Chapter 14: Just Fine

A/N I changed some AC codenames!

The changed names are as so:

Akabane Karma - "Jersey Devil"

Isogai Yuma - "Prince Poverty"

Kataoka Megu - "Just Add Water"

Kayano Kaede - "Knife On A Roomba"

Sugaya Sosuke - "Etch-A-Sketch"

Terasaka Ryoma - "Bara Tigger"

Nakamura Rio - "Pants At A Distance"

Kirara Hazama - "Tokyo Ghoul"

Hara Sumire - "Pixar's Elastigirl"

Fuwa Yuzuki - "Living Manga"

Muramatsu Takuya - "Cold Ramen"

Yada Toka - "Class Therapist"

Yoshida Taisei - "Wario's Motorcycle"

Horibe Itona - "Poor Decision Making"

---

>>Group Chat: Blessed Be This Fam, 12:34pm

One Punch Boy: so like… are we gonna talk about this?

Etch-A-Sketch: lmao about what

Pants At A Distance: you can't just start a conversation all cryptid like th

Pants At A Distance: wait

Baseball Freak: rio

Pants At A Distance: don't look at me

Prince Poverty: … Anyway, what's this about again?

One Punch Boy: wait did sugino and rio just call me a cryptid

Poor Decision Making: did you really ask that

Jersey Devil: Izukun, the three of us spend our free time researching Mothman and you wanna question the fact you were called a cryptid?

Womanizing Scumbag: see at least Karma acknowledges the fact that he's a cryptid

Jersey Devil: yeah but considering my homeroom teacher, I'm starting to reconsider my esteemed title

Tokyo Ghoul: ((((;ﾟДﾟ))))))) Karma, REGRETTING something?!

Tokyo Ghoul: wow amazing

Cold Ramen: stop

Wario's Motorcycle: Please Never. Use kaomojis again. Please.

Class Therapist: yeah, please don't

Jersey Devil: :/ I hate admitting that I'm a little put on edge by that

Tokyo Ghoul: I live to unnerve and cause discomfort

Poor Decision Making: as a cryptid, i am thoroughly offended by that use of moji by a fellow cryptid

Knife on a Roomba: send pic

Pants At A Distance: send pic

Jersey Devil: pic or it didn't happen

Knife on a Roomba: jinx!!

Tokyo Ghoul: pic or it didnt happen

Pants At A Distance: jinx

Tokyo Ghoul: jinx

Jersey Devil: jinx

Gender Snek: .

Wario's Motorcycle: did i just witness a quadruple jinx on jinx on jinx on jinx

Specs(LOL): This needs to be in the Guinness World Records book.

Gender Snek: i'm amazed

Justice: WAIT

Justice: look at the timestamp, Karma sent exactly a second too late.

Justice: SCREENSHOT_hjfkj8ueu.JPEG

Justice: see? it's not the same time as the other three—because the second hand hit 12 just before it sent, therefore it wasn't a perfect jinx

Poor Decision Making: I'm disappointed you didn't say "OBJECTION" instead of "wait"

Jersey Devil: smh

Bara Tigger: itona you're disowned

Poor Decision Making: NO STOP

Tokyo Ghoul: never talk to me and my memes again

Justice: .

Justice: mother f

One Punch Boy: lol

One Punch Boy: ok anyway

Mistress Kanzaki: please continue Izukun!

Pants At A Distance: right right sorry, what was that, bunny?

One Punch Boy: :/

Knife on a Roomba: anyway, Izukun

One Punch Boy; Korosensei

Gender Snek: .

Poor Decision Making: .

Specs(LOL): .

Etch-A-Sketch: .

Pants At A Distance: is

Pants At A Distance: is this about the other day?

One Punch Boy: um, yea

Baseball Freak: ?

Prince Poverty: Can we get a recap bls

Knife on a Roomba: We want to visit Korosensei as a class

Dating Sim Protag: oh

…

2:43pm

One Punch Boy: guys, i just

One Punch Boy: can we seriously talk about this? Like for real

One Punch Boy: because every single one of us, including me, is avoiding this and i'm honestly getting pissed about it

Several people are typing…

Womanizing Scumbag: holy frick, uh

Prince Poverty: We should go see him

Mistress Kanzaki: I want to see him too…

Bara Tigger: why donmt you guys just freaking go? Why drag everyone into this? You can do w/e tf you want

Poor Decision Making: Why are you arguing?

Bara Tigger: wtf? I'm not arguing, I'm asking a freaking question, Itona. I'm pissed too, ok?

Pants At A Distance: oh my g, okstop, pause, pause pause pause

Baseball Freak: Please calm down

Fluffy Stag-Beetle: can we not argue? It's upsetting.

Bara Tigger: look, I'm just saying not everyone is ready to see him yet.

Terminal Perv: I… kind of agree

Amazing Monkey: I do too…

Jersey Devil: ,

Knife on a Roomba: I'm not sure yet, but I'd like to go anyway

Tokyo Ghoul: I'd like to visit him,

Bara Tigger: half the class isn't even here to vote on this, what are we even doing?

Poison Specs: I'm sorry everyone, I'm not sure what to do… ;(

Specs(LOL): That's okay, Okuda. :(

Pixar's Elastigirl: It's okay, Okuda. You're not alone on that.

Class Therapist: you're allowed to not know yet, okay? We should all just take our time on this.

Gender Snek: it's only been a month :/

One Punch Boy: i, i know. i just thought maybe we could ykno, use some closure?

One Punch Boy: i just

Several people are typing…

…

One Punch Boy: it still hurts?

One Punch Boy: im stry

…

Several people are typing…

Bara Tigger: youre not the only one still hurting izuku

Jersey Devil: hey, izuku dont apologize, it's balid ok?

Jersey Devil: valid*

Jersey Devil: terasaka wtf?

Gender Snek: :(

Knife on a Roomba: Terasaka can you shut the hell up?

Prince Poverty: no no no izuku, it's okay!

Pants At A Distance: He wasn't saying he was the only one hurting Terasaka, oh my god

Bara Tigger: what the hell? I wasn't saying he was! i'm just saying he's not te only one!!

One Punch Boy: I KNOW IM NOT THEONLY ONE HURTING YOU FREAKING

One Punch Boy: IN JUST SAYING WE SHOULD VISIT KOROSENSEI AND IT FEELS ERONG TO GO ALONE WITHIUT THE CLAS

One Punch Boy: WHY CANT WE EVER JUST WOKR TOGETHRE WHY CANT WE JUST TRU AND HELP EACH OTHER OUT BECUASE WE'RE ALL HURYING DAMMIT

Wario's Motorcycle: terasaka calm down bro?

Several people are typing…

Mushroom Director: what's goijg on?oh

Jersey Devil: jesus,

Gender Snek: Izukun-

Knife on a Roomba: ohno, izukun izukun bb please calm down <:( oh my gosh, izuku i'm gonna call you ok

Pants At A Distance: inhales

Bara Tigger: I DIDNT SAY ANYTHING WRONG!? WHAT THE HELL!?

Moe Box: This is getting out of hand guys（ ; ; ）

Prince Poverty: OKAY EVERYONE SHUT UP STOP TYPING

Several people are typing…

…

Terminal Perv: uh, no offence isogai but ur not class prez anymore?

Prince Poverty: excuse me? What the hell does that have to do with anything?

Womanizing Scumbag: uh, no offense okajima but shut the hell up?

Just Add Water: boys please, we just had a nice weekend, can we seriously not?

Bara Tigger: no, ykno whats? we're gonna talk about this rn

Baseball Freak: you were literally just arguing about not being ready for this?

Bara Tigger: can people literally not change their minds, idiot?

Baseball Freak: i mean i guess so but can you be chill this time?

