at 50% nationwide, and since the next chance to test would be in six months, six months of having to "stay behind" if they didn't get their provisional licenses, the importance of passing now was especially prudent in their minds.

Even a single half-year delay could cost an invaluable amount of real-world experience, because there was only so much you could get out of internships or work studies if you were unable to act on your own initiative. At least as far as meta-abilities went.

*MHA*

"Dude, when did our genre change from Slice-of-Life to Cooking Battle?" Kaminari blinked that evening before dinner as Genki did the work of a half-dozen people, his hands a blur as he prepped ingredients at breakneck speed.

"When the heck were we in a 'Slice-of-Life'?" Kyoka deadpanned, though she too was similarly transfixed by the superhuman dexterity on display.

"Between our numerous encounters with convicted Villains, obviously," Shoto hummed frankly and with a completely straight face.

"OH! Two-tone over here's got some sass! I love it!" Sero whooped.

"Bakagou, you're slowing me down!"

"THE NAME'S 'BAKUGOU', AND YOU'RE JUST TOO DAMNED FAST!"

"Well, at least they're getting along," Ochako hummed sarcastically, breathing in the amazing scent coming from the pots, pans, and oven. Throw in all the rice cookers scattered across the common area, and tonight's dinner promised to be filling in every sense.

Class 1-A had decided to gather together for something of a potluck. Any actual "party" would come after the License exam.

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Who's at the door?" Toru blinked as the door swung wide.

"Greetings, losers!" Monoma cackled, a Tupperware in his hands that he almost dropped in the face of Itsuka's neck chop, the bulk of 1-B in attendance with their own dishes.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE LOSERS DOING HERE?!" Bakugou raged, but not without turning away from his work.

"We're here for the sit-down potluck. Didn't your class rep tell you?" Itsuka asked.

"Blast! I knew I had forgotten something!" Iida cursed dramatically.

"Well, that's important is we're here now," Jurota hummed as he and Tetsutetsu carried in a dining table, other pairs and trios of the boys from 1-B doing the same.

"Isn't this some sort of fire hazard?" Kyoka blinked as the 1-A common area swelled to beyond capacity.

"Not according to the placard."

"What placard?"

"Exactly," Mina nodded.

When the time came, the gathered food was arranged in a buffet style, predominantly Japanese comfort food, but there were a few processed foods from overseas, some Chinese, one French, and several bins of takeout from local businesses.

The vast majority of 1-A and 1-B were able to get along, a fair tradeoff to how those that couldn't stand one another absolutely despised the presence of their opposite rank.

Honestly, the entire thing was a spur-of-the-moment idea between class representatives, but with how much energy had been brought into 1-A's dorm, the possibility for follow-up potlucks was definitely in the books.

*DAY 10*

When the tenth day arrived, it was time for everyone to show off the fruits of their hard work. While the letter of the assignment was to have two Ultimate Moves ready for the Provisional License Exam, the spirit of it was to show that you had been taking your training seriously-enough that you could be reasonably confident in your own ability to pass. While there really wasn't any upper limit on how many students could take the test at each venue, it wasn't an uncommon story for an entire class' formation to fall apart because of a single weak link, which, in turn, would cause dozens of students to fail out that would have normally passed.

At the absolute minimum, you needed at least one Ultimate Move and significant "proof of growth", whether it was the technical use of your Quirk, and/or the Support Items you intended to carry into your time as a provisional hero.

For one Izuku Midoriya, the past week and a half was an utter joy, and not merely because of his monumental breakthrough with his use of [One for All].

It wasn't only his friend Iida he had been observing; he'd been "Quirkwatching" his entire class, filling up the remaining pages of the "Hero Analysis" notebook he'd dedicated toward the Quirks of his peers after their original pages could no longer contain his thoughts and observations. To witness how far his peers had come since his initial observations -and predictions- at their shared Quirk Apprehension Test, filled him with immense pride and hope for the future, as uncertain as it was looking to become.

His only regret at the present circumstance, was that he had been entirely unable to observe how Genki chose to develop his Quirk. While it had certainly taken some mental gymnastics not to see him as a complete stranger after his literal metamorphosis into his more-matured form from his previously subdued and understated build, he couldn't deny that Genki himself had likely contended with an adjustment period to his own body. Doubly-so after the Heteromorph's close brush with death, of a more insidious nature than his more-direct, blatantly head-on clash with the B-Rank Villain, Muscular.

The display to follow was tailored not only to the Quirks of each student, but also to the content of their development. Some required stationary targets or topography provided by Cementoss, some made use of the living targets provided by Ectoplasm, while a few others took place out on the field under the morning sunlight.

Yuga Aoyama's development lay with the finesse he developed for his [Naval Laser], making a very William Tellian display by shooting an apple off an Ectoplasm clone's head with a pencil-thin laser, instead of one of the full-on "beams" he'd more consistently displayed; this one he called Naval Ray. His second Ultimate Move, Naval Laser Pen, involved him shooting that same pencil-thin beam into a block of concrete, writing what would appear to most Japanese as some kind of coded message; assuming they couldn't read French. Despite the utterly "flashy" nature of his Quirk, Aoyama's showing was more subdued than expected, but then again, anyone with a Quirk like his could be loud and obnoxious; it took real "artistry" to show off that level of precision, something Aoyama had been lacking in up until the present. His ability to withstand the "recoil" from his Quirk, both as a result of his own training and adjustments made to his costume not dissimilar to Ochako's, allowed him to pass this assignment with flying colors.

Even if the actual "writing" with his [Naval Laser] made him look like a complete goober.

Mina Ashido's first showing was the spray of acid from her pressed hands, her Acid Wash shot out like a pressure washer, melting a hole completely through a concrete target, followed by her Acid Veil which could melt thrown projectiles into practically nothing. However, her tertiary showing, a full-body gelatinous coating of her own [Acid], dubbed Acid Queen, was inspired not just by Kirishima's Quirk, but Genki's own Acid Armor all the way back from their clash during the Sports Festival; unlike Kirishima and Genki's moves both, Mina's Ultimate Move added a significant bulk to her silhouette, and could be used for both defense and offense in the same stroke.

