A/N: I'm back, baby! COVID, the protests, and the general state of the world lately have been severely cutting into my time and energy for writing, but things feel like they're finally settling down. Ish. I don't think I'm at a point where I'll be able to keep a regular update schedule, but any progress is better than none! To compensate, I'm going to be publishing the next chapter in smaller pieces, rather than waiting until the whole thing is finished to release it. Thank you everyone for being patient!

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Hikki took a step, looking like his legs were made of lead. Another, lifting his arm slowly, his fist clenched. His arm was shaking, like there wasn't any strength left in it, but at the same time it was fizzing and sparking with orange light and I couldn't help but pray that it didn't hit Bakubaku, who was scooting backwards like a crab, trying to get away. Then suddenly Hikki tripped forward, his arm coming down, and as he hit there was suddenly a huge kaboom, and a cloud of dust and smoke, and I couldn't tell if he hit or Bakubaku exploded himself out of the way or anything!

Slowly, the dust cleared.

There Hikki was, lying on his back, a giant crater next to him where his punch hit the cement of the stage. And just outside of that crater was Bakubaku, thankfully not any worse hurt than he was already, slowly forcing himself to stand. Over the cheer of the crowd, I could faintly hear Midnight-sensei announcing Bakubaku as the winner, but I didn't hear it. My mind was a million miles away.

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"Ne, ne, who's your favorite hero?"

Have you ever heard of a sillier reason to become a hero?

"Oh, I know, it's probably Best Jeanist, right? He's so dreamy! And your quirk is just like his, too!"

Or heard of a sillier little girl?

"Yeah, yeah, Yui-chan, your quirk is awesome! You should totally be a hero too!"

A real hero probably wouldn't have a silly and pointless reason for being a hero like doing it because her friends told her to, right?

You'd think that a real hero would have, like, fought off a villain, or saved a dog from being hit by a car, or have some hero backstory more than just… peer pressure, right? "I dunno, guys… it's a nice idea, but do you really think I could? I mean, being a hero is hard, you know?" Our middle school was offering choices of electives, and one of them was something called a Quirk Development Class, and basically everybody knew that it was the 'pre-hero' class. And everybody liked heroes, including me, of course. So while my friends and I sat around a table in the cafeteria, comparing our choices and trying to make our picks together so we could all be in the same classes, Quirk Development kept coming up as the class everyone wanted to take. Everybody except for me, that was. "What about Art? That'd be a fun one, right?" Liking heroes was one thing, but being one? How could I?

"Ehhh…" Junacchi said in disappointment, "you're not going to come with us? But I thought you'd be really good at it!" Junacchi was super sweet, but I was pretty sure she was just saying it to be nice. Everybody said the QDC was super hard, and even if I was okay at gym class, it was just…

"It's not like I don't wanna have class with you guys," I said, putting my hands in the air defensively to ward off Junacchi's adorable pout, "I just can't really see myself being famous, you know?"

"You could maybe be a sidekick, Yui-chan," Sagamin said. Just like basically everybody knew that Quirk Development Class was the class you took if you wanted to be a hero, basically everybody knew that Sagamin would be taking it. Sagamin was pretty, sophisticated, outgoing; basically she was everything a successful hero should be, and she had a great quirk too. "That's totally where I want to end up, you know?" She said, brushing her cherry-red hair away from her grey eyes to show off her new, sophisticated short bob cut. "Can you imagine working for someone like Best Jeanist? Going on patrols together, relaxing after a hard day of work together… maybe designing his next fashion show together? Or, well..." She trailed off with a significant wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Aaaah! I'm so jealous Sagami-chan," Mikimiki said, "that totally sounds like it could happen, you know? You gotta do it now, Yui-chan!"

I probably should have said something. But by then, just like everybody knew Sagamin was going to be a hero, everybody 'knew' that Best Jeanist was my favorite hero. Even though I went to Gang Orca's aquarium every year with my dad before… before, even though I had a dolphin plushie that I slept with every night, just because I had a fabric quirk and Best Jeanist was in fashion magazines, he 'had' to be my favorite hero. So I avoided the subject, as usual. "Um… what about you, Sagamin?" I asked. "If you could be someone's sidekick, whose would you be? Endeavor?"

Sagamin's eyes went wide, and she laughed mockingly. "Really, Yui? Endeavor? Ewww. He looks like my dad!"

"I, um, no, I just meant, because of your quirk…" I stammered, blushing. "Besides, I don't think he's that bad…" I mean, he was the number two hero!

"Oh, sweetie," Sagamin said, patting my head condescendingly. "Just because I have a fire quirk doesn't mean I have to settle for a stuffy old man like Endeavor, you know? I mean, I wouldn't say no to learning a few things from him, but my ideal hero to partner up with… hmm, maybe an older sempai? Someone who isn't even famous yet, but then the two of us team up against the world to make it big… something like that maybe?"