Class Therapist: can we be a bit more civil? Especially with izuku having a breakdown over there?

Just Add Water: okay everyone calm down, five minute cool down. No one text for five minutes, just breathe.

Bara Tigger: fine.

Baseball Freak: thank god

Prince Poverty: thank you, megu

Womanizing Scumbag: okay

…

Just Add Water: okay, good job everyone. Now, let's continue, shall we? Izukun suggested going to visit Korosensei, so who's ready and who needs more time? It's okay to need more time.

Several people are typing…

…

Everyone but Izuku, Kaede, and Karma gave their voice on the matter, half saying they needed time and the other saying they wanted to visit Korosensei.

Prince Poverty: that's everyone but three. Is Izuku still on call w Kaede?

Pants At A Distance: yea

Just Add Water: so that just leaves Karma

Class Therapist: Karma?

Jersey Devil: what?

Pixar's Elastigirl: we need your vote on visiting Korosensei

Jersey Devil: I don't know.

Pants At A Distance: are you not ready?

Jersey Devil: I don't know.

Gender Snek: it's okay not to be ready, karma :<

Jersey Devil: look i just

Jersey Devil: i dont know okay? I dont know i dont know i dont know i dont know just just just

Jersey Devil: please just

Gender Snek: Karma are you okay?

Jersey Devil: just

Jersey Devil: .

Jersey Devil: i cant do this

>>Jersey Devil has left the group: Blessed Be This Fam, 3:56pm

Gender Snek: .

Prince Poverty: oh

One Punch Boy: karma?

Knife on a Roomba: oh no

Poor Decision Making: is. What.

Pants At A Distance: is someone gonna get that?

One Punch Boy: Wait, why did Karma leave?

Womanizing Scumbag: He just. Lost it? Hey, are you ok Izukun?

One Punch Boy: yea, I'm fine

One Punch Boy: i'm sorry for all that drama, i'm just tired now

One Punch Boy: i'm sorry for blowing up on you terasaka :/

Bara Tigger: its w/e

Bara Tigger: I guess im sorry too but w/e

Gender Snek: I should go check on Karma

One Punch Man: maybe me too

Knife on a Roomba: izukun you just had an emotional breakdown, just rest okay? Let nagisa take care of this

One Punch Man: hhhhhhhhhhhhok foine

Gender Snek: brb

---

>>Jersey Devil, 4:16pm

Gender Snek: hey, just wanted to see if you're okay :( I know things are stressful and that stuff about Korosensei wasn't helping. I'm sorry if we pushed you too hard, but please know that I'm still here for you. All of us are. So if you ever want to talk, please don't hesitate to talk to us okay?

Jersey Devil: i'm not upset at you guys, nagisa

Jersey Devil: im sorry, i just

Jersey Devil: i dont know what im doing nagisa

Gender Snek: what do you mean?

Jersey Devil: we freaking killed a guy, nagisa

Jersey Devil: and got paid for it

Jersey Devil: that's the worst part, we got paid to kill our teacher who's done nothing but support and help us and we killed him

Gender Snek: i, i know, but if we didn't do it, he would have died anyway an d he didnt want to die like thatykno?

Jersey Devil: i just dont. get it.

Jersey Devil: I used to despise teachers, just adults in general are so hypocritical and they cherry pick their own favorites. They were nothing to me, and then HE comes along and flips my wjole world?? I dont know how to take yhat, i rlly dont .

Gender Snek: i know :( i think we're all still really confused about this all, but at least we all still have each other though?

Jersey Devil: cut it with that crap, nagisa, we're not the same end class like last year

Gender Snek: <:?

Jersey Devil: you saw how terasaka and okajima just nailed izuku and isogai

Jersey Devil: we're dividing. No one texts unless izuku or i text first, you ever nitice that?

Jersey Devil: notice*

Gender Snek is typing…

…

Jersey Devil: im just struggling ok?

Gender Snek: i know :( i'm sorry Karma

Jersey Devil: i don't know how to deal with this anymore nagisa

Jersey Devil: what im doing is so useless at this point

Jersey Devil: what the hell is a business student going to do to the world besides scam people out of their money somehow

Gender Snek: i thought you wanted to get into the politics course next year?

Jersey Devil: I dont know anymore man

Jersey Devil: im just confused right now, just give me time i guess

Gender Snek: that's okay, karma :( i think we're all a bit confused

Jersey Devil: yeah

Gender Snek: are you still taking those grief counseling sessions?

Jersey Devil: yeah

Gender Snek: are they helping?

Jersey Devil: i dont know,

Gender Snek: ?

Jersey Devil: i've missed the past two meetings

Jersey Devil: busy and stuff ykn

Gender Snek: understandable

Jersey Devil: … Izuku almost died this week?

…

Jersey Devil: like, i almost lost one of my best friends again :)

Jersey Devil: how am i supposed to deal with that? :)

Gender Snek: i, i dont know :( i'm so sorry

Jersey Devil: it's not your fault

Jersey Devil: it's not your fault ur a frikin villain magnet, you and izuku gdi

Gender Snek: i know

Gender Snek: i blame izuku's magic hidden bad luck quirk

Gender Snek: (:

Jersey Devil: i was frking joking can i live bls

Gender Snek: no

Gender Snek: take it up w izukun (:

Jersey Devil: why did izuku just text me crying about his bad luck quirk

Jersey Devil: n a g i s a

Gender Snek: gtg gotta feed the sneks

Jersey Devil: THEYRE CONNECTED TO YOUR FACE

Gender Snek: SORRY CAN T HEAR YOU OVER THE FROZEN MICE FETUSES BEING SLOWLY EATEN

Jersey Devil: i hate this, i hate this, this is the worst thing to ever happen to me, i cant believe this

Gender Snek: ;*

Jersey Devil: thats it, im shoving a mop down your throat

Jersey Devil: ill be there in 10

Gender Snek: you live 30 mins away

Jersey Devil: SPEED WALKING, BISH

Gender Snek: screams

---

Nagisa got tired of playing on the trampolines just a while ago. He sat at a table by the mini food court the building had, between the main trampolines and the trampoline dodgeball cage. The dodgeball match was still going on, albeit with threats and shouts thrown about to each other as balls flew.

Sighing, he leaned against his hand, elbow on the table, and took a slurp from his soda. Ko and Roka then tried to push themselves out of the bun covers Nagisa had, and the boy jumped before quickly uncovering them.

"Oh, I'm sorry, guys," he muttered, letting them stretch their spines from his head before they both plopped their heads on his shoulders. The blue-haired teen chuckled as he pat their heads gently and returned to mindlessly staring at the world around him.

"Got tired, kero?" came the voice of Tsu as she and Itona approached the table, their own drinks in their hands.

Nagisa smiled tiredly and nodded. "Yeah. Aren't you guys playing hide-and-seek?"

"Uraraka caught us both," Tsu shrugged. "We know where Kaminari and Iida are already."

"We wanted to see Kaminari struggle," Itona added, taking a sip from his soda.

"Is that diet?" Nagisa narrowed his eyes at the white-haired boy who nodded. "... Why?"

"I like to see people struggle when I tell them I like how it tastes."

Tsu gave him an odd look.

Itona nodded, pointing at her. "Just like that."

Nagisa nodded sagely. "Fair enough. Where is Kaminari hiding?"

"Between the wall and the claw machine. Two employees have walked by and neither have spotted him yet."

"I think he's going to hurt himself like that, kero."

Itona shrugged.

Tsu hummed and leaned on her hands, turning her attention to Nagisa. "You look upset, kero."

"What?" Nagisa perked up, alarmed. "No, I'm not."

"Are you sure?" Tsu cocked her head. "You get a distant look in your eyes sometimes, kero."

