Later that night, the Evening News introduction came across the screen.

"Good evening," the broadcaster said in his deep baritone. "Tonight on Evening News: one of the most popular manga writers of our time sits down with Miss Lady…"

I settled back of the sofa as Toshinori Yagi's bio came on. I knew all of it already, being the big fanboy I am. He was forty-three years old and had "dabbled in writing since he was a child. Studied creative writing and art in college and taught high school English. He never married and spent years juggling teaching and writing, before getting his first manga series published five years ago.

Not an unusual author bio. Nothing about psychic abilities or BNHA channelling.

Next the camera settled on Toshinori Yagi, a very skinny man with angular features and long limbs in a stylish navy suit, spiky and dishevelled with two bangs framing the sides of his face. He had the look of wealth and success and intelligence. But something about his eyes looked wary, even nervous.

The interview would be an hour long (with commercials, of course). I doubt they'd bring up the villain killings controversy just yet – they'd hold their audience if they waited until later.

The first question had my ears perked right away.

Miss Lady: "How did you come up with the idea for the Boku No Hero Academia series?"

Toshinori Yagi: "I know this is a terrible answer, but I have no idea how I came up with it. I hadn't been planning on writing a Hero vs Villain manga – the market seemed full enough with the superhero type already. But BNHA and its characters just appeared in my head one day, and over the next few weeks, I couldn't seem to get rid of them."

He shifted in his seat, more a nervous thing than necessity. "It didn't feel like I was creating BNHA. It felt like I was looking in on what was happening there. I know some writers hate it when I say that, but it was all a very intuitive process."

Wow. Toshinori Yagi's explanation fit perfectly with Aizawa's theory: the author was watching the events in BNHA rather than making them up.

Miss Lady: "Even though the series is meant for teens, your characters resonate with people of all ages. How did you manage that?"

Toshinori Yagi: "I'm not sure. Momo Yaoyorozu appeared in my head, this gorgeous young woman who lived in a frightening yet exciting world.

I connected with her instantly. Her heartache for Todoroki, a handsome young man, and eventually through Yaoyorozu that I met all the other characters, and eventually they started speaking to me directly, which is why I switched viewpoints. You could say the books developed organically. I would just sit down at my computer and watch events in Boku no Hero Academia unfold."

Hmm. Interesting that he'd accessed BNHA through Yaoyorozu. That was natural, I suppose, since Yaoyorozu was a kinder, more idealistic character who wore her emotions on her sleeve. Todoroki, on the other hand, was reserved. You had to look twice as hard and listen twice as closely to know what he was thinking.

No wonder most readers gravitated to Yaoyorozu.

The interview was interrupted by too many commercials.

Footage of Toshinori Yagi at book signings was interspersed throughout, making me think he'd probably only sat down with Miss Lady for all of twenty minutes. Finally, the interviewer edged closer to the topic everyone was waiting for: the Quirk like murders.

Miss Lady: "Some are saying that your books have fostered a certain fascination with the occult and villainess. How do you react to that?"

Toshinori Yagi: "My writing is pure fantasy, and should never be taking more than that. Stories of any number of imaginativeness have been around since cavemen huddled in front of fires. My books are meant as entertainment, nothing more."

Miss Lady: "What would you say to those who criticize you for glamorizing villain culture?"

The author twitched. I could tell that got her back up.

Toshinori Yagi: "First of all, I don't think the villains in these books are glamorized. Tomura Shigaraki, he's a sociopath. I don't think anyone would want to emulate him."

Miss Lady: "But it appears someone is doing just that. Two teenage boys were killed in Musuatafu last weekend by someone, or more than one person, imitating a villain. Your second manga, BNHA: Volume Two, came out just one week prior. Do you think it's a coincidence?"

Toshinori Yagi: "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

Miss Lady: "If whoever committed these murders is watching now, what would you say to them?"

The camera zeroed in on Toshinori Yagi's face. It was a brilliant, heart-stopping moment. Suddenly he looked more like a deer in headlights than a handsome author.

Toshinori Yagi: "I'd tell him to turn himself in . . . so that he can get the psychological help he needs."

Shigaraki would not like hearing that. Not one bit.

The next day Uraraka and Iida were buzzing about the Evening Report interview. My stomach kept flip-flopping as I thought of the book signing. I felt awful that I hadn't told my friends about it. They'd be so jealous if they knew I was going to meet Toshinori Yagi.

The plan was for Aizawa and Todoroki to pick me up on Saturday morning at four thirty. If we didn't get slowed down too much by rush-hour traffic, we would be otside Hosu by the late afternoon. Since the book signing was at seven, we knew we wouldn't be able to get a legitimate place in line – we'd probably have to camp out for that – but we figured it would give Todoroki enough time to find a way in.

When I got home from school, I kicked my shoes off and headed to the kitchen to grab a snack. I rummaged through the cupboards not finding anything but some crackers and tins of soup. I grabbed an apple from the fridge then the handful of the crackers and headed to the computer.

So this is what writer's block feels like.

Two hours later, I was still staring at the computer screen. I thought that with Shoto Todoroki in my world, my fan fiction would flow like never before. Talk about wrong.

Now that I knew BNHA was real, I couldn't go there anymore. Whenever I open one of the manga's for inspiration, all I saw was cold, dark reality. Forget it. I'd try again another time.

I went into the kitchen, where Mum was making homemade mac and cheese. I knew it was her favourite comfort food because she tended to make it on Friday nights when she was staying in, and often with accompanied it with a glass of wine.

"Smells good." I gave her a kiss. "How was work?"

