Chapter 42: Work Studies

It was pretty clear to Ochako that she wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

The appearance of the League of Villains warranted Aizawa-sensei and the rest of the UA staff to deem tomorrow as a rest day for the Hero Course (but mostly 1-A) to decompress from what happened earlier today, despite the fact that they were already gonna be resting. Or, at the very least, savoring the last day of summer vacation before the new semester began.

Despite that, she couldn't enjoy her well-earned rest, or even the fact that she now had a Provisional License. Melissa was a traitor. Just like Kodai. And to make matters worse, now Ochako was suspecting the rest of her classmates, along with students from the various Hero Courses across the country. Was this some sort of ploy to get her tired?

Midoriya was a schemer, the brown-haired girl knew that. But he also seemed to avoid getting his hands dirty unless he had no choice. While he did use physical force at the USJ and during his Hosu presentation, those seemed to be more theatrical, as opposed to the events that led up to and Kamino Ward, which seemed to be the exceptions, both due to the fact that the green-haired Villain was caught off-guard, and because he was facing All Might.

But the rest of the time? Midoriya was scheming in the background. He had sent Kodai and Melissa as spies to UA and Shiketsu respectively, and they would have never been caught if the circumstances were different. He organized Gentle Criminal and the Volcano Thieves to stop Wolfram from taking the QAD, while never showing his face. That freckled bastard was a schemer, through and through, but Ochako didn't even know what his plan was!

Was he gassing Ochako up to truly become a Symbol like All Might? Like how his own father was the Symbol of Evil? If that was the case, why tire her out? These back-to-back betrayals are clearing doing a number to her psyche! She was now suspecting the rest of her friends!

Or maybe he didn't intend for that to happen? No, of course he had to, this is the second coming of All For One she was talking about! Every move he made was intentional, it had to be! That's it! He was planning to make Ochako the so-called Symbol of Hope all along, but he never intended for her to live up to the mantle! He would lift her up on this pedestal and then rip it out from under her, just like he did with All Might, showing the world that the Heroes could never –

"Nine, STOP!"

Huh? Who said that? That voice…

"It's me," the first wielder of One For All said. "Please, stop. You're spiraling."

I can't stop! I need to figure out what Midoriya's plan is!

"I know. But overthinking every single move he makes will cause you to crash and burn. You need to rest. Focus on defeating my… nephew… when you have a clear head."

I… Ochako paused. I can't do that…

"Then… I'm sorry for what I'm about to do."

Katsuki heard a knock on his door.

Ordinarily, he would be annoyed that someone woke him up at this hour, but truthfully, he wasn't even asleep. His brain was racked with all the shit that happened earlier today.

Getting up from his cushy bed, he made his way to the door, opening it to see… Ochako. Except, something was seriously off about her eye color. Instead of brown, they were… green.

"Help her," a voice that did not belong to her said. "She needs you."

Before the explosive blond could even ask who was currently body-snatching his classmate, the green eyes shifted back to brown, and Ochako snapped back, looking around in confusion.

"Oy," Katsuki called her attention to him. "You gonna explain what that was?"

"The first… he… took control of my body… I have to go –"

"Nope. Stop right there," the red-eyed teen said, holding up his hand. "The guy said you needed help. If someone took over your body to tell me to help you, that implies that you're hiding something. And I suggest you sit down on my bed, and start with who "the first" is, now."

He could see it in her eyes. She wanted to refuse, but another part of her made his pink-cheeked menace push her inside, where she plopped down on his bed. After closing the door, Katsuki followed suit, plopping down next to her. "Alright, start wherever you want."

And then the floodgates opened.

She spilled about having dreams of the past, essentially seeing the memories of the past One For All users, and how whenever she was unconscious, they would talk to her. However, this was the first time they did so whenever she was wide awake, and from the context clues Katsuki was picking up, they decided to hijack her body because they deemed it necessary.

