He wasn't the first person to want to change the world.

Of course he wasn't the first person to try something like this. This entire plan, this whole idea, this… Movement - It was a movement, Izuku supposed. Or at least, it had the beginnings of one. If it grew in the way that he wanted it to grow, it would become a movement. Maybe it would set its roots in Japan, but it would grow. That was the goal.

A movement that would change the face of the world. That would liberate the Quirked all over Earth, and let them live free and dignified and equal lives. That had been what he'd worked for… For years now.

There had been many people who had tried to do the same. Some had succeeded. History was full of people who had make incredible changes to the world. Some good, some bad, some…. Horrific. Some in large ways, some in small ways that stacked up on one another.

….There were lots of failures though.

That was probably the thing that made Izuku shiver the most as he read over the many failed experiments and social attempts to instigate change throughout history. So many times before now, people had felt the oppressive heel of injustice against their backs, and pushed to change it, only for those who maintained that injustice to crush them in order to maintain the status quo, to let them carry on in whatever actions they saw fit to… Do whatever it was they did to feel the oppression of these groups was necessary.

Hundred of examples littered that demographic. Hundreds of attempted uprisings against oppressors, and hundreds of times they had been beaten back down to continue as normal. All over the world, the same story repeated, over and over and over. There were exceptions – Sometimes these uprisings did lead to positive change. Sometimes those oppressed rose up and won their freedoms and rights. But that was rare in terms of sheer numbers.

There was a major difference this time though.

And that was the existence of Quirks.

In every example Izuku had read, there had never been a huge, world changing event that would fundamentally rewrite the course of Human history in place before. Something that no matter how hard the higher ups tried, would never, ever go away. They were trying their hardest as well. Hoping that if they just moved everyone with a Quirk somewhere else, stuck their fingers in their ears, and slowly kept eroding away their rights as people, that this issue would just go away.

It never would though. Izuku had to wonder if they knew this, but continued like this anyway because they saw acknowledging it as a distraction. He wondered if they felt they would be unaffected because of their standing and power.

He wondered if they even cared about the hostility and tensions and pain they caused by burying their heads in the sand.

….If history was anything to go by, he knew that they wouldn't.

And yet, those people would order their institutions – The police, the army, the social workers, the national guard – Whatever it was they had, to maintain what they called 'order' – To maintain the status quo in the face of change.

To suppress the needs of the population in a changing, dying world.

Which was what this world was doing. Dying. Dying in the face of a change it couldn't hope to stop or prevent from spreading. Quirks were inevitable. And there were two choices now – To use them to build a better world, or to beat them down, to try and maintain the old one.

So many had chosen the latter. So many.

Afraid of those changes, wanting to hold onto the way the world worked in their heads, denying it to try to preserve their sanity. Afraid to face the new world. And for those in power, it was about maintaining their hold over world that was changing beyond their reach.

That had been clear to those who looked from the first Quirk. To those who really looked.

And Izuku never had.

More people would arrive.

That was pretty much the only logical conclusion anyone could draw from the amalgamation of facts surrounding this place, Izuku thought to himself. Between the orphanage's construction, Maverick telling people to head there, and this Nakagame girl having taken the offer up, it was pretty obvious that more people would do the same.

Things truly were hard for the Quirked out there. The more Izuku looked, the more he fully understood that. He'd always known – It was why he'd done what he could do before fighting to get into Yuuei, before he'd gone down the path of self-proclaimed Heroism. The depths of how bad things were though, what people were willing to do, how far they were prepared to go… That was what was new to him.

Last night, he had done research onto the subject. He'd gone fully into it, like he had never done before. He'd spent as long as he could on his phone before he passed out, and researched the deepest corners of what he could find. Videos, exposes, sociology papers, interviews, and first-hand accounts.

It had always been easy to look away from the worst of the worst of it. It was just a click to close the window, or to swipe left, and find another, less gruesome article. It felt like too much before, to see just how bad things were. The stories piled up, on top of one another, and keeping track of all of them was virtually impossible, it felt. Like to even begin would be akin to trying to climb Mount Everest without even a slightly insulated jacket.

This time, Izuku refused to look away.

Aware of what had happened to the people he knew, Izuku had thought he'd had a good understanding of the way the world was. He'd seen some horrific things in his time, suffered the consequences of those events, and cried along with people as they suffered themselves. He had the scars to prove it, and the experiences to call upon. Now he had his own Quirk, he'd fallen into the same bracket, felt the targeting against him, both as Izuku and as the Hero Maverick.

It had only been a short while that they had been active as Heroes. Throughout that time, they had only fought against those who broke the law in the dark alleyways of the world, the blatantly criminal and the harmful to others.

He saw the articles calling him a deranged criminal, a dictator-in-waiting, a power-hungry despot – A lunatic wanting to seize control for himself. He saw himself being called a murderer for killing the Nomu creature, even after everything that he and the First Generation had done to protect people from getting hurt. He saw all manner of words thrown at him by the media, and he'd seen the looks people gave him when he walked through the streets in a Yuuei uniform. How there was always a distance between him and the average person in the city, the way he saw people steal glances at him when they thought he wouldn't notice them, how people would cross over to the other side of the street when he walked by. The more he forced himself to learn though, the more he felt sick as he realized just how bad it got in places. The sheer inhumanity of people against the Quirked in other places. Places that weren't lucky enough to have a means of escape, like the ones he had encountered had.

People like Mina and Katsuki were incredibly common… But what made Izuku's stomach feel like poison was the fact he was beginning to realize that they were probably two of the lucky ones.

None of this ever reached the front page either. It was always buried under more miscellaneous stories about which celebrity had a scandal that week, or how someone's cat had been stuck up a tree, or how the economy was destroying itself.

Yet there were also plenty of articles about the Quirked. How they were bringing chaos to the civil structure of normal society. A few instances here and there of the Quirked unleashing hell, and a million and one of the Quirkless treating the Quirked like dirt – And the Quirked were the ones who were treated like the monsters.

And the more he had looked into it, the more Izuku came to the inevitable conclusion that this was far, far, far from the first time Humanity had done this.

Reports of police brutality reached the roof – Proverbially, at least. It increased a lot when Quirks were made illegal to use, even in self-defence. That was noticeable. Increased harassment reports from Quirked people rose dramatically as well – Those who held prejudiced views began to push the boundaries further and further, knowing that he law would be on their side if the Quirked lashed back.

Why hadn't he seen that before?

….Why had he thought that changing the minds of people would mean the rulers would change their minds?

The chances of Nakagame being the one person in the entire city that wanted a place of sanctuary were so negligible that they weren't even worth considering – This place would become a hub of activity for desperate Quirked. It might even attract more of the ardently pro-Quirked sympathizers from the Quirkless population.

It would be a lie to say that wasn't what Izuku wanted.

No rooms were available for her – They had been more focused on making sure that the kids they had here and now were housed, and had only just managed to accomplish that. So, Izuku had retrieved one of the spare mattresses they had, and set her up in main lobby where the kids had stayed while their rooms were sorted out. Considering that she had spent God knew how long on the streets, she was grateful for the chance to just sleep somewhere with some insulation, a roof, and an actual mattress. Work on her room would begin tomorrow. There were way too many things that needed to be done and considered today.

