"Regular speech,"

"Flashback speech,"

'Inner dialogue,'

'Phone Text Chat'

"When you said we should have your favorite to celebrate, this wasn't what I had in mind." Izuku sighed as Himiko sat across his lap, her head buried in his neck, her teeth sinking into the flesh.

Eri watched fascinatedly from Izuku's left side, her finger resting on her lips in curiosity. "Why are you letting Momma bite you?"

Izuku winced as Himiko's tongue ran along his wound. "It helps her to calm her mind. Himiko's quirk makes her especially drawn to blood, and if she gets too excited, she could accidentally hurt someone."

Inko stared from the living room doorway, her brows furrowed and eyes worried. "Are you sure it's alright, Izuku? That looks painful."

"It's fine, Mom." Izuku smiled, running his fingers through Himiko's hair. "I'm used to it at this point, and besides, as long as it helps her, I don't mind one bit."

Himiko finally released her teeth from his shoulder, licking the bite again to ensure the blood would coagulate more quickly. "Sorry about that, Izu. That fight with Midnight really excited me, and I needed that. But the lady was either underestimating me or wasn't used to close combat, so that fight ended way too fast for me."

Himiko seemed uncharacteristically docile at the moment, greatly worrying Izuku, "Hey, is everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, it's just… I'm slowly realizing I have to go through an experience I hated for most of my life all over again. Quite frankly, I never wanted to attend another school in my life. I'm all too familiar with how others see my quirk."

Taking her hands in his, Izuku gazed unflinchingly into her eyes, "But this time, I'll be with you the whole way. I won't be going anywhere."

Himiko's gentle, watery smile squeezed at Izuku's heart. It made him wish he had been with her so she didn't have to put up with everything she had thus far.

"I love you, Izu." The gentle kiss they shared at that moment was made slightly more awkward by Eri's intense gaze and the resounding "aw" from Izuku's mother.

"Come on, Eri, you need a bath before you get ready for bed, and these two need some alone time." Inko smiled, taking Eri by the hand and leading her into the bathroom.

"Aww, okay," Eri sighed as she passed along with Inko.

"I love you too," Izuku smiled, the blush from his mother and Eri's reactions still coloring his cheeks

Himiko looked down slightly, her cat-like eyes unusually bashful and wide, "do you think we can still do… that?"

"That?" Izuku wondered, looking at her, very confused.

"You know, finish that box. I had some time," Himiko asked, her eyes looking down from Izuku's lap back to his eyes exaggeratedly.

It took him a second, but Izuku caught on after a while, and a larger blush spread across his face, "Y-yeah! Of course! I-I mean, i-if you're fine with that! But I don't know when we will have the time. I bet we'll be swamped the next few days after all."

A lecherous smile spread across his girlfriend's face. "Oh, trust me, Izu. I can find a time for it."

Izuku gulped as she pounced on top of him, her fangs nipping lightly at his chin and her tongue leaving a hot line across his neck.

"Aww, come on!" Izuku whined as he fell back onto the sofa, Himiko giggling all the while.

In a little bar somewhere in Kamino Ward, a larger-than-average influx of customers went on unnoticed by the populous at large. But as the customers began to gather, not even a peep could be heard from the business, despite more than forty people having entered the establishment.

The interior of the bar was surprisingly high class, with a polished cherry wood countertop, red velvet-lined stools, a smaller-than-usual but still well-organized liquor shelf behind the bar, and a few tables stacked atop one another to save space. Not a single person was present in the bar area, however, but far down below in a sub-basement that no one but a select few knew about gathered the bar's "customers."

Loud murmuring bounced back and forth in the confined space below the bar. Crowds of very rough-looking adults milled about, looking one another up and down. A few even started to fight amongst themselves.

One of the men was rather large, with four rocky-looking arms coming down in a wide arc. Before they could impact one of the men he had been arguing with, they were stopped dead by a thin, pale, and cracked hand that had grabbed them from behind.

"Hey now, you NPCs really need to learn to get along," chortled a raspy, cracked voice from behind what eerily seemed to be a severed hand on his face, "after all, you're all comrades in arms."

The pun seemed to have gone over the four-armed thug's head as he began screaming in agony. The rocky skin on his arm began to flake off in delicate little wisps, confusing the other people around him. Then, the pale man who had grabbed him ripped the arm from its socket. The limb rapidly disintegrated, falling to the ground in revoltingly sticky splats that began to fester and stink.

"M-My arm," the man cried out, clutching at the necrotic flesh that had semi-cauterized the place the arm had inhabited.

