If you were to ask anyone in Class 1A, they would say that Momo Yaoyorozu was the smartest student amongst them, amongst both hero classes, and most likely amongst the entire first year population. Even Bakugou would begrudgingly admit that she was intelligent. She excelled in every field of academics and was always the most astute student in any of her classes. Today however, she was admittedly a bit distracted.

It wasn't that All Might's lesson didn't capture her interest or that she was having trouble understanding the focus of the training exercise. No, she was distracted by (L/N). Even though they were on speaking terms once more, and that she was fairly certain she was the only person amongst their class he ever remotely opened up to, she still knew almost nothing about him. He remained as much of a mystery to her as he did to everyone else.

"Oh my gosh! He's such a hunk!" Ashido squealed as they watched his group compete in All Might's race.

"I know, right?" Hakagure agreed. "Even his kimono does nothing to hide his muscles."

"Yeah, but he's not really boyfriend material, is he?" Kaminari suggested, sidling up next to the girls. "Doesn't exactly have that charismatic charm." He added with a wink.

"But that just makes him all the more attractive." Ashido said, ignoring Kaminari. "The lone wolf thing totally works for him."

"Yeah, but he hasn't even said so much as two words to anyone." Mineta said, butting his way into the conversation. "He doesn't talk to anyone other than Yaoyorozu."

"What, Yaomomo?"

"Yeah, I see the two of them cozying up together in the hallways all the time." Mineta said darkly. "She even lets him hold onto her arm."

Ashido and Hakagure immediately looked over at their classmate as Mineta mumbled on about how unfair life was. In no time at all the two girls were upon their friend.

"Tell us what he's like." Hakagure begged. "Has he told you anything about himself? What color are his eyes?"

"You never told us you two were an item." Mina whined. "That's no fair, I saw him first!"

"No, it's nothing like that." Yaoyorozu said defensively, raising her hands in front of her. "He's just... well, I don't know if 'friend' is the right word."

"Boyfriend?" Ashido nearly cried.

"No! He's not my boyfriend."

"So, I still have a chance then?" The pinkette smiled mischievously.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Yaoyorozu said unintentionally.

Ashido gasped. "So you are trying to get with him!" She shouted accusingly.

"No, no, I just..."

"You just what?"

"Nothing." Yaoyorozu said, growing weary of the conversation. "It's nothing. He's all yours."

Ashido eyed Yaoyorozu suspiciously, but eventually settled down. She hadn't meant to upset her friend, honest. And she wasn't implying that she had any romantic interest in him either. Curiosity, maybe. Intrigue, most definitely. But she wasn't crushing on him. No, that would be ridiculous. Even if she did like him in that way, she was pretty sure he was already spoken for.

(F/N), Kendo had called him. (F/N), not (L/N). There was history there. History that no one seemed to know about. And neither of them seemed open to talking about it. At least, (L/N) certainly wasn't, given how he had pretended not to hear her when she brought it up as they were walking to the training fields. But he had acted so cold towards her. So, unforgiving. Perhaps they weren't a couple. Exes, maybe? It really wasn't any of her business, she supposed, but still, Yaoyorozu couldn't help but wonder.

"Hey, if you girls are done fawning over (L/N), maybe you'll see he's not as great as you all think." Mineta said triumphantly, pointing at the monitor.

Looking at the screen, they noticed (L/N) was in dead last behind the other four. While Hakagure and Ashido started encouraging him to take the lead, Yaoyorozu found it rather strange. Even though Ururaka, Todoroki, Asui, and Tokoyami all had excellent mobility, none of them had the clear advantage (L/N) possessed. He was the only one who could take to the skies. And from what Yaoyorozu remembered about his quirk, he should have been able to easily sense where All Might was. It should have been an effortless victory for him, but for whatever reason, he seemed content to simply fly at a leisurely pace, and only relatively in the direction of his goal. Maybe Kendo had been right. Maybe he had exhausted himself during the incident in Kanagawa and still hadn't recovered. Or maybe he just didn't care.

