Hey everyone, I'm back! Yeah, yeah, I know that many of you have been waiting for a new chapter for so long and I've kind of extended the day that I would post it. But all I gotta say is... life's a problem. Things always come up, I get distracted, and sometimes I even get lazy or lose self-confidence to write. Hopefully extending publish times won't be a thing, but hey, I'm a senior that's going to get into college soon so anything can happen. Thank you to all of those that have stuck it out with me so far and I hope you understand if I have to take time sometimes. Have a nice reading!

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"Thanks for the food!" Izuku shouted with glee as he clapped his hands together.

Both classes were in the camp cafeteria, sitting on benches and awestruck by the amount of delicious looking food that was on the table. After going through the forest for what seemed to be hours for their first day at camp, they were finally able to compensate for their troubles, scarfing down all the food they could eat.

Izuku had sat at the middle of a table that had most of his friends, from Iida, Todoroki, and Shinso, to some of the girls sitting around as well, with Momo sitting on Izuku's right side and Ochako sitting on his left. Ikari was beside Izuku while he ate, watching the food on the table curiously and at times looking overhead at everyone else energetically eating. After simply watching everyone in silence for a while, Ikari poked Izuku with one of his claw like fingers, getting the boy's attention.

"Hrmph?" Izuku turned to Ikari with his mouth full, chewing as he waited to hear what his friendly demon looking partner wanted.

"Partner... Could I try some food?"

Izuku took a few moments to chew his food and swallow it, before then looking up at Ikari.

"Ikari, last time you tried food you couldn't even taste it. It literally just disintegrated before you could even chew."

"It doesn't hurt to keep trying! Just a little piece would be good!" Ikari whined.

Momo smiled at Ikari's behavior, "I don't really see the harm in it. We have more than enough food to spare after all."

"Well, I guess that's true." Izuku muttered as he picked up a piece of grilled beef with his chopsticks, tossing it into the air up to Ikari's level. Ikari snatched the beef out of the air with his mouth, his jagged looking mouth chomping down.

"He resembles a pet when he feeds him that way..." Momo and the other students around Izuku thought awkwardly from this action.

Nobody saw Ikari chew, for right after he had taken the beef, a loud sizzling sound was made and then suddenly stopped as quickly as it came.

"Well?" Izuku asked Ikari with a hint of curiosity, knowing that Ikari's attempt had failed.

Ikari was silent for a few moments, before then looking down in a depressed manner, "No... It just disappeared again..." Ikari formed his body into a ball with only his red eyes shining and plopped onto the table in a fit of depression.

"D-Don't lose hope! I'm sure you'll taste food one day!" Ochako tried to reassure him.

"Yeah, don't worry! This food doesn't even taste that good!" Mina lied, hoping that Ikari wouldn't be too sad about his lack of taste.

"This food is so good, It's as if it's melting my mouth!" Kaminari yelled as he scarfed down some curry in the next table.

Ikari looked even more depressed after hearing that, apparently melting and trickling onto the ground as a puddle.

"Shut up!" Jirou snapped to Kaminari as he punched him on the head.

"Ack!" Kaminari's head hit the table, turning white as he was knocked out from the impact.

"I don't think that was necessary..." Todoroki commented calmly as he picked up some rice with his chopsticks.

"Jirou! You shouldn't use violence against a classmate like that!" Iida yelled with a karate chopping motion.

"Hey, it shut him up didn't it?" Jirou retorted back.

Ochako had a sympathetic look as she looked underneath the table at the black puddle that was Ikari.

"Poor little fella..."

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle by his classmate's interactions, but he also knew that he should do something to make Ikari feel better. He saw Tokoyami at the table on the left of him, surprisingly eating energetically as everyone else.

Izuku smiled as he had an idea, he waited for Tokoyami to notice Izuku staring at him, and when he did, Izuku pointed under the table at Ikari. Tokoyami saw Ikari under and understood immediately, nodding at Izuku.

The next moment, a dark shadow went underneath the table Izuku was at.

"Oi, buddy! What's wrong?" Dark Shadow asked his fellow dark beast.

"I can't taste anything..." Ikari replied.

Dark Shadow pointed a thumb at himself, "Hey, neither can I! But don't worry, I'm sure we'll both be able to eat anything delicious in the future as we get stronger!"

"You really think so?!" Ikari asked excitingly, his puddle forming back into his usual look.

"Of course! Until then, we'll be... starving buddies!"

"That doesn't sound right." Izuku sweatdropped, watching as Ikari and Dark Shadow came out from under the table and continued talking. "At least he's feeling better." Izuku smiled.

Izuku then heard Shinso speak up, "Oi, does anyone know where Enso went?" he asked before placing a spoonful of curry in his mouth.

"He went with Aizawa into the kitchen mentioning something about 'making sure it's right.'" Todoroki answered, not looking up from his plate and then slurping some soba up.

Izuku had a blank expression on his face as he processed that, realizing why there were all sorts of amazing food that looked cooked to perfection.

"Don't tell me... he went to cook because he didn't trust the adults? He doesn't even trust people with just cooking? How cautious can you get?!"

However, Izuku had another realization when he remembered how Enso acted when it came to cooking, such as the times he came over to his house, teaching Izuku and his mom how to cook. He always looked the same, yet different, he seemed more invested in making sure that food was perfect.

"Wait, maybe Enso went to cook... because he actually enjoys cooking?" Izuku wondered, right before his taste buds exploded from placing a dumpling in his mouth.

"So good...." Izuku said aloud, full of bliss. His eyes were closed and comedic tears of happiness waterfalled down his cheeks, and a bright pink glow with flowers seemed to circle around him as he shined.

Momo, noticed how bubbly he seemed. She couldn't help but have a tint of red form on her cheeks from seeing such a pleasantly contagious aura around him with a bright smile to go with that.

"If he was a wolf, then it would be impossible to distinguish him and Emerald." Momo thought, a bubbly aroma forming around her as well.

"Hey, don't go starting to infect people with your happiness." Shinso sneered at Izuku when he saw Momo start to act the same way.