"Kurogiri, clean this mess up," the pale man sighed, wiping his hands against his pants without all of the fingers touching the fabric to clean the rotted flesh from them.

A wide, black, swirling cloud enveloped the remaining chunks of flesh on the ground. When the black mist dissipated, any traces it had left were gone.

"Now, if we're all done having our fun. It's time to get down to business. If you're here, that means you want one thing and one thing only. To see All Might dead!" A cheer rose up over the crowd; it seemed they had quickly forgotten what the man had just done to one of them.

"I am Tomura Shigaraki, and I am the leader of this little League of Villains." Overhead, a large screen descended, the image cutting on to show a large arena split into multiple areas, "this is the target for our attack on U.A. and our ticket to getting a shot in on All Might."

"Yeah, that's great and everything, but what's the point if we can't kill him," a man with a shark mutation called out, "I mean, what's different about this attack? Cause if we don't have some special plan, then how are we supposed to kill All Might?"

"Hey yeah, that's a good point," one man murmured, getting more answering whispers of agreement.

"Because," Shigaraki smiled, stepping to the side with a flourish someone would expect to see at a kids talent show, "we have, him."

Shigaraki was introducing a massive mountain of coiled muscle. Its stature was only out shadowed by its grotesque beaked mouth, lined with jagged pointed teeth, bulging eyes that rolled in the sockets, and, worst of all, an entirely exposed brain. The creature seemed incapable of standing up straight, so while it seemed to be maybe eight feet tall, it would most likely be nine feet if it stood properly.

To everyone in the room aside from Shigaraki, it seemed that calling this thing a "he" was a very loose description. It was more like a monster.

"W-What the hell is that thing," a small mouse-looking man squeaked, very frightened.

"This," Shigaraki smiled, affectionately patting the creature on the arm, "is Nomu. He is bioengineered to be the perfect counter to All Might. He has two quirks that are the perfect counter to All Might's overwhelming strength, and on top of that, he's already extremely physically strong."

"Now, now, Tomura Shigaraki. It does not benefit us to gloat to our own allies," the smoky form of a roiling shadow with yellow glowing eyes chastised the other man as if he were a child.

"Mmm, I suppose you have a point, Kurogiri," Shigaraki turned back to the crowd. "Now, if you're here, that means you want All Might go just as much as the rest of us, so seeing that we have a plan, who's with us?"

A short pause passed as the entire room looked up and down at the hulking monster before they all cheerfully turned back.

Tomura Shigaraki smiled evilly under his father's hand. 'Just wait, All Might. We'll show you and the rest of this rotten society what real chaos is! '

"Hurry up, Himiko!" Izuku yelled, pulling his tie on a bit too tight, making himself choke.

"Hey, just because you can throw on your uniform and be done doesn't mean it's as easy as that for the rest of us," she yelled back, her voice echoing from the bathroom.

Izuku sighed, walking over to see what was taking her so long. The door was wide open, so she wasn't naked, and even if she was, Izuku figured he could handle that since he'd seen her naked before. So he walked in.

"Oh, you're doing makeup?" Izuku was a little interested; he hadn't seen his mom ever use makeup, so it was a little mesmerizing watching her. She didn't seem to be putting much on aside from a thick black eyeliner and a bit of what he thought was called mascara. "I don't get how you can do that. Getting something that close to my eyes would freak me out."

"It's pretty much just about having a steady hand and getting used to applying it," she said, her eyes barely moving as she focused with simmering intensity. And then she drew a single thick line along the underside of her left eye.

"You were focusing that intensely for one line?" Izuku blanched, not getting girls at all.

"Hey! Say what you want," she put away her makeup, twirling happily to face him, "but a few lines make me look really cute!"

Izuku had to admit she was very cute. Her deep black eyeliner ringed her eyes, making the yellow of her irises pop in a way that made her look more feral. Most people would find her appearance off-putting and ferocious, but she really affected Izuku in a far different way.

"You're beautiful," his hand cupped her cheek as he smiled at her fondly, "like always."

Himiko leaned lightly into Izuku's hand. Her eyes were half-lidded, and a wide blush spread into her toothy grin." I'm still really nervous."

"I know, but you're only getting more fidgety the longer we stall," Izuku laughed, letting his hand drop so he could take hers and lead her out of the bathroom, "plus, we need to hurry. Otherwise, we'll be late."

"Alright," Himiko sighed, grabbing her backpack, "I'm all set!"

While Izuku was pulling his shoes on, Eri shot into him like a rocket, burying her head in his side, "You're both going!?"

Izuku winced, patting her head, "Yeah, sorry about this, Eri-chan, but we'll be back before you know it!"

