But when the kids finally got back to UA, their supervisors had dinner ready for them and some tea...and music.

Camie tagged along. Her mentor had ended up injured and taken to the hospital, and she herself had told the police she had a ride back to her house...not mentioning it was a DJ.

"Tomorrow we should all go out though," she told the other students, "My treat."

"That'd be fun," Kaminari said, "Group date?"

"I don't think it's a date..." Momo said.

"He meant, like, a friend group kind," Jiro said.

"Sort of..." Wally hissed to Shine knowingly. She smirked.

"Well, you know...all things considered, the day ended better than we thought it would..." she said, "Though...so many casualties...but...I heard one of the Pros say the projected death rate was at least 3x higher, and they couldn't figure out how the nomu were stopped so quickly...so I suppose that is something to be grateful for."

"I'm just glad no one saw me..." Dabi was lying on the couch, not socializing with them pointedly.

"But you guys are famous." Camie held up her phone. "It's all over Fumbler [lol] and Flitter and YapTube... All non-official news sites, really, but people uploaded pictures of you and the LOV fighting those things. I guess people will use their phones even in a crisis."

"That's everything wrong with this culture..." Wally said, "You know, in my time, people actually still act like danger is real."

"I know. It's annoying, huh?" Shine took a bite of food

"Tch. Okay, boomer," Camie snorted.

After dinner, Camie asked if she could just stay over. "I can tell my parents I went home with a classmate nearer the city or something."

"I don't think you should lie to them," Shine said.

"Then I'll just say friends. Look, they'll get it, traffic is still a mess anyway," Camie said, "Like, I'd probably have to get a hotel or something if I didn't crash here."

"Just find a way to say it that isn't lying, and you can stay," Shine said.

Camie must have found a way, because she said later her parents were cool with it.

Mina said she could share with her, and they probably would be up looking at memes half the night.

The other students turned in, very tired.

Shine and Wally were too wired to go to sleep yet.

Wally was channel surfing, but he noticed Shine was just kind of sitting there quietly.

That wasn't normal. Shine always talked if she was nervous or processing something, and then she'd get past it...but if she was quiet, something was wrong.

Wally turned off the TV. "Are you okay?"

Shine nodded, but it didn't look like she was okay.

"Are you...thinking about the casualties?" Wally guessed. That was going to be bothering him, he had a feeling.

Shine shrugged. "That's part of it...but you know, I think I accepted a long time ago that disasters on this scale are beyond my power to prevent. So...no, it's not really that."

Wally waited.

Shine sighed. "You know...I told myself it was okay, because they weren't really alive, and I know for sure now that releasing them was the best thing...but what I can't shake off is how horrible that feeling was...jabbing my sword into something that was alive at one time...that I could actually feel, not just phasing through it... It was...awful..." She shuddered, looking freaked out.

Wally nodded. "It was kind of gross, huh?"

"I know it was the right thing to do," Shine said, very fragile sounding, "but it was still...horrible... Am I ever going to stop feeling that way about it?"

"It's only been one day though," Wally said, "And you ki--uh, freed one before, didn't you?"

"That was different... All I was thinking about then was protecting Shigaraki and Mirko, and it didn't talk. I guess I just... It wasn't the same. The adrenaline rush was too much. I blocked it out. But this time, I had time to think about it," Shine said, "Like the one on the roof didn't bother me either-- same reason-- but the two on the street did."

"Look, Shine, that was really creepy." Wally sat closer to her. "And I think all of us were bothered, but I don't think you're going to be scarred for life or anything... You said it-- it was the right thing to do... I think being kind of grossed out is fine. I mean...hey, I still remember pretty gross things I did years ago on the job. I've been trapped in alien bug juice for crying out loud!"

"Ew..." Shine kind of smiled in spite of herself.

"Yeah, you see? Gross," Wally said.

Shine nodded. "But...I feel like I killed them."

"But you didn't," Wally said, "Come on, they wanted that... You heard yourself."

"I know we had to, because no one else would have been fast enough," Shine said, "but...still...there are times I don't know why He makes us do things like this."

"Uh, Shine, I think you might want to watch that wording," Wally said, "No one made us do it. We wanted to help. And would you have just stood there and let it attack that creepy guy with the hands and the rabbit girl?"

