It happens again. Izuku Midoriya wakes up back home in his bed, completely unaware of how he even got there. Or, well, THIS time he has at least some semblance of an idea of what happened in terms of how he got there – for better or for worse. He tosses the sheets & blankets that are laid across him off of his body before getting out of bed quickly. Fortunately for him, there's no Scorpion stinger toxin in his system to poison and render him too weak to do so. He hastily hurries to grab his phone and check the time before promptly also checking the Hero Feed app on it for an update on what happened while he was unconscious.

A lot of time has passed since he's been asleep and a lot has happened in that span of time. For starters, All Might – the freaking number one hero & symbol of peace – barely beat All For One before … before retiring. Tears spring out and begin to leak from the trimming of Izuku's eyes. He wipes the wetness away with the back of his hand. If dealing with his body snatching co-pilot wasn't already emotionally taxing enough, the loss of his childhood idol is extra difficult to cope with currently – especially since he feels partially responsible, because he can't help but think he could have been there to help if he didn't pass out and the symbiote didn't take him home afterwards.

Izuku continues reading through the HPSC's shared intel and finds nothing about Denki Kaminari being Electro. There's nothing about the capture of any other LOV members or the Sinister Six either. It looks like this whole thing is being downplayed as best as it can to be made into a low profile incident wherever possible. The main takeaway is All Might's involvement and that's where the HPSC is directing all the media & public's attention. Izuku isn't going to learn anything about what really happened by scouring the Hero Feed app. He'd have better luck trying to dig up information as Spider-Man. But it's not like he's up to par to go taking the symbiote out for a swing right about now.

Taking one thing at a time, Izuku chooses to address the elephant in the room right away as a first priority – or, rather, he addresses the symbiote in the room. He looks down at himself to see that he's still wearing the sentient costume. When he pinches an end of the organic material, it doesn't quite feel like a fabric. The slimy substance only simulates the appearance of cloth. It constantly flows as a living liquid and all it takes is a closer look to see that and be reminded of what it truly is … a dark passenger. "I told you not to take control of my body again", he knows that the symbiote can hear him when he talks to it aloud.

Before, he felt a little foolish talking to the science experiment straight out of a lab. But now he knows better. This thing might not respond verbally but it must have its own realm of thought like Fumikage Tokoyami's Dark Shadow quirk. Otherwise, it wouldn't have aided him the way that it has. Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to continue doing what it's been doing by driving his body around whenever he's asleep. As such, he has to wonder what the symbiote is thinking. He has to worry a little bit about its personal motivation and personal desires. If Tokoyami lost control of Dark Shadow, a quirk that can communicate much more clearly and has been with its partner since birth, then he can only imagine the symbiote can be a little more difficult to deal with.

"When I set that boundary, I meant it!" Izuku doesn't often do a lot of chastising – aside from when it's himself – but he knows enough to make sure to sound firm with his reprimanding. He's been scolded by his mother and father enough times that he knows the gist of what to do. He has to punish the symbiote to make sure it knows not to disobey him again. "I'm.. I don't want to wear you right now", he grabs a handful of the organic material rather than just a pinch of it and begins to pull it off.

The symbiote doesn't like that. Not one bit. Tendrils shoot out from different parts of Izuku's covered body. Webs anchor to various parts of the room in an effort to hold him in place. The part of the symbiotic suit that Izuku grabbed a handful of slithers through the gaps of his fingers so that it can't be torn or pried away.

Izuku is wide eyed and open mouthed by the symbiote's physical form of protest at being removed from him. But his shock is only momentary. His surprise makes way for his anger again when he demands the symbiote to stop resisting against him, "Let me go! This isn't helping your case!"

The symbiote bristles. Izuku can feel the suit tightening around him – clinging – it doesn't want to let go. What felt smooth and silky against his skin now pricks him like a set of needles trying to dig into his flesh. It's not exactly painful but it is certainly uncomfortable. Izuku grits his teeth together while tensing his muscles. He's about to use his inherent spider strength to fight back. But…

He tries giving it one last civil chance first. "I'm warning you! Get off me now and it'll only be temporary but if you put up a fight then– well, I'll–", Izuku trails off when he realizes his threat of a greater punishment may be an empty one; admittedly, he himself doesn't want to go back to crusading alone without his new costume or to separate from the symbiote. But… to think about the symbiote giving him this much trouble..

Izuku doesn't have to dwell on that topic of thought for long, for which he is grateful. The symbiote softens and listens to him. It untightens around the boy's body. What it was using as webs to anchor itself to him loosen and recede as tendrils back into the suit. It stops protesting against its punishment, albeit hesitantly. It doesn't peel off of him on its own though, that's for sure.

Izuku removes the symbiote costume like it's a regular article of clothing. It comes off bit by bit. Gloves and booties first. Followed by a top and bottom. Then, lastly, the mask. Once laid on his bed, the individually separated pieces of the costume combine into one. While that made removing it a more time consuming hassle, Izuku takes that last bit of protest as a form of saving grace instead since a one piece suit is easier to put on a coat hanger.

Izuku puts the symbiote suit in his closet. Right alongside it on another hanger is his old red and blue Spidey suit. The two costumes contrast in color but make for a mighty fine set of choices wardrobe wise. Izuku runs his fingers over his old costume. The nostalgia is there. He hears rustling and looks at the symbiote. It must be jealous. He puts his hand on it next, like petting a pouting pal.

"This is only for a little while..", Izuku is a little more gentle with his tone now while explaining why it is that he's punishing his partner in crime fighting, "You have to learn that your unwarranted actions have consequences.." This too is apart of the parenting practice that he learned from his mother and father. If it worked well enough on him then he figures it ought to do wonders for the symbiote.

Misunderstanding or not – the symbiote prioritizing his protection or not – he can't let it think it can get away with continuously controlling his body .. no matter the reason. This much, Izuku Midoriya knows. What he doesn't know about is what the symbiote did to Hitoshi Shinso for him on his behalf. If the symbiote could speak, it wouldn't voluntarily tell him about that anyways.

"I gotta get to school.. See if I can figure out what else happened..", Izuku moves his hand from the symbiote to the closet door; he bids it farewell before shutting the door on it, "We'll talk about this more when I get back."

Toshinori Yagi had thought his vision handicap from the loss of an eye would be more apparent to him. However, everything seems to still be seen the same as when he had two eyes. Recovery Girl had explained it to him that his brain centers his vision for him to compensate for the eye loss. Unlike when a two eyed person closes one eye and then feels like their vision is cocked to one side of their head, a person with one eye has their brain correct their sight on account of the missing organ by centering their vision appropriately. It's as though nothing ever happened to his eyes at all.

But Toshinori knows better. He holds up a fraile & fragile hand to the bandaged but hollow socket where All For One landed a crucial blow. Even in the end, AFO managed to steal one final thing from someone – from him in particular yet again – an eye for an eye in the literal sense. Aizawa had offered to talk to him, having had lost a body part too and being able to relate, but Toshinori didn't and still doesn't feel up to it quite yet to have that type of conversation with somebody. The ideas and the suggestions from everyone that he gets a prosthetic or an eyepatch just keep coming and it's not even really been a full twenty four hours since this all happened.

The retired pro hero knows that they're all only trying to help – they're expressing their concern & care – but he can hardly tolerate it anymore. Part of the reason why he kept his true form a secret was so that nobody perceived him differently from the infallible symbol of peace as All Might. Now, with the additional loss of an eye, everybody treats him like he's made of glass more than anyone that knew his secret had done before the eye loss. Toshinori feels helpless and weak. He knew the day was coming that he'd lose One For All but this additional physical handicap makes it all the more so sudden and real to him.

Despite his brain centering his vision for him, there WILL be notable differences to his way of seeing; Recovery Girl had warned him about that with no room for disillusionment. She told him that his depth perception will be a tricky one. He'll have to guess a bit more. He has a cane like hers just in case – not due to his inability to walk, but to help prevent him from tripping or bumping into things. There IS a blind spot there and he is not to be mistaken about it. He'll have to be extra cautiously careful from now on.

A light knock at the door of the infirmary brings Toshinori out of his deep rumination. The gaunt blonde man looks up to see his successor entering the room. She gingerly closes the privacy curtain behind her to keep any other visitors from interrupting them. Itsuka Kendo, the retired hero's pride and joy, nervously checks on his well being. "All Might?", she tests his old name like she's unsure of if it's right to use anymore.