Eri's small sniffles nearly broke Izuku's heart, but he couldn't do much about having school besides picking her up and giving her a large hug. Her small arms shook and circled Izuku's neck, her fingers holding on for dear life.

'She hasn't been on her own without me or Himiko for a while.'

"You'll be alright, Eri. After all, Mom is here with you so that you won't be alone," Izuku leaned down, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Alright?"

"A-Alright," Eri whispered. Her tiny horn seemed a bit longer than it had been a few days ago. That wasn't exactly abnormal; it could be a part of her quirk.

Izuku bumped his head into hers, their foreheads touching. "Good. If you are a good girl for me, you, Himi-chan, and I can go out and have some fun this weekend."

"R-Really! You promise!?"

"I promise," Izuku smiled, passing Eri over to his mom and turning to the door. Are you ready, Himiko?"

"Yep! All set to have my brain turn to jelly," the blonde girl chirped, very cheerfully taking Izuku's hand.

"You two have a good day!" Izuku's mom called after the pair as they stepped out of the apartment and down the hall.

The apartment complex they lived in wasn't exactly high class, but Izuku's mother did alright keeping them out of the slums, and of course, the money Izuku's ever-absent father sent helped. But lately, it seemed there were more and more rough-looking people hanging around the building.

Just exiting the building and walking a few blocks, Izuku and Himiko ran into a man who had clearly seen better days. His black hair was streaked with gray, and his scruffy facial hair was just as gray. And, of course, just as they would pass him, he stepped out, putting a hand on Izuku's chest.

"Uh, hello? Can I help you, sir?" Izuku looked at the man skeptically. He didn't know if the man needed help or if he was trying to mug them.

"Yeah, you can get lost, pipsqueak, and the girl and I can have a quick chat." The man grinned down at Himiko lecherously, but the look quickly vanished when he caught sight of Izuku's intense glare.

"I think you should go somewhere else, sir."

Izuku grabbed the man's hand, allowing a small amount of One for All to shoot crackling energy up his entire body. He squeezed the offending appendage tight enough to make the bones grind under the skin but not so tight that they would shatter.

The man howled and struggled against Izuku's tight grip. He was trying desperately to pull away, and after letting him struggle for a few moments, Izuku loosened his grip.

"You're crazy, kid!" The man yelled, running down the street, his arm clutched against his chest.

Himiko sidled up next to Izuku and pulled him along, "should you have done that, Izu?"

He let out a shaky breath and looked at her with a shaky smile, "p-probably not, but I couldn't let him say something like that to my girlfriend. Could I?"

Himiko's eyes sparkled, and her blush spread across the bridge of her nose, "I guess not!"

Himiko's beaming smile as she walked hand in hand with Izuku made his heart swell with joy. Now that they would be attending U.A. together, it was going to be great getting to see Himiko every day.

When the pair finally arrived at school, they made their way to 1-A, where many students stared at them. Izuku wasn't sure if it was because she was clinging so closely to him or if it was because they knew about the circumstances of her enrollment. Either way, they were both blindsided by Mr. Aizawa, who was waiting for them at the classroom door.

"I don't like this, and I certainly don't like you." Mr. Aizawa glared down at Himiko, his eyes not straying even a bit from her, "I know what sort of background you have, and if you're as untrustworthy as I suspect, you'll be out of U.A. before the day is over."

"M-Mr. Aizawa, Himiko is the most trustworthy person I know! E-Even if her past is complicated, I believe in her!"

His teacher's eyes bored a hole into his very soul," says the guy she was lying to the entire time they were together. How long was she operating as a 'vigilante ' before she told you? Or did she even tell you? Did you have to figure it out for yourself? I bet you did because if you hadn't figured it out, I can guarantee she would still be lying to you now."

"T-That's not true! Himiko wo—"

Himiko's small hand resting on his chest stopped Izuku from continuing, "he's right, Izu. I probably would have kept lying if you'd never found out."

Himiko looked down at her feet, the pristine toe of her new shoes scrapping nervously against the linoleum, "I'm a liar; I always have been. I don't know if it's because of my quirk or if I'm just too messed up to trust in people." Himiko looked up sharply between Izuku, watching her with wide eyes, and Mr. Aizawa, glaring down at her, "But, either way, I want to change who I am! I want to be someone who Izu can trust, and I want to be someone who can trust Izu with all my heart!"

It seemed like Mr. Aizawa would just glare at Himiko for an eternity, but eventually, he sighed and turned to enter the room. "No matter my feelings on the matter, Principal Nezu has allowed you into U.A. Just make sure you live up to those words, or you'll have me to deal with."

