While everyone made a huge fuss at the dorms when Bakugo and Momo got back (and Camie got texted non stop by her class because she was on TV), Shoto had to look forward to an unpleasant conversation with his dad.

He kind of expected Endeavor to yell at him for getting into this situation yet again...but what actually happened almost made him feel more unnerved.

Not the Endeavor was mean to him-- it was that he wasn't, at all. He just kept asking more and more detailed questions about what happened the whole limo ride home.

He especially dwelt on the parts about Dabi.

Shoto supposed it was because Dabi seemed to have a real grudge against Endeavor in particular.... He wondered why that was.

But Endeavor did say one interesting thing. "But he never even tried to hurt you? Is that what I'm understanding?"

"No...no, now that you mention it, I remember the other members saying specifically not to hurt me," Shoto mused, "I guess maybe they were going to use me as leverage. Son of the no #1 hero and all..."

He thought Endeavor would agree with him, but he said nothing.

"Dad..." Shoto didn't even know the last time he'd even used that term to address Endeavor. It startled him. "Eh? What?"

"I don't know if this is going out on a limb...but is something else bothering you?" Shoto felt really awkward asking, but it was freaking him out.

"That depends--" Endeavor wasn't a very good liar, "--on why they keep picking on you...but not actually trying to hurt you."

It was a mystery.

"Maybe they think I'll join them, like Bakugo," Shoto said, "But I would never do that."

"No?" Endeavor said.

Shoto took offense to that. "Of course not! How could you even think that!? You really don't know me at all, do you!?"

"Shoto, if you are going to get worked up over every question, this is going to go nowhere," Endeavor retorted coldly, "I'm trying to get a read on the situation."

Shoto choked back more anger.... He supposed he would be doing the same, begrudgingly.

"Exactly what was said, again?" Endeavor pressed.

Shoto sighed. "It's all a blur.... I know they said Utsushimi was expendable--the monsters...and then, next time I saw the guy, he was near Mo-- Yaoyurozu.... I don't know. He was probably trying to kidnap her again. Likstar-sensei was talking to him. She must have scared him off. He ran away. That's the last I saw of him. Other than he tried to kill Likstar, I don't know what was going on."

"Why would he try to kill your supervisor? How could she possibly be important? Unless it was to get to you through her, but then, he didn't try to hurt you that time either." Endeavor was thinking hard.

Shoto hadn't thought about how weird it sounded until now.... He hated to admit it, but his dad wasn't stupid when it came to hero stuff.

"So what do you think it is?" he forced himself to ask civilly.

"I don't know," Endeavor said, which was chilling, "It doesn't make any sense. It would be easy enough to get to me through you, if that was what he wanted.... Has that woman ever encountered him before?"

Shoto was cautious. "I know that when he appeared at our school briefly, she did run into him, chased him off that time too. I think they are afraid of her power.... It makes sense-- she's formidable as an opponent."

"Is she? That twig?" Endeavor sounded surprised.

Shoto looked out the window somberly. "Looks can be deceiving.... She's scary. I wouldn't want to be on her bad side."

"You'd say the villain, Dabi, is on her bad side?"

"He must be, after all the times...the LOV has threatened us," Shoto said. Wow, he really was bad at keeping secrets, he thought.

Luckily, Endeavor was almost as dense as he was at picking up on things like that.

"Perhaps I need to ask her directly, then."

"What? Leave her alone." Shoto turned to glare at him. "She's only protected us. She doesn't need any more trouble."

"I'm not giving her trouble. Clearly she saw more than you, and I want the full story-- and why wasn't she with the cops?"

"She had to get medical attention. She got inured.... I wan't fast enough... " Shoto lowered his head guiltily.

Silence.

"It wasn't your fault," Endeavor surprised him by saying, "These things just happen in hero work.... At least no one died."

"Actually, I made a lot of mistakes." Shoto didn't know why he was sharing this.... Probably, he would have said it to anyone-- he was ready to burst. "I abandoned one of my fellow students also.... Once I saw the fire, I just lost focus."

"It happens..." Endeavor was uncomfortable with this role. "Anyway, coming in for the save at the end was still important. That's what you should focus on. Improving that."

Shoto felt annoyed. Not that Endeavor was really being a jerk, all things considered, but...when someone has pressured you for years, even if they don't mean it that way, everything sounds like that to you. And it was ticking him off. He lapses into stony silence.

Endeavor felt he had probably said the wrong thing, but could think of nothing else to say, so he was silent also.