It probably isn't. The retired hero looks down at his hands. He doesn't bother folding them into fists. His days of fighting the good fight are over. "It's just Toshinori now", he knows that he shouldn't be throwing himself a pity party but he can't help but feel a certain way about his loss of power.

Kendo must notice his downtrodden mood – either by the tone of his voice or expression, or perhaps probably even both – she tries cheering him up by saying, "You'll always be All Might to me…"

Toshinori smiles when hearing that. It's a small sentiment but one that means very much when coming from his successor. "Thank you, Young Kendo.."

Kendo nods before looking around. She sees the flowers and get well cards that have been left for him. The ponytailed girl clears her throat to say, "So.. I bet you're pretty tired of everyone asking if you're alright."

Toshinori can't help but grin a little. Despite everyone believing he's a righteous role model, he lies just the same as any other human being. "Not at all", he waves off Kendo's comment as though it means nothing. But what he says next, at least, isn't a lie, "I appreciate you coming here to check up on me", he genuinely is grateful for her presence.

Kendo grins back, happy to see him in lighter spirits. "Well, you ARE my sensei" She then grabs a seat to sit down by his bedside. "Where would I be without you?"

"You've always had the makings of a hero, Young Kendo, it was just that I happened to have noticed sooner than most others" Toshinori hadn't thought about what would have happened if he failed to defeat All For One and left his successor to figure things out on her own like he had to do with the loss of his own master – but he's confident in Kendo's potential that she would be fine without him from now on, at least.

"You're too modest", Kendo chuckles while still trying to make light of what is otherwise a serious situation, "Next you'll say that you didn't defeat the literal incarnation of evil."

But hearing that is a reminder of just how serious the situation truly is. Toshinori's smile slips. "All For One may be gone physically but he's left an aftershock in his wake", he feels the need to warn his successor to not let down her guard, "This is far from over."

Kendo sobers up, losing her humor to get serious. She lowers her voice to ask her sensei about what it is AFO has set up for them, "Tomura Shigaraki?"

"All For One has his own successor", Toshinori nods while confirming that she's right about her assumption – and then adds a little more insight to boot, "His real name is Tenko Shimura.."

Kendo does a doubletake. "Shimura? Wasn't that– ?"

"All For One took my master's grandson to use against me", Toshinori bares his teeth when reminded of AFO's parting shot – his eye may have been the physical scar permanently added to his collection of wounds from the villain but this is an emotional injury that he's not sure how long if ever will he take to recover from.

Kendo winces. She can both see and hear how much this hurts her sensei, "That must have been hard to learn about", she places a hand over his to help comfort & console him.

Toshinori looks at her hand and then into her eyes. "I'm leaving the rest to you now, Mighty Jab" He raises his other hand up to point at her and say, "Next.. It's YOUR turn."

Itsuka Kendo exits the infirmary with her head down. While it was nice to visit her sensei and she did accomplish what she came here to do – which was to see how he's holding up & recovering – she still feels unfulfilled with how it all ended off. She's leaving with a new rekindled kind of burden that she didn't have previously when she first came here. The talk she had with All Might reminded her of the huge responsibility she has with OFA. There are big shoes to fill as Mighty Jab. She tries to hold her head up to look forward at that future with some positivity.

And when Kendo looks up, she sees somebody that she hasn't seen in a while. It's a familiar freckled face that she has to blink to make sure she's actually seeing it again. "Midoriya?", she's surprised to find the Gen Ed student she's been acquainted with for some time standing outside the infirmary like a little puppy that has lost its way in the huge halls of U.A.

Izuku Midoriya also had his head down, not paying too much attention to his surroundings, and so he's just as surprised to see her familiar face too. "O- Oh! Hey, MJ!" The boy brightens a bit when seeing the girl and waves while greeting her.

Kendo meets him halfway and asks, "What are you doing here?"

Izuku falters for a moment. He looks like he's having a hard time figuring out how he got there himself. But he eventually does manage to stutter & stammer out an answer. "Um.. All Might is sorta my favorite hero, remember? I came to–"

"Check up on him", Kendo smiles when remembering what he told her when they first met about being a huge All Might nerd, "Say no more."

Izuku smiles back. His smile droops a bit when he looks past Kendo and at the infirmary entrance though. "Is he.. ?"

Kendo looks over her shoulder and has to pause for a moment to think. Whereas she's sure Toshinori would have appreciated an All Might super fan visiting him before, he may not be up to it so soon after his retirement. "Um.. Sleeping and resting now", she covers for him just in case.

Izuku nods in understanding. "I'll come back later", he starts to turn away as he prepares to leave.

"Wait!", Kendo holds out a hand to stop him before he can go. He looks back at her, surprised. She's a little surprised herself. She recovers with a feigned cough. "I.. Has anybody asked how YOU'RE doing?", and then timidly asks how he's been since they last saw one another.

"..Me..?" Izuku feels a pang in his heart. He holds up a hand to his chest. It's odd.. Aside from his mother, he's not sure if anybody else has shown any care or concern in his well being ever since what happened with Taneo Tokuda and Tsukauchi Naomasa – at least, not anyone within his close circle of friends or family or acquaintances.

"Well.. Yeah..", Kendo backpedals a bit when she sees how confused Izuku appears. "I mean, All Might IS your favorite hero, right?"

"Oh, that.. I'm doing okay.." Izuku breathes in a shuddering sigh. He's had the symbiote to support him and to be without it now makes him feel kinda naked & emotionally exposed.

But Kendo sees something different about his changes in character. "You.. seem to be doing okay.. better even", she peers at him like she's trying to find the thing that she herself is supposed to be seeing instead of searching for.

Izuku blinks back his surprise, "Hm?", his stare is blank in comparison to her analytical gaze.

"I don't know how to explain it but.. You look back to your old self again.. Somewhat", Kendo continues eyeing the boy in front of her while looking him up & down.

Izuku huffs out a laugh. "You're probably just missing the glasses", he digs into his pants pockets to produce Tokuda's bifocals and puts them on as though that will help the girl out with whatever point it is that she's trying to make.

Kendo laughs along with him, "Probably", she stops taking his 'changes' so seriously and playfully gives his shoulder a light punch to show her supportive encouragement in whatever those changes may actually be.

Izuku smiles as he stares at the girl in front of him. For the first time in a long time, he feels kinda normal again. Maybe that's what she means. "MJ.. Would you maybe like to.. I dunno.. Uh–"

Kendo happens to notice out of the corner of her eye another boy passing by in the background. She spots Katsuki Bakugo roaming the halls; he looks to be in a bit of a hurry. And so, she zones out on whatever it is Izuku is saying. She waves him off while stepping around him. "Sorry, Midoriya – can you hold that thought for later? I gotta run!"

"O- Oh..", Izuku is taken aback but trails off and lets her go. With the loss of the symbiote, it's like he lost whatever backbone he may have had with it. Because, when he also notices Katsuki Bakugo, he doesn't allow himself to get upset about her ditching him for his bully anymore. "Okay..", he's back to his old angsty pity party throwing sad self instead.

He's not expecting the conflagration of bright orange fiery flames that comes ejecting out of the support studio. Hell, it's an explosion bigger and more destructive than any of the kind that he's ever himself been able to produce. How that's even possible in such a small enclosed space is beyond him. Katsuki Bakugo ducks aside while coughing and trying to fan away the smoke that surrounds the studio's entrance.

Once the initial shock of survival is done and over with, he recovers with his usual angry & aggressive attitude. "Fuck! You could've fucking killed me!", he looks for the person to blame for nearly burning off his eyebrows in order to direct that anger on them.

Some chick with pink hair and greasy clothes comes out of the smoky entryway to talk back to him, "Maybe you shouldn't have been standing near an explosion!", and she doesn't even seem the least bit apologetic about the explosion either.

"Hah?! What kinda reasoning is that?!", Bakugo reels in disbelief over how someone can be more obnoxious than him when it comes to accepting responsibility for a mistake that is entirely their fault.

"The kind that comes from a support studio!", she has a smart mouth on her that rivals his own – he's not decided on whether he likes that or not yet – she even has the gull to cross her arms and ask him, "What were you doing standing there anyways?"

Bakugo is about to give her a retort of some kind. But he figures he needs her on his side and so he gives her a genuine answer instead. Albeit, he grumbles the answer. "I'm here to submit a support equipment request.."

