Artwork done by myself. 

Take a deep breath. Let it all out. Everything will work out.

Beta: emplatinum

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Shōto

'She's fine,' Shōto told himself. 'It's not the same as before. Aizawa-sensei is with her, and these villains aren't dangerous enough to—'

Shōto stopped that line of thinking, because going down that thought process would only unsettle him; and in the middle of a fight was no place to let emotions take over. He had to keep a level head, not only for his own sake, but so that way he could assist Kiyomi if need be.

'Need won't be, though,' Shōto thought. 'She's fine.'

Still, Shōto could feel his stomach clench unpleasantly and he couldn't help the worry that gnawed at him. Shōto felt his Quirk ease out of him as he froze his surroundings and every nearby enemy. He had to consciously keep his face smooth and to mask the inner turmoil he felt, as he knew it would be unprofessional to let such emotions show. The battlefield was no place to for worry and anger; such things could easily be used against him if his enemies were able to read him.

So he didn't speak, didn't flinch. He neutralized every enemy in his immediate vicinity. Perhaps if he was in a better state he would have taken advantage of that situation and performed a field interrogation, but all he could think about was returning to his childhood friend.

'Calm down, calm down. This thought process doesn't help. Take a moment. Rethink your strategy,' Shōto coached himself.

Shōto shifted his weight.

'Render them unconscious. Let the professionals deal with interrogation. I'm not in the proper mindset to show ethical restraint,' Shōto allowed. Shōto worked quickly to render each of them to an unconscious state before unfreezing most of their bodies so they wouldn't die of hypothermia. He left ice around their wrists and ankles, knowing it would give them a bad case of frostbite. He simply didn't have anything else to bind them with; and if they were to wake up, the frostbite would hopefully be severe enough to make them withdraw, rather than try and fight again.

Once that was done he began a short jog back to the entrance to see if he could assist Aizawa and Kiyomi.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Nezu

Nezu paced anxiously in his office, his mind reflecting over Kiyomi's ominous warnings. He had reached out to all of his contacts in search of clarification for what, or who, Nōmu was. He personally invited a couple dozen heroes to drop by the academy today—and so far eight of them had arrived—and to be on standby. He even went ahead and implemented back-ups to his back-ups to his back-ups.

Normally he wouldn't be so gung-ho, but Kiyomi's predictions were never off.

Somehow someone named Nōmu would arrive at U.A. This person was connected to that awful All for One.

It was blatantly apparent that Nōmu would be a danger to his students and Nezu simply could not allow that. He was half-tempted to cancel classes for the day, but decided against it. If he originally had cancelled classes and that was the future Kiyomi saw, then Nōmu arrived to attack students on their way home...

No, keeping them at U.A. was the safest choice. He didn't want to incite a panic, but he warned his entire faculty to be on high alert.

Unfortunately only Eraser Head and Midnight were the only two to fully comprehend the situation, as they were the only two to know about Kiyomi's past lives. All Might suspected Kiyomi had a high intuitive ability, but Nezu did not feel like divulging her entire secret to him. It was Kiyomi's secret, after all, and while she mentioned that she trusted him to tell those necessary, that didn't mean he would share it so easily.

It was a terrifying secret, after all.

For any one person to have lived through multiple lives... hundreds of different lives.

Statistically speaking Kiyomi had to have gone through every single kind of trauma a human could experience. She had been murdered in half of her lives, died of some horrible illness in a quarter, and the rest were varying degrees of rather unfortunate events. She could count on one hand the times she passed away peacefully in her sleep.

She had been a child soldier for over a hundred lifetimes, half of those centering around one world in particular that she was stuck in a perpetual loop. The worlds she traveled to thereafter took many lifetimes to readjust to not killing people out of habit. When she was finally comfortable with seeking peaceful resolutions instead of the quick and dirty way, she got thrown back into barbaric and evil-filled worlds.

"I rarely made it past ten in those worlds," she told him flippantly.

Frankly speaking it was a bit of a wonder she hadn't gone insane.

"But I did in a few lives. Some lives I had to end myself before I snapped and hurt innocents."

