“Little Bird!! I’m gonna get you!

” She bellowed out, racing up the stairs as Irren let out a gleeful
scream, attempting to hide from Kumo.

“Noooo!! You can’t- You can’t get me because- be- because I’m gonna get you!” Irren leaped
out from behind the couch, throwing a loaf of bread at Kumo just as she reached the top of the
stairs. The bread of course, slammed right into her face with a loud ‘poomf’ but fortunately it did
no damage.

“You fiend!” Kumo cackled, leaping over the couch to steal Irren away into her arms tickling her
relentlessly for revenge.

“Blblblblblblblblblb”Umbra burbled, coating the both of them with darkness to get in on the
battle of the ages.

“Alright, Alright…. I yield Umbra!!” Kumo exclaimed, releasing Irren only to then get tickled in
turn by the child.

“I am here! All Might to the rescue!” She crowed, ceasing the tickle attack to wrap her arms
around her big sister.

“Oh nooooooooooo!! My evil ways are melting away through the power of hugs! Nyoooooo”
Kumo flailed around dramatically before falling limp against the floor. “You have.... beaten me”

Irren paused, looking up at the window before stepping on Kumo’s face as she ran over to look
at the birds that had gathered outside. “Kumo-chan!! Look!! The- The bird came back and- and-
and they brought baby birds!”

“Ow” The older sister groaned, rubbing her now bruised cheek as she rose to her feet. “I’m
coming, I’m coming…”

Just outside the window was the nest of birds, a lone female who’d brought home a little baby
bird who looked like it had fallen out from a nest somewhere else.

“Awww….. Look at that. What should we name her? “

“Peter! She- She should be named Peter!” Irren decided. “And the Momma bird should- should
be Egg”

Kumo couldn’t help but snicker at such goofy names, nodding in agreement. “Yes. Those
names sound perfect!”
“Can we leave out the- the bird juice?”

“Of course we can Irren. But then we need to go over your alphabets okay?”

“Okay!!”

____________________________________________________________________________
__

“Kumo! Hey~!” Uraraka ran up to the secret vigilante as she approached the school. “Where
were you yesterday? We saved you a seat at lunch!”

“Huh? Oh! Um…” She rubbed the nape of her neck nervously. “My sister’s daycare was closed
due to a gas leak so I had to watch over her at home. I hope Aizawa won’t be too upset with
me.”

“You didn’t miss too much. We just decided Class Reps and oh-! The press broke in, but Iida
took charge and kept everyone calm!”

“Really?!” Kumo’s eyes widened with alarm. “How did the press manage to break in? I thought
the school was supposed to have top of the line defenses. Maybe they had an electric quirk
user break them in? No… they put up diffusers to stop things like that. Maybe it was-”

“You sound just like Deku!” The round-faced girl laughed at Kumo’s endless muttering, her
acknowledgement prompting Kumo to blush bright red, her hair floating upwards much to
Ochaco’s confusion. “Hey, why’s your hair doing that?”

Kumo pulled up her hood, scrambling to hide her hair beneath it. “It- It’s hereditary. “ She blurted
out, racing away from the infinity girl to get ahold of herself.

‘What if she noticed? What do I do if she puts two and two together and figures out I’m
Afterglow? Or worse, what if she tells Aizawa?! All Might only knows how that old windbag
would react knowing his nemeses was one of his pupils’

Her thoughts raced as she ran to the teacher’s lounge to talk with Aizawa before class, reaching
it in record time mind you only to hesitate when she overheard Present Mic talking about
Afterglow with Midnight and Aizawa.

“-really is a shame right? I was gettin’ used to the kid. Looks like she might be taking your
advice Eraser.” Present Mic sighed with defeat.

“She did mention family the last time we met, perhaps their condition worsened and she’s been
looking after them?” Midnight suggested, looking to Aizawa for more information. “You’d know
better than any of us Aizawa, she’s practically your unofficial intern. Did she say anything about
cutting back?”

Aizawa was silent as though he were thinking deeply. “I’m not responsible for the kid, but I’d be
surprised if she bothered to follow my advice for once. She’s not the type to back down from a
fight believe me”

A gasp escaped Kumo, surprised to hear his…. ‘Kind?’ words, but it would be her undoing as
the teachers now turned to the door.

She pushed it open gently, giving a little wave. “Hi. Um… I wanted to talk with you all about my
absence yesterday and what I can do to make up for it. You see, there was a gas lea-”

“I don’t care about your excuses. We didn’t do anything yesterday aside from Hero Law Studies
and deciding who the Class Reps are. You can get your notes from your classmates now go get
ready for class, we’re going on a field trip today” Aizawa dismissed her, closing the door before
Kumo could speak any further.