Katsuki figured that the ghosts within One For All weren't malicious, and would most likely not do that unless absolutely necessary (he'd deal with that revelation later). Hell, they might not do it ever again. But they deemed this as some sort of emergency, and after a bit of prying, he figured out that Ochako was losing sleep over the second coming of All For One. Deku.

She told him about how each One For All user had some kind eternal rivalry with the original All For One until All Might was finally able to put him in the ground (he didn't like the implications of what happened to the seven previous wielders) and how Deku seemed to be using every attack by the League of Villains as a way to taunt her. From showing her how feeble All Might truly was back at the USJ, to having Gentle Criminal proclaim her as the "Symbol of Hope" during I-Island, to Kamino, and then to what went down during today's Provisional Licensing Exam.

"So, yeah… that's what's been on my mind…"

"Jesus fucking Christ, no wonder that ghost had to interfere like he did," Katsuki sighed. "To keep all that bottled up… it's a miracle you haven't exploded yet, Round Cheeks."

Ochako sniffled. "It's just… I don't know what to do! I keep trying to figure out what his next move is, and after what happened with Yui and Meliisa, I don't know who to trust –"

"Well, you can trust me," Katsuki said. "I ain't no freakin' Deku stooge, and I'm pretty sure I ain't a sleeper agent for him, either. Hell, Kodai tried to kill me back during the Battle Trial!"

"Yeah… you do make a good point…"

"And as for who to trust… tell you what, we still have one more free day tomorrow, we can all get together, and you can air whatever grievances you've got to them then."

"B-b-but…" Ochako stammered. "I'd be accusing them of being Villains…"

"Nah, just explain to them what's been eating you and tell them about how Deku's been making you paranoid, and you'll be fine!" Katsuki said. "And if they don't trust you… I'll beat 'em up!"

The brown-haired girl looked at him with teary eyes, before she began to chuckle. "Hehehe… Oh man, I really needed that… Thanks, Katsuki… I mean it. I'll leave everything to you."

"Sure thing."

Toshinori made his way towards the Heights Alliance Dorms.

It was early in the morning when young Bakugou slammed open the doors of the teacher's lounge and demanded that Toshinori make his way to the 1-A common room at a specific time. He didn't specify why exactly, but he insisted that it was really important.

I wonder why... Toshinori wondered to himself. Maybe they were planning some sort of surprise party? But why? He never told them when his birthday was, and even if he did, a couple months had already passed since then. Maybe it was to thank him for everything he had done?

Nah, I'm thinking too much about this, he thought, as he opened the door to their dorm, walking in. He was immediately greeted by Bakugou, who motioned to him to be quiet.

Looking towards the common area, he could see that all of Class A was there, sitting around the respective chairs and tables, and… looking towards young Uraraka. Huh? What's going on?

"...pretty much it," the young wielder of One For All said, presumably finishing up what he was talking about. "So, in summary, it's kinda required of me to take down All For One, but I've been stressing out too much about it, to the point that both the ghosts in my head and Katsuki decided that I basically needed to talk with someone, hence, this self-intervention… thingy."

Toshinori's jaw dropped to the floor. WHAT?!

As the former Symbol of Peace was trying to figure out what he just heard, several of the students began hugging young Uraraka, and bawling their own eyes out.

"Why didn't you tell us?!"

"We're so sorry we never noticed!"

"Please forgive us!"

What the hell is going on…? All of Tohsinori's brain cells were scrambling to try and understand what was going on, only to feel a tap on his shoulder from young Bakugou. "Uh, yes…?"

"Let me give you a quick rundown of what you missed."

Despite having a hard time to breathe due to the massive hug pile she was in, Ochako felt like a major weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Like she could breathe more easily now.

She had told the rest of her class about what had been eating her for so long. She did something she never even considered if Katsuki hadn't suggested it to her. But now that she actually went and did it, she was so glad. She no longer felt as alone as before.