Nezu paused in his pacing, banishing those depressing words. It was a good thing, he believed, that Kiyomi did not always have her memories. Ignorance was true bliss in her situation, and Nezu could not be more thankful for it. He didn't want to have to imagine dealing with a half-crazed future-knowing villain, which he was sure Kiyomi would have turned into if she consistently kept her memories.

Nezu stopped in his pacings when alarms went off in his office.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Toshinori

Nezu had been prepared for some catastrophe all day. Toshinori didn't know what tipped him off that something horrible would happen, but Nezu added another back-up the the back-up alerts in case security went down anywhere across the academy.

Toshinori would have called it excessive precaution, except Nezu's foresight proved invaluable because that very same back-up he installed alerted everyone at U.A. that security had gone down in USJ.

At once Nezu issued a massive alert for all heroes to arrive at USJ, and to prepare for the worst.

Toshinori didn't hesitate.

He sprinted as fast as he legs could carry him, and when he arrived—unsurprisingly the first—he kicked open the doors with all the fury, anger, and worry he felt. The door shattered and flew back, and he marched in there with a cold thunder.

He was prepared to find the students holed up together and maybe a few villains approaching them.

He was not prepared to see nearly fifty unconscious thugs—each with various bleeding wounds and obviously broken bones—and only a handful of students to be found. The first one drew his immediate attention because she was obviously in the worst position.

Kiyomi, his friend, laid unconscious on the ground with a huge, bulking, black thing standing above her getting ready to punch down.

Toshinori moved and the creature stumbled back far enough for Toshinori to grab Kiyomi.

Her leg was covered in blood; it soaked through whatever she had wrapped around it, and he could see bits of blood drooling from her mouth. Toshinori gently picked her up as Aizawa moved to stand beside him.

"She's an idiot," Aizawa told him.

"She's a hero," Toshinori corrected him. "Take care of her."

Aizawa shook his head. "You'll need my back up for this one. That creep over there is the one that did her leg in; some kind of decaying Quirk on anything he touches.

'Definitely dangerous,' Toshinori thought.

Toshinori looked around at the two remaining villains; the creep and the monster. He could see Izuku, Tsuyu, and Mineta in the water. They were near enough to help if they thought they could, but far enough away to not get pulled into the fight so easily.

'Good. Looks like this might be too dangerous for students,' Toshinori thought. He shifted his weight to the back of his heels, and gently placed Kiyomi in Aizawa's arms. Then he moved again and grabbed each of the students. He said, "Leave, and take care of Kiyo-chan."

The creep let out a raspy chuckle. "Getting rid of the mobs? Aoe fights are dangerous for the low-levels... Mm-hmm."

Tsuyu and Izuku grabbed her upper body, while Mineta carefully held her damaged legs, his eyes watering. "Is she going to be okay?"

Toshinori gave them that All Might smile. "Of course. Get her to Recovery Girl while Eraser Head and I do some cleaning up!"

"All Might," Izuku mumbled, obvious concern in his eyes. Toshinori waved off his worry with a booming laugh. "G-Good luck!"

"Luck isn't something I'll need. Now get out of here students. Aizawa-san, let's make this quick."

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Kiyomi

I was tired. My whole body felt like there was a bag of sand over it. I tried to remember what happened, but only vague wisps of thought came to my head. I flexed my fingers experimentally before I slowly opened my eyes.

Bright light flooded my vision and reflexive tears pricked my eyes. Pain shot through my head, enough to jerk off the last bit of my sleepiness. My eyes slowly adjusted and after a couple of moments I came to realize I was in a bed.

More specifically I was in a medical bed in Recovery Girl's office.

"Wha—" Words spilled out of my dry mouth and I slowly sat up. As I did so, the rush of memories came back to me.

The villains.

One of them had gotten to me and then I fell unconscious.

I lifted up my covers, unsurprised to find my right calf covered in bandages. I wiggled my toes and was greatly relieved that they responded.

'No nerve damage, then,' I thought. I looked over my gown and body, a little shocked to find I didn't have any other major injuries. I had likely bruised my ribs from that super punch and my subsequent fall, but those were easily fixed by Recovery Girl's Quirk. It looked like the only lasting damage was from when that jerk had grabbed me.