“O..kay” She turned round, squeaking when she was met with that tall winged girl she’d met two
days ago.

“Oh my… Fancy meeting you again little cloud. “ Yomiko mused, smirking as she towered over
Kumoko. “We didn’t get to talk much did we? You ran off-”

“Yeah! “ Kumo held tight to her books pushing her way out from under Yomi’s shadow. “I had
places to be. And right now I need to be in class, sorry but I really gotta go” She flashed the bird
a smile and hurried off to class to no doubt beat her teacher there.

She didn’t want to be rude, but she did need to get her notes from her classmates for all of her
classes. Giving a sigh, she spotted Todoroki racing over to the cold classmate to ask- “Hey
Todoroki! Can I copy your notes from yesterday? “

“Huh..?” The chill child looked over at her, assessing her every move as though he expected her
to do… something.

“Notes! I was absent yesterday” Kumo repeated.

“Oh… I didn’t notice”

‘Hnn! A dagger to the heart!’ She thought, wincing slightly from the emotional toll of being
‘invisible’ “Oh um…. Okay. I’ll just ask Momo for the notes instead. Thanks Todoroki, have a
good day!”
‘Talk about a real buzzkill… Maybe I should bring him some snacks or something to make him
open up a bit. Everyone likes snacks, right? Yeah. Snacks are the way to go’

She thought to herself as she entered the classroom, sitting back in her seat to try and get some
extra sleep before the lecture got started.

“Kumo. Hey Kumo!!” Midoriya’s voice broke through the darkness of sleep, causing the cloudkid
to jolt upwards. “Hey, calm down. Aizawa wants us to go to the locker rooms and get dressed,
we’re headed out on a field trip. “

“I slept through my morning classes?! God…. Aizawa’s gonna kill meeee” Kumo groaned
inwardly, facepalming as she got to her feet. “Thanks Midoriya. I owe you one”

“No problem Kumo! Did you need a copy of today’s notes? I have yesterday’s too, but it might
take a while to copy them. We went over a lot in class” The messy haired verdette chuckled,
walking with Kumo towards the locker rooms.

Kumo sighed with relief, her hair tinting dark blue as she replied- “Yes please. I- Are you free
tomorrow? We could meet up and go over the notes together. Make it a study date or-”

“A-A-A date?!?!” Midoriya’s face turned tomato red and he began trembling, much to Kumo’s
worry.

“No No not like that!! I- um… gosh. It would be more like a study session. I could provide the
snacks, you provide the notes…” She scrambled to clarify, prompting Deku to calm almost
instantly.

“Oh thank goodness” He sighed audibly, eyes widening before slapped his hands over his
mouth. “Did I just say that out loud?!”

All Kumo could do was stare at him, laughing as she patted him on the back. “No worries, I’ll
see you on the bus Midoriya!” She pulled away to enter the Girls locker room, slipping into the
skintight suit tailored to her ‘quirk’ .

It was a simple piece, a skin tight jumpsuit made of mostly fireproof material with a mouth piece
to enhance and direct her “firebreath”, a belt with her ‘Element Orbs’ and emergency capture
tape. Nothing too fancy, especially considering it was just a prototype. It took all of five minutes
for her to get dressed, leaving her cowl and mask down until they got to the facility.

“Kumo!” Iida bellowed out the moment she stepped out from the school and into the loading
area. “You missed class yesterday, I’ve prepared a list of the assignments we were assigned
and I’m ready to give you a copy of my notes to look ove-”

“Oh no worries!! Midoriya is giving me his notes to go over”

Iida’s brow raised but he gave a respectful nod. “I see. I will give you the assignment packet
once we return from the training facility today. If you need any assistance please know that it is
my sworn duty as Class Representative to lend a helping hand to all of my classmates no
matter the issue”

“Thanks Iida” Kumo beamed, rubbing the nape of her neck nervously. “And congratulations by
the way! You’re already being a great Class Rep, really looking after your classmates. It’s so
plus ultra of you!”

Iida’s cheeks flushed pink and he looked away. “Well yes, it’s only the way I’d expect any class
representative of a UA Heroic’s Course to behave. Thank you for your kind words Kumoko”

Kumo opened her mouth to respond but was cut off as Kaminari called out- “Hey Kumo! Love
the costume.”

She gave Iida a little wave excusing herself to go over to the electric boy. “Hey! The mouthpiece
just came in yesterday actually, it helps me direct my flames and make them more powerful,
yanno? “

“Sweet!! Maybe I should get somethin’ like that. My electricity kinda goes all over the place after
all” He chuckled, jumping suddenly as Iida blew into a whistle harshly.