But later he did tell Fuyumi she ought to call Rei, in case she had heard about it, and tell her Shoto was fine. Fuyumi agreed to do this immediately, surprised he even thought of it.

Rei had heard, actually. Though she knew Shoto wasn't dead, she was still glad to hear he'd been safely taken home.

* * *

The next day, UA was in shock. Nezu said the student could have the morning off while the staff discussed what happened...and probably who to blame.

Shine fully expected they would blame her, and though she knew it wasn't exactly her fault, she knew it was partially her fault.... At least, she was part of the reason for it.

Wally hadn't left her side since getting back, but he was upset too, she could tell.

But the meeting didn't go quite how Shine would have envisioned it.

Nezu and Snipe and Ectoplasm started to say Shine was clearly responsible, but surprisingly, All Might and Mic spoke up.

"We can't blame her. It's happened to all of us," Mic said, "The LOV is just good.... I don't know how they keep doing it, but if she's at fault, we're at fault."

"It has happened a strange amount of times around her," Midnight said.

"No more than around Eraser," Mic countered.

True...though Eraserhead glared at him.

"Do we need to blame anyone?" All Might said, "I mean...in this case...it really just seems like bad luck."

"I don't trust luck," Nezu said, "It's clear someone knew they'd go there. It was scripted. Why would they have been in such a disreputable part of town anyway? Mos Eisley is no place for young heroes."

[That is the name of the Cantina in Star Wars: A New Hope. Seems fitting.]

"I didn't even know of the place at all," Ectoplasm commented.

"We can't just accuse them of planning it," 13 said, "If there's one thing I'll vouch for Likstar is that she wants the students to be safe.... If anything, she's overenthusiastic, as we all know. She'd never set this up. I think someone must have finked on them. Someone here..."

Silence.

"Our attempts to find the mole are still proving fruitless," Nezu said, "We may have to conclude the LOV has someone we don't know of, with telepathy quirk or some other reconnaissance ability."

"Terrifying," All Might muttered.

"I suppose no punishment will be necessary," Nezu decided, "But let's keep a careful watch on their goings and comings. See if anyone is following them."

The teachers agreed to this.

Aizawa thought, though, what else had they been doing? And didn't Likstar know about that? It wasn't helping. Was that really all they could do to stop this?

He pushed the kids harder in training to relieve his feelings afterward, but he felt no better.

He stopped by Recovery Girl's office to see Shine later.

She was healing up faster than expected, with Recovery Girl's help.

"Somehow you have more stamina than I'd expect," Recovery Girl told her, "I don't know how, with your build..."

"It's the power," Shine said, "I'm glad... I like you and all, but I don't want to live here."

"Well, you can go back to the dorms. Just be careful," Recovery Girl said.

"Ah, Aizawa, what do you want?" Shine asked, coming out of the room.

"Feeling better?" Aizawa said flatly.

"I am.... The kids have been in and out..." Shine said, "We were very protected, from what I understand. No permanent damage."

"That is fortunate," Aizawa said, "Any reason you know of why this attack happened?"

Shine narrowed her eyes. "This again?"

"It would be useful.... This isn't an accusation. We can't figure it out." Aizawa said.

Shine looked angry. She lowered her voice. "Aizawa, I am only going to say this once, and then I'm going to forget I said anything, but, here it is: The only person I told in this whole danged school that we were going out, other than you, was Nezu."

Silence.

"Make what you will of that," Shine said coldly, "I won't make any outrageous claims, personally. But you want answers? Try asking people with all the connections, not the ones who are stuck here 24/7." She walked away, stiffly because of her injuries.

Aizawa stared after her, feeling uneasy.

***

"Shine?" Momo said once she finally returned, "Thank goodness.... They wouldn't let us come disturb you, but we were all worried."

"Yeah..." Kirishima said, "I mean, it's good you pulled through."

"Ah, I only had a fever for a short time, Kiri," Shine said cheerfully, "I got off easy."

"Likstar!" Kaminari grabbed her. "Don't ever get hurt like that again..."

Shine almost choked up. "Wow...I did not expect this."

"It's just...no one around here is going to be as nice to me," Kaminari whimpered.

"Oh, stop whining," Jiro said to him. She looked Shine up and down. "Well, you'll live..."

"Glad to see you too, Jiro," Shine said nicely.

"So you're finally back," Bakugo said roundly, "Guess they didn't kill you after all."

"Bakugo!" Iida was shocked. "Don't talk to her like that."

Shine laughed. "It's fine, Iida. I know what he means. Likewise, Katsuki."