So much of what had happened to Izuku over the time since he entered Yuuei now floated around in his mind, blending together as he tried to figure out what steps needed to be taken next. That had been what his mind had been doing for days, he realized. Even when focused on building the rooms, his mind had subconsciously been analysing and questioning the things he'd done, the actions he'd taken. The way that this fight was going. The public perception. Everything.

Part of him wondered if the conclusions he had arrived at were a betrayal of the ideals he had started out with.

The other part wondered why he hadn't arrived at these conclusions years ago.

What he arrived at… He wasn't sure if he'd be able to look back and be proud of in a few years' time.

But they meant that he would still be here in a few years' time to feel guilt over it. And this was bigger than him. That part, he'd always known. He'd hated it when others tried to make this a thing about him. That he was the leader, the founder, the strength behind the First Generation. He'd never seen it that way himself. He was part of something that was supposed to be all of them. He'd forced no one to join.

Yet, they had seemed to just fall into line behind him, seeming to think he knew what he was doing. A burden he didn't want, but one he decided had to be taken if no one else was willing to see this as he did. So, he had made a choice…

… And few liked it.

"…I get it, Kacchan." Izuku said carefully, but at the same time firmly, as Katsuki paced back and forth past him. He felt… Remarkably calm.

At least right now he did. Already though, he felt that was subject to change very quickly. "I do. Trust me."

" You fuckin' talk about trust after bringing… That here?"

The pair of them had been left alone in the secret room on the top floor. Mina and Uraraka were on the other side of the sliding book frame, unloading some stuff into the room for Izuku – Mostly just for something to do. Izuku had a feeling that they wanted to hear what was going on as it happened, so they could barge in if they thought it was getting heated. Right now, he couldn't tell if they could even hear them.

"Yaoyorozu is not a 'That'." Izuku responded bluntly, and staunchly. "She is a person."

"Who tried to screw us over in every way possible, I'll call them whatever the fuck I like."

"No. You won't." This time, Izuku practically growled. "I made a call; you don't like it. It's not my most popular move. And you're right, I shouldn't have done it without consulting everyone." As much as he stood by what he'd done, Izuku realized that his methodology had been a mistake. It was something he couldn't repeat. Not if he wanted to avoid this again, and certainly not if he wanted to maintain moral consistency. That much, he would concede.

But he wouldn't concede everything here. Not when he had a reason to not bring it up.

"Do you know why I didn't though?" He asked, one of his eyebrows burrowed, and the other raised far up. "Because I knew for a fact that this is exactly what would happen. And of everyone in our group, I knew you would be the person who opposed this the most, and now look where we're at."

Katsuki growled right back. "So, the hell with my and everyone else's take on the matter?"

"And should I do this every single time we need someone to join our cause? Should we go around everyone and make sure they're all individually a hundred percent okay with it? Should we throw her out because you would inevitably not like it? And where does that line of thinking end, exactly?"

"And where the hell does yours end?!" Katsuki yelled. "You want to make all the calls without even hearing what the rest of us have to say?! Should we all bow our heads to the almighty fucking supreme leader?!"

"I didn't even want to be the 'Leader' of our group!"

Echoes jump around the room. That was loud. Louder than Izuku had actually intended for it to be. Certainly louder than Katsuki had come to expect from Izuku. It was enough to make even him pause and for his eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

After that, there was a brief quiet, before Izuku spoke again.

"You," He started, jabbing his finger towards Katsuki with special emphasis as he spoke, "Of everyone, should know that! You all put that on me! I never once said I wanted to lead our group! I came up with the idea, you all decided to join in, and you just decided that I was the one making the calls! You have Mina pull me aside when you think I can't handle myself anymore, but you still think I'm the leader here?! What sort of logic is that?!"

He took a deep breath, and spoke again. This time, quieter, but equally as firm.

"I'm the leader when it's good for everyone else, but when it's not, then you'll throw your weight around? You'll actually really speak up only when you think I'm not able to lead? I wanted you to do that from the start. But… This… Thing, with Yaoyorozu? What do you want here, Kacchan? Do you want to enforce some sort of… Purity test on people?"

At that, words stopped coming from Katsuki's throat. They looked like they were about to, but they almost seemed to just dive right back into his throat the second he thought them.

Izuku glared. "That's what that is. Purity testing. And do you know who else is big on purity these days?"

The Explosion Quirk users' hands balled into fists.

"The Quirkless." Izuku said, answering his own rhetorical question. He made sure that he put special emphasis onto the word Quirkless. "The people we're trying to get on our side, and stop oppressing the Quirked – And that's not exactly been easy, has it? Do you actually think we are in any position to turn away help, even if we don't like them?" He took a step forward, and his eyebrows arched inwards. "Do you actually think we have that luxury right now?"

Actual silence fell between the two of them like a smothering blanket. It wasn't an easy silence, nor was it a pleasant one. It was tense. Suffocating.

The relationship between Izuku and Katsuki was an odd one, thanks in no part of their conflicting personalities, but was sustained by their similar ideals, desire for change, and history. Katsuki was aggressive, but Izuku could temper him, and was used to how he was. It was just how their dynamic had evolved.

Contrastingly however, that dynamic rarely reversed.

Taking a step back, Izuku sighed. His shouldered dropped at his sides. Whatever anger had built up had deflated now. "I… I said I get it before. And I do get it. I get why you're concerned about her joining us… But we need to be pragmatic here. She helped build this place – Most of the resources came from her. Her Quirk is useful… And she wants to make up for everything. We need to give her that chance. I… Want, to give her that chance. I know it's risky, and I know there's going to be bad blood for a while… But the goal of what we're doing is to change people's minds so the Quirked don't have to sit down and just be beaten down every single day."

"She opposed that." Katsuki pointed out. This time, his voice was softer. The point had been made to him, and having both yelled and been yelled at, he was noticeably calmer. He'd pushed Izuku. He recognized that.

To that, Izuku leaned against the nearest wall. "And so have millions of Quirkless people out there." As he spoke, he tapped against the wall with the back of his hand, as though to gesture to the rest of the world. "And they're the ones we're trying to reach. If we treat them all the same for being rough around the edges, then we're never going to achieve anything." He paused. "Even then, at least Yaoyorozu was doing it because she thought she was protecting her group. There are people outside this building who we're trying to reach that haven't even done that. She messed up – But we can't gatekeep her out of this. If we do, then we're saying that anyone who we have a minor difference with can't join us in the fight either."

He looked at Katsuki, his expression saying everything that words weren't going to get across.

"And then, we'll lose everything."

The prospect scared him.

How many times had it happened? People who shared the same goals, fighting and killing each other over minor ideological differences? People who wanted the same thing, but opposed one another miles down the road? Entire empires, kingdoms, nations and movements had fallen because of this sectarianism Katsuki wanted to engage in.

