A fact about Rin's horns–they weren't just made of keratin. Rin's horns had nerves inside them, in the middle. They were very sensitive at the base and tips of his horns, but the amount of keratin between the nerves and the outside world in the main portions of the horns protected said nerves.

So, as Shigaraki held onto Rin's left horn, it desintegrated from the tip, downwards, because his palm rested in the downward curve closest to Rin's head and his pinky rested near the tip.

Just before the rot could reach completely through Rin's muscle and totally destroy his left horn, his flames finally made themselves known once again now that he could actually feel his body and the searing heat of pain coursing through it.

Without hesitation, Rin let his body get superheated until he burst into a lethal inferno of blue fire. Shigaraki cried out and stumbled away from him, the hands on his body protecting him from the flames in the two seconds he'd been exposed to them. That was a close call! When he looked up, the remaining kids were sprinting to regroup with the students at the entrance with Thirteen and Aizawa.

In the air above them, All Might was absolutely decimating the Nomu, not giving it time to react at all and landing unending blows until the Nomu was sent flying out of the dome and into Oblivion.

All Might stood victorious across from the lightly scorched Shigaraki and the ominous Kurogiri. They talked for an annoyingly long time and finally, as the Villains were about to launch another assault, bullets hailed down on them, catching Shigaraki a few times. Kurogiri warped himself and Shigaraki out of the USJ with a promised threat of more attacks to come.

Rin collapsed to the ground, shaking as his quirk slowly began to force it's effort towards healing his body. He didn't realize it at the time, but tears were streaming down his cheeks due to the damage to his horn–three quarters of the horn was eaten away and the nerves inside were exposed to the outside elements. His skin and layers of muscle were missing in large patches all over his body. His tail lay still on the ground next to him, unable to move.

Rin passed out like that, and didn't notice the Pro Heroes making their entrance with Nezu and Iida, taking control of the situation. The police and ambulances arrived shortly after. Aizawa, Thirteen, Izuku, All Might, Tokoyami, and Rin were all taken to the hospital and the students were all accounted for and taken back to the main building.

§~•~§~•~§

"Is Aizawa-sensei going to be okay?" Uraraka fretted.

"I don't know. He looked pretty bad, Uraraka." Tsuyu croaked.

"They said they needed to take him in for emergency surgery right away....." Sero shivered. "There was blood everywhere."

"Hey, has anyone seen Okumura?" Kirishima popped up beside them.

"Is that the one guy with horns and a tail? Actually, come to think of it, no. Haven't seen him anywhere." Ojiro replied. Kirishima walked up to the detective who'd arrived with the Heroes.

"Um excuse us, but do you know where our friend is? Okumura Rin?" Kirishima asked politely.

"Ah, yes, Okumura was sent to the hospital along with your teachers and two other classmates." The man answered. "He wasn't in critical condition, since his natural healing seems to be advanced, but it was slowed down by a mild case of hypothermia after he spent a good while fighting in the Storm Zone. Same case for the other boy he was with in the same zone. He'll be back in class with you guys soon, so don't worry." The detective explained. The kids sighed in relief.

§~•~§~•~§

"I can't believe you charged the Leader, are you an idiot?!" They heard Okumura's twin before they saw him.

"He was giving that monster orders, I had to keep him from turning it on the rest of the class! Better All Might face it than them, we're new at this!" There was their classmate.

"Yeah, there's a we in there for a reason, Rin! You could have died!"

"Oh, please! You and I both know it takes a lot more than this to take me down!"

"You're not invincible!"

They arrived at the room and opened the door cautiously. Rin was in a white hospital bed wearing a pale blue hospital gown. There was an IV in one arm and bandages wrapped around his torso, his right bicep, and his left calf and ankle. His tail was also bandaged in the spot Shigaraki had grabbed it, and his damaged left horn was slowly rebuilding itself with new keratin as they watched. Despite all this, the boy smiled brightly at his classmates.