Itona's gaze slid into Nagisa's and they locked to each other. Itona's stare appeared concerned and almost prying , as if saying, " she's right ," while Nagisa seemed unsettled and caught.

Sighing, Nagisa leaned his cheek on his hand, almost slumping over the round table. "It's nothing, really."

Tsu furrowed her brows. "Nagisa, it's not 'nothing' if it's upsetting you, kero."

Nagisa's eyes flashed to her, feeling the stubborn fight drain from him and he sighed again. He turned his head to the dodgeball match still going on in the cage. He spotted the red of Karma's horns and the green of Izuku's hair then turned away.

The feeling of rotten remains manifested in his gut, gross and swampy and guilty. He looked back to his hands on his lap. His teeth hurt from clenching.

Karma and Izuku have always been close, he supposed. Ever since they met in E class. They had a lot in common at the time. They both hung out around each other more than Nagisa did and he… that… didn't settle well inside him.

The gross feeling in him changed. It hollowed out and turned black and murky. Empty.

He recognized that feeling.

Loneliness.

Nagisa blinked at the soda cup, lowering his hand from his face and wrapping it around the cup and slumping over his other arm on the table.

He's known Karma for years. They were best friends. They'd spend nights at Karma's house just watching crap cartoons and movies, talking about heroes and villains, and deeper things like their lives. And when they broke off suddenly in 8th grade, that's… Nagisa and Karma just never had the same relationship again, did they?

"Nagisa?" Tsuyu tilted her head.

And no, Nagisa was not jealous.

He heard the shrill scream of Iida being caught by the girls in the ball-pit.

No, he was just lonely.

---

Izuku still had a headband around his hair coming to school. He left the little group he had accumulated as friends before class to see Recovery Girl, then came back with his wrist brace off and replaced with a sports wrap to keep it somewhat braced and still. She felt his ribs and lung were coming along nicely enough not to heal them up, so after removing the stitches on his left eyebrow, she sent him off to class before the first bell with a clean bill of health and a gap in his brow, now divided by a jagged scar just above his eyelid leading into his hairline. Not that anyone could see it—his stupidly long bangs nearly covered his eyes anyway.

When he entered class, Kaminari quickly waved him over. "Yo! Midoriya! You took pics from Saturday, right?!"

"Oh- uh, yeah," Izuku nodded as he headed over to the blond's table, taking his phone out and opening his photos app. Hagakure, Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero were around Kaminari's desk, ready to see the photos apparently. The greenhead put the phone on the table for his classmates to see while he set his things down at his desk.

"Thanks man! Yo, see, lookit," Kaminari started scrolling through the photos. "That's the girl who destroyed Bakugou in Pokemon! She beat him in dodgeball too!"

At that, Katsuki sat straight and made his way to the crowded table, fuming. "What, are you bragging for her?! What the hell?!"

"Holy crap, I didn't think Bakugou was even physically capable of losing to anything," Sero commented, ignoring the ash blond.

"Excuse me?! Gimme that, no more freaking phones for you morons." The explosive teen reached for the phone on the desk, just about ready to nuke it back to Izuku, who had crowded in the corner with Uraraka, Iida, Tsuyu, and Nagisa. They were watching the commotion with cheeky grins, sans Iida who twitched uncomfortably at the fact that no one was in their seats and class was about to begin. Hagakure swiped the phone up before Katsuki could get to it, however.

"Wait a moment," she pulled the phone closer to her face, humming and if her posture gave any notion, she even appeared to be deep in thought. "This girl… I know her face from somewhere…"

Izuku's cheeky grin turned impossibly smug as his friends moved closer to the desks. Everyone's attention was on the invisible girl as her humming intensified with the struggle to remember.

Then, with a snap of her fingers, she dropped the phone onto Kaminari's desk and clapped her hands, a dramatic gasp leaving her. "HARUNA MASE!" she screeched. "Ohmigosh, that's Haruna Mase! Do you guys- are yo- ohmigosh, you guys seriously just spent a day with HARUNA MASE without knowing?!"

Kaminari and Uraraka blinked wildly, the room quiet for a long moment before Uraraka, Kirishima, and Ashido all turned to Izuku and Nagisa. "YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH HARUNA MASE?!"

"Wait, wait, wait, who's Haruna Mase?" Kaminari raised a brow in confusion. Ashido looked just about ready to slap the boy and soon Jirou and Shouji turned around to join the conversation too.

Sero frowned. "I should slap you for that."

"You seriously don't know who Haruna Mase is?" Jirou smirked with a raised brow.

Shouji just shook his head shamefully at Kaminari, and the blond scoffed, offended, "What?!"

Their local pink-skinned girl started waving her arms around dramatically. "She's like, one of the biggest teen stars out there! She's huge in sitcoms on sooo many different channels, and she's even been in a ton of movies too!"

"She's one of the most mysterious celebrities, you know," Jirou added. "No one even knows what her quirk is!"

Uraraka nodded. "That's right! Didn't she go on hiatus like, two years ago, though? She hasn't appeared in any new episodes or shows for a long while, huh?"

Hagakure shoved her own phone in the boy's face, a photo of Haruna Mase at a photoshoot pulled up on google images displayed on the screen. "See! Compare their faces!"

Kaminari squinted before lifting Izuku's phone next to it, his eyes dodging between the two images. A moment passed before his face grew pale and he turned to Katsuki.

"Dude, you got your freaking butt handed to you by an actress."

Katsuki just stared at him with an expression that suggested his soul had shriveled up and turned to dust. Then he shot Izuku that same look. "You knew. You knew didn't you."

Izuku looked around innocently before pointing to himself as he turned his wide, innocent eyes to the ash blond. "Who, me?"

"YES YOU! OH MY GOD, FREAKING—IZUKU?!"

The boy laughed and hid behind Iida teasingly. "I d-dunno what you're t-talkin' abou'!"

Katsuki let out a frustration roar and set off a blast from his fists before Kirishima and Kaminari shoved him aside and gave Izuku incredulous looks. "You're dating Haruna Mase?!"

It was the girls' turn to screech in astonishment, echoing the two boys and slamming their hands onto their desks as they stood up. "WHAT?! YOU'RE DATING HARUNA MASE?!"

Nagisa couldn't help but laugh at the whole exchange, then he glanced at Iida and Uraraka and it looked like their brains actually had an .EXE crash and they were trying to reboot themselves.

He almost burst into hysterics at the sight, but miraculously kept his composure with a deep breath in through his nose. Izuku stuck his head out from behind Iida and nodded smugly while admiring his nails. "Yep."

Sero let out a whistle. "Damn. Green Bean's got more game than all of us, what the hell?"

"How could you not tell us that?!" Kaminari stood up and took the boy by the shoulders, looking about ready to shake him. Then he was surrounded by the girls.

"Ohmigosh, you HAVE to ask her for some signatures for us!"

"Midori, can you let me meet her?!"

"I want a photo with her!!"

Izuku stared wide-eyed at the girls and guy crowding in his face, trying to collect himself before Nagisa intercepted. "Whoa! Calm down, guys! One at a time, okay?"

The girls pouted and Ashido crossed her arms. "Fine, fine…"

Then Jirou leaned in. "Hey, what's her quirk?"

"Jirou! You can't just ask that?" Uraraka snapped out of her stupor to gently chastise the girl before appearing thoughtful. "Come to think of it, we never did ask that day… and she never used a quirk, right?"

Tsuyu popped out from behind her with a thought of her own. "I've read some theories that Haruna's actually quirkless, kero. Is that true, Midoriya?"

The freckled boy held another cheeky and sly expression, practically boiling over with smugness as he nodded. "Yep! Totally qu-quirkl'ss."

Katsuki's mouth dropped open. Then he sat down on the floor next to his desk.