"It was busy as usual." I could tell she was tired and stressed out, pulling over time to keep us going. Mum and I had dinner at the kitchen table. It was just as well as Uraraka and Iida were busy tonight – Iida had a hockey game and Uraraka was rehearing for a play next month – because I was too distracted to do much socializing. I listened to Mum as she told me about the latest drama at work and I reminded her that I was going to Hosu super-early tomorrow morning for the Toshinori Yagi signing, and Mum reminded me to call her when I arrived.

A few minutes after curfew, Uraraka called.

"H-hey Deku, I need your help." I heard through the noise in the background. "I'm uhh, can you please help?"

"Sure Uraraka, where are you?" I was a little worried as I had never heard her sound so small before. I had almost missed it when she mentioned Bakugou's name then the call abruptly ended.

Knowing that Bakugou was famous for throwing parties when his parents were out of the house I came to the conclusion that, that's where Uraraka was. After considering the pros and cons of heading out by myself to Bakugou's house I decided to give Todoroki a call.

He answered quickly, "Is everything alright?" I could hear traffic behind him.

"My friend, Uraraka called me, she seemed a bit out of it on the phone and it sounded like she was at a party, I'm a bit worried. Where are you?"

"Fifteen minutes from your apartment. I'll be right there. Wait for me inside." He hung up.

I breathed a sigh of relief, and then headed into the living room. I left a note for my Mum in case she hears me leaving then headed out to the lobby to wait for Todoroki.

When I got into the car a few minutes later, Todoroki asked, "Do you know where she is?"

"I'm pretty sure she's at a party on Campbell Street, it's not that far from here"

"I know where that is. Do you have any reason to believe she's in danger?"

"Maybe. I have never heard her like that before and she's never gone to one of these parties either, I want to make sure she's ok and gets home safe. I hope I wasn't disturbing. . ."

"I didn't have Shigaraki in my sights," he said quietly.

As he drove, I had the strange realization that I'd missed him, even though I'd just seen him yesterday. Is that what love is, I wondered? When you want to be with someone every moment? The thought startled me. I'd fallen in love for the character Shoto Todoroki, not the guy himself . . . right?

Within ten minutes, he'd turned on to Campbell Street.

"It's a big white two-storey. There it is. Two down on the left." I'd help Uraraka deliver papers in this area a few times as well as running around with Bakugou when we were younger.

Bakugou's house was the biggest on one the block, and there'd always seemed to be a party going on.

The driveway was full of cars, so he parked a couple houses down.

"I'll run in," I said. "It might take a few minutes to find her."

"I would like to come in as well."

I thought about it, and figured I could use the backup if anyone gave me a hard time. "Fine, but be nice, ok?"

"Of course."

We walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Nobody answered, probably because they couldn't hear it above the blaring music. I tried the handle, and the door opened.

The house was pretty dark and bursting with people. Red bulbs must have been put in the lamps, a pitiful excuse for atmosphere.

"Do you see her?" Todoroki shouted in my ear.

I ducked my head into the living room, looking around. "I don't think so."

He let me lead. I squeezed through the people crowding the hallway. He took my hand and squeezed through after me. At the feel of his hand on mine, a giddy feeling swept through me. For a second, I let myself imagine what it would be like to be going to a party with Todoroki as my boyfriend.

There were sweaty people everywhere, and I tried not to touch them as I moved forward. I glanced back to see Todoroki, whose lips where pursed with distain. Definitely not his sort of party.

I figured we'd check the basement, the upstairs bedrooms. If we could even get through. There was a mass of people blocking the basement stairs, and no one paid attention to my "Excuse me!"s.

Then Todoroki stepped in front of me. With two big sweeps of his arms, he pushed everyone out of the way. Startled partiers stumbled back, falling over one another

Some kid said, "Hey! What was that?"

Todoroki glared at him. The kid cowered.

Taking my hand again, Todoroki led me down the stairs.

The basement was even darker than upstairs, and it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust.

I walked up to one of the sofas, scanning the people, catching sight of her short brown hair. There she was, in a darkened corner. A guy was kissing her.

"Uraraka!"

She jumped. I recognised the guy, and froze. It was Bakugou Katsuki.

"She's drunk, Kacchan," I said, after shaking my head.

He shrugged. "So, nerd?"

I felt something hard shove past me. It was Todoroki. He grabbed Uraraka's hand and yanked her to her feet. "Time to go home, Uraraka."

Bakugou got to his feet and walked away. "Tch, whatever"

I held on to Uraraka's arm and followed Todoroki up the stairs and out the front door.

She slid into the back seat of the car. "So are you actually dating Deku?"

I almost laughed. She was trying to change the subject before it even came up, but still wanted an update on my love life.

Before I could answer, Todoroki said, "We have mutual admiration for each other, I hope."

I glanced at Todoroki, my stomach somersaulting, then glanced at the road ahead.

"Mutual admiration?" Uraraka giggled "What does that even mean?"

"It means we have a lot in common," I said quickly.

"Oh, I get it. Does this mean he's gay too?"

I froze for the second time that night. Thanks, Uraraka. I didn't want him to know just yet. And I also wanted to be the one to tell him. Not have my drunken best friend out me like this. I want to cry.

"It does," Todoroki replied. "But I think that should have been a discussion between me and Midoriya."

It was an awkward drive to Uraraka's house, to say the least. The only sounds in the car were Uraraka's occasional hiccups or drunken gibberish.

Todoroki is gay. I wasn't naïve enough to think I had a chance. But, oh damn. I couldn't deny the rush of pleasure I felt each time I remembered his words.

When we got home, I turned to Todoroki. "Thank you for helping me with Uraraka."

There was a strange look in his eyes, almost like a question. And then he smiled. "At your service."