Notes: a short chapter... I know, I hate myself. I'll explain it to you all.

Coming out of the shower, Katara sighed as she dried her hair off and stared at herself in the mirror, her eyes going to the large scar below her chestline once more. While it had fully closed up now, the skin remained slightly pink in the center and lighter around it compared to the rest of her. While frowning at it, she would certainly take having this over how bad it could've been for her, slipping her shirt over as she exited the bathroom and headed back to her room. As she made her way through the hallway, she quickly stopped by and listened to the sound coming from Jiro's room. She smiled as she heard the small group of classmates inside with her, the multiple instruments playing together as they practiced together, moving passed and going into her own room. After a moment, though, she took a deep breath as she sat on her bed, looking out to the dark night sky outside.

One Week.

One week had passed since Katara had revealed the dark secret that she had uncovered from her experience at Mount Fuji. a secret that had completely changed everything for her and Shoto. To her surprise, he actually seemed to be taking the news she had revealed much better than she thought, albeit he certainly was keeping this revelation between the pair of them. Telling everyone else right now that his long lost brother was now a murderous villain was more than they wanted to deal with before they figured out what to do next with this entire situation. Even Endeavor had gone completely silent, having not once contacted either her or Shoto since they spoke that night. In fact… Endeavor had pretty much disappeared from the public eye entirely.

Perhaps it was for the best at the moment. Due to the outcome of both their mission to Mount Fuji and the Chie Hassaikai, the hero commission had ordered the halt to out of school work studies for UA. With the near death experiences of so many students and the losses of life to other heroes and the police, the choice was made to end the practice until they could figure out the next step of what to do for the school.

For the students, it was probably for the best. After what happened, it gave them time to slow down and catch their breath and focus on the festival coming up. While

Ever since she had come back, she hadn't been able to communicate with Kyoshi.

It had been bothering her ever since she had woken up from the hospital, she hadn't heard from the spirit inside her once. Even after having tried several times to reach her, there wasn't a response. It wasn't like the connection had been severed though, since she could still feel the former avatar's presence inside her. Frowning, she decided to close her eyes and cross her legs again, pressing her knuckles together as she focused her mind. Taking slow breaths, she let her thoughts try to focus on the avatar spirit inside.

"Come on… where are you?" Katara muttered before exhaling, feeling a soothing sensation come over her. Opening her eyes, she felt her heart jump when she saw the tall warrior standing before her. "Kyoshi…"

"It's good to see you're up and about," Kyoshi said, giving a small nod to the teen.

"Yeah," Katara shrugged, "I was becoming worried when I hadn't heard from you. I was afraid something had happened between us."

"No, the conection is actually quite stable now…" Kyoshi said, turning as she crossed her hands behind her back. "After you tapped into the spiritual energy at the end of your battle, it's become nearly flawless for you to access the power inside you now."

While she would have normally been intrigued by learning she actually had learned to control the energy inside her, the tone coming from the avatar is what caught Katara's attention. "Yeah… I guess I did," she then tilted her head as she began thinking. "Wait… when you say the connection is stable, does that…" she sat up from the bed and furrowed her brow. "Does that mean you've been hearing me trying to contact you?"

"You seemed to be busy, so I was allowing you your time," Kyoshi stated, the answer causing Katara's mouth to fall open in disbelief.

"My time?" Katara glared as she stood up from the bed, "My time? You mean when I was lying almost dead in a hospital? A little check up when I woke up sometime would've been nice of you at least!"

"I did check on you, and I saw you were going to be alright." Kyoshi bluntly answered.

Katara gritted her teeth at the avatar spirit's response, clenching her fists at her side. "So you were ignoring me those times I was trying to talk to you? After almost getting killed and dealing with what happened? I just found out the boy I liked has a crazy brother back from the dead that's trying to kill me, and I can't even contact you?!"

"The problems with Shoto's family is not the reason I hadn't communicated with you Katara. What bothered me however was your hesitance in your battle you had." Kyoshi admitted, causing Katara's eyes to widen.

"What? What does that even mean? That I had a damn spider leg go through my stomach?!"

"It's that you even allowed that to happen, Katara." Kyoshi scolded, turning to the glaring waterbender. "I had hoped your close encounter with that first hunter would've made you realize your mistake."