Izuku simply turned his head to him, eyes closed and still smiling, "I don't know what you mean."

Shinso chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, just be ready for the real start of camp tomorrow, it's gonna be way worse than today that's for sure."

Hearing this instantly reminded Izuku of what the principal had told him, that Enso would be training him during the camp. His bubbly pink aura suddenly turned into a depressing blue one, planting his head onto the table.

"Izuku!?" Momo uttered from the sudden change.

His classmates on the table raised an eyebrow, with Ikari and Dark Shadow floating over Izuku and poking him to see if they could get any reaction.

"Is he dead?" Dark Shadow asked.

"Obviously not!" Jirou said.

"Now look what you've done..." Todoroki said as he turned his head to Shinso.

"Whoa, whoa, how was I supposed to know that he wouldn't look forward to this part of the camp so much? He's been through much worse when he was training with... oooooohh." Shinso said, realizing what was the problem.

"What is it?" Ochako asked, stopping her eating to hear what was wrong.

Shinso ignored Ochako's question and instead reached over the table and poked Izuku on his head to try to get his attention, "Hey, are you gonna be with Enso during the camp?"

"Yeah... he's still gonna be training me here." Izuku admitted in a depressed tone, head still face-down on the table.

"Eh?! Even during camp?! But I thought the teachers were gonna make us all train together!" Ochako exclaimed.

Sero heard the conversation from the table behind Izuku, turning to the group. "What? Really?! I know that Enso taught you how to fight and all, but he's even gonna teach you during the camp!? Might as well be a teacher for the class at this rate!" he joked.

Kirishima gulped his food down and then turned to the group as well, "You know, now that I think about it, should Enso even be in U.A?"

Everyone who heard what Kirishima said turned their attention to him with comedic stone-faced expressions as they wondered if what he said was serious or not.

Kirishima quickly realized that he phrased that wrong, holding his hands up in surrender, "Hold on, I don't mean that he's not qualified to be in the class, I obviously know how strong he is!"

"Then what did you mean?" Sero asked him.

Kirishima scratched his head awkwardly, "I mean, by what we've seen so far, he's clearly the best of the class. He always seems so far ahead of everyone and acts so experienced. He even seemed to have enough experience to train Midoriya before they both even came to U.A. Not only that but right before the final exams started, we learned that Enso was also teaching Shinso because of a request from Aizawa to move him to our class under his guidance."

"Oh yeah, Shinso is learning from him... Hey Shinso, did you ask Enso to teach you stuff?" Jirou asked him.

Shinso placed his chopsticks down and shook his head side to side, "No, I didn't ask him anything. He actually asked me if I wanted to learn from him even before I was moved into the hero course. I didn't know that Aizawa requested me to be moved in class A until the final exam."

"Eh, Enso asked to let him train you?!" Sero exclaimed in shock to hear that Enso asked Shinso out of anyone else.

"Since he had a similar mindset as me about saving people, Enso thought he would be a good ally for me..." Izuku thought as he remembered when Shinso joined them.

Todoroki and Iida were silent, for they too were also learning from Enso, but no one else in the class knew of them also training under him other than Shinso and Izuku.

"At one point didn't he even mention that he's actually older than the rest of us? So... don't you think that he would've already been a hero up to this point?"

"Is it really that odd if he's older than most of us by a couple of years?" Todoroki finally spoke, trying not to raise suspicion on Enso.

"Has he ever said how old he actually is?" Sero spoke.

Izuku felt nervous from the number of questions about Enso. He wanted to stop the conversation, but at the same time, he felt that if he spoke to stop it then that might cause even more suspicion towards him and Enso.

"Partner this is bad! Our friends are thinking!" Ikari whispered to Izuku in worry.

Jirou's eyes were looking over at Izuku with a hint of worry in them. Up to this point, she had pushed any negative or suspicious thoughts about Enso to the back of her mind so she could focus on her final exams and getting ready for camp. She remembered her internship, more specifically that one call that she had overheard between Enso and All Might. After all that time, she still didn't know anything about "Lynch", or what else had happened to Izuku during his internship since all they were told was that he had fought the hero killer.

Momo was also reminiscing through her thoughts, thinking of the day the class came back from internships when Jirou and her interrogated Izuku on the roof of the school. Izuku had refused to tell them anything because he was concerned about their safety, even suddenly yelling out. She remembered when Enso had spoken to her and Jirou about putting behind their worries, even promising that he would protect Izuku. There is also the fact that Enso seemed to have many secrets of his own, whether they involved Izuku or not.

Ochako on the other hand, obviously knew that there was something much more secret to Enso when it came to his experience and his power. She knew that ever since she learned of all the different 'quirks' that he had. Whenever anyone had asked Enso what his quirk was, he always seemed to be able to say something to avoid the question, similarly to how All Might did. Her thoughts were unintentionally confirmed about how dangerous Enso was when Izuku had encountered Shigaraki at the mall. He had clearly heard Enso say that he was from another world, and had risked Izuku's life by confronting Shigaraki with a knife to him while Shigaraki had his finger around Izuku's neck. However, at the same time, she couldn't help but feel like Enso knew what he was doing since he somehow had enough influence to have basically bought a fair for Ochako's date, and no matter what he did, he never seemed unsure of what to do.

Todoroki, Iida, and Shinso were all looking down with their eyes slightly shadowed. They did know a lot of Enso's situation based on what he's told them, that he has to train Izuku to be able to beat the villain Lynch, and were even told the first memory Enso had upon waking up.

There were so many questions for that group that they haven't asked yet, or have ever been answered. Jirou and Momo still wondered about who Lynch was what other secrets Izuku and Enso were hiding, Ochako wondered how someone like Enso had so much power and money despite being from somewhere else, and Todoroki, Iida, and Shinso all wondered how long Enso would keep their secrets around others.

Izuku knew that he had to say something to answer for the moment, and fast so that there wouldn't be many more questions.