"…Maybe you're right." Izuku muttered, conceding some ground. "Maybe… Maybe bringing in Yaoyorozu of all people wasn't the best idea. We're walking a dangerous road right now… But we just… Can't be picky. We have to do what we have to do if we want to really change anything. We can't turn down help. We can't turn away allies. And we… We need to be ready to work with people we might not otherwise like. Maybe I should have started smaller… And… I shouldn't have done this without consulting everyone…"

"…You were worried that I'd react like this." Katsuki said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I was paying attention."

Izuku nodded.

Katsuki sighed. Defined by his bad temper as he was, he possessed the ability to be introspective. He wasn't blinded by anger. Not when he actually managed to channel it and get across why he was so angry. A lot of the time, it as because society was the way it was, so channelling it was difficult when it was so hard to push society in the right direction.

But he knew Izuku, and had for years. Arguments like this were rare, but when they did come across, and both had yelled their piece there was almost a serene calm when everything was out in the air, like they had had a bag of bricks taken off of their shoulders.

"…I don't like this in the slightest." He said, slowly. That part hadn't changed. Given that Katsuki valued actions more than words, that wasn't a surprise. "And I still want to throw them out a fucking window…"

Looking to the ground, as if to consider his final statement, Katsuki groaned, pulled his hand out of his jacket, ran it through his hair, and then nodded.

"…But I'll trust you on this. As a member of the First Generation. Not as it's leader." His eyes then narrowed slightly. "Just because I know what you're like. If Racoon Eyes pulls someone off the street and brings them here, I'm gonna blow a hole in the nearest wall."

It was impossible to tell if that was a joke or not. Either way, Izuku couldn't help but chuckle. "Fair enough."

"I trust you." Katsuki muttered, like he was too embarrassed to say it. "But I don't trust…. Her. I'm going to watch her like a fucking hawk. She'll have to earn my trust. And I'm not making it easy for her. Got it?"

"Also fair." Izuku nodded. That was probably as reasonable as he was going to get. "…Are we… Are we good?"

"Yeah. We're 'good'." Katsuki assured him. He nodded as he spoke. It was clear he was still at least a bit annoyed, but it would fade before long. "Just don't pull this shit again without checking with us."

"I won't. Trust me, Kacchan, I don't want to go through this again."

"…Okay then." The blond scanned Izuku's face for a second. As he did so, he used his left hand to knock on the bookcase. His face didn't turn from Izuku's. "We're done in here. Open up you two."

Fairly quickly, the bookcase was removed from the doorway, and Uraraka opened the door up, letting them both out of the room. Katsuki immediately walked straight out of the room, hands in his jacket.

Blinking, Uraraka stated, "Well, he seems… Less angry."

"I can never tell with him." Mina said, plainly. "He always looks like he wants to kill someone to me."

"I'm gonna…" The brunette said, gesturing with her thumb as she already made her way towards the door to catch up with Katsuki, like Mina's comment about him made her realize she should make sure he really didn't try to murder someone. "I'll see you guys later tonight."

"See ya." Mina waved quietly, Uraraka already out of her vision. There was a melancholy mood hanging over the pink girl. She'd only been able to catch bits of what the two boys had been arguing about, and what she had heard hadn't been the most uplifting. She turned her head slightly to look at Izuku. "So… How'd that go?"

For a moment, Izuku considered his answer. "….Better than I thought it would go, to be honest."

He wasn't hiding anything either. It wouldn't have surprised Izuku if that had gone down a hell of a lot more horrifically than it had done. He had half expected it to be a far more brutal and emotionally devastating than it had gone. It was a subject full of contention, and one he knew was going to happen again in the future

For right now though, it had been stressful, but it had gone far better than he had thought it would. Maybe because he had sound arguments, or that he had managed to convince Katsuki of just how useful Yaoyorozu's Quirk would be. He knew for a fact he hadn't won him over on any moral or ethical grounds. Whatever it had been, it had been an appeal to pragmatism that had swayed him, there wasn't any question about that.

"…How're you doing?" Mina asked. There was concern in her voice, and in her face, as she spoke.

Another moment of consideration. "I'm… Not entirely sure." Izuku answered honestly. He let out a long, heavy sigh. "I felt… Pretty good earlier. When we finished that last room. And last night I did some research. Sorted a few things out in my head… And also have more stuff I need to sort out."

"You… Wanna talk about it?"

Once more, Izuku paused. Did he want to talk about it?

He wasn't even sure if he knew what it was that he was thinking about, or if he could properly explain it to anyone else without sounding like he'd lost it. In his mind, every conclusion he'd arrived at made sense. He'd done the research, seen all the data. He wondered if anyone who hadn't gone over what he'd gone over would think.

At the same time, how would he know if he didn't speak to them about it? Plus, the last time he kept everything inside, it had made his depression so much worse. He was all but certain that was why Mina was even asking if he wanted to speak about it. Maybe asking was a kinder word – He somehow doubted she was going to let him leave without explaining himself.

That did make him laugh a bit, inside.

"…Am I naïve?" He asked, suddenly.

Mina blinked at the question. "Naïve?"

"Do you think I'm naïve?" Izuku repeated, turning to look at her properly. "I mean… Everything that I've tried to do… Is it naïve of me to try as hard as I have done? Wanting everyone to just get along? That's… All I want when you get down to it, isn't it? I just want people to get on with each other…"

"I wouldn't say naïve." Mina gave her answer quickly, like she'd already thought about this question before. "You're idealistic and optimistic. And you act on that. You make your own optimism, and it's helped a lot of people. I don't think I'd call that naïve."

"…How about the fact so far, all we've done is work to uphold the law?"

This time, Mina's eyebrow rose. "Huh?"

"Think about it, Ashido." Izuku said, a noticeably deeper tone in his voice. "What is it the First Generation has done?"

"Uh…" Going through her memories, Mina counter off the incidents. "We… Stopped that Quirk drug dealer guy. We... Saved that Eri girl. And we…" She trailed off, not wanting to bring up the final major point.

"I killed someone." Izuku said, flatly.

"I… Y-Yeah…" The Acid Quirk user gulped and nodded, slightly caught off by the blunt answer Izuku gave.

"Or… Something that used to be someone. I… I don't know. But that's not the point right now. None of those things are really against the laws, are they?"

"I'm pretty sure using Quirks isn't legal. Or going around in costumes fighting crime."

"The law wants the people we've been dealing with stopped." Blinking for a moment, Izuku brought his hand up to his chin to think. A few seconds later, his index finger pointed at Mina. "Okay, think about it like this – What have we done to stop those things from happening again?"

"We… We stopped them. Shouldn't that be what stops them from happening again?"

"What caused those things to happen in the first place? It's not like just being Quirked makes you more likely to commit crime." His eyes barrowed. "What about the systems? The laws that are so heavy against the Quirked? How hard it is for people who have Quirks to get jobs, or contribute to society, or even find a place to live? Wouldn't dealing with those cause there to be less crime?"

"I… I guess?" Mina answered, hesitantly. "You're saying that a lot of the crime from Quirked people is because the laws make them poor, or feel angry or suppressed, right?"

"Right." At this, Izuku snapped his fingers, and pointed towards her again. "So why are those laws still in place?"