"No...and why is it always them?"

"Someone wants them dead? How should I know? And if you won't change what you did, then it's not like you were forced into it."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Shine was just slightly terse there.

"No...but I think you're kind of putting the wrong spin on it." Wally rubbed his head. "We got a chance to do something, and at least for me, that was better than having to stay out of it because we can't directly interfere... It could have been anyone, but it was people who'd allow us to help, and I'm really glad about that part... I mean, you heard the pros-- it could have been so much worse. Just...you know...don't look at it all on the dark side."

Shine was silent for while. She seemed to be turning that over in her mind.

"I think you have a point," she admitted finally, "Though there was a time I would have just kept arguing with you because I preferred the negative... Anxiety is such a massive pain... I'm not sure violent combat is my thing if I feel this conflicted about it. How did David do it?"

"Look, it's just a thing we gotta do sometimes," Wally said, "And remember the monsters in the last world? Those were pretty gruesome."

"But they weren't people..."

"I know..." Wally sighed, "Yeah, that part is really awful... You know, though, they were already stuck that way. What's actually eating me is if that weirdo Shigaraki still has more of those made and just doubles down on the conditioning...that would make me feel really useless."

"Well, that would not be your fault if he can't learn," Shine said.

"See? That doesn't bother you, but it does bother me," Wally said, "And that whole stabby thing didn't bug me too much, but it does bother you. So it's fair, right?"

"We both have our hang ups...but, Wally, it's not that it wouldn't bother me if he kept it up... I just dismiss it faster than you if I don't get through to someone because I've had to deal with it more often than you....I'm not sure my problem will go away with time..."

"Well...you know, I think you should pray about it too," Wally said, "Maybe you just need to hear that it was okay, you know...from the Big Guy."

That would have been a brush off from most people, but Shine knew Wally would never do that... She'd learned that a long time ago. He was being serious.

"I will...but...you want to just tell me one more time to my face?" she said with a kind of doe-eyed look she didn't really do on purpose.

But Wally couldn't say no--and what kind of person would?

"It was the right thing." He looked her in the eye. "And you should be proud. You were a real hero today, just like everyone else. And for the record, you always amaze me by how much time you can spend just being compassionate to people who don't really get that a lot... Didn't you even fit a nice, long talk in there?"

Shine nodded, tears kind of glistening in her eyes. The stress was just getting to her. "Yeah, well, you know me-- can't pass up a teaching moment to save my life..."

"You don't think it's special that you can manage to focus on stuff like that in the middle of a crisis, not just to survive?"

"Is it really special? Or does it mean I don't take it seriously?"

"You don't take yourself too seriously, but I don't think anyone who's seen you in battle would say you don't take that seriously," Wally said drolly, "so believe me, you did great."

Shine nodded. "Okay...thank you."

"That's why I'm here," Wally smiled.

"Stop being cute." Shine pretended to shove him. "You know I hate it when you make me smile when I'm trying to be upset."

"You hate that, huh? Could have fooled me," Wally retorted.

"Shut up." Shine was obviously just kidding. "I can't have my pity party if you do that."

"Well, I think I'm doing my job, then." Wally started to tickle her just to get her to lighten up.

Shine fought back but started laughing, then hitting him with one of the couch pillows. Then he returned fire.

A few minutes later they were both out of breath and laughing... The stress of the day was fading finally.

"Is everything okay down here?" Shoto appeared looking confused.

They looked up at him.

"Oh...sure," Wally said, then he beaned Shoto with a pillow, making him jump and look startled.

Shine couldn't help laughing at the look on his face.

"Why did you do that?" Shoto asked.

"It's called a pillow fight-- ever heard of it?" Wally asked.

"No," Shoto said.

"Oh?" Shine said.

"Well, I guess we should fix that..." Wally tackled Shoto with more ammo.

Shine joined in.

"Hey! Stop it!" Shoto protested-- but more confused than angry, "I don't get the point of this at all!"

"Come on, Shoto, fight back!" Shine said, "Just...no fire, okay? That would be hard to explain later..."

Shoto confusedly hit one of them back. "I don't get why this is fun."

"You're doing it wrong, then," Wally said.

"What's going on?" Momo appeared too. And then Bakugo and Camie also, along with Mina and Kirishima and Hagakure.