Now Katara understood what Kyoshi was talking about, huffing out in frustration at the former avatar. "So this is it? You were upset with me because I didn't kill her?"

"Mad isn't what I felt. I was disappointed." Kyoshi walked towards the angry teen below her. "I understand the urge not to take someone's life. It's a line many do not want to cross, and frankly shouldn't cross. But you are using the logic of what these heroes use against those beyond redemption."

"So you're mad I'm trying to be better than these villains? By not crossing the line of purposely taking someone's life?" Katara shot back, earning a head shake from Kyoshi.

"This is more than just about you, Katara. It is about those around you. That woman you faced is someone who's killed simply for pleasure, and a person like that is not someone who can be helped. The fact you were able to bring her down was truly amazing, for her strength was absolutely deadly. The fact however you didn't make sure she was put down before your guard was down led to what gave you that scar. Those around you were put in danger as well, all of them left to be hurt even worse by that woman if Mirko and Endeavor hadn't come in to stop her." Kyoshi closed her eyes and clenched her fists. "To make sure those around you can stay safe, sometimes you need to sacrifice your own personal morals to save others."

"So this is it? This is why you haven't been contacting me?" Katara breathed hard in and out. "I'm trying to be something better than the criminals I've come across, to show you can do what's right by not crossing the line those people will do. In fact, I fought as hard as I could, doing everything I could to bring her down, and-

"Fighting with everything you had is true, Katara, but you keep avoiding the point I'm making." Kyoshi frowned at the girl huffing below her. "You were pushed to your utmost limit in your fight. All of you were. But after landing that final blow, you should have made sure you were in the clear before you let your guard down. And even killing is not what I'm saying you should always do. Maiming her beyond a counter attack or ensuring she has no chance of moving is good as well."

"But you believe the best choice is the final one…" Katara exhaled out.

"It assures the safety of everyone else you care about," Kyoshi answered bluntly, "So Yes. I would've done that. And what if she is arrested and put into jail? What if she gets out and kills again, adding to victims that could've been prevented?"

"I would never let that happen," Katara shot back, "I would make sure I'd stop her before she ever did anything to anyone."

Sighing, Kyoshi shook her head. "You act like everything will work out just perfectly, Katara, that is the problem. You need to be honest and know some of these criminals will not simply stop after being captured, that the only way to keep innocent people safe is to stop the worst of them." clicking her tongue, Kyoshi walked towards the window. "Until you can be honest with yourself, however, I'm not sure you can understand."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Katara glared at the spirit. "I know I'm not the same as you, and I don't think that's ever going to change. That is being honest with myself!"

"You don't understand, do you?" Kyoshi told her. "You are trying to say you are honest with yourself, yet you are still living a false lie with many that are close to you."

Before Katara could snap back at the avatar, her eyes widened at the final statement made by Kyoshi. She didn't even need to ask what she was referring to, because it was quite obvious what she meant.

"You say you are being honest with yourself, and yet you still continue to live this lie to so many people around you." Kyoshi turned back to the silent waterbender. "Other than the ones who've taken you in, you've only told the truth of yourself to a few very close individuals. What about the many others who you've grown close to and now call your good friends? Those who've fought beside you and grown to truly trust you? Are you going to continue to pretend you're someone else to them than who you really are?"

In a wisp of smoke, Kyoshi's body began to fade as she floated towards Katara, her final words echoing in her head.

"If you truly are their friends and trust them, then living a fake life will only hold you back from being honest with yourself."

As Kyoshi disappeared inside herself once more, Katara sat in silence for several minutes, not sure what to feel after what just happened.

First off, she was upset. How could Kyoshi simply leave her in the dark like that? she had been trying to talk to her ever since she came back here, and that was the first thing that was said between the two of them? But... she stopped thinking about the first argument altogether, for her mind now focused on the last portion of their conversation.

It had been nearly a whole year. An entire year since she had come to this new world. Even until now, only a very few amount of people knew who she had revealed to who she actually came from was quite small. All the very close friends she had made and fought alongside over these many months; besides the teachers, Tensei and his family, Tenya, Shoto, Izuku, and even Bakugo knew who she actually was. But what about the many others she had become great friends with and struggled alongside?

Kirishima, Tsu, Momo, Mina, Tokoyami. Kendo. All of her other classmates.

