I love you guys. You're the best.

xiv.| Platinum

— One of the least reactive metals and also a major precious metal, it is a beautiful silver-white hue when pure. With its highly dense, malleable, and ductile properties, it's applications extend from jewelry to electrical applications. Derived from the Spanish 'platina' meaning 'little silver'.

The summer sun shone brightly overhead, its rays beating down on a lone house and turning it into an oven. Fans did little to ameliorate the heat that seemed to warp the very air she breathed but with the air conditioner broken down there wasn't much else to be done. That her mother was cooking dinner not far away in the kitchen didn't help much either.

Lounging away, Nagi laid on her belly against the tiled floor of their tiny living room with a fan hitting her head on to fend off the heat. Among the many toys loitering the floor around her, the five-year-old entertained herself with one in particular: a small metal horse. The afternoon light that streamed through the wavering curtain shone a glow on the toy she held between her small hands. It splayed and fractured it in a beautiful array of silver and gold making the horse come to life with its colors. Nagi trotted the toy across the floor, its metal hooves clip-clopping loudly and mimicking the animal's whinnies as she did. Boring easily though, she turned on her back and brought the toy over her face as she did to inspect it.

It wasn't a detailed horse. It had a rather plush-like appearance despite being completely made of metal. Even with no detail anybody who saw it could tell what it resembled. Nagi loved it, odd as it was. It held a special place in her heart after all. It'd been a present from her father not long after she turned four the day her Quirk manifested.

"My father gave me this when I was your age," he told her a year ago. "For me, it was as much a toy as it was a way to practice how to use my Quirk. I hope it helps you do the same."

Nagi's brow scrunched together at the memory and she squeezed the horse hard between her hands, her whole brain concentrating on the idea of denting or bending the titanium like her dad could. Squeezing as hard as she could though proved useless when she felt nothing. Not even the tingling that tickled her fingertips when her Quirk activated. Fed up after a few more tries, Nagi shot up from the floor and hurled the toy across the room and out the patio's open door sending it flying.

Coming in from outside just then, her father jumped out of the way of the metal horse as it clanked over tiles and thudded to a stop on the grass outside.

"Whoa there! What was that about, Jellybean?"

"Dumb horse doesn't work!"

"What's happening?"

Hiroyuko waved at Kaya dismissively when she poked her head out from the kitchen before bending down to pick up the toy. He walked over to Nagi calm as could be before taking a seat down behind her, encircling her with his legs as he held the toy before her.

"Were you trying to use your Quirk?" She sniffled and crossed her arms in front of her chest, cheeks puffed out in anger. He smiled tenderly before leaning in to better show her the horse in his hands. "You know, I had trouble when I was little too."

"Liar."

"No, really!" With his thumb, he gently brushed over the horse's body. It dented as easily as fresh clay under his touch and Nagi couldn't help being equally amazed and peeved at the ease he did that with. "Say, what do you feel when you touch titanium, Nagi?"

At the question, Nagi splayed her tiny hands over the horse, her fingers and palms of her hands cool against the metal. "Tingly."

"Anything else?"

Her brow furrowed deeply as she focused the whole of her brain. For a moment, all she felt was the unsteady tingling on her fingertips that came and went. But the longer she held her fingers on the metal, the more she couldn't help but notice something. The slightest of movements as the metal seemed to somehow expand and fall under her touch.

Almost like it was—

"Breathing."

"That's right."

He cradled his hands underneath the titanium horse and caressed the back of hers with his thumbs. The moment he did this, Nagi felt the tingling in her hands double, the gentle touch of her father's fingers affecting something she couldn't see.

"You see, Nagi, our Quirk doesn't just allow us to control titanium. One simple touch connects us with something that isn't alive and through that connection, we breathe part of ourselves into it. With that tiny breath, it becomes something living and turns into a part of us."

"Is that why it tingles, daddy?" Nagi hung her head back to face him as an awestruck expression upturned her frown from before. "'Cause it's happy?"

"Yeah, Jellybean, it tingles because it's happy. It's so happy, in fact, that it lets you bend it however you want."

Her awed expression fell almost instantly at that.

The tingling hadn't stopped. She could feel how it'd become stronger from where her father's thumb overlaid on the back of her hand. But for as much as she sensed it, it was easy to tell that it wasn't her causing it. It was only her father's fingers that were pressing dimples on the horse as if it were nothing more than wet sand. Underneath her own hands, however, it remained as stiff as ever.

"But I can't bend it. It's too hard for me."

"Maybe it feels like it right now but it won't always be. That tingling you feel, that's just the start. You're just learning to make the connection. With lots of practice though, you'll get better until one day..." His hands closed around the metal horse with force and dismantled it into a heap of shapeless, shiny titanium. Nagi gasped in horror, her heart broken a little from watching it be squashed right before her eyes and losing all resemblance to her horse. "It'll happen without you even having to think about it."

She tried once more to push her fingers into the clay-like mound but when nothing happened once more, her frown grew, tears beginning to brim at the corner of her eyes.

"But what if I can't. What if I keep messing up no matter how much I try?"

"It's alright to mess up, Nagi. Everybody messes up from time to time, so it's not really something to be sad about."

Nagi kept a watchful eye on her father's hands as they molded the metal in between his fingers. It was a strange sight. The metal hardened on its own as he passed a finger across it. Every carve and form he made with his fingers would grow stiff and return to its former rigidity as he began shaping it out.

Before long, the heap of metal in his hands returned to its original shape. It definitely wasn't the same horse as before. A few details had changed from being dismantled like it had. But that didn't matter to her. She took the newly formed horse and squeezed it in a tight hug as she leaned against her father's chest and into his embrace.

"When you're down and can't think of what to do, simply get up and try again. No matter how tough it looks or the times you mess up. It's only when you bother trying that you find out whether it can be done. So try, Nagi-

Always try."

"Don't run with your legs barely adjusted!"

"Sorry! I won't after this! I promise!"

Yet there she went as fast as her fumbling feet could take her towards the nearest staircase. Despite the pain that was now ebbing thanks to Recovery Girl, Nagi sped through the empty corridors in hopes of reaching their seats. But she cursed under her breath the moment explosions rang through the stadium while she found herself nowhere near them. Damn, Firecracker's impatient as ever. Running through the nearest exit she spotted, she found herself in a small alcove surrounded by the general audience. Not caring where she'd ended up, she sprung towards the banister and held the railing tight in her hands as she overlooked the match.

Yohsei against Bakugou. Now there was a match she had her qualms about. Especially after seeing how seriously and far Firecracker took it against Ochako.

"C'mon, Yohsei…"

The whole of her concentration got snatched from her when a sudden chill down her neck got her to spin around. There leaning against the wall not far from where she'd exited was the last person she expected to see.

"Todoroki?"

He didn't quite acknowledge her when she called out to him questioningly. The only thing he did was give her a sidelong glance before turning back to the match, arms crossed over his chest and his expression as blank and apathetic as always. Though somewhat awkward at first, Nagi brushed it off to pay attention to the match instead.

Explosions rained down on Yohsei's shield leaving him little time to react offensively. And even when he found those openings, the slow changes between his Quirks gave Bakugou ample time to react. Even if there was near zero lag time between changes, Nagi somehow knew that Firecracker would've still evaded his advances with those crazy ass reflexes of his. Thinking about their match got her brain thinking about the remaining matches. Though most were banal at best, there were a few that she looked forward to. In her head, she concocted different scenarios with what little information she had at hand to see how each could possibly turn out.

God, I just need to mumble and I'd be Midoriya 2.0.

As her brain split between the match and what outcomes the tournament could have, it suddenly switched to the people in the arena. Though Bakugou was still there, Todoroki now took Yohsei's place and she imagined how that match would end. It began as simple as that but the more she let her mind think about Todoroki, the more it brought back the image of that lonesome back of his which in turn reminded her a lot of that solemn expression Rei sometimes had.

They're more similar than they seem at first glance.

Despite turquoise eyes never straying from the fanfare of explosions and shields, her mind couldn't help but be entertained by the vast amount of coincidences her life was turning out to be. Not only were she and Yohsei in the same class, but she was also classmates with the son of her old hospital friend. The odds, right? It made her wonder whether her luck was bottom wrung or simply very selective. When the chilliness from before came again, Nagi voted for the latter. So as to dispel it and the awkwardness around them, Nagi let herself do what she did best: be obnoxious.

"Firecracker—I mean, Bakugou's such a rabid fighter, isn't he? If he didn't hold back with Ochako, I'm sure he won't with Yohsei. Though I'm still sure he can win this." Silence came over the empty space between them, one very deafening despite the roaring crowd around them. Alright, attempt number two. "'Cause I mean, even Bakugou ain't dumb enough to ignore how strong Yohsei is after seeing what he did to me."

"Kisaragi won't win." The sudden declaration, so forceful and definitive, caught Nagi's attention along with the sudden chill that was actually a few paces beside her now and not only in her head as Todoroki took to standing closer to the railing. "Not if he keeps hesitating like he's doing."

Hesitating? Turquoise eyes returned to face the arena were the onslaught continued. It took Nagi a mere glance at the explosions and Yohsei's changing Quirk to notice the split-second hesitations. They were diminutive—the flinch of his hands, the tensing of his legs, the flickering between Pixes—but they were there. Her gaze averted downward to were her own hands gripped the banister separating them from the rows of seats below.

"He...must be a little out of sorts still. That he almost sent me to the hospital must've freaked him out."

Not just him, either. That brush with Pix's Wither was breath-taking and not in the good sense of the word. But that was no excuse. Yohsei needed to get over this just as much as she did. Their fight showed her just how close he was to making it, too. He couldn't afford to be afraid now. And she wouldn't let him be.

"But it's okay…" she muttered under her breath. Gripping the metal bar tightly, Nagi inhaled deeply before jumping on the tips of her toes to bellow out at the top of her lungs.

"C'MON, YOH-KUN! YOU CAN DO IT! BE BRAVE!"

She didn't know if they heard her. It was honestly hard to tell if her shout was even loud enough to reach the arena with it being mingled with the rest of the crowd. But the little twitch of his ears that she saw as they sprung straight up in her general direction gave her hope. Just as much as the way his stance deepened and sprung forward into a sprint towards Bakugou. Explosions scattered a smokescreen that blocked their view from the battle but Nagi held onto the hope that even if he held back, Yohsei would figure something out against their class's firecracker.

"Whatever the case may be, you're honestly hoping for too much if you think he'll be able to beat Bakugou while holding back the way he is."