"E-Enso came from somewhere overseas where there weren't any hero schools, but soon he had a chance to move near U.A in order to become a hero after he had trained himself for nearly most of his life! That's why he's so experienced and older than the rest of us!" Izuku quickly lied.

Ikari nodded his head up and down still above Izuku, "Yeah, Enso would've been a great hero by now if he was able to go to school like everyone here, but he couldn't at the time so he went to school a little late compared to everyone! My partner met Enso about a year before the entrance exams started by coincidence and he asked him if he could train with him, so that was when they both got to know each other!"

"Y-Yeah!" Izuku agreed, nodding his head up and down at fast pace.

"Ehhhh? Really? There are places where there aren't any hero schools!?" Sero asked in some shock.

"Of course there are! Have you guys not taken the chance to see how many hero schools there actually are around the world? People are still making more." Shinso quickly uttered, supporting Izuku's claim of Enso.

"Oh... I guess I don't know much about that then." Sero said as he rubbed his own head in a fit of embarrassment, he then turned around and went back to eating.

Izuku's table was now awkwardly silent, all of them maintaining serious expressions on their faces and looking down at their food.

Ikari turned his head multiple times to look at each person, feeling the tense atmosphere and fiddling his fingers nervously.

"I'm... gonna go now..." Ikari said before slowly retracting back into Izuku and disappearing.

"Me too..." Dark Shadow, who had been around at that entire conversation, said as he trailed back across to Tokoyami who was just finishing his plate.

Izuku hadn't even touched his food throughout that entire exchange and tried his best to look calm and keep composed.

"Crap... what now?" Izuku thought in distress, although partially hoping that no one would say anything. "Maybe I should find Enso and warn him that people are beginning to get more curious than before..."

Izuku then saw Pixie-bob passing by with a tray of food, "Excuse me!"

Pixie-bob stopped and turned to Izuku, "Yeah kitten?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Enso is would you?"

Pixie-bob looked slightly confused, "Sorry, I don't really know all of your names yet, mind just telling me how he looks?"

"Long black hair, red eyes, best poker face you'll ever see in your life?" Izuku described.

Pixie-bob seemed to literally light up with some stars in her eyes and a big smile.

"Oh, THAT guy! He's in the kitchen! He cooked nearly all of these plates!" she said excitingly.

"So I was right..." Izuku thought.

Everyone looked at Pixie-bob with looks of surprise, "E-Enso made all of this!?" Ochako exclaimed.

"I think I know what he meant by 'making sure that it's made right'..." Shinso said.

"Yup... I guess he really does just like cooking, whether he realizes it or not." Izuku thought.

The table noticed Pixie-bob's tail moving excitingly, "If he wasn't rude or have that edgy look, then he might've just been perfect... But hey, beggars can't be choosers!" she said mischievously, even licking her lips.

The group all sweatdropped at her statement, but Shinso was the one to facepalm in disappointment.

"Her too?" Shinso sighed.

Izuku was thankful that the subject changed, turning his head and sighing in relief before then seeing Kota and his glare once more.

"What's up with him?..."

"After this, you'll all be bathing in the hot springs!" Mandalay said to the students happily.

While everyone else cheered, Izuku's body turned completely white in shock from a realization.

"Crap..." he thought as he remembered what on his back.

At one of the other tables, with his back facing Izuku's table, was a certain hothead who had a serious expression on his face, not even bothering to eat more of his food.

"There's obviously something serious they're hiding..."

"Oi Bakugo, you gonna eat?" Kaminari asked him.

"Shut up! I'll eat when I wanna eat!" Bakugo snapped back.

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The sky was completely dark now, only a few stars and a crescent moon were lighting up the sky. The hot springs shined radiantly as the Class 1-A boys were all shirtless with towels wrapped around their waists, exposing the athletic build most of them had. There were lanterns lighting up the area, their light reflecting off the steaming water, and there were also some shrubs planted near the rocky area. The boys all let themselves relax while enjoying the feeling of the warm water against their skin.

Well, almost all of the boys.

"Hey, Midoriya isn't here?" Sero asked out of curiosity.

Kirishima had a look of confusion as his head looked around the area, only not to find the broccoli haired boy anywhere. "Really? Why isn't he here with us?"

"Mandalay required assistance for something, so Midoriya offered to help her..." Iida answered with his head looking down at the water and a serious look on his face.

"Really? Man, he really sure is missing out." Kaminari said with some disappointment.

"Wait, Enso isn't here as well." Ojiro added.

"Sheesh, are you guys nosy or what? " Shinso said with a sigh and let his back rest against the side of the spring.

"Hey, can you really blame us? He sure has done and said a lot of 'questionable' things. We could at least make sure that he doesn't cause that much trouble now." Sero said.

"You could say the exact same thing about Mineta though..." Ojiro said.

"I heard that!" Mineta shouted.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hot springs, the girls were all relaxing similarly to the boys, letting their soft skin and healthy bodies sink into the water. Their smooth skin seemed to shine in the water and most of them had their towels over their heads to help relax.

"Man, this is so relaxing..." Mina mumbled with closed eyes and a happy smile.

"We've sure had a rough day, ribbit" Tsu added.

"Indeed." Momo said with a nod.

The girls all remained in silence for a few seconds, before Mina's eyes lit up and a mischievous smile formed on her face.

"You know... the guys are on the other side..." she said as she turned her head to the wooden wall separating the girls from the boys.

Jirou raised an eyebrow at her, "Ashido, what are you thinking?"

"With my acid, I can create a small hole in the wall you know." Mina said as she scooted.

Ochako turned completely red and got wide-eyed, "Wh-What are you thinking of doing!?"

"Sssh! Quiet down or the guys will hear us!" Mina snapped back to Ochako in a loud whisper.

"Mina-chan, you're not thinking of making a hole to look through are you, ribbit?" Tsu asked with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you girls don't wanna look?" Mina asked them with disappointment.

Momo slightly rose from the water, furrowed brow forming at Mina, "Ashido! You can't possibly be suggesting this!"

"Yeah Ashido, what if you get caught?" Jirou added, crossing her arms.