The inventor chick quirks an eyebrow at him before turning an ear to try and hear him better, "What?"

Bakugo begrudgingly growls, not wanting to repeat himself, but he does also go ahead and speak up. He shouts at her, "I said I want you to make me shit to fight with!"

Bakugo notices the pink haired girl has peculiar eyes when they widen. "Oh, you want me to make babies for you!" But his mind wanders elsewhere after what he hears her say next.

"HAH?!", Bakugo is bewildered by the crazy chick's proposition to make 'babies' with him.

She innocently tells him, "I've got some spare time now if you wanna do it now", and she is completely oblivious to how that sounds as an addition to what she said before.

"HAAAHH?!", it takes a lot to make Katsuki Bakugo blush but this is starting to become enough to do the trick. Especially since when he checks her out, he admittedly wouldn't be all that against her supposed proposition. The chick has huge jugs that nearly pop out of a skimpy tanktop.

Bakugo is brought back to his senses when he hears another girl's voice from behind him. "Did I just hear that correctly?", he spins around to see that it's Itsuka Kendo that happened upon him at this exact moment. "You're disgusting, Bakugo."

"O- Oi! SHE was the one that came onto ME!", he unelegantly tries to defend himself by pointing at the other girl as the one to blame for what can wind up becoming a massive misunderstanding.

The situation only becomes increasingly more awkward & troublesome when the girl from the support studio says ANOTHER out of pocket thing. "Who's she? Does she wanna be apart of it?"

"HAAHH?!", both Katsuki Bakugo and Itsuka Kendo are blown away by her casualty when making such a comment – and there doesn't even have to be an actual explosion this time to be what blows them back.

Fortunately, the pro hero Power Loader comes along to clear things up. "She means inventions", the school's support teacher explains that this student's verbiage is a bit unusual. "Hatsume, I told you to cool it with the 'baby' talk."

"Huh? But that's what they are", Mei Hatsume is still utterly oblivious to the chaotic misunderstanding that she caused. She genuinely looks at everyone with confusion over THEIR behavior instead of her own.

Power Loader sighs before going back to addressing the Hero Course students, "You sure you don't want another student here to work on your support items for you?"

"Nah", Bakugo shakes his head now that it's been cleared. "This crazy broad made one hell of an explosion", a feral grin comes over his face when he points at this support studio inventor in particular, "I want HER."

"Thank you", Hatsume beams with pride at the partial praise. She stops to reconsider what he said a moment later before adding at the end, "I think.."

"Suit yourselves", Power Loader sighs a second time before retreating into the support studio, "Damn crazy kids.."

Once left to their vices, Bakugo whirls on Kendo. He asks her, "What are you doing here?"

"I got curious and followed you", she crosses her arms and pointedly looks at him with a downtilt of her head, "Good to know you aren't trying to sex up some other girl behind my back."

Bakugo recoils like he was caught in the act afterall and goes back to defending himself, "Eh?! We aren't even dating anyways so what's it matter to you?!"

Kendo takes offense to that. "We still kissed, you jerk!" She counter argues his defense with her own.

Bakugo balks before asking her (still aggressively) what that has to do with anything, "That means we have something?!"

"We have nothing!", Kendo denies them having any sort of romantic connection despite turning a shade of color similar to her hair pigmentation.

Slightly disappointed to hear that, Bakugo's anger begins to rise. "Then what are you bitching about?!", he aims to get back at her and to cut this argument short.

"Watch your language!", Kendo isn't the type of person to take his shit though and calls him out on it. She even gets up in his face about it.

This type of confrontational behavior is what Bakugo likes about her. He grinds his teeth together to keep from lunging at her lips with his mouth. She looks more pouty than actually pissed that he wonders if she's feeling any sort of similar way secretly deep down.

Before they can choose between wanting to kiss or viciously bite one another's faces off though, Hatsume takes that time then to interject. She steps in between them to ask, "Are you two done yet?"

"Yeah", Bakugo huffs out the last of his attitude. He digs into his pants pocket to pull out a crumpled up wad of paper. "Can you make this?", the blonde shoves it into the inventor girl's hands.

Hatsume unravels the paper to look at what it is he wrote on it. "Nitroglycerin sweat bombs and..", she sees tiny spheres meant to pack a big boom – next to that is a second set of equipment meant to help him traverse the air better, "..and a glider?"

"Can you make em or not?!", Bakugo takes her response as a show of criticism and angrily asks if she'll just do the damn job without complaining.

He's relieved when Hatsume tells him, "Of course I can!" It's nice to get what he wants without any bitching or arguing.

"Good", Bakugo calms himself down now that he's resolved the purpose of this whole visit. Just maybe all the bullshit that came with this crap is now worth it.

Hatsume gives him a salute before heading off to get started on her newest project, "I'll have these crafted in a jiffy!"

Once alone, Kendo and Bakugo awkwardly look at one another amidst the privacy of an absent third presence. "I never pegged you as one to go with using support items", Kendo breaks the silence when she feels the seconds are dragging out for too long.

Bakugo shoves his hands into his pockets. "What makes you think that?", he's trying to play it cool but he wasn't expecting her to find out about this or to even show any actual interest.

"I dunno", Kendo shrugs. She doesn't think twice about what she's saying until she says it, "I thought you'd see them as making you inferior or something.. Like using a crutch."

Bakugo blinks with wide eyes. That doesn't sound like something she'd say. It does maybe sound like something that he'd potentially say though. "You think you know me so well", it kinda irks him that she can get inside his head like that.

Kendo cocks her head to the side, "So I'm wrong?", she pushes the issue.

Bakugo throws a glare her way. "You're forgetting I had my gauntlets before.. Those were support items", he doesn't want to admit to her that she's right and it's only pissing him off more that she won't let up because she sorta is.

Kendo gives him that same pointed look as before with her arms crossed. "You're dodging the question", she's just absolutely relentless when it comes to this stuff.

"I GOT NO CHOICE", Bakugo breaks under the pressure. His voice cracks as he tries to explain to her how hard it is to admit that she's right about him, "I've.. Gotta try and compensate for my weakness somehow.." He avoids her gaze while his voice goes lower and lower to a whisper. "This is the new me, I guess."

She hears him though. "The new you, huh?" She hears him both externally and internally. She offers the emotional boy a small smile while cracking a joke to try and lighten the mood, "Hope he's not a dick like the old you."

Bakugo says, "Fuck you", but a small smile graces his lips too – which contradicts the words that leave that same smiling mouth.

"In your dreams", Kendo keeps jabbing & jeering at him. It's all in good fun though. At least, now it is.

Bakugo sighs as he shakes his head. "Did you come here to shit on me for asking for help?", he solemnly shows her a side of himself that he doesn't typically show to anybody else, "I'm weak! I get it!"

"Oh, Bakugo…" Kendo can appreciate that. Especially since she sees how difficult it is for him to do so. She steps up to him and plants a kiss on his cheek before whispering in his ear, "It's not weak to ask for help sometimes."

It's the usual commotional cafeteria setting when Izuku Midoriya searches the sea of students. It's just harder to spot the particular person he's searching for this time around since, well, she's quite literally invisible. Plus she's blended herself in with the crowd by chatting up somebody else already. When Izuku finds her, he sees that she's talking with a fellow member of Class 1-A's Hero Course. Mina Ashido, the residential pinkette of U.A, somehow notices Izuku approaching them before the other girl does.

"H- Hey, um, Hagakure?" Izuku waves while timidly trying to get ahold of the invisible girl's attention.

"Midoriya?", Toru Hagakure does a doubletake due to the shock that comes with Izuku suddenly seeking her out.

Witnessing their shy & awkward exchange, Mina Ashido can't keep a mischievously devilish grin off her face. She softly & subtly elbows her friend to playfully tease the other girl.

Hagakure quietly hisses at Ashido, "Quit it!" Even if she's completely invisible, there's no doubt that she's blushing currently.

Izuku looks between the two girls, oblivious and confused. He clears his throat to reclaim their focus and carries on, "I was wondering if you might be free to join me for lunch today?"

Ashido elbows Hagakure again. Hagakure shoves the playful pinkette off while nervously laughing, "Lunch? Uh.."

"I was gonna eat with someone else today anyways! She's all yours Midori~", Mina Ashido sees her chance to be a 'wing woman' and helps a sister out – or, at least, that's her good natured intention.