The deadpanned comment made her turn sideways at Todoroki. Having his right side fully on display, made her mind go straight to Rei. It was getting harder and harder not to see his mother anytime she caught a glimpse of that side of him. But that coolness that the two gave off was completely different. While hers was soothing, his was nothing but biting.

Spiteful even.

"I'll reject him completely by winning first place without using it."

That's right. The words she'd inadvertently overheard in that tunnel were full of more spite than she had heard in ages from someone other than Yori or herself. And as she recalled Todorki's conversation with Midoriya, advice from Suzume came to mind along with her own wandering thoughts.

"Our goals help define us, but nothing does that better than how we go about accomplishing them."

The more those words mingled in her mind and the more her ire of him badmouthing Yohsei grew, the more she couldn't help the words that bubbled in her throat and ultimately burst out into the open.

"Yohsei may be holding back but at least he's willing to move beyond it. He's trying to be better than that. And frankly, not using your Quirk because you're afraid of the damage it can do is much more manageable than not using it just to spite someone else that doesn't even care about you." Aloofly, Nagi gave a sidelong glance only to meet the mismatched glare of her classmate. His sudden break of character didn't surprise her. And it certainly wasn't enough to keep her from finishing her thoughts. "So unlike you, spite won't come back to bite him in the ass later."

She wouldn't lie and say that seeing him pissed off wasn't gratifying.

"You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," he said.

"I think I have an idea after what I overheard in the tunnels."

Mismatched eyes narrowed further as he scowled and clicked his tongue at her. "So aside from obnoxious, you're meddlesome."

"Curious sounds cuter," she replied but stopped her snarkiness from going any further. Instead she took the chance to calm down and give him a piece of her mind. "But I won't argue with you on the lingo. I know I talk out of my ass most of the time but this ain't one of them. Sure, I don't know what goes on with you and your family but I'm not that unfamiliar with the idea of doing something just for the sole purpose of antagonizing others."

More like I have a damn PhD in the subject. Nagi brushed the notion aside as her fingers brushed against the cool titanium that rested around her wrists and reminded her so vividly of what she'd said to Suzume not even a few minutes ago.

"I want to be a hero. More than anything I want to be my own kind of hero."

And if she wanted to start shaping the idea of the hero she wanted to be, now was as good a place to start as any.

"But I'm starting to think that maybe the best way to get back at them is to turn the horrible thing they made into something that I can use to do some good."

Stepping back from the banister, Nagi took a deep breath. Saying those words had cost her way more strength that she thought. Now that they were out in the open though, her chest became strangely lighter. Her hand held her other wrist over her chest to savor the sensation which brought a small smile to her lips. Whether he saw it or not didn't really matter to her.

"I know it's not my place to say anything—I don't know what life you've lived nor what caused such a nice person like Rei to snap like you say she did—but you shouldn't do all this just to spite your old man." Raising her head, she saw how Todoroki turned to one side to look at her. This time, instead of the white side of his, Nagi saw bright red hair and a striking seaglass eye. A complete contrast to Rei's, but one that suited Todoroki in an odd yet fitting sort of way. "I don't expect you to see things the way I'm starting to. Honestly, I lost track of why I nagged you with this to begin with. Might've been 'cause you pissed me off with all you said." Reminds me too much of myself. Nagi shook her head at the thought but smiled all the same. "Guess I'm just a little too excited, y'know? About finding something that's my own that I can be proud of."

An extremely large explosion took her attention away from her own thoughts as the stadium was set alight by it. Shit, the match! Turning back to the arena, Nagi waited with bated breath for the smoke to dissipate and see what became of Yohsei. Turquoise eyes widened at seeing that the only one that was left in the arena at all was Bakugou, his arm fully extended before him as he held it aloft with the other. Where…? Following that line guided her to Yohsei as he fell over to his knees from having just crashed into the stadium's far off wall. All it took to let the fact settle was Midnight's claim as she announced it to the whole crowd.

"Kisaragi-kun is off bounds! Bakugou-kun advances to the third round!"

Her shoulders slumped down. What a bummer. Despite the odds, there really had been a part of her that believed Yohsei could win. But the small grin she could see on Yohsei as he was being transported out of the arena by the nurse robots appeased her a bit and made her own smile broaden.

"Even if he didn't win, he still gave one hell of a fight, huh?"

At turning about to face him though, her eyes grew wide at suddenly finding herself utterly alone. Searching about the small space and through the entrance that led into the tunnels only proved her point. Asshole left her talking by herself. But when she saw the images that took over the screen overhead that announced the participants of the next match, she saw it fit to forgive him for the slight.

Just this once.

"Alright, who's ass am I kicking?"

Ochako blinked utterly confused by Nagi's sudden threat. Those around her like Iida and Tokoyami recoiled as well at the seriousness coming from her tone. None of that bothered Nagi though as she stood at the end of the rows of their spectator box with a raised eyebrow.

"Well?" she asked.

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about, Nagi-chan!"

"I'm talking about the asshole that made you cry." Ochako's cheeks turned red while the other two's eyes widened at the news. Nagi though was either not aware or let it slide completely as she clicked her tongue. "Nevermind, I remember now."

Stalking off and up the steps again, Nagi stopped at Bakugou's seat before kicking his shin.

"What the fuck, Twinkle Toes!?"

"Go apologize." Despite her irritation, Nagi managed to keep her cool and let it show simply by the frown that she let show.

Bakugou, however, wasn't having any of it. "What the hell are you talking about!?"

Just as she was about to open her mouth again, two arms hung onto one of hers as they pulled her down the steps with the grip they had on her brace. The moment she met those dark chocolate eyes, she pursed her lips quizzically.

"There's no need for him to apologize."

"But Ocha—"

"No buts! Now let's go sit—whoa!"

There wasn't any stopping Ochako's fall. Not when Nagi barely realized what was happening after she caught the pressure on her arm gone. Staring down and finding it bare with no brace to speak of told her exactly how her friend had fallen. Nagi fumbled over her and helped her onto her seat with Tokoyami's help and apologized profusely about the fall.

"No worries," she said with a chuckle. "I shouldn't have been pulling on your, um…" Ochako lifted her hand at that to raise the black brace that she still had in her hand. "What is this exactly?"

This time it was Nagi's turn to chuckle the awkwardness away as she took the garment back. "Just some fancy bandaging Recovery ordered me to use." She promptly took a seat next toTokoyami before going about fixing the brace back onto her arm. "Nothing to worry about."

Though she could tell by the look on their faces that they weren't satisfied in the least with that answer, the roar of the crowd caught their attention back as the next participants took center stage. Nagi thanked her lucky stars for that small breather but when Present Mic started announcing Midoriya and Todoroki, her breath slowed as if to make it easier to put attention to their match.

The tension that rose in their seats was palpable to her as they all watched their classmates ready with every word out of Mic's booming speakers. Nagi herself couldn't help grip the bottom of her seat seeing Midoriya grabbing one wrist with his hand and Todoroki taking the one step forward to prepare his attack. They were wound and ready to pounce and did so the instant Mic's let out the magic word.

"START!"

In less than a second, a barrage of ice shot out an instant before a powerful impact broke through it. It was strange to think of the ice as beautiful, but Nagi couldn't help it. Especially when the moment they broke due to Midoriya's attack, the giant iceberg fractured into pieces that shot upward and refracted the sunlight. Blocking the gelid rush of air that swept through them with her arms, Nagi felt the chill run through her as she let out a muttered, "Fucking hell..."

"Deku-kun countered Todoroki's ice!"

"Not without penance."

Tokoyami's deft counter made Nagi realize exactly what he meant by that. Poor guy busted his finger destroying the barrage. Unlike his prior match or even the games before now, Midoriya was pulling out all the stops against Todoroki and Nagi couldn't blame him. Todoroki hadn't declared war against him for nothing, after all. And she had a mild suspicion that her talk with him didn't have him in the best of moods, either.

"Sorry, Midoriya."Though Tokoyami gave her an odd glance, Nagi didn't bother explaining why she was apologizing when another round of their first attack and counter repeated itself.

The moment more ice shot out, another finger got expended to save him from it. And by the looks of things it was as painful as it looked. Hang in there.

"Ah. It started!?" Nagi faced back at hearing Kirishima's voice as he climbed down the stairs to where most of them, including herself, sat. Kaminari welcomed him back, congratulating him on getting through.

And though still sour about her own loss, Nagi did the same, bracing her arm over the back of her seat and raising a fist at him. "Ready to kick some Firecracker ass?"

"I'll definitely do my best!" he told her, bumping his fist with hers before looking back at Bakugou. "Let's have a good fight, Bakugou!"

Nobody was surprised by what was starting to become one of Bakugou's signature lines. Frankly, she wasn't in the mood to annoy him much. It wasn't much to stop her altogether though. But before she could even say any snarky comeback just to spite him, she let out a small yelp when she slipped from where she hung her arm over her chair. Catching herself was easy by stopping her fall with her other hand on the empty seat beside her, but the moment she did, the crumpling of paper took her aback and made her stare down to find what had made that noise. This is… Nagi picked up the scribbled notebook and leafed through it all the while overhearing Kirishima talking.

"But man, you and Todoroki can both shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground. Like 'Bam!'"

Turquoise eyes widened at connecting one dot with the other as she skimmed through the notebook that she now realized was Midoriya's. He was the only one she could think of that would have all these details of all 21 of them and their Quirks so meticulously categorized. Damn, even she was there with lots of details jotted everywhere. But her awe subsided when she suddenly came across Todoroki's rather empty page.

He's got close to nothing on Todoroki. How the hell is he fighting him then when he's the type to overanalyze every little thing?

"I'm not just shooting them off. Don't underestimate 'em." Nagi let her head hang back at Bakugou's rather tame response to the guys that continued to bombard him with questions. "If you overuse your muscles, the muscle fibers tear and if you keep running, you'll run out of breath."

Tapping her finger on the blank pages of Todoroki's crude drawing, she read the one line that stood out to her thanks to Bakugou's words. 'Creates ice where his right side touches (hand or foot). Can create within seconds. Can be of great magnitude'. He had jotted down what he'd seen Todoroki do, the flashy glaciers that took seconds to form. But all that output of power…

Even my bones break if I put too much weight on them.

"He's like us."

"What'd you mean 'like you', Chi?"

Nagi didn't answer. She simply let her head fall back against the back of the chair to look at the person that sat right behind her. Crimson eyes narrowed as they locked with her turquoise ones. Nagi stared unflinchingly and only replied with, "Isn't he?"