Mina just pouted as she looked over at the girls staring at her, she wanted them to get on board with the plan as their first form of excitement for the camp, but it seemed that they weren't interested. But then Mina got an idea of how to convince the girls, her mischievous grin returning.

"You know... Midori is on the other side..."

Getting reminded that Izuku was part of the boys on the other side, nearly all the class A girls formed blushes. They all remained in awkward silence as each of them thought of different things involving Izuku.

"Deku... naked?" Jirou thought, then forming an image of how the boy would look without his shirt, thinking based on the muscles she had seen and felt during the sports festival. However, she then violently shook her head side to side with her hands over her face to get rid of the thought, "What the hell am I thinking?!"

Momo took deep breaths with her eyes closed and did her absolute best not to think of anything, "It would be disrespectful to think of these things behind his back, you have to be calm and can't let temptation overtake you like this Momo!"

Tsu adorably sunk deeper into the water, making it so that only the top half of her blushing face poked out and looked over at Mina. "I have been pretty curious to see him like that again... especially since he hid his muscles at the pool the other day..."

Ochako was the first one to speak out of the girls, thinking more about Izuku's well being, "I-It's still wrong though! Not just for D-Deku, but for all the guys!" she stuttered, although fiddling with her fingers and avoiding eye contact in embarrassment.

Hagakure sweatdropped as she saw the different reactions of the girls, "They all actually wanna look don't they?"

Mina had listened to enough and decided that they wouldn't stop her, "Whatever, I'm gonna look, with or without you guys!" she exclaimed as she got out of the water and wrapped a towel around herself. She then made her way to the farthest edge of the wooden wall so that it would have the lowest chance of any of the boys noticing.

"Hold on Mina, are you sure that's a good idea?!" Hagakure uttered out as she watched Mina.

As Mina got to the far side of the wall, she pointed a finger and pressed it against the wall, then secreting a small amount of acid right on the tip and melting a small hole into it. The rest of the girls could only watch Mina as they went rampant in their own thoughts, distinguishing what was right and what they wanted.

They were so deep in their thoughts that Mina was already looking through the wall with an eye, grinning madly.

"Wow, a lot of the guys in our class really are buff, I guess they really did work hard in order to get into U.A after all." she commented loud enough for the girls to hear but low enough so that the guys wouldn't hear her.

The girls had all unconsciously scooted closer to the edge of the spring, each of them still watching Mina anxiously.

"So, where are you?" Mina then thought to herself as she madly tried to find a specific person.

But the more time Mina spent looking through the hole, the more her smile slowly began to fade away. She was silent for what seemed like forever, and the rest of the girls noticed a disappointed, yet also worried look on her face.

"Wh-What is it?" Hagakure asked, feeling slightly anxious and definitely curious about what Mina was seeing.

"Midori... he isn't there..." Mina responded as she removed her eye from the hole, turning her head to the girls with a look of dismay.

All the embarrassment seemed to have been erased, as new looks of confusion replaced their previous expressions.

"Deku... isn't there?" Ochako repeated out loud.

"It's not just him... Enso isn't there either..." Mina added.

Hearing that added a sense of dread in the atmosphere, as several of them wondered what Enso and Izuku would be doing at the time instead of being in the hot springs.

"Why does he always seem to drag him somewhere whenever we wanna see him..?" Mina said in disappointment.

"He's not doing anything bad to Midori is he!?" Hagakure uttered in worry.

Momo's mind went back to the conversation during dinner a few minutes ago, worrying for a moment, but then she once more remembered the conversation that she and Jirou had with Enso on one of the first few days after the internships.

"Whenever Izuku is in trouble, whenever he needs help, whenever he goes too much out of his way to save someone... then, will you save him?" she had asked Enso.

"Of course, if he ever gets in trouble, then I'll find and save him. I promise." was what Enso responded.

Momo formed a small, calm smile on her face, then speaking up to the group, "Don't worry, I'm sure Izuku is safe with Enso."

Hagakure was surprised by this claim, "Eh!? What makes you so sure of that?"

Momo had a look of confidence on her face, "Because... he promised."

Jirou smiled as well, "So she remembers that too?"

Tsu slightly tilted her head and put a finger on her chin, "Who promised?"

Momo laid back in the water, "You don't have to worry about that, just know that Izuku is in good hands."

Mina slightly pouted as she went back into the water, "Your not even gonna tell us?"

Before anyone else could speak, they heard someone scream on the other side of the wall, "Walls are meant to be climbed over! Plus Ultra!"

The girls all recognized that voice and had disgust fill their minds "It's Mineta..."

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Izuku was in the Managing Office of the Pussycat's building, sitting on one of the couches with his head down. He still had his clothes on but also had a towel in his hands as he waited for a time when all of the males wouldn't be in the hot springs.

"Thank you Mandalay for letting me stay here and wait until the other guys left the hot springs..." he said with a hint of sadness.

Mandalay was sitting on an office chair and turned to Izuku with a smile.

"I have no problem with letting you stay here... but may you tell me why you don't want to bathe with your classmates? Could it be that your self conscious about your-"

Knowing what she was gonna say, Izuku waved his hands in front of him and cut her off, "No, no, no no! It isn't that! I-It's just that..." Izuku paused for a moment, before lowering his arms and head and sighed, "There's something that I can't let them see..."

Mandalay sat still for a brief moment, examining the depression on Izuku's face, before then removing the cat-ears-like communication device from her head and placing it down onto her desk.

"It seems like it's something serious for you. But you'll most likely be working with your classmates for a few more years, so wouldn't it be bad to keep secrets from them?"

Izuku rubbed his head, "It's not that I don't want to tell them. It's just... complicated."

The door to the office then opened up, revealing Todoroki wearing nothing but a towel wrapped below his waist, carrying an unconscious Kota in his arms.

"Oh, so this is where you are Midoriya." Todoroki said to Izuku, knowing fully well the reason he wasn't in the springs with the others.

Izuku stood up from his seat in shock when he saw Kota in Todoroki's arms, "Kota!? What happened to him Todoroki?!"