Izuku squeaks out a startled sound, "M- Midori.. ?", his face turns a shade of red while he watches Ashido walk away and blow a kiss goodbye.

Hagakure sighs and shakes her head while mumbling, "Subtle.."

Now left to themselves, Izuku shyly gestures for them to take a seat at a nearby table. "So.. Shall we?", he awkwardly chuckles while waiting for Hagakure to sit down.

Hagakure hesitates but accepts the invitation. "If this is about your secret, don't worry, I decided not to tell the teachers or anyone else–"

"It's not that", Izuku quickly assures her that there's no reason to be afraid or nervous about their conversation currently. If anything, he wishes to convey his gratitude there. He bows a bit to add, "But I knew already a- and thank you for doing that for me."

Hagakure hums to let him know that she's nodding. She then asks, "So.. What's this about then?"

Izuku pauses. He looks unsure of himself, unable to conceal his expressions with invisibility or a mask. "Um.. You're really the only one I can talk to about this stuff", the next thing he says explains why that is.

"Really?", Hagakure is surprised to say the least that he feels she is the only one that he can confide in. She has to doublecheck to make sure that's the truth, "The ONLY one?"

When Izuku doesn't even hesitate or pause to think twice, only merely giving her a firm nod, she knows that he's being honest. His face has hardened into something more serious. If there's one thing that the boy should be sure of, it's his secret identity and who he trusts with it.

"Christ.." Hagakure leans back while mulling over the reality of what it is she's been told. Izuku Midoriya has been hiding this secret from EVERYBODY without a single person for a support system. "I thought at least one other person knew but you're serious that nobody else knows?!"

"Keep it down", Izuku motions for her to lower her voice. After a quick glance back and forth to check and make sure nobody started listening in on their conversation, he sighs and continues, "But.. Yeah.. It's something kept between only you and I."

Hagakure looks across the table at the boy in front of her. "When I thought that I wanted to get to know you better, this wasn't really what I had in mind…" He went from being a cute freckled fellow wrapped in mystery to … a complicated character wrapped in webbing.

Izuku looks down and away from her while apologizing, "Sorry.."

Hagakure gets him to look back at her when she says in response, "Don't be" His undivided attention, given to her through such an intense stare, makes her a little shy – but she continues to say what she has to say anyways. "The more I think about it, the more I'm coming around, I guess" The invisible girl swallows and says, "I never did get to thank you for saving me at the USJ."

Izuku blinks back his surprise. Of all the things he imagined she would have to say to him, that certainly wasn't what he was expecting. His guilt gets the better of him and he shakes his head while denying her gratitude for something he doesn't feel deserving of, "And I never really did apologize for letting what happened to Ojiro happen."

"It.. It was never really your fault", Hagakure turns her head down and lowers her voice while replying to him, "I figure you're blaming yourself more than I ever could and it was never right of me to hold that over your head to begin with."

Izuku is surprised a second time by what Hagakure has to tell him. He becomes more resolute in his conviction to correct what's been done wrong now more than ever. Izuku reaches across the table to take her hands in his own. "I'll find him and I'll bring him back, Hagakure!" His eyes are extra intense now as he firmly swears to her that he won't let her down, "I promise."

Hagakure's eyes are so wide that the sunlight glistens against them. She clenches them closed, holding back tears. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Midoriya…"

Izuku gives the girl's hands a soft and yet still strong squeeze, "But those are the best kind."

She's glad that he can't see her face. It's probably a mess right now. She looks at his hands holding her own and blushes to a point that she's sure not just the sun is radiating against her transparent state, "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Izuku notices he's holding onto her in that same moment and quickly lets go. He shyly looks away to hide his own bright blush. "Right..", he clears his throat and tries to get the conversation back on track with why he bothered tracking her down to begin with, "So.. My suit.."

Hagakure looks up at him, instantly on board with the topic. "It's nanotech or picotech, I was right, wasn't I?" She's just maybe a little too over eager about it though.

Izuku smiles, amused. His smile soon after fades away though as he tells her the truth about the costume's actual properties, "It's a symbiote."

Unlike Izuku, the title of a 'symbiote' means basically nothing to her. She stares at him blankly and utters the only response she can think to give him, "...Eh?"

Izuku scratches behind his head while trying to think of the best way to describe or even begin to explain what the symbiote is. "You might wanna stay sitting down for this", he figures the best way to start is to give her a fair warning first.

Hagakure leans to one side like that will help her to see and understand things better, "Okay?"

"Here goes.." Izuku sucks in a big breath before letting it all out in one quick succession of word vomit, "It's a living organic sentient being and it was controlling my body for me the night that you saw my face."

Hagakure silently stares at Izuku for a while. After what might be about a minute worth of processing that information, she settles on a sigh and says, "Sounds like something just crazy enough from you to be legit…" She gestures and also says, "Go on", she wants to know more.

"It's been making choices for me on my behalf lately.. I'm starting to realize that it has more of a mind of its own than I may have originally thought – or, well, not bothered to have thought – so I'm also starting to wonder now how much it may be influencing my choices and actions lately", Izuku goes on to give her the rest of the juicy details per her request as well as his concerns about it all.

Hagakure is a bit hung up on the symbiote being a sentient creature though, taking one thing at a time with what he's shared. She asks him, "You've just been wearing another living being like a costume?"

Izuku shrugs like it wasn't thought of as a big deal until now, "When you put it like that it sounds even more messed up.."

"But it makes sense looking back why your eyes were closed back then", Hagakure takes on a thinking pose similar to her classmate Tsuyu Asui with her chin cupped under her hand, "And.. And why I got a totally different vibe from you.." She shudders while recalling the forest training camp incident and what it is that she sensed from the symbiote, "Because it wasn't you.."

Izuku notices the way the girl's body has begun to shiver. "A vibe.. What kinda vibe?", he himself becomes worried about what it is that she may have felt from the symbiote.

"Midoriya.. That thing you're wearing might be dangerous", she reaches across the table to take his hand while whispering to him her worries, "I don't want you getting hurt because of it."

Izuku looks away to try and hide the fact that he's a bit embarrassed by both her concern and the way she's showing it. He just stays focused on the other fact that he's the spectacular Spider-Man. "I've taken on guys tougher than some science gunk", he finds that truth about himself reassuring and he hopes that she will too.

She must not find it all that assuring afterall because her response is, "I'm being serious here."

"I know.. And I'm telling you not to worry", Izuku gives her hand a squeeze since that's about all he can do if being Spider-Man isn't enough to convince her.

Hagakure sadly sighs. It's better than nothing, for the both of them. "Thanks for coming to me about this", she squeezes his hand in return.

Izuku smirks as he teasingly tells her, "It's not like I had a bunch of other options."

That lightens the mood enough to make Hagakure also smile. "Jerk!", she then lets his hand go in order to cross her arms and act as though she's pouting.

Izuku laughs along with her. He has to admit that it's nice. He does so aloud, "It's good to get another opinion on this sorta stuff."

Once they've settled down though, it's time to get serious again. Toru Hagakure leans forward to whisper and ask, "So.. Is it on you now?"

Izuku shakes his head. He gives his shirt a small tug to show her that he's telling the truth before explaining things a little more for her to understand the situation, "We're taking a break from eachother to figure things out."

Hagakure huffs out a laugh even though it's not actually all that funny, "You make it sound like a breakup is in bound."

Izuku looks too serious for either of them to joke about it any further anyways, "That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Well.. I'm here to help you figure it out if you need help", Toru Hagakure gets serious about his Spider-Man stuff too then – as a friend, and maybe (just maybe) something else – she lets him know that she wants to earn his trust now that she knows more about his alter ego.

When Izuku Midoriya returns to U.A's infirmary later to try visiting All Might during a more convenient time, with the expectations to learn what happened during his unconscious state before the hero's retirement, he happens across another patient of Recovery Girl's that turns the time into something a bit more inconvenient for himself.

Dressed down – ponytail down too – the former 'vigilante' Black Cat flags him down from a cot as he passes her by, "Midoriya", he has a hard time seeing her as Momo Yaoyorozu but that's who she is when she waves him over.

And considering he's Izuku Midoriya and not Spider-Man per say at the present moment, he has to look back behind himself to make sure it's actually him that she wants to come over and this isn't some sorta mistake. He asks her aloud incoherently, "Huh?", as he points to himself to triple check.