Bakugou clicked his tongue and Nagi simply gave him a droll state, taking that for the only kind of affirmation she would get from him.

"Quirks are physical abilities, too. They must also have some kind of limit."

There, see. Was that so hard to say?

"If I think about it like that, I guess that makes sense…" Nagi watched how plainly it showed on Kirishima's face what he was thinking. "Then, against the instant-killer Todoroki, Midoriya wants—"

"To tire him out," Nagi offered before leaning forward to catch Iida's attention. "Pres, you got a pencil I could borrow?"

Ochako blinked from her seat at the out of the blue question. "A pen—whoa!" She shot back against her seat the moment Iida's arm outstretched to offer the very thing she asked for.

"Here you go, Chitanko-kun."

"Always the reliable one." She chuckled and muttered a quick 'thanks' to him before lifting her legs to rest her feet on the end of her chair. Using her elevated lap as a desk, she quickly went about jotting down what she figured out with the others.

"Should you be recording such findings on something that is not yours?" Tokoyami asked, watching from the corner of his eyes as she jotted on furiously.

"I think he'll thank me for our insight later. He's got more important things to think about at the moment."

Another gelid air rushed past them that made Nagi hold the notebook close to her chest lest it was blown out of her grasp and lost. Taken aback as she was, there wasn't much else to do but watch Todoroki in the midst of his attack as he rushed forward with a rail of ice. He's trying to shorten the distance. And it worked. Nagi gasped the instant his ice caught the tip of Midoriya's scuffed up red hightops, her hold around the notebook tightening in response. There wasn't time to worry about much though when a force much stronger than the last blocked their view from above. Once the dust cleared, Nagi realized exactly why that had been.

Ochako stared down in disbelief, eyes widened a bit in horror. "...his arm!"

Noticing a drastic change on the other side too, Nagi quickly interjected. "Todoroki's too."

"It's frost." Tokoyami saw the same ice that she did starting to encroach on him. It's what Bakugou meant. Whatever happened to him when he overused his explosions, the damage it caused her to carry titanium over her weight limit—that same equivalent was starting to happen to Todoroki. That frosty, long breath he let out proved it. But he wasn't even close to reaching his limits though. Not if the barrage of ice he sent after Midoriya was anything to go by.

Nagi held the notebook in anticipation, quiet, hopeful words escaping under her breath when it was about to reach Midoriya.

"Where are you looking?"

Her breath hitched the moment another impact stopped the ice. This time it wasn't so much what he did so much as what she thought she heard him say that caught her off guard. That expression she saw on his face—the way those mossy eyes looked forward and nowhere else, determined as she'd never seen them—only seemed to bolster her guess. Midoriya...you see it too. Fingers gripped the edges of his charred and scribbled notebook tight at the realization.

Maybe she was seeing what she wanted to see in his words. Maybe she was completely wrong thinking that he could see what she had when looking at Todoroki's lonesome back.

But whatever the case was, those words gave her hope that maybe—just maybe—Midoriya could do something about it.

"Come at me with everything you've got!"

That or he's seriously trying to get himself killed by taunting Todoroki into using his fire. And despite herself, Nagi couldn't help thinking that it was a mix of both...though she did have a hunch that his nonexistent preservation instinct held a major weight in that balance.

All thoughts got thrown out the window when Todoroki rushed at Midoriya again. This time, though, she noticed something different. He's slowing down. This whole endurance plan was working. He was tiring him down and used the advantage created to get a hit in. One that got even her grabbing at her own stomach from how awfully painful it looked.

"It made contact," Tokoyami said under his breath.

"The ice!"

Turquoise eyes widened at verifying Ochako's cries but even that didn't stop either of them. She frankly didn't think there was any slowing them down at this point. If anything, they looked to be fighting with even more fervor than before. Despite the ice becoming slower and the hits coming with reckless abandon, they weren't stopping.

And nobody was stopping them.

No, a part of her chided herself. Stopping them now will waste everything that they've put on the line for this. They can't stop them. They shouldn't. And Midoriya's tone only echoed that resolve that didn't and wouldn't be stopped no matter what.

"Right now, I think you should stop screwing around!" Nagi's breath caught at how quickly the frost began spreading through Todoroki's right side and her own stomach churned in pain, her hand shooting up to catch it, as Midoriya landed yet another, point blank hit that sent him back. "That's why...I will win! I'll surpass you!"

It shocked her that even with Midoriya winning, even when she held so tightly to the notebook, the instant she saw Todoroki down on his knee one phrase kept repeating itself over and over in her head.

Fight back. Fight back. Fight back.

Not against Midoriya, not against the others or even his old man, but against that looming loneliness she saw now clear as day clinging and choking the very life out of him.

"...fight it back, Todoroki."

"It's your power, isn't it!?"

They were just words. But they were the spark needed to set it all ablaze.

Her eyes widened in awe at the flames that roared to life from the arena. Nagi instantly let go of the notebook to raise her arms and block the nasty heatwave that rose onto them. But even then, she kept looking through the intentional gaps she left open. She wouldn't—no, she couldn't look away. Not when watching how furious and vibrantly those crimson and gold flames rose above the stadium brought to mind the small embers that rested in the pit of her own stomach.

Unable to control herself, Nagi shot from her seat all the while fishing her phone out as she rushed to the edge of the banister that separated their box from the arena

"Osoku-chan, watch out!"

"Chi, be careful of the heat!"

But she disregarded them. The fire wouldn't hurt her. Not from this distance. And even if it did, it would be worth the few burns to capture such a magnificent view.

The flames roared so far and to such an extent that they didn't even let the vapor from the rapidly melting ice from his right side rise far in the air. Her eyes remained fixed on her screen through all of it. Every little thing was captured in high definition as she recorded and snapped photos in between the video as fast as her phone would let her. In between the pictures though she stopped abruptly at what she saw—something that looked like water rolling down his cheek from underneath his bicolored bangs. Condensation? Maybe, but there wasn't much time for her to think about it.

Not when Todoroki forced out ice from under his right foot with one stomp. Midoriya responded in kind, his gym clothes tearing from the force. From the corner of her eye, she spotted their teachers moving but paid little attention to them when Todoroki sent out a large barrage of ice. Her phone captured it all. Midoriya's leap as he rushed past his ice with his fist ready to attack and how Todoroki's fire flashed as he summoned it to counter it. It had it all up to the point of impact where the force of the explosion sent her flying backwards.

Nagi let out a giant scream as the explosion lifted her off her feet, her phone flying out of her hand without her realizing as well, and threw her back. Thrashing around to anchor herself onto anything proved useless until a firm grip latched onto the scruff of her jacket and forcefully slammed her back down against the concrete floor and against a seat. Not caring who it was, Nagi hid her face against their side to cover her face from the force of the impact that lasted a few seconds.

Once the air settled down and she felt the hold on her jacket slacken, she peeked from the person's side to find crimson irises glaring down at her. Though she intended to mutter her thanks, Mic's sudden question of who'd won the match brought her concern back to the two who literally just tried to kill each other without meaning to. Running back to the edge of the banister, Nagi waited with bated breath for the dust to settle and felt the air in her lungs leave her the instant she saw Midoriya slackened against the outer wall of the stadium only to fall unconscious.

"M-Midoriya-kun is out of bounds…" Midnight called with a shaky voice before composing herself and whipping her flog towards Todoroki, who, despite his state of half undress, stood tall in the midst of the half destroyed arena. "Todoroki-kun advances to the third round!"

The ruckus that ensued as a bunch of her classmates rushed towards the temporary infirmary snapped her out of her stupor. Ochako, Iida, Tsuyu and Mineta ran past her while the others stayed behind to discuss what the hell had just happened.

Eyes flickered between the robots that carried off Midoriya and Todoroki as he exited through his designated exit without a glance back. Taking a deep breath, Nagi rushed up the steps, stopping briefly to tap Bakugou on the shoulder to get his attention. As she reached the top of the stairs she bent down to quickly nab her phone from the ground, not even bothering to see if it was damaged before putting it in her pocket, and turned back to meet the crimson gaze that looked back over his shoulder at her.

"Thanks for the safe."

Nagi rushed after the four that went to the infirmary but by the time she got to them, they were already being shooed away by Recovery Girl. Ochako, upon seeing her approaching, smiled wearily as Nagi stopped in front of the closed infirmary with a most quizzical expression.

"Recovery Girl said Deku-kun needed surgery."

"That bad?" she cringed visibly.

"Certainly appeared as much by the way his arms were bandaged," Iida added.

"Should we wait for her to finish?" Mineta asked.

Tsuyu tilted her head before shaking her head. "It won't go any faster whether we're here or not."

"That's right!" Gesturing away towards the general direction of their box, Iida gave them all a once over before his angled arm upped the speed. "For now, nothing will come from lingering around. Let's head back to our seats."

While turning to follow behind them, Nagi reached down for her phone and halted in her tracks when she saw the screen all cracked. Though it was still on and functioning, the broken screen was certainly obnoxious. Someone owes me a new phone. The moment she remembered what exact moment made her lose it, she stepped back and turned about, her gaze straight down the tunnels.

"Nagi-chan?" Nagi looked back at Tsuyu's call but smiled at both her and Ochako who'd noticed her missing from their group. Lifting a hand in half a prayer, she winked back at them before pointing back.

"Gotta go to the restroom real quick. I'll meet you guys there!"

She gave them no time to question her nor tell her that the bathrooms were in the opposite direction from where she was running to.

Turquoise eyes calmly met mismatched stormy gray and seaglass blue and let a smile reach her lips as she stood before him. Neither moved when she reached the prep room and he so happened to open the door to leave it. Not wanting to make it so awkward, Nagi chuckled lightly.

"That was quite the fight you gave. Both of you were pretty cool out there." Todoroki let her words travel for a moment before humming in mild agreement. It was something, she supposed, but she didn't come all this way for a simple 'hmm'. "If you were wondering, Midoriya is getting surgery from Recovery for his injuries."

That actually seemed to bring out more words than before.

"Anything serious?"

Nagi shook her head. "Not that I heard, though I don't think we'll know until after he gets out of it." Pursing her lips and giving him a once over, she found it awfully curious that what had once been terribly torn and burnt gym clothes were now pristine as could be. "And you?"

He was reluctant to answer her—that much was obvious by the way he turned himself away from her—but she was grateful that he at least was dumbfounded enough still to give her some sort of answer. "What about me?"

"Your injuries."

