I got the story from the others. It seemed like my quirk had gone out of control while I'd been in - whatever strange state Nightmare's quirk had put me into.

"I didn't have my jacks plugged in...They must've put them in deliberately, so my quirk would..." I trailed off.

"It is unfortunate that they are so well-informed about your class," said Gang Orca. "It has made it easier for them to make choices based off of your abilities."

"Did you pick up anything before they found you?" asked Shoji.

"Yes!" I jumped. "I did. A lot, actually." I hadn't failed completely. I told them everything I'd heard.

Gang Orca sat there for a long moment, then gave something approaching a smile. "Good work, Earphone Jack."

I felt a little shy. He rarely said stuff that nice. "My guess based on what I saw is Nightmare has some kind of fear quirk. Like, I think she made me experience my own worst fears, as if they were really happening, you know?"

"What did-" Orca started, then stopped. "Of course, that's personal. Go on."

I smiled weakly. I was glad he wasn't gonna make me explain. "They were talking about some kind of plan that they want to put into motion, now that All Might's out of the picture. They were gonna feed her quirk through the internet. Like, maybe they're gonna make lots of people experience that same fear state? Like mass fear and panic."

"A pretty diabolical plan," said Shoji. "There's no way to stop them from carrying it out without shutting down society."

"It won't come to that," said Orca. "We have the description of her quirk from Earphone Jack now. We just have to track her down based on the known individuals quirk fear quirks. You got a good look at her?'

"Yeah. I won't be forgetting her anytime son." I shivered.

"Then we're sure to catch her soon, with the police's help. In addition, they destroyed at least one of their own hideouts by torturing you, so they'll have trouble keeping out of sight.' He gave me a look that I think was meant to be kind. "Now, get some rest. You've gone through a lot."

I sighed. "I should apologize, sir. I got caught and screwed up the whole operation. If I'd just been a bit more careful, it'd have been a success."

"No need to apologize, young hero. You did great work and successfully uncovered an evil plot."

I gave them a weak smile, but when they'd left, I found myself suddenly sitting alone in a hospital room. My body did feel kind of run down. It seemed like my quirk had just run continuously for half an hour at top power while I'd been experiencing those...awful visions. I was still trying. to remind myself that they weren't real, just a hallucination from that creepy girl's quirk. And from head to toe I felt like crap. It was hard to even want to get out of bed. Some hero in training I was turning out to be.

All Might didn't let being badly injured get him down,I reminded myself.You gotta try.I sat scribbling down some thoughts, trying to make a game plan, for a while; the hospital room was pretty lonely, and I wished someone would just come and talk to me. I didn't want to freak my parents out - they'd been scared enough by the incident with the League of Villains - and my co-workers had to go back on patrol. My friends were all busy; Yaomomo was apparently dealing with a pretty nasty case of her own, from her texts, so I didn't want to bother her. But sitting there all alone was getting depressing.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and of all people, Kaminari came running in. "Jirou! I heard you were hurt, Shoji texted us! What happened, you ok? Was it a villain? You sick?"

I stared at him for a long moment, then grinned a little. "What'd he tell you?"

"Just you were in the hospital. Sheesh, you look awful, what happened?"

I was about to say something sarcastic when I noticed he was carrying a bouquet. Like, a flower bouquet with a get well card and everything. I actually went red.

"Erm...a villain, uh, got me."

He noticed I was looking at the bouquet, and he went a little red himself. "Um, well - here, I thought, you know, you'd like these."

I reached out and took them. They were kind of big and looked a bit expensive.

"Um, thanks."

He stabbed the floor with his foot, trying not to smile too big.

"Don't you have a work study? How'd you get time to. come here?"

"Oh, well, We were nearby, you know, and, uh..." He gave me a sheepish grin. "Actually, I asked for a couple hours off. To check on you. Sero and Mineta would've come but...we couldn't all leave at once."

I sure as hell didn't need Mineta around, but Sero would've been nice to see. And a third person might've made this less awkward. Still...

"How long have you got?"

"About two hours."

"Well, if you wanna...hang around. I can, you know. Tell you what happened."

"Sure!" He pulled up a chair by my bed. I gave him the details I figured he'd keep private, but before long we drifted to other topics, started talking about music, the band, silly stuff. It put me in a much better mood, just talking, and hanging out. The two hours were up before I knew it.

"See ya," I told him, as he took off, and grinned and waved. "Feel better!"

I leaned back in bed, and looked over at the flowers and card. The first ones I'd gotten. And from Kaminari.

Kaminari, my often frustrating, annoying, dimwitted, sweet, caring, supportive, friend. The first friend I'd made at UA, before I'd even gotten to know Yaomomo. My partner in our first training exercise, my bandmate since. I was never really sure how I felt about him. Some days he annoyed the crap out of me, some days I really liked him. Some times he was really nice to me, some times he was as annoying as the other guys in his group.

I did know, though, that whatever he meant to me, I was always glad to see him.