"Okay… you can stop now… can't breathe…" Everyone quickly let go of her, as Ochako began to draw breath properly once more. "Alright… so, do any of you have any questions?"

"I have a few!" Iida raised his hand. "First, are we certain that these vestiges are benign? While I do agree that you need to talk to someone, puppeteering your body does seem to be morally dubious. I know Shinso is able to do something similar, but he has a Provisional Licence…"

"Uh, Iida? You ever gonna finish the question?" Sero asked.

"It's alright," Ochako said. "I don't think they're gonna do it again. Not unless I'm doing something incredibly stupid, like, going on a one-man Vigilante rampage…"

Iida's face soured a little at that. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a jab at his crusade against the Hero Killer, but he decided to hold his tongue. "That is… good to hear."

Shinso smirked. "So, I wasn't entirely wrong about your Quirk being haunted…"

"No, not really. The vestiges would usually talk to me whenever I was asleep or not a hundred percent there," Ochako said, pointing to her head. "This is the first time any of them actually talked to me when I was wide awake. It might happen more now. I'll let you know if it does."

"Young Uraraka?"

Ochako turned to see that All Might was standing there. "Before any of you ask, I was the one who invited him. I also told him about what's happened, so, you're welcome," Katsuki said.

"Oh, I see…" Ochako said. "Um, All Might, I –"

"I understand, and we'll talk about it later. However, Young Bakugou told me about your suspicions towards the rest of your classmates after what happened with young Kodai, and… Melissa," the former No. 1 Hero said. "You might want to sit down for this one. That goes for all of you, but especially young Ashido, Sato, Hakagure, Shinso, Kaminari, and Kirishima."

The members of Class A sat down, as All Might sighed, before he said, "Recovery Girl analyzed some samples of all your DNA during the training camp, and found out that those of you who believed had sudden "Quirk Awakenings," in truth, now had multiple Quirks. Now, we aren't accusing any of you of working with All For One, but Principal Nedzu does wish to investigate why he would want to give some of you extra Quirks. We wanted to gently explain the situation to you, but after what young Bakugou told me… I'm glad I came forward now that I did."

"So, I was right…" Ochako murmured, before she looked back at her mentor. "Thank you, All Might, for trusting me with this. I wish I was able to confide in you like you could with us."

"Well… you could always do so now. Tell me what's wrong."

Ochako smiled. Despite the fact that Katsuki gave him what was probably a thorough explanation, All Might still wanted to hear it from his student's heart. As she explained everything to him in the late hours of the evening, Ochako began to wonder…

…did Izuku Midoriya have anyone he could truly confide in?

With the second semester rolling around, Class A ended up doing something new: Attending the orientation speech given by Principal Nedzu. Granted, that wasn't anything exciting, but given that the first time around they were assessing their Quirks, this was a welcomed change.

The speech began with some sort of fur allegory, followed by talking about the students getting a full eight hours of sleep, only to have the small mammal suddenly segway that talk to what happened during summer vacation. Losing All Might came with ramifications which were appearing faster than even Nedzu expected, and he then directly addressed the Hero Course about the chaos coming in the future. Then he said something about a "Hero Work Study" that was available to the upperclassmen, something Ochako only vaguely recalled hearing about.

As she tried to fish for the memory where she heard such a phrase, Nedzu finished up the speech about working hard and how they were the ones that were gonna inherent society. After that, there were a few extra speeches from Hound Dog and Vlad King, but after that, the orientation was over, and everyone returned back for Aizawa-sensei's Hero class.

"Okay, starting today, we'll resume our regular classes and training schedule," Aizawa-sensei said. "I know a lot has happened recently, however, you need to switch gears and focus on your school duties. We're lecturing today, but you'll have even harsher training than before."

"Excuse me, sir, may I ask a question?" Tsu raised her hand. "What were those things the Principal was talking about during the opening ceremonies? I never heard the term before."