"That sounds super romantic, Sagamin!" Mikimiki said.

It did. Romantic, sophisticated, brave; I couldn't even start to imagine myself saying something like that. I couldn't even manage to say no to my friends when they kept pushing me to join the hero course. In the end, my signature somehow wound up on a piece of paper saying that I was going to start taking the Quirk Development class. Well, it wasn't the worst thing in the world; maybe if I watched her I might start figuring out how to be a little bit more like Minami Sagami.

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I nearly didn't make it to the entrance exam for U.A., you know. The morning of the test, the butterflies in my stomach were so strong I almost thought I might puke. Two years of quirk development class, even when I had surprisingly been kind of decent at it, had been really hard. And even if my quirk was just maybe, possibly, strong enough for me to be like a sidekick or something, the academic requirements to get into UA were, like, really, really high. Junecchi and Mikimiki had studied together with me for days and days, trying to help me cram enough algebra into my head to pass, but I was just so sure I was going to fail. What even was 'X', and why did anybody care what it was in the first place?

I mean, the only reason I even let Mikimiki and Junecchi talk me into taking the test was the fact that practically everybody failed it, so taking the test and failing was a little bit less embarrassing than being too much of a fraidy-cat to take it at all. That still didn't mean I wanted to be told I wasn't good enough, though, and by the morning of the test I was starting to wonder which one of those two things would be worse.

So I took my puppy Sable out for a walk to clear my head and try to calm down before the test, and… I was so distracted and nervous that I didn't even notice when she slipped her leash. Have you ever heard of a hero who almost got her dog killed because she was too afraid to take a test at school?

If Hikki hadn't been there - not that I knew he was Hikki then, I mean, back then he was just The Boy On The Bike - but if he hadn't been there then Sable probably really would have died. When the car hit him, it made just the most awful thump, and then he made such an awful scream… but then he was fine, and Sable was okay, and he was sitting up and looking at me, and I felt my heart going all crazy like, a million kilometers a minute, and somehow I just knew.

That this was what a real hero looked like.

He didn't ask for rewards or whine about being hurt, he stood right up to that speeding driver and yelled at him for going too fast even though the driver was in, like, a super fancy car, and he was super nice and didn't yell at me at all, and he was totally going to just leave and go about the rest of his day after getting hit by a car without asking for any rewards or even telling me his name. And he was in a hurry too, just like I was, which made me totally sure he was going to U.A.!

Everybody knew Sagamin was taking the test for U.A., and most of us were pretty sure she would get in. But, even though Sagamin kept telling me that she would let me be her sidekick if I really couldn't find any work, I… kinda didn't really like that idea? Which is kind of a mean thing to say about a friend, but when Sagamin got bossy she could be kind of a jerk, sometimes, a little. And anyway she was always so cool, and collected, and always took charge, and didn't need anybody's help with math at all, and I couldn't see myself being that way even a little. But working together with someone like The Boy On The Bike? Not, like, in the super-mature way Sagamin kept talking about, but just, like, as a team… somehow I liked that idea a lot more.

I made up my mind. I was going to take the test. It definitely wasn't just so I could maybe see The Boy again or anything like that, or because I had magically stopped being scared. I just… finally saw a glimpse of the sort of hero I could sort of, maybe, see myself as wanting to be just a little bit like someday.

It was a long time before I caught a glimpse of him again. My mom got me to the school plenty early, so there was lots of time for me to get set and do last minute studying before the test, but I couldn't focus at all. I was too busy watching the door. I was so sure that The Boy was going to UA, but even if my mom drove and he was just biking, I'd had to go home and get changed into better clothes for my quirk and wait for mom to get ready before we left, so I was sure he would have had time to get here. But no matter how hard I looked, I didn't see him. Maybe he had been just a bystander? Or maybe he was older than me, too old to be taking admission tests to UA? But then, at the last minute, I saw him finally walk through the door.

He was limping.

You dummy. Why didn't you say something?

Well if he had a regeneration quirk, he would probably be fine by the end of the test, right? I had to believe he would. I still felt guilty, but if The Boy was determined enough to take the test even after he got hurt, then if I wanted to be a hero like him I would have to focus just as much! And as soon as the test was over, I raced out into the hallway so that I could tell the teachers what happened. They'd understand, I was sure.

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The hallways of UA seemed to stretch on forever. Even though I made it into UA, and got my first hero costume, and had already done my first hero battle training, why did I feel like I totally didn't belong here at all? Well, it probably had something to do with the fact that I wasn't exactly wearing that costume anymore. Instead, I was sneaking off to the nurse's office, wrapped up in a big blanket, and really, really hoping that nobody saw me. Super heroic, right?