Kirishima and Kaminari kept their hands over their mouths.

Nagisa grinned and Iida's expression remained the same as an 'Iida.EXE has Crashed' program. Then Kaminari crouched down next to Katsuki, a look on his face that said he was going to tease the boy and then possibly die immediately. "How's it feel to know a quirkless actress destroyed you in both Pokemon Go and trampoline dodgeball?"

Katsuki shoved his face into the tile floor.

---

There was a stunned silence when a seemingly mummified Aizawa walked into class after Iida ushered everyone to their seats. A trail of blood dripped from Kaminari's nose that was mostly ignored by everyone.

"Sensei?! You still came?!"

"He looks like a mummy!"

"Dude, that's so metal."

"Oh my god, he lost his face."

"Are you alright, Sensei?!"

Aizawa took his seat and cleared his throat. His voice came out muffled in response, "My well-being isn't important, because your fight is far from over."

A chill ran through the students and they broke out in murmurs of fright. Nagisa gave Izuku a sideways glance.

"F… Fight?" Nagisa prompted, uncertainty edged in his voice.

"Don't tell me…" Kaminari squinted.

Aizawa opened his eyes to the class. "The UA Sports Festival is very soon."

"WHAT?!"

"THAT'S SO NORMAL?!"

Nagisa squirmed in his seat. There was a brief moment of silence. Then Aizawa turned to Kaminari. "Kaminari. Go see Recovery Girl for your nose, now."

"Yes, Sensei…"

---

The class was spent discussing the Sports Festival. It was Japan's most awaited event and absolutely could not be cancelled just because of some villains, which frightened Nagisa a bit but he didn't let it show. He wasn't that big into news and events as Izuku was, but he's heard a bit of it already. The sports festival is a great entry way into a hero career, allowing students to show off what they've got and intern with different hero agencies which could lead to them possibly becoming a sidekick in the future! It was awesome to think of the possibilities.

It was interesting to see a new side of Uraraka as well. It kind of made him think of Kaede, and how pumped she could get sometimes. Nagisa felt fond of the thought. Just as class was dismissed, Aizawa called to the two End Class graduates.

"Nagisa, Midoriya, a moment please?"

They traded glances between each other, Nagisa's calm expression not even hinting at the troubled feeling he held in his chest while Izuku's scarred brow folded together with the other. They waved at their friends to go on without them, that they'd catch up in a moment before approaching their homeroom teacher's desk. When the last student filed out and slid the door shut, Aizawa closed his eyes and sighed before turning his gaze to the green-haired boy.

"Midoriya, I heard you were also injured by the Noumu last week. How are you now?"

"Oh, um," Izuku instantly started fiddling with his hands, trapping his fingers together before they raised to push his hair behind his left ear. "I-I'm ff-fine. Just, um… Jus' ss-some brrrr-eathin' problems… Still."

"Your lungs were injured, then. I see. Will you be fine for the Sports Festival in the next two weeks?"

Izuku nodded wordlessly, the determination in his eyes speaking for him very clearly. I'm ready.

Aizawa nodded solemnly before redirecting his attention to his snake-haired student. "And you, Nagisa—you weren't injured at all, I heard?"

The boy shook his head. "No sir. Just some scratches that healed up just fine."

"Very well. You two seem to be faring just fine then."

"Um, sir, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Icy blue eyes narrowed just barely with furrowed brows, his snakes tilting their heads curiously.

Aizawa gestured to the file on his desk. "I know you both have gone through with questioning already by the detective, but some new information has come to light with the help of Shotlock and his sidekick. Detective Tsukauchi has dug around to past files and found some interesting items that Shotlock mentioned you both might know more about."

The two glanced at each other, Izuku's expression growing white with knowing fear before the shorter of the two reached for the file and opened it facing themselves.

There were photos of different things. Spreading them out, there was a photo of Shiro, smiling just slightly as if taking a picture for an ID card or something. He was without that machine over his left eye and… he looked normal. The paper attached said 'Yanagisawa Kotaro.'

Izuku looked sick. "Ss-sensei, what…"

"This is Yanagisawa Kotaro, or 'Shiro' as you knew him last year," Aizawa explained. Okay. They knew that. "What wasn't written on your files, Shotlock and All Might filled in. We have reason to believe he was associated with that League of Villains that attacked us before his death."

"I… do reco-um, rr-recognize their, um…" Izuku trailed off as he placed his hand on his chin. His troubled expression grew darker and he swallowed. "...warp gate."

Aizawa hummed with a slight nod before gesturing for the other photos. Nagisa shuffled them around, pulling out images of white rooms filled with what looked like needles and other instruments like it, including tanks, tables, cages, and other photos of young people their age, either beaten and bruised or dead. One of the photos was of a younger girl he recognized but it seemed to be an older image because she had a fang-toothed grin that wasn't deranged and she was unharmed, unlike the others. Each image had an info page attached below, their names and ages displayed. At the end of them was some blurred images of Kurogiri's warp gate with a blank page attached to the top. Furrowing his brows, Nagisa glanced at their teacher. "Sensei, what is all this?"

"You're both aware of the epidemic three years ago?"

Nagisa's hard stare softened into confusion. "You mean…"

"Three years ago, there was a serial kidnapper that struck Tokyo and all its prefectures, including our district. It lasted for about a year and only involved young boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 18. All of them were quirkless. Only three of those children were ever recovered and returned to their families alive."

Aizawa's cast gestured to three photos. An older girl with long gray hair and a black eye. A boy with dirty, dark hair and bruises lacing his face; his curly hair covered his eyes. Another older dark-skinned boy with short peach-colored hair and lighter freckles, a thin, jagged scar trailed from his right jawline to his left temple. They could only see the full name attached to the girl and the given name of the last boy, 'Orchid Lin' and 'Tobiko.' Izuku frowned and started breathing hard through his nose. Aizawa kept his eyes on him before moving on and sliding the old photo of the blonde girl out.

"While the bodies of the others who didn't make it were found, there's one missing."

There was silence.

Aizawa studied their tight-lipped expressions with dull interest before closing his eyes. "But that's for the detective to talk with you about. What I'm here to talk about is this."

He slipped out the photos of Kurogiri's warp gate. Under it were several others of the same nature.

"The security cameras of this facility had footage of this villain warping several faculty members and children to and from the building. One of the children he had warped away was this girl."

"You think we might have seen them last year," Nagisa breathed.

"Yes. And seeing as you two were there personally, any information on this villain and anyone else you might have recognized is vital for this case. Not only for finding the League's base, but also in finding this girl." His stare was piercing.

Nagisa looked at Izuku, who looked very close to throwing up his breakfast. He turned back to Aizawa with an unnerved expression in his eyes. "S-sensei, we'll tell you. It's just…"

The Pro shook his head gently. "I won't need to hear it now. I know it was very traumatic. The detective and all those involved in the case are currently interviewing the other students from last year's class. We have all the information regarding your teacher from Shotlock, All Might and Enchantress as well as whatever we found in that facility. What we need to know is all that you might remember involving the actual creation and killing of Korosensei. Personal accounts."

He started to move the photos back into the folder slowly.

"We'll schedule a questioning with the Detective sometime after the sports festival. This is just what you should be expecting. You're free to go."

They nodded to their teacher.

"Thank you, Sensei," Nagisa said and the raven nodded back before they headed toward the door. They heard footsteps quickly leaving outside.

"And," Aizawa cleared his throat, drawing their attention one last time. "I meant it when I said you can talk to me if something is bothering you. If there is anything you need to tell me as Aizawa, your teacher, do not hesitate to let me know."