"They – "

Suddenly, Mina's mouth stopped moving as her brain processed everything.

That was… A good point.

Laws and rules and regulations and everything else that made life so difficult for people with Quirks to interact in society caused people to fight against those rules, which was seen as a crime. But if those laws were reworked or just removed, so the Quirked could actually have their fair chance at life, then surely the number of Quirked people acting out against the world would decrease? It wasn't like having a Quirk inherently made someone more likely to commit crimes or violence, like Izuku had said.

Katsuki would most likely still be aggressive, with or without his Quirk. That was just the sort of person he seemed to be. Mina had never wanted to hurt anyone with her Quirk – Not even people who really did deserve it when she thought about it. And Izuku, she'd known both with and without a Quirk – All that changed for him was how he went about trying to make the world a better place for the Quirked.

But those laws were still in place –

…No.

They were getting even stricter, weren't they?

She remembered when Yuuei had been attacked by those motorcyclists earlier in the year, and how Izuku, Katsuki and Kirishima had all fought against them with their Quirks. Using Quirks in self-defence had been one of the few rights they had to use their powers in self-defence back then, and after that incident, they had been taken away too.

Suddenly, people who were just defending themselves were being thrown into special cells designed to keep them contained, like they were a danger to society. Like they were a separate species. The prejudiced were being targeted for not simply taking that prejudice with a smile.

…Hadn't she seen somewhere once – She couldn't remember where, but she was certain of it – That since then, the number of Quirk related crimes had risen on top of that?

She remembered how even though the First Generation had helped save Eri from the literal Yakuza, the police practically demanded that they know where she was at all times. Having her at Yuuei at all was risky, borderline dangerous. What possible threat did a child like her hold against the wider society?

She…

She made herself stop thinking for a moment, as she looked at Izuku again. "What…. What exactly are you saying then?"

"…I think we've been going about this all wrong." He said, choosing his words carefully. "There are some people who just lose control of their Quirks. And we should help make sure they don't hurt anyone innocent if we can help it. But… We've been trying to approach this from a social perspective. Trying to improve our image among the civilian population and hoping that would pressure the laws to change… But I… I don't think that's going to work. Just look at the news. The media treats us like we're monsters. We can't fight that. So it becomes a cycle – We fight against other Quirked people, and even when we defend people, we're called monsters. Meanwhile, new laws keep making life difficult for the Quirked, so they lash out and commit crimes, and we deal with them, and the cycle repeats. We're not… Accomplishing anything."

Izuku looked to the ground. His hands noticeably balled up into fists.

"…I don't think we're going to accomplish any of our goals until we target the systems that keep up that cycle."

Things had changed quickly in the social politics sphere of Yuuei ever since Midoriya and Monoma had fought one another.

One thing that Yuuei could have claimed before the fight was that there was a general consensus of unified thought. There were a lot of disagreements – How the Quirked should respond to the Quirkless, what they should do to protect themselves, if they deserved the treatment they got – Self-hatred within Yuuei wasn't uncommon by any stretch – These differences were often talked about, but it rarely, if ever, extended to outright violence.

There was a sense of unity, loose as it was. That they were all suffering from the material conditions of the world they lived in. The Quirkless hated them, and they had to stand together as much as was possible. People who would have otherwise been at one another's throats were unified by that knowledge, and were allies to one another, and had each other's backs.

Collectively, everyone had sort of ascribed Midoriya as a sort of enemy.

It wasn't all that surprising. The x-ray detectors identified him as Quirkless, and for a long time, he refused to show off his Quirk. He had no mutations. Nothing to indicate his claims that he did have a Quirk. Nothing to indicate that Headmaster Toshinori's claim of… Somehow being able to give away his Quirk to someone was in any way valid a statement. From the perspective of thousands there, Midoriya was lying.

What alternative was there? Someone Quirkless willingly accepting a Quirk in order to be thrown in with them? That would be like a sheep wanting to join a pack of wolves – That would be how society saw it as well.

And what he spoke about when asked – About building a bridge between the Quirkless and the Quirked? It just highlighted it more.

How could someone who had a Quirk – Who really, really understood the shit so many people got for their mutations and abilities – Advocate for building bridges like that in a peaceful way? His words sounded nice. But to so many, it was clearly a load of crap.

What else could it have been?

As it turned out, the truth.

Kirishima's room was dark, and locked. It had been for hours now. Construction of the orphanage was more or less done. He wasn't needed there anymore. Very few people who were part of his group were.

Underneath the covers of his bed, he laid there, staring up at the ceiling, not moving. Only lightly breathing, and barely blinking.

When a worldview was completely destroyed in the fact of new information, it was so common for people to want to stick their heads in the sand and deny that information. People would go out of their way to avoid information that contested their worldview. And if presented with it, many would just simply refuse to acknowledge it as accurate, or even acknowledge the mere fact that it existed at all. They would go into denial, kick and scream, lash out – Anything to keep up the illusion of their outlook on the world.

There was…. Nothing more that Kirishima wanted to do than deny reality.

Even outside his room, in the corridors of his class' building, there were people who he knew were denying the fact of the matter – Or were trying to at the very least. People who were so set in their way of looking at the injustices of the world, that they were trying to deny the situation as hard as they could.

…He couldn't though.

And he wasn't the only one. That sense of unity between people who would have otherwise fought one another was now gone. Debate and arguments were common throughout all of Yuuei now, between people who had accepted this new truth about Midoriya and what he had said, and those who refused to. There had even been fights recently, some even where Quirks were utilized.

Midoriya had been a common enemy. Now, he wasn't. What he had done, and the rhetoric he used… It had gotten to people. Some people, at least.

…

Kirishima cared about the Quirked.

He really did. It was hard for anyone to deny that. Of all the people in the building, in the school, Kirishima was arguably one of the most openly vocal about wanting to protect the Quirked from the rest of the world. He was the one who brought people together, who encouraged their dislike of the Quirkless, who formed collectives of people who would watch out for one another. None of it was for show either. He really cared about these people.

Kaminari was a friend. Mineta could be a creep but he was an ally, nevertheless. Monoma hadn't needed any convincing, and had earned Kirishima's respect with how willing he was to fight for the principles he held. Yaoyorozu understood the feeling of dread that came with being Quirked, and wanted no one to feel the same she had. And Jirou….

…Jirou had gotten caught in the crossfire. And he had pushed her to take those steps. He had gotten Yaoyorozu to push her to take those steps.

Because he did believe, well and truly, that what he was doing was for the good of everyone there.

…And he was wrong.

He had been the one to put them in danger. He had been the one to lead them. He had been the one to upset the peace at Yuuei, even if it was built on a foundation of lies.

What he had done… Had put people into trouble. Had put them in danger even. If the word of the fight reached the people who oversaw Yuuei from the city, who had hounded and subverted Yuuei at every chance… Who knows what issues that would have caused them? But at the time, if it got rid of one more Quirkless liar who he thought was sending them information on every Quirk at the school, then it would be worth it.

And yet here he was. Wrong.

Why was that? Why was he wrong?