"R-Right!"

Izuku smiled at Himiko as they all walked in.

The class was eerily silent as everyone stared at the three of them, and then Izuku remembered this was Himiko's first day. He froze beside her and went as still as a statue.

"Right, everyone, this is Himiko Toga. She is part of a rehabilitation project Nezu has wanted to implement for years, and she will be replacing Mineta to round out 1-A's numbers. If you have any questions, ask them on your own time."

'That's all?!'

Izuku stared dumbfounded at his teacher's oversimplification of Himiko's current situation, but the rest of the students seemed to take everything in stride.

"Oh, and Toga. Your seat will be Mineta's old one, right behind Midoriya."

Himiko's gleeful squeal as she threw herself at Izuku's back made the entire class break out into a cacophony of noise.

"I say, that level of P.D.A is unacceptable for students of U.A.! Let alone the class president!" Iida yelled, his hand chopping furiously.

"Yo, Midoriya! I didn't know you had crazy-chick magnetism!" Kaminari shouted.

"Will you all shut up! Who gives a shit! She's just another extra!" And, of course, Kacchan also had to put in his two cents on the matter.

It seemed Mr. Aizawa was also fed up with the noise. He stood from his chair and glared hard at the class, "All of you shut up."

Everyone sat down with a resounding, "Yes, sir!"

His eyes traveled lazily around the room before he rested them on Izuku and Himiko. "Today, we're doing a different sort of hero training. Instead of the mock battles you've been having, we'll be conducting rescue training. That being said, everyone grab your hero outfits, suit up in the changing rooms, and be out front and ready to get on the shuttle in twenty minutes. Understood?"

Another round of affirmations filled the room, and as Izuku was showing Himiko the wall, they collected their suits from Mr. Aizawa approached the pair.

"Toga, since you were a last-minute addition, you'll be using the U.A. gym uniform for this exercise for now."

He turned to Izuku, "And Midoriya, sorry to say, your costume was too damaged to keep using, so Power Loader gave it to one of the support course students to fix. But she hasn't quite finished it yet, so you'll be in the same boat as Toga."

Izuku was a bit annoyed. He thought his costume was great, exactly how his mom and Himiko had designed it. But there wasn't anything he could do about it now. So, he and Himiko made their way to the locker rooms with their gym uniforms.

"Aww, I wanted to see you in your costume, Izu!" Himiko complained, swinging her arms in annoyance and drawing attention to the pair.

Kirishima was the first to come over, "hey, Midoriya! I think we're all wondering how you know the transfer student."

"O-Oh she i—"

Himiko grinned, pushing past him, "I'm Izu's girlfriend!"

The entire class froze for a second before exploding into raucous noise.

"I thought she looked familiar!" Ashido yelled, running forward and grinning as she gave both of them the once-over. "You're super cute! Midoriya told us about you and Eri, but only a little bit, so it's sick getting to meet you. I love your eyes; we almost match!"

Kaminari was next, grabbing Izuku by the shoulder and glaring, "Seriously! How can a plain dude like you get such a hot and crazy chick!?"

"I understand that the two of you are romantically involved, but please refrain from such blatant displays of public indecency!" Iida yelled, his hand chopping as it always did.

"Come now, surely they can be allowed to twinkle as they please!" Aoyama chimed in, his ever-unreadable smile sparkling.

Izuku was overwhelmed by the flood of voices around them, but what worried him was Himiko's shaking hand as everyone crowded in.

"H-Hey guys, maybe it'd be best if you stepped back a bit! I-I think H-Himiko is—"

Izuku trailed off, stopping when Himiko started laughing, her sharp fangs on full display as she smiled.

She turned happily to Izuku, "This is so much fun, Izu!"

He smiled along with her and nodded furiously, "Yeah!"

The ride to the U.S.J was just as hectic as the room when everyone had learned Izuku and Himiko were dating. But thankfully, Mr. Aizawa kept everyone's rowdiness to a minimum so that Izuku and Himiko could talk with one another in peace.

"Are you excited?" Izuku smiled at Himiko, who hadn't stopped smiling since they had left the classroom.

She excitedly rocked back and forth in her seat, "You bet I am! If this is rescue training, then this'll be way different than most of the stuff I've done up until now!"

"W-Well, not exactly. We've both had experience rescuing someone before, right?"

Himiko thought briefly before smiling, "I guess you're right; Eri-chan was more your own effort, though!"

"N-No, if you hadn't warned me beforehand, that villain would've skewered me!"