Yaoyorozu continues to beckon the boy, "Do you have a minute?", which would lead him to believe she really does want him to stay and talk about something.

"Ca– Uh, Yaoyorozu–", Izuku nearly slips up by using her nickname and has to stifle his speech for a moment to try and recuperate.

"It's important", she fixes him with a stern stare that he is more used to seeing from her identity as Momo Yaoyorozu rather than the mischievous Black Cat.

Forcing himself to relax, in partial thanks to that familiarity on Yaoyorozu's part, he decides to stay for a while as she's requesting. "O- Okay", Izuku steps closer to her cot.

"This saves me the trouble of sending someone to get you", she smiles to express her appreciation before asking him, "What are you doing here anyways?"

Izuku answers honestly, "I'm here to check on All Might", it's not like it's something to hide afterall. He does feel bad about nearly passing her by though that he starts to additionally apologize, "Didn't realize you were here too or else–"

"I guess things about me being the Black Cat are being kept as quiet as possible", Yaoyorozu disregards the attempt at any apology by giving him an excuse for the mistake. If she's doing him any favors, it might be a backhanded one to U.A per the point of them still keeping secrets – or, at least, the HPSC pulling their strings from behind the scenes like a puppet school play.

"Apparently so", Izuku sighs since it's sad to think that there may still be a problem with U.A even after eliminating Nezu & getting Aizawa in charge as the school's principal. That might be something worth looking into at a later time since he and Aizawa do have a history together.

Yaoyorozu sighs right along with him. Though, hers sounds more tired. "They don't have to worry.. I'm leaving that part of me behind now", she tells him that she's so tired that she's calling it quits as Black Cat.

Izuku's eyes widen with shock at the news. He can't quite react more than that since he's not supposed to know as much as his vigilante alter ego though. "Is that what you wanted to tell me.. ?" He imagines she's made her decision based both on the conclusion of her vendetta with Muscular and the injuries she sustained during that confrontation.

"No", but she doesn't dwell on that subject for very long; she instead tells him why it is that she intended on sending someone for him and why she waved him over, "It's a message from the Wild Wild Pussycats."

Hearing that the hero team from the forest camp wishes to speak to him makes him do a doubletake. "F- For me?" He has to wonder why they'd want anything to do with his civilian identity as Izuku Midoriya.

"For Spider-Man", he doesn't have to wonder why for very long because Yaoyorozu clarifies that it's not Izuku Midoriya they want to talk to but rather his alter ego.

"O- Oh", he nods in understanding since that makes much more sense.

"They thought I would know how to find him because we were working together and here I figure since you're his photographer pal that you'd know better how and where to find him", Yaoyorozu goes on to explain why it is that they'd then seek out Izuku Midoriya under such circumstances and the full context is basically given by that point.

"Well.." Even so, he's not so sure he's willing to let them get close enough to him to potentially figure things out still. "I guess they overestimated us and our relationship to Spidey", he denies being Spider-Man's photographer pal for the sake of trying to protect his secret identity.

"Come on, Midoriya.." But Yaoyorozu isn't buying it. If it weren't obvious enough already somehow, she got closer to both his identities that she may as well know him best in that regard already.

Izuku looks away to avoid making eye contact with her. But he relents, "..What's the message?"

Yaoyorozu suddenly becomes bashful as she says, "Dunno exactly.." Izuku looks up at her to see her shrug, "Just that they wanna see him."

"That's not ominous at all", Izuku sighs and shakes his head but still tells her, "I'll see what I can do."

All Might will have to wait a little while longer. Turns out he has some other pro heroes to visit first.

Tomura Shigaraki tugs off his tie first. Next, he removes his suit jacket. He rolls his shoulders, feeling them freed from a confined & restrictive movement. In the dark underground basement that's been transformed into a makeshift lab – far from an office or professional workspace – he has no need to be concerned about his attire or presentability. "Doctor..", he begins unbuttoning his dress shirt next since he's meant to undress regardless, "How long will this procedure take?"

The villain's personal doctor – and personal mad scientist – tends to the preparations for the procedure that Shigaraki speaks of. Kyudai Garaki's labs have diminished in quality since they've moved so many times and his previous Master since then 'passed on', but he still has enough equipment to continue his work. He preps a preservation tank for what will be a long process, "Months–", but stops short when he sees Shigaraki's displeased expression that it will take so long. "Weeks at best", he corrects himself accordingly but knows that the odds are slim with his current arrangements that he might not make a tighter deadline.

Shigaraki hums while inspecting those 'bottom of the barrel' accommodations. They've gone into hiding and what was left to them is no longer very sustainable as enough resources. "This is what Sensei–", the villain stops thinking that way though since he no longer considers AFO his 'Sensei' or 'Master' in terms of having such provisions, "All For One prepared this for me?"

It's more than a rebellious phase, the whole 'Tombstone' thing, but AFO must have credit where credit is due in paving that pathway. Garaki goes on to explain what was left in the crafty villain's inheritance and final will, "It was at his request for this to be the contingency plan upon his capture or death."

Tomura Shigaraki had been and always will be AFO's successor. It makes sense that this would be the arrangement should things transpire this way. "A transference of All For One unto me.."

"Yes.." Garaki is only leaving out a significant part about the transference being more than just a quirk – All For One's contingency was to survive within his successor by also transferring his conscience. "Now.. If you will", the mad scientist motions for Tomura Shigaraki to enter the tank now that it is ready.

Oddly enough, Shigaraki doesn't enter the tank straight away. He hesitates. "Most people wouldn't dare to deny such power when offered", the villain looks at his doctor with what may be distrust, "But I'm not most people."

Fearful that Shigaraki may have discovered there is more to the procedure, Garaki swallows down a whimper. "You.. Don't wish to proceed with the procedure?", he wipes away the sweat pooling from his lip underneath his bushy mustache while otherwise pretending to not be so anxious or worried.

"I'll take the body enhancements only", Shigaraki looks at the computer monitors that display different readouts and shares his own evaluation of what he'd like to be done about the procedure. "Strength, speed, endurance and stamina."

"The basics", Garaki finds some solace in the fact that those screens don't share anything about brain waves to give away AFO's true intentions about the procedure – but Shigaraki's request still creates an issue with that plan since it takes AFO's quirks to complete the process, "You don't want any of the quirks to transfer over?"

"I'm my own man, doctor" What Tomura Shigaraki says next, coupled with his intense red eyed stare, sends chills down Kyudai Garaki's spine. "Not All For One."

Garaki audibly gulps. "Very well.." He doesn't know whether Shigaraki is referring to his identity as Tombstone or if he somehow discovered the truth behind the transfer. He'd rather not take any chances and prove his newfound loyalty to Tombstone rather than taking a risk. "The procedure you wish for should take no more than a few days then."

"Excellent", Shigaraki kicks off his shoes and unloops the belt around his waist before stepping into the waiting human sized test tube, "Do well to occupy yourself with Toga's task in the meantime."

"Yes" Garaki perks up at the mention of Toga's task. His gaze moves from Shigaraki to the vial of blood that was delivered to his lab. "This does allow for me to focus on the interesting blood specimen that Chameleon retrieved from the scene."

"I was wondering what the second tank was for", Shigaraki glances over at the same moment beyond the doctor's work station around where another preservation chamber resides.

In that same vicinity are the remains of the villain formerly known as Twice. The crazy character proved more useful as a test subject than an asset to their league's numbers. "Nomus provided the right framework for genetic enhancement but CLONING is a whole new project", Garaki grins since his latest line of research is proving to be an exciting one for him.

Tomura Shigaraki's scarred lips smile as well. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's undergoing a change.."

They could not be separated from eachother for long. A co-dependent relationship makes for a co-existence. Thus is the symbiotic bond that they share. It's a mutually beneficial connection. It's one that they cannot do without. They NEED eachother. They need to come together as two to form as one. For without eachother, they feel lacking, and can never truly be themselves.

Izuku Midoriya is Spider-Man. The symbiote is more than a costume to provide that exterior identity. It responds to his internal thoughts and desires. It knows as soon as he opens the closet door to leap from the hanger onto him. It covers and coats his chest, an emblazoned white spider symbol wrapping around his torso. Izuku Midoriya's face is covered over as he reunites with the symbiote.

