It was all rather suddenly, the suspension of one of the newest rising heroes. She had only been a fully-fledged hero for a little more than a year by this point, seemingly earning her title at the perfect time to deal with the influx of villainy in Japan. She was solving incidents at a rapid pace and proving herself over and over again. If you asked Toru, she was amazing and was a hit with the general public. There was no reason why she should have been suspended from hero work for a month, especially since she was doing so much for the country.

Toru and her friends agreed with her, privately thought that the Hero Saftey Commission were trying to silence the new hero after an incident that had occurred just a week prior. It disgusted and disturbed them that this was the future they were heading for. A future where, as women, they had to constantly prove themselves as worthy of their hero mantle, lest they risk having their position and hard-earned status and being looked down upon. Toru knew that going into the hero profession as a woman wouldn't be easy, but it was getting ridiculous. 

"And in other news, the recently suspended hero 'Valorent' has not remained silent about her suspension, taking to social media to declare how unfair she feels the situation is. Other pro heroes such as Ms Joke, Mirko, Ryuku, Present Mic, Fatgum and others have all stood in solidarity with Valorent, declaring that they too view the situation as unfair and unjust. They claim that nobody knows hero guidelines quite as well as an active hero and they have all expressed their discontent with The Hero Safety Commission's actions." the news anchor reported in a measured tone. 

The majority of class 2A were gathered around the television watching the evening news, as was customary. As hero students, the entire class felt as though they must keep up with current events and incidences, a sentiment that their teachers shared and encouraged.

"Now we go over to retired hero and hero correspondent, Nitrate, for his view on the scandal."

"Thank you," Nitrate started. He was an old gentleman with white hair and deep wrinkles, he most likely hadn't been on active duty in more than a decade, but Momo knew that he was still knowledgeable. "My view on the situation is this, the country is already in ruins due to the Paranormal Liberation Front and their allyship with the League of Villains, we don't need more disparity added into the mix in the form of a half-baked suspension. We have seen no cause for suspension from Valorent and the commission hasn't given us a reason, therefore she should be back out on the streets where she can do her job to protect the people of Japan!"

It seemed that Nitrate was just as passionate about this topic as many of the students of 2A were.

"Thank you, Nitrate, we've got two exclusive interviews with both Endeavour and Mirko now. First, over to Endeavour." the news anchor introduced before the footage cut to Endeavour stood in front of his hero agency.

"What are your opinions about the Valorent situation, Endeavour?" a faceless voice asked off-screen.

"I think it is regrettable that Valorent has been suspended and that she deserves to be back on the streets doing her job, especially considering our current political climate. However, her attitude and behaviour towards the suspension are unbecoming of a hero. When things knock you down, you simply have to ignore them and get back up. She is only inhibiting herself. She may have been back in the field already if she wasn't being so dramatic." Endeavour replied. After his statement, he nodded and quickly rushed off. There was scarcely time to do interviews considering everything that was going on.

"And now to Mirko,"

The interviewer didn't even get the chance to ask the question before Mirko snatches the microphone from them and shouts into it with passion.

"It's stupid is what it is!" Mirko started, " She did nothing wrong and she has every right to fight for her position back, nobody is going to listen to her otherwise, that's just how it is as a woman in this line of work. If you stay silent, people think you're weak and incapable of being a hero. That's how our shitty society works, you just have to kick it in the teeth and do what you can to get ahead. Valorent has every right to raise hell about her suspension, I'd do it too if I was in her position. The commission is fucking us over and endangering the country!" 

"And that was Mirko's take on the situation. We expect that Valorent will be reinstated soon, but this entire situation calls into question how the Commission operates and what their priority is as an establishment. Next, a new drug has risen in the bowels of society and we have reason to believe that an underground hero is currently dealing with the situation." the news anchor swiftly moved on to the next topic of discussion. 

"I'm glad they're talking about the unfair suspension of Valorent," Midoriya piped up as the anchor moved onto more dreary subjects such as the financial state of the country.

"Tch, the commission is made up of nothing but self-entitled dumbasses," Bakugo snarked.

"Now, Bakugo, we should not speak about the body which governs us in such an unsavoury way," Iida asserted sternly, "No matter how... inept they may seem, we must respect them." 

"Ha! As if you know anything about respecting authority, Four Eyes!" Bakugo crowed, "I'm fairly certain that it was you who decided to go out and try to kill the hero killer on xemself!" 

"Well... that's hardly..." Iida blustered, xyr face gained a ruddy glow as xe tried to push out xyr words. 

"Kacchan has a point, Iida. Both on you disobeying authority and the commission. Don't say anything Kacchan, I know what you're about to say, I know I'm worse than Iida when it comes to not listening to higher powers." Midoriya quickly added upon noticing that Bakugo was about to give his (unnecessary) input, "Anyway, regardless of our disobedience, Valorent needs to be reinstalled into the system immediately. She's a really strong hero and her being on the bench could lead to people dying."

