Walking Contradiction:

I'm not coming over. Stop asking.

Scarred Mess:
Yes. You will. We need to talk and you knw it Shoto.
*know

Walking Contradiction:
I refuse. If you think you can force me to come, you're welcome to try, Fujimura.

Scarred Mess:
Oh, this is hilarious Shoto... Seriously, you're making me laugh. And here I thought you had no sense of humor. Get over here.

Walking Contradiction:
I'm not sure I understand you, Fujimura. I wasn't joking. I know for a fact that you can't physically force me to your home. It's simply a fact. Though, as I said, I welcome you to try.

Scarred Mess:
You really think that? If you think I'd hesitate for a second to tell your mom what you were doing with the League of Idiots, then you've got another thing coming. Hasame knows, and in a heartbeat, Rei'll know too. Now get your two-toned ass to my apartment or I'll track down your siblings and let them know what you've been up to just for the heck of it.

Walking Contradiction:
...

Scarred Mess:
Aizawa would love to hear about my story, don't you think?

Walking Contradiction:
...

Scarred Mess:
Seriously Shoto, did you forget about what happened in Kamino?

Walking Contradiction:
Fine, I'll be there in thirty minutes.

Naoko sighed as she pushed open her door, technically, she was still on 'mandatory' bed rest, the people at the hospital really wanted to make sure that she stayed in bed... and knowing them, they also believed that they instant Naoko stepped foot out of the house, she would be kidnapped again, or step into the middle of a street fight, or hey, maybe a sinkhole would open up beneath her because she was that disaster-prone.

The worst part of all of it? She was starting to agree with them!

Seriously, it had been a few months since school started, and yet she'd gone from ending up in the hospital every now and then because she was an idiot, to being kidnapped and nearly killed by a supervillain.

Really, Naoko wasn't sure if this was an upgrade or a downgrade... And at this point, she was scared to ask.

But basically being on house arrest (and technically bedrest) had really given her and Naoko and Hasame time to think about some things, and argue about others.

One major thing that had worked on by the two of them was Naoko's room. Thanks to Momo (who they were beginning to revere) Naoko could now sleep through the night without her room beginning to look like a failed chemical experiment. Hasame finally contacted the building manager to inform her about the carnage her niece brought to the perfectly good room.

The manager had been, understandably, horrified, and immediately demanded to know why Hasame hadn't told them about this when the problem first started. Which... Was a funny story. Hasame knew that Naoko probably wouldn't do well sleeping at home with no assistance, but both of them had been taken aback by the ferocity with which her quirk had... lashed out?

Not that either of them had a way to stop it, but the morning after her first day living in the apartment, Hasame cried when she saw that the dresser she had shared with Reo when they were kids had been all but evaporated in a single night.

It wasn't her finest moment, but that early morning was the closest she came to giving Naoko away like a puppy that you suddenly realized was too much for you to handle.

Naoko had been ashamed, but she still stopped Hasame from getting the manager. "No." That was all she'd been able to say with how newly deaf she was, "No."

This would just keep happening, there was no point in fixing the hole right now.

But now they were getting their life back together. Less than a week after the Kamino disaster, and they were hard at work, mixing and pouring concrete back into the building's foundation, scraping liquified plaster off the wall. Some areas just needed new drywall, and others needed insulation.

There was a long way to go still, they basically were rebuilding Naoko's room, which meant retexturing the walls and ceiling, fixing the messed up wiring, doing carpeting. It was a lot of work, but this felt better. Like they had turned a new leaf, so perhaps it was no surprise that Hasame swore quite loudly when Shoto showed up finally (long past the thirty minutes he told Naoko). She didn't want to deal with this traitorous ass, even if she understood his reasoning just as well as Naoko did.

She couldn't blame him... Well, she could, he was the reason Naoko was nearly killed more than once after all, but she wasn't going to. 

No, blaming Endeavor for literally everything was both easier and far more cathartic.