Todoroki averted his gaze downward before saying, "They're minor ones."

Uh huh.

Skipping forward close enough to titter on the line of personal space, Nagi stretched out one hand to poke at his left side where she more or less remembered all those hits landing. To his credit, Todoroki didn't flinch in the least but the slight grimace that overtook him told her what he refused to.

"Funny. Could've sworn those punches and flames hurt." Nagi didn't take away her hand until Todoroki lightly smacked it away. When he didn't respond to her comment, she smacked his hand back earning a frown from him. "You should go to the infirmary. Have Recovery Girl take a look at you."

"I'm fine," he retorted.

Now it was her turn to scowl at him. "You want me to drag you there? 'Cause I will. Don't you think I won't."

Todoroki finally snapped, losing his patience or whatever little was left of it where she was concerned.

"Why are you so troubled by my wellbeing?"

"Do I need a reason?"

"Yes."

"Wrong answer," she deadpanned, bringing her arms to form an 'X' in front of her before going around him to grab him by his shoulders. "Now, stop being such a whiny little brat and let's go to the infirmary."

Todoroki didn't take one step nor allowed her to push him any further before turning about to face her with his brow furrowed even further. "Enough of your messing around. Give me a straight answer for once."

Nagi took a moment to look at him and take in the serious tone that he'd just snapped at her with. Those bicolored eyes that stared at her held her attention for a moment as she took in his expression. He was serious about what he asked. Isn't he always? She sighed heavily at feeling that perhaps this wasn't the best time to taunt him like she usually did.

But what was she supposed to say?

The truth, maybe?

She wasn't liking this part of her that was surfacing in the last hour simply for the fact that it was making her do things that she wouldn't otherwise do. But maybe that was good. Taking it for what it was worth, she let her head hang back to stare upward for a moment before coming back down to face him.

"You've impressed me. The both of you. After that fight, I think we all are, honestly, but...mm—it's hard to explain." Nagi rubbed the back of her neck and pouted pensively for a moment. You guys were amazing with how brave and undaunting you were. Kind of like what I want to be like. Sans the whole bone breaking and scorching flames. Chuckling a bit at her own dumb thought process, Nagi shrugged her shoulders to dispel the odd tension that'd built up. "Guess it really comes down to how much I admire you guys in that fight. You two were some crazy sons of bitches, really. Oh, wait—I shouldn't say that about Rei-san. Or even Midoriya's mom for that matter. Okay, no, erase that. Really, you guys were incredible so—"

"You know my mother?"

Turquoise eyes blinked innocently at the rather sincere tone that the one question had. It wasn't with the same annoyance from before nor with any animosity like it'd been when they spoke before his match. No, this one was different. This was simply a question. Nothing more, nothing less. Nagi fought it over with herself whether or not to tell him, but when she couldn't take the sound of his voice when he asked that one question out of her head, she caved.

"I met her at the hospital when I stayed there about...four years ago?" Sounds about right. "Yeah, it's been fours years, I think. She was—is my friend, as odd as that sounds." Nagi chuckled a bit before continuing, "I honestly didn't know you were her son until recently when I went to visit her. I showed her a bunch of my pictures this last time."

Recalling the video and photos she took just a few minutes ago, she picked out her phone from her pocket and tried to find said pictures through the cracked screen. "I think she'll like these too!" Nagi skipped to his side and showed him the cracked screen as she swiped through the bunch that she'd taken from the video during the fight. "Oh, also, you kinda owe me a new phone," she snickered, wagging the phone at him for emphasis. "Your little fiery tantrum made me lose my grip on it and the thing crashed ways away!" She chuckled then, "You should've seen how it flew, 'cause I certainly didn't."

"I will."

The sudden seriousness that he took broke her from her playfulness and made her smile as she put the phone away in her pocket. "I was kidding, Todoroki. Y'know, a joke? As in not actually serious."

"I know," he said, "but I'll still do it...if in return you'll answer a question." The sudden shift caught her off guard, her brow furrowing deeply as she turned to look at him. He, on the other hand, remained with his gaze stuck on the floor. His expression, though as aloof as ever, was a clear telltale of how uncertain he was to ask it. "How is she?"

Her eyes widened at the question and it made her think hard about how to answer. Frankly, it didn't take long to come up with one, especially with all the information she had for as vague as it was.

"I tend to forget lots of stuff so I'm not the most reliable person to be asking about others. I'd lose my own head if it weren't attached to my shoulders it's so bad. But…" Nagi offered him a sincere smile then. One that she found herself easily giving for once. "If you're curious...I think you know what to do."

Todoroki stayed quiet for a moment, something Nagi took as him mulling over what she said. For as much as that lasted, anyway. He didn't answer her or so much as talked back when he turned about to start heading towards the general direction of the balcony where they'd had their previous talk. Skipping after him, Nagi stopped mid jump when she recalled what was in the opposite direction. She ran to catch up to him and latched her hands on his shoulders before turning him completely about.

Knowing where she intended to go, he glanced over his shoulder at her while not putting much of a fight. "I already said I'm fine."

"Fine, my ass," she groaned as she struggled to push him forward despite him not putting much of an effort to stop her. "You're getting checked out, whether you want to or not."

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"'Cause you're just as pigheaded—now less talking, more walking."

She hadn't left Todoroki for even twenty minutes when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Blankly staring at her cracked screen, it took Nagi a second to make out the number that flashed on her phone along with the name, Inryuoku.

Yori?

Rather taken aback, she answered immediately, letting go of all pretentiousness as she pressed the phone against her ear. "Hey..."

"Hey, you," the boy's voice came through. It always unnerved her to hear Yori talk simply because it was always with a different voice every time. But it was something she got used to so long as she could see them. Ergo why she hated talking to him over the phone. "Tough luck on that match."

"You saw?"

She leaned against the closest wall and hid from view as best she could. Being close as she was to the bleachers and arena made it a little hard to hear him over the crowd but it also hid her well in case anybody stumbled into her. Guess I learned something from accidentally eavesdropping on Todoroki.

"You mean how you got your ass handed to you? Yeah. I expected it, frankly. I'd say that compared to the others or us, he's by far the strongest one." A low chuckle sent a chill down her spine. "Though I didn't expect you to go as far as using your convergence and that fancy footwork of yours to outnumber him. As well as you could anyway."

"I gave it my best shot." Nagi mindlessly kicked at the pebbles below her and turned sideways as the crowd roared to life after a while. She gave a sidelong glance to the screen overhead to see Iida's flashing image as he advanced to the third round. "But he got the better of me. Can't say I mind though. We both gave it our all."

"It certainly did if you call dismantling a whole stadium that. What a coincidence though, isn't it? That you two happen to be not only in the same school but in the same class as well."

"I'd say Chun-chan pulled some strings to make that happen if I had to bet. Though, I'll admit that it was nice to see him again. We've both changed a lot since the last time we saw each other." Even more since that last match, her mind hopefully threw out there. Nagi brushed the idea off while hoping for it to be true all the same. Her ease slackened her shoulders as a thought came to her head. "Makes me miss writing to them, y'know? Even when getting no replies got me down, it kind of helped to have these one-sided conversations with them."

On the other line, Yori's scoff echoed in her ear. "They're the ones missing out. Besides, how many times do I have to tell you? Keeping them out of our business is better."

Yeah, she knew. It's not like they hadn't told her the same thing over and over ever since they started this not so little crusade of theirs. It was a necessary failsafe, that she understood. If it ever came down to it and they were caught, no one other than them would be punished for their actions. No one—the police or otherwise—would be able to trace things back to any of the others this way.

"I still miss it."

It was hard to keep the quiet words from slipping. Most of all when they came surging out like a bat out of hell much like a lot of her emotions were recently. Recalling that, though, also brought forward quite unsavory feelings and the memory of a certain bloodied little girl that was Chiyoko still haunting her. Despite having disappeared for the most part, Nagi couldn't deny that it was still there. She couldn't see or feel her anymore, but she could certainly hear her whispering in the back of her mind. As that uneasiness crawled it's way up under her skin, Nagi clutched her stomach as her thoughts surfaced for her to voice them.

With the image of Chiyoko's small figure still fresh in her memory, she couldn't help but ask, "Do you really think it'll help them in the end?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is…" her voice trailed off as she gripped one of her bracelets with her free hand, "Will doing this really help get them past what happened? I know those we've targeted were involved one way or another with that place but what about those who aren't and we end up hurting anyways? What we're doing isn't a victimless thing either, right?" When she realized she started rambling off her thoughts, Nagi clicked her tongue and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "What I'm trying to say is that this can't be the only way we can do this, Yori. Maybe there's another way to—"

"Like what?" Their tone became deeper at the question and it was quite easy to tell how it rubbed them the wrong way. Flinching at the suddenly harsh tone, Nagi opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before pursing her lips.

"I-I'm not sure," she muttered, "but there has to be a better way to go about this. If we try looking for one, we'll surely—"

The sudden sound of a long sigh gave her pause as he spoke over her yet again. "You shouldn't overthink such things, Nagi." Though not as upset as he sounded just a few moments ago, she could tell there was still some exasperation left veiled by the sudden and serene tone. "You and I decided that this would be the best way to go about it. What we're doing isn't ever going to be a victimless gamble. People will get hurt, lose everything they have, and even go to jail for the rest of their days—the only difference is that this time it'll be the right people getting hurt and punished. And we can't bring the others in on this. Not if we want to spare them the burden."

It was as they calmly made their point to her yet again that she finally understood why she never liked hearing this explanation. It sounded like a parent describing the simplest of problems to a child—it truly was as condescending as could be. She wasn't a child anymore, and she would be damned if she would let anybody push her around like one.

"Spare them what burden, exactly?" she retorted. "Because it certainly didn't spare Yohsei of his anxiety or panic attacks anytime I come near him."

"He'll have to make do with Shishio while we deal with everything else. But it will help him in the long run."

Their nonchalance and carelessness finally brought her over the edge and without meaning to, she snapped with the most blatant example that she knew would shatter their whole argument.

"Yeah, well, that bullshit ain't nothing more than empty words when it wasn't fast enough for Chiyoko. She killed herself just after Yuuei got attacked by that little click you're hanging with and the Nomu they had with them. And even if you say there wouldn't have been a point in being with her, we could've tried something—anything—to stop her."

"Trust me, it wouldn't have mattered to her."

Nagi suddenly stopped dead in her tracks at those words. It wasn't so much what he said that caught her off guard though. No, it was the distinct way in which he said them. So calm and collected, so pragmatical.