At least I wasn't the only one. It felt a little mean, but I was kinda grateful that Yukinoshita-san looked just as bad as I did. "Hikigaya-san got you as well, I see?" She asked me, breaking the silence . Luckily, the nurse's office was right by the training areas, so it wasn't like we would be walking by any classrooms or anything like that, but I still didn't want anybody to see me like this. Even though my whole class probably had.

No, no, don't think about that! "Um, only sort of," I said in response to Yukinoshita. "All he did was hit me, it's, um, kinda my own fault for pushing my costume too far with my quirk." Despite the fact that I should have been full of embarrassment already, I blushed again anyways. "I haven't broken my clothes like that since I was a little kid."

"Were you expecting your costume to be able to accommodate your quirk better? I know that I've just had a weakness of my own costume pointed out to me," she said, all bitter-like. "Apparently whoever designed my costume failed to consider what might happen if I ever have to use my powers while it's raining out." She let out like this big heavy sigh, and shook her head. "Though I did tell them to make it as 'heat-permeable as possible', which raincoats generally aren't, so if I'm being honest... it might have been my own fault."

I felt the urge to reach out and pat her on her shoulder, but after lifting my arm I realized that I would have to open up my blanket to get it out and that was a big nope, so instead I just leaned towards her and bumped her shoulder with mine. She looked at me, startled, her big blue eyes going wide, and I gave her a grin. "Like, I totally know what you mean! Not the requirements part, but like, things being your own fault because you're trying your best? Because, um, I was using my quirk to move my clothes and to have that move my body, you know? And I was pushing it all the way to the limit of what the suit could take, so it was already at the limit when Hikki hit me, and so... " I spread my fingers wide in like a 'kaboom' gesture, then realized Yukinoshita couldn't see it under the blanket, so I just said "...poof."

There was a break in the conversation for a second, our footsteps echoing through the hallway together. "At least you were trying your hardest," Yukinoshita said eventually. "You said having your clothes break while you were wearing them happened to you when you were younger, right?"

"Yup," I said, a little embarrassed. "I used to have to carry a whole bunch of spares in my backpack just in case."

Yukinoshita gave me a soft smile. "But you pushed your clothes to the limit just now, even though you knew it was a risk. I think that's…"

"Kinda dumb, right?" I interrupted her.

She shook her head at me, glaring slightly. "Kind of brave," Yukinoshita said.

I felt my cheeks get hot. "It's not like that at all! I'm really not, it's just - everybody here is so strong, you know? They all have super cool quirks, and a lot of people obviously have more practice than just, like, whatever training they could get from their middle school, and…" I looked down at the floor, unable to continue meeting Yukinoshita's eyes. Quietly I muttered, "... I just didn't think I had a choice other than trying as hard as I could if I didn't want to embarrass myself, you know?"

I felt a surge of heat at the corners of my eyes. I sure was pathetic. Second day of classes, and I was already crying. As I brought a corner of the blanket up to dash the tears away, I suddenly felt a soft pressure on my shoulder. I blinked rapidly, turning my head to see that Yukinoshita had bumped her shoulder back into mine. The faint scent of lemon and tea tree oil from her shampoo distracted me from beating myself up as she silently comforted me, looking away from me to give me time to get my face back under control.

"You did the right thing," Yukinoshita said softly. "Yuigahama, you did better than I did, today."

"Eh?" I said in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Unfortunately, that was when we got to Recovery Girl's office, because of course it was. "Ah, here you are," she said as we opened the door to her ward. "All Might phoned ahead to let me know you were coming. Now, let's see, dears." Recovery Girl said kindly, rummaging through bins for spare clothing. "You'd be a Small, I think," she said while handing me a uniform bundle, then turned to Yukinoshita, "but tall as you are, dear, I think you'd do better in a Medium, and you'll probably want to towel off a bit, too, so here's one of those as well."

I looked around quickly to make sure that there was nobody in the nurse's office other than the three of us; not seeing anybody, I dropped the blanket and started putting on the gym uniform. Halfway through, I heard a startled hiss that made me pause. I looked over at Yukinoshita, who was staring at me in concern. "Yuigahama-san… are you alright?"

I blinked, and looked down at myself. Sure enough, my arms were looking kind of red and swollen on top of more faded green and yellow bruises. "Oh, this? I'm fine! I'm used to this sort of thing."

"Hikigaya really didn't hold back on you, did he?" Yukinoshita said, her voice full of frigid disapproval.