Shoto stared at Hasame, and Hasame stared right back before she muttered something about being driven to alcoholism or something like that before turning around and walking back down the hall where... Was that hammering? Maybe he was a bit slow, but hadn't Naoko been severely injured in the attack?

And... was that dust coming out of her room? Just what was going on here?

Before he could get too worried, Naoko emerged, still heavily bandaged and bruised... and also covered in a slight layer of white dust? Shoto was both confused and concerned, which was an odd mix for him. "... Naoko? Are you alright?"

Hasame sniggered as she walked past Naoko into the room, patting her niece on the shoulder as she passed. Naoko rolled her eyes, but walked out, staring Shoto down as she approached from the hall, "Glad you came," She said with the smallest of miles playing at her lips, "I was starting to think you'd chicken out."

It was such a simple thing, but the way her eyes mocked him made his hands clench. He came here of his own accord, and while he was aware he had earned a certain amount of her ire, he truly didn't want to stand here if he was going to be mocked the entire time, he was more than willing to leave, blackmail or no.

"What do you want, Fujimura?" He snapped, looking anywhere but at Naoko.

A rather... Derisive scoff echoed from down the hall, which only made Shoto's glare deepen. He was on thin ice, he had to remember that.

Naoko shook her head, "Seriously? You have to ask?" She rolled her eyes before turning around, "You know what? This seems like the perfect conversation to have while I have a hammer in my hand. You screwed me over, you get to help me fix my room for today, come on."

With that she walked back as Shoto stared at her back, torn between wondering if he should run now and being amused that she was so chill about this.

It was odd to think that out of all Class 1-A, Shoto arguably knew Naoko best, yet he was the last one to see her room (Barring Mineta, who was far too scared of Naoko to get anywhere near her). As he walked in, his eyes widened at the appearance, white dust was covering everything and there was a wheelbarrow full of wet cement in the corner. So many questions filled Shoto's mind, but before he could decide whether it was safe enough for him to ask any of them, a pair of pliers were handed to him.

Naoko smiled sweetly, far too sweetly for him, "You get to be on carpet duty, the edges have nails, so use this and pull them up. Watch out, they're... deceptive little buggers if you're not expecting them."

Yet another snort came from Hasame, who shot Naoko a smile from where she was putting back on her mask, an electric saw in her hands, "It's true," She said wickedly, "They'll really stab you in the back if you give them a chance."

So this was Shoto's life for the next few hours, was it?

He spent about five seconds grumbling to himself under his breath, which both Fujimura's noticed, but chose to ignore, before dropping down at the other side of the room and fighting with the carpet, which had long since fused with the wall.

A relatively heavy metal object smacked into the back of his head just as he was getting frustrated with the half-melted carpet. His head whipped around and he stared shocked at Hasame and Naoko who were both trying to stop themselves from laughing, "What was that for?" He said, irritation growing even further

Naoko, whose hand was still out in the act of throwing, only sniggered as she maintained eye contact, "Oh, I don't know." She shrugged, "I just thought you might need something to get the carpet out."

There was so much passive aggression in the room that Shoto wanted nothing more than to choke, but he simply grumbled harder to himself and began using the knife. The carpet was glued to the wall so he basically ended up taking chunks of plaster as he pried up the edges.

No one spoke for almost an hour. Naoko was busy tearing out the sheetrock that was beyond repair to expose the slightly ruined insulation beneath it, Hasame was sanding the top layers off the walls to see what was salvageable and what wasn't, and Shoto was on the ground, doing his darndest to pull up the carpet. 

Ir was absolutely one of the hardest things he had ever done.

His whole life was filled with training; honing his quirk and his ability to fight, but little else. His father made sure that they had employees to take care of any menial task that needed to be done, so yeah, this whole thing, tearing apart a room so it could be fixed, was new to him. It was genuinely hard work, and after just that single hour he was sweating.

The worst part? He'd only been able to tear out a small corner of the room's carpet.

