We didn't even make it to the safe room when it was announced all over the school that we were safe from the villains. There wasn't much information beyond that, except that all students should return to their homerooms.

Katio, Michi, Yamamoto, and I didn't.

It was a bit shocking to say the least that Yamamoto suggested that we visited the hospital wing. My body ached from the amount of goo that the one villain forced onto me. Because of that, I didn't say anything about it. Instead, I just let him and Kaito help lead Michi and me to the hospital wing. The two were about to leave the moment Michi and I sat on the hospital beds; however, the nurse working caught both of them and ordered them to sit down for examination.

I shifted on the bed, looking around. To think this was a hero school, and all they had for the hospital wing were four beds laying against the wall. Two beds were pushed against one wall, while the other two sat across from them. Michi laid in the bed next to mine, passed out from overusing her Quirk. Seeing her passed out like that made me realize that our Quirks were similar that way. If I used mine too quickly, I'd pass out. As for Michi, if she overused her Quirk, she could wear herself out to the point that she could pass out.

If only I could've thought of some way of using my Quirk in that situation, she wouldn't have to overexert herself. Then again, I could see why she did it. She must've known that I wasn't going to like her plan, so she made me think I was going to use my Quirk.

Unless...that was a back up plan.

"Good thing I gave you that dorayaki treat, huh?" Kaito said.

My head snapped towards him, realizing he had sat on the bed across from mine. He sat with his legs crossed as he leaned over his legs, looking right at me with a bright smile.

"You actually shared one of your dorayaki treats?" Yamamoto asked. He sat in the bed next to Kaito. His arms were crossed over his chest as he leaned back in the bed he was on.

"Well yeah," Kaito said, looking at me with a huge smile. "It's a good thing too because if I didn't, she would've missed lunch completely."

Guilt washed over me as I looked down. My legs were stretched out in front of me while my arms wrapped around my stomach. The blanket that was laying on the bed was wrapped around my shoulders since the room was a bit too chilly for my liking. However, after hearing Kaito say that, I could feel the sweat rolling down.

That dorayaki treat was still in my backpack, back in the homeroom classroom. I didn't eat it, nor did I plan on it. Ever since Kaito chose for us who we'd be researching for our history project, I kind of lost my appetite. To be honest, I still didn't have one. It was impossible to have one with that villain being able to shoot parts of himself off that would wrap around his victim.

It was all my fault that we got into so much trouble. My knees pulled into my chest, as I remembered everything that had happened. Yamamoto was in trouble. If I didn't say anything, he could've been in a lot worse shape. At the same time, I was the reason Michi overused her Quirk and the reason why Kaito almost ended up in the same situation as Yamamoto did.

While I screwed everything up, Kaito and Michi were able to stay calm through it all. Heck, Michi was able to plan a way for us to get out of there safely. That is, except for the fact that we still got caught, but at least she was able to think clearly during all that.

"I was wondering when I'd see you three in the hospital wing," a voice sighed. "After the entrance exam, I can't say I'm entirely surprised to see you go after the villains."

Kaito, Yamamoto, and I turned our heads to see a man standing there, wearing blue scrubs. He had a clipboard in his hands as he walked over towards me to check if everything was alright.

While he ran his tests, all I could think about was what happened in the library.

~*~*~*~

Despite everything that had happened, we still had the rest of the school day to go to. More so, we only had our hero classes to go to. I was so exhausted after what happened that I could barely go through training. Luckily, Mr. Elastic understood as he gave Kaito, Yamamoto, and me the option to sit out.

I was the only person who decided to sit out. If I didn't, there would've been an odd number. Michi was still in the hospital wing as the school nurse needed to make sure she wouldn't use her Quirk during any of our hero classes. She would be well enough to return to homeroom by the end of the day, but until then, she needed to take it easy.

While the rest of us were allowed to participate in today's activities, I couldn't help but to realize how distracted everyone was. Today's lesson was simple: train with another student to strengthen your own Quirk. I sat down on a bench that was pushed against the wall, giving me the perfect opportunity to watch everyone.

Even though Sakura wasn't a part of what happened in the library, I noticed her Quirk wasn't as quick as it could be. She'd whip out a vine in order to attempt to block Kaito's light beams, but it never happened. Most of the time, I realized, she would get hit if she looked away from him as she kept looking back at me with an apologetic look on her face.

Kaito wasn't doing much better. I started to realize the drawback of his Quirk as he trained with her. It was something I kind of realized back in the library, but didn't fully understand it until now. Light has heat, he said earlier. The brighter he would make the beams, the hotter they would be, causing his hands to burn a bit. Between attacks, he'd shake his hands out, almost as if he'd overuse his Quirk, but they were never as bright as they were back at the library.