Almost as if...

Turquoise eyes widened as realization dawned on her.

"You knew…"

Silence answered her for a moment before Yori let out a drawn out breath. That was all the confirmation she needed.

"You knew...and you didn't think to tell me!"

Nagi thanked her luck that the crowd cheered for the next winner the very moment she let her rage take over as she shouted over the phone. Yori tried to soften the blow but Nagi wasn't having any of it. Not now when she couldn't see anything other than red with how infuriated she was with his holding back. Before he could continue rambling on, she snapped at him, growling deep in her throat one single question.

"Since when?"

It took a solid second for him to even muster the voice to answer.

"Since this past weekend."

Her anger grew tenfold, his words adding even more fuel to the flames that were roaring to life in the pit of her stomach. Knowing what she could do even unconsciously, she backed off from the wall and kept her hands to herself, one holding onto her phone while the other furiously squeezed and reformed the bracelet in her other hand like clay.

"Why didn't you say anything…" Nagi refrained from shouting this time around despite it being quite the hassle in and of itself. "Out of all the things you keep to yourself...why did you keep this from me?"

"There was no point telling you. I know you, Nagi. You get too emotional for your own sake. And I also knew that it wasn't something you could've changed even if you knew about it." That sheepish tone of theirs changed and became rather poignant as they said, "And getting angry about it now won't change anything either. She's dead already and there are far more important things to focus on—"

She ended the call and turned off her phone faster than it took for Midnight to declare the winner of the match. Nagi paced the small space between walls to keep her frustration from growing but it ended as a futile attempt that only served to add to her anger.

He knew. He knew!

This whole time that he'd been joking around with her, he'd known about Chiyoko's death and he hadn't once bothered telling her. He hadn't even considered her feelings or just how it would hinder what they were doing. How—how could he!? Biting her bottom lip until it bled only made her already rattling bones quiver all the more with every bit of her mounting anger. It grew and grew until she couldn't keep it in anymore and finally snapped.

"Fucking bastard!"

Reeling back, she was about to throw her phone against the wall in the midst of her fit when something ran past her with such speed and force that it knocked her off her feet and sent her tumbling to the ground. Nagi landed on her back as her legs slammed against the ground once they fell and she was left blinking owlishly at the ceiling of the tunnel. For that brief moment, all her rage vanished as confusion took over instead.

W-What in the hell…?

The lights that illuminated the tunnels from above suddenly got blocked by a large shadow that loomed over her. It took her a moment to adjust her eyesight but once she did, she was shocked to see Iida standing over her while offering his hand.

"I-I'm gravely sorry, Chitanko-kun! It wasn't my intention to—I frankly did no see you were here when I ran past—"

Nagi blinked at him once he helped her to her feet as he continued to ramble on without making much sense. Calling out to him as loud as she could, she planted her hands on either side of his arms to calm him down.

"What in the hell has you in such a hurry?"

"It's—It's a personal matter." The way he said that made her brow furrow as she noticed how frantically his eyes looked back towards where he was running—the exit—and how his mufflers were roaring to go. Slipping away from her grasp before she could even say anything else, Iida took a couple of steps back from her before rushing past with his Quirk, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake.

Coughing out the dirt that floated around her, Nagi's gaze remained fixed after him until the dust settled and she was once again the only soul in that tunnel. Concern flooded her head but when a sudden pang crawled up her nape, Nagi hated how easily her worry was overcome by irritation once more. Yori picking around in her brain bothered her now more than ever because she knew exactly what they were doing.

"Fuck off. I'm not talking to you anytime soon, so don't bother."

The odd sensation didn't stop though. Noticing this and hearing the roar of the crowd as another round started gave her an idea. Let's cancel noise with more noise. Nagi made a run for their box and found herself in the small aisle just above the row of seats. Stopping short, she completely let go the notion of getting a seat when a barrage of ice took her attention the instant it shot away.

They've started.

Todoroki versus Bakugou.

The screen overhead told her about how many rounds she'd missed being down underground and just what match she was watching. Finals, huh? Her gaze fixated on the iceberg that Todoroki had created and how unrelentlessly Bakugou shot at it to escape and begin his onslaught. Those two fought on par with one another. One with overwhelming power that could instantly incapacitate and the other with unrivaled doggedness and ingenuousness that match his Quirk perfectly.

But...there was something different about Todoroki. Something off.

It took a moment for her to notice it but with every attack Todoroki attempted and that Bakugou so deftly avoided only to counterattack gave it away in the end. He's not fighting like before. His movements were sluggish, too simple and easily read. Even if his attacks hadn't lost any of their impetus, his movements had. And with how sharp Bakugou was in a fight, it was too obvious not to notice now.

He was holding back again. Yet this time somehow seemed different from before.

And Bakugou wasn't having any of it.

"How long are you gonna keep screwing around?!" He easily bellowed over the explosions that burst out of the palms of his hands. Raw frustration poured from his every word and it stung Nagi a little from everything that she'd experience so far in so little time. "I want an undisputable first place! There's no meaning to beating a half-assed guy who doesn't want to use his full power! How can I prove myself if I defeat you so easily! Don't stand in front of me if you don't have the will to fight anymore!"

Nagi clutched her jacket over her chest as those words beat her, her heart thrumming loudly against her ear at how hard they hit. And his words only solidified that feeling that suddenly changed at his exclamation.

"Why are you still standing there, you bastard!"

That's right. He's still standing. We all are.

And so long as they could stand and fight, they needed to keep going regardless of how bleak things looked. They had to stand up and fight for what they wanted. For what they dreamed of. And if she could find the little strength in her to continue, she knew Todoroki could too.

A gasp escaped her when frost ate away at Todoroki's right side at the same time Bakugou charged forward to attack. The way his stance was slacking and the way his gaze fell sent a chill down her spine at recognizing those subtleties for what they were.

He's giving up.

No. Her grip on the banister tightened, the metal molding under her hand as her own Quirk activated. You can't. Gritting her teeth, she couldn't ignore the swelling of her chest or the words lodged in her throat any longer. You just can't!

"Don't you dare give up, Todoroki!" Though it mingled with another, Nagi didn't let her words be drowned by it and shouted with all the air in her lungs to make him listen. "Beat Firecracker's ass to hell and back!"

Nagi didn't know if it was her words or what she now recognized as Midoriya's that got through to him, but it mattered little to her once she saw the frostbite that had been eating at his right arm melt away and the flames from his left side ignite. Bakugou lost no time to advance, propelling himself upward with his charge and giving himself momentum as he went forward. But as fast as those flames had come to life, they flickered out earning a gasp from her as she saw something in Todoroki's eyes an instant before Bakugou's explosion hit. The impact sent debris and a gust of air everywhere making Nagi brace herself against the banister as the dust settled—

And showed her Todoroki unconscious against his ice and out of bounds. Bakugou, unable to believe it, ran up to him and grabbed him from the neck of his jacket, exclaiming at him with something akin to desperation in his voice. His sudden fit stopped though the instant a purple mist spread across the arena that knocked him right out.

Watching from the sidelines how Midnight announced the winner, Nagi pursed her lips at how bittersweet the same statement coming from Mic sounded after watching Todoroki's refusal to fight and Bakugou's dissatisfaction with it.

But it was over now.

"The winner of this year's fear-year U.A. sports festival is from Class A, Katsuki Bakugou!"

Nagi let out a tiring long breath.

Finally.

Click.

"C-Chitanko-san?"

Click.

"Yeah, Shoji?"

Click. Click.

"Is there really a need to hide behind me?"

Turquoise eyes peeked from behind the gargantuan figure of his while holding her cracked phone in one hand. Cracking a grin that she couldn't help but show, she chuckled at something she thought awfully obvious.

"Thought these'll make great keepsakes of our first sports festival! And since our lil' golden boy's got a nasty killing intent right now, I'd rather not get too close." She clicked away again, getting a few more candid shots of the stands now that they all stood in their rightful places. Tokoyami in third, Todoroki in second and Bakugou put in first—quite forcefully and against his will. "Kinda 'preciate my life a little too much right now to die by Firecracker's hand today."

As the flashes from the media's cameras blinded them all, Midnight took to explaining how in addition to Tokoyami, Iida was also to take third place, but that due to some family reasons, he had to leave early. Nagi let her phone fall a little at the news.

Hope everything's okay.

The glum mood that settled got wiped away the moment Midnight announced All Might as the one who'd present the medals. Arriving in his usual flashy style, Nagi took to snapping away as he gave each their medals doing her best to focus on each one as he did. Tokoyami's was easy since he was right in front of them, but for Todoroki and Bakugou, she found herself moving through the crowd of students who let her through after a shove or two. Once all the medals were given, All Might went about his speech getting Nagi to quickly switch to video and record.

"Well, they were the winners this time! But listen closely." Nagi lowered her phone a bit at his call, her gaze fixed on him as he continued. "Anyone here could have ended on these podiums. It's just as you saw—Competing! Improving each other! And climbing even further! The next generation of heroes is definitely sprouting!"

Competing. Improving. Going even further. Nagi chuckled as those words seemed to easily encapsulate what had just happened in these last few hours. Things that despite scaring her, she was more than happy to have happened. Laughing her heart out when the crowd boos All Might for reading the mood wrong, Nagi spun on her heels as she backed away to get the rest of the students on her phone. Though some stared at her rather confused, those in her class perked right up.

The moment mossy green eyes met hers Midoriya became a frantic mess waving his heavily bandaged arm about to keep her from getting a good shot. Nagi laughed at him before shouting out above the crowd, "C'mon, Midoriya! Give me a smile!"

Beside him Ochako and Kirishima encouraged him as the two posed with a peace sign and clashing fists for her respectively. Getting swept by the mood, Midoriya chuckled before showing her a trembling smile.

Click.

Perfect.

"So there will be no school tomorrow or the day after." Nagi let out a grand sigh at the news, sprawling over her desk and hearing audible pops from her body as the braces adjusted her. Thank you god. I need some sleep. "I'm sure the pro heroes who watched the sports festival will want to recruit you, but we'll consolidate everything and announce it when you get back. So rest well and look forward to that."

Aizawa dismissed them at last and Nagi groggily rose to her feet, stretching her arms overhead to pop them further and get the heavensent relief of her joints going back into place. God, for as god awful as they looked, the braces did miracles to keep her together. Keep together...huh. The thought brought her hand to the back of her neck, the phantom sensation from before not actually having left Even when she could barely hear it as well, there was no denying that she could still hear Chiyoko's voice. And that she was starting to suffer all these again so vividly…

Maybe...it's time I start taking my own health seriously, too.