It felt like a failure, but when Naoko tapped him on the shoulder, tearing him out of his battle with the floor covering, he wanted to shove her off. It felt like a failure, but also a challenge to his non-existent handyman abilities... He wanted to prevail and beat this ugly, dirty cream carpet that had probably been shaggy carpet at one point in its life.

"You doing okay there, buddy?" She asked when he tried to shake her off, "You know the carpet's not going anywhere. Come on, Hasame was going to make coffee, and we should probably grab some water. If you pass out here, it'll be your own fault."

That seemed to do it, Shoto stood, staggering a little as the blood rushed back to his feet, which had long since fallen asleep.

"You really got into that, didn't you?" Naoko was grinning like a Cheshire cat as she walked out of the room behind him, shaking her head. Shoto was acting like a kicked puppy that was being dragged away from its favorite bone.

They followed the rich scent of coffee into the kitchen, where Hasame was standing as she filled cups with shots of expresso (It's not unhealthy to live off of expresso, right? Absolutely nothing can go wrong when you're basically keeping yourself functional with caffeine?). Shoto's only had one shot as Hasame mixed in a dollop of cream and filled the rest of the mug with milk, but both Hasame's and Naoko's were almost entirely made out of expresso... Only the smallest bit of sugar entered their cups.

It was something that intimidated Shoto as much as it impressed him.

"Okay, kid," She said as she draped herself back into the kitchen chair waiting for her, "Naoko doesn't know how to bring this up, so here I am, biting the bullet and solving yet another problem for her."

The look Naoko shot Hasame at that moment was nothing short of venomous as she swiped up her coffee and sat across from Hasame, leaving the seat in between them Shoto's only choice, "Excuse you?" Naoko snapped, "Just because I didn't say something right away doesn't mean I needed your help."

Shoto sat gingerly and gripped his coffee to him, suppressing the urge to either run for the door or just cry. He hated that these two were so intimidating to him, but they were. He was helpless to do anything besides stare into the light brown steaming coffee that Hasame had thrown together remarkably fast.

"Oh?" Hasame was absolutely taunting Naoko, "Then how about you put your money where your mouth is, Naoko."

Instead of the explosion that Shoto was genuinely expecting, Naoko simply leaned back and took a deep sip of her coffee, rolling her eyes, "Why do I even put up with you?" Hasame snorted and followed suit, ignoring the situation for just a moment as she blew on her coffee, obviously not ready to drink.

"Okay Shoto," Naoko said, finally turning her attention back to her classmate, "So, first thing's first, do you want to keep working for the League?"

So, they were going to start with the hard-hitting questions then, were they?

Shoto swallowed hard. He had been thinking about this for the last week without much stopping. It was a complicated thing. He wanted to say no, and just shrug and go on with his life, but the people in the league knew about him, and they would only gain by outing him... And just disappearing wouldn't work too well with the money and influence his father held as the new number 1.

"..." He didn't know what to say.

Naoko nodded, as though this was exactly what she expected him to do, "Hmm... You really put yourself in a hard position, didn't you?"

And that was the last thing Shoto needed to be reminded of right now. "Yes, thank you. I never would have known that if you didn't tell me." His tone was so dry that the desert seemed humid in comparison... It really was a shame Naoko couldn't hear to appreciate it.

"Well then, do you want to get caught and go to jail?"

The reaction this thought brought was visceral. Shoto's jaw clenched and his knuckles whitened around the coffee mug. That was an easy answer. "No." He managed to get out between clenched teeth, "I want to be a hero."

He really did. His actions may say otherwise, but he wanted to help people. He didn't want people to think of him and think of a traitor that sold out his class.

A quick hand signal was exchanged between Hasame and Naoko while Shoto continued to stare into his mug. Hasame wasn't the happiest with this idea, but she would accept it. If she absolutely had to.

For now, Naoko's plan seemed so much safer than her continuing to attend UA.

Naoko smiled, just ever so slightly as she saw Hasame's interpreting what Shoto said.