"Todoroki only got back an hour ago," Deku told her, "He hasn't said anything to us since.... I hope his dad wasn't too angry at him."

Shine didn't think Endeavor was.

"Oh, he's still here by the way," Sero said, "and he wanted to thank you in person.... He won't leave..."

"Where?" Shine didn't believe for a second Endeavor wanted to thank her.

"In the back..." Tsuyu pointed. "It's kind of intimidating to have him out there. You should go talk to him so he'll go away."

"Shine, you don't have to," Wally said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "He can wait."

"No, I'd rather not have to look forward to it." Shine touched his hand and then went outside.

Endeavor looked up. "They weren't lying about you getting banged up.... My condolences, I suppose."

"Thank you." Shine sat down in a lawn chair. "What did you want to ask me?"

Endeavor frowned. "What do you know about Dabi?"

...

Shine looked at him for a long moment. "I know he was the one who attacked us."

"You spoke to him. Shoto told me everything," Endeavor said.

That snitch!-- No, of course he would, Shine chided herself. It's not like he had any reason to think it was a secret.

"It's not the easiest thing for me to talk about," she stalled.

"Try." Endeavor was not sympathetic.

Shine sighed. "He told me the attack wasn't personal...that it was because the League wanted to make a statement." This was true-- he had told her that.

"Did he mention my son?" Endeavor said.

"No," Shine said. That was also true. "He didn't name any names, actually. I got the feeling they don't care who it is as much as who is upset by it."

"Then...why not Shoto...? He's the most upsetting one..." Endeavor said.

"Well, to you, sir, but to UA... it could be any of the top students," Shine said, "I can't tell you why they picked those three." She couldn't, after all.

"And you...why did they target you?" Endeavor said.

Shine was quiet, then she said, "Like I said, it wasn't personal.... I don't know all the reasons...but I imagine my connection to UA is at the top of the list."

That was true too.

"But not to my son?" Endeavor said.

Shine saw what he was worried about.

"Sir, do you have a reason to think Dabi would want to target your son?" she asked boldly.

Endeavor frowned. "No...other than he's targeted me..."

"That is interesting," Shine said, "Perhaps I ought to be asking you to tell me why this happened, then."

Endeavor scowled. "You're not a pro. You have no right to ask questions. I will do the asking here."

"Asking? Or telling?" Shine said, "Because this sounds like an order."

"You failed to protect my son," Endeavor said.

Shine stood up. "I didn't. He is alive. He was not targeted on purpose. He only got hurt because he played the hero. I don't fault him for that."

She didn't know Shoto was listening from his balcony to this.

"But I can't claim I failed here either, sir," she said, "He wasn't in danger like the rest of us were. I think we both know that.... The question you ought to ask is why."

Silence.

Endeavor stood. He towered over her. "Whatever you think you're implying, Likstar, let it lie. There are some things it's better not to know."

"I completely agree, sir," Shine frowned, "And things it is better not to ask."

"Yes," Endeavor said coolly, "Well, I expect to hear from you if anything suspicious arises. Expect the replacement for those phones by late today."

Shine blinked at him. "Is that you version of an apology and gratitude?"

"That will be all.." Endeavor walked away.

Shoto sighed. That could have gone a lot worse.

Shine sighed. That was way too close for comfort.

***

Shoto finally appeared around dinner time, but he acted depressed. Momo was upset too, though the girls tried to cheer her up.

Bakugo said he was fine...of course.

Camie called them to ask how they were... Shoto wouldn't talk to her-- he was still ashamed of himself.

Bakugo barely talked to her either, but Momo told her they were all okay. Camie didn't really seem to know what to say.

"Wow, she actually does care, huh?" Kirishima said to Bakugo after she hung up.

"Who knew? She's surprisingly sweet under that ditziness," Kaminari said, "Which is weird. The hot ones are almost never sweet too."

"Are you...blind?" Sero said to him, jerking his head at Momo.

"That's like, one in a million, dude," Kaminari said.

"You know..." Wally said, "In my experience, the whole 'if she's hot, she's not sweet thing' really doesn't apply to superheroes. It's way more spread out."

"Oh, really, man? That'd be great," Kaminari said.

"Pfft, still too good for you," Jiro sniffed.

"Jiro, lay off," Kaminari frowned.

"We should study," Kirishima said, "You joining us, Bakugo?"

"Whatever..." Bakugo got up and walked away.

"I...don't think he's okay..." Kirishima said.

"Well, can you blame him?" Sero said, "His not-girlfriend almost got killed. I'd feel bad too."

Shoto put down his chopsticks and stared at his food.

