Izuku was so sore. He hadn't noticed at first because his hunger was a lot more pressing and he'd still been high off of adrenaline and endorphins, but now they were about halfway through dinner and it had hit him like a wall. All he wanted to do was fall over and never wake up. When Ragdoll had told them about the hot springs, the entire class had erupted into cheers so loud that Eraser had had to activate his quirk to get them to shut up. He knew it wouldn't do a lot, especially against the hell that Eraser had planned for tomorrow, but at least it would feel good in the moment.

Kirishima: Yeah it definitely did...

Kota hadn't stopped glaring at them the entire time. Izuku wanted to say something, but at the same time, their experiences were so fundamentally different that there wasn't really anything he could say. He had spent his entire life wanting to be a hero and being told he couldn't, but Kota didn't even seem to like quirks, based on the way he always glared or rolled his eyes when one of his classmates used theirs. What had even happened to make the kid hate heroes so much?

Izuku frowned as Kota huffed and turned away when Kirishima tried to call out to him and offer him something to eat. How was he supposed to help someone who didn't want to be helped, especially when he didn't really have anything in common with him?

Dabi: The kid tried to punch him in the balls and he still wants to help him?

Toga: Izuku's just kind like that. It's really sweet.

Izuku finished his food and took his bowl to the kitchen, where Tiger and Mandalay were doing the dishes. Aizawa had hidden away there as well, huddled in the corner looking exhausted, which Izuku thought was extremely unfair considering that he hadn't even had to fight dirt monsters to get there. After handing off his plate to Tiger, Izuku hesitated. It was probably impolite, but Eraser would tell him that it was illogical not to ask questions...

"I can see you thinking from here." Eraser groaned. "Just spit it out already."

(everyone snorted)

Izuku smiled nervously, "Sorry, I was just wondering about Kota. I've never met anyone who hates heroes. Pretty much everyone I know wants to be one."

Tiger placed a comforting hand on Mandalay's shoulder as she responded, "Maybe if he'd had a normal childhood, he would like them, but..." she sighed, "well, his parents were heroes."

Everyone(realizing): Oh...

Ojiro: Poor kid...

"And there's a reason he's living with you instead of them." Aizawa finished, his face softening. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Mandalay smiled sadly, "Thank you, but enough people have told him that his parents died an honorable death that... well, how do you explain to a child that his parents died in the best way a hero can die, protecting people? To him, his parents were dead and everyone was praising them for dying..."

Compress: That must be so confusing for him...

"It was confusing." Izuku nodded. "I can't even imagine... they were the water hose heroes, right? I remember seeing that story of the news."

Spinner: Hey didn't Muscular kill them?

Shigaraki: I don't know why do you think I would know?

"If his parents hadn't been heroes, they'd probably still be alive." Aizawa said bluntly. "It's only logical for him to hate them. Even some of our students are too young to really understand that death is a distinct possibility when they choose this career, but for a kid who never even got to choose to take on that risk, heroes must be infuriating."

Mandalay just nodded, "I hope he'll be able to make sense of it a little more when he's a bit older, but for now, there's not much we can do except love him and let him mourn. It's hard."

If Izuku thought they didn't have much in common before, now they were worlds apart. He couldn't even begin to understand what it would be like to have his parents die like that and have everyone praise them instead of acknowledging how terrible the whole thing was. He frowned, feeling a little helpless, but Mandalay was probably right. Time was probably going to be the only way Kota would be able to heal completely.

Midoriya: He's getting better now. At least I hope he is. He hasn't tried punching me again.

"Thank you for answering." Izuku bowed slightly. "And if there's anything we students can do..."

"The best thing you kids can do is train hard so you can avoid following in their footsteps." Tiger said sternly. "Now get outta here, those hot springs aren't getting any warmer."

"They aren't getting any cooler either." Izuku smiled. "Thanks again. For everything."

(a few people chuckled at the unexpected sass. Midoriya could be really funny when he wanted to be.)

"Of course." Mandalay smiled. "It's the least we can do for our future heroes."

Dabi ran through the plan again and tried to ignore all the crazies around him. Sure, he got a little violent, but Muscular and Moonfish? They just wanted to kill people. No revenge, no motivation to change society, just good old fashioned pain and carnage. He'd met plenty of people like that in his time one the streets and knew not to get too attached, not that there was much risk of that in the first place. Guys like that were always the first to either die or get caught, depending on who they were stupid enough to get in a fight with.

Twice: Huh this is just like what Shigaraki thought. No it isn't.

Most of the other recruits were motivated by Stain's ideals though, which was at least something even if they weren't Dabi's first choice in co-workers. Then again, Dabi would have much preferred to work alone, so maybe that wasn't the best wording. Compress was showy, but not half-bad at pickpocketing and sleight of hand, which would come in useful. Big sis Magne was just trying to carve out a place in the world, Spinner was a Stain fanboy, and Twice was @$#&* insane.