Everything he'd seen… It pointed to him being right, hadn't it? It wasn't his fault. It…

He sighed. He couldn't even bring up the mental energy to begin to justify his actions.

Midoriya had said it better than him. Better than anyone, really.

What the hell is it going to take for you to get it into your skull that I'm on your side?

Kirishima never wanted Midoriya to be on his side. That was the thing there. The lines to him were drawn into their genetics. He had been right. In this situation, he didn't want Midoriya to be on his side. He did hold a grudge.

He wanted an enemy.

He had lied when it benefited him. When he could convince people to join him in how he thought. When he could get people to support him. When he could get them to advocate on his behalf…

…He really was a hypocrite, wasn't he?

Whenever he left his room, he saw it. The glares. The looks. The… Fear. After confronting Midoriya how he did, even those who hated the Quirkless as much as him saw the brutality he was willing to engage in, how he was willing to hurt people, and act out the way he did just to prove a single point against someone. How he was willing to essentially cheat his way through.

While the ends justified the means, the means themselves could make the ends seem like they weren't worthy goals.

And Midoriya himself?...

Sitting up, Kirishima glanced around his room. It was a mess. Ever since the fight, he hadn't seen a point in keeping it clean. The blinds were down, and the window was shut. He was working in more or less complete darkness, and simply relied on his eyes adjusting to the darkness, and memory of where everything was to move around the place.

Slowly, he stood up, and made his way towards the window. He rolled up the blind, and looked outside the window. It was getting dark. Evening-ish, but even that was bright compared to how dark his room was. There was… Some sort of orange liquid on the window. He didn't have a clue what it was. Someone had thrown it at his window at some point during the week and he simply hadn't bothered to do anything about it. Probably in protest over what he had done. Flies were buzzing around it.

Past that though, he saw the orphanage peak slightly over the walls that surrounded Yuuei. It was still slightly surreal to see it. He had to give credit where it was due when it came to Monoma – His control over Quirks like Cement was impressive. It's existence in of itself was a testament of Midoriya's morals and principles though.

He had taken part in blood sport, essentially. And Midoriya had worked to build an entire orphanage. It sounded like the cheesiest bit of activism in the world… Yet he was actually working to improve the lives of people.

It made him feel ill.

He looked at the orphanage for just a few moments, before the trance he had fallen into was shaken out of him by something hurtling towards his window, and hitting against the glass. Not quite a rock, but enough to made the glass reverberate sound throughout his room.

Three people on the ground level, yelling something and throwing… Kirishima didn't even know what. Rubber, maybe? Something that bounced off his window pretty easily. People who were firmly against him. He couldn't hear whatever it was that they were yelling. Then again, he didn't need to.

Almost certainly, he knew he would agree with them.

Shutting the blind once more – Not that that stopped people from throwing whatever it was at his window – He turned back into his cluttered room of darkness. What did he do now? Where did he go from here?

…. Had he ever even apologized to Midorya?

Probably, all things considered. It wasn't like these thoughts he was having were new. It was why he had gotten everyone in his group to help out however they could. But still, he felt… Wrong, almost. Like he hadn't made it quite clear how badly he knew he'd fucked this up. How badly he'd fucked everything up. He… He didn't know what to do now.

Despite everything, Kirishima… Wanted to believe he was a man of principle. He wanted to believe that he was still being just in his values. That what he wanted for the Quirked was… Right. That he wanted good things for them.

He did care about the Quirked. He wanted them to be safe and do well. He just…

…Nothing was clear anymore. Midoriya though, he seemed to have at least a somewhat clear idea. He knew… Something about what he was doing.

Did he expect anything? Not really. But… If nothing else…

An explanation was due.

"So, we've gone from just fighting crime, to also fighting the entire rest of society?" Mina summarized as she fiddled with her hood, carefully pulling it over her damaged horn so as not to put too much pressure on it.

"Sort of." Izuku answered. "We still need to stop crime and people who've lost control of their Quirks, but we can't just uphold the status quo like we have been doing. We need to fight the systematic oppression as much as protect innocent people."

"How so?" Uraraka asked.

Izuku bit his lip for a moment as he considered. "There's… A lot of ways that happens. Yuuei's uniform thing is one – We can't really go off the campus without wearing the uniform. That makes us easier to profile – And it's dangerous too. There are people who have Quirks in Yuuei who could pass for Quirkless, but that law means they get harassed and treated like dirt. There's a thousand things like that that screw over Quirked people."

He paused briefly. There was a list of a thousand laws and regulations that made life as difficult as possible for Quirked people, but he was talking to a room of Quirked people. They knew that far better than he did.

"…We can't let that keep going."

Part of him wondered why it had taken so long to reach this conclusion. Maybe it was because he had the fortune to grow up Quirkless, and he wanted to believe that society could slowly reform itself if the court of public opinion swayed towards his way of thinking. That hadn't happened though. Despite everything that he'd tried.

The First Generation were practically seen as terrorists. Laws were passed that made the usage of quirks outright illegal, even in self-defence. And the news reported on every little thing, making it into a firestorm of negative press on the Quirked to a general population that didn't know any better.

There was wanting to build bridges between the Quirked and the Quirkless…

…And then there was letting the Quirkless bulldoze over the Quirked as they constructed a new supercity on their homes.

"Hah!" Katsuki grinned, and slammed his fist into an open palm. "Now this, I like the sounds of, Deku! I've said for years now we should've been doing this!"

"When Katsuki's right…" Uraraka muttered, mock shivering.

"I…" Izuku paused for a moment as he spoke, pulling on one of his gloves. "I… I thought that if we proved how valuable we could be to the rest of Quirkless society, they'd accept us. If we proved that we're just people, they'd accept us. That's… Not the way we should be doing this."

"People'll live in the fucking dirt before they stop hating Quirked people for doing community service."

"Or they'll make us live in the dirt…" The hovel Todoroki's sister and the kids she watched over came to Izuku's mind. "We… Have to show them we won't just accept that."

"So how far do we take this?" Mina asked.

"…" That part, Izuku wasn't so sure on.

It was a bit of a surprise to him when Izuku saw that his evolved stance was actually one a lot of his allies agreed with. Given the growing unrest in society, and how laws against the Quirked were getting worse and worse, and how conditions were deteriorating just as fast the more one looked into things, it shouldn't have been that surprising. But it was, all the same.

They had more personal experience with the issues than Izuku himself had had throughout his life. None of them would argue if this was the direction Izuku felt they needed to go in.

There hadn't even been need for a vote on this one. This was something everyone had agreed with from the very outset. It was hard to ignore exactly what was going on systemically as well as socially. It had been Izuku that had reigned in those beliefs, and he was willing to admit he was wrong in that respect.

How far they were willing to go down this path however was more up to debate though. That hadn't been discussed.

Was fighting off injustice as far as it should go? Or should that injustice be violently wiped off the face of the planet? Which one was more moral? Which one would lead to a more just world?

"…We take it as far as we need to." Izuku finally responded, reaching his own answer. He'd already killed that Nomu person… Creature… Thing, because he thought it would lead to less bad outcomes. That was….