It was also something she couldn't use unless her acid was of the flesh-melting variety because that was the only way Acid Queen had any sort of "cohesion". Solvents as she made them, simply couldn't hold together.

Tsuyu Asui's upgraded costume, while not experiencing any major cosmetic changes apart from being re-sized to fit her after her Quirk awakened, was able to make use of her new Camouflage ability thanks to her hair being woven into the new mesh. Following this was her Frog Kata, the beginnings of her own martial art that made use of her more-mature frame, tongue, leaping ability, and wall-climbing. The form was in its earliest stages, but given how-well she did against Ectoplasm's clones compared to the last time they threw hands, Tsuyu definitely had an enormous potential for future growth; especially as she accumulated real-world experience.

Aizawa himself, considered it a bonus that Tsuyu was so well-behaved, as compared to someone like Mirko who was known as "The Legendary Schoolgirl Hooligan" in her middle school days.

Tenya Iida's development manifested itself in both his Quirk and the debut of an updated costume. His Recipro Turbo, only usable after ripping out his mufflers and re-growing new ones, gave him an enormous ten-minute burst of speed that easily surpassed his Recipro Burst, with the obvious drawback being that his turning radius was even shittier according to Oguro who, in his heyday, had been able to turn on a dime despite his speed. The updates to his costume were, apart from being remade from a carbon fiber alloy, was not only far more aerodynamic, but had also incorporated parts of Mei's Auto Balancer system from the Sports Festival to help him make those corners; in spite of Iida's personal friction with the designer. The system would never be able to work around the strain of his Recipro Burst, let alone his Recipro Turbo, but it was definitely a step in the right direction like when his brother Tensei decided it was a good idea to include airbags.

Though honestly, why Tenya let a non-expert design something meant to actually be aerodynamic, neither Aizawa nor Oguro would ever understand.

Ochako Uraraka's development was not only in increasing the strength of her semicircular canals, and thus her "uptime" freed from the effects of Earth's gravity, but her upper weight limit on how much mass she could negate the gravity of in the first place. Meteor Fafrotskies was a tag-team Ultimate Move where she'd use her Quirk to make a large block of "debris" float, have someone stronger than her chuck it, and then return its gravity right before impact for maximum, well… impact. On top of her Zero Satellite, where she could use a newly-installed grappling hook to swing debris about like a flail, the grappling hook itself opened up her Zero Slingshot, where she would fire hooks from both hands and quickly reel herself in while under the effect of her own Quirk, allowing her to essentially fly. By "toggling" her Quirk on and off again, she could essentially decelerate enough before hitting the ground that her leg-mounted cushions and springs could soften the shock.

Something Genki had idly suggested in the last week was that she use her Quirk on herself and then put on something that didn't have its gravity negated to make herself "neutrally buoyant", but that was less an Ultimate Move and more of a life hack to let her train up her Quirk on the daily.

Mashirao Ojiro had not only reinforced his costume with lightweight armor, but had also added a "cuff" to his tail that could transform the end of it into a "mace" with the push of a button, giving him a great deal more stopping power with his extra limb. Not only did this let his Tornado Tail Dance break apart concrete, something he couldn't do with an unprotected tail, but it would also protect his extra tuft of hair from fire damage; something that had come up in the USJ in the Conflagration Zone. Another "Ultimate Move" that just barely skirted the line to needing uppercase letters, was shedding the Ultradense Weights like what his teachers had worn in the Final Exams for a boost of speed.

Aizawa considered aforementioned "boost" a bit minor and a little too "Battle Shounen" for his tastes, but weight training did work on those with Heteromorphic Traits, and he was sure the discrepancy between "Weighted" and "Unweighted" forms would only grow as he continued to train himself up.

Denki Kaminari, in terms of a Support Item, had gone with a Sharpshooter that was clearly inspired by the Azure Striker: Gunvolt's. Giving sidearms to a student was always a huge ask, even if it was closer to a railgun with ultra-conductive projectiles to help ground his [Electrification], but since his Quirk wasn't built-in with a sub-Quick to psychokinetically control the electricity once it left his body, Yuuei was able to get the go-ahead. The "Nails" in of themselves only had a working distance of 10 meters, but putting the Nails in-sequence would not only let him conduct his [Electrification] through his Electri-chain, but putting them around a target also let him use an Electri-net for one or multiple adversaries.

Of course, since the thing was essentially a nail gun with extra steps, his Optical Visor had to also be OSHA-approved on the off-chance any of his nails accidentally rebounded into his face. And in-general, eye protection was always appreciated by support staff within the industry.

Eijiro Kirishima's costume had been updated with sleeves that would let him carry people without the risk of cutting them on any sharp edges, though why he'd use [Hardening] while actively carrying someone escaped Aizawa's grasp. In general, his Quirk only did one thing, so instead of trying to use fancy Support Items to compensate, outside of a grappling hook that'd let him get the high-ground for a flying press that he redubbed Falling Press, he'd taken All Might's advice to heart and doubled down on what he could do to debut his Unbreakable. The technique involved using [Hardening] across his entire body, and then used [Hardening] again with all of his remaining soft tissue to generate an extremely rugged, borderline monstrous appearance that was practically invulnerable to most forms of physical attack.

That he and Bakugou had been actively testing their Ultimate Moves on one another in live-fire exercises, was exactly the sort of initiative Aizawa appreciated from his students. Of course, for his own safety he abstained from actively observing so that, if Recovery Girl caught wind of it, he could claim plausible deniability and let the two hot heads take the fall.