Hastily, I waved my hands in the air. "No, no, no, it wasn't Hikki's fault! This is just what happens when I mess up with my quirk a little." I held up my jacket sleeve for demonstration purposes, filling it with my power until it became a rigid, empty cylinder, then made it fold and bend at the elbow like an arm was inside it. "I kinda, um, figured out that I could run around faster and hit harder and stuff if I used my quirk to make my clothes move me around instead of using my muscles? But, if I don't manage to move at the exact same speed my clothes do, or at least stay loose so they don't have any trouble moving me, it's kinda like… my body gets squooshed up against my clothes, and I get banged up a little." I did my best to smile sheepishly, feeling uncomfortable as the hostility on Yukinoshita's face melted back into a look of concern. "It's fine, it's fine! I'm, like, totally used to it."

Recovery Girl coughed. "You know, I could take care of those for you, dear," she said pointedly. "Even if you are used to them, I can't imagine that they're comfortable."

"Are you sure?" I said in surprise. "I wouldn't want to trouble you."

For some reason, she coughed again, and I thought I heard her mutter something under her breath before she just stared at me, raising herself to the full height of her diminutive frame. "Let me rephrase that," she snapped tersely. "Sit down and eat a gummy."

"Y-yes, ma'am!" I said before I knew it, somehow finding myself halfway to the seat before I knew what was going on. Some kinda mineral-y tasting gummi bears and a grandmotherly kiss later, and suddenly I was completely fine, all of the new and old aches and pains gone in exchange for feeling kinda tired-ish. "Um, thank you!"

"Don't mention it, dearie," Recovery Girl said. "It's my job. Now don't be afraid to come back when you inevitably pick up more of those bruises, understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" I said cheerfully, hopping up to my feet. "Are you ready, Yukinoshita-san?"

Yukinoshita - now dry and dressed, though there was still a bit of frost clinging to her hair - nodded, a rolled up piece of fabric that I assumed was part of her costume tucked under one of her arms. "Mmm," she made this dignified little hum sound, and then said, "Let's go."

Together, we walked in silence for a little bit as we headed back towards the hero gyms. It felt a little weird, just walking without saying anything, so I thought for a second before I figured out something to talk about. "Um, thanks for waiting for me, Yukinoshita! I'm glad I didn't have to go to the nurse by myself, you know?" Yukinoshita looked over at me with surprise, and I immediately wanted to kick myself. Great, there I go opening my big mouth again! "I-I mean, not that I'm like happy you got all frozen or anything, just, I'm glad you were with me, you know?"

"Mmm." Yukinoshita said again.

The silence felt, like, at least twice as awkward as it had before, and I felt that little twist of shame in my belly, the way I always seemed to feel when I was around people like Sagamin or Hikki or, like, pretty much everybody here at UA. It was like I was just a centimeter tall, a clumsy girl who couldn't do anything right. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Yukinoshita's mouth opened, and braced myself for a bunch of really helpful advice that would probably be, like, totally obvious and I could have figured it out myself if I hadn't been so stupid.

"I'm sorry, Yuigahama-san," Yukinoshita said.

"Huh?" I said in surprise.

"It's my fault that we lost," she said, looking down at the floor. "When I fought Hikigaya-san… I was holding back. If I had gone all out from the beginning, we would have won, and your costume wouldn't have been destroyed."

"I-" was confused. "- oh." For a second I just kept walking, not really knowing what to think. "Um… why did you? Hold back, I mean."

For a second, Yukinoshita stared out down the corridor, and she looked somehow very far away. "Habit, I suppose." She sighed, then looked at me. "I guess… I didn't want to hurt a classmate on the first day of school and wind up being hated." I could practically hear the word 'again' at the end of that sentence, and my eyes widened. Before I could say anything, though, Yukinoshita shook her head. "That sounds like I'm making excuses, doesn't it? No, the fact is, I definitely should have thought more about how it was a combat class, and the fact that Recovery Girl is available if anything does go wrong, and I shouldn't have underestimated Hikigaya-san. So, again. I'm sorry, Yuigahama-san."

I looked at her face, all earnest and heartfelt and kinda scared looking like she was afraid I might be mad, and I felt a smile start at the corners of my mouth. "Yui," I said. Yukinoshita's big blue eyes looked confused for a second, then a little bit hopeful, and I nodded. "Call me Yui."

"I-" Slowly, the tall beauty in front of me started to smile back. "-then, I'd like it if you called me Yukino as well… Yui-chan."

My own smile grew big and wide, and without really thinking about it I leaned forward and gave her an excited hug! "Okay! Yukinon!"

It took her a second to figure out what was going on, but eventually Yukinon shifted the rolled up bundle of fabric she was holding (what was it, anyway? Because wow, my quirk could feel a lot of pockets) for long enough to squeeze an arm out from between us and return the hug awkwardly. Which was good, because I was already a little bit embarrassed at myself, and just about as soon as she returned it I let go so she didn't think I was too much of a clingy weirdo. As I pulled back from her, I heard the faint scratchy sound of paper hitting the floor.