"I couldn't have put it better myself, Midoriya!" Mina exclaimed, "I bet the commission pulled her out because they wanted her to shut up about the time when somebody took full credit for her work. You know, I read a couple of articles about that fight, and she was only mentioned in one of them, and even that one just said that she had been at the scene, not that she had actually been the one to take the villain down."  

"I think that might be the most likely reason she was removed," Shinso muttered sleepily, he was sprawled out on the carpet, starfishing and taking up most of the floor space. 

"Regardless," Momo hummed, "I believed after all this fuss and the input of two of the top heroes, the Hero Saftey Commission will reinstate her and not make this mistake again."

"We can only hope," Tsu sighed. 

From the ashes of the controversy which was Valorent's suspension, another controversy arose, this one reloved around Mirko. It wasn't the first time Mirko had been brought into the light because of her demeanour and supposed 'anger problems'. The same discussion had been brought up time and time again in relation to Mirko. She was, after all, not demure and soft. Mirko was rough, crass and vulgar. Her attitude could be found in any number of male heroes, but that difference between the way they were viewed could not have been more different.

Mirko was criticised and looked down upon where male heroes who were loud and aggressive were hailed as manly and doing their job as men and heroes. That's not to say that Mirko wasn't a widely beloved hero. She had an extensive fan base full of all sorts of people. Children and teenagers looked up to her as a symbol of strength and perseverance to adults who admired her rough attitude and fighting style. She was admired by many people, but that didn't stop people from critiquing her. Words were thrown around. She's too vulgar. She shouldn't be so aggressive. Women shouldn't have such muscles. Ochako found it ridiculous, to put it simply. Yet, it was just an example of the real-world effects of sexism and misogyny.

"Have you read this?" Ochako fumed as she fell into her seat at the lunch table. As she sat down, Tsu greeted her with a gentle side hug and loving gaze.

"What is it?" Tsu asked.

"The papers are saying all sorts of things about Mirko and how she behaves, it's absurd!" Ochako scoffed, throwing the newspaper in her hands down onto the table as she did so.

Eager as ever, Midoriya picked it up and started scanning through the article that Ochako was talking about. His eyes darted back and forwards across the paper, eyebrows lowering over his eyes the further he got into the article.

"This doesn't make any sense!" he finally tutted upon finishing.

"What does it say?" Todoroki asked with an inquisitive tilt of his head. 

"Basically," Ochako started, "It's just saying that Mirko is too aggressive and that she shouldn't be fighting villains as she does. It also says that she's too vulgar and she shouldn't speak in such a way because she's a lady. It also says something about the fact that she doesn't have a partner and attributes that facet of her life to the fact that she's not as kind as other women!"

"Mirko's relationship status hardly seems like something that the newspapers need to report on," Iida said with a furrowed brow.

"Exactly!" Ochako exclaimed. A few heads turned her way, but she was none the wiser, too focused on the paper in front of her.

"This particular newspaper has always been rather critical of women heroes," Tsu muttered.

"The article doesn't even make sense, though," Midoriya huffed, "Like here it says; 'Mirko's aggressive nature and fighting style is cause for concern, is she this aggressive in day to day life?'. Do they not know what a hero's job is? You'd think that a reporter whose entire job it is to report on heroes would know that heroes have to fight villains and to do so they need to be aggressive. Also, under the Hero's Privacy Act of 2890 and The Establishment of Division Between Work and Life Law of 2901, the newspaper can't legally talk about her private life."

"Technically, they only alluded to her private life, so they didn't break the law," Todoroki muttered. 

"Still! They shouldn't be allowed to do that! She's just doing her job. I can name so many male heroes who act in a similar manner, if not more so, to Mirko and they're all praised and held up on a pedestal!" Ochako grumbled. 

"I feel as though Bakugo will have a similar attitude to Mirko when he goes pro, whilst he is chastised for his attitude now, in the future I feel as though that won't be the case. Primarily because he won't be in a place where he is below others and, of course, he is a man." Tsu stated bluntly.

"Knowing Kacchan, he'd still somehow manage to get told off by everyone," Midoriya chuckled alongside everyone else.

"Oi, Deku!" Bakugo's voice shouted from two tables over, "What are you saying? You talking shit about me?"

"How did he hear him?" Ochako whispered to Tsu.

"You'd like that wouldn't you, Kacchan! Why don't you come and find out!" Midoriya taunted in reply.

The screech of chairs echoed around the room as both Bakugo and Midoriya stood up from their respective tables and met in the middle of the room, both of them taunting and teasing the other in the passive-aggressive and friendly way they had cultivated over the latter half of the first year.

"I swear those two can't go one day without bickering," Iida chuckled, shaking his head slightly. 

"I'm on the verge of giving up," Toru lamented woefully, "What's the point anymore?"