Koji Koda for his part wasn't the sort that would call out his Ultimate Moves in the declarative sense "like a complete goober" as certain critics and/or pundits called it, but he'd come a great way in getting over his fear of arthropods with his new Cockroach King, the insectoid version of his new Hitchcock Birds. Barring an early incident where Koji had an "altercation" with the school's cockroach population who believed him to be "a pretender to the throne" that had taken exception to being "talked down to", the quiet boy had made excellent progress despite his more passive personality. His costume hadn't been upgraded very much beyond some extra protective padding, since his [Anivoice] couldn't be conducted through a speaker system, so his mouth guard was just to protect his face and filter out airborne irritants.

Aizawa had raised a brow when he caught sight of a bullwhip of all things on the teen's hip, but since the kid was going for a "beast tamer" vibe instead of an S, he supposed there were worse people than Midnight he could learn to use such a niche weapon type from.

Rikido Sato had, through intensive training, learned how to fuel his Quirk with natural sugars from fruit. While not an Ultimate Move, his alternate fuel source also less-effective with his [Sugar Rush] than processed sugars which comparatively had a "greater purity", it was definitely a step in the right direction since eating cake in a disaster area could send the wrong message. The boy, thanks to his time at the Kabutomushi Agency, had not only reinforced his costume with gauntlets that could turn into armored knuckle dusters so as to not punch concrete with his bare hands anymore, but he had also learned how to grapple, and his beefy arms were perfect for headlocks, the extra armor on his costume protecting him from any point-blank reprisal from anyone whose anatomy was more "slippery".

Of course, the boy's Sugar Clutch, which had snapped an Ectoplasm clone in half with a bony *CRUNCH!* before its constituent "ectoplasm" lost all cohesion, has hardly something he thought appropriate for the everyday…

Mezo Shoji, similar to Kirishima, had doubled down on what he was good at; albeit, he had more "options" with how he utilized his Quirk. First was his Octoblow, manifesting many fist-ended arms to rain down a barrage of extremely powerful blows; the trickiest part of the choreography, as it were, was learning how to make each punch land in series instead of parallel and dilute their cumulative power. Something trickier than it sounded since he'd only ever used two elbows, with the rest of his arms always being closer to tentacles. Next was his augmented Octo-Searcher, which also made him look like some kind of Lovecraftian horror, but its tactical use would only be determinable in a live-fire exercise, if not out in the field. Sterile enclosures like the TKL were hardly credible litmus tests for something like reconnaissance.

Aizawa had also noted that the larger teen had been avoiding Genki like the plague, but there wasn't any outright animosity between the two, so while he let the matter lie, he wouldn't do what All Might did with Midoriya & Bakugou either.

Kyoka Jiro had finally upgraded her costume to include wrist-mounted sonic weapons, something Aizawa had thought was long-overdue since her Stereo Boots, while certainly a creative choice, hardly seemed the most practical given how much extra ground her [Earphone Jacks] had to cover from lobe to jack. She'd also included noise-dampening headphones to help filter out ambient white noise, but it'd hardly protect her from the backlash of listening to something like an explosion with how keyed-in her Quirk let her really be. Something Aizawa also appreciated about how she chose to train herself, was that she was attempting to put some distance between her Quirk and everything that could damage them by learning to use weapons. As someone whose own Quirk had been significantly "nerfed" because of his injuries at the USJ, the plight of those whose Quirks lost functionality because of "worksite injuries", was something that hit very close to home.

His only hangup was that she'd chosen to learn from Oguro of all people, but he'd made Gunhead's quote/unquote "martial arts" look like a complete joke, and with the Heroes always being on the backfoot from the LOV, beggars couldn't be choosers, and Kyoka had a surprisingly good right hook for her size.

Hanta Sero's growth with the Spider Silk Hero: Arachnid showed in how the use of his Quirk evolved past the "point & shoot" method from before. He could swing his [Tape] around to make cocoons, nets, and even turtle-shell binds that'd make Midnight blush. His Tape Shot: Trident was the most-impressive of his "named" Ultimate Moves, and combined with Ochako making a bunch of debris lightweight, or maybe "zero-weight", it had a tremendous amount of stopping power. That he'd been able to keep the splash zone to a minimal was also impressive, given how not every stand of tape he used for it was the same length, nor every piece of debris the same size.

The only hangup Aizawa really had was with the Tape Shot: Flying Shell Bind, but PR could spin that around to make it less pervy. That or shell out its historical leanings since the art of Shibari had originally been used to contain prisoners in a time where metal shackles were too-expensive to see widespread use through the whole of Japan.

Fumikage Tokoyami's showing started off with his Abyssal Black Body, a name that'd need to be shortened to be sure, but had the intriguing application of draping [Dark Shadow] over his body like a living mantle. His attack patterns were the same as when [Dark Shadow] was acting independently, with the added benefit of protecting his main body. While his Mutant-type sub-Quirk did give him a slightly anthropomorphized bird's head, his body in general wasn't all that more-durable than a baseline human, so this was a huge step in the right direction. Especially since close combat was one of his weaker areas, a trap that many mid-range-types fell into when their Quirks could let them act hands-off. His Black Fallen Angel was a real eye-opener, but given he'd been relegated to after-action cleanup during his internship with the then-No.3 Hero, Hawks, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Tokoyami was turning his frustrations into something productive.

Of course, Aizawa couldn't make heads or tails of how Tokoyami was actually using [Dark Shadow] to fly and not fall flat on his face, but, then again, even he couldn't figure out why using his [Erasure] made his hair and scarf flutter about like something from a horror movie.

Shoto Todoroki, having inherited a "Composite Quirk" from his parents, certainly had a great diversity of options since he essentially had two Quirks, [Hellflame] and [Subzero]. His Wall of Flames, which he later shortened to Firewall on Genki's insistence, was an Ultimate Move that almost every fire-using Hero had in one form or another given how-common Fire Quirks were in the industry. Being able to perform the move without losing control of it was actually something of a "rite of passage" among fire-users, and Aizawa was glad to see that the son of the now-No.1 Hero had gotten over his previous hangups with that part of his Quirk. His father's Flashfire Fist was still a ways off, but Todoroki's Rocket Sled was definitely a step in the right direction of making the most out of both halves of his Quirk.