…Still something he struggled to swallow on a day to day basis. Guilt still flowed through him. But it was something that he… Understood now. He at least understood why he had done it.

At least, now, he felt he understood it clearly. Maybe for the first time.

The consequences for not doing so would have been worse. And that was… Something he was going to have to get used to thinking in his mind.

"Every single time we've tried to defend ourselves, our rights, or even speak out, we've been put down. We barely even have any alternatives left." He said, expanding upon his reasoning. "We…. We take this as far as we have to. We show people we're willing to fight to protect ourselves… But we try to keep collateral to a minimum." He looked at everyone in the room. "We show them that we aren't playing favourites, but we won't just stand by and let them draft law after law against us. With…. With any luck, that'll make more Quirked people side with us completely. Maybe get some of them to come here."

"And then what?" Todoroki asked.

"Then we can organize something larger."

At that exact moment, the door that connected to the main room opened up. From inside, Yaoyorozu stepped out.

The raven-haired girl was wearing a costume of her own design and creation. It was a lot simpler when compared to everyone else's. Her costume consisted fairly exposing clothing which was hidden underneath a cape that draped over just about every part of her body. Her face was covered by both a hood, and a black facemask which covered her eyes, and a bandana which wore around her neck. When she needed to hide her face, she would pull it up over her nose, making her harder to identify, similar to Mina's method.

She was greeted by the stares of suspicious Heroes, which made her pause at entering further. The idea of her being affiliated the First Generation was one that was still controversial among the group, even though Izuku had fought his case. Even with his arguments fresh in his comrade's eyes, it would be a difficult thing for them to all accept It would take time.

Time none of them were sure they were willing to give.

"Yaoyorozu." Izuku nodded, greeting her into the room. "You hear what we've just gone over?"

"Uh… Most of it." She nodded. The door had been left slightly ajar, so that she could understand what was happening as she changed into her costume.

Bringing Yaoyorozu on this excursion so soon after inducting her was two part in Izuku's mind. The first part was simple – Accountability. The laws against the Quirked were strict, but they would probably accept tips from Quirked who gave them information on the First Generation- Izuku wasn't stupid; He knew that Yaoyorozu turning on them was still a distinct possibility. But all they would need is the smallest excuse to throw the tipper in the same cell – So by bringing Yaoyorozu along for a patrol, she had accountability. It would work as a good buffer against her turning on them - Turning on them would mean turning on herself.

Maybe it was a sleazy tactic to use the laws they were fighting as a defence against the chance of betrayal, but it was pragmatic and would protect them. Theoretically, anyway.

The second part, it was to get her, and the rest of the group used to the idea of working together. Bonds forged fast under shared trauma – That was how so many groups had formed so quickly in Yuuei, why he and Mina were so close, why he and Katsuki were so close, and why Katsuki and Uraraka were so close. If they could get through this stage, then the bonds would form naturally, with a lot less bumps in the road.

Izuku had been over this with the rest of the group earlier, before Yaoyorozu had arrived – Well, the first part. The second part, he kept to himself. He turned to look at each of them one by one. "You all know why I wanted her here…. But, if anyone has an issue with her coming out with us tonight, now would be the time to mention it."

Everyone looked at one another, waiting to see if anyone would make a move. No one did though.

"Just know that I meant what I said." Katsuki said, glaring towards Yaoyorozu. "I'm keeping watch over this one like a hawk. Try anything, and just see what happens."

"I'm… Not going to try anything." Yaoyorozu defended herself, though somewhat weakly, and ended with a sigh.

"Are you… Sure it's a great idea to have Katsuki watch Yaoyorozu?" Uraraka asked, whispering to Izuku.

"It was the only way I could get him to even agree to this." Izuku explained, sighing quietly. "What about you? You have any thoughts on this?"

Uraraka glanced around the room, and went over what had been discussed in her head. Her answer came quickly. "I think that things are gonna get… Dangerous if we're not careful."

"We'll be as careful as we can. It's worked out for us until now." Mina pointed out, making a small fist-pump gesture.

"I guess… You still haven't told us exactly how we're going to handle the systematic stuff though. " The Zero Gravity Quirk user elaborated. "I'm okay with pushing things further, but where are we going with this, exactly?"

The building at night looked different, Kirishima couldn't help but notice.

Thanks to combined efforts from Yaoyorozu and Kaminari, the building did now have a generator, but that didn't mean they had perfect lighting. The generator was probably located in an out of the way room somewhere, with power sockets connected to it. From there, there were wires that ran in the corners of the halls, each of which were connected to small lightbulbs, which illuminated the hallways with a soft yellow-orange glow. Crude, but it was effective at lighting up the place without any real connection to the power grid.

He'd seen the place without any decorum. Whenever he'd been helping to work in here, he'd been mostly doing practical stuff – Putting doors into frames, moving things between rooms, that sort of thing. He hadn't really been much help with the decoration.

Him helping here had been little more than Midoriya being a pragmatist. That much was obvious.

Kirishima made his way up the next flight of steps. As he did so, two kids came down the opposite side. For a moment, they made eye contact with him, before disappearing behind the corner he had just come from.

For another moment, Kirishima just stood there. Then he kept moving.

He was man enough to admit when he was wrong. At least to himself. Even if it… Was possibly the hardest thing to admit in his entire life. What made it harder to swallow though was that he was aware that he had been in the way of… Of this.

This was what Midoriya had had in mind, and Kirishima had just been in his way.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even seen Midoriya in Yuuei since this incident. Was he even allowed back into the school grounds? Had he gotten him expelled?

That thought made him uncomfortable. Deeply uncomfortable. If anyone was being thrown out, it should have been him, shouldn't it? He swallowed.

Midoriya was on the top floor, he'd figured out. He supposed that made sense. It made him fairly easy to find – People would know where he was at least. The upper floors were a bit more barren though. Not as much decoration or colour. It was still being worked on. Not as high a priority as the floors below, he guessed. There were a few doors on the top floor, each with a hanging door nametag. The one closest to the stairs was Midoriya's though.

Lights still on, if the underside of the door was anything to go by.

Kirishima took a deep breath. And then he took another. And then a third.

There was a part of him that just wanted to turn around right now. It would be easier to just forget about coming here, and to bury this guilt under something else. He was…. Tired. Sleep sounded nice right now.

He couldn't though. And he knew he couldn't. The fact of the matter was, he had to do this. If he was going to be able to lie with himself, he had to speak to Midoriya.

He had to admit he'd fucked up.

And he had to tell him he wanted to make amends.

So little about his mentality had really changed. Kirishima still wanted to protect the Quirked from the Quirkless. He still wanted to fight against the Quirkless if that was what it was going to take. But Midoriya was the same, it turned out. There was so much that was confusing about someone like him. Given all the circumstances surrounding him… It wasn't hard to think that he was some sort of Quirkless infiltrator.

If nothing else, Kirishima wanted him to understand that much. At least understand that this all came about because he wanted to protect the Quirked. Not an excuse… But an explanation.

He took a fourth, final deep breath, and then knocked on the door three times.

No response came.