He locked eyes with Izuku, whose gaze flicked away nervously for a moment before nodding and meeting eyes again, this time with a smile. "Th-thank you…"

In that moment, a knock sounded at the door and All Might in all his heroic glory peaked his head in. "Oh, er, I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I just needed these two for a moment."

"No, we were just finishing," Aizawa shook his head, standing up after closing the file folder shut with two clips and dispensing it in his desk drawer. "They're all yours, whatever it is you need them for. Now, if you'll excuse me." He limped past the three and headed toward Recovery Girl's office. Probably to nap in silence and comfort.

Izuku swallowed the seed of worry down his throat before smiling to his hero who was holding a blue bento in his hand.

"You needed us, All Might?" Nagisa smiled softly.

All Might smiled and gestured to follow him.

---

"I wonder what Aizawa-sensei needed Nagisa and Izukun for," Uraraka pondered as they walked toward the cafeteria.

Kirishima, Kaminari, and Tsuyu walked with them. Tsuyu hummed. "Probably to ask them about the USJ attack. Midoriya was hurt really bad."

"That's right," Kirishima nodded.

"And he's got a sick scar now, y'noticed?" Kaminari pointed to his eyebrow with a grin, turning to the redhead. "Hey, you guys are twins now! Only, like, opposite. Or something."

This got Kirishima looking rather excited as he touched his own scar. "Dude, seriously?! I didn't even notice!"

"His bangs are long," Tsuyu commented. "They were probably covering most of it. But I noticed it as well."

"Midoriya had them stitched this weekend," Iida hummed.

Kirishima paused and glanced around. "Hey, where'd Bakugou go? Wasn't he right behind us?"

Uraraka and Iida looked behind them to see no one there. "Huh, maybe he needed the bathroom or something," the brunette shrugged. "Whatever, let's get to lunch! He can meet us there."

They were about to turn the corner before All Might peaked his head around, spooking the students a bit. "Oh! Kids, hello, er…" he squinted as he scanned the little group. "Are Young Midoriya or Young Nagisa not with you all?"

"Aizawa-sensei called them both after class to talk to them," Iida explained. "Is there something the matter, sensei?"

"Not a thing, Young Iida!" he loudly exclaimed with a straightened back and a cheery face. "Just some school things, nothing to concern yourselves with! Now, er, hurry on over to the cafeteria! I hear Lunchrush is making a special meal today." He had leaned in to whisper the last bit and instantly Kaminari and Kirishima were pushing each other in their race to the lunch room. All Might called to them, "Er—No running in the halls, kids!"

He was ignored. With a sigh, the Pro nodded to the remaining friends before making his way back toward class 1-A.

Tsuyu pressed her finger to her chin. "Both Aizawa-sensei and All Might-sensei wanted to speak to them. How strange, kero."

"Yes, it is rather odd…" Iida mused as they began walking again.

"You know, Izukun and Nagisa both strike me as so mysterious," Uraraka hummed. She sighed happily, then frowned. Tsuyu put her finger to her chin in thought.

---

All Might thought nothing of it when he saw Young Bakugou pass him from class 1-A, a rather peculiarly haunted look on his face. He was mostly focused on seeing Young Nagisa and Young Izuku. He felt somewhat surprised to see them talking with Aizawa when he knocked, and the tension in the air was almost palpable. However seeing the raven close the folder on his desk and file it away, it clicked and he feigned ignorance for the moment until they were in the Teacher's Lounge.

"I'm sorry I couldn't speak with you about last week this weekend," Toshinori started when they sat down by the coffee table in the Teacher's Lounge. He started up the tea maker.

"It's alright, Toshinori-san," Nagisa smiled. "We understand. There were a lot of people with us."

"An' out in, um, public," Izuku added.

Toshinori nodded. "Yes, well. Still, I should have checked up on you both regardless. Young Izuku, how are your injuries?"

"Ff-fine," Izuku shrugged. "Recovery Girl t-told me to, um… uh… keep my, mmm… breathing… exercises up."

"And have you?"

Izuku nodded with a small smile of pride. Toshinori smiled back.

"All Might," Nagisa started. "What about you? You were injured too, weren't you?"

Izuku gave him a wide-eyed glance. "Wha'?"

Toshinori waved them off. "All healed up and fixed! No need to worry about me, kids. What I wanted to talk about was the Sports Festival. It won't be like last year's festival."

They nodded.

"These two weeks, I expect you both to be doing your best to train for it. And don't only rely on your quirks for this event. The heroes scouting you all are looking for skills as well as quirk usage. Know when and how to use your quirks. Korosensei taught you this," Toshinori raised a finger with a hard stare to his students, who nodded with determination lighting up their eyes. He turned to Izuku, sliding two tea cups to them both. "Young Izuku, how are you with One for All?"

Izuku hummed as he reached for his tea cup. "Umm… Still a ss-struggle," he admitted. He remembered when he grabbed for Shigaraki's arm, how he let go of control because he wasn't focusing on that. He was focusing on keeping Tsuyu safe, even if that meant a burst in his rage-o-meter and a spike in bloodlust to do it. And… a dip in his control of One for All, too, and—okay, he totally destroyed his arm, but at least Tsuyu was safe!

Toshinori hummed, his hand on his chin. "I see… But you've used it successfully before. What was different?"

Izuku took a moment to think, mimicking Toshinori in his thoughtful pose. "Uh… It… It kinda feels l-like, um… bal… balancing."

"Balancing?"

"Hmhm, like, um… on a t-tightrope. Tryin' nn-not to go, um, overboard, but keep in… in control," Izuku was slow in explaining but they were patient. He thought of how he broke his bones while saving Uraraka from the Zero Pointer—how his emotions were so erratic at the time, but he was fine during the Quirk Assessment. He lost control of it again when he broke Shigaraki's wrist. That's when he was enraged and let his bloodlust take over.

Toshinori hummed again in thought. Izuku paused a moment. Oh, he spoke out loud. "I see. It seems to work with your emotions then. The calmer you are, the easier to control, am I right?" Toshinori raised a brow and smiled when Izuku nodded after contemplating it. Then he turned to Nagisa. "And what of you, Young Nagisa?"

The blue haired boy perked up from his tea. "Uh—my quirk?"

"Yes, how are you with your quirk? Any drawbacks, things I can help with?" he prompted. His expression grew soft. "You are just as much of my student as Young Izuku is, my boy. It's still my job to look over you. All of you."

Nagisa gawked, a bit baffled at the older hero before growing a tad sheepish. "Oh, well, um… I guess I'm still not used to using my quirk very often. No drawbacks still, but my eyes do get a bit watery when I use it without smiling? Not dry, but like… when there's wind blowing in your face and you're not using sunglasses? Or your eyes are open? It feels kind of like that, but without the… wind."

"I understand. You didn't grow up using your quirk, right?"

Nagisa nodded.

"Right… Hmm… Well, my suggestion would be to train up with it. I know you haven't had much time to practice with it, and you'd need someone else to train with you. How about this week after school, we train together? Both of you. How does that sound?" The blond smiled, glancing at both of his students who nodded vigorously. He laughed heartily. "Wonderful. Then it's decided. I'll let you know the time and place."

"Okay."

"Kids…" His face grew solemn. "Before Korosensei passed away, you both made the decision to follow the footsteps of a hero. You both have the markings for greatness, the true heart of a hero. The Sports Festival is a widely viewed event, seen by everyone in Japan. You both are the next generations of heroes. When you step foot onto that field, I need you to tell the world 'I AM HERE'! "

Yes, they'd need to show the world who they are. Where they came from. What they stand for. Sure, Izuku's the one who inherited One For All, but in this world of heroes and villains, all heroes should carry the vow to bring peace.

And dammit if Nagisa and Izuku didn't want to bring smiles to the people, and bring them peace and safety.

They had a lot to think about.