With that in mind, Nagi waved goodbye to Ochako and the others as they made their way out of the classroom and she headed to the front. Blocking Yohsei as he rose from his own desk, both stopped in their tracks dumbfounded by one another. Silver eyes went askance and though she didn't understand why, hers did as well. Not wanting for things to be left like that though, Nagi cleared her throat and smiled the best she could.

"You did great, Yoh-kun. Hope you get some rest after today."

The smallest of smiles came to his lips as he lifted his gaze to meet hers. With a nod, he let out the small breath he kept in. "Yeah...you too, Nagi-san."

Satisfied with that simple exchange, she rounded the desks while waving at him goodbye before returning on the path that would take her to where Aizawa lazily made his way to the front door.

"Mummy-sensei—ouch!"

"No horsing around. Go home, Chitanko," he grouchily reproached, lowering the bandaged arm that he bumped her head with before turning away again.

"No, wait. I have a legit question."

He stopped mid stride to face her then. "What is it?"

"Is Chun-chan here?"

Aizawa blinked a few times, taking a minute to examine her before nodding. "She's at her office. Be sure to make your visit quick, she's got company."

"Thanks! Will do!"

Sprinting out of the classroom, Nagi wasn't quick enough to notice the person in her way and bumped into them the moment she exited the room. The deep growl and the grinding of teeth told her exactly who it was though.

With a chuckle, she pulled at the golden medal dangling from Bakugou's mouth and snapped it up and down. "Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

Bakugou smacked her hand away almost instantly. "Fuck off, Twinkle Toes."

"Roger that," she said with a chuckle. Can't really piss him off anymore than he is now. Though it certainly didn't keep her from trying as she reached for it once more to pull him down by his jaw.

"What the—"

"If you're still salty about not getting a good fight, come talk to me when we come back." Nagi swung the medal so that it rounded Bakugou's neck and smacked him on the face on the other side. Though this infuriated him to the point of blasting off explosions in his hands, Nagi was far away enough in the opposite direction to avoid getting charred. "I kinda owe you one after letting you down during Heroics last time! 'Sides, I'm ready to kick your ass for real this time!"

"Like hell you will, damn Twinkles Toes!"

Jogging out of sight after turning a corner, Nagi giddily made her way to Suzume's office where she found the door slightly ajar. It only took a couple of knocks to hear her doctor's soft 'come in' for her to enter, surprising Suzume quite a bit.

"Nagi." Her voice hitched as she closed the file that she held in her hands. "I thought Shouta said you guys had the day off after the festival."

"We do." Nagi stepped in and pushed the door behind her and only continued when she heard the soft click of the door fully closing. "I actually came looking for you."

"Oh, did you?" Setting the folder aside, Suzume placed all her attention on her. "Was there something you wanted from me?"

"Yeah, about that…" Her voice trailed off as she thought of what to say. She'd come there with all the confidence in the world knowing exactly what she was going to say but when it came down to it, she froze. It truly amazed her how hard it was turning out to be after all the resolve she'd gathered to tell her. Just try. Those words soothed her enough to relax and come closer to Suzume. "Do you...remember when I was little and still at the hospital that I used to have nightmares?"

Jaded eyes widened a bit before returning to normal as she came closer to Nagi. "Of course, I do."

"Well, they're kind of back. Well—not kind of, they are." Rubbing the back of her neck as she took one long breath gave her enough pause to strike with the heavy hitter. "And so are the other ones. The hallucinations."

"I thought you were taking medications for them."

"I was. But it's kind of like how I was also putting my braces on too."

Suzume took a moment to process what her word play meant before saying, "What have you been doing with the pills then?"

"Flushing them."

"Oh, Nagi…"

Nagi shot back instinctively before she could reproach her. "I-I know what I did is wrong. I really thought I'd gotten better when they went away, but now they've been worse ever since Chiyoko's—" Her hand smacked her mouth shut the moment she realized what she'd let slip. Jaded eyes grew wide at the mention and fell to the floor.

"You found out...about Chiyoko?" There wasn't a point in denying it, so she didn't. Suzume's lips pursed at her response but she composed herself with a deep breath before facing her again. "I'm sorry you had to find out without me being there for you."

Nagi vigorously shook her head and took the few steps to grab the back of one of the chairs in front of the coffee table. "It's okay. It really is. I'm coming to terms with it somehow, but I can't control what it's doing to me."

"Are they voices again?"

She nodded, taking a moment to compose herself before saying, "I've been seeing her lately too. Even felt her touch and claw at my face. It's...terrifying."

A warm hand came over hers and stopped the trembling she hadn't noticed until now. Guiding her to sit down, Suzume crouched before her while holding onto her hands, her thumbs tenderly brushing over the back of them. Her gaze stayed on her hands for a moment before rising to meet her turquoise eyes.

"What do you want me to do?"

It amazed Nagi that she would ask such a thing.

It truly meant a lot coming from her and the choice she was offering. She knew the treatment with her old medications and even adding a few more would work, but if she didn't want to take them for an indefinite amount of time, she knew that there was also Suzume's Quirk. Though she didn't quite understand how, her Emotion Manipulation could do so much more than just receive emotions and cause them in others. For some reason, it could also deal with the deep roots of those emotions to the point where if she could pinpoint it, she could very well erase from her subconscious the memory that was causing her to feel a certain way. And she was giving her a choice of how to deal with what terrified her.

Despite what it caused her, Nagi held steadfast to the idea she had before when Yori asked her that same question.

"I don't want to forget. I want to deal with it however I can on my own." Nagi chuckled to alleviate some of her nervousness while holding onto Suzume's hands. "Though I think a little help from those meds from before wouldn't be so bad."

Suzume smiled as she nodded before raising from her place to go to her desk. After rummaging through one of her drawers, she took a bottle and shook it before coming back and giving it to her. "Take these for now. They'll last you until I can have a talk with Shuzenji-sensei to see what we can start you on."

"Can't you give me what you used to before?" Nagi asked while taking the bottle and reading the label. Though she didn't know what the hell it was, she did recognize Suzume's name which only added to her confusion.

"Regrettably no. Not with you training to be a hero and putting your body through such arduous tasks everyday. Those medications will have to be adjusted, some removed altogether." Suzume's hands came over hers to cover the bottle with both their hands. "But don't you worry. We'll try as many times as we can to get it right for you, Nagi."

Taking her hands back and holding the bottle close, she nodded all the while smiling warmly at her. "Thank you...sensei." With that over with, Nagi stood up and grinned from ear to ear as she made her way towards the exit. "I'll be seeing you in a couple of days then! Have a good one!"

Suzume followed her out and watched her run towards the exit with a smile on her face. Just as she was about to go back into her office, a couple of flimsy papers tapped her on her cheek making her turn to her brother.

"Satsu."

"Yo." Passing over the papers he held, he leaned against the windows that gave a perfect view of the gates that led out of campus. "Am I going crazy or did I hear Nagi's voice as I turned the corner?"

"You just missed her."

"Pity." He scoffed as he leaned back against the window. "I've got a rough draft of what you asked me. A couple, actually."

Suzume looked through the few papers skimming through the details that she knew her brother wouldn't dismiss after asking him personally. Turning yet another page while chuckling at his over the top work stopped her in her tracks at noticing a document that wasn't like the rest. This one looked more official and even had Yuuei's insignia along with his signature. But what truly shocked her was the heading that came on the document.

"Wait a minute. You're—?" When she turned to him yet again, her brother shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly in response.

"What can I say?" Dark green eyes glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a familiar strawberry head run through the gates and out of campus. "This year's got quite the enthusiastic bunch to pick from."

|Next day|

What a day off.

It was heaven to wake up without having to run for dear life to get to class in time. Not just that but whatever Suzume had given her did miracles overnight seeing as the moment she took it and laid down, she knocked the hell out. Though she guessed the meds in combination with how tired she was after the long day had certainly done the job.

"But!" She cheerfully called down at Mi-chan as she changed in front of her full-length mirror. "Today's a new day and we've got lots of stuff to do, Mi-chan!"

Her cat meowed before strolling off to lay on her bed. Dismissing her, Nagi went about picking her outfit. Though it wasn't anything special, she liked looking nice when visiting Rei-san but when her wardrobe consisted mostly of jeans and t-shirts, it was kind of hard to find anything nice. Settling for the only cute outfit she had at hand, Nagi changed into a short white skirt with her leg braces as black stockings and wore a pink long sleeve sweater to hide the ones on her arms as best she could. Wearing her long hair down for a change, she put some of it up in half a ponytail and finished it off with a white ribbon she found lying around. Snatching her bag and camera on her way out, she checked the time on her cracked phone as she headed towards the train station.

"Next stop, Shizuoka."

Smiling, Nagi took to answering some of her texts from that morning. Ochako, Tsuyu, Mina and Hagakure had gotten up with high spirits and it showed with the 27 unread messages she went through that consisted mostly of stickers. So had Kaminari and Kirishima apparently seeing how they fired back almost on par with the girls. With the group chat that Iida had set up, it was easy to see them talk amongst themselves and even give her two cents, putting a snarky remark here or there or even place a cute sticker from time to time. Some like Ochako, Tsuyu and Mina messaged her privately which she kept up with during the train ride. The need to sadly leave them on read for the time being though came as the train came to a stop at Shizuoka and she decided to stop at the nearest market. Grabbing a few snacks, Nagi let her phone vibrate all the while the cashier rang her up. She waited until she paid and came out of the store to see who'd texted her but stopped short as the smile she had worn the whole train ride there got replaced by a frown at the message she saw.

"Please stop being mad."

The number was unknown, but she didn't need to know that to know who it came from. Nagi didn't want to be mad with them. Least of all when they were alone with a group of unsavory people. But right now… She typed her reply quickly and sent it as she made her way to the hospital.

'I'm trying not to be, but it's hard. Give me some time to cool down.'

It took her a few minutes to walk to Shizuoka Hospital but once there, she stopped short at the entrance when her panic began to set in. Despite having entered that other time, she had to admit that it was mostly due to the fact that Rei had been with her that she'd been able to even walk through those doors. But now, alone, she found it so much harder to even move from where she stood now.

Try, Nagi. Just try.

A deep breath came into her lungs and she kept it there all the way through the hospital doors. The whiteness of it all struck her for a moment and for a second she stood there dumbfounded while other people walked past her in the waiting room. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down again, she made her way to the front desk to ask about Rei.