"Mineta tried to climb over the wall of the hot springs, but Kota met him at the top and knocked him off. He then just fell over and got unconscious, I don't know why."

"Ah, thank you for bringing him here, just lay him down on the couch. I heard from Eraser that there was an embodiment of lust among the boys, so I had Kota up there to keep watch." Mandalay said gratefully.

"Mineta is definitely that embodiment..." Izuku sweatdropped.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave then." Todoroki said with a small bow before then exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

Mandalay then turned to Izuku, "Girls really develop these days don't they?" she chuckled.

Izuku's mind flashed back to dozens of 'intimate' instances he had with all the different girls of his class, "Not just in body..." he thought with a blank face.

Izuku looked over at Kota, remembering his words, "I don't intend to hang out with guys who want to become heroes!" Izuku held his head down in a fit of sadness as he wondered why Kota disliked heroes so much. He wondered why would someone would dislike people whose main priority was to save other people.

"Kota has a negative view of heroes, doesn't he?" he asked out loud.

Mandalay turned to Izuku with a serious look.

Izuku continued, "I've always grown up around people who only wanted to be heroes, myself included, so I find it weird that a boy his age would hate them the way he does..."

Mandalay leaned back in her chair let out a sad sigh, "Of course... there are always people who don't think well of heroes."

Izuku's mind instinctively retraced back to Shigaraki, remembering how much hatred he had towards heroes.

"If he was raised normally, then maybe he would've admired heroes too..." Mandalay continued with a sad look.

"Normally?" Izuku repeated in some confusion.

"Mandalay's cousin... Kota's parents were heroes." someone spoke out. Izuku turned his head and saw Pixie-bob come in. She looked as sad as Mandalay, holding a tray that had cups on it.

"But then why does he not like them then? Wouldn't they be role models for Kota to want to become a hero?" Ikari asked Izuku in his head.

"Quiet and listen Ikari, maybe you'll get your answer." Izuku thought back.

Pixie-bob paused for a moment, slightly hesitating to say what she said next, "But they were killed in the line of duty...."

Izuku's eyes widened and his pupils slight shrunk upon hearing that, making a face of disbelief.

Mandalay looked down at the ground, "It was two years ago... they were protecting citizens from a villain..."

"Th-That's, terrible..." was all Izuku could say.

"For a hero, it was a respectable way to die, an honorary death. But, for a child who was barely aware of these things around him, he didn't understand why..."

"His papa... and mama... just gone one day..." Ikari uttered.

"Kota's whole world revolved around his parents, but then they were suddenly gone... 'My parents left me behind', he said... but society praised them, saying that it was a good thing for heroes, an honorable thing..."

"Society... what makes them think that people dying, dying to protect others and suddenly leaving others behind... is a good thing?... There's no good thing about death, so why?..." Izuku thought in his mind, his right-hand clenching into a tight fist.

"Kota doesn't seem to like us either since we're heroes too..." Pixie-bob said. "It's like he's just here because he has nowhere else to go..."

"To Kota, heroes are a kind of human that he can't understand and finds unpleasant..." Mandalay added.

"It's because that trash is smiling so thoughtlessly as if there was no one he couldn't save!" Izuku remembered those words from Shigaraki, shadows over his eyes as his mind went through different thoughts.

"Is that why Shigaraki hates heroes then? He lost someone important to him like Kota lost his parents, and he resents heroes because of that? Does society really feel like hero's dying just to protect others is okay?"

With all of the opinions Izuku thought of, from Shigaraki's, Kota's, and Enso's diverse thoughts on society, Izuku didn't say another word. He didn't know what to say, he remained in silence in the room.

Outside of the room, listening in on the entire conversation, was Enso who was leaning his back against the wall. He had his head looking down and his hands in his pockets. Now that he only heard the silence in the other room, Enso stood up straight and began walking down the brightly lit, empty hall.

"So, that's what the problem is with that kid. He lost the two most important people in his life, it makes sense that he would hate heroes..." He continued walking down the hall, looking for somewhere else to stay until the boys were all done with the hot springs as well.

He squinted his eyes, but Enso didn't know why he did, just thinking about it made him instinctively do so as he asked himself a question.

"Do all problems just lead back to heroes in the end?"

_______________________________________________________________

Izuku sighed as his body sank into the warm and brightly shining water of the hot springs. He had a towel on his head as he laid back on the edge of the spring. He was currently the only one at the hot springs since he had waited for everyone else to be gone so that no one would see the scar on him. Despite the water feeling nice, Izuku wasn't able to enjoy it to the fullest, his mind retraced the conversation he had with the Pussycats and to things relating to it, thinking of his own thoughts about the matter.

"Kota's whole world revolved around his parents, but then they were suddenly gone... 'My parents left me behind', he said... but society praised them, saying that it was a good thing for heroes, an honorable thing..." he remembered Mandalay saying.

"It's because that trash is smiling so thoughtlessly as if there was no one he couldn't save!" He recounted from Shigaraki.

Izuku sank his head deeper into the water, right until only the top half of it was out of it. He didn't know what to make out of everything he heard, but he couldn't get any of it out of his head, he just felt terrible.

He then heard someone get into the water.

"Eh!?" Izuku uttered out before he snapped his head to look at who entered the water. "Who-!?"

Izuku felt shocked to see most of Enso's body hidden in the water, with only his head poking out in a similar way Izuku had his own head before. Enso's long hair floated on the water as he maintained a closed-eyed, serious expression which made him look look like he was deep in thought.

Izuku partly stood up from the water in his state of shock, leaving just below his waist to be hidden.

"E-Enso!? What are you doing here!?"

"Shut up and don't make so much noise, it would be trouble if someone came here and saw the scars." Enso shortly responded, still maintaining his position and eyes closed.

Izuku blinked a few times, before sinking back into the water and sighing again, "You scared me... I thought someone else would be here..."

"Everyone else is going to bed by now, other than the adults."

"That so?..." Izuku looked at Enso from the corner of his eye, wondering if he should talk to him about the suspicion on him and the conversation about Kota. But he was more curious as to why Enso was there at the spring now of all times.