Let it never be said that Naoko was an ambitious individual. She was actually rather... the opposite if you haven't noticed that already, so it wasn't like she had some crazy plans, but there were ideas bouncing around. "Shoto?" She said, looking at Hasame to make sure he hadn't said something, "Do remember me mentioning vigilantes?"

It felt like they were back in the factory, Shoto staring at Naoko in shock as she lay helplessly against the wall, bruised and exhausted.

At the moment, he hadn't even considered for a second that she was serious when she asked him about vigilantes, but now, looking at the smile she was shooting him, seeing the very rare fire that was lit behind her eyes, he couldn't help but think she was going to go through with this.

"Yes...?" He wasn't sure what he wanted to hear from this.

Naoko nodded before leaning back and looking at the door, "Well good. The bad news is, you've forever tainted your ability to be a hero. You could go along, pretending to be a normal hero, and heck, you might get pretty far doing that, but sooner or later the news will get out and no one will be able to trust you again, no matter how good you are up until that point."

The way she said it was so ominous but true. He'd be lucky to not spend years in jail after this.

"The good news is, there's a lot more grey area in the world than we think. I mean, there's a reason Stain got as many followers as he did."

Aaannnddd, there was another event that had Shoto clenching up. His heart beat a little faster, and he could feel his breath catching in his throat. He could still see that man's grin in the dim light. It haunted his dreams, as much as he hated to admit it.

His moment of dipping out of the moment didn't go unnoticed by the two women, both of whom simply took said moment to basically inhale their coffee as they watched Shoto. They had one person who had bad, damaging panic attacks, they didn't need a second person actively destroying their apartment.

"Wh-what's your plan?" His voice was ragged, which Hasame picked up on immediately. Naoko just noticed how badly he started shaking the moment Stain's name was mentioned (this boy needed some serious counseling).

It was concerning to see this amount of fear from her normally stoic classmate, but at least he had dragged himself out. Naoko leaned forward across the table to Shoto and laid a hand on his arm, "Well then, unless you want to come clean to the world now, join me... Granted, I'm still working on things and trying to figure them out for myself, but all you would have to do would be keep going to UA until I figure it out."

Shoto's eyes shot to Naoko, confusion filling him. How would that help anything? She just said that... You know what? Never mind. He'd either let her explain herself or walk out when she said something stupid... Whichever came first.

***

Aizawa and All Might had been absolutely dreading coming to this house. Besides the Bakugou's, Midoriya's, Shinso's, and Yaoyorozu's... The four who had joined the ill-advised rescue team with Hasame Fujimura.

Their families had been understanding, Ms. Bakugou had even encouraged the teachers to keep being hard on her 'brat' of a kid so he could become even better. Ms. Midoriya had been hesitant to let Izuku continue at UA, but eventually, even she conceded. The Shinso's had been... Really odd. They were just excited that pro-heroes were in their house, and Mr. Shinso quickly introduced himself as one of the surgeons who helped to save Eraserheads life after the USJ. Eraserhead had brought up the idea of transferring Shinso into the hero course, and the whole household seemed to lose its breath. It was amusing to watch, and even better because they were far happier to see him than they were to see All Might.

But now they were going to the Fujimura's. The girl who had ended up in the hospital more than once and the one who's guardians had physically threatened them to do better keeping their girl safe.

Perhaps it was a stretch to say this, but it looked like UA had failed spectacularly at that...

And now they were walking into her apartment complex.

It was absolutely terrifying, but the heroes bore it well, breathing in and trying not to freak out. It was only a week after the whole incident and Naoko hadn't been seen or heard from since the students went to see her.

Nezu told everyone that she was fine- Aizawa was scared to ask how he knew that- but not to expect her to come back any time soon.

Mic was practically begging him to go into counseling at this point, but Aizawa was far too stubborn for that. It was a flaw of his that he knew about, and was completely unwilling to do anything about.

"Do you think they'll throw us out?" All Might asked Aizawa, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. He was far more scared than anyone should be, especially as the former number one.