But, no nerve damage. I would make a full recovery in time, undoubtedly.

I looked around the empty room before I found my school uniform and bag. I hopped out of bed, wincing at the discomfort in my leg, but quickly got dressed. I got out my phone and called home.

Baba picked up. "Kiyo-chan? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I reassured her. "Did the school call you?"

"Yes, they said you were hurt from a battle against villains," Baba said, worry in her tone. "That was only a few hours ago, though. Do you need to stay at school?"

"I should be okay to go home. Nothing too bad happened to me," I told her. "I'll check in with the teachers and then head home, okay?"

"Okay, dear. Please take care."

"Always, Baba."

I hobbled out of the room and poked my head into Recovery Girl's private office. She noticed me immediately, giving me a grandmotherly smile. "Up already, Kiyo-chan?"

"Mm-hmm. Is it okay if I go home?"

"That should be fine. Take care of your leg, though. Nothing strenuous for at least a week. You have a strong vitality, so you'll be back to full strength in no time as long as you give your leg the proper rest."

I nodded my head. "I will. Should I follow a rehabilitation program?"

"Unnecessary for the moment. If it still bothers you after a couple weeks then we'll talk."

Then I teleported to Shōto, unsurprised to find him in his bedroom. Shōto looked up at me, his brow creased and anxiety flickering across his face for a split second. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah. No nerve damage," I said, reaching over to my friend and rubbing at the crease between his brows. "It's going to be okay, don't worry."

Shōto's eyes lowered down towards my leg and I held it up for him. I wasn't wearing my standard white stockings since I had some pretty thick bandages around my leg. Shōto hesitantly asked me, "Does it hurt?"

"Nah. Wanna see it without the bandages?" I asked him, knowing the worrywart wouldn't feel better until he saw everything for himself. He seemed torn, so I went ahead and undid some bandages.

It looked pretty ugly, not gonna lie. The flesh was raw, and only bits of my skin had finished growing back. The crease in his brow deepened further and a frown marred his face. "It—are you sure it doesn't hurt? My face hurt for a while afterwards."

"I'm not in any pain," I reassured him. "A little weak there, and I'm on light duty, but I promise I'm okay."

Shōto rolled back to his heels, sighing. To my chagrin he seemed more worried. I lowered my leg, and re-did the bandages. With half-lidded eyes I peered up at him and accused, "You worry more than there are stars in the sky."

He blinked at having his words thrown back at him, and a small smile pulled his lips up. "Maybe."

Once my bandages were done, I straightened out my skirt. "So... what happened? I remember fighting the villains and then nothing."

Shōto gestured for me to sit at his desk, pulling out the chair and giving me a look. With a quiet thank you, I did so and Shōto took a deep breath before he explained. He explained how the smoky-man had separated the class and dropped all the students off to face different villains. Shōto took care of a couple dozen himself before he headed back to the central area to see if he could help me. When he arrived he found Izuku, Mineta, and Tsuyu carrying me.

Izuku said that the monster-like creature had knocked me out with one blow (which made my cheeks flush with embarrassment at being done in so easily). Shōto took over carrying for me—I thanked him for that, and his cheeks turned a bit red and he mumbled that my thanks was unnecessary—and that they ran into Katsuki and Eijirō on the way. Then the entire area was swarmed with heroes with Nezu leading the charge and All Might single-handedly took down the monster.

After that everyone was escorted back to the main building where the nurses and Recovery Girl looked over them. I was the only one to come out with severe injuries.

My cheeks burned at that, and I felt shame coil in the pit of my stomach. "I—I see."

"You were very impressive," Shōto said quickly. "Everyone was amazed at how well you worked with Aizawa-sensei."

I lifted my shoulders up in a noncommittal shrug, still feeling decidedly humiliated.

'I'll have to work extra hard now to make up for it,' I thought to myself. 'I won't embarrass myself again.'

I looked up at Shōto, tilting my head. "So you're unhurt? No boo-boos to kiss better?"