---

The next day their classroom door was blocked by a horde of other students, chattering amongst themselves loudly. Izuku squirmed behind Iida, feeling like an animal in a cage being watched by people on the outside. It wasn't a nice feeling. He caught Katsuki's side glance before it was cut off and the explosive teen approached those at the door with a scowl drawn on his face.

Uraraka grimaced away, unnerved, "Whaaat's going ooooon?"

"They're scouting the competition," Katsuki dully explained, shooting the first kid outside the doorway a death glare. "We're the kids who survived a villain attack, right? Makes sense they'd want to check us out before the Sports Festival." He scoffed and grinned wickedly then. "No point though. Move aside, extras ."

Iida sounded aghast, looking at the ash blond as if he was personally offended by the comment. "Can we please not address people we don't know as ' extras '?!"

Nagisa, unamused, rolled his eyes to the side as if he was looking at a camera on The Office.

Then a very familiar voice, dull and full of disinterest, spoke up from the back of the crowd, "Gee, and here I thought class 1-A would've had a bit of humility after such a traumatic event. Guess that was just wishful thinking, huh?"

Nagisa squinted, trying to attach a name to the voice. Then it struck him, and he gaped— Oh. No way. No way! What are the chances?!

Shinsou maneuvered himself through the thick crowd, appearing at the forefront with a nonchalant posture, his hands nestled in his pockets. "Are all hero course students like this one? That'd be unfortunate if that were true, seeing as they might choose to transfer some of us to the Hero Course after the Sports Festival. I'd hate to be mixed in with arrogant kids like you—then again, I understand the reverse is possible for you all, if you score so poorly in the festival."

Katsuki growled—he struck a nerve, apparently.

Nagisa moved himself in front of Katsuki, blocking Shinsou's route further into class 1-A. "It's you!"

Shinsou blinked his eyes wide, instantly recognizing the boy—only he had two snakes take the place of his pigtails and seemed significantly more confident and not as feminine as when he last saw him. He blinked a few more times. "Oh, hey."

Uraraka and Iida almost threw themselves to the ground at that simple response. "' Oh, hey '?! Is that all you can say?!"

"Nagisa, you know him?" Iida moved forward after recomposing himself, leaving Izuku to take refuge behind Shouji instead—who didn't seem to mind in the slightest. He was already shielding Kouda. They had a moment of solidarity.

"We met last year," Nagisa explained quickly, then crossed his arms and gave the purple haired boy a smile before it turned into a stern stare. He felt a bubble of frustration float up. "I didn't know you would apply to UA! I'm glad, but please don't talk smack about my classmate when you don't even know him, and you—" he spun around and pointing an threatening finger at Katsuki. "Don't talk smack about these people you don't even know either! And you guys—" He spun again, pointing at the crowd this time. "Please leave us alone! We're hungry and just want some lunch!"

"Uh, yeah, we're not jerks or anything, sooooo..." Kirishima approached with his hands half-raised in a we mean no harm sort of way. "And I really don't want to starve today, so can we leave?"

Satou looked away sheepishly and shrugged, muttering, "I mean, I brought my own food, so I won't exactly starve here."

Kirishima turned to him. "Will you share?"

"Will you pay me?"

"Nevermind."

Kaminari stood himself next to Kirishima as he pointed his thumb at Katsuki. "Yeah! And don't pay this guy any attention, he's just pissed a girl beat him in— hmffphh?!" Katsuki slammed his hand into his mouth, pushing him to the ground.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO BRING THAT UP AGAIN!"

Nagisa and Kirishima shook their heads in dismay.

Shinsou scoffed with a shrug of his shoulders. Then he gave Nagisa a stare as if he was looking down on him, smiling smugly. "If that's how you feel, then take the Festival as your chance to prove me wrong. I do hope you've kept that one goal in mind since last year, Nagisa. I'll be seeing you."

With that, he turned and left.

Katsuki huffed then grit his teeth. "Whatever!" he shouted and charged at the crowd to push his way through.

"Dude, what are you doing?!" Kirishima dragged his hands down his face. "We have a mob of haters now, thanks to you!!"

"I can't believe it. This dude just won us a bunch of enemies, that's all he won us," Kaminari held his hands flat together in front of his face, appearing to be praying. "The whole school's gonna kill us because of him. I wouldn't be surprised if even business course got on our tails. We're screwed! Absolutely screwed!"

"Kaminari," Tsuyu hopped in. "Not to be rude, but you're being overdramatic."

"THE DUDE JUST SASSED AN ENTIRE STUDENT BODY AT OUR DOOR! Look, that guy over there even has a torch!"

A distant response came of, "That's just my hair."

"Oh. Sorry, bro!"

"No worries. Happens all the time."

Nagisa gave the wall a hard stare, hoping it would suck the soul of out his body already. I really bet it doesn't.

---

After enough commotion was made by the crowd, finally some of the teachers got involved, namely Business Guy and Present Mic when they were passing by. They shooed the crowd away like a flock of birds, Business Guy using a wave of money currency to wash the kids down toward the cafeteria with Present Mic threatening to blast them if they didn't get going.

To say Class 1-A felt beyond grateful for the intervention would be an understatement. They were about ready to steal whatever lunch Satou had brought before they were finally released from their prison of a classroom.

Uraraka let out an enormous sigh as they walked toward the lunchroom, her body drooping down. "Geez Louise, I thought we'd have to skip lunch altogether!"

"I was honestly getting a bit pissed," Nagisa casually commented, earning him an odd look from Izuku, Tsuyu, Iida, and Kirishima. He blinked, noticing the stares before raising a brow. "What? It's true."

"I mean," Kirishima scratched at his cheek. "You did kind of go off on that purple dude."

"That was 'going off'?" Kaminari squinted at the redhead.

He shrugged in response while Tsuyu hummed. "I'd say it was more like… being incredibly passive aggressive."

"Nah, it reminded me of that one English vine—the one with the lady, um…' Hm Hm Hm! You were wrong!'"

"You watch vines? English vines?"

"I get bored sometimes! Sue me."

"So, Nagisa," Iida began with a hum. "How did you and that boy meet?"

"Yeah, I'd- I'd like t-to knn-know too," Izuku put his hands on Nagisa's shoulder and rested his chin on them while they walked, giving the snake-haired boy a cheeky grin.

Nagisa chuckled awkwardly. "Oh, um, we met last summer at a resort thing. He kind of saved my hide from this one guy. Then we met again last… autumn? I think?" He cocked his head in thought, then turned to look at Izuku. "During our fall festival, with the restaurant?"

The green-haired boy perked up. "Oh! Yeah, that—I-I was in th-the mountains at th… the time. With the, um… ff-finding food."

"That's right, you never met him," Nagisa blinked.

"Wha's his quirk?" Izuku's eyes were wide and curious.

"Hmm… Something to do with mind control, I think?"

"Huh."

When they reached the cafeteria, they tried their best to ignore the hard glares thrown their way by almost half the students in the lunchroom. Nagisa let out a frustrated sigh after Izuku straightened up and away from him, instead squeezing himself between Iida and Kirishima to avoid the stupid stares from the other stupid students. They got their lunches (freakin' finally) and found their table with Karma and Rio, a few new students seated around them too.

Rio stood up when she spotted them while Karma lowered his forehead on the table. "There you guys are! Where were you?"

"We got caged in by, like, half the school," Kaminari explained, plopping himself down next to Kirishima and Karma. "Did Bakugou come around? He stormed off earlier."

"We saw him pass by," Rio hummed before chuckling. "Karma pissed him off though."

Nagisa sighed, sitting on the other side of Karma. "What'd he do now?"

"Reminded him of his colossal fail that was the Dodgeball Match ," Karma snickered, lifting his head onto his hand and smirking like the devil.