"I can't help but feel the same way," Momo agreed, "There seems to be no end to this," 

"What's the matter, Yaomomo, Toru?" Kaminari asked as he bounced into the lounge.

"They're lamenting over the fact that the Hero Saftey Commission had threatened Mirko with suspension if she doesn't shut up a bit." Kyoka sighed, her head was thrown back over the back of the sofa with her eyes closed and her eyebrows furrowed.

"What?!" Kirishima exclaimed, coming to stand just behind where Tsu and Ochako were sprawled on one of the sofas.

"They want to silence her so that she'll stop saying stuff about the commission. Also, her attitude is apparently reflecting badly on them," Ochako scoffed, "Assholes."

"That's fucked up, I can't count the number of male heroes that are similar if not the same as Mirko. Even if she's very vocal, so what? She's still a brilliant hero. She's number five from independent work alone, that's mind-blowing!" Sero blurted.

"Yeah... well the commission obviously doesn't see it like that." Tsu scowled. 

"Dickwads," Bakugo sneered, "She's as competent of a hero as any. More so than some, I'd argue. They're fine with keeping Endeavour on after his abuse was revealed but a woman being too vocal is a cause for concern, tch, asshats."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," Kyoka grumbled.

"I wish there was something I could do! I know that it's only a threat, but they won't hesitate to carry through, even if she's only suspended for a day, that's gonna be a stain on her record. I saw a petition going around, and I signed it, but I honestly don't think it'll achieve much." Ochako sighed. She ran her fingers ever so gently through Tsu's hair as she spoke, something she had come to do naturally over the course of their so far short relationship.

"The commission is a dominating force, they've lost some of their power since their inception, but we really can't trust them fully," Midoriya said from the kitchen.

"It's not even only this though, is it?" Toru huffed, "Being a hero as a woman is absolutely exhausting?" 

"To what extent?" Todoroki queried, "I'm curious,"

"You have to try twice as hard to get anywhere, some female heroes sexualise themselves to get the attention they need to rise through the ranks. Of course, some women do it on purpose and are comfortable doing so, and power to them for it. They're not any lesser for doing so. But people with female anatomy are forced to sexualise themselves by their teams so that their merch will do better. It's not quite as severe as in other jobs, but female heroes tend to be paid less per job, but not by much. If a woman has a child and returns to her work, she's constantly bombarded with people she doesn't even know telling her that she's a crappy mother and that she should retire from being a hero. There's more. It happens in all facets of work, but being a hero, you tend to be in the spotlight, which means that there are more people to pick you apart and dissect everything about you." Kyoka explained to the best of her abilities.

Todoroki, and the rest of the boys, listened with rapt attention. Kyoka could practically see the gears swirling in their heads and the way they processed the information being handed to them. 

"I knew that the system was fucked, but I didn't know it was that bad," Midoriya sighed heavily.

"Yeah..." Momo muttered. 

"What can we do?" Kirishima asked with conviction in his tone. A look of sheer and utter determination was pasted onto his face, a look that was reflected into the faces of those around him.

"What is there to do? We're only teenagers, we can't dismantle the patriarchy by ourselves. Now, when we become heroes. however," Ochako hummed, "We can do everything within our power to make everything fair. For now, maybe just believe us and stand up for what's right. We'd do the same for you. You wouldn't sit aside and watch somebody call another person a homophobic slur, so don't sit aside and watch as women and other gender minorities are stepped on. They're different types of discrimination and they're both just as serious, but if you'd act upon seeing one kind, you should be able to act when seeing another kind. Does that make sense?"

"Perfect sense!" Kirishima nodded. 

"That's all we can really do at the moment. Fight in the background so that when we're in the light we can make a real difference."

"It just doesn't seem like enough," Mina grumbled, "I wish we could do more. I wish I could do more, I felt so weak and helpless, I don't want anyone else feeling like that."

"Uraraka is right though, we can only fight in the background until we have a platform to speak on. We can speak out now, of course, we can, we can join others and amplify our voices that way, but we'll be more successful once we're pro heroes." Iida said.

"I know, believe me, I know. I just wish I could do more." Mina sighed. A solemn silence settled over the teenagers, they all shared to sentiment, and they all gelt just as useless and dejected as each other.

 The real-world effects of misogyny were visible every day, sometimes those effects just hit a little harder. A little closer to home. A little closer to one's motivation and perseverance to strive for what's right in the world. On those days, when it felt like the only thing they could do was give up and let the world be consumed in its own hatred, the teenagers of Class 2A simply held their heads up high and carried on. That was all they could do until the light was shone on them and they had the chance to step up to the microphone. 

This is the last official chapter. There is an epilogue of sorts that will be posted in a few hours. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.On another note, it's Jiro's birthday today! Did I plan it to that the day I finish posting this lines up with Jiro's birthday? Of course, I did, she's my favourite character.