His least favorite 'recruit' however, was definitely Mustard. First of all, what villain named themselves after a condiment, even if it was some kind of poison gas? Second of all, the kid was what? Thirteen? Maybe younger? And already making his way into the dregs of society, cast aside and tossed out just like...

Toga(sympathetically): Oh Dabi...

Dabi downed the rest of the whisky that Kurogiri had poured for him. It didn't matter that the kid was the same age as he'd been when he first started living on the streets, it didn't make him hate him any less. Actually, Dabi was pretty sure it made him hate the kid more, because he brought back all those nasty memories from before he'd gotten on his feet... or, well, as on his feet as he'd ever gotten, but whatever. Fact was that he hated the kid and wanted to avoid him if at all possible, which was easy to do since he'd basically spent his whole time brooding since he'd joined. Joy.

Toga(realizing): Hold on a second Dabi you didn't mention me!

Dabi: Huh, weird. You're not that forgettable.

Oh, and to make it even better, he was going to be attacking Shoto's class, a bunch of snot nosed kids. At least it helped him get his revenge, but he wasn't sure how he'd react if somebody ended up kidnapping the brat to try to turn him to villainy. They didn't really have any specific objectives, but they'd been told to go after any students that appeared strong, so from the sports festival probably Shoto, that explosion kid, and maybe even that brainwasher if things went well, but they were supposed to try to bring Deku in if they were were able to and kill him if they weren't. Dabi eyed his coworkers, Muscular in particular. Yeah... if he was the one to find the kid, Deku was dead. He or Moonfish would probably say anything, just as an excuse to kill someone, including some #$@&* story about how the kid was resisting capture or something. Not that Dabi cared that much either way. As long as he got to help destroy the society his old man cared so much about, he was happy. Hurting his kid brother would just be a bonus.

Bakugo(scoffing): Yeah Muscular didn't even bother to try and kidnap me he just went straight to killing people.

"Hey, have you guys read the most recent mystery article?" Spinner said suddenly, looking up from his phone. "It's about Stain this time."

Joke: Oh, that must be the one Deku wrote.

"Who cares?" Muscular complained loudly. "The loser was weak enough to get himself captured and he didn't even kill any of those heroes that were coming after him!"

Spinner: You take that back!

"Have some respect!" Mustard stood up and slammed the table in indignation. "At least he had morals, unlike some people I could mention."

"Is that a threat, pipsqueak?" Muscular cracked his knuckles. "You wanna go? Let's see how much that little fart of yours does against two tons of pure muscle!"

Mustard scowled, "It's a powerful poison gas, not a..."

Kurogiri(sighing): Can't you all go three minutes without starting a fight?

"Was this article for or against the hero killer?" Kurogiri interrupted indulgently. Dabi rolled his eyes. Of course the fog guy would know how to interrupt a fight before it came to blows, having spent so much time with Shigaraki, but he couldn't help but be disappointed. He would have loved to see Muscular tear Mustard apart. Oh, well, he'd just have to let the heroes do it instead... or let them be pulled apart, either was fine.

"Kinda both?" Spinner said, scrolling through the article. "The writer at least has some sense, because he says that Stain's ideals were sound, but he criticizes the way he went about it."

"Yeah, because protests are gonna do any good." Magne scoffed. "He should study history if he thinks any change comes without violence."

Nezu: Well, there is truth in that, but there have been times in history when violence simply made the problem worse rather than actually fixing it.

"That's what I said." Spinner nodded in agreement. "I think the guy is weak, but I liked what he said about actually exposing the crimes of the villains hidden in the system. He kept going on about how Stain made martyrs by killing people instead of publicising their sins, but I don't see why he couldn't have done both."

"We can talk about stupid ideals and convictions later." Shigaraki scratched his neck as he walked in. "You're attacking those hero brats in less than 24 hours, so you noobs better be prepared to destroy them, because those stupid heroes are one of the things I hate."

Compress: You hate basically everything, Shigaraki.

With how exhausted everyone was from their trek through the forest, it was no surprise that they were still yawning and rubbing their eyes when Pixiebob woke them up. Pretty much everyone got out of bed fairly quickly, though, which turned out to be the right decision, because Shinso ended up with ice water dumped over his head courtesy of Aizawa when he refused to get up. Kaminari and the rest of the others who were trying to sleep in were quick to scramble out of their sleeping bags before their teacher could refill the bucket.

(everyone snorted)

Once they were all dressed and fed, Eraser led them out and started handing out tasks to everyone, each personalized to stretch their quirks to the limits. Every task was different, for example, Katsuki was constantly creating massive explosions, Tokoyami was taming Dark Shadow, Uraraka was spinning around in zero gravity, and Shinso was brainwashing whoever needed a break... while his guinea pig was wearing a bracelet that would give them a mild electric shock every few seconds so that he could learn to maintain his control even when his victim experienced pain or other physical stimuli. Overall, Izuku thought the exercises were good, but he might talk to Aizawa about some modifications for tomorrow.