"Oops, you dropped something," I said, looking down. A few pieces of paper had fallen out to the floor between us. I bent down to pick them up, and as my fingers closed around them I felt that the back side of the paper was glossy smooth. "Oh, are these photos?" As Yukinon's eyes went wide, I stood up with the stiff white squares in hand, and slowly turned them over.

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I stared down at the blank piece of paper in front of me and let out a long groan of despair. I didn't know what was worse - the fact that I had to write five hundred words on safety procedures, or the fact that it was Hikki who was going to read them! I mean, how were there even five hundred words worth of stuff to write about safety procedures in the first place?

It was my own fault for leaving it to the last minute, I guessed. But after everything that happened at USJ, I really needed the week off they gave us to think about… literally anything but what happened there, I guess? Not that I didn't think about the villain attack too. I did lots of that, actually. But I also went to the movies with Yukinon, and baked cookies with my mom, and called Junecchi and Mikimiki to talk, and kept up with training so I wouldn't be out of shape when we went back to helping Saika-kun, and all sorts of other stuff too. Reminding myself I was alive, you know? And while I was feeling a lot better after doing all that stuff… I did kinda forget that I had homework due.

I mean, not forget, forget. Jeez. I wasn't an airhead, no matter what that jerk Bakubaku kept calling me. I just kept pushing it off for later, and, well, it was 'later' now. I looked down at the empty paper in front of me, rolled up my sleeves, picked up my pen, and did my best to focus.

… Maybe I would make some tea first. And grab some cookies to munch on while I worked. I should probably get some veggie sticks instead, but this was definitely an 'unhealthy amounts of sugar and caffeine' kind of night, so my diet would just have to make the sacrifice! As I walked downstairs to the kitchen and filled up the electric kettle, my pocket buzzed, so I pulled out my phone. Ahhh, Yukinon, you're such a lifesaver! A video of puppies trying to play with a ball too big for them and falling over was exactly what I needed just now! **so cute! ٩꒰๑• ̫•๑꒱۶ ** I sent back, a smile creeping over my face. **oh man that reminds me of this great one I saw the other day** I sent, and then I was about to go looking on the internet for the perfect video to send back before I realized that I was getting distracted. **oops actually I will have to find it for you later, I'm still stuck on Aizawa-sensei's stupid safety essay ｍ（｡≧ _ ≦｡）ｍ**, I added feeling guilty. Promising cute kitten videos and not delivering them was not good friend behavior!

Luckily, Yukinon didn't seem to mind, because a second later my phone buzzed again. **I see. Don't worry about it. What sort of problems are you having? Maybe I can help.**

The kettle beeped to let me know it was done boiling, so I absentmindedly poured the water for my tea with one hand while texting with the other. **well like we're supposed to be talking about all our mistakes right? but, like, it's Hikki who's going to be reading them. (-_-||) **

**I see.** Yukinon sent. A few seconds later, like she had to think about what to say, she added **Are you worried that he's going to think poorly of you? While it's true that Hikigaya can be judgemental, obstinate, narrow-minded, and twisted, he's not completely unreasonable.** I rolled my eyes as I read the message, picturing the usual 'making fun of Hikki' smirk that was totally on Yukinon's face right now. A second later, another text came in. **Out of everyone in our entire class, Hikigaya literally has the least room to judge anyone else about not following safety procedures. It would be incredibly hypocritical of him to - no, no, you're probably correct to worry. My apologies.**

**Yukinon…** I typed with a sigh of exasperation. **Hikki's not that bad.**

**I know**, she replied. **So, what do you have to worry about?** That… ooh, Yukinon was sneaky! **And even if Hikigaya was actually that bad, and willfully ignored his own lack of caution to cast judgement on the rest of us, is there anything that you did wrong that Bakugo didn't do ten times worse on? I'm sure that any mistakes you made would look minor by comparison.**

For a second, I thought about saying that Bakubaku wasn't that bad either, but… he totally was, so never mind that. **I suppose not** I said. **I mean the rules say we should try to run away from villains instead of fighting them if we don't have our provisional licenses but I didn't really have a choice and also I barely even got time to fight anybody before todoshoto froze them all and then All Might showed up to save us before we could get involved against the villains in the middle of the park so I guess I didn't break any rules but like I was totally gonna if All Might hadn't showed up so I don't really feel like it was because I made good decisions or anything you know?**