Aizawa snorted for a moment and shook his head, "I wouldn't put it past them." The basement hallway that led to the Fujimura's was cartoonishly long, but before they could even get halfway to the door, it burst open, a cloud of smoke billowing out along with the two people they had dreaded talking to.

"I told you we needed to get an electrician." Naoko choked out in between coughs as she hunched over, her hands on her knees.

The heroes tensed up, looking into the apartment for flames, but Hasame noticed them first, "Don't worry, nothings actively on fire." She was on the floor, heaving out breaths as the acrid smell of electrical smoke filled the hall.

Naoko nodded, glaring at her aunt, "Yeah, because I was there to liquefy the problem before we shorted out the entire building." Her green eyes watered and were slightly bloodshot as she rubbed at them aggressively. "You know, it's probably a good thing you're quirkless, you would've killed yourself by now otherwise."

Hasame's eyes shot to Naoko, who was still trying to stop her eyes from stinging.

For reference, this snap only was happening because they'd been working on Naoko's room for the last week since she had gotten out. Hasame's work had forced her to take time off to care for her niece (let's be real here, they only cared because Naoko had ended up in the news internationally), and Naoko was on house arrest... In other words, they were quickly getting sick of each other's presence and things had become tenser the longer they were forced to be in the same area.

"Excuse me?" Hasame's tone was lethal as she glared at her niece, who was- conveniently- not looking. The pro-heroes were so excited to be in the middle of this rather fun fight.

In a single heartbeat, Hasame was on her feet and had Naoko pinned against the wall, her fingers firmly gripping Naoko's ear in a hold that had Naoko yelping. Quirkless though she may be, Naoko really should have known better than to antagonize her. The pained resignation in her eyes told a rather telling tale of this kind of thing happening before.

Hasame was simply growling beneath her breath as she glared at Naoko, who glared right back.

"What?" Naoko was usually decent about knowing when to shut up around Hasame, but that survival instinct seemed to completely die because, once again, she had cabin fever, "Are you seriously saying I'm wrong? My luck has practically melted the building, yours would definitely be lethal."

Anyone who isn't a parent, or a parental figure might not understand this, but it can be totally common to want to kill your kid. Maybe not have daydreams about it, but it definitely crosses your mind every now and then. Any parent looking at Hasame at this moment would instantly recognize the look of someone who had to remind themselves that it wasn't, in fact, legal to murder.

"Hmmm..." Hasame smiled, but her eyes promised torture that had All Might stepping back hesitantly, "Just for that, I think I won't hire an electrician. You get to do it, and if you screw up, you're the one to blame. Sound good?"

With that she stepped away, leaving Naoko to rub her ear and stare at the ground, belatedly aware of her mistake.

"So what can I do for the two of you?" Hasame turned to the teachers, that terrifying smile still on her face, "Something tells me this won't just be idle chatter."

All Might could feel his heart racing. He had fought hundreds of villains throughout the years, but for some reason, mothers (or mother figures) were far more terrifying than any bad guy. He couldn't move, and the sudden sigh from Aizawa just confused him. He looked down to see the man rolling his eyes up at him... It was both offensive and confusing at the same time... What did he even do?!

Aizawa stepped forward, a bag held out in front of him, "I brought coffee, could we talk?"

That seemed to be the magic phrase, as if on cue, both Hasame and Naoko lit up and exchanged looks, "Fine," Hasame grumbled before turning around and walking back into the fumigated, but still smelly, apartment, "If it's something cheap like Folgers, I'm throwing you out."

Naoko shook her head and followed, rubbing her ears and hunching her shoulders ever so slightly.

Aizawa followed quickly shaking his head, a slight smile playing around his mouth as All Might stood shocked for a half a second before following, "What's wrong with Folgers?"

***

The room was quiet and tense as the four gathered around the table. An extra chair had been sourced from the room over as coffee was made (no, Aizawa didn't bring the cheap stuff. He knew his coffee far too well to make that mistake), and now Hasame was glaring at the table while All Might struggled to not fidget in his chair.