Shōto flushed cutely and he quickly shook his head. "I'm fine. Will you—I mean—do you want to—I mean—you can stay the night if you'd like."

A smile stretched over my face at that. "If that's okay with you. I wouldn't want to intrude. I have to go back home and have dinner with Baba and Papa, but I can come back later...?"

"I-I'd like that."

"Good. Then I'll see you in a couple hours!"

◟(◕◡◕❀)

I sent some texts to my other friends, each letting them know that I was up and okay. Izuku and Ochaco responded with relief, while Katsuki called me an airhead for being caught out so quick. He wasn't wrong, so I didn't disagree. I enjoyed a lovely dinner with Baba and Papa, with Papa making his famous mac and cheese comfort food. School for tomorrow was cancelled due to the event, so I decided to spend the day helping my grandparents around the farm. I wasn't able to help them as much as I used to since going to school, and there were some things that Baba and Papa simply didn't have the strength to do anymore.

After dinner I laid out my farm clothes for tomorrow: short overalls and an old favorite white shirt. I decided to lay out my big ol' farmer's hat that Baba had made for me (she put little flowers in it to make it more feminine, and when the flowers wilted she put new ones in), and my thoroughly dirty, clunky, and forever manure-stained boots. It was going to be a hot day tomorrow, so I opted for a slimmer pair of socks and work gloves.

'That way I can roll outta bed at Shōto's and immediately get dressed before going to work,' I thought to myself. Then remembering work, I made a quick call to my manager and let her know about my leg. She told me to take a small break—as being at the café would require standing all day which might be uncomfortable with the bandages—and to come back in a couple weeks. That and a badly injured leg wasn't very nice to look at, so it might scare off some of our family customers.

It would suck to miss out on a whole paycheck, but luckily I had reserve money, and I didn't need anything too pressing.

'I'll have to split the grocery bill with Baba, though,' I thought, feeling a little frustrated at that.

Since we lived in a small town we didn't really have one of those big fancy supermarkets. We had a small local general store that supplied the basics—which everyone went to—but about once a month a few members would go into one of the big towns on a tractor and get the big stuff for everyone. Stuff like rare spices, seafood, certain sauces, and whatnot. Things we didn't have in our town.

That delegation had been permanently handed off to me and Baba since I could teleport quickly. Everyone wrote down what they needed, and I would purchase. I tended to use my own money towards it unless it was something really expensive, like a new oven, because I knew how financially strained everyone was. All my money was essentially free and I only needed it for groceries, clothes, and school supplies. I got paid decently, and I got tipped regularly, so I had a good surplus of extra cash to spend and nothing to spend it on.

Besides, everyone here was like family. Everyone had definitely changed my diapers more than once, and I had grown up calling everyone Auntie, Uncle, Big brother, or Big sister. It felt good to be able to help them.

(Let me redeem myself a bit)

Unfortunately with a missing paycheck this month I doubted I'd be able to do that and cover the whole grocery bill for Baba.

'Money, oh, money, why can't you grow on trees?' I thought for the umpteenth time that life.

I changed into pajamas and got ready for bed before I teleported back to Shōto's room. My precious person was sitting on his bed, already in pajamas and flipping through a novel. He looked up at noticing me, his eyes lingering on my injured leg. "Do you—do you want some ice?"

"I'll let you know if I need anything," I reassured him, flopping down onto his bed. Shōto slept on a traditional Japanese floor bed. He used to only have a single, but a few years ago he got a double. I laid down on my usual side and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm working on the farm tomorrow, so I gotta get up before five."

"That's fine," Shōto told me, getting up and turning off the lights. He came back to the bed and laid beside me, pulling the covers up on both of us. "Are you okay to do that kind of work, though?"

I couldn't resist sighing. "Sho-chan, I'm fine."

He rolled over to face me, the crease back. "I—" Shōto stopped himself for a moment, then rolled onto his back once more, staring up at the ceiling. "I don't want you to act so reckless again."

"I promise not to act without thought," I promised him, "but I'm training to be a hero, Sho-chan. Sometimes you don't have a choice but to go in."