After a second, it seemed like Yukinon was going to take a minute to write her reply, so I took advantage of the pause in the conversation to take out my tea bag and put some cookies on a plate to take upstairs with me. My phone buzzed again when I was halfway up the stairs, but with my hands full it took me a couple seconds until I could get to my desk and put everything down to read it. **I do,** Yukinon's message said, **I don't regret working together with Hikigaya to send Hayama out of the dome and making a target of ourselves, or approaching the actually dangerous villains to see if we could help, given that those actions resulted in us notifying All Might and Hikigaya being in range to heal Aizawa-sensei respectively, but in retrospect we got very, very lucky.**

**That's kinda what I'm worried about**, I texted, taking an anxious but delicious bite of a chocolate chip cookie and letting the sugar rush distract me. Really, my mom was the best baker. **like pretty much everything I shouldn't have done Hikki actually did, right? so like if I write up an essay about all the mistakes I made then like won't it totally be criticizing Hikki too? Which I mean was probably what Aizawa-sensei wanted us to do when he assigned it but like he told Hikki to do that before USJ and well…** I closed my eyes. Sure enough, I could still remember how empty and guilty Hikki looked, how Izukun had to drag him away from the Nomu's body that maybe used to be his friend so that we could all evacuate before anything bad happened, and the wail of grief Hikki made when he was pulled away. Another thought, of blood welling up between my fingers as I desperately tried to make my shirt into bandages around the base of a knife skittered across my mind's eye as well, but just like the last hundred times it tried to show up on the inside of my eyelids I did my best to just push it away. **I'm worried about Hikki. I sorta feel like that's too much now, you know?**

There was another long wait before Yukinon sent another message. A really long one, almost to the point where I was worried that she wasn't going to send one at all. Just as I was about to put my phone down and try to start working, it buzzed in my hand. **If you want to avoid criticizing Hikigaya, you could always write about a historical incident, or perhaps treat the arrival of the Zero-Pointer during our entrance exam as a 'cause for evacuation' and write about that instead.** A second message came in right after the first, saying **It's probably not what Aizawa-sensei intended for us to write, but as you pointed out, he won't be the one grading them.**

All of a sudden it was like a huge weight was off my shoulders. Like, it seemed totally obvious in retrospect, but I'd gotten myself so tied up in knots about it that it was like I couldn't even start to think of a solution. **you're so smart Yukinon!** I texted her, **I'll totally do that, thank you so much! Is that what you did too?**

**No,** her reply said, **I just wrote it normally.** Oh, right. Maybe I was silly for worrying about it in the first place. As I was thinking that, though, she sent me one last text. **But I might go back and edit it some now. Thank you for pointing that out.**

Once again, I felt myself smiling. **Of course! Anytime!** And with that, I sipped my tea, picked up another cookie, and closed my phone, finally ready to get started.

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As I put my cell phone away for the third time in five minutes, I couldn't help but let out a big sigh. Gosh, this was awkward. It had been okay while Hikki and Bakubaku were still in the stands, but as soon as they left to go get ready for their match, Yukinon left too - to go find her sister, she said - and, well… it wasn't like I didn't have any other friends at all in the whole class or anything, it was just, nobody was talking. Yaomomo brought up the fact that Hikki had memes about him on the internet, which to be fair was definitely super exciting, but then everybody kind of decided at the same time that looking at their phones was better than actually dealing with the way Todoshoto left or the fact that Iida-kun lost to him or anything. So, I was actually a little surprised, enough to jump a little bit, when a deep voice spoke up from right behind me.

"I see that you too are a fellow wanderer in the chasm of solitude." I turned around to see Tokoyami-kun standing behind me with his hands in his pockets and Dark Shadow peeking out of the gap in his sports uniform jacket.

"Oh, haha, um, I guess so?" I said embarrassedly. "Um, how are you feeling? We couldn't really see much from up here, but it seemed like Orimoto-san got some good hits on you."

"I appreciate your concern." Tokoyami-kun paused for a second, his shoulders slumping slightly. "As far as my physical injuries go, Recovery Girl has insured that my body will recover. However, I feel the injuries dealt to my pride will take longer to fade. A penance, paid for my ineptitude."

I did my best to give him a reassuring smile. "Don't mind, Tokoyami-kun! You made it to the finals at least, that's pretty good, right?"

Tokoyami shrugged, stepping over the bleacher seats to take a seat next to me. "Perhaps. I simply hope that the Pro Heroes watching will not view my success as a mere consequence of having the good fortune to have stood in Midoriya's shadow for the Cavalry Battle." He nodded at me, the thin bristly feather-hairs covering his head swaying a little bit with the motion. "If anything, I imagine that the pros might be more impressed by a performance like yours, where although your struggle was eventually in vain, you still shone brightly for its duration."

I felt my face get a little hot. "You're just saying that to try and make me feel better," I accused him, "but thanks." I looked out to the stadium, where they were quickly defrosting Todoshoto's ice to get ready for Hikki and Bakubaku's match. "I guess there are disadvantages to being on the same team as somebody really strong too, huh?"