"So, let me get this straight," Naoko was taking the lead on this one because she had some understanding of what Hasame would say if she was given a chance, "You want the students to live on campus in boarding houses to make them safer?"

It made some amount of sense, but there were a few minor issues that had Hasame blurting out her objections, "Even though the only attacks have been on school premises, or during school-sanctioned activities?" She was fuming and ready to kill at this point. Not only was she trapped at home, but now she had to deal with this paper-thin, bullshit reasoning, "You really think that you can protect anyone when it has been your students that have had to save you time and time again?"

All Might probably would have tried to answer this, seeing as how he was the one the villains were actually targeting, but Aizawa shook his head. The man was beloved by most of the world, but Aizawa had heard both Rei and Hasame's opinion of the former Number 1. His interjection would not go well.

"You aren't wrong," He said, tilting his head towards Hasame, "UA has placed the students of Class 1-A in positions no child should have to be in. They've been through shit that some pro heroes haven't seen. But we're afraid that the league will begin changing tactics. The last thing we want is for the kids to be singled out and attacked while at home or on the streets where they have no protection. The other parents have agreed, and we're hoping that you will too... Especially with Naoko being targeted so directly."

It wasn't the most... tactful of answers, to be sure, but Aizawa didn't really know any other way. He wanted to make sure what happened at the camp never happened again.

He wanted to make sure that Naoko never smiled at him like that again.

He would give his life to make sure she stayed safe... As well as the others.

A coffee mug slammed on the table as Hasame glared at Aizawa, madder than even Naoko had ever seen her, "Oh? So I'm just supposed to let Naoko go off with you guys into the sunset to become a hero?" The word was spat out, as though it was a vile curse, "Where I'll probably never see her again because your protection will have gotten her killed?"

The room was deathly silent, with tension in the air so thick, that not even a knife could cut it.

"I'm sorry."

Naoko could see none of this, Aizawa's head was bowed, but he was apologizing to her just as much as he was apologizing to Hasame, "We... No, I've failed Naoko. She's been a good kid, but it's my fault that she's been through so much. I was assigned to class 1-A not only to teach them, but also to keep them safe, and so far I've failed. It's been an honor to watch Naoko get control over her quirk and get past things she never should have been subjected to in the first place."

He looked up, staring at Hasame, who was slightly taken aback by the guilt that flowed from him.

Naoko was completely lost, but even she was wondering if she needed to open the liquor cabinet that Hasame thought she hid so well.

"You have no reason to trust me, but I want nothing more than to help her grow into the best hero she can be... And believe me, Naoko has the potential to be the best damn hero out there. Perhaps not the strongest, but her heart is in the right place., and she's more logical about her attacks than basically everyone in the class.

It seemed like a harsh criticism, but when you realized that one was an emotionally constipated pomeranian who blew up from time to time (both literally and figuratively), one was a... You know what? No. Most of them were emotionally damaged in one way or another, and the rest were just reckless.

Aizawa cringed as he thought through his class, he could already hear the complaints his students would be receiving for the rest of their careers... It was enough to make him want a nap.

Hasame was taken aback by this sudden penitent behavior. She stared at Aizawa, wondering if the electrical fumes had gotten to her and she was now hallucinating."Um..."

It was a fun thing to watch for the deaf person in the room as Hasame stared at Naoko's teacher, especially since Naoko had no idea what was going on... So much fun. With a groan, Naoko stood from her chair, abandoning the coffee, which was actually pretty good, and walked to the cabinet that she was normally forbidden from going near.

Hasame would die if she knew that Naoko kept track of this cabinet and how many bottles were taken out.

That's not to say that Hasame was a heavy drinker... But... Times were really stressful lately.

The tension was so high in the room than no one really paid mind to Naoko until three bottles were set heavily on the table. "This is your cheaper stuff, right Hasame?"