"Enso... why didn't you go with the other guys when they came here?" Izuku asked curiously.

"I didn't want to deal with any commotion from them, you're not the only one with scars to hide." Enso responded, opening both of his eyes.

"Oh... Wait a minute, not the only one?" Izuku uttered in some confusion.

Enso turned his head to Izuku, "What? Did you think that I went through so much without even a scratch?"

Izuku slowly sank back into the water, still staring over at Enso. "Honestly... I kind of did..."

Enso noticed the curious look Izuku had on him as if debating if whether or not Enso actually had scars that showed that he had been hurt over the years. Enso sighed and rose a small amount out of the water, then turning his back to Izuku to show him exactly what he had received.

Izuku saw all sort of scars on Enso, some were nearly a foot or longer while others were as so small that you could barely make them out if they weren't bunched together. There were even different shapes which could give clues as to what caused them, but no scar was the same, each one looked different from the other.

"W-Were all of those from Lynch?" Izuku uttered out.

Enso sank back into the water, "No, not just him."

That surprised Izuku.

"Do you really think that Lynch is the only one able to match up to me?" Enso asked.

"Well..."

Izuku got silent as he thought about what he should say. He hadn't thought much about Enso's true strength or weaknesses except at the sports festival when he worked with him and then fought against him. He remembered when he had exploited one of Enso's weaknesses by shattering his barrier, and also remembered that he had a limit on much power he could use involving his mind.

But even so, Izuku still viewed him as highly as All Might, "You just seem so strong. You always look like you're fighting without much trouble..." Izuku admitted.

Enso squinted his eyes at Izuku, "Are you really sure that I'm as strong as you believe me to be? Or could are you just as intimidated as everyone else?"

"Huh?" Izuku uttered as he felt taken aback by these sudden questions. "Is he hinting at something?"

"You have to stop thinking about how strong people are, and instead think about how you can beat them and make yourself stronger. Otherwise, you'll never surpass anyone."

Izuku titled his head down as he listened to these words, "Surpass... Surpassing Enso and All Might?"

"Izuku, no matter how strong someone is, there is always another person that will be stronger. But it's up to the weaker person to choose if he could surpass whoever is stronger than him."

"There are people stronger than Enso?" Izuku thought, wondering how many people there are. That led him to think about Enso's main enemy, the villain that Izuku would have to face sooner or later, and with or without Enso. He questioned if Lynch was one of these people Enso had struggled against.

"Has... Lynch ever beat you before?"

"Many times..." Enso admitted. "Whenever Lynch is able to harm me, he always leaves me heavily wounded. Whenever I'm at his mercy, he usually just leaves me while saying, 'not yet'."

"'Not yet'?" Izuku repeated in confusion.

"I don't know what he means from it, but judging by my first memory, the one that I told you, it seems that his only goal is 'breaking' me and anyone I care about. So that must be his goal before he kills me, breaking my mind and anyone involved with me. He's tried anything to get to me, inflicting pain to people I've connected with whether I even cared about them or not. However, currently he must be cautious about this world and it's heroes so it's logical that he's currently remaining in wherever he set up his of operations and is waiting for the right time to strike."

"Thank god he hasn't been doing much ever since... Hosu. I don't know if I could live with myself if one of my classmates was harmed by Lynch." Izuku said.

Enso's eyes suddenly seem to flash red for a second, staring at Izuku and making him feel a shiver.

"Wh-What is it?" Izuku tensed up.

"Izuku, listen very closely to me."

"Y-Yeah?"

"There's no doubt that Lynch will be trying to do anything to get to you, so there will be people hurt in the process, but you'll have to stay strong Izuku. You have to be strong enough to get through whatever Lynch sends at you not just physically, but emotionally. You've already been through so much ever since All Might and I met you. The pain you've felt in training, your experience at the sports festival, the life or death situations against villains in USJ and against the hero killer, and even that interaction with Shigaraki at the mall. These were all major events for not just you, but for your classmates, you are all changing from these events, but there will always be more of them to come. So Izuku, I have to ask you..."

Izuku paid close attention.

"Will you be able to overcome these challenges? Will you be able to stay strong so that you'll be able to stand up for everyone?"

"Of course." Izuku responded immediately and full of confidence. "I'll make sure I'm strong enough to get through anything and save everyone with a smile. I'll make sure that people won't have to suffer from villains, so that people won't lose anyone important to them..." he said as he thought about Kota.

"...You're thinking about what happened to Kota's parents, aren't you?" Enso asked, able to tell what was on Izuku's mind when he said that.

"So you were listening to that discussion?" Izuku asked with a serious look, not surprised in the least.

"Yes, I was. What are your thoughts?"

"My thoughts?" Izuku repeated.

"How do you feel, knowing the reason Kota hates heroes so much, and that his parents had an 'honorary' sacrifice?"

"Don't call it an honorary sacrifice... Imagine how Kota feels, thinking that his parents died and abandoned him because they had decided to be heroes..."

"He was a younger kid at the time of their deaths, he doesn't know any better." Enso said.

"It's still an experience no child should go through..." Deliberating, Izuku finally worked up the courage to ask, "Hey Enso?"

"What is it?"

"How many previous... 'students' like me, have you taught before?"

"Actually... your only the second person I've ever thought to keep alive instead of just eliminating..."

Now that was something Izuku hadn't known. He had assumed that Enso had taught multiple students before, but Izuku was actually only the second one Enso had decided to teach?

"H-How many of those 'special' people of different worlds have you met?"

"Over a dozen..." Enso said, knowing fully well where this was going and what Izuku would realize.

Sure enough, Izuku realized what Enso had done. "S-So that would mean-"

"Yes, I did kill those people whenever I found them. I remember always thinking that I should just kill them so that I could get my emotions and memories back that had been separated from me, not even thinking about how those people would feel, or the grief it would cause others..."

Izuku had heard this from Enso on the bus already, but it seemed to be worse just to hear it again. Izuku could feel himself feeling cold as he listened.