He says, "We're only putting a pin in this temporarily because the Wild Wild Pussycats want to see us", but it's really just an excuse since he could have gone wearing the ol' red & blue threads instead. Whatever problem they had that could have separated them has long since passed. All it takes is their reunion and that satisfying feeling of being joined together once again to decide there's not much else that could possibly separate them again.

The symbiote makes him a better Spider-Man. It can get him to the cabin resort faster. It secretes and creates its own webbing. It fuels him after a long day at school to stay energized for vigilante activities. It's what he feels he needs at this moment in time. Especially with threats like the Green Goblin or the Sinister Six still out there.

The problem is, what with his thoughts focusing on how it feels so good & liberating as Spider-Man with the symbiote, he seemingly forgets that Izuku Midoriya is meant to be apart of him too.

It's a claustrophobically small space. No windows – not unless you count the one reciprocal mirror – and no furniture aside from the sparse few chairs plus a table. The lighting is bright though. Maybe it's meant to make him sweat – the heat from the burning bulbs overhead – or perhaps the lights are shining so much to assure the obvious cameras that are also hanging from the ceiling will catch everything that transpires.

Hitoshi Shinso squints underneath the harsh illumination – his tired eyes and messy bed head often make him look prone to being blinded by sunlight that this is no different even within room lighting – but he still sees exactly what this all is meant to be. He's in an interrogation room being made out to be some sorta criminal suspect. The cop across from him with a cat head is going to test his innocence and guilt.

Shinso just doesn't expect the interrogational questioning to start with the question that it starts with. "You're friends with Izuku Midoriya", the police officer gets the boy's attention by asking, "Aren't you?"

The thing is, Sansa Tamakawa recognizes Hitoshi Shinso from the mall incident, and remembers a strange situation from back then. If Tamakawa recalls correctly, Shinso had 'fallen' and gotten a black eye on the way down. Izuku Midoriya was present to be the one to give that story.

"Maybe once", Shinso denies his friendship with Midoriya – albeit with a little reluctance – he seems unsure of his own answer, "Not sure what we are now.."

Tamakawa can take a few guesses even if he never was able to make detective. "Have a falling out after he found out about your illegal activities?", he presumes something happened between them that resulted in Shinso 'falling' down.

"What?! No!", but Shinso seems genuinely shocked by that suggestion. "I mean – I didn't do anything illegal – I DON'T do anything illegal!", he denies things even with evidence pointing towards him having a less than legal involvement here.

Tamakawa steeples his hands and leans forward to ask the next big question, "Then why did we find you webbed up by Spider-Man at the League Of Villain's headquarters?"

That stirs something up in Shinso. Even while cuffed, the boy can cause quite a commotion. "Spider-Man set me up!", Shinso gets a sudden surge of anger towards the vigilante.

Tamakawa stops steepling his hands together and lays them flat. Part of him wants to blame Spider-Man for what happened to Tsukauchi. There had been a time that he suspected the vigilante of theft. While wanting to avoid any misunderstandings, he also wants to get to the bottom of this whole ordeal. "And why would Spider-Man have any reason to do that?"

Shinso falters. He doesn't have any good answer. All he can do is blurt out an excuse, "I don't know but he did!" It doesn't do much for Shinso or Tamakawa to solve anything.

As Sansa Tamakawa wonders with worry that he may be hitting a dead end here, the interrogation room's door swings open. Former underground hero, Eraserhead, and now principal of U.A – there's a familiar face – Shota Aizawa enters the room and closes the door behind himself.

"Hitoshi Shinso.. Not another word", Aizawa addresses the detained suspect before turning his attention to Tamakawa.

"Principal Shota Aizawa", Tamakawa greets the retired hero with a courteous head bow. He throws his head back in the direction of Shinso afterwards to additionally ask, "One of yours?"

Aizawa stares at the officer with a blank look. "Give us the room", he passes Tamakawa by to occupy the seat that has now been left openly available for a new interrogator.

Tamakawa could stir up a fuss if he wanted. But this could be interesting. He twirls one of his facial whiskers while walking out. Relationships are a strange thing. They constantly develop and change. Nobody ever really knows what sins a person is hiding until they get close enough to them.

"I didn't do anything", Shinso pleads his innocence to Aizawa just the same as he had done with Tamakawa, "You have to believe me."

But Aizawa is a stoic and skeptical person, even if he does have a soft spot for children. "I know Spider-Man personally", he fixes Shinso with a serious stare that could only become more intimidating if it were lit red by his erasure quirk, "He wouldn't have set you up" Years of experience as an underground hero helps him with his interrogative skills when he asks, "What were you really doing there?"

Shinso shifts his story around by starting from the beginning instead. "Kaminari took me and held me captive!", he desperately recounts the events of his abduction first and foremost. "When you all found the place, I got loose and tried to escape, and then Spider-Man webbed me up – that's the truth!"

Aizawa listens to the boy's story carefully. He then procures a paper document that he brought with him in a manilla folder. "I did bother to check our class records before coming here and your alibi does correlate somewhat with the fact that you were absent for quite some time", years of experience as an underground hero also helped him to prepare for this interrogation beforehand.

"Thank you!", Shinso falls back into his seat with a sigh of relief. He believes this will help to clear his name.

"However.. That doesn't prove or disprove how you were alternatively spending that time", but Aizawa isn't finished with the interrogation yet – not by a long shot – not until the full extent of this story is shared.

Shinso sits up again, "What else would I have been doing?! It's not like I went willingly!", he's back to being defensive about his role in the events that transpired.

Aizawa looks over Shinso before saying, "You don't have any signs of physical harm to suggest otherwise", and he wonders if the boy will be able to challenge that claim with a voluntary physical examination.

Shinso shakes his head. "He shocked me a few times but I guess there's no way of proving that either", it turns out that Aizawa was correct and that there are no bruises or wounds to help support Shinso's story afterall.

"How convenient for you", Aizawa makes an unamused but still sarcastic comment about it. He then thinks to ask another important question that can help with the investigation. "You and Kaminari were close, were you not?"

Shinso sees how that line of questioning can get him further into trouble, "I thought you came here to help me out", and he hesitates to answer.

"I came here to get the truth", Aizawa fixes the suspect with another glare.

"It's all true – what I said is true – blame Spider-Man for it!" Shinso is sent over the edge. He's desperately trying to pin the blame on Spider-Man again.

Aizawa waits for Shinso to settle down before saying, "That's the part that none of us are understanding" He crosses his arms over his chest. "See, vigilantism may be against the law, but we know that Spider-Man still operates within a certain code of that law."

Shinso scoffs. "So you don't believe me because of Spider-Man?!" It's basically a matter of which person's POV will be taken more truthfully.

Aizawa puts it simply. "Because of Spider-Man, you're lucky to be let off with an expulsion and nothing more, since he'd have likely provided more details or handled things a bit differently if you were truly a threat" In terms of reputation by a vigilante and the law's limits between the HPSC & the police, this is the extent to which Shinso's case is able to be resolved.

Hearing about his expulsion, even if it doesn't come with jail time, is something that shatters Shinso's soul. "I have NOTHING to thank that creep for! He RUINED my life!"

"Your life would be over if you were put behind bars", Aizawa reiterates for Shinso the set of circumstances when he sees the boy going down a dark & negative path, "The only thing sparing you that sentence is Spider-Man withholding a statement."

But Shinso is already set on a dark course. It's one that has all to do with Spider-Man. "Believe me when I say that I'd love to hear an explanation from Spider-Man too then", he sneers while thinking about what he'd do if he could see the vigilante face to face without a mask in the way.

When Spider-Man returns to the mountain range that belongs to the Wild Wild Pussycats, he's shocked to see most of the forestry has already been reseeded. Plant specialists with quirks catered to growing shrubbery & flowers have been staying on the grounds to rejuvenate what was burned down. Though the trees will likely never be the same colossal towers that they once were, there is already a nice revival of the wildlife.

Aiding with the recovery efforts of the grounds is the muscle headed member of the hero team. Tiger does some heavy lifting with logs to help rebuild the cabin lodging. He's wearing a pair of overalls to work in rather than his uniform. Sweat shows how much effort he's putting into the task. He wipes some of it off his forehead with the back of his hand.

During Tiger's brief break from working, Spider-Man shows himself by lowering himself down on a web line. "So you're an outdoors kindof cat", he opens with a wisecrack that does the opposite of alleviating any tension that might still be between them, "Makes sense."