"Why is Todoroki having a pillow fight with our supervisors?" Kirishima said oddly.

"This is way weird!" Camie was snapping a photo. "Let me get in on it!" She grabbed a cushion off a chair and smacked Bakugo with it before he could duck.

"You wanna die!" he yelled, practically smoking.

"You have to use a pillow!" Camie ran for her life.

Mina shrugged. "I'm into this." She grabbed one too and hit Kirishima with it.

"Uh...well, I guess it's manly..." Kirishima said.

Momo just watched in confusion as the fight got really intense--as everything in UA did-- with people running around corners and using furniture as shields...

Momo finally got roped into it by Camie and Hagakure, but she more of just barricaded herself than actually hit anyone.

Finally after 20 minutes at least, everyone was out of breath and either laughing or hiding behind something.

Shine was much more cheerful though.

"I win!" Bakugo said, holding Camie down and holding Kirishima off at the same time.

"I give, I give!" Camie gasped, "Let me up!"

"Yeah, man, don't take it too far," Kirishima said.

Bakugo let them go.

"Dude, you take everything way too seriously," Wally said.

"I want to win if I'm going to do this kind of stupid crap," Bakugo said.

"I challenge you to let someone else win sometime just to see if you could actually force yourself to do it," Shine said, putting the cushions back in place.

"Where did you all get the energy for that?" Mina yawned, "You were saving people all day."

"It's that I'm so tired I'm hyper energy," Shine yawned also, "I should go to bed... If anyone has any bad dreams, please sneak into someone else's room quietly, because I can hear you, you know, when you just thump over the floorboards. I'm a very light sleeper. Good night."

"Is that a pun? Light sleeper-- her name is Shine..." Camie wondered. But she shook her head. "I'm so beat too. Come on, Mina. We should crash."

"Yeah, I have school tomorrow too," Mina said, "But hey, maybe they'll give you a break because you were doing hero stuff."

"I should be so lucky. Not at Shiketsu!" Camie snorted as they headed back upstairs.

"I think Yaoyurozu fell asleep in the corner..." Shoto said.

Momo had indeed fallen asleep while hiding.

"Hmph." Bakugo was actually pretty tired. This was way past his bedtime... It was a whole 2 hours after 8:30 pm.

"Is it weird for you having Camie here?" Kirishima asked him, "I mean...you know, overnight?"

Bakugo gave him a deadly look. "What?"

"I mean not like that. Just...you know, it's kind of like having a stranger here to witness us at our weakest," Kirishima said.

"Speak for yourself, Weird Hair." Bakugo walked away.

"I think he might be nervous about it," Kirishima said to Shoto.

"Why?" Shoto said, "Camie is not really a stranger."

"Yeah, but he likes her man," Kirishima said, "and she's gonna be where she can see him at his worst... Well, I guess she's seen him pretty bad before..."

"What do you mean he likes her?" Shoto said, "Bakugo doesn't like anyone."

"No, I mean he has a crush on her," Kirishima said.

"He does?" Shoto was so dense.

Kirishima gave him a weird look. "You couldn't tell?"

"No...how would I tell?"

"Well, for one thing, he's always talking to her-- I hear him, since he's next to me-- for a long time," Kirishima said, "And he's nicer to her... I mean, not that nice, but for him nice. You know, he laughs at her jokes and sticks up for her to other people. I saw it myself. And he actually listens to her ideas in training. That's, like, huge. He never listens to me."

Shoto was staring at him thoughtfully. "And all that means he has a crush?"

"What else could it be? I don't know what else could make a guy like Bakugo willingly change that much," Kirishima said, "And besides, you can by tell the way he looks at her when she's not paying attention. He thinks we don't notice, but the Bakusquad totally notices this stuff... Mina kind of beat it into our heads, I guess."

"How does he look at her?"

"I don't know how to put it... I mean, you know how a guy is when he likes a girl..." Kirishima said awkwardly.

"No."

"Come on, man, your parents never---uh, I mean you never saw it on TV?"

"I don't watch TV, really..." Shoto said. 

Kirishima rubbed his head. "I'm not really good with words...but, you know, like she's pretty or cute or something... Come on, you never had a crush?"

"I...don't think I ever really thought about what that even means..." Shoto said, "It doesn't sound that different from just liking someone."