Aizawa just hoped the boy knew to keep the water damage to a minimum; all that ice had to go somewhere.

Toru Hagakure getting a new costume, especially with winter right around the corner, was definitely a relief for her homeroom teacher. He didn't think she'd get a nanotech costume from I-Island of all places, but despite his words to the contrary, networking in academia was an important part of the process. As for her Ultimate Moves, her Warp Refraction: Say Cheese! was taking a moment's worth of sunlight from around herself and setting it off in people's faces like a flash grenade. Her Warp Refraction: Naval Laser had originally been an accident when one of Aoyama's [Naval Laser] blasts flew wide, but that it was more than a one-off meant it could be called an Ultimate Move; especially since beam and laser-type projectiles weren't uncommon Emitter-type Quirks as well. There was also her Warp Refraction: Solar Flare based on an old manga where she would "stockpile" sunlight and then unleash it for an even more-powerful blast, and while the actual charging of the move swapped out her invisibility with luminosity, it was just a good thing that her body in that state was too-hard to look at, otherwise the nudity would've been more of an issue.

Well, there was also the fact that there were some people whose Quirks would let them see her in one form or another anyway, but the DNA-Fabric thermals she'd be wearing in the colder months would help preserve her modesty on that front.

Katsuki Bakugou had gone for broke, showing off multiple Ultimate Moves. A few of them were vast improvements of the ones he'd already shown off, with the first of his new stock being his AP Shot, where he concentrated the power of his [Explosion] Quirk into a single beam by using one hand over the other as a funnel. A variant was his AP Shot: Auto-Cannon, a weaker rapid-fire version that could be used on human targets without flat-out murdering them. Last but not least was his Land Mine Blast where he aimed his Grenadier Bracer at the ground and used the massive explosion for massive AOE damage. Definitely not the sort of thing he could use in a metropolitan area, but if the site had already been wrecked by a Villain…

The only real complaint Aizawa had was that the boy kept screaming the monosyllabic "DIE!" at the top of his lungs every five minutes, but he was sure the boy would learn to stop eventually. The man shuddered to imagine what kind of world would elevate him to the heights of popularity in spite of his sociopathic tendencies…

Izuku Midoriya's showing, his Full Cowling: Shoot Style, was certainly flashy when all he had to use it on were stationary concrete targets, with his Iron Soles being a logical add-on so he wouldn't absolutely mutilate his toes and feet whenever he hit something with a durability equal to his own. To those who practiced actual martial arts however, because of all the wasted movements he showed, it was clear that Izuku had a long way to go since, up until then, he'd only ever really fought using bone-breaking finger flicks and super-powered punches that treated his body "like a rental". His current Delaware Smash, while nowhere near as powerful as when he used it against Todoroki in the Sports Festival, was definitely a marked improvement because he could use it up to a dozen times with the same finger before it genuinely began to bruise. Given the sheer beating his body had taken up until this point, it was good that he'd finally begun to think about his "longevity" as a Hero instead of going tunnel blind and only thinking about the person right in front of him that needed saving. There were plenty of Heroes out there who fell too deeply into the "high" that came with using their Quirks with little to no oversight, and many of those same Heroes often "burned out" because they got to a point where their bodies simply couldn't endure their then-current lifestyle of Derring do.

As much as the class didn't want to admit it, All Might's current state, was because of the complete and utter disregard of the limitations of his body. And though the man hadn't shown off the mangled torso he kept hidden, it didn't take a genius to figure out that there was something seriously wrong under the hood if he looked like he were "a hundred pounds soaking wet" if you highballed it.

Momo Yaoyorozu's showing was more "technical" in nature, somewhat like a demo at a SupportCon since her Quirk, when you boiled it down, was basically the power of "stuff". Not that her efforts could be discounted; while Aizawa wasn't entirely fond of having Oguro around and possibly inspiring bad habits, he was hardly any worse than All Might whose lessons previously all boiled down to "punch it" or "punch it harder". And the man's tutelage was all over the fact that the beginning of Momo's showing was the different sorts of explosives she had memorized by heart; tear gas, breaching charges, det cord… Surprisingly enough, one of her demos was subduing an Ectoplasm clone with military-grade duct tape, which in a pinch could be used in place of an Iron Maiden; it didn't matter how-powerful a person was, if you took away all of their leverage. Not to mention, duct tape was something that everyone knew how to use, and was more-useful in a disaster area than most thought in lieu of more-dedicated materials.

Of course, the real eye-opener for the Yaoyorozu heiress' showing was when she used a tag-team Ultimate Move with Kaminari as a living battery to power a legit Electromagnetic Rail Gun. An implement significantly more-powerful than the gunpowder-based breech cannons she'd used in the past, that she was able to punch a hole all the way through to the outside of the TKL through a number of concrete targets made it abundantly clear that this was meant to be a "sure-kill" weapon and Ultimate Move. When asked why she spent time in the Support Department learning how to make an implement like this...

"If the League of Villains ever show up again with more Noumu… I need to be ready. The last time I encountered one of those… creatures… I was almost completely helpless. I just… If I have enough forewarning, I want to be able to cause the maximum amount of damage possible in a single moment, because I'm afraid I might not get a second."

This too was an uncomfortable truth that most in 1-A had been unwilling to ruminate on; that the bioengineered living weapons, the "Noumu", were something that could be manufactured even independently of the SS-Rank Villain: All for One.

While there had been no sightings of these mindless creatures since Kamino Ward had been turned into a yawning hole in the ground, and also a massive graveyard, the absence of proof was not in fact, proof of absence. Until it was conclusively determined one way or another, the name of the game was vigilance.