He knocked again. "Midoriya? You uh… You in there?"

Again, no response came. Was he asleep? Or was he just ignoring him? Perhaps it was fatigue, but Kirishima tried to door handle, and found himself surprised that it opened quite easily.

Mdiroiya wasn't in here at all. A quick glance around the room revealed that his room was plain as day. There were some unpacked, stacked up boxes, a charging port for a phone and a laptop, both of which were on charge and in a corner, and a bookcase….

…And another door.

"What the…" Kirishima raised an eyebrow. Was there another room adjoining this one?

At this point, curiosity was guiding Kirishima far more than anything else. No other room in the building that he knew about had a second room adjoining it, so why did this one?

He was about an arms reach from the door handle when the door itself swung open, hitting him square in the eye. He hadn't been expecting it, so his Quirk, while it activated on reflex along his arms, did absolutely nothing whatsoever to prevent the pain shooting throughout his head.

"Ow! Damn it!" His hand automatically covered the spot he had been hit in, and his eyes shut close on instinct. When he opened his eyes and moved his hand, for the smallest of a fraction of a second, he thought he had been knocked straight out and entered a…

Well, to call it a dream would not be entirely accurate. Dream implied there was some sort of fantastical bliss.

Stood there in front of him, he saw Bakugou, and the rest of his group. Each one of them was staring right back at him, eyes so wide they looked ready to pop right out of their skulls. Each of them was frozen. That wasn't the important part though.

It was the clothes they wore. Identical to those of the First Generation. But not every single article of clothing had been put on. Helmets, facemasks, and hoods weren't on yet. Methods of identification were still visible.

Kirishima stared right back at them. His own eyes were as wide as theirs, without question.

"What… The…"

Then, Bakugou moved.

Grabbing Kirishima by the collar, he literally threw Kirishima into the room the rest of them were in, lobbing him to the other side like he barely even weighed anything. The second Kirishima landed, he found himself looking up at Todoroki's ice-covered hand ready to attack him, and Midoriya, looking down at him with what could only be described at utter shock.

From outside the room, loud scraping and creaking was heard, before Bakugou returned to the hallway, his eyes fuming, though oddly enough, not towards him. "You! Why the fuck did you not block the door?! Did you fucking plan this?!"

"What – What do you mean, block the door – With what?!" That voice, Kirishima recognized.

"The weights! The deskside! The fuck else are they there for?!"

"I – I thought those were Midoriya's! I didn't know we were supposed to block the door with them! Why doesn't the door have a lock?!"

"You made those doors!"

"I didn't think they'd need locks!"

"What the – " Kirishima stammered, picking himself up so he could sit upright. He hadn't been able to see her, blocked as she was by Ashido and Uraraka standing in her way, but the voice was now unmistakable. "Yaoyorozu?!"

Within a second, everyone was yelling at everyone else, and Kirishima couldn't make out one voice from another. Everyone was shouting about something. On his part however, he was just staring at everyone in complete and utter confusion. And dawning horror.

Kirishima admired the First Generation. He'd been incredibly open about that from the first time they ever appeared in the media. Every single news station and magazine tried to make them sound as heinous and horrible as possible, but he admired them all the same. Quirked who actually refused to sit down and accept the abuse the world decided they were supposed to deal with? Of course he supported that. He couldn't do anything but admire that.

The Quirks of the First Generation weren't all that special either. They were broad – Thousands of people had Strength Enhancement or Ice Generation, or Quirks that causes Explosions. Exact details on their Quirks were tricky, and that made their powers unreliable to guess their identity. Even the Quirk Registration hadn't been able to narrow down their identities because of how broad their powers were.

Naturally, Kirishima hadn't assumed he knew a single person who was even tangentially related to the First Generation. Why in the world would he? The chances were so insanely small that they had barely even been worth considering.

And yet, here he was now.

And suddenly every single one of the First Generations Quirks made complete sense to him.

His eyes kept feeling more and more open as he mentally put the pieces together and realized how much sense everything was making to him.

"Okay, enough!" Midoriya suddenly shouted as loud as he could above everyone else, so all eyes fell onto him. "Kacchan, I'm the one who didn't tell her about the weights. I didn't think someone would just…. Walk in." He said, briefly looking at Kirishima, before returning his eyes to Bakugou. "Yaoyorozu hasn't even been back behind the Yuuei walls since this morning, she couldn't have planned this."

"She could have used a phone!"

"Check though my things then!" Yaoyorozu defended. "I didn't even bring my phone with me!"

"I will. Nobody fucking move." Bakugou growled, calling the Creation Quirk user on her statement.

The entire room went silent as Bakugou went through everything of Yaoyorozu's he could find, checking her back, her clothes, and her pockets for anything that might be able to hide a phone.

Moving his eyes between all of them, Kirishima felt the absolute weight of what he had just walked in on begin to fully sink in. Well and truly sink in. Everything had moved so quickly he'd barely been able to process one single thing. Now he was processing everything at once, and now his mind was putting everything into place with everything else. Timelines and circumstances began to line up with one another. He was stunned by how much sense it all made. "You… You're all…"

"Be quiet." Todoroki said, firmly, several layers of ice cracking against one another as they formed around the layers already around his fist. Ashido walked past him, looking about as stunned as he did, as she made her way towards Midoriya and checking if he was alright.

It was… Hard to say if he was.

"Why are you…" He heard Midoriya speaking, but he was quiet. He sounded…. Shaky. His face was difficult to read, hidden as it was behind his hair and the shadows it cast. Even that that could be seen gave little away. Clearly, he was uncomfortable and didn't know what to do. "Of everyone… Why are you here?..."

Suddenly, words felt like stones in Kirishima's throat. "I… I just wanted to… I didn't mean to – "

"She's clean." Bakugou finally said, sounding somewhat irritated at being wrong, but he gave his answer honestly. He noticeably didn't apologize to Yaoyorozu though. "So, where the fuck did you come from then?" He growled his question at Kirishima, glaring at him, and looking ready to throw him out the window the second he saw something he didn't like.

All eyes were on him again, and the room once more felt heavy. "I just… I needed to speak to Midoriya."

"And the one day no one blocks the door is the day you decide you need to see him. Fan-fucking-tastic."

"Of all the times for him to show up too…" Uraraka muttered. Things were already tense enough thanks to Yaoyorozu's presence, and the whole… situation surrounding that. She wasn't even field tested yet – People didn't even really like her outside of Izuku, and even then, like was still up for debate.

Kirishima on the other hand was hated, outright and without controversy. Even Izuku seemed to hold him in contempt, utilizing him for the construction of the orphanage out of pure utilitarianistic need rather than a desire to let him redeem himself. With Yaoyorozu there was at least some ambiguity. Kirishima didn't have that benefit of the doubt in the least.

Izuku glanced at Kirishima, and then towards Katsuki, and then towards Mina. Each of them looked at him with more or elss the same expression – Expectancy. This related to him. He had to be the one to decide in what direction things had to go from here. He looked back at Kirishima.

What were they even supposed to do with him?