"But... there was one instance where I stopped thinking like that, after meeting a certain girl..." Enso said, reminiscing on the past.

The chill in Izuku seemed to disappear, as a new growing curiosity began to grow in him. "How was she?"

"Well, when I first met her, I had my dagger up to her neck."

Izuku felt a shiver down his spine, "Well that escalated quickly..."

Enso then looked up into the sky, both of his arms resting on the edges of the springs. "But despite being in a life or death situation, she just smiled at me..."

"Smiled!? Was she not scared?" Izuku asked in disbelief.

"She was indeed scared, but maintained herself... She was younger than you, only in middle school, yet she had such a calm and mature look on her face. Her smile wasn't crazy, it was a look of sincerity. I didn't pay much mind to it at the moment, but just I was going to finish her life, she asked me... 'Have you ever had a friend before?'"

Izuku kept his eyes in astonishment at Enso as he listened.

"That was the first time... I ever hesitated in killing someone. That person made me wonder if there were other methods that I should be doing than just... taking lives like it didn't matter. I don't know why, out of all the moments I've been through, why that moment was the one to make me stop. From that moment, I decided to investigate if there was any way to bring out the part of me she had, without having to take her life."

"So you decided to train her so that she could to try to use whatever special power she had?" Izuku asked, still in awe from hearing that a person impacted Enso in a very important way.

"Yes..." Enso responded.

"How is she now?" Izuku asked excitedly.

"..."

"Enso?"

"She was murdered."

Izuku felt like a block of ice had fallen into his stomach. The one person that Enso had trained before, the one that had been given a chance by Enso because he wanted to change what he did...

...had died as well.

Izuku didn't understand, didn't Enso just say that he had decided not to kill the girl? So what had happened? How did she die? Why was she murdered?

Izuku didn't even know what to ask, he struggled with his words. "H-How-?"

"Lynch got to her... At the time I had taught her how to use a considerate amount of her power... but it wasn't enough. Lynch had me distracted for some time, and it was all he needed to get to her."

There was a cold silence between Izuku and Enso. Izuku could see that a small thing changed in Enso's look, as his eyes were now partially closed and stared off into nothing. Izuku could tell that Enso was deep in thought about this, reminiscing about his past and thinking of any other possible outcomes that could have occurred if he had done something different.

Izuku couldn't tell if Enso felt anything at the moment, but this look he had certainly was different. "How did you feel... when she..."

"I don't know." Enso said, knowing that Izuku was gonna ask how he felt when she died. He lifted a hand out of the water and stared into it, "Everything was a blur after I had seen her body. My mind went dark, and the next thing I knew, I had woken up all alone somewhere else..."

"Really? You don't remember anything else at the time?"

"No, I don't... How long are we going to discuss this Izuku?"

At this point, Izuku realized he might've asked a bit too much of something that sensitive that happened to Enso.

"S-Sorry! I let my mouth run off again!"

"Don't worry about that. I'm just cautious that if we continue speaking about this, then we may be here much more than we should and someone may walk in to check."

"R-Right..." was all Izuku could utter out, rubbing the back of his head.

"I think I'll take my leave now." Enso said as he wrapped a towel below his waist right as he stood up, then walking out of the spring.

"Already?" Izuku asked surprised.

"There's no point in staying longer than I should be, I needed my skin to refresh at least a little, that way all."

Izuku watched as the scars on Enso's back seemed to be outlined under the moonlight, shining slightly bright. Seeing all of the different cuts and patterns on Enso reminded Izuku of his own big scar of his hero name on his back, while also gazing down at the scars on his arms that he had caused himself. He thought about how much Enso must've been through, and if he himself will be able to go through anything without having to lose someone.

When Enso got to the door and grabbed the handle, he paused for a moment. He went through his thoughts as he recalled the events of his first student, then remembering the question Izuku had asked him on the bus ride to the camp. He turned his head back to Izuku and gazed at him one last time, with Izuku still staring down at the scars on his arms.

"...Izuku?" Enso called to him.

"Yeah?" Izuku said as he lifted his head up and looked over at Enso.

"About the question you asked me on the bus, about what is it that I want?..."

Izuku's eye focused on Enso's eyes as he listened intently to his answer.

"I used to think that what I wanted was just to piece myself together at all costs, killing the people who had parts of me so that I would get my emotions and maybe my memories back. But due to meeting that girl, I began to rethink all of that and wondered if I should change things, but I didn't know if that would be good. So I guess what I want... is to find out what is it I actually want. I want to settle what it is I actually desire and find out what method I actually want in order to obtain my goal. That's why at times I help people, but other times I don't do anything or do something only for myself. I wish to find out what it is that I feel more connected to, working with others, or working with myself. I hope that makes sense."

Izuku was somewhat taken aback by Enso's answer to the question he had asked before, but Izuku

Enso then walked out of the place, leaving Izuku alone with only his thoughts.

"So even Enso doesn't know what he wants then?" Izuku thought with a sigh.

"How does someone not know what they want?" Ikari asked Izuku.

"Huh?! You were listening in the entire time Ikari!?"

"Kind of..." Ikari admitted.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop like that without making yourself known." Izuku told him.

"Sorry... But why doesn't Enso know what he wants? I don't understand..." Ikari said.

"Well... I guess knowing what you want involves having a certain feeling for something so you know you want it, but Enso, as you know, is having 'problems' with that."

"Oh... Well, at least we know that he's trying to find things out."

Izuku smiled, "Yeah. Enso... seems to be trying to find ways to change."

"Yay, that's a good thing! Maybe we can see him smile soon!"

"I think it's a long way from that..." Izuku chuckled.

"So how long are we going to stay here partner?" Ikari asked.

"Maybe just a little longer..." Izuku said as he took a deep breath and actually tried to relax now.

_______________________________________________________________

Enso had gotten dressed and was now walking towards the boy's section of the rooms, hands in his pockets and his head down as his footsteps echoed through the brightly lit halls.

"That was rather odd for me to say... I don't usually go off speaking like that... Is this a side effect of spending time around Izuku?"