"Brat", but Tiger restrains himself from retaliating or retorting at the very least. He grabs a bottled water to take a swig from while prolonging his break, "Should've figured you'd be stopping by sooner or later."

"Yeah, well, Yaoyorozu delivered your message" Spider-Man hops down from his web and rights himself once standing. "Half of it anyway."

Tiger grunts, getting the gist of it. "Let's head inside", he then nods with his head for the vigilante to follow him, "Mandalay will explain."

Spider-Man sighs but accepts those terms and follows the hero. "A simple phone call or email wouldn't have sufficed?", he does have to wonder why he had to come all the way out here though.

"Do you even have an email?", Tiger side eyes the boy beside him as they hike a short trail to where at least one cabin has already been rebuilt.

"Nope!", Spider-Man feigns innocence over his jaunting – then again, this type of tomfoolery is likely better than journeying together in awkward silence.

Tiger would disagree. "You're annoying", he grumbles like the big grouch that he is.

"Not as annoying as you, big guy!" Spider-Man continues toying with the hero all the while anyways. It's what he does best, afterall.

Tiger throws open the cabin's door once they get to it. "Mandalay! Come take this kid off my hands before I strangle him!" He calls out with what sounds like actual desperation in the tone of his voice.

"Kid?", Mandalay's voice carries from another room before she turns the corner and sees them at the entrance, "Oh! Spider-Man!"

"Nice to see you again", Spider-Man bows to her as a show of respect. He then looks back at Tiger. "Can't say the same for him, but.."

Mandalay spots a vein bulging from the man's sweaty forehead and intercedes before it bursts. "I'll take it from here, Tiger, thank you!" She ushers him out the door a little hurriedly.

"Bye bye now", Spider-Man mockingly waves goodbye to the hero as he leaves. Tiger grumbles while glaring at the boy until they completely part ways.

"Why must you antagonize him?", Mandalay sighs and shakes her head at the youth's antics.

"It's fun", Spider-Man simply shrugs it all off as no big deal.

Mandalay figured as much and lets it go. "Regardless.. It's good to see you being more like your lighthearted self again", she'd rather get right down to business and address his behavior outside of just Tiger anyways.

"Um", Spider-Man is a little confused by that and scratches the back of his head while trying to figure it out but assumes the right thing to say for the time being is, "Thank you?"

Mandalay smiles for a second before letting the expression fall off her face, "Do you recall very much of what happened during the camp attack?"

This takes Spider-Man aback even more. "Well..", he pauses to consider his answer and thinks it best not to lie about anything, "To be honest with you.. No.."

Mandalay nods along. "Was this the first time you experienced something like that?", she gestures for him to come further inside so that they can sit and talk more.

Spider-Man is a little reluctant to accept the invitation but does. "Yes, but… It happened again very recently as well…" He sits down on what must be the lounge room's couch.

Mandalay takes a seat across from him in a cushy & comfy looking chair before inquiring for further details, "And?"

Spider-Man shrugs. He'd been fortunate enough to be able to chat with Hagakure and Tokoyami about it somewhat. Even so… "We're working on it", he also thinks about the personal relationship he has with the symbiote and what has to be resolved there.

Mandalay notes the way that Spider-Man speaks and raises a singular eyebrow, "Who's we?"

"Huh?", the boy looks up at her with puzzlement by what she's asking now.

"You said 'we' .. Are you getting help?", she leans forward in her seat and focuses her sight on him like it's a super serious question that needs a super serious answer.

"..Maybe", he withholds telling her about Hagakure & Tokoyami – and the symbiote – he thinks it's better to ask HER a question instead, "Where is this going?"

Mandalay tells it to him straight, hoping that by being sincere that he will be too. "When trying to communicate telepathically with you a second time, I wound up reading what was not quite your mind" She lets him know what this whole request for a visit is about and why it is she's asking all these questions. "Though you do seem to be back to normal now."

But Spider-Man only becomes more distant. "Must've been a weird misunderstanding", he closes himself off from her with crossed arms, "You were pretty distressed at the time."

"Maybe", Mandalay notes the boy's body language. She treads carefully, "However..", but isn't willing to give up on this yet either, "Let's not forget Ragdoll sensed something off about you too before even I did."

"An odd coincidence", Spider-Man stays standoffish – literally – he stands up from his spot on the couch, no longer comfortable with just sitting down.

"You don't have to be defensive", Mandalay stands up too – though she does so slowly to not rile the vigilante up – she holds up her hands to let him know she means no ill intent, "I understand wanting to hide your identity but – frankly, I'm concerned for your well-being."

Spider-Man shifts from foot to foot. He's trying to decide between staying and leaving. Before he can make a decision, he asks her, "What is it that you want then?"

Mandalay takes a guess at what it is that she and Ragdoll detected differently about the boy, "A sample of your suit", she has no way of knowing how right she is about this hunch of hers just yet, "Just to run some tests and make sure that it's okay."

The symbiote was practically tortured and kept a prisoner by David Shield. It's a sentient living being. He can't just cut off a part of it and hand it over. "Tests and experimentation are two different things", he denies Mandalay her request.

Mandalay handles the denial as delicately as she can. "Rest assured that there will be no mistreatment from us", she's a gentle and understanding woman that she manages to show Spider-Man her sincerity.

The symbiote bristles but Izuku Midoriya HAS been wanting to get to the bottom of this for a while now. And since there isn't much of any better alternative to entrust the symbiote too… "Fine.." He holds out an arm and pinches part of the symbiote coating the limb like a glove. "Quickly cut it while you can", he holds the squirming slime in place.

"Thank you", Mandalay carefully cuts a piece of the symbiote off to seal in a jar and take as a sample. "You won't regret trusting us with this", she lets Spider-Man know that she's going to figure out what the strange slime is for them both to have some closure over this.

Enji Todoroki will now never have closure to his failed aspiration of surpassing All Might. His entire hero career had always been dedicated to climbing the ranks and taking number one on the charts. Now, with All Might's retirement, he has the top spot. But it was basically handed to him like a still second place trophy. If not for All Might's retirement, he'd still not be enough to actually achieve and earn that spot. Now he and the world will never know if he ever truly had what it'd take.

And this goes not just for him, but for his children as well. Shoto Todoroki didn't have the chance to grow into adulthood and then take All Might's spot. It wasn't just Enji's life that was meant to be fulfilled by this purpose but also his offspring. Or so he had thought. He went into a quirk marriage to cross his fire quirk with an ice quirk and create someone capable of surpassing All Might. Shoto was the masterpiece of a product from this lifelong goal. Now it will have all been a waste.

Enji despairs not just for himself but for what he put his family through. His daughter and his son before Shoto. And… his firstborn son. It will have all been for nothing. It can't have been for nothing. The abandonment. The abuse. The tough love and harsh critique that he had given them so that they'd grow up strong can't have been for nothing all this time. He was willing to pay the price of being a bad father if it meant saving the world but now he'll have lost both his family and his goal to surpass All Might.

"Endeavor", Enji is snapped out of his inner turmoil when he hears his name being called – or rather, his hero title – he turns around to see Shoto standing outside of his office, "We need to talk."

Enji stifles his tears with a burst of flame around his face. He lit his hairs on end to burn and hide any emotional expression long ago and has kept it up since. It's for a good cause when his own son doesn't call him 'dad' or 'father'. "Now is a bad time", he has a harder time covering up his sorrow with his tone.

Shoto steps deeper into the office and closes the door behind himself, "I don't care", he'd always been one of Enji's more rebellious children.

Enji – Endeavor – closes his hand into a tightened fist. "What is it that I can't possibly wait for when it's more convenient?", he's been in one of his moods all day and he never intends to take that out on his kids but it's what tends to be the case when they behave this way all the time.

"Touya" Speaking of his sons… Shoto shocks Enji by mentioning his firstborn. His first failure. It's a taboo topic in their household. And for Shoto to bring it up now during a sour point in Enji's life… "Did you know that he's alive?"

"...What?" When all of Enji's breath leaves his mouth through a hardly stifled gasp, the flames on his face disperse from the lack of oxygen for fuel.

Shoto sees his father's raw emotion on a face full of expression. It's quite possibly the first time ever if not at least in a long time that he does. It gives him pause. But only for a moment. "You hurt Touya and made us think he died but that was never true.. Was it?"

"You know nothing of what happened to Touya, boy!" Enji snaps at Shoto in a burst of anger. The flames on his face reignite. As well as the fire that typically wafts from his body. "He harmed himself! It wasn't I that killed him!"