"Anyway," Izuku cleared his throat, gesturing to the girl beside Rio.

Rio perked up then, and gestured to the pink-haired girl next to her. "Oh! And this is Hatsume Mei. She's from my class, she wanted to hang out today."

The energetic girl smiled widely and waved her hand excitedly. "Hello! You must be Midoriya Izuku! I already met Karma here—oh, and you must be Nagisa! I heard a ton about you guys from Nakamura. How's it like being in the hero course?! Oh, and what're your guys' names?!"

Awkward introductions were given, each student a bit intimidated by the enthusiasm the girl had for just a moment before Kirishima started to match her level of energy.

"Hero course is awesome! You know All Might teaches our Heroics Ed class?!"

Hatsume stood up. "That's right!! How is he?! He's super cool, I bet, huh?!"

"Totally, dude!!"

Nagisa and Izuku traded tired glances before turning to Karma who had his head in both hands. Looks like he had to deal with this for a good while before they came along. Poor guy. Nagisa turned to the redhead beside him, about to ask if he was alright before another voice called him out.

"Akabane Karma!"

Oh damn, she sounded maaaaad.

Karma flinched and slowly turned his head back. The conversation in front of them stopped to see a girl with messy lilac hair and two floppy rabbit ears sticking out of her head, and behind her a shy-looking possum-quirked boy stood nervously fiddling with his tail. The girl looked enraged.

"Oh, hey, Fuwafuwa," Karma greeted with a smirk and eyes that either said he was desperately trying not to laugh or he was about to jolt. "What's up?"

"Don't you 'oh, hey, Fuwafuwa, what's up' me, mister. You know exactly what you did!" the girl marched closer. "I've looked everywhere for it. Where is it."

"Where's what, my dear?" Karma leaned his knuckles on his cheek as he crossed his legs. "I have no idea what you mean."

He did. He took Fuwafuwa, Miranda, and Asano's stuff and taped them to the ceiling during passing period when they left for a restroom break. Asano's been infuriatingly ignorant that Karma even did anything, leading him to believe that Asano knew what he did and was just feigning ignorance to get to him. Karma would never admit that it was working. Miranda was probably looking for him at the moment too.

Fuwafuwa stomped her foot. "Yes you do! All my stuff is gone! Where'd you put it?!"

Karma tapped his finger on his chin, humming. "Let me think… Ask Mizushima."

Fuwafuwa gasped, a hand on her chest. She looked as though Karma had just spat on her. "These are our class presidents?! Oh my frickin'—I should have never voted for Mizushima! That slithering octopus… Come on, Fredrick, we're gonna freaking get this bread." She turned to leave with her friend before she stopped and looked back. "Oh, and before I forget. This is for stealing my chocolate bar this morning."

And with that, she slapped the horned boy and left with the quiet possum student trailing behind her. Not even a moment passed before a cloud of smoke overcame Karma, spooking the students around him and causing them to cough.

"What the heck?!" Kirishima coughed, waving around the smoke from him.

When the smoke cleared, in Karma's place sat… Karma, but red. And furry. And with a long neck. What?

Nagisa peered up at the other, staring wide-eyed for a moment before his expression grew unamused. "Oh, wonderful, you're even taller now."

The redhead blinked, baffled as he looked down at himself and his hooved hands. "What the hell." He turned his head to where the two students took off. "WHAT THE HELL'D YOU DO TO ME, FUWAFUWA?!"

While everyone at the table gawked, Izuku slammed his hands on the table and burst into tears laughing at the now-llama-alpaca-looking teen while Rio took her phone out and started taking pictures immediately.

Karma tried to block his face. "What-what are you doing—no, stop, don't take pictures?! RIO, STOP IT!"

Iida waved his hands dramatically. "Nakamura, I implore you to put your phone away! Phones are not allow—Midoriya, get down from the table, that is incredibly unsafe—Uraraka, stop encouraging this!! You are UA students, please act like i—Nagisa, please don't laugh, Karma is obviously distr—please stop la—snnhhkkkk…"

Iida put his hand over his mouth when that snicker came out.

Karma locked eyes with him, a flat expression on his face. "Did you just laugh?"

"Me? Of course not! That wa-snnkkffpfp…" His hand clamped over his mouth again.

Karma slowly stood up.

Iida stood up with him.

He took off and Karma ran after him, and soon after Business Guy came out of the crowd of students enjoying lunch to chase after them , shouting, "NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!"

Izuku slipped off the table when his laughter turned into pathetic wheezing and Rio and Uraraka had to help pick him up, trying to keep him from dying with a broken lung while Nagisa, Kaminari, and Kirishima punched the table trying not to cry. Hatsume glanced at Tsuyu.

"Does this always happen?" she whispered with a giddy smile.

Tsuyu hummed with a nod. "I've never met a group of so many chaotic neutrals and chaotic goods before now, kero."

Hatsume clapped her hands together, laughing, "I like you people!"

Tsuyu giggled.

---

There was… a lot to think about. Between visiting Korosensei, actually talking to Karma, dealing with his own hell that was his messed up brain, and the Sports Festival, suffice to say Nagisa felt like his brain was a crumpled up ball of paper that was torn to shreds then taped back together. All the words were jumbled and he felt like a general mess.

Then there were those kids in the photos. Nagisa didn't have the full story, but he did remember that epidemic a few years back. If he remembered correctly, there were about twenty quirkless kids who were abducted and about fifteen of them were confirmed dead. It was at the end of that long year, only a few months before eighth grade would begin, that the surviving kids were found; when All Might came back from America and found the building by mere chance.

There was a week until the Sports Festival began. They've had several training meet-ups with All Might, working on their quirks. Really, though, it was mostly All Might and Izuku training One for All while Nagisa trained with a training dummy by himself, practicing hand-to-hand. Nagisa went at the dummy with the ferocity of an angry Bakugou, but it only made him more frustrated and tired. Finally, All Might had them switch with Izuku training on the dummy and Nagisa was told to use his quirk on All Might and see how long he can keep him paralyzed.

His paralyzed limit seems to be about seven minutes. His eyes were starting to get red from the strain, and both boys were getting tired so All Might sent them off to home.

Nagisa shook the towel in his hair to dry it as well he could before gently rubbing the towel over the wet scales of his snakes.

With a huff, he let the towel hang from his shoulders before sliding it off and tossing it into the laundry basket in his room. He flopped onto his bed and reached for his phone then, unable to resist the urge in his chest to check up on some people.

>>Jersey Devil, 5:12pm

Gender Snek: hey

Gender Snek: just checkin up on u, i've been meaning to talk to you for a while but with eerything happening ykn

Gender Snek: did fuwafuwa's quirk wear off?

Jersey Devil: no

Jersey Devil: lil binch said it's a 24 hr quirk, im stuck like this till 12:30 tomorrow >:(

Jersey Devil: and mizushima's a little snitch too ykno that

Nagisa chuckled. Fuwafuwa's hit Karma with her quirk at least three times this week. Well, this was just his own form of karma wasn't it?

Gender Snek: lol what happened

Jersey Devil: told her where her stuff was and also threw me under the bus, wtf happened to class prez solidarity?

Gender Snek: did he actually help you in the prank?

Jersey Devil: i mean

Jersey Devil: no but shut up, he should hvae my back

Gender Snek: :facepalm:

Gender Snek: how's it feel to be 8 feet tall at least

Jersey Devil: powerful

Jersey Devil: everyone looks like ants and i want to squish them

Gender Snek: fghdfj stop thats called assault and possibly murder

Jersey Devil: hey do u think someone out there has an ant quirk

Jersey Devil: like

Jersey Devil: theyre just smol. Like born smol. Where r they? Were they lost at birth? How do u give birth to someone that smol? U just dont kno

Gender Snek: youve been hanging out w izukun havent u

Gender Snek: also thats sounds like something out of a ghibli movie

Jersey Devil: listen, the brat has some really mind frikin thoughts ok nver give him coffee

Gender Snek: you gave him coffee?? Where r u???