"Yes, Todoroki Rei-san is in her room. Are you a family member?"

Nagi shook her head. "A friend of hers. Is it alright for me to come visit her right now?"

The nurse on the other side of the counter nodded. "Yes, of course! Todoroki-san doesn't get many visits outside of her daughter and older son so it was surprising to see you. Go ahead, the elevator's just down the hall."

Good to go, Nagi made her way up to the third floor and to Rei's room. Knocking, she waited for the woman's soft response before entering the room. Stormy gray eyes brightened the moment they saw Nagi as she entered the hospital room.

"Nagi-chan! What a pleasant surprise to see you today."

"Good morning, Rei-san," Nagi chriped before lifting the bag she brought with one hand and her camera with the other. "Hope you're not too busy today. I brought a whole bunch of them!"

Spending time with Rei definitely took the edge off her after having the brief exchange with Yori. It definitely helped that all they did was talk endlessly about how each were doing and about the photos she brought this time. When Rei congratulated her for taking the initiative to get some help when her symptoms started up again, Nagi couldn't help the heat rising to her cheeks.

"It's not that impressive," she muttered. She stopped briefly what she'd been doing with her photos, the stacks of must sees and others that shouldn't be seen by her—i.e. the ones where Todoroki comes out in—neatly stacked on the table they had placed near the window of her room.

"But it is." Rei took one of the ones she'd laid out for her and chuckled at the picture. "Knowing there's something the matter is only the start. It's only when we do something about it that we truly take the first step."

Nagi hid the smile that came to her lips with the stack of photos still in her hand. Wanting to dissipate the uncharacteristic embarrassment, she pointed to another photo that she'd laid for her to see which Rei took candidly.

"And you say these are all from yesterday's festival?"

"Yeah!" She set a few aside on the no-no pile before setting a bunch about to make a makeshift collage for her. "It was crazy! I knew Yuuei was known for going the extra mile but that was out of this world." Rei couldn't help but smile and laugh at the many stories that Nagi told her as she came to look at every picture she'd handed her. By the time she got to the last ones left depicting the award ceremony, she passed Rei the ones of Tokoyami and Bakugou to see but refrained to do so when she ended up with Todoroki's in hand.

He looked quite melancholic in this last picture. And very troubled. But despite those things being so clearly there, there was something else that she couldn't quite describe in his face. Whatever it was though, she liked it. Smiling at it, she gave herself a second to think before starting her tale.

"There's...also a classmate of mine who I've started to admire after seeing him in the festival. He's a handful in his own way—broody, doesn't know what tact is, and he doesn't talk much either, but he's alright. He's definitely strong and I think he's got what it takes to be a hero. Though after yesterday, I think he's a little lost."

"Lost?" Rei asked.

Nagi nodded and took a moment as the perfect way to describe it to her came to mind. "He kind of looks...like how I did back when I was here. When I was little and you found me hiding away in your closet the day we met. It's like he's stranded and can't find a way home despite the road being clear as could be. But...I think he's finally aware that it's there. Like you said just now, I think he knows what the matter is. And I think he'll take the steps to get better too." With that said, she passed Rei the photo of her son being awarded his medal for second place. The moment she saw it, her eyes grew wide as her grip on the photo tightened. All Nagi did was smile. "As for me, I'm just hoping to help him find his way home like you helped me, Rei-san."

Rei doesn't answer her, becoming lost in the picture as she did. Nagi didn't take it to heart. She didn't know since when the woman hadn't seen nor heard of her son. The very same one she hurt.

Wanting to give her some time to mull over it, Nagi stood as quietly as she could from her seat muttering that she would go out to get some strawberry yogurt for them from the vending machine down the hall before taking her bag with her wallet and heading to the door.

Just as her fingers touched the door however, it opened ever so slowly as a pair of mismatched stormy gray and seaglass eyes met hers. Turquoise grew wide at the sight of Todoroki standing before her, his gaze just as wide at seeing her there, but when she realized why he was there in the first place, a tender smile came to her lips.

Walking past him, all Nagi did as she went by was lay her hand on his arm and give it a reassuring squeeze.

You've got this.

Nagi exited the room and never once looked back even as the door closed with an audible click behind her. Heading to the lobby, she got her strawberry yogurt and headed out to the gardens and the bench near the beds of hydrangea she knew best to take a seat. Her heart swelled just from thinking what kind of reunion the mother and son were having and she hoped that it would be ten times better than she could imagine. Opening the yogurt drink, she took a swig of it before looking over her shoulder at the flowers that were blooming now in the peak of spring. Her hand dropped over the arm of the bench to let her fingers brush against the petals before plucking one from its stem.

Unlike the others that were bare blooming, it looked old, dying almost, but it was still quite beautiful.

"Hydrangeas are quite pretty flowers, aren't they?"

The familiar voice that quietly spoke from beside her took Nagi by surprise. Giving the person a sidelong glance was enough to ascertain her suspicions. The lady sitting with her on the bench looked well enough despite her old age. Dull pink hair with gray was swept to one side into a ponytail and held by an ornament, straight, thin hair falling gently over her shoulder and onto the red and white kimono she wore. Her eyes were hidden behind dark glasses and she leaned back against the bench while leaning her hands on the top of a wooden cane.

"Yeah," Nagi replied with a blasé tone she wasn't aware she'd donned until she talked back. "Though I'd say it's kind of hard to see them with those dark sunglasses."

"Ah, don't mind them. I'm blind, you see. Been for a long while. Though my Quirk is quite useful now that I've lost my sight." She chuckled as she tapped her cane against the floor a few times for emphasis. "It took some getting used to. And though it can't help me distinguish things, it certainly helps that my sense of smell has heightened over the years."

"Small blessings, huh?" Though she didn't want to be there talking to her, something in her kept her seated and made her continue with the nonchalant conversation. "You here for a check-up, granny?"

"Who, me? I'm fit as a fiddle." She chuckled but the sound was buried quickly enough when she sighed. "No, my husband is the one getting checked. He's had quite a few strange episodes as of late. The doctors say it's nothing to worry about so long as we keep an eye on it though."

"Not that strange for an old man like him to get fits," Nagi finally said. "Old man Kin being stubborn as he is must have quite the health problems."

The old lady held tightly to her cane then. "He's mellowed down ever since you left home, Nagi. We've missed you."

"I believe it from you, Ji. But from your daughter and the old man?" Nagi scoffed as she crushed the small flower in her hand. "I'll sooner believe pigs can fly before I believe they give a damn about me."

"It's the truth, Nagi—"

"Mother?"

Turquoise eyes raised at the screeching sound of that voice at the same time that Ji lifted her head towards her daughter's voice. Nagi groaned at the sight of her aunt and grandfather as they stood not far from where she and her grandmother sat.

"Yukiko?"

"It's her, Ji," Nagi confirmed for her as she stood from her seat. "And with that I'm gone."

"Wait, Nagi-chan."

"Let her leave, mother." Her Aunt Yukiko looked as spiteful as she always had. Just a few years older than Aizawa and Suzume, Nagi swore that she had the perfect example in her aunt that disproved that age matured a person. "It's all she's ever been good for. Just like her father."

Before Nagi could snap back at her with a nasty retort, her grandfather interrupted them. "That will be enough, Yukiko." Striking blue eyes like hers turned to look her way. "You seem to be well."

"I am," she said blatantly. "No thanks to you."

"You ungrateful brat—" The step forward her aunt threatened to give was stopped short by a heavy chain and ball that had latched onto her ankle unbeknownst to her.

Baring her teeth at her, Nagi pulled harder when she saw her aunt's hand starting to rise. "You raise that hand at me and you'll lose the hand," she threatened straight out and narrowed her eyes quickly enough as another idea came to her head. "Not like you don't already owe me both for slapping me around years ago."

All at once her aunt's face flushed with embarrassment as she continued to berate her under her breath. Knowing the lost cause that it was to even talk with her, Nagi undid the ball and chain from her aunt's ankle before reforming her titanium bracelets around her wrists, accommodating them with a drawn out sigh.

"Whatever. You're not worth my time, anyway." She turned to her grandfather before saying, "And not that I care, but don't go dying on them anytime soon, old man. They're here because of you, so take care of 'em."

Chitanko Kin nodded solemnly. "I am well aware of that. I'm grateful for your concern, child."

"Don't be. It ain't for you," she muttered under her breath before turning to Ji. "You take care too, Ji. It'll suck to have another grave to visit."

With everything said and done, Nagi left them to their own devices, tossing the half finished yogurt drink in the bin as she rounded the hospital and left the premises altogether.

She made it to the station and as she waited for the next train to arrive, a thought rose as what she last told Ji went around in her head. Another grave. Nagi jumped the moment the train rushed past her and the crowd that stood waiting for its arrival and remained in place even after the doors opened and people began to file in.

Another, huh.

Though her chest felt heavy at the mere thought of what she was about to do, Nagi took a deep breath, taking courage from goodness knew where and stepping back from the yellow line where she waited and from the train's closing doors to head out of the station.

The bell above the little flower shop rang when Nagi pushed the door open. She took a deep breath to take in the fabulous scent of so many blooms flourishing in a single space. And though small it was the nearest to where she was headed.

"Welcome!" A young woman stepped out from the back of the shop while holding freshly cut tulips that she cradled against her chest. She beamed a big smile at Nagi who only responded with a meek one of her own. "Good morning, what can I do for you?"

"Morning." She glanced around the shop as she said, "I was wondering if you had any carnations and peonies for arrangements."

"Why, yes we do! Would you like that as a bouquet or basket?"

"Two baskets, please."

As the florist went about gathering what she needed from the back, Nagi scanned about the shop and stopped at the odd thing she saw just to the side of the counter. A small stuffed bear holding a little bouquet of fresh flowers. Though she didn't know what they were, she liked how the white and cream blooms contrasted with the blue ribbon tied around its neck. Picking it up, she noticed something hard in its stomach that clicked every time she pressed.

What in the hell?

"Isn't it cute?" Nagi spun on her heels at the florist's voice calling as she came out of the back.

"What is it?" she asked, clicking whatever was inside again with the same result.

"A new product we're trying out. The children's yard is close by so we thought parents would like to leave some kind of recording for them aside from flowers."

"This thing's got a recorder?"

"Yep! We have other animals as well if you're interested; bears, tigers, horses, kittens, puppies, even dolphins and I think some goldfish as well. We can also record anything you'd like up to five minutes."