Momo did have another Ultimate Move in the form of her own brand of "Pocket Sand", a combination of gritty silicates, diamond dust, carbon powder, capsaicin, and other irritants to force an enemy's eyes shut, but her Electromagnetic Rail Gun was definitely a difficult act to follow.

"Oguro," Aizawa spoke up from his list.

"He'll be here," the former O'Clock answered. "Hold on, do you hear something?"

"Music?" Aizawa blinked, he and the rest of the class turning to the TKL's double doors as they suddenly swung open, letting in not only a brilliant light, but also a powerful-sounding music.

Cue My Hero Academia OST – My Hero Academia

Eyes quickly adjusting to the blinding tide of light pouring into the room at the approaching figure's back, those same eyes widened to various degrees as Genki Gokiburi coolly stepped into the TKL, the world before them moving in slow motion as his new Hero Costume was revealed -to them- for the first time.

The base of his new attire consisted of a red sleeveless tank top with a deep V-neck to show off his mouth-watering pectoral muscles, his legs clad in matching tights with a "wire grid" pattern reminiscent of the "ninja fishnet" shown in popular culture. Above this he wore two pieces of Hard Rubber Armor; a chest piece designed to show off his powerful chest and arms, and a set of chaps that clung to powerful legs, both done in white, the two connected together at the waist by a number of small belts colored in black, an array of small red pouches hanging around his waist. On his forearms and shins he wore white bandage-like armor that reminded Izuku of the Full Gauntlet he'd worn -for a time- at I-Island and had retained as a souvenir, black fingerless gloves on his hands and "battle sandals" on his feet. Hanging around his neck was a red infinity scarf, his shock of white hair stylishly spiky at the front and drawn into a long ponytail at the back that fluttered behind him; a seeming substitute to the long scarf that ninjas in popular culture wore, even if it wasn't historically accurate.

To those that had seen the Before & After, the difference was as stark as night and day. Genki's original costume had been primarily an understated mottling of brown shades with green accenting, done up in a very strong Tokusatsu theme, the head-covering helmet meant to compensate for his girlish, borderline plain features.

In contrast, Genki's new outfit did its best to show off his new body, his new "brand", revealing for all to see his powerful muscles and Adonis-like face. And while the ninja-themed re-brand was fairly obvious, as opposed to Edgeshot's flashier design, Genki's attire lacked his then-mentor's excess of accoutrements. If anything, it was closer to a "ninja martial artists'" from any number of popular fighting games. Something streamlined to capitalize on the overwhelming speed his Awakened Quirk granted him.

As far as color schemes went, Genki had gone in a very good direction with his new attire, which they would later learn had been made by the same studio that'd made his father's costume. Treating his bronzed skin like a "base coat", his shock of white hair and his red eyes complimented the rest of his attire very well with white as the primary, and red as the secondary. The only issue that those more-savvy to the industry were worried about was whether or not there'd be any brand overlap with the only other tan-skinned, white-haired, and red-eyed Hero in the country; the Rabbit Hero: Mirko.

His ponytail fluttering in the wind, after a minute of the uplifting soundtrack, normal time seemed to assert itself as he spoke up-

"Mei… Mei. Mei! Enough with the theme music already!" Genki suddenly shouted over his shoulder.

"Sorry."

END OST

A moment later the light pouring into the TKL abated, revealing Mei Hatsume standing beside a Support Item that combined a flood light, industrial fan, and a boombox, the setup astride a monowheel not unlike the One-Pointer Villain Bots that Yuuei used in its vetting process.

"Soooooo…~ What do you think of his new look~?" Mei grinned eagerly.

"Genki…! You look…" Tsuyu trailed off as she drank him in.

"H-o-t, HOT!" Mina gushed while off to the side, Toru was practically drooling.

"Well, I'm glad it turned out so well," he said with what became a charming smile as he experimentally clenched his raised fist a couple times, unintentionally, or very intentionally, flexing his new bicep in the process. "Aizawa-sensei, Oguro-sensei, I'm ready to show off the fruits of my training. Sorry it took so long to make it back here."

"Before you start, do you think you have enough corn starch?" Oguro asked with a completely straight face.

"Yes, yes, I patted myself down before getting changed," Genki sighed as he walked up to Ectoplasm and handed him a piece of paper from one of his pouches, whispering to the teacher for a moment before stepping between 1-A and the TKL's center in the de facto 'starting position'.

"Genki, you may begin ready."

"Heh. I was trained ready!"

With his words of consent as the signal, Ectoplasm vomited his cloudy namesake from his mouth across the TKL floor, the rolling cloud swiftly rising up into a number of identical doppelgangers, revealing a "PVE" approach to the displayal of his Ultimate Moves of choice.

Cue My Hero Academia OST – Jet Set Run

In the blink of an eye and a *boom* of superhuman speed, Genki had already closed in on the first clone.

"Hissatsu Waza: DEVIL BUG SCYTHE!"

His right leg coming around in a kick aimed at the elbow, the bandage-like armor around his calf suddenly vented jets of concentrated air, increasing the speed of his kick before his shin struck the clone in the elbow and ribs with a satisfying *CRUNCH!*, the clone sent pinwheeling through the air and "de-congealing" in mid-flight, spattering a concrete pillar with milky white "blood".

"Oh! That's gotta hurt!" Mina winced.

"Hissatsu Waza: DEVIL BUG GATTLING!"

Rebounding at a cluster of clones, powerful shoulders and powerful elbows carried a barrage of mighty blows into the three like industrial pistons, the *BAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!* of fists cratering flesh sounding through the TKL's air until the doppelgangers de-congealed.

"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" Toru cheered excitedly at the display before Aizawa shushed her.

The next moment Genki backflipped through the air, platinum hair whipping around him as he curled in on himself before he suddenly landed atop another clone. Muscular arms wrapped around its neck in a picture-perfect chokehold, his legs formed a flying split before jets of air shot out of his leg armor.

"Hissatsu Waza: DEVIL CORKSCREW!"