"It's still liking someone...but liking them more than other people," Kirishima said, "And you know...sometimes you want to hold their hand and stuff like that too, but I don't really know that much about it. I've never dated..."

"Wait, this is about dating now?" Shoto said.

"Duh... Wow, you really are sheltered, huh?" Kirishima got up. "Well, hey, Moogle it or something. I gotta turn in."

"Moogle it..." Shoto muttered.

"Did I fall asleep?" Momo sat up suddenly. "Oh, wow...how embarrassing." She smiled sheepishly. Which was really cute.

"Well, I guess everyone's tired now..." She got up and headed for the elevator... "Are you okay, Todoroki?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, just thinking about something," Shoto said, "Yaoyurozu, did you ever have a crush?"

Momo turned red. "A wha--? Uh...no, I don't think so...\. Um, why?"

"I just don't get it," Shoto said, shaking his head, "I feel like I don't get a lot of stuff other people do."

"I'm sure you will...uh, at the right time." Momo didn't know what else to say. "And there's nothing wrong with it... I mean everyone's different, I bet... Good night..." She hurried away.

That was so awkward!  she thought. Why did he just ask that out of nowhere? Maybe one of the other boys mentioned it? That had to be it.

Momo knew Todoroki too well.

[Yeah, I'll say. I really hope they get together soon. I'm getting tired of waiting.]

* * *

The pro heroes spent even longer on clean up than the students did. Aizawa was there for hours after the others had gone. At least Likstar made that part easier.

Mirko and Miss Joke stuck around too. Mirko didn't usually help much with this aspect of the job, but she suspected the ninja might still be around, and she wanted to keep an eye out.

But they never appeared. More police had flooded the area once the nomu were gone, as well as the smaller time pros, all getting to work rescuing the last of the civilians, and it was not a good time for the Originals to show themselves.

Miss Joke helped people cheer up and get where they needed to go, and she'd hum snatches of cheerful songs here and there too.

https://youtu.be/wE8CzFBKrP4

Aizawa didn't have much to do except help rescue people also.

After a while he was told he should just go home and get some rest. There were new people coming to relieve them.

Midnight was long gone by then too. She'd been exhausted. But one pro had said that whoever came up with the idea to use her Somnambulist on the nomu was a genius, with the blocking off and stuff.

Most of the heroes were puzzled as to how anyone had pulled that off and coordinated it in the center of the city. They credited Hawks and Mirko as being the only ones on the scene fast enough and powerful enough to have done it.

Mirko ignored anyone who tried to tell her she did good, and Hawks avoided answering any questions. But that theory would probably make the news.

Aizawa thought at least both of them were somewhat ashamed of getting credit for someone else's work repeatedly, but he still thought they should just tell the truth. He knew Likstar and West wanted to stay anonymous, but someone was going to have seen them. It was impossible to keep it silent if they took on these threats.

He voiced that thought to Miss Joke as both of them were getting ready to leave.

"I don't know. No one has caught them yet," she said, "At most, they'd probably be labeled vigilantes, and sometimes those are anonymous... I wouldn't worry too much... It's a shame  they can't get credit, but unlicensed people really would get in trouble for this."

"They should just get licensed. They could both easily pass the exam," Aizawa said.

"They would never do that." Miss Joke was somber. "The only edge they have on us is not belonging to the hero system. They give that up, no villain will take them seriously, and I doubt any of the Pros would either."

Aizawa shot her a sideways glance. "You sound like you're on their side."

"Aren't you?"

Aizawa looked away. "I don't know what I think anymore," he admitted.

"Wow...never thought I'd hear you of all people say that." Miss Joke was annoyingly nonchalant...but then she didn't look so flippant. "Well, you know, that's okay."

Mirko caught up to them. "Hey," she said, "did Likstar run off to UA again?"

"You know she can't stick around. Did you want to talk to her?" Miss Joke said.

"Yeah, we should talk about what just happened," Mirko said.

Miss Joke eyed her. The top hero was a wreck, though she still looked stunning. It really wasn't fair. Miss Joke sighed.

"You should go home and rest," she suggested, "I'm sure you can just call Shine later."

"Rest? After this?" Mirko's ears twitched like she was angry or nervous. "Who could rest after this...? I won't rest till I find those freaking ninjas! Soulless monsters!"