(a few people winced)

Shinso: Welp, guess people are going to be shocked a lot.

His current worry, however, was not for his classmates, it was for himself. He didn't have a quirk to train and while he was sure that Eraser would never leave him out, he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing. One by one, each of his classmates were given their tasks and just like middle school, Izuku was the last one picked.

When Aizawa got back from setting up Shoji and Hagauke's spar, Izuku swallowed his nervousness and gave him his best teasing smile, "So? What torture do you have for me today, Eraserhead? How are you gonna stretch a quirk that doesn't exist?"

Midoriya: Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to get the worst out of everyone?

Aizawa gave him a tired glare, "You know there's no point to that. But don't think you can relax just because you don't have a quirk." He grinned. "That just means that you don't get to focus on just one thing like your classmates can. You're going to have to simultaneously train agility, stealth, tracking, and mental flexibility, all while practicing evasion. Of all you students' regimens this week, I tried to make yours the hardest."

Midoriya: Sometimes I hate it when I'm right...

"Thanks." Izuku deadpanned. "You set a pretty high bar there, Eraser, so what exactly am I gonna be doing?"

"Well, you can't really start until 1B gets here." Aizawa complained. "But I'll explain the basics."

Reiko: Why do we have to be there...?

Suddenly, he lobbed something at Izuku's head and he had to catch it before it hit him in the forehead. He glared at Eraser, who just smiled, before looking at the object in his hand. It looked like a marble, but had a dimly blinking light in the middle of the glass along with the number zero. Izuku held it up to the light, but it didn't really seem that special, "Very nice, but what is it?"

Aizawa rolled his eyes, "That's one of your objectives. There's about 100 of those hidden throughout the property. Your job is to find as many as you can without getting caught."

Inko: Caught by who?

Hawks: Maybe one of the Pussycats.

Mirko: Probably Ragdoll then, since she's has that search quirk. Or had.

"Caught?" Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Who's going to be chasing me? All of the other hero students are going to be busy with their own quirks."

Izuku didn't think he liked how amused his teacher looked as he responded, "That's why we're waiting for 1B. You're going to be outrunning Vlad King's daughter."

Vlad(shooting a double take at the screen): My what?!

Todoroki: Vlad King has a secret love child?

Vlad: No I don't!

"Vlad King has a daughter?!" Izuku's jaw dropped. "Since when?!"

"Since about six months ago." Aizawa answered. "She's adopted, obviously, but he actually only ended up meeting her because of a recommendation you made on one of Midnight's cases. So just remember, whatever happens, you only have yourself to blame, problem child."

Toga: Wait a second I remember him asking her about that... he said she had a blood based quirk- wait...

Izuku looked at Eraserhead in confusion. His recommendation? He'd made a lot of recommendations, but he had no idea how any of them could have ended in someone getting adopted. Should he be nervous? He felt like he should be nervous.

"Speak of the devil, here they are." Eraser grumbled. "Hello Vlad, took you long enough."

Vlad: Well some of us don't make a habit of hazing our classes.

"Yeah, well some of us don't make a habit of hazing our classes." Vlad shot back. "But don't think that means we're not gonna go just as hard as any of your students."

Izuku looked over Vlad's class, but he didn't see anyone he didn't recognize. Everyone there was a member of class 1B, so did Vlad's daughter have some sort of quirk to disguise herself or... suddenly Izuku felt someone bowl into him and his eyes widened as he tried to right himself or get the upper hand on his attacker, only to fail completely and end up pinned under a girl a few years older than him.

His captor had blond hair that she wore in two buns and her smile was literally sharp as she put her fangs on full display in her excitement, "Hi there! You must be Deku, the one I'm supposed to chase! You're pretty cute, aren't you? I have a feeling we're gonna be best friends!"

Toga: Oh my goodness it's me!

Everyone: Toga?!

Vlad: Okay I adopted Toga?! What?!

Jana: That actually happens in quite a few worlds.

Vlad: How?! We have nothing in common except blood quirks.

Jana: Eh, that's apparently good enough.

Toga: I actually got adopted! Yay!

Spinner: Why are you so happy...?

Toga: Because adopted kids are more loved than biological kids because they were chosen. I miss having parents sometimes...

Izuku looked at Eraser in a blind panic, but he just snorted, "Deku, meet Himiko Toga, Vlad King's new daughter and your designated pursuer for the day. Good luck. You're gonna need it."

Toga: Oh my goodness I get to chase Izuku around!

Midoriya: Oh no.

Izuku gulped and looked up at Toga, whose smile now seemed to be even wider. With how easily this girl had pinned him before he even managed to see her, he didn't think all the luck in the world was gonna do him any good. Was it too late to develop a quirk instead?

Bakugo: Yep, the nerd's dead.