"GNAH!" All Might winced, his hands going to his neck as Genki spun himself -and the Ectoplasm clone's head- around and around in circles until the latter was torn off like a twist-top.

The Ectoplasm clone spattering, Genki landed in a handstand before he vaulted at another clone, repeating the display two more times and spinning all the while before surging toward the last remaining clone, right arm drawn back and muscles tensed like bridge cables.

"Hissatsu Waza: DEVIL FORK!"

Muscular arm exploding forward in a claw-handed, jet-powered strike, Ectoplasm's clone was impaled upon the Heteromorph's arm in what would've been a killing blow. The clone being lifted from its peg-legged feet and overhead, milky white "ectoplasm" burbling out of the wound, a moment later its body swelled like a balloon before exploding, the bandage-like armor on Genki's forearm venting jets of air.

"Hah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Bakugou whooped before clamping a hand over his mouth.

Before the last of the clone's ephemeral viscera had struck the ground, Genki had already exploded toward the last-remaining clone. Panic written across its helmeted face as the white-haired teen closed in on him, his pupil-less red eyes widened, an apathetic look on his face as he drew his arm back, muscles swelling to capacity. Feet rooted right in front of it as he stopped, Genki twisted at every major joint along his body, adding power, power, and yet more power to his strike as the clenched fist flew towards the clone's chest.

"Hissatsu Waza: DEVIL CANNON!"

The *BOOM!* like an airburst bomb going off, the upper half of the clone's body disintegrated from the force of the blow, All Might's hands going to his mouth and what remained of his stomach.

END OST

"I think I'm going to be sick…" the former Symbol of Peace shuddered in face of such brutality.

"WHOO! WAY TO GO GENKI!"

"What the-? Setsuna?!" Genki blinked as he whirled around, everyone's eyes turning to the catwalks to see some of the girls from 1-B standing on high.

"You-You looked really cool down there!" Kinoko cried out, red in the face as she felt everyone's eyes on her.

"Was that second one from JoJo's or North Star?" Pony questioned, in English.

"Umu," Yui nodded with a thumbs up. Her face was stoic, bordering on unexpressive, but for someone with compound eyes that could dissect everything around him in high definition, the excited glint in her eyes may as well have been a neon sign.

"H-Hey, hold on a second! Are they supposed to be here?!" Kaminari sputtered.

"Nothing saying we can't, sparky!" Setsuna grinned. "Genki! You kicked ass down there!" she then grinned her shared boyfriend's way. "What else can you do with that body~?" she purred salaciously.

Genki blushed momentarily up to his ears, but a moment later he comported himself, giving her a charming smile and replied- "Anything you want it to~"

Setsuna in response blushed a cherry red, a sentiment shared by her classmates, but only her jaw fell off onto the floor.

"With that in mind, I have a list of what I'd like you to do to me after-hours," Mei spoke up completely straight-faced, a piece of oil-spattered paper with the odd electrical burn in her hand.

"Wait, you have a list?!" Ochako blushed.

"Yeah, don't you?"

Ochako blushed in turn, but that didn't tell anyone much of anything.

"Um, Genki…" All Might said stepping forward, looking up at the white-haired teen. "While I appreciate the zeal you've dedicated to your craft… I'm not sure these Ultimate Moves are really appropriate. Unless you can bring anything a little more… understated to the table-"

"Oh, so you give the walking hate crime a pass-" Genki started calmly with a sideways glance.

"I AM NOT RACIST! I HATE EVERYONE EQUALLY!" Bakugou raged furiously.

"Surprising no-one," muttered the rest of his class.

"-but you withhold my passing grade because I'm a Mutant?!" he continued in an elevated tone that carried up to the catwalks.

"All Might is racist?" Pony blinked, her expression quickly souring before she cried out. "All Might is racist!"

"EH? Nononononono! I am not racist!" All Might cried in a panic when multiple pairs of eyes looked at him appraisingly, the gears turning behind their eyes.

"And yet, the only one whose lethal-esque Ultimate Moves you have a problem with, is the Mutant," Oguro chimed in with crossed arms.

"A-Aizawa! Say something!" All Might cried out.

"Hey, you're the one who mixed politics into this. I don't care one way or another if Genki is a Mutant or not," the Erasure Hero grumbled from his sleeping bag, which he had just-then crawled into.

"Ah hah! I knew it! You really are racist!" Genki cried out.

"H-Hold on a second! I'm sure there's a very good explanation for all of this!" Izuku cried out to the former No.1's defense.

"Oh really. Then tell me Mr. All Shrine; how many raids against the Creature Rejection Clan has All Might ever participated in?"

"Zero," Izuku answered automatically.

*Clap*

"Ain't no point closing the barn door after the horses are out," Pony hummed after Izuku clapped his hands over his mouth.

"You know, I always figured, but didn't want to assume you were a closet racist," Genki said as he looked down at All Might's emaciated form, something ugly and hateful glinting in his crimson, pupil-less eyes. "Of course, you getting my dad basically murdered should've clued me in. And you always did hit my fellow Mutants extra-hard. Stood on their bodies more too when the cameras came out."

"Genki, I didn't mean to let what happened to your father happen," All Might insisted, only for Genki to haul the injured man up by his shirt collar, shocking everyone.

"YOU SAY THAT, YET YOU CLEARLY HELD BACK AT THE END!" Genki raged, his furious eyes drawing Oguro and Aizawa into action. "AND DON'T THINK I DIDN'T NOTICE THAT ALL FOR ONE HAD A FRIED POTATO HEAD UNDER THAT HELMET! WHAT WAS STOPPING YOU FROM MAKING MASHED POTATOES THIS TIME?! HUH!? ANSWER ME YOU SONOFA-"

"Genki, that's enough," Oguro said putting a hand on Genki's wrist, the whitette looking to his uncle, Aizawa, and then his shellshocked classmates before clicking his tongue and dropping the former Symbol of Peace.