“Gather round Class 1-A!” The bluenette shouted, directing them to form two lines using their
student numbers to board the bus in an effective and safe manner. However, this plan was soon
foiled by the open layout of the bus.

Luckily enough, Kumo managed to score a seat beside Midoriya just beside the door, readying
herself for the rescue training they would soon endure. Her thought process, was unfortunately
thwarted when Bakugou started shouting-

“WHA’DID YOU SAY?! I’LL KICK YOUR ASS!”

“Ya see?” Tsu pointed to the angered blonde, prompting Kumo to look over with slight concern
and intrigue as to whether or not he would ‘kick her ass’.

“You know, we basically just met you… So it’s kinda telling that we already know your
personality is flaming crap mixed with garbage.” Kaminari started in on Bakugou as well,
causing Kumo to sit up.

She could only watch with horrified intrigue as the shouting grew louder between the two, never
escalating to violence, just empty threats. But what interested her more was the way Midoriya
seemed to be reacting to what was going on. Perhaps the yelling bothered him? She reached
out to calm him just as Aizawa shouted out or rather spoke somewhat loudly-
“Hey Hey we’re here. Stop messing around and Kumo get back in your seat”

Kumo sighed, sitting back down as the bus pulled up to a large dome shaped building
wondering silently along with the rest of her classmates what they were in for. Thankfully, the
bus soon pulled to a halt and all the students filed off to be greeted by none other than-

“Rescue Hero Thirteen!!” Midoriya gushed, frantically flipping through his notebook to add notes
of probably the hero before him, Kumo assumed.

Thirteen led them inside, prompting exclamations of awe from all the students.

“A shipwreck, A landslide, A fire, A windstorm, Etcetera! I created this training facility to prepare
you to deal with different types of disasters. I call it- The Unforeseen Simulation Joint, but you
can call it USJ!” The space hero proudly exclaimed to the students.

The class stood in awe a moment before their teacher would step forwards, drolling- “Hey,
shouldn’t All Might be here already?” And before Thirteen could answer he snidely added
“Lemme guess, he booked an interview instead”

“Actually, it’s something else” Thirteen spoke, stepping closer to Aizawa so the two could have a
more private conversation despite the class being right there. She held up three fingers as she
quietly spoke.

‘Three…? What could that mean? ‘ Kumo couldn’t help but think to herself. Whatever it meant, it
prompted Aizawa to sigh deeply and shove his hands into his pockets.

“That man is the height of irresponsibility. Clocks ticking, we should get started. “ He turned
round and headed to a pillar while Thirteen began lecturing the students about the nature of
quirks and dangerous capabilities.

Kumo was trying to pay attention, but she found her attention kept drifting away. ‘What could
she have meant by three? Three rescues? Three hours? What did-’

She snapped to attention when the fountain began to sputter, eyes widening with alarm as a
dark purple mist spilled across the room. At first, it seemed as though it may have been a toxic
fog or yet another part of the exercise but… there were people stepping out from the mist.

“Did the exercise start already? I thought we were rescuing people” She barely heard Kirishima
remark. Wincing as Aizawa shouted out harshly-

“Stay back!! “ Donning his goggles he revealed to them “This is real. Those are villains”
The class was frozen with shock, staring ahead at the escalating scene that was sure to end in
violence.

‘Stay put. Don’t do a thing until you know how severe the threat is’ Kumo mentally instructed
herself, counting out all the villains she could see. ‘ The other student’s aren’t combat ready.
Sure they can hold their own in a controlled environment but in a real honest to gods villain
attack? They might die. I have to do something. I have to move!!’

She was entirely frozen, silence ringing in her ears as her classmates talked amongst
themselves. Her blood ran cold as she watched her teacher leap into the fray, knowing more
than anyone that he couldn’t possibly defeat all those villains. Not with these odds.

And then her gaze met that of the mist, her hair flaring up bright blue as anger began coursing
through her veins.

How dare they come into her school, on the day of a field trip of all things!

This was supposed to be a fun day. A day they learned to be heroes. She even packed a fruit
roll up for lunch.

A voice broke through her thoughts finally, a murmur from Midoriya of all people.

“Whoa, he’s holding them off. I guess I shouldn’t’ve underestimated him”

“This is no time to be analyzing. We have to go!” Iida sternly retorted, prompting Midoriya head
towards the door while Kumo was still frozen in her tracks

‘He needs help. We need help’ Kumo trembled, turning round despite her desire to assist her
teacher. She ran for the door with her classmates, her eyes shut tight in fear of the chilling gaze
the Mist had held. ‘Open your eyes. Stand your ground. Save them Save them so she has
someone to look up to!’