"I thought those were dead," Aizawa said.

"Did you...just make a quip?" Miss Joke said, "Now I'm not sure you're feeling all right." She feigned checking him for a fever. 

He rolled his eyes. "Be serious, Joke."

"That's like...asking a lot..." Miss Joke jibed, but then she did turn serious. "For real, though...we're all trashed... And Mirko, don't you think you're being just a tad too...enthusiastic about this? You've got to rest too... I don't understand what those people want, but at least they didn't succeed today."

"Every time they fail they come back with a worse plan next time," Mirko said, "Kidnapping a little girl wasn't enough. Then it was targeting the whole LOV through me." 

"What?" Aizawa interrupted, but Mirko didn't notice

"And now a whole city. What's next? All of Japan? The world...? They're insane, and they're fanatics, and they won't stop till they get us, if we don't get them first."

"I've never seen you so pessimistic," Miss Joke said, "How much power could they really have?"

Mirko grabbed her and shook her. "Are you not listening? They are out of control! And they have numbers! Are you stupid or something? I'm not pessimistic. This is for real."

"Okay, that's enough" Aizawa grabbed her and pulled her away from Miss Joke. "Take it easy. All of us came close to dying today a few times a piece. Let's not turn on each other."

"You don't get it." Mirko shoved him away. "Fine. Whatever. I don't need you anyway. I'm just warning you."

"Uh...Rumi, can I talk to you for a second?" Miss Joke was getting concerned now.

"Sure..." Mirko sounded nonplussed.

Miss Joke pulled her aside.

"I know that it's tempting to think Shine has the answers...but she's only human. I think you shouldn't bother her till she's had time to rest... I'm sure she was very worn out by today also, and it would be better for everyone if you would try to de-stress too. But is there something else to this that you haven't told us?"

Mirko frowned. "No...and why would I tell you anything? We're not really friends, are we?"

Miss Joke frowned back. "I guess not with that attitude... I wouldn't mind being friends, but I know-- you don't do teamwork. I guess you don't do relationships of any kind. Doesn't that ever get lonely?"

"And you're really that different?" Mirko shot back, "I could ask you the same thing. I'm not lonely at all. That's just an emotion weak people waste time thinking about."

"I see. I mean, I don't mind admitting I get lonely at times. I love having friends, and my students are really sweet, but I wouldn't mind more," Miss Joke said, "Though I agree it's very hard for heroes to have that...but even a team would be good, if you're up against something like this... You aren't doing something on your own, are you?"

"Did I ask you?" Mirko huffed, "No offense, but I'm a top hero, and you're not even on the board...so...not sure I really need your input."

Miss Joke was not the type to just take that. She glared at Mirko. "You know, No. 5, I may not be at the top, but that means I can see some things you might be too high up there to notice. For the record, I like being a teacher, and I don't need to be a top 10 or 20 or 100 hero. And you don't have to ask for my input, but I was just trying to help because you seem like you're stressed. That's kind of what I do." She smiled confidently. 

Mirko didn't really dislike Miss Joke, but she found this annoyingly optimistic, and it sounded too much like what Shine had said earlier.

"Do you all just discuss this stuff ahead of time?" she muttered, "You got something against top heroes?"

"Not really," Miss Joke said, "other than they tend to be full of their own hype, no offense. But hey, it's fun to laugh about it."

Aizawa was listening to all of this, and even he almost had to crack a smile at that last part.

Mirko shot Miss Joke a dirty look. "Sure. Laugh it up... Well, I don't really care."

"Are you sure about that?" Miss Joke leaned to the side. "You kind of seem like this is getting to you...and on that note...why are you always around the LOV? I thought it was a one time thing before...but today you hardly left their company... Hawks  told us you were around, but you were really late to the Center Ring. That worked out because of Kurogiri, but...were you with them?"

Mirko gave her an icy look. "Are you implying something?"

"No," Miss Joke said, "I'm asking you point blank."

Miss Joke could be kind of intimidating for someone with that title and outfit...

Mirko didn't really feel afraid of her, but she was getting that uncanny vibe she got with Shine, like the Smile Hero was seeing right through her.

She turned away. "Just happened to run into them and tried to get to the bottom of what was happening, that's all."