"Whatever. It's not like anything I've said is untrue," Genki huffed as he walked off, shooting All Might a last hateful look before storming out.

"Midoriya," Shoto chimed in.

"Um, y-yes?" the greenette asked pulling his hands from his mouth.

"Has All Might really never fought the CRC?"

Izuku clamping his hands over his mouth, made everyone else really uncomfortable.

"They say the brightest light does cast the longest shadow…" Tokoyami hummed as he began to leave.

"H-Hold on a second! I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation!" Kaminari called out.

"Maybe, but that still got pretty ugly," Kyoka hummed twirling one of her earlobes.

"Hey, his dad got ripped in two! Genki deserves to be a little salty!" Toru cried out before she too ran off.

"While I am sure this tapestry has a multitude of layers to it, Toru does have a point…" Momo hummed somberly. "We should try to see about Genki's reasoning."

"Damn, and I thought our class had issues," Setsuna hummed before she made her way down from the catwalk, casting her feet to the ground and telekinetically controlling their descent before sending her body piecemeal to follow. Pony projected a horn which she straddled like a broom, Kinoko joining on with Setsuna after she increased its size with her Quirk.

*MHA*

Despite his outrage, Genki hadn't gone far, though he had left a fist-shaped indention in a nearby wall.

Toru was the first to approach him despite her classmates' warnings for caution, the Invisible Girl carefully threading her fingers into his free hand, looking up imploringly at him.

"Genki-kun…?"

"I'm… I'm sorry you had to see that," the taller teen said as he turned to face her, the charming smile he sent her way marred by the pain behind his crimson eyes.

"You… You don't really think All Might is racist, do you?" she asked, her heart aching.

"Even if not consciously, race politics has always been in the back of his mind," Genki said as he turned away, pressing his forehead to the wall. "In order to become the 'Symbol of Peace', he had to make himself appealing to the largest number of people possible. In order to do that, he threw Mutantkind under the bus because we're in the minority, and he could afford to 'lose our vote'."

"Th-There's no way All Might would do that!" Izuku cried as he ran forward, his resolve faltering as a single crimson eye looked over its owners shoulder at him.

"And yet, All Might never once advocated for Mutant Equal Rights. Never once said to the world that treating us like we're lesser 'is wrong'," Genki flawlessly countered. "Did you know that even now, Mutants are murdered out in the sticks without reprisal just because they aren't fetish bait?" he asked dropping a lead weight into 1-A's stomachs. "Because All Might never took a stand against the racism, everyone just followed his lead and assumed there was nothing wrong with thinking that way. 'If All Might is cool with it, why should we stop?' -is what they all think. And even if he decides to take a stand now, no-one will take him seriously because it'll only look like he's covering his ass now that his Quirk is gone."

"Dark," Sato chimed in.

" . . . How did you know All Might fought that guy from Kamino before?" Tsuyu asked, voicing what many of them were thinking.

"Who else could stand up to a guy that could cause that much damage with that-many Quirks?" Genki asked laconically.

"Sooo… That was really the Quirk Stealer he fought…?" Kirishima asked nervously.

"Yup."

"How come no-one thought he was real?" Mina asked. "Why did our parents tell us he was made-up when they weren't using him to scare the pants off of us?"

"It was easier for everyone to delude themselves into thinking he was made-up, than it was to confront the possibility that they could genuinely lose their Quirks and become second-class citizens," Genki sighed tiredly. "Not that Japan would've ever been peaceful with a bonafide 'Demon King' breathing down our necks. At the end of the day, it was a trade-off, and yet somehow, All Might lost the dead body anyway."

"Wait… If Oguro-san is your uncle…" Shoto chimed in.

"Technically 'godfather' if you want to split hairs."

"Then you've known All for One was real this entire time?"

"Kinda hard not to get told after almost being made into a Next-Level Villain," Genki answered.

"Dude, how the hell weren't you shitting your pants every moment of every day?!" Sero cried out.

"I was mature-enough to know to keep my mouth shut," Genki said as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Though, really, with all the cities that've just been… wiped completely off the map… you'd think more-people would be on notice…"

"Cities like where?" Shoto asked with a tilt of his head.

"Desayaku, Jeda, Aldera, Sakariv, Kijimi… Not that I think All for One flattened all of them, but I think what happens six years ago coincides with Jeda turning into a smoking hole in the ground."

"Why? What happened six years ago?" Mina asked, Izuku going completely pale in the face.

"Probably when All Might got whatever injury made him into a talking fish bone," Genki answered, taking some of the stress off Izuku's heart; but not a whole lot…

"But what could turn someone like All Might into… well… that?!" Kaminari asked.

"Hey, here's a crazy thought; you could ask the guy," Genki deadpanned.

"Um.. Don't you think it's a little too soon?" Toru asked.

"Human beings don't waste away like that overnight. Whatever made him that way, that's an old wound," Genki answered. "Then again, that's usually what happens when you treat your body like a rental."

"Geez, that's a real popular metaphor around here, huh?" Mina asked.

"Hm. I dunno. Let's ask the guy that breaks both arms twice a month."

"I'll have you know I only broke them both once this month," Izuku pouted.

"Which is one time too many…" Genki sighed, running his fingers over his scalp before facing Izuku and saying- "Izuku… All of you… We all have to step up. Now that All Might isn't around to pick up the slack, as soon as the show ponies catch on, there will be mass desertions. As soon as shit starts getting bad like 'before All Might', we're going to have to fight for the very heart and soul of our country. Hell, we'll be lucky to even have a country left after the dust finally settles."

"Huh. Being awfully dramatic, aren't ya?" Setsuna sked, coming into the conversation.

"I've grown up around Heroes my entire life. Heroes that weren't afraid to tell me what the real world is like instead of that sanitized, rose-tinted nonsense we're all shown on TV and Saturday morning cartoons. I've probably been to more funerals than all of you put together, so take my word for it when I say, I know what the world outside All Might's shadow looks like."