Enso didn't get to think of an answer as he heard a voice behind him.

"Oh! Hey little kitten!"

Enso froze for a brief moment as he recognized the voice, and then robotically turned his head to look behind him, finding Pixie-bob staring intently at him with a bright smile. Her hands were behind her, although without any gloves, and her tail was moving energetically side to side. Her visor wasn't on her head, allowing more of her long, styled blonde hair and bangs to be shown off. Pixie-bob's blue eyes were giving Enso a gaze that he had seen before from both Mount Lady and Midnight, but that made him overly cautious about her.

"Pixie-bob..." Enso muttered as he saw it was her.

Pixie-bob walked over to Enso, giving him a thumbs up, "Thanks for helping out in the kitchen! Those meals you helped make were delicious!"

"Think nothing of it, I just wanted to ensure that none of you would mess up the food and poison everyone."

Pixie-bob just let out a laugh, "Oh, you!" she said playfully as she attempted to playfully slap Enso on the shoulder, only for her hand to hit nothing but air. She then looked and saw that Enso had moved about four feet away from her.

"Eh?"

"Don't just casually touch me..."

Pixie-bob placed her hands on her hips, but now forming a curious gaze and raising an eyebrow, "Huh? You a germaphobe?"

"No, but you shouldn't just go and touch someone casually like that without thinking if they would be uncomfortable with it." Enso responded.

Pixie-bob formed another smile, getting closer to Enso, "Come on now, don't be so uptight. A pretty lady is giving you some attention you know?" she said as she walked up to Enso again, leaning in and making it that her face was only about a foot away from Enso's

Enso squinted his eyes at her, completely unamused, "What do you want?"

"So cold!" Pixie-bob thought as she sweatdropped.

"Oh come on, do I really need a reason to talk to you?!" Pixie-bob snapped at him, more annoyed than before and a furrowed brow forming on her.

"But... I should be getting ready to sleep." Enso said as an excuse to leave.

"It isn't that late you know, and I'm sure I heard the other guys planning to play some sort of game until we make them sleep, which might be in a while since we wanna give your class a break after their first day. Come hang out with me instead!"

Enso was momentarily silent before placing a hand on his chin in thought, "What's worse, being in a room full of noisy and unmannered males who will all attempt to speak to me, or being alone with an annoying, immature adult that might harass me?"

Cross veins of irritation appeared on the side on Pixie-bob's head, "I'm not harassing you, and who are you calling annoying?..." she tried to say calmly, but the irritation was clearly heard in her voice.

Enso ignored her reaction, and after contemplating it for a few seconds, he sighed, "Fine, I'll go along with you for now... but on one condition."

Pixie-bob raised an eyebrow.

"Don't call me 'kitten'. I have a name, Enso."

"I thought your name was Ureshi?" Pixie-bob asked him.

"That's my last name, I would prefer if you call me by my first name."

"First name basis already!?" Pixie-bob shouted in her head happily, forming another big toothy grin.

"Then call me Ryuko, it's only fair!" she said excitingly.

"Fine..." Enso agreed reluctantly.

Pixie-bob then suddenly grabbed Enso's hand, holding it tight, "Great! Let's go to my room now then, it's quiet."

Hearing that Pixie-bob would bring him to her room, he thought about leaving, but hearing that it was quiet made him reconsider. He let himself get dragged around by her down the hall until they got to a red door with a blue cat paw on it.

Enso was tempted to leave while he might have the chance, but Pixie-bob opened the door, turned on the light, and pulled Enso in, then letting go of his hand as she proudly presented her room to him.

"Welcome to my sacred grounds!" she said humorously.

Enso's eyes scanned the area and he took note of some things that stood out from the rest of the room.

The room was overly big and the furniture was spaced out, which Enso assumed was because Pixie-bob doesn't like to feel cramped. Most of the ground was covered in a striped carpet that had each of the Pussycat's colors, pink, blue, green, and orange, but there was a small section of the ground in the left corner of the room that was just dirt, most likely for Pixie-bob just to use her quirk for some reason. The walls were a light blue and the ceiling was the same with the exception of an outline of a giant cat paw on the dead middle of it.

For furniture, there was a big light blue bed with pink stars on it at the back of the room, with a nightstand on the right of it with a blue lamp that had a paw pattern on it. Spaced out in the rest of the room were wardrobes, a few bookshelves, and even a table with a computer on it. The source of light was in the form of the paw on the ceiling, which was currently lit up. There was another door on the right wall, which Enso assumed led to a bathroom.

"This room... is a lot cleaner than I thought."

"You really say unnecessary things you know that?" Pixie-bob said to Enso with a blank expression.

"So I've been told."

Pixie-bob went into her room and sat onto her bed, then motioning Enso inside. Enso was on his guard as he closed the door behind him and walked over to Pixie-bob.

"You're not gonna sit next to me?" Pixie-bob asked in a flirty like manner as she patted a spot on the bed next to her.

"Let's get to the point, you have something specific to discuss with me, correct? I know that's the real reason you asked me here alone." Enso responded as he crossed his arms.

"Well aren't you a smart one?" Pixie-bob cooed, still keeping her smile. "Eraserhead told me about your little relationship with another student, Izuku Midoriya, and you have approval from me and the other Pussycats to teach him any way you wish during the camp."

"There's a catch isn't there?"

"Right again." Pixie-bob said, sounding impressed.

"So what is it I have to do?"

Pixie-bob's face then formed into a serious look, staring deeply into Enso's red eyes while he stared back into her bright blue ones.

"It's something very important, something only you can do."

Hearing her sudden tone change, Enso squinted his eyes and thought about what task would be so difficult for her or the other teachers that she would have to trust Enso with it. They both remained in momentary silence, the rooming seeming to darken in suspense as to what was so important for him to Enso, he didn't keep his eyes off of Pixie-bob, he just stared as he waited for her to answer him.

"Name it."

Pixie-bob took a deep breath.

"Date me."

The tension completely disappeared.

"..."

"..."

"Excuse me?"