"You were acting a lot more familiar than that...but I suppose if you say that's it, then that's it," Miss Joke said.

"I'd stay out of my business if I were you." Mirko glared at her. "I don't like nosy people."

"I guess not, but a word of caution, Top Hero-- if I can notice it, someone else can too. You should be careful if you're going to hang out with that crowd. We've all risked our reputations working with them, and I'm okay with that, but I get the feeling you have more to lose."

"Well, risk is what makes the job fun," Mirko said, "Now, I have things to do. Gotta bounce." She left straight away.

"You heard all of that, didn't you?" Miss Joke said.

"What makes you say that?" Aizawa said.

"You were way too quiet," Miss Joke said, "and you didn't walk away. I know you. If you didn't care, you'd have left."

"You were always more observant than your personality would lead one to believe," Aizawa said dryly, "What did you make of that?"

"She's acting weird," Miss Joke said, "Not that I presume to know Mirko all that well-- kind of famous for being a loner, after all. I could never understand that...or how she got to the top carrying all the weight of her missions on her own. She doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humor."

"By your standards?" Aizawa said.

Miss Joke frowned. "You couldn't not insult me for five minutes, Eraser? I was so nice to you today, and I'm being serious right now."

"Sorry..." Aizawa wasn't sure why she was taking offense to it, or why he cared, apparently, if he insulted her.

Miss Joke seemed surprised at the apology too, but she didn't say so. "I'm concerned that she's going to do something reckless. I never heard much from or about her after that camp incident, but it sounds like she did something else, something that got the LOV involved..."

"I want to know how they became our second biggest threat instead of our number one," Aizawa said.

"Counting the Metas, I'd put them at 3rd," Miss Joke said, "As long as Likstar and West act as our watchdogs, they may not even be a threat. You know, I think we should be very glad they showed up when they did... I'm not sure where we'd be now if they hadn't. I'd almost be inclined to say they really are a Godsend."

"Careful," Aizawa said, "That's something they'd say..."

"But you must be glad for the extra protection for your class," Miss Joke said.

"I am grateful to them for everything they have done," Aizawa said, "but I think they come with their own risks: people want to use them. The LOV may too...and there is a lot they do I know they don't tell me... Do they tell you?"

"Some of it," Miss Joke said, "but, you see, Eraser, unlike you, I don't expect to get told, and so I'm safe to confide in. Ever think you should just not demand as much of people?"

Aizawa tilted his head. "You're full of criticism today. Did I do something?"

"What? No," Miss Joke said, "Sorry...didn't notice I was... Got a bit carried away." She shook herself. "I was just trying to say...you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, you know... I'm sure they're warming up to you though. You know they always speak very highly of you--as opposed to the other UA staff."

"Yeah, I don't know if I like that. It makes me feel like they think I'm different."

"Newsflash: They do," Miss Joke said, making a mind-blown gesture, "What's so bad about that?"

"If you're different, people expect things of you, and I don't like that," Aizawa said darkly, "I never like to stand out."

"That could be exactly why they like you," Miss Joke pointed out, "Not huge fans of self seeking, are they...? It seems like one of those things they really want from us is just to not have our own ego as our motives...or our grudges... And I just wonder, if they even think villains are important enough to risk their lives for, is there something we are missing here? Would you go that far for a villain?"

Silence.

"No," Aizawa said, "I don't think so."

Pause.

"Why? Would you?" Aizawa said.

"I really don't know," Miss Joke said, "But, you know, Dabi is good now, apparently, and I never really heard of that happening."

"How did--?"

"Shine told me," Miss Joke said, "So, yeah...you know, I'm reconsidering my biases." She winked. "It looks bad for us, doesn't it? Always calling it crazy to do what they do, but if it works...and it could keep working...it would flip our world upside down, wouldn't it? I'm convinced something big is coming, Eraser. And I want to be ready for it."

Aizawa looked down. "If that is true, I think we all want to be ready. But I don't know what that thing could be."

"I think that's the point." Miss Joke started to walk away. "I'll see you around, Eraser. Maybe I'll even drop over to UA more often to visit them."

"At least call first," Aizawa muttered.

Miss Joke gave him an odd look, like she wasn't sure why he didn't just say no. Then she walked off to find a way to get home.