"Beats being on a team going up against them, though," a new voice cut in. I turned to see Tobe, who gave Tokoyami a friendly nod. "'Sup, 'Yami? You did good out there man, that looked like it was a hard fight. There's always next year, right?"

"Thanks," Tokoyami-kun said back, returning the nod. "And yes. Next year our regrets shall surely spur us onwards to greater and greater heights."

Shaking my head at Tokoyami's drama, I smiled. "Hey, Tobecchi," I greeted him, scooching in a bit so he could sit down. It was… pretty awkward, the way Tobecchi yelled at Todoshoto so much earlier, but I so I sorta understood. Even after she apologized, I was still a little upset with Yukinon, after all, and I sorta got the feeling that Tobecchi was way more competitive than I was. "What brings you over?"

"Uh… curiosity, I guess?" Tobecchi said sheepishly, before handing out a delicious-smelling red-and-white striped bag. "By the way, you want some popcorn? Todoroki going overboard all the time and making us wait for the stage to melt is kind of a pain in the ass, but it did give me time to hit the concession stands.

I felt my eyebrow twitch a little bit as he harped on Todoshoto again, but I decided not to say anything. He'd get it out of his system once he vented enough, probably. And, like, Todoshoto saying he didn't care about being friends with anybody probably hurt his feelings, though Tobecchi was kind of asking for it… well, nevermind. Why bring it up and risk causing even more drama? "Sure, thanks," I said, unstitching one of my sleeves from the elbow down so I could turn the fabric into a little bowl for him to pour the popcorn into. It left my arm feeling a little chilly because of all the ice in the middle of the stadium, but it was totally worth it not to get my sweaty hands all over his food, and the stadium would warm up again once the ice finished melting in a minute or two anyway.

"Nice trick!" Tobecchi said, shaking some popcorn into the bowl before passing the stripey bag over to Tokoyami-kun. "So…" he said, drawing the vowel out significantly, "who do you think is gonna win? I mean, Bakugo and the Pres are both in your HEART group, right? I figure if anybody's got an idea who might win, it's probably you."

Thinking about it gave me kind of a twisty feeling in my stomach. "I've been trying not to think about it," I confessed. "They're both super competitive - well, Bakubaku is, anyway; Hikki's usually not quite as bad but, like, when Bakubaku's around he is, if that makes sense?"

"A pair of destined rivals, doomed to cross swords on the battlefield," Tokoyami said in an extra-deep voice. "I see."

"Ehehe, maybe?" I said with a nervous laugh, "I guess? I dunno. More like, I feel like it's almost going to be a bad thing no matter who wins?"

"Huh," Tobe said, munching on some popcorn thoughtfully. Seeing it reminded me to do the same, and I had to hastily swallow as he suddenly asked me a question. "So, like, are you worried whoever loses is going to get upset with the other one?"

"Nnnn," I shook my head, "I mean a little bit, but it's more… I'm just hoping nobody gets hurt, I guess."

"Well, even if they do, that's what Recovery Girl-sensei is here for, right?" Tobe said, doing his best to cheer me up. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

It only sort of worked. As Present Mic started announcing "the tenth match!" of the tournament, the butterflies in my stomach started multiplying. It started out alright, with Bakubaku blowing up the arena for smoke and Hikki blowing the smoke away with wind, but pretty soon my worries started to come true. I winced as Hikki pulled out one of Yumiyumi's big laser arrows and zapped Bakubaku so hard that he crash landed out of the sky. "I knew it," I couldn't help but say, "this is awful." Hikki ran up to Bakubaku and the two of them hit each other hard enough that they both went bouncing like pinballs in different directions, and tears started springing up in my eyes. "This is terrible! They're friends, so why-" Hikki picked himself up, but instead of backing off or trying to do something else to end the fight, he just charged back in all over again. "Why are they hurting each other like this? It's so stupid!"

"Really?" Tokoyami-kun said, his deep voice penetrating my ears even though I was too busy rubbing tears out of my eyes to turn to look at him. "I think it's admirable. It may be only because they are allies that they will show such darkness to each other. That they can allow themselves to trust in each other's capacity to endure. Going all out against one another in such a fashion seems to me to be a sign of their mutual respect."

"Yeah, totally!" Tobecchi chimed in. "Aw, man, look at 'em go!"

With a sniff, I opened my eyes, just in time to see Hikki's shirt fly to pieces the same way mine did all the way back in the Battle Training, five weeks and a forever ago. And then I remembered Yukinon apologizing for not going all out in the hallway after that, and Hikki throwing himself in front of a car to save Sable, and Yukinon apologizing to Minacchi for not holding back during their fight, and the way Yukinon kinda sorta said she was sorry for having to knock us out of the tournament but not that she was sorry for actually doing it, the way something always just seemed kind of wrong about the way Sagamin kept saying she would be a sidekick, and my mouth just kinda opened and closed for a second as it all hit me.