She skidded to a halt, turning tail to race back towards Aizawa. ‘I gotta time this right. Just
remember what you saw Bakugou do. Jump and explode. You can do this! You always do this!’
Pulling up her mask, she leaped into the air letting loose a fiery blast behind her to propel
herself into the fray.

Eraserhead was getting in the flow of things, sending another heteromorphic flying just past
Kumo as she crashed into a villain just inches away from Eraser.

“I told you to stay back!” He barked out, fighting off more villains as they rushed the pair,
thinking the young teen to be inexperienced.
Kumo threw out two of her orbs, distracting the villains long enough for Aizawa to knock them
out. “Just take the assist old man! And duck!”

Eraserhead faltered but quickly recovered, ducking down as Kumo unleashed a spear of flame
at a villain attacking from above. He was visibly annoyed, not only at the villains but also his
student now for disobeying his direct orders. She could get hurt or killed… but now was not the
time for worrying.

The pair dispatched nearly all of the petty villains themselves… All that was left was the Mist
Man, the Hand Man and the large one.

“Looks like we made it to the final boss” Kumoko remarked as Aizawa punched away the last of
the grunts.

“Kumo look out!” He leaped towards the boss, knocking him away before he could get a hand
on the student.

Two more thugs would leap at her, prompting her to leap back and throw out her capture tape to
subdue the both of them. “Eraser!” She yelled out, watching with horror as he was slammed to
the ground by the large bird man. “Get away from hi-”

“Stay back!” Her teacher yelled out, his voice raspy as he struggled against the large man. “Do
what I say for once. Stay back and stay safe. Go help your classma- AHH!” He cried out, his
face slammed into the concrete once more.

“What do you think of him Eraserhead? He’s the bio-engineered anti-symbol of peace. But you
can call him Nomu” Handy Mandy wheezed.

“Well I don’t know what he thinks but I think he looks ridiculous!” Kumo yelled, charging towards
him with her hair flaming upwards, a rage-fueled fire burning upon both her hands. She landed
two blasts to his chest but was apprehended as he grabbed her neck, choking the young
heroine with four of his fingers.

“Well Well Well Eraserhead, look what I’ve caught here! A not so good student…. How sad” He
tutted, squeezing her throat even tighter as Kumo clawed at his hands.

‘No. It can’t end like this.’

“She would’ve made a fine hero, don’t you think? Selfless… brave….”

‘Not again. Not like this’

“And she cared deeply for you, even though in the end, you were unable to save her”
‘M-Mom…. I’m scared’

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head, body falling limp just as the mist rejoined the hand
man.

‘Is this really the end..?’ She thought, as she watched herself fall through the floor into the dark
abyss.
____________________
Her heartbeat thumped loudly in her ears, chest full and heavy as her world blurred back into
view, a shadow looming over Kumoko as she lay there on the ground, helpless.

“N-No… Get- Get away!” She yelled out in a weak rasp, attempting to retaliate as her vision
came into focus.

All Might.

“It’s alright now, I’m here” He spoke, leaning down to lift her up, stopping only as Kumo blurted
out-

“No!! Get- Get Eraserhead first. He- He’s more hurt than me.” Kumo trembled, coughing up
blood as she pushed herself back to her feet. “Get him out of here”

The Number-One Hero could only stand in shock as the bruise laden child got back to her feet,
ready to leap back into battle. He nodded, lifting up Aizawa first instead before nabbing Kumo
as he zoomed towards Tsu, Deku and Mineta.

“Everybody back to the entrance, and take Aizawa with you! He doesn’t have much time” The
teacher ordered, handing off the broken Erasure hero to Kumo and Midoriya.

“All Might, you can’t fight him! That creature took One for- He took one of my punches like it
wasn’t anything! He’s too strong!” Deku tried to warn the heroic blonde.

“Young Midoriya! I got this!” The hero assured them, racing forwards to take on the villains as
the students headed for the entrance.

“Kumo are you sure you’re okay? I can carry Aizawa if you-”

“I’m fine. It’s my fault he got hurt like this in the first place. The least I can do is make sure he
gets to a safe place” The flame girl retorted sharply, her hair still flaming upwards with rage.

‘Why..? Why did I freeze up? If I had been quicker, if I had fought with him from the start, would
he still be this hurt? ‘ She berated herself mentally, tears streaming down her cheeks but she
didn’t have much time to ponder before Deku shifted the full weight of Aizawa onto her back,
racing towards All Might as