A moment of silence passed before Hasame processed this, "Naoko!" She hissed out, her face draining of any color.

"What?" The girl responded, "You're all stressed, and none of you are legible for me to read right now, so have some of this, it smells gross, but I'm not here to judge." No one moved, "Fine, take them as you want them. Aizawa?" She said, staring intently at her teacher, " I'm not going back to UA."

Oh, it was a fun day to watch facial expressions. Every eye in the room shot to her as she grabbed her coffee mug. If they got to drink cheap Shochu to deal with this, then Naoko got to have another cup of coffee or ten. 

There was about the space of about a minute where her back was turned, which the adults all avoided eye contact as they grabbed bottles and cracked them open. Even they knew they would need extra help to get through this fun conversation.

"Okay," Naoko said, plopping back down carefully as to not spill the coffee, "Let's get this over with. Aizawa, All Might, I'm not going back to UA. I... Well, things have happened there that I can't stop seeing. I was singled out and now people think I'm a... Menace to the public."

She wasn't an idiot, she knew that people were mad that she killed people. Ever since the news had broke in the press release, it was something that kept cropping up. Sure, All Might retiring took the cake, but still. It was a topic that nearly every news outlet had covered. She hated it.

She hated it.

"But I mean, that's not all. Hasame's been through a lot, more so since I started at UA." She smiled sheepishly and shot a look at Hasame, who only looked down into her bottle, "I know she's afraid that if I go back, she'll never see me again. I... I'm not stupid. I was seen on international television liquifying the head of a defeated villain. I probably painted a target on my back.

For the first time, All Might perked up, "That's even more reason for you to stay with UA. You would have more protection there than anywhere else. We could ensure your safety, Young Fujimura."

Technically, that was true... UA was probably the safest place for anyone with a target...Unless she wanted to move into Endeavor's hero agency, which would come with the perk of mocking the flaming trash heap anytime she felt like it. It would have the downside of having to deal with said flaming trash heap all the time, which absolutely wasn't worth it.

A sad smile played across Naoko's mouth as she shook her head, "Could you? Unfortunately, I can't take that risk."

No way in hell was she going to tell them about her spiral into vigilanteism, but nothing she said was technically false either.

There was a beat of silence as Naoko stared at her teachers. They made good points, but she had other plans. Hasame was drinking heavily out of her bottle, which could not be good for her, but the poor woman was in a tough spot. She knew why Naoko couldn't go back.

Well... Technically Naoko could probably go back until she actively started being a vigilante, but she had other plans... Most of which were half-formed at best, but the least she could do would be to help Hasame keep this place up and running.

"Being a hero was always something I wanted to do to stop people from hurting the same way we did... But going to UA helped open my eyes." Something akin to concern sparked in Aizawa's eyes as he stared at her, but she simply smiled in response.

Her coffee was set down gently as she smiled at Hasame, who was avoiding eye contact like the plague.

It was really a good thing that Naoko was the one in charge of this... Which is a statement that seemed counterintuitive with how often Naoko ran her mouth?

"I can be a hero in so many ways, I don't really need a license to help people and make the world better."

There, that should be disarming enough. Hopefully, her words wouldn't cue Aizawa in...

All Might sat forward, the bottle gripped tightly, "But what about the target on your back?" He asked, "What would you do if the League of Villains, or someone else, comes for you or Hasame?"

It was a valid point. But, Naoko had no plans to sit around idly, "Oh," She shrugged, unable to keep the grin off her face, "I guess I'll have to burn that bridge when I come to it, won't I?"That garnered her several odd looks from her teachers, but she simply closed her eyes, the words of an old, but amazing song running through her head.

"History has its eyes on you."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyone notice that I've been watching Hamilton recently? Yep... She's my Alexander Hamilton!

Also, I'm probably going to have another chapter or so of Life Shots before I move on to the final arc. Is there anything y'all want to see from Naoko or the others? I'll write anything suggested so long as it won't be covered in the next arc!