Suguro was sitting with Rin in the bed, letting his injured friend lean up against him. Their other friends were sitting in extra chairs, watching the twins argue.

"Oh, hey guys!" Rin waved at his classmates when he spotted them.

"Hey Okumura! How're you holding up?" Kirishima greeted just as cheerfully.

"I'm okay! Just kinda tired. Of course, this guy thinks I'll die without him here to tell me that what I did was stupid." Rin jabbed a thumb at Yukio, who shook his head, sighing.

"It's not my fault you're a reckless dumbass, Rin. One of these days, you're not gonna get out of it so easily."

"Well, one, I didn't get out of it that easily, Yukio. And two, I don't think you really understand what I was doing." Rin said.

"And what would that be?" The younger twin demanded.

"I yanked that fucker away from me by his hair when we were fighting, the strands I pulled out are already on their way to the police station to be tested and identified." The older twin said smugly.

"Alright, that's acceptable. Smart thinking, Rin." Suguro admitted.

"Thank you! At least someone appreciates my efforts." Rin huffed.

"Wow, that was smart, Okumura! You and Midoriya are the only two of us students that actually did something that helped the situation in the end." Sero commented. Rin remembered Bakugou and Todoroki also helping out, but didn't say anything.

"So, how's Midoriya doing?" Rin asked.

"He's fine. Recovery Girl healed him up pretty good." Kirishima answered.

Rin nodded. "And Tokoyami?"

Said boy made his way to the front of the group, waving. Rin smiled.

"Oh yeah! I heard Aizawa and Thirteen are in stable condition." Rin told them. The class sighed in relief.

They chatted until Rin was discharged and allowed to go home later that day when his healing had finally returned to its normal and healed all of his dissolved muscle and skin and the rest of his horn.

§~•~§~•~§

"You really do need to be more careful in the future, though. Seeing you when you came in was....I don't ever wanna see you like that again, okay?" Suguro told Rin while they watched the news after Yukio had already gone to bed. Suguro had insisted staying the night to make sure Rin had healed right. Sometimes his healing did wierd things to Rin depending on the wound and if there was anything in the wound. Rin knew Suguro just wanted to stay close to him after the scare, though.

Rin sighed. "If you'd seen their faces....everyone was terrified, frozen in fear. They couldn't think clearly or rationally. I know how good some villains are at dropping off the map, but there might still be some way to identify the piece of shit that attacked a bunch of kids and almost killed the teachers protecting them. Someone had to stand in his way. I'm willing to be that someone because I know I can last longer than my classmates in a fight against a high-level villain." He said honestly.

"I know your thing is protecting people, but you can't do things like that after this incident now that we're in a Hero school. They will punish you for it and I don't want to watch you get expelled and kept from achieving your dreams either. Okay? I just want you to be more careful. You had hypothermia and decided to take on a villain who, as far as you knew, may or may not have had training." Suguro explained his reasoning.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just hate it when people can get away with shitty things so easily. You might not feel the same way, but I think it was worth it." Rin admitted.

"That's because your pain tolerance is much higher than most people. I know your body is built to last, but that doesn't mean you should throw yourself into a fight like a meat shield while you try to win the heroes an advantage in a fight that's not yours. I've seen you sacrifice yourself so many times for other people and I know you're going to do it so many more times as a hero, but don't do it if you don't absolutely have to, okay? Promise me." Suguro insisted.

"Okay. I promise I won't sacrifice myself if I don't have to." Rin sighed after a moment of hesitation.

Suguro's look of concern turned to fondness as he turned the TV off and retreated to Rin's room to settle down in bed with the shorter teen. Rin had never pushed Suguro away, instead always pulling him closer.

Rin tucked his head under Suguro's chin and Suguro wrapped an arm around Rin's waist, keeping him close as they fell asleep.

DEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSDEMONSEMONS

They're cuddle buddies and no one can tell me otherwise.