"All of you should study," Shine said. The students cleared out.

"You know, Jiro," Shine said, as she was leaving, "a word to the wise...a guy is never going to have the nerve to ask you out if he thinks you hate him."

Jiro gave her a dark look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, even if it's not a big deal to you, boys don't like to admit it, but they're sensitive," Shine said, "And even if you persist in denying it's a crush...I don't like how you talk to him. It's going too far. You need to cut back."

"Hey, that's none of your business," Jiro said defensively, "And you let Bakugo go off on everyone."

"Bakugo doesn't personally target people," Shine said, "He's stopped picking on Deku, from what I hear, so...yeah, not the same thing. No one takes him seriously. Think about it."

Jiro huffily walked away.

"She was starting to like you more too," Wally sighed, "But you're right... Poor Kaminari."

"I don't think he minds it as much, except it's discouraging," Shine said, "Anyway...this is a little much after yesterday."

"Shine...you know...if you need to talk about it...I'm here.... I mean, I'm not very good at it, but I'll try," Wally said.

Shine put her head in her hands. "Well...you know...I could take everything else...but it's just...those poor kids. They were so scared...and they were so close to dying."

"I know," Wally said.

"And I just...never ever wanted to see that again..." Shine said.

"I know." Wally rubbed her shoulder.

Shine started crying. "There was nothing I could do about it though..."

Wally wrapped her in a hug. "I think you did everything you could have. And hey, it's not like you did nothing.... You kept your head. Don't feel bad."

"But it wasn't enough, Wally..." Shine mumbled, "The deal was always such a risk...and it didn't work."

Wally was still mad at Dabi, but he pushed that aside for the moment. "I don't know, Shine... If you hadn't made that deal...well...maybe he wouldn't have let you go...and maybe that's why you survived."

"We wouldn't have been there if not for that deal."

"No...but they would have still attacked the kids...and there wouldn't have been anything to hold them back-- you know that. Isn't that why we did that to begin with? Trying to keep them safe longer? You did buy us time."

"Not enough," Shine sniffled.

"You don't know that... Honey, you've got to let this go," Wally said, "You can't blame yourself... Everyone knows you put everything on the line for these kids. I wish you'd get a little mad at Dabi instead. It's is fault. Blame the school...but stop saying it was you. I can't stand it."

"Your honest opinion is that it's not my fault?" Shine said.

"My honest opinion, I swear," Wally said.

Shine swallowed. "Well, I think you're biased...but, I'll take it... I'll try to let it go..."

"Thatta girl...and then, we'll kick Dabi's butt."

"No..." Shine sat up. "No...the thing is...we can't blame him either, you know. He was put up to it. I could tell."

"It was his choice," Wally said darkly, "Doesn't matter."

"It's no easy thing to go against the LOV," Shine said, "And...I am not sure what they may do to him. Like it or not, Wally, we owe him for this...for Momo too."

"You know..." Wally began...then stopped. "Okay...look, I want to punch in his teeth...but, in all fairness...yes, it could have been worse... I'll try to get over it...but don't expect me to be all chummy with the guy."

"Even if I could expect that, it's not likely we'll meet on friendly terms again," Shine sighed, "I only hope all this wasn't for nothing. That would humiliate me so much... I'm sure the kids already think so...too. I look like a fool... Not that it matters as much as keeping them safe, but don't we always feel worse about being wrong than we do about danger?"

"Shine, don't call people out like that..." Wally winced.

"I can't help it," Shine said.

"I know." He kissed her forehead. "But maybe give it a rest for now. Try to focus on recovery. I was really, really freaked out when I got that call."

Shine patted his shoulder. "We both know the risks...but is it bad if I was really, really sorry you didn't come with us?"

Wally laughed dryly. "No...that's really good... So was I."

Shine laughed just as dryly. "Let's try to avoid being separated again."

***

About an hour later, Shine was going to head to bed when Midnight and 13 showed up at the door.

"Hello..." 13 said, "We...uh... came to ask if you'd like to join us... We're going off campus."

"You...are?" Shine had never seen any of the other Pros leave.

Midnight sniffed. "You don't think we live here all the time, do you?"

"No, but...why are you asking me?" Shine said.

"Oh...well...we wanted to cheer you up," 13 said, "All of us know how it probably feels to go through that with the students... We have to stick together, you know."

Shine stared at them. "Uh...give me a second to ask Wally."

She shut the door. "Wally, they want me to go out for girls' night."

"For real?" Wally said, "Wow.... Are you going to go?"