Shōto didn't respond for a while, choosing instead to close his eyes and let out a long drawn-out sigh. "You're right. I shouldn't ask that of you. A certain recklessness is required of a hero, and I know that."

I scooted into his side, resting my head on his upper arm. "Thank you for being a worry-wart."

"Always," he told me.

"Always and always?"

"Always and always."

◟(◕◡◕❀)

I carried the watering can over to our more delicate garden. Most of our stuff we had sprinklers built in, but some of Baba's flowers required careful one-on-one watering instead of the mass watering our vegetables got. Since I was helping out for the day Papa went over to his brother's farm to help him with the hay, while I did the grunt work. They had been doing a good job keeping up on weeding, so I didn't have to do much of that; but there were holes in the fences that needed fixed; dirt holes that had formed; fertilizer had to be laid out for our resting field; some leaves had died off and needed trimming to keep the plant alive; paint jobs, etc, etc.

My leg protested the first hour in, and I had to take a few breaks before continuing on.

By the time the sun had risen above me—a little after ten in the morning—I had the worst of it taken care of, and now I only had to tend to Baba's flower garden.

It was unbelievably hot, and I was covered in sweat, dirt, and a little bit of blood from my bandages being soaked through.

Ooh, I knew if Recovery Girl saw what I was doing right after being released I would get my hide tanned.

Couldn't be helped, though. Baba and Papa weren't able to take care of this sort of stuff on their own anymore. Once I was done here, I'd head over to our neighbors and help them for the day, too. Most of the kids around here—people my age or a bit older—took care of everyone, but a lot of them were still at boarding school. I was one of the few around (as there were a couple that chose not to go to school, and instead become full-time farmers).

We all helped each other out. That's what being a big family meant.

I watered Baba's tenacious roses, and clipped a few leaves from her dragon snaps. Her garden required the most focus, as I had to actually pay attention to what I was doing since the things were so delicate. As a result, I didn't get done until lunch time that day.

My leg cried in relief when I finally sat down in the shade to rest for a while. Baba brought out some meaty sandwiches, chips, watermelon, and lemonade.

"Mm," I moaned in contentment at seeing my full plate. "You spoil me, Baba."

Baba let out a raspy laugh, shaking her head. "Your Papa and I are very grateful for all that you do, Kiyo-chan. You're a blessing to this farm."

I blushed at her praise.

(Let this peace last, please)

Baba sat beside me, pulling out her dainty handkerchief and wiping at the grime over my eyes. "Want anything special tonight for dinner?"

"Nnn—yeah. Koi sushi."

"Okay," Baba agreed. "Are you still okay to go shopping for the town this weekend?"

"Yeah, that's not an issue. Um, I'll need help getting groceries this week, though," I apologized. "The manager doesn't want me at work as long as I still need bandages over my leg."

Baba waved off my apology. "Dearest, I'd take care of all the groceries if you'd let me."

"We both know if you tried that I'd hide your wallet," I told her, which made her laugh, recalling that was exactly what I done after my first paycheck.

"Oh, I forgot. Nezu-san called asking for you. Be sure to call him back when you can."

My eyebrows rose in surprise at that. I didn't keep my phone with me when I worked the farm after the first couple times I dropped it in the fertilizer. "Okay, thanks."

We enjoyed a quiet lunch, and then I headed out to the other farms to offer my assistance—which was accepted with gratitude. When night fell, I returned home and took a long bath. I took the opportunity to message Nezu inside the tub while I was relaxing, thinking I'd better catch him before it got too late.

Baba said you asked for me?

I got a reply a couple minutes later. Yes, indeedy! I can't ground you officially, but I can give you detention. You have two weeks' worth of detention with Aizawa for disobeying your teacher, and I expect a 10 page essay on the importance of self-preservation on my desk within the week.

I couldn't resist letting out a squawk of horror.

Yes, Shishō...

Good work, Kiyo-chan. I'm proud of you.

Despite the looming homework that awaited me, I couldn't help but smile brightly at that.

◟(◕◡◕❀)

Answer: Skulduggery Pleasant!

Question: What is your weakness? Your "kryptonite"?

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