"Crap!" Izuku's hand gripped at the bridge of his nose harshly, and his eyes shut. Of all the times for this to happen… Even tomorrow would have been better.

"I've got an idea." Katsuki said. "Let's just murder the bastard."

That was the sort of thing Katsuki said a lot, usually hyperbolically, mostly about anyone who he didn't like either the look of, had personal beef with, or gave the Quirkless a bunch of grief throughout their lives. He even said it about his friends. It was a statement that people didn't take seriously from him anymore.

This though… This felt different. There was weight to it.

If it was a joke, it was a very well hidden one.

"You.. Are joking, right?" Uraraka asked him, sounding genuinely unsure.

Katsuki looked at Kirishima for a few seconds, just staring at him, like he was doing a question in his head, weighting up the pros and cons to his 'joke'. A few seconds was a few seconds far too long for those around's comfort.

Then he slammed his fist into his open palm, detonating an explosion as they connected. "Why not?"

His voice was disturbingly cold.

For his part, Kirishima seemed to understand the sheer danger he was now in. He quickly clambered onto his feet, his Quirk activated the second he was stood upright. He looked ready to fight to get out of here if he needed to, even though he was ridiculously outnumbered.

"We're not killing him, Kacchan!" Izuku yelled, moving his hands away from his face, and stepping in front of Kirishima. "Are you completely out of your mind?!"

"What exactly is our alternative then, Deku?" The Explosion Quirk user demanded. "You want to tie him up here for the rest of his fucking life? Cops will be on the door of the illegally built, completely unknown, harbouring unregistered Quirked inside five fucking minutes. You want to let him go? Great – This fucking piece of shit will run directly to whoever the hell he thinks will get rid of the Quirkless spy or whatever fucking bullshit conspiracy he tells himself to sleep at night, ran by someone who got thrown out of the fucking Quirked internment school! It's one or the other, Deku! You wanna tell me exactly what other options we've got?"

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, it was hard to argue any alternatives.

What were they going to do? Kidnap him? Keep him tied up here? The Quirked at Yuuei were kept to strict curfew officially speaking. The only reason the First Generation was even here at all was because they had snuck out to get back here for the evening. If one of their students went outright missing, then the police would triple in force all over the place.

On top of that, Kirishima proved to not be a trustworthy person. He had already lied to them once before and had nearly gotten Izuku permanently injured, and had gotten him expelled. He'd done so much damage that to just let him roam freely would be insanity. They…

"We're not becoming a bunch of murders, Bakugou!" Mina shouted. "What is even the matter with you?!"

"You're thinking the same damn thing and you know it. Don't act like you're fucking above it."

…Izuku looked over at Yaoyorozu.

Todoroki sighed. "Bakugou isn't wrong in that both our options are terrible here. There are no good choices to make."

"Don't you think you're taking this a bit far?" Uraraka asked, obviously mortified, yet somehow able to comprehend the logic being used by Katsuki.

"Can you please not talk about me like I'm not here?! And can someone tell me what the actual hell is going on?!"

"…"

Then back at Kirishima.

"No. No. No fucking way Deku."

Izuku looked at the blond. Katsuki knew what he was thinking, Izuku could already tell. His face said it all. An expression of disgust and the closest to horror that he could emote. He already understood what he was going to suggest.

"Do we have an alternative?" He asked, throwing Katsuki's own sentiments back at him.

"I would unironically prefer to throw this bastard off a bridge and take our chances with the cops!" Katsuki's voice rose to a yell again. "You've already said we're going to be taking on the social systems that fuck us over – How the hell do you expect to do that without having us fight cops?!"

"Wha – What is even being talked about right now?!" Kirishima questioned, overwhelmingly confused.

Mina looked towards Izuku and Katsuki, and realized what they were talking about. She would confess – The idea made her head spin too. But it was the only midway point she could even think of herself.

Really, what other options were there? Option A was to kill Kirishima. Option B was the let him go and hope to God he didn't tell anyone. Both of those were unacceptable, and morally horrifying.

Option C was the same as Yaoyorozu. Make him compliant in the 'crimes' of the First Generation.

That was… Uncomfortable.

But as a third position?

That was all they had. Literally, it was the only option they had. Even if they didn't like it.

"Is this gonna be your solution every fucking time someone finds out about us?! Is this your grand fucking idea?!" Katsuki shouted, slamming his hands onto the table before him.

"It is when we've got no other option, yes!" Izuku yelled back. "I don't like the idea either, but have you got a better one?!"

"Can someone tell me what the hell you're talking about?!" Kirishima shouted from behind them, growing more and more confused.

"I'm not doing it Deku! I put up with you pulling this shit with raven hair here – " He pointed a finger at Yaoyorozu as he spoke, " – But I draw the fucking line when it comes to this piece of shit right here!"

"Can't we at least hear him out?!"

"Oh yeah, let's hear out this known liar, bullshitter, and complete fucking lunatic! Did he fuck up your brain when you two had that fight, or did you completely forget about the shit he pulled already?!"

"No." Izuku's voice lowered, but it somehow carried more weight when it wasn't being yelled aloud. "I have not. And I don't like this situation any more than you do. But if the option is between either literally killing him, or keeping him in here tied up for the rest of our lives – I will take the alternative, if there is one, any day." He sighed. "I don't like it. I really don't. I'm not happy about this. I am willing to push this as far as it has to go, but I won't choose between two equally horrendous options if there's a third way that will make us uncomfortable but is far more ethical."

"I'm not doing this then." Katsuki said, firmly. "I'm fucking done."

"Done?" Mina questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I'm fucking done with this!" Katsuki yelled, turning around and leaving the room. "I'm not making friends with the people who tried to stab us in the back like these two did! Especially not that fucking cunt there! I'm done!"

No one got in another word before Katsuki slammed the door to the main room behind him. Silence hovered in the air for a while before anyone made any noise again.

It was Kirishima who broke that silence. "What… Is even going on right now?"

Izuku took in a deep breath, before he turned to Kirishima. "You said you needed to talk to me? You need to start talking then. Now."

Hey, this is a thing : D

It's been a while since First Generation was updated – Sorry about that guys. I've been extremely busy with other projects, including Uni and other fics. I barely have the free time to write fics anymore so I just try to get them in where I can, but I do still have a whole story planned for First Gen and I want to see it through. As I've become far more political First Gen has become far more important to me and become something I want to see done well and show off good praxis.

This has been something I've had planned for Kirishima for more or less the entire story. IT's the whole point of him being a dick in the first place really. Bakugou's reaction though I feel is justified in its own way – There are a lot of factors at play that I'm going to be exploring over the next few chapters which I feel are going to help illustrate the choices I've made here.

I'm sorry for the lack of constant updates. This is just what happens when you have to run about fifteen different projects at once. I'll try to update whenever I can though. If you want to help me and my content though, following me on Twitter and Tumblr will give you links that will let you support me directly – Or alternatively, doing the whole share and favourite and follow and comment thing does help me out a bunch – But above all, thanks for just reading my work. It means a lot to me and I really do appreciate the support :D

Thank you all and I'll see you in whatever it is I do indeed decide to make next – See ya!