She looked at him very dryly and pressed her pointer finger into his shoulder that had been pierced back then, "Please, you still got skewered, Izu. But I have to say, you were really hot; fighting even while you were bleeding is so cool."

"H-Himiko! M-Maybe this isn't the b-best place to be saying stuff like that," Izuku cast his gaze around to see if anyone had heard, but it appeared everyone was busy conversing.

"What? Are you embarrassed, Izu?" Himiko leaned in too close for his sanity, and she had left her gym jacket unzipped just enough to show him the tops of her breasts as she leaned forward.

A wild blush spread across his face as he turned away from the sight, 'Don't look! Don't look! Don't look!'

"Alright!" Mr. Aizawa stood at the front of the bus, glaring back at everyone. "Everyone off the bus, and make your way into the U.S.J."

Thankful for the distraction, Izuku stood to his feet and took Himiko's hand in his as they left the bus.

The U.S.J was a huge domed facility, so large that Izuku couldn't believe it wasn't an amusement park, with signs and all. But the inside was even more shocking. It was sectioned off into so many sections that he could only parse out the obvious ones, like the flood zone and the burning zone.

"Whoa! This place looks big and fun!" Himiko flapped her arms excitedly and looked around happily, but Izuku noticed she didn't stray too far from him despite her excitement.

"If you think this is all gonna be sunshine and rainbows, then you better get lost," Mr. Aizawa glared at Himiko again and didn't bat an eye when she stuck her tongue out at him.

"He's right." A person in a large spacesuit stepped forward. "Hello, everyone. I am The Space Hero: Thirteen, and I specialize in rescue operations. I'm here today to help with your rescue training!"

Mr. Aizawa gave the hero a once-over, "Thirteen? You're here? Wasn't this meant to be one of All Might's classes?"

Thirteen held up three fingers, "he's running a bit behind, but he'll be here later once he's ready."

"I'm fine with this; I love Thirteen!" Uraraka gushed as she rushed forward to ask for an autograph, "I love watching you doing rescue work! You're my favorite hero!"

Thirteen seemed abashed at the sudden attention, but they quickly pulled themselves together, "W-well, it's always nice to run into fans, but there's always something you need to remember when using your abilities for rescue work. Can anyone tell me what that is?"

Everyone looked around at one another, but the answer came from the least likely source, "quirks are deadly."

Everyone turned to see it had been Himiko who answered Thirteen. Her constant grinning blush was gone, and her sharp cat-like eyes focused intently on the space hero.

Thirteen nodded, "exactly. My Quirk, Blackhole, while exceptional for rescue work, can just as easily be used to kill. I'm sure many of you have just as dangerous abilities. It's exactly why we're conducting this training, so you can accurately gauge the output necessary to rescue others when needed. With that being said, is everyone ready!?"

"Yeah!" The class shouted excitedly and stepped up to follow Thirteen down to the plaza below. But before they could start their descent down the stairs, something appeared down in the main square.

It was thin, covered in what seemed to be severed hands, and had glowering, hateful eyes; it was staring intently at the students above. It had appeared out of a shifting mass of black smoke, and more figures were slowly appearing behind it.

"Is that a dude?" Kirishima stepped forward, trying to get a better view of the figure below. "Is he part of the exorcism?"

"Stay back!" Mr. Aizawa pulled on his capture scarf and stepped forward to block Kirishima, "this has nothing to do with the rescue training! Those are villains down there!"

The villain, covered in severed hands, turned his head around in what seemed to be confusion; he seemed to say something to the villain made of the same vapor that the villains had stepped out of.

"All of you make your way to the exit now! Thirteen, and I will handle them."

Mr. Aizawa stepped forward to confront the villains, but Izuku stopped him, "B-but Mr. Aizawa! You're a stealth hero! You don't fight out in the open like All Might!"

Their teacher's eyes passed over him for a second before he turned back to the villains, moving his goggles over his eyes. "That may be true, but I'm a pro. So don't count me out just yet. I'll hold them off for now. Thirteen, you make sure the students escape, then come join me."

"Understood! Everyone, make your way to the exit!"

"Not so fast!" The hoarse voice of the hand villain bellow startled Izuku, "Kurogiri, send the brats away!"

"As you wish, Tomura Shigaraki!" In an instant, a mass of black smoke enveloped everyone, and Izuku barely had enough time to remember where Himiko was. But, when he reached for her, his hands came back empty, "I must apologize; I hold no ill will toward you children, but I cannot allow any of you to interfere with our plans."

"Himiko!"

"I-Izu?!"

Suddenly, Izuku's feet were no longer on solid ground, and wind whipped at him as he fell toward… the flood zone?