And then Hikki's punch hit the floor. The dust cleared at the same time my brain did, and I finally started paying attention again just in time to hear all the cheers.

"What? He missed?" Kyo-chan gasped.

"Dude, Prez kept going until he passed out!" Tobecchi shouted, "that's fucking hardcore! Man, if he kept going for just a few more seconds he woulda won!"

Tokoyami nodded sagely. "Such is the price of tapping into a forbidden power."

"Fighting someone until you pass out isn't hardcore, Tobe, it's stupid," Yumiyumi shouted from somewhere behind us. "Ugh. Boys."

"You just don't understand manliness, Miura!" Kirikkun shouted back.

"If that's what qualifies as 'manly,' why the heck would I want to?"

"Aw, man," Denki said, "Bakugo actually beat the Prez? Gaaah, he's going to be so obnoxious now!"

As everybody started shouting and laughing and talking all excited all at once, I couldn't help but keep staring at Hikki as the medical robots slowly came up to take him off the field in a stretcher, and at Bakubaku as he limped his way after them, holding his arm to his side like it was broken but being too stubborn to leave the stadium on anything but his own two feet.

"Oh," I said. Too quiet, probably, for anybody else to hear me, but I felt like I needed to say it anyway. "All out, huh?" My chest felt tight. I couldn't put it into words, exactly, it was a feeling so big and complicated and messy that it felt like I could barely fit it all inside of me, but all of a sudden in that moment I felt like I finally understood something. If that was what a real hero was, then I probably wasn't one, yet.

But I wanted to be.

As the noise started to wind down and Cementoss-sensei started fixing all of the explosion holes in the stage to get ready for Yukinon's match against Orimoto-san, Tobecchi turned to me, grinning. "Man, that was crazy, huh? Do you think the Prez is gonna be pissed when he wakes up and finds out he passed out before he could win?"

I started to picture it, and I couldn't help but laugh despite the fact that I had been all teary just a second ago. "Haha, probably! He'll pretend he won't, until Bakubaku and Yukinon start making fun of him for taking too many naps or something, and then he'll get all grumpy and start complaining about school being boring to change the subject, I can see it now."

"Haha yeah, I can see Bakugo and Yukinoshita doing that," Tobecchi said, rolling his eyes a little bit. "Man, it's too bad the Prez didn't have a full tank, going up against Bakugo. Now that would've been a fight to see."

"Yeah, Monoma-san did kind of tire him out a lot, didn't he?" I agreed. "But, Bakubaku was tired too. He tried to hide it, but his arms were all shaky after his fight with Kirikkun. He only acts like he can make explosions forever. It was still a fair fight, I think."

"Well, don't forget, though, Todoroki and Yukinoshita stabbed you guys in the back during the cavalry battle," Tobe said cheerfully. "I mean, if I had to use my quirk to bust my way out of all that ice like he did, I would've been wiped too."

Five minutes ago, I probably wouldn't have said anything. Arguing with someone? Causing a scene? I was no good at that sort of thing. Five minutes ago, I probably would have just smiled, and nodded, and done my best to change the subject, but right about now I was feeling something I didn't even know what! "Mou, enough already!" I shouted. Embarrassingly, the rest of the class kind of quieted down and started looking at me, but despite how hot my face felt I just kept going. "How come," I faltered for a second, "how come when Hikki and Bakubaku fight, and hurt each other, they're 'giving it their all', but when Yukinon or Todoshoto does it, they're 'stabbing people in the back?' Yukinon is my friend!" I put my hand to my chest, staring Tobe right in the eyes. "She's not mean, or a traitor, or that kind of person at all! And if you think she is, you don't know her even a little bit! And, and, you know what?" I said. God, my eyes were getting all watery again, and I just wanted to go hide somewhere, but I made myself keep going anyway. "I don't know Todoshoto that well, but I don't think he is either! I know you're mad, but if you keep saying stuff like this, I'm pretty sure you're gonna wish you didn't later, so, so just stop already!"

Tobecchi looked super surprised, and backed up a step, but I kept staring him in the eyes, and after a second he looked away, all guilty-like. "Sorry," he said. "My bad."

My hands shaking, I turned my back on him and walked away to find… somewhere else to sit, I didn't even know, but underneath all the wanting to throw up I kinda felt a little happy I said something. As I walked by Yaomomo, she kind of put her hands on my shoulder and helped me sit down, rubbing my back a little to help me calm down. My eyes still watering, I looked up at her and smiled. "Are you okay?" She asked.

I sniffed, and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

"Yeah. I'm fine."