In the far end of the classroom, I noticed Yamamoto looking particularly troubled as he tried wrestling another classmate. He didn't even try to use his Quirk while doing so, which caused him to struggle. I don't think I had ever seen Yamamoto truly struggle in this class before.

It was the total opposite of me who struggled constantly in this class.

It was my fault that we got into that mess in the library. My Quirk was useless. Everything I did just made everything worse. Things would've ended differently if I didn't have anyone around. Everything my friends did was to make sure we all got out of there safely.

Maybe not all heroes weren't bad. If there were more heroes like my friends, or if they could actually become what they were meant to be, maybe there was hope left in this world for heroes.

"Eat this," someone said. "It'll make you feel better."

My head snapped up to see Mr. Elastic standing in front of me with a granola bar in his hands. I smiled as I took it from his hands. It didn't dawn until that moment that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. My dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, along with the rest of my lunch, was still sitting in my backpack as I was in the library during lunch. While I didn't really want to eat after everything I had just witnessed, I slowly started to feel my stomach begging for food.

As I unwrapped the granola bar from its wrapper, I felt Mr. Elastic sitting next to me on the bench. I didn't look at him. My eyes stared at the granola bar in my hands, seeing the room we were in in my peripheral vision. Unlike our first exam, our training sessions were normally held inside where the terrain would change depending on how our teacher thought would work best with the lesson. Today, there was nothing special about it as it looked like the gymnasium we'd use back in middle school. It gave people lots of room to use their Quirks, and yet, barely anyone used that to their advantage.

"How are you holding up?" Mr. Elastic asked.

"I'm alive," I answered, "but I-I didn't really contribute to the escape. Instead I could've gotten my friends hurt." I looked out at my classmates, wondering how any of them would be ready. "How—I mean, you gu—you and the other teachers caught them, right?"

"Unfortunately, no. They got away, but don't worry. We'll get them one of these days. Besides, every hero has their ups and downs. Some days we succeed, other days we don't. You've just gotta keep trying, so you have more successes than failures," Mr. Elastic told me.

"And if I'm not cut out?" I asked as I looked at him. My hands tore a bit of the granola bar off, realizing I still hadn't taken a bite out of it yet.

My question took Mr. Elastic off guard, and to be honest, it took me off guard too. I didn't want to tell people I didn't want to be a hero. After what happened, I started to realize how dangerous it would be if I stayed here much longer. How I kept running into the same villains was beyond me, but I feared the longer I tried faking this path, the more dangerous life would become.

Maybe...maybe this incident would be my way out.

"Then I would have failed my job as a teacher," Mr. Elastic said, catching me off guard. "If your dream is to become a hero, then it's my dream to get you to the top. That's what I want for all my students."

I looked down at the two halves of my granola bar as guilt filled inside me. Talk about the perfect way out being ruined. If I dropped out now, I wouldn't just be hurting my family and friends, but the teachers here at U.A. as well. I lifted the one half in my mouth, feeling the grainy substance in my mouth.

"True, not everyone is the same, so it's alright to feel like you can't do it now. That's why you're in school, to learn. Every one of your classmates have something different they need to learn in order to pass the course," Mr. Elastic informed. "For you, it's learning how to use your Quirk during tough situations. Sure, it's frustrating now, but in a month, we'll be learning Ultimate Moves. You might learn a thing or two about your own Quirk and how to use it in those tough situations."

I swallowed the bit of granola bar into my mouth as I looked up at my classmates. What he said made sense. No two people had the same Quirk in U.A. Sure, Daigo's Dog Quirk was very similar to the girl with the Cat Quirk in our class, but they still had different abilities and drawbacks. I watched as Daigo had a hard time concentrating today against his opponent, while on the other side of the room, I could see the girl with the Cat Quirk didn't seem to have a problem with concentration.

"So, how do I get better with my Quirk so that I'm not, you know, dealing—er, I guess that I don't end up in the same situation," I asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. For now, maybe memorizing your time limit between changes would be good or even shortening that if you can, but I don't have Biochange. That's something you need to figure out on your own, but I will say, the spot you're having troubles with is much easier to deal with than others," Mr. Elastic said.

"Really," I questioned in disbelief, looking up at him.

His eyes were glued onto the battlefield in front of us as he seemed to be criticizing everyone's matches internally. The only way I could tell was how he would grimace every once in a while when a huge explosion would go off. Other times, he'd shake his head at someone.

"You have what it takes to be a hero. You worry about others and are compassionate. Then again, it makes sense, knowing your dad was the same way," Mr. Elastic said.

My hand clenched around the remanding half of the granola bar. As if. How was it he could say so many good things about this man when he wasn't even around for Mom and me? If we weren't good enough for him, then he clearly didn't worry about anyone. There was no way he could have been compassionate about it all either.