Jersey Devil: @ my place, Izuku stopped by bc he forgot i have ur guys' slap bracelets held hostage

Nagisa tried his best to ignore that pang in his stomach that flipped it upside-down, the bubble of irritation at the thought of potentially being left out of something—and then it crashed on his head, hollowing him out into that pit of loneliness.

Gender Snek: mf

Gender Snek: wtf bring them to school tomorrow

Gender Snek: better yet, give them to izukun and then have him bring them to school tomorrow

Jersey Devil: lmaooooooo naaaahhhhh im good

Gender Snek: gdi wtf

Nagisa was trying his best to play it cool on the outside and he buried his face into his pillows for a solid minute, just hearing his phone buzz next to him while he forced his thoughts back into place. Sitting up on his bed and crossing his legs, he took a deep breath with a straightened back before slumping back over his phone.

Jersey Devil: lmaooooo

Jersey Devil: izuku cant reach my horns anymore lmaooo

Jersey Devil: dfgjfjg fr he slapped me wtf

Nagisa frowned. Sounds like they were having fun. He clenched his teeth and sent a short message.

Gender Snek: lol sounds fun

Gender Snek: hey gtg

Jersey Devil: lol k

Jersey Devil: izuku and kaede say hi btw

Gender Snek: :thumbs_up: hi

Nagisa couldn't stand himself sometimes. He shut his phone off and looked at the clock. 5:34. Dad won't be home for another… eh, thirty minutes. Getting off his bed, the blue-haired teen shuffled around for his sweater and some pants before taking the keys and shooting off a quick text to his dad that he's going for a walk in case he came home before Nagisa did.

Walks were nice for Nagisa. He could just pop some earbuds in and listen to whatever sounds he wanted while his legs took him halfway across town and his mind wandered the opposite direction.

He could think like this. By himself, just him, Ko, Roka, and some video game OSTs.

Like this, he let himself get lost in the vibes.

He thought back on the past two weeks. The attack at the USJ and the fear that struck him at the prospect of losing All Might, the sudden pang of jealousy he felt when he watched Karma and Izuku laugh and joke together, the wave of loneliness that crashed on him when All Might paid more attention to Izuku than him. Seeing Shinsou again made him wonder if he was still staying true to himself. He was letting Ko and Roka out more and more, he was making friends, he was accepting himself and how he was… he was accepting his quirk… right?

And thinking about Karma and how he was doing made Nagisa's stomach shift with anxiety. Karma was okay, right? He wasn't going to his therapy sessions though. Legally, they can't make him, but… he should be going. They were helping him, right?

Or maybe it just… wasn't right for him? Not everyone was suited for therapy. Nagisa felt that way about himself sometimes; he just didn't like talking about himself, about his emotions. It felt like trying to pull teeth from him sometimes, and he supposed Karma was the same way too, maybe? But Karma was the only one of the two that actually agreed to therapy. What was going on through his mind? What he said to Iida then came to mind from two weeks ago: He and Karma just… weren't on the same wavelengths anymore, it seemed. He felt rotten about it, and even worse when some part of his mind scrutinized Izuku for it. Was it his fault? No... right?

Nagisa sniffled and ran his hand under his nose. It was getting a bit chilly.

Izuku almost died. God. Izuku almost died.

He came to a stop at a somewhat familiar beach. It used to be a mess once upon a time, huh?

Korosensei took them here once for training when it was still a mess, using it for a sort of obstacle-course before he gave them the homework to clean it up. Keep the environment healthy. It looked beautiful now.

He went down to the sand after taking off his shoes.

The waves washing back and forth soothed him a bit. Calmed his aching nerves in his mind and settled his quaking stomach. The pains that occasionally came to plague him weren't from his panic attack that sent him to the hospital a month ago; no, it was just… anxious.

Nagisa twitched, hearing footsteps in the sand behind him, and he saw Izuku standing there without his headband, smiling sweetly.

"Izukun," Nagisa greeted, turning his body to see him. "What're you doing here?"

"To find you… of c-course," Izuku grinned, coming closer. Nagisa's eyes twitched in confusion.

"How'd you know I was here?"

"I was jus'... walkin'," he shrugged and swung his arms side to side, all kid-like. "Saw you… Wanted to- to speak with you."

Nagisa frowned, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "Where's your headband?"

"What'dya mean?" Izuku tilted his head curiously, his eyes wide.

Nagisa approached him and held his freckled chin while his other hand moved his long bangs up. He frowned further when he didn't see a scar. Izuku's gentle grin grew wild, almost crazy , at the touch, cheeks burning blood red and he hummed in delight before pushing Nagisa down into the sand, his hand pressing tightly against his neck. Nagisa yelped in surprise before he choked with a wheeze and he glared at the other. His heart hammered in his chest—what was he thinking?!

"Wh- what're… you doi...kck…?!"

Izuku's eyes were wide and unhinged as he giggled excitedly. "Nagisaaa-kuuun~" He sat on his chest then, his knees pressing over Nagisa's arms while his other hand grabbed for Nagisa's snakes. "Y-you know, I love the way you ss-say my name, heehehehehe… Say it for me?"

The boy grunted, trying to push the other off. "Get… off… Himiko…"

Her giggling morphed into a loud, psychotic bout of laughter but she didn't give up the disguise, not yet—only until a swiss army knife flew past her head, landing into the sand above Nagisa's. She yelped and rolled off the boy after he jabbed his knee into her back.

Behind her stood Izuku, headband and all, next to Kaede. Kaede had thrown the knife, it seemed.

Another giggle left her as she stumbled to her feet and her skin started to bubble and droop, melting and sliding off her body to reveal herself as she was; the missing girl Himiko. "Looks like you got me! How'd you know it was me, Nagisa-kun?"

"You're trying to hard to stutter," Nagisa explained with a cough as he got back up to his feet and Izuku and Kaede made their way toward him. Plus she was missing the headband and a scar—but he wouldn't tell her that. "And please don't try and strangle my snakes again. They will bite you next time."

"Oh, I see!" Himiko nodded. "I always thought your snakes were adorable, you know…"

"Nagisa, are you okay?" Kaede asked. Izuku stepped in front of the two with the knife his girlfriend had thrown brandished in his hand.

"I'm fine—how'd you guys find me?"

"Izukun was walking me home when we saw her choking you," Kaede explained, then turned her head to the psychotic blond

"You've gotta lo-ot of nn-nerve showing up after disa-disappearing like that," Izuku struggled to keep his voice strong and firm, narrowing his eyes at the blonde.

A moment of silence passed, Himiko's eyes both twitching furiously along with her head, her teeth biting down on her lips that were cocked in a half-frown, half-smile. Then she grit out, "Help… me… Izu… Nagi… Plea…"

"Himi..ko?" Izuku frowned, lowering his knife before two tentacles the same shade as her hair, sprung from her buns and she let out a high-pitched screech of laughter before lunging herself back toward the street and into town.

Nagisa's heart slammed in his chest when it all caught up to him. Help her…? He glanced to Izuku and Kaede, they both had the same wide-eyed expression. They were lost in what to do. There was no Korosensei they could go to to help them solve this.

What could they do?

The photos from the files came back to mind, of the dead children and the three survivors. Then his mind went to Itona and how Korosensei had to remove his quirk before it killed him, even though removing them was dangerous enough. Dread filled his stomach. The sound of the waves he felt were so calming before started to sound so eerie all of a sudden.

They had to tell someone.