"Do… Do you really hate All Might that much…?" Kinoko asked worriedly.

"Only because he got my dad ripped in half like a phone book," Genki answered. "Once again, I'm sorry you had to see that. I'll understand if you change your mind about me."

"Don't worry. It's okay to get angry," Yui nodded, shooting him a thumbs-up of all things.

"But wait, is All Might a racist, or were you just laying into him?" Pony asked with a tilt of her head.

"It could go either way, but it doesn't change the fact that all Might tolerated the marginalization of an entire people," Genki answered. "Japan's biggest problem that no-one ever acknowledged, was All Might himself. No-one can wield that kind of power for decades on end without becoming complacent at best, or corrupt at worst. He had no idea how it'd overtaken him; he grew incapable of seeing all the little cumulative evils that Japan tolerated and fostered. From the dehumanization of the Quirkless and the Mutants to the constant vilification of those whose Quirks aren't 'palatable' to those with delicate sensibilities. He never once asked himself, 'Why aren't I stopping this?' He's supported a corrupted, rotting house for so long, that he never noticed the stench."

"Wow… That's… You've really been chewing on this, huh?" Mina asked.

"Like I said before, since All Might never told people that treating Mutants like garbage is wrong, most just assumed he was okay with it. That made the state of things abundantly clear," Genki answered. "And I can pretty much guarantee that if people suddenly like me more than back when I interned with Edgeshot, it's because I'm basically fetish bait."

"Maybe, but do the thoughts of the masses really matter beyond the superficial?" Momo asked.

"No… No, I suppose not," Genki answered, his heart feeling a bit lighter. "Anyway, we should probably see if Aizawa-sensei's dismissed us or not. You guys did kinda follow me after I stormed out."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Kaminari asked.

*MHA*

A good while later…

"What's he salty about?" Kyoka asked after freshening up, pointing at Midoriya who was sulking in the corner of the common area. "He still grumpy about Genki throwing shade on All Might?"

"Ah, Deku-kun's upset that Vlad King-sensei let Genki stay at the TKL to watch his, ahem, 'special friends', show off their Ultimate Moves," Ochako answered awkwardly.

"Yeah, that'd about do it," Kyoka nodded as Izuku muttered a tide of speculation regarding 1-B's Quirks, a cloud of teenage angst hovering around him so-thick you could practically taste it.

"Um… So what did you guys think of his Ultimate Moves?" she asked off-handedly. Or at least trying to sound off-handed.

"Maybe a little over-the-top?" Tsuyu hummed with a finger to her lip.

"I mean, sure, if you wanna call taking someone's head off like a twist-top 'over-the-top'…" Kaminari shuddered.

"Not really the sort of thing he could use on people, though," Kirishima hummed.

"Who says he intends to use those on people?" Shoto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, who else would he…?" the red-head blinked before stopping. "Wait, you think he's preparing for… for more Noumu?"

"Why not? The ones they found at Kamino were obviously decoys, and who's to say the League of Villains can't make more?" Shoto asked with a shrug.

"Shit like that out of Resident Evil would take major nerdage, and All Might did say the worst Villains operate indoors…" Sato hummed, crossing his arms thoughtfully. "And I mean, those Next-Level Villains from Naruhata were basically Noumu precursors, weren't they?"

"Logically speaking, yes," Shoto hummed, he and Genki having spoken at-length on the subject.

"But, All for One is dead. Doesn't that mean they can't make more Noumu?" Toru asked worriedly.

"We don't have any proof to that effect," Shoto stated. "For all we know they can, but we're supposed to think they can't make more without All for One."

"That sounds like conspiracy theory territory," Sero hummed.

"It isn't a conspiracy theory if it isn't wrong," Shoto countered.

"So basically we don't know squat about the League of Villains…" Mina pouted.

"If we knew everything there was to know about them, they wouldn't be Villains, just troublemakers," Momo said from the kitchen as she watched a tutorial video.

"Soooo… business as usual?" Ochako asked.

"Business as usual, I guess," Tsuyu nodded.

With the Provisional License Exam the following day, it really would be back to business as usual. No more "lazy days" of training their Quirks for school credit. No more evenings of zero homework. But more than anything else... When it came time to wake up "from the dream", there would be no more All Might.

Genki's hurt-driven words had been like an unwanted bucket of ice water over their sleeping selves, but that didn't make them any less true. There wouldn't be any sort of miraculous "second wind" like in all the Hero-genre movies where the big Hero goes "Plus Ultra" and defeats the bad guy. All Might as an entity, as a symbol, was gone now, and he wouldn't be coming back; it really would be on all of them to pick up the slack, both in the short and long-ter.

Maybe he was being a little over-dramatic by saying that they'd have to fight for the "heart and soul" of the country in the near future, but the League of Villains were still out there. Given the amount of personal animosity displayed toward Class 1-A, the class that All Might had taken to grooming personally, the chance that none of them would be targeted again was pretty much zero. Heck, Midoriya had been singled out during a trip to the shopping mall, and with someone like Kurogiri still out in the wind, such an event could happen again, and again, and again until the B-Rank Villain had been captured.

But all of that, was a story for another day...

*AN*

23K words? Did not plan for it to get this long, but it didn't feel right to split it up, either. As for why I did so much filling-in…

We basically only ever saw bits and pieces of Day 1 and the intervening time to Day 4, and then Days 5 through 10 (presuming Aizawa meant "10 full days" they can dedicate to training and the License Exam is on "Day 11") are just entirely glossed-over after Izuku finally remembers he can punch people with his feet on Day 4. That much off-time to work on interpersonal connections… was just too ripe a canvas to ignore, you know?

Were this chapter shorter by any significant margin, I'd have included an Archer-coma-dream-style Omake to when Genki was tripping out on microtoxin and horse tranquilizers. However, since this chapter is already long-enough, and bound to have gotten longer than 20K it was at before getting its "final once-over" on-site...

GO BEYOND!

EXCELSIOR!