[My Hero Academia]

"Excellent work, all of you!" All Might congratulated. "I can certainly see how much you've all improved. But this exercise wasn't just a chance to demonstrate your growth. It was also for you to see which areas still need work. I'm sure each of you noticed something you could have done a little better on, so be sure to make note of it, and push yourself to go beyond. That's it for today. You're all dismissed."

The students of Class 1A grouped together in their collection of friends, discussing their performances and each other's improvement. They grouped around Sero, Todoroki, Bakugou, and Jiro, congratulating them on their impressive victories. Kirishima gave Bakugou a friendly punch on the shoulder as they departed, the others following the two back to the main campus.

As always, (L/N) was waiting for the rest of the class to get a good head start before following at a distance. Yaoyorozu had stayed behind as well to walk with him while Mina, unbeknownst to her, glared enviously at the pair. Momo was just about to offer her arm when their teacher's voice caused them to pause.

"Ah, I'm glad you two are still here." He said. "I'd nearly forgotten, Principal Nezu asked me to deliver this to the two of you."

In his arms was a decently sized filing box, though compared to All Might's massive frame, it looked comically small. (L/N) hesitantly accepted the box with a look of confusion.

"What is this?" He asked.

"Why, it's fan mail of course!" All Might laughed. "We would have had it to you sooner, but it had to be examined for security purposes."

"Fan mail?"

"That's right." The Symbol of Peace beamed. "And seeing as how the news let slip that the two of you were UA students, it all got sent here. It seems your actions have garnered you quite a few admirers."

All Might gave a hearty laugh. Watching newbies react to the sudden public adoration was always a source of entertainment for the veteran heroes. Most were usually flustered, cheeks aflame or tears threatening to fall from their eyes. But the response he got from the young man before him was one he'd never seen before. He looked puzzled, and written on his face was the faintest hint of... was it guilt?

"They wanted to thank you." All Might said seriously. "Both of you."

"Me too?" Yaoyorozu chirped inquisitively. "But I didn't do anything."

"Never underestimate the power of a calming presence." All Might told the young lady.

"Well, maybe." She blushed. "But that's not exactly heroic."

"You may not think so. But there are quite a few people who would disagree." He said, gesturing towards the letters. "I'm very proud of the two of you." He handed the box off to (L/N). "Especially you, young (L/N). After seeing how hard you've fought to reject your quirk, I'm glad to see you using it to help those in need. If I may say, you're becoming quite the symbol yourself."

All Might paused for a response, but none was forthcoming. The boy was still silently contemplating the package in his hands.

"Anyways," the Pro coughed, "best you two hurry along now. I'm sure Aizawa has assigned you plenty of homework, and I'm certain neither of you want to fall behind on your studies."

"Right." Yaoyorozu bowed. "Thank you, sir."

Turning to (L/N), she gently placed her hands atop his and took the collection of letters from his loose grip. With a gentle 'let's go', she began to lead the way back towards the school.

"It was very thoughtful of them to send all these letters." Yaoyorozu said happily as they walked up the grassy hill towards the main building. The flattery of receiving fan mail had given rise to a large smile on her face. "If you like, I would be happy to read yours to you."

"That's alright." He replied quietly. "You can keep them all."

Momo looked at him curiously, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "You don't want to hear what they have to say?"

He shook his head. "I'm not looking for anyone's thanks."

"None of us are looking for anyone's thanks." She laughed. "That's not why we want to become heroes."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow in response.

"Well, most of us, anyways." She admitted. "But that doesn't mean it's not nice to hear it every once in a while. Look," she began, "I know you said that you don't want to be a hero. But whether or not you want to be one doesn't change the fact that that's what you've become to the people you've saved."

"How do you know?" And he almost sounded scared when he asked it. "No one died, but people still got hurt. How do you know they wrote to thank me and not to crucify me?"

"Because," she set down the box and placed a comforting hand on his arm, "I'm one of the people you saved, remember? I understand how they feel because I feel the same way. And trust me when I say that no one blames you for what happened. Listen, when that wheel started falling, and the pros couldn't do anything to stop it, there was a sense of hopelessness that just overtook everyone there. I felt it. Everyone thought that that was going to be the end. But then you raised your hand, and that feeling just went away. You shined so bright, and in that moment we all saw the same thing."

"What did you see?"

She smiled. "A beacon of hope."