It baffled me how much he held my father in a positive light. That was heroes for you. Not once did people think a hero could've had any bad qualities about them. My father, he would rather help people than be with his wife. He left her alone to raise me. Had my mom not have gotten help from her family members and her childhood friend, Peter, who she eventually remarried, it would've been hard on her.

I tried shaking the thought away, especially that's how people viewed heroes. They placed them on a pedestal and didn't think about what they were truly like.

If only they knew.

But...they did. I looked over at the bench, seeing the only book that I could find information about Justice-Core. Even then, it wasn't me who found it; it was Yamamoto. He was the one who found the book with his information in it. Maybe there was more information somewhere, but it was going to be a challenge.

At least during the attack, I was able to keep that book which was good for Kaito and my research. We needed all the help we could get on that. When I thought about it, I realized there was a person that could help us with our project.

"You seemed to have known my dad pretty well," I commented, unclenching my fist to see the crumbs of the leftover granola bar in my hand. "It was through your, uh, internship, right?"

Mr. Elastic smiled. "Close. I was his side-kick for a few years. Well before you were born though. Man, those were the days."

"So, you were there with him when he first started out, right?" I asked.

My teacher nodded his head. His eyes were still watching my fellow classmates as they sparred.

"What exactly made him famous?" I asked. "And what was it that got him killed?"

The questions I asked were ones I had to start and end my project on. It was based on how they began their life and became a hero to what they were doing now. Or, in my group's case, how he died.

Looking at my teacher, I noticed his face fall into a more somber expression. He brought his right hand to his chin as he started to think even harder on it.

"I—I don't know exactly how he became famous, but I know he graduated school like everyone else, got accepted into an agency, and quickly rose in rank. Sometimes, that's all it takes to be recognized. As for how he died, I do know it was because of a house fire, one of which someone assassinated him in," Mr. Elastic told me.

My eyes widened. "Assassinated? But, if he was stuck in a fire, wouldn't he be doomed on getting out?"

"Sometimes yes, but that's the thing about villains. Some want to make sure that they get the job done right, even if that means taking drastic measures," he told me.

Drastic measures? How was it anyone wanted to be a hero if they knew death was an option? No, not an option, but a very predictable outcome!

Michi, Kaito, Yamamoto and I were lucky to get out of the library alive, but now, I started to wonder how lucky we really were? If we all continued down this path, didn't we just delay death by a few years?

No, I couldn't think about that now. I'd get out of this somehow. In the meantime, I needed to focus on the project so that Kaito could do well. I wasn't going to bring him down since he wanted to be a hero too.

"Do you know who the villain was?" I asked. "The villain who, uh, killed Justice-Core?"

Mr. Elastic dropped his hand as he looked at me. His eyes widened, finally realizing the tone of voice I was using. It wasn't for him though. It was more knowing the harsh reality of who could be out there.

If this man was still out there, there was no doubt in my mind he might be after anyone who was in contact with him.

"Smith, you don't worry about that. The woman was caught and sentenced to a lifetime in prison since then," he said.

My stomach plummeted. "She? Wait, what was her Quirk? Did it have to do with kissing a person? Did she have pink hair?"

Instead of answering, Mr. Elastic stood up and clapped his hands together. This was what he always did to grab everyone's attention. Seeing him do this, I knew he wasn't going to answer my question. He was going to do everything to avoid it.

All I knew was that the person who killed Justice-Core was a she. This villain was able to make someone die in a fire. While I didn't know much about the villains out there, I had a gut feeling I knew who she was. If I was right, then she wasn't in jail.

What were the odds of someone having the power to kiss someone and then that person faints or dies? It wasn't a coincidence, was it? I mean, she was so determined to use her Quirk on as many people as possible.

Why would she do that?

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," Mr. Elastic announced. I want you all to get changed and report back to homeroom. Once there, we are going to vote on class rep, so I need you all to really think about who in this classroom would make a good leader."

No one said a word. A few sighed in relief or smiled a bit, happy that this sort of practice was over. It didn't matter if a classmate was directly involved with the library incident or not. What we had gone through today was terrifying. There was no doubt in my mind that everyone had been affected in some way.

But none of them could have very well had faced their father's killer for the first time. If she knew who I was, then no one at U.A. was safe.

Author's Note:

Oh, the irony. I don't know about you guys, but I always find it funny how "Hogwarts is the safest place ever" kind of thing, and yet, every year of Harry Potter's schooling is someone trying to kill him. Figured U.A. would probably be the same.

So, with that being the inspiration, for this week's question, I want to know, besides MHA, what are some other fandoms you like?

Character Spotlight: Mr. Elastic
Quirk: Stretch
Likes: White hair dye

Song: Don't Wake Me Up Just Yet by Peter Gundry