They trusted her, and she trusted them. And yet... they didn't know who she truly was. Was it smart to keep lying to them after all this time? Would they feel betrayed if they found out later that she never told them the truth?

She didn't even think twice about it as she pulled out her phone, finding the group chat made by Mina for planning the festival play. She typed in the message and sent it, knowing it was time.

Everyone come to the lobby. We need to talk about something important.

—

Meanwhile- Hero Safety Commission Main Office - Tokyo

On the top floor of the commission building, the Madam president of the hero safety commission read over the many documents she had been working on this last week. The elder woman frowned as the doors to her office opened up, revealing her two top assistants entering. "Did you finish the press briefings?" She asked, earning a nod from the man on the right.

"Yes ma'am. The new recruitment for the police forces will guarantee extra safety precaution training and-

"Not of the police," the president cut him off, "What of the statements about the school?"

The other man pulled out a file from his stack and opened it up. "We've already prepared the statement to publicly share how the work studies program will be put on hold temporarily. The schools already ended it a few days ago."

Clasping her hands together, the elder president leaned forward on her desk. After the outcome of both raids across the country, there had been a mix of outrage from people since so many students were involved in such deadly situations, along with the deaths of so many police officers and the police captain involved with the strike made against the hunters. But to her surprise, there was a large amount of people who were putting their support in towards the actions done, feeling like the heroes were now taking the offensive to the villains instead of waiting for the attack.

"What is the news of the rankings now?" she asked, watching as the first assistant pulled another packet out and flipped it open.

"Well, while he has dropped some points in terms of support, Endeavor still remains number one

At the moment. Hawks is still number two. Gang Orca actually moved to number nine after the raid, with some of the support coming from the videos of him battling that creature alongside Endeavor. Shishido moved down to number fourteen. Ryukyu dropped one but still remains in the top at number ten. The big movement however… Was Mirko."

"What? Did her media appearance turn away people who disliked her comments?" the president muttered out.

"We had some complaints from people, yes, thinking she was okay with the students being hurt. But… overall, it actually seemed to get her more support. She now sits at number three."

Raising her brow, the president was not expecting that to be what she heard, cracking her knuckles as she sat up straight. She was going to ask something else, but noticed the look on both of her assistants faces. "Is there something else you had in mind to say?"

"Well, it's regarding the one student involved with the events at Mount Fuji. The one named Katara."

The president tilted her head in curiosity to the name, knowing it was the one who was critically hurt during the raid. She had grown curious as to why the league seemed to be particularly interested in that, obvious by the times she had been targeted in these attacks. "I had heard she had recovered from her injuries. So, what did you find out about her? What is her connection to the league?"

"None that we can find, madam. We can't find any kind of connection between her to the league of villains. In fact… we can't find anything on her."

The elder woman's eyes widened at the statement, taking her hands off the table. "What do you mean?"

Taking his file from the stack, the second assistant handed it to the president. "This is what we found."

Grabbing the folder, the light haired woman opened it up and scanned through the pages, her brow raising in curiosity. The more she read, the more she was growing curious about this situation. As she flipped through, she came across an image, at first confused by it, before reading the note attached to it. "Where did you find this?"

"Most of these were hidden behind encrypted files through UA. It seems like they've known about this."

After a few moments, the hero commission president closed the file and set it down, her finger tapping the cover several times as her mind worked. With everything that had been happening recently, something like this was certainly not expected. Sighing, she reached up and rubbed her neck, looking back to her associates. "Clear my schedule for tomorrow. We are heading to UA to speak with Nezu."

Notes: And the reveals are coming from all angles. How will this all go down?

Okay first off, let me apologize for taking so long. I've been dealing with trying to finish up these construction projects in the desert, and getting up at 4 AM for work then working in 115 degree weather kinda takes your energy from writing. then working on other projects here and there for my job along with packing up to move out of state next month, been a little occupied.

I had to at least get this to you for your patience. thank you.

Another problem was writers block. I had planned out the hunters arc so much, I kind of forgot where i was going after that. but now I figured that out so we're good. another hiccup was the manga. the direction the manga has been going recently kinda took away some of my love for the series, but now I know not to let that affect my vision. many big changes are coming to my fic that are unique so be prepared for that.

thank you for the patience and I reall hope to see your thoughts and predictions of what comes next. And I will try my best to get another chapter as sooon as I can.

Till next time!