Five minutes…

Nagi weighed the bear in her hand for a moment as she mulled it over before turning to the florist who was laying her freshly made baskets on the counter next to the register. Placing the bear on the counter, she asked, "Do you have a horse?"

Paying for two baskets and two bears was easy but having to carry them to where she needed them turned out to be a bit of a hassle. She was definitely grateful that the shop was so close to the cemetery now. Getting through rows upon rows of graves was somber to say the least, even more so when she arrived at the lots on the far corner beneath the shade of a small apple tree. Taking a breather, Nagi set down the baskets before facing the graves she'd been looking for.

Two large tombstones stood next to each other and a much smaller one stood to the left closest to the edge. Chitanko Kaya and Chitanko Hiroyuki were the names engraved on the larger tombs while the small one bore the name Chitanko Yuuta. Nagi forced a small smile on her lips as she sat down with her legs crossed and the stuffed animals resting between her legs.

"Hey," she muttered quietly. Turquoise eyes couldn't help but stare at her hands and the bracelets around her wrists before rising to meet the cold stone that sat before her. "It's been...a long while, huh."

Yeah, I guess you can call three years that.

Nagi had been to her parents' and little brother's graves only twice before. The first time was a few months after she was rescued and found out about their passing, and the second just before she and Yori began their endeavors. Ever since then, she hadn't been to visit. She honestly didn't know what brought her here in the first place. Her accidental meeting with her grandparents and aunt may have reminded her of them but it certainly didn't bring her there. The more she thought about it though, the easier it was to discern the couple of faces that came to mind as she imagined mother and son peacefully talking to one another in that small hospital room. Her hands tightened around the stuffed bear and horse in her lap, her titanium bracelets clinking together as they did.

"Sorry that I've been gone for so long. I'm alright being here now, it seems. At least I'm not crying, right?" Nagi chuckled but her usual clown act didn't work as much when she was by herself. Clearing her throat, she brushed her fingers against the soft fur of the stuffed animals to gain some peace of mind. But the more that came, the more she noticed her mind slipping back to the last time she was there.

And even now she recalled the words she spoke to them that day she came with Yori.

"I'll make this right. I swear it."

"Last time I came I promised you guys something that I shouldn't have. Not because I don't want it or because I don't think it right but because..." Unable to say it for some reason, she held the stuffed toys tighter and held them against her stomach that was a mess of knots. "I started high school, y'know? I'm at that fancy hero school, Yuuei, and I'm learning how to be a hero...is what I'd like to say. But...I don't think I've been going about this the best of ways."

Nagi wiped away at the prickling tears that welled up at her eyes, not wanting for any of them to spill now that she'd gathered the courage to be there and admit this to them. She sniffled a couple of times before lifting her gaze back to the graves.

"I've done some things that I'm not proud of. A few that I'm ashamed of even. And though I only regretted a few in the moment, I think there was a part of me that always knew that what I was doing wasn't how I wanted to go about things. I wanted to help...but I guess I somehow managed to screw that up too." Taking a deep breath, she set aside the small sobs that threatened to escape her and instead busied herself with accommodating the baskets on each of her parents' graves. "I've met some people—a lot, actually—and they're helping me see things differently. I'm alsotrying to be more open and truthful with them. Definitely the latter. I'm still working out some rather unsavory kinks here and there—things that I still need to do and can't leave halfway done. But don't worry, they will be my last."

Reaching into her pockets, Nagi pulled out two small white boxes that fit in the palm of her hand. They were the recorders that went with the stuffed animals the florist had given to her and that could easily go into the toys with an opening and closing of a zipper on their back or stomach. Settling one of the boxes with the horse, she took the other box while fishing her phone from her purse. Her fingers swiped with ease as she went through a memorized set of buttons until she reached her voicemail.

Turquoise eyes turned to the box then while remembering what the florist had told her. Three clicks to record, three beeps before it started, and one click once done. Nagi clicked the three times and waited for the three beeps before pressing 'play' on the one voicemail she had saved in her phone.

Her mother's voice instantly chirped to life and washed away the silence with her cheerful tone as the message replayed for what felt like and surely was the 100th time right beside the recording box.

"Nagi, be sure to take care on your way. Papa and I will be waiting for you, alright? And also, don't mind your father too much. He's just worried. We trust you'll make it home just fine. So we'll see you soon, sweetie!" Her father's childish and exaggerated cries called out in the background for her to take care just as the words she kept close to her heart that her mother repeated with a hearty chuckle finalized the message. "We love you, Nagi."

Twenty-seven seconds. That was all the message lasted. And yet it was one of the few precious memories she still had of them that she wanted to leave with him. Lifting the box close to her, she clicked once and gave it a small kiss before placing it safely inside the bear. Once zipped up, she sat it against Yuuta's grave with its little bouquet while adding hers to it as well.

Grabbing the one box left, Nagi held it between her forefinger and thumb and took a deep breath before clicking it three times and waiting for the beeps to come.

Beep.

I'll make it this time.

Beep.

A better promise.

Beep.

"I wish you were here to see me, to cheer me on, to be mad when I make dumb mistakes, to be with me when I'm sad. But you're not. And I'm coming to terms with that still even after all this time. I might not be the daughter I could have had you all with me, but I'll try my hardest to be the daughter you won't have to worry about. I'll do everything that I once told you I would be. I'll be the hero you knew I could be, Mom. The bravest one out there. I'll never give up until I do either, Dad. You can bet your bottom dollar on that. And, Yuuta, your big sister's gonna be the kind of hero that you can be proud of. I'll become the hero that you deserved and needed that day. I'll be the hero that can save others as well as myself. That's my new promise, and this time, I'm going to do this the way that you would have encouraged me to follow."

The right way.

Clicking the box and finishing the recording, she stuffed it inside the toy horse's stomach and zipped it shot, yamming the thing close with a tiny piece of titanium.

"And I'm never going back on that promise."

It wasn't until the sun reached its peak in the sky that Nagi decided to finally leave the cemetery and head home. Once in the train that would take her there, she took a seat that faced the opposite windows, angling herself over the empty seats to better glance over her shoulder at the scenery that passed by her. With a deep breath, Nagi smiled at noticing how easier it was to breathe now and how much lighter her shoulders felt as well. Her hold tightened on her stuffed horse as she laid her head against the rattling window.

Just as she was drifting off to enjoy the sway of the train, her ringtone went off, spooking her. Snatching her phone from her purse once more, she unlocked it to a notification for a new message from an unknown number. Raising an eyebrow, her first thought went to Yori. Surely it'd be him trying to patch things up by catching her off guard after having changed bodies. But that idea quickly vanished at reading the first line of the text that got sent her way.

'Hey, it's Todoroki. I got your number from the group Iida made. Sorry.'

Nagi couldn't help but chuckle at Todoroki's rather awkward texting. Laying her head back against the window, she swiped her reply with one hand with a smile on her face all the while doing so.

'No worries. Kinda odd to be getting a text from you of all people. Something up?'

The typing bubbles came up for a moment before his reply came. A single picture of his hand holding onto her camera with her camera bag just off shot from where she assumed it hung from his shoulder. Turquoise eyes went wide and scanned the area all around her before noticing too late that yes, she had indeed forgotten her very expensive camera back in the hospital. While berating herself for such an idiotic mistake, she forgave herself once she remembered why she hadn't bothered returning for it in the first place.

'Thanks. I must've forgotten about it in my hurry to leave you guys be. Is my baby alright and whole still?'

'It's not broken if that's what you're asking.'

'Good to hear. Kinda got scared after what my poor phone suffered.' Snickering to herself when she watched the typing bubbles appear and disappear in less than a second, Nagi took quickly to typing, 'Joking.'

The typing bubbles appeared quickly as he sent a text after that. 'I can catch up to you and give it back. Are you closeby?'

Nagi started texting but stopped and thought better of it. Posing with her stuffed horse and giving her phone's camera a peace sign, she snapped a quick shot of her with the scenery as the background.

'On my way home already, and my place ain't that close to Shizuoka per say. How about you keep it for today? I know it's safe with ya anyway and we'll see each other in class tomorrow. So mind hanging onto it for me until then?'

The bubbles appeared. 'Sure.'

'Great! Then I'll see you tomorrow."

'Yeah.'

She chuckled at his curt answers and took a moment to add his number to her short list before closing her eyes again. Just as she was drifting back into the little peace of mind before her station came, her phone rang again with another notification.

'Also, thanks.'

Eyes grew wide at the two simple words before a gentle smile came to her lips.

'You still kinda owe me for my cracked phone. I think I can let it slide after the amazing shots you gave me during the festival though. So let's call it even, alright?'

The bubbles appeared again.

'I suppose so.'

Nagi stood as her train neared her station, waiting patiently by the door for it to open while swiping quickly to reply. 'See ya, Todoroki." Just as she heard the doors open one last text came. The instant she read it, her smile broadened and got her to skip out into the station.

'See you tomorrow, Chitanko.'

A/N:

For once I have an actual excuse for taking so long. Not only was I working on other WIPs but this is actually 2 chapters worth of work in one! I didn't want to prolong the Sports Festival any longer so I went with this mashup instead. Don't look half bad, imo. But anyway, this was a really big winding down chapter after the second half with lots of things that I'm sure many of you suspected getting confirmed.

I have a little bit of time so I'll go straight into thanking all of the lovely people that have followed and favortied this story since last time! Thank you to Ghostbell777, luvanimefreak, Gentle Catastrophe, lundygeorge7, shad. 16, aarime, BABree123, JadedBark, iluvninjas, livesinasong13, CollegeGirl2018, ThatGuyQQ, doomNgloom and StarrySkyFall! You all are amazing and I love you!

Now to answer the reviews that came in and got me through writing this monster of a chapter TwT

Aviantei: super happy you liked the last chapter! I wanted their fight to be a good one so I took great care with how I went about it. Glad it had the intended effect! The 2nd year student won't be coming back for awhile but she will return. And yes, baby Nagi finally got in trouble but now she's actually doing something about it which is good! Thanks again for all your wonderful words, my friend~

Melody1818: *hands over handkerchief* hope this helps. Also, i love you more for loving this mess of mine!

peachbrit: oh no, i've caused sleep deprivation! Hee, just kidding. But tysm! Years of doing this have paid off TwT. Hope you had fun reading this chapter as well :D

Well, that's about it! I hope you all are doing well still during these times. Remember to take care of yourselves and be safe out there! Hope you guy enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next update! :D

Love and hugs

- Evie