"I really don't want to go out tonight, but I feel like if I pass this up, my window is gone..." Shine said, "And it seems mean to turn them down when they put themselves out there."

"Then go, but," Wally gave her a look, "if Midnight tries to take you to a strip club...don't go in."

"As if I would." Shine made a face. "But, yes...trust me, I'm just as skeptical as you are."

She opened the door. "Give me a minute to change clothes, okay...? Uh, we're aren't going to a strip club, right?"

"You want to?" Midnight said hopefully.

"I will literally vanish if you do that," Shine said.

"Then, no, we'll just go to plain, boring old bar, Midnight said.

"Bar?" Shine said.

"Yeah...that's normal, right?" 13 said.

Shine swallowed. "Uh...okay.... I'll be right there." She shut the door. "Wally...the only bars I've been to were to bust criminals or do required homework field trips..."

"Bars are boring," Wally said, "but it's no big, just watch your step."

"Right..." Shine sighed.

She put on a dress and good shoes and jewelry, then rejoined them.

"Is that really what you're wearing?" Midnight said.

"13 is in a spacesuit!" Shine said.

"Because she doesn't have a choice. What about you?" Midnight said.

"Midnight, I am this close to changing my mind," Shine said.

"Well, if you really want to--" began Midnight.

"Ah, it's okay. She looks fine," 13 said, "Not everyone has your style, Midnight, right? Let's just go."

They met Mt. Lady at the bar... Shine felt pretty out of place, and the ladies didn't make a lot of effort to talk to her at first, but once they were seated, Midnight said, "Sheesh, relax Likstar. You look like a highschooler sneaking out for the first time."

"Hmm, this isn't my crowd," Shine said.

"No kidding, because you're a stiff," Midnight said. She turned to Mt. Lady. "I mean, look at what she's wearing... You know, I've told Likstar before, if she doesn't change it up and show some skin, her man'll lose interest."

"Oh, really, that's too mean." Mt. Lady was laughing.

13 looked uncomfortable.

Shine had had it with Midnight. She leaned forward, took a deliberate sip of her water, and then said. "Well, Midnight, at least I have a man."

Silence.

Mt. Lady laughed. "Ah, she got you..."

"Shut up!" Midnight raged, "The only reason I don't have a man is because I don't want one, you understand me? I could get any man I want."

"Ah, but you can't keep any man you want," Mt. Lady said nastily.

"You want to fight, again? I don't think it went so well for you last time," Midnight threatened her.

"What do you mean? I definitely won that fight. I'm a lot younger than you, after all," Mt. Lady said.

"Oh no..." 13 sighed, "This could be a while."

"Are you and Kamui even official yet? You've got no reason to act so high and mighty," Midnight kept arguing.

"At least we have something to not be official about," Mt. Lady retorted.

"I regret starting this," Shine sighed, putting her forehead in her hands.

"Ah, don't worry about it. This was inevitable until they have more drinks," 13 said.

Shine rolled her eyes.

"I know you're, ah, religious. Sorry, I guess this wasn't the best place," 13 said, "You can't drink and all."

"Oh, it's not against my religion to drink," Shine said, "But Wally can't really drink, so we never go to bars. There are better places to dance if you want to do that. Plus I hate strobe lights and loud sounds because of my enhanced sensitivity... More importantly, I have alcoholism in my family, and I stay away from the stuff as a principle...but I don't care if the rest of you want to have fun with it... I can't hear myself think in here though."

"You strike me as the type of woman who'd rather be walking in the park in the moonlight and talking about books," 13 said.

"Am I that transparent?" Shine laughed, "Well...usually we walk in the day time...and talk about movies.... What can I say? Wally and I are romantics."

"Eh, you are lucky to have such a nice man though," 13 said, "They're hard to come by, especially if you have a hero's schedule."

"Our schedule is pretty tight too, but you make the time," Shine said.

She and 13 had a nice conversation for a while until the other two finally stopped arguing. Like 13 said, it took having some more drinks for them.

Midnight even was more mellow to Shine after a few. Shine ignored her for the most part.

"You know what I think it is though," Mt. Lady said to Shine, a little tipsy, "I think Midnight is just jealous of you. I mean, you command respect with that no-nonsense aura of yours, and the students like you, and you've got a boyfriend. And you're, what, 20 years younger than her?"

"I'm sure it's less than that," Shine said. [It's 11 years.]

"Hey, shut up. I'm not jealous..." Midnight said vaguely.

"Just ignore her," 13 told Shine, "She's probably not sure what she's saying."

Shine laughed nervously.