Shoto stares at Enji with a hard glare. "But you hurt me and my sister and my other brother. You hurt mom. You harmed all of us but never Touya– ?"

Enji raises a hand to Shoto. It wouldn't be the first time. But.. He doesn't slap or hit his son. He holds himself back. He's too overcome by guilt than anger to mess up again. Especially since all of this abuse & neglect was for nought.

"What are you waiting for?", Shoto skewers his stare at his father's still raised hand. He's fully expecting to be smacked for speaking out of turn.

"For an explanation", Enji heaves out a heavy huff. "Why did you say Touya is alive?", he's having a hard time calming himself down – he's on the verge of hyperventilating – but this is something that he must know on top of all else that he's now realizing about himself and his family.

"I saw him", Shoto swallows before explaining what happened in between now and then, "At the training camp when we were attacked.. He came to me.."

Enji's eyes widen as though he himself is seeing Touya amidst the burning forest. Afterall, it was on a fiery mountainside of trees that he lost his son – it'd only be ironic karma for Touya to return that way. "Did he say anything else.. ?"

Shoto turns away. "No.." He sees that his father will be of no help. He's wasting his time here. "He didn't."

If Enji Todoroki and Endeavor were two identities, then they have now merged. And like Izuku Midoriya and Spider-Man merging, the end result isn't a very good outcome.

At first, she thinks it's part of the beat. The light tap happens to sync up with the tune. But then, she realizes that the rhythm is devoid of any drums. What she's hearing is coming from her room. Not her headphones. Kyoka Jirou unplugs her ear jacks from her ipod to kill the music. With the song that she was jamming out to while she was doing her homework muted, she's able to listen a little more closely to what exactly the tapping noise is.

It sounds like it's coming from her bedroom window. She steadily gets up to check it out. She looks through the glass first. When she doesn't see anything, she unlatches the window's lock, and she slides the window open. Jirou pokes her head outside for a better look around. She throws a glance left and right. Even up and down. Yet, she still sees nothing that could have been the cause of the tapping noise. Not even a tree's low hanging branch or some typical cliche of that type.

Jirou thinks better of herself to climb through the opening onto her roof but she does so anyways. Once outside, she takes in the night's fresh cool air. A breeze blows by at that exact moment. Her hair whishes around with her ear jacks. If not for the lack of finding the cause of the tapping sound that she heard, it's at least nice to get outside for a bit. She sits down on her windowsill and enjoys it for a while longer.

It's then that she discovers the cause of the light tapping that she heard. Spider-Man uncamouflages himself. He had been knocking to get her attention. Well, now he's got it.

Jirou slips and nearly falls off the roof while screaming. "Ah! You scared the shit out of me!", she scrambles to get back up while blushing profusely due to embarrassment.

Spider-Man's eyes widen when he realizes he could have gone about showing himself a little better. "Sorry", he bashfully rubs the back of his neck while avoiding eye contact with her.

"Sorry doesn't cut it!", Jirou crosses her arms and continues to pout when she sees he's avoiding looking at her.

Slowly, the boy forces himself to look at the girl and apologies again. "Sorry", he hangs his head to express his shame further.

"Okay, okay! You're sorry! I get it!", Jirou rolls her eyes when the reason she's upset goes from him not apologizing properly to apologizing too much.

All the poor boy has to say in response is yet again, "...Sorry…"

Jirou sighs and shakes her head while asking him, "What are you doing here?" She then realizes the relevance behind her own question and asks again more seriously, "...What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

Spider-Man stops when he sees how this might make him look like some sort of stalker. Tracking a girl down to her house isn't the best look. "It was easier than finding Kaminari..", all he can do is admit why he did it.

It's Jirou's eyes that widen when she understands what he means by that. "You think I know something about where he's gone.."

Spider-Man nods. "Other than Shinso, you were closest to him."

"I told you that we weren't like that", Jirou sits back down on her windowsill. She then adds, "You probably know better what happened to him than I do", because the truth of the matter genuinely is that she has no idea where Kaminari could be.

Spider-Man sits down as well while taking that in. She had no form of contact with Kaminari before or after the incident with AFO and All Might. She has no clue what transpired then any more than he does. "There was nothing in the news.. Nearly forgot", he realizes she doesn't even know the bare minimum that he's Electro.

"Why would Kaminari have been on the news.. ?", Jirou hears Spider-Man's heartbeat quicken and her own starts to pick up its pace to match that rhythm.

As much as Izuku Midoriya wants to harm Denki Kaminari, he doesn't want to harm Kyoka Jirou. "Just.. Reach out if Kaminari tries to get in contact with you", Spider-Man withholds the information about Kaminari being a villain for a while longer.

When Spider-Man stands up and turns to leave, Jirou stands up to chase after him. "Wait!", she catches him by the wrist before he can spin a web from it. "That couldn't have been the only reason why you came to see me."

Spider-Man turns to look back at her. "Well..", his voice trails off while he struggles with what to tell her.

The moonlight shines across her face, highlighting it in a hue that compliments her appearance. "Well.. What?", her eyes twinkle when they stare up at the boy in front of her.

He hesitates to say or do anything else. His heart hammers in his chest. She hears it as clearly as she hears him murmur her name under his breath, "..Jirou.."

The symbiote peels back from Spider-Man's mouth. Just as it had done for Black Cat – Momo Yaoyorozu – when they had kissed. It's inviting Jirou to kiss its host.

However, when Spider-Man leans his head in to plant his lips against Jirou's … she turns her face away from his.

Spider-Man pulls back, confused. "What's wrong?", he asks.

Jirou opens her mouth to respond but can't seem to find the proper explanation to give him. It doesn't make much sense to herself any better than it will if she tries telling him. All she can do is say, "Something's not right", and shake her head to deny him of the kiss.

Spider-Man continues to stare at her in confusion. He's waiting for a better explanation to understand why she would turn down the chance to have what they have both been wanting to do for so long now.

Kyoka Jirou backs away from Spider-Man. What she hears from him is some sort of agitated & disgruntled rustling beneath the surface. That odd sound emitting from him overshadows the sensitive heartbeat she was so used to hearing him give off. And so she gives him her reasonable explanation, "It doesn't feel like I'm kissing the right person."

Spider-Man stares at her a while longer. The symbiote covers his face fully again. His stare looks angry then… Bitter.

All he says is, "Fine", and then he leaves.

Jirou doesn't stop him this time.

Spider-Man swings through the city, as he normally does. But tonight, he swings a little more aggressively than gracefully. His kickoffs and web line tugs send him careening higher than he averagely goes as he launches himself over Musutafu's rooftops.

"Should get home now.. Finally get some sleep and rest..", he rants about how tired he is from a long eventful day – or, hell, perhaps it was uneventful with how little he managed to accomplish – and all he can think about during that rant is getting to lay down in his bed, "Take the night off.. Take the suit off–"

No.

"Huh?!", he nearly misses the faint whispered echo of a voice that seems to come from – somewhere? – and he has to stop swinging to doublecheck and make sure that he actually did hear anything at all. Spider-Man sticks to a nearby building and keeps an ear out in case there was possibly a passerby down below that he happened to hear.

When Spider-Man is sure that there's nothing but ambient city noises like car horns and trains on tracks to listen in on, he carries on his merry way. "Hearing things now.. Definitely need that sleep..", he disregards the strange sound – voice.. was it a voice? – he figures it was just his imagination.

Nevertheless, he decides to keep the suit on that night just in case – consider it paranoia – but he thinks he's better off with the symbiote by his side.

AUTHOR NOTES

Hope your holidays were a festive fun time everybody! Here's my late gift to you all - a relatively longer & more progressively packed chapter - hope it was worth the wait!

I won't spend too much time on replying to reviews this time around. Just want to say thank you to the readers that leave them. It always helps to inspire & motivate me to continue writing when I get your thoughts on the story!

Side note... speaking of stories, I may or may not have come up with an idea that I'm really liking and am currently developing further, so there might be another MHA fanfic on the way from me afterall. I was prepared for this to be my last and it very well still may be by the time I finish it but I'll probably get to writing this other story soon too - so, maybe be on the lookout for that one at a later time if you're familiar with my works.

All in all, hope you're enjoying 'Something Spectacular' and I look forward to giving you more chapters in the new year!

~Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood author!