"I know, right? Hero Work Studies?" Sero repeated. "That had me confused."

Tokoyami nodded in agreement. "I also have concerns."

"To put it simply, it's work outside of class. Like the internships you did at Pro Hero Agencies before, only closer to the real thing," Aizawa-sensei explained.

"Then what was the point of working so hard during the Sports Festival, ribbit?"

"You'll be using your connections from the Sports Festival to secure a work study, it's basic networking. This isn't part of your normal classwork, it's discretionary for each student. That means, those who weren't scouted at the Sports Festival will have a hard time lining one up, I'm afraid. Originally, individual agencies recruited on their own, but there was lots of competition as people tried to recruit UA students, so, this is how things ended up. Understood, Asui?"

The green-haired girl nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Now that you have your Provisional Licenses, you can assist in real ways, for longer periods of time. Until now, there haven't been many First Years who've received their licenses. With the increased activity of Villains, we're currently exploring the idea that you can participate in work studies, as well." Aizawa-sensei turned to the door and said, "Go ahead and come in."

For a few seconds, everyone was confused, until the door slid open, and three UA students walked in. One of them was a muscular blond who somewhat resembled a young All Might, another was a nervous, elf-like, student, and the third… Ochako recognized very well.

"I'll have people who've experienced them firsthand explain. I suggest you listen carefully as they point out how work studies differ from internships. Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado. These three are Third Years at UA. You may know them as… the Big Three."

So, we meet again… Nejire-senpai, the brown-haired girl thought to herself.

"Of all the talented students here, they're the ones on the top…"

"Still in school, but practically Pro Heroes..."

"They're the students we should be chasing after…"

"They don't look all that special to me…"

"Get to it. Introduce yourselves briefly," Aizawa-sensei said. "Let's start with Amajiki."

The older teen with the dark blue hair and pointed ears opened his eyes, and immediately, everyone in the room felt like the temperature dropped by a few degrees. His eyes looked like those of Aizawa-sensei when he was upset. But after a few seconds… "It's no good."

Ochako, and by extension, the others, blinked. "Huh?"

"You two go. I just can't. Even if I try to imagine them as potatoes, I can see their human bodies. I know that they're still people. No words are coming out. My mind's blank. And my mouth is dry. I can't say anything. I wanna… go home," he said, immediately turning to face the wall.

"Are you really one of UA's top Heroes?" Ojiro asked, somewhat concerned.

"Come on, Amajiki! You need to have the heart of a lion, not a kitten! Well, even though you're human. Get what I mean?" Nejire-senpai said, as she turned around to address the classroom. "This is our kitten, Tamaki Amajiki. And hi, my name is Nejire Hado. I'm supposed to talk about work studies. But… There is so much I wanna know about all of you! Let's have a Q !"

Aizawa-sensei looked ready to burst. "This is completely illogical…"

"Oh, there's no need for you to worry, Eraserhead! I'm up next, and I'm going to get the audience refocused!" Togata said, looking at the class. "Okay, you guys look like you have no idea what's going on. I guess we are Third Years who just showed up in your classroom to explain a program that is completely voluntary. I can see how you'd be confused by that. Hmm… you guys got your Provisional Licenses are First Years, right? Pretty darn energetic. HEADS UP! THE RAD NEW PLAN IS THAT ALL YOU FIRST YEARS FIGHT ME AT ONCE!"

"You wanna fight us?!"

"What, like, now?!"

"Well, if you want them to experience our experience, this is a pretty logical way of doing it, then!" Togata said, as he looked at Aizawa-sensei. "Right, Eraserhead? Logical!"

"Do whatever you want," the Underground Hero grunted.

Of course Mirio would do something like this.

"Is he… for real?" the black-haired one, Sero, asked.

"Oh, yeah, totes real," Mirio said, as he kept stretching.

"Mirio… you're impossible," Tamaki sighed, still staring at the wall. "It would have been simple enough for us to just tell them. "This is what it's like." "This is what we learned from it." Not everyone has your level of drive. Plus, think about how bad it'll look if some of them can't recover after fighting you. No one wants to spend the next few years in a hospital bed."

"I bet he's just trying to psyche us out," the redhead, Kirishima, said.

"Let's think about this. You're obviously ahead of us, but we've fought Pros before."

Tamaki pitied that poor kid with the bird head. If he honestly thought that Pro Heroes holding back would be the same thing as fighting Mirio, then he was in for a world of pain.

"And some of us helped take down legitimate Villains," Kirishima added, smiling all cocky. "I don't think you have to worry about hurting us. We're not a bunch of wannabes."

Quickly turning to face the group, Tamaki could see Mirio nodding. Oh, that's bad. "Mm, heard. But you're gonna have to show me that's the truth. Now who's gonna start this party?"

"View this as a learning experience! It's a good opportunity for you!" Aizawa shouted to his students. He really seemed to have mellowed out from when Tamaki was in his class.

"Oh, the Symbol of Hope," Mirio said, as he saw the first kid in front of him, the brown-haired girl, approach. "Yes, this is perfect! I've heard that you've got plenty of fire in ya!"

"The close combat team should surround him!" Sato said.

"Let's do it!" Kirishima smiled. "Thanks for the opportunity to kick your butt!"

That brown-haired girl that was with Nejire during the internships was the first one to charge at Mirio, her pink lightning bouncing off her body like she was some kind of comet, only to have her jaw drop in shock at... "WHY DID YOU CLOTHES JUST FALL OFF?!"

"Oopsie!" Mirio said, playing dumb. "My Quirk's kinda tricky."

The girl, Uraraka, was it? Yeah, Uraraka recovered quickly enough, though, as she did a spinning kick to Mirio's face, only to see that it passed through, and she backed off.

Oh? Tamaki raised an eyebrow at that. Does she know something?

"Went for the face, huh?" Mirio seemed completely unphased (ha) as he was then blasted by three different Quirks, all of which just passed through him again. As the underclassmen were trying to figure out where he went, Mirio popped up again from behind the group.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

While he wasn't a fan of the screaming from the panicking First Years, Tamaki couldn't help but watch in appreciation as all of Mirio's hard work paid off, as he began to systematically pick off the students one by one, starting with that Shinso kid with the Brainwashing.

"HE WARPED?!"

"HIS POWER ISN'T JUST SLIPPING THROUGH THINGS?!"

"...SUCH A GOOD QUIRK!"

Good Quirk, huh? Yeah, right. Looking back at the wall so no one would pay attention to him talking, Tamaki muttered, "You're wrong. Mirio's Quirk isn't what you should be jealous of… You should be envying his skills. That's what sets him apart from you, First Years."

One by one, the students went down. The purple-haired boy, the Todoroki kid, and the blond with the explosive hands were the most dangerous long-distance fighters, so naturally, Mirio targeted them first, using sneak attacks to catch them off-guard. When he was done with them, he moved on to the rest of the ranged combatants, using their own newfound fears of him to make them slip up. About ten seconds into the metaphorical slaughter, they all formed an improvised defensive perimeter, only to have Mirio come up from under like a shark. A few well-placed punches later, they were all down, and Mirio was screaming, "POWERRRRR!"

"Think that's it for the long-distance fighters," Mirio said, as he stared down the remaining students. "Now all that's left are those who specialize in close quarter combat."

"I have no idea how he just did that…!"

"It's one thing to be able to phase through stuff, but…"

"...Do we stand a chance?"

Mirio smirked, as he got into position. "Hold the flattery."

Unrivaled? Just one word, and I can tell at what level you're all at, Tamaki grimly thought. Like how an ordinary person might think a Pro is impressive, but lack the ability to figure out why. If you can't tell how much hard work Mirio has put in, then you'll never be able to match him.

"There's more to his Quirk than we're seeing!" Uraraka told the others. "He's still landing his attacks directly! We should be able to counter him the moment he's about to make contact! Even if we don't know what he's doing, we can use what we do know to beat him!"

"Yeah, you said it!" Kirishima smiled.

Even Mirio seemed to agree. "Let's see if you can figure out how to win!"

Running towards them, Mirio slipped into the floor, and –

"HE WENT UNDER!"

– popped back up behind Uraraka.

"BLACKWHIP!"

A mass of dark tentacles erupted from her arms, all of them trying to grab Mirio in vain, as he got closer and closer to her. "Ultimate Move: BLINDER TOUCH EYEBALL CRUSH!"

Tamaki smiled, as he watched Mirio take down his most dangerous opponent. She seemed to be able to predict where he was gonna pop out off, but even if that was the case, no one would be able to resist flinching at the thought of their eyes getting poked. And now for the others…

"URARAKA!"

"DAMN!"

The rest of the First Years fell with little effort on Mirio's end. He hit two of them in the stomach, uppercutted the one with the rock-like head, elbowed the kid with the tail and the other with the lips in the chest, and slammed his hands into the last contestant, sending them all to the floor.

"POWERRRRR!"

"Togata…" Nejire eyed him. "He's gotten super powerful lately, heh?"

"Mirio has been strong ever since we were little kids," Tamaki said, as he looked at his blue-haired friend. "The problem is… he needs to learn how to hold back."

"I tried to make it so you wouldn't see my willy. Sorry if you got a peek," Mirio said, as he began to help up some of the downed students. "Anyways, that's a taste of what it's like to fight me!"

The blond, Bakugou, groaned, "We all just got punched in the stomach…"

"Right!" Mirio nodded. "So, what do you think? Is my Quirk strong?"

"YEAH!" Sero shouted. "It's too strong!"

"Mine's nothing in comparison!" the invisible girl shouted.

"Do you have two powers like Todoroki does?!" the pink girl asked.

"Nope." Mirio shook his head. "Just the one."

Uraraka seemed to look at him skeptically. "Just the one…?"

"Ooh, I know! I'll tell you what his Quirk is! Hey, hey, can I say it? Permeation!"

Tamaki sighed at Nejire's antics. "Let Mirio explain his own power…"

"I've got a sweet Quirk that's called Permeation. I activate my Quirk in my entire body, then, I can pass through anything I want, no sweat! That includes solid ground. And then, when I release my Quirk while I'm "falling," something strange happens! Apparently, things with mass can't overlap, so I get repelled upward! Think of it this way… the ground spits me out, and I fly into the air! By adjusting the direction I'm facing, I can change the angle I come out of!"

"That sounds like a buggy video game," that purple-haired boy deadpanned.

"You're able to avoid attacks and move where you want in an instant," the frog girl surmised, placing a finger under her chin. "Oh, you were born with a really strong Quirk."

"Not true. My power's only strong because I made it that way."

The younger students paused, as Mirio continued, "While my Quirk is activated, my lungs can't take in oxygen. Even if I breathe in, the air will just pass through. In the same way, my eardrums don't work, and light can't go through my retinas. I can pass through everything. But that means I can't feel anything while I'm in that state. Even though I have a body, I can't stop falling. I can probably keep going down forever. Does that make sense?"

"That's why, if I wanna go through something like, say, a wall, I have to concentrate really hard. I'll activate everything except one leg, then I release the other leg and land on it. And then the first leg is the last one to go through," the blond teen further explained, emphasizing each of his moves. "Even for a simple action like that, there are a bunch of little steps involved."

"Man, that sounds complicated," Kaminari said. "I'd totally get that wrong…

"Growing up, I was always behind, as you might expect. In no time, I dropped dead last. I dropped my pants a lot, too. In order to get to the top with this Quirk, I couldn't just hope that things would get better! I had to think!" Mirio said, pointing to his head to further emphasize the point. "I learned to make combat decisions! I picked up a few new tricks! But above all, I learned to predict what would happen next! And what made those predictions possible in the first place was experience! This was kinda a roundabout way to get the point across, but that's why I wanted to fight; to show you with experience, rather than words!"

"In our work studies, we're not treated as guests, like in our internships, we're regarded as one of the Sidekicks, or even as a Pro! That can be scary; Pros can get hurt, and sometimes, they end up watching people die. But every scary and painful thing you go through is an important experience you can't get inside a classroom, even at UA," Mirio said, clenching his fists. "I transformed the experience I got at my work study into power! That's how I got to the top spot! And… that's why I think they're worth it, even if you're scared! You with me, First Years?"

Tamaki smiled. This was the Mirio he loved to see. The one that inspired him to be a better Hero than he was now, and that same one was inspiring these First Years, too.

"He even gives pep talks like a Pro!"

"So these really are different…"

"Now that we've got our license…"

"We'll be treated like Pros when we're on the scene."

"We gotta prepare ourselves for that."

"It's just what I wanted!"

"Yeah, this is great!"

"We have to keep climbing…"

"And be Plus Ultra!"

As their underclassmen talked to each other about how amazing this demonstration was and what to do next, Aizawa told the three upperclassmen that they were free to leave. Heading out, Nejire asked, "Hey, so, do you think we got the point across? Maybe not?"

"I'm just glad I didn't have to do anything," Tamaki said. "Let's be grateful to Mirio."

I'll always be grateful to you, Lemillion, the pointed-eared teen thought to himself. You're like the sun, shining bright. That's why I'll become something greater… why I'll become a Suneater.

Author's Note: Uraraka has been patched up for the time being, and the rest of the Class is in the know about what's going on. So, everything is good… for now. I also don't recall if the past users of One For All are incapable of taking over their current host's body, but I figured that they can and just choose not to do it. They're not canon All For One.

Oh, wow! We've got some serious whoppers of comments this time around!

Joesgood: I'm glad to know that what happened in the last chapter was severe enough for you to know that Uraraka is going through some things. You probably saw the first half of the chapter coming, which makes me happy, 'cause that means I'm good enough at writing for my readers to pick up on stuff. Melissa has been revealed as Hephaestus (finally), and I'm also happy to see my characterization of Midoriya has been deemed acceptable. He may be a bad guy, but he's still a nerdy teenager at heart.

Silvershadow (Guest): Yes, Midoriya is a player. However, Toga isn't one of his girlfriends, her personality is just that of a lovestruck teenager, just like in canon. But as for Uraraka, I wouldn't say her morals are black-and-white, it's just that she's been used to the standard Heroes vs Villains format society has propped up. And since All Might has told her about how bad the original All For One is, and with what happened in Kamino, it does make sense why she would attack his son on-sight.

Parceny: Are you saying you don't know what to expect from this story, or from fanfiction in general? Either way, I'm glad you're having a good time reading.

EmilMobile: Man, who even knows how Izuku does it? You're right about the small number of people that could have been Hephaestus, and I'm glad to see you remembered the context clues. But poor Ochako, indeed, she's been backstabbed twice now.

Golisobro: I've actually never heard of that character before, but a couple of quick Google searches, I can see what made you draw the parallels.

VinHD15: Well, I've talked a lot about my fics, so of course you'd know!

DevilJoker: The League aren't a threat that will only be around for a year like their canon counterparts, these guys are gonna be around well into Ochako's Hero career.

Dark princling (Guest): Oh, dang, I totally forgot about that. Well, that mistake is on me. But as for who is the final member of this lovely relationship… heh-heh… well…

Anyways, back to the regular old shilling…

I'm pretty sure as you all know now, I have also made a Twitter account to post my art, so if anyone is interested in checking it out, /ErnaloreProf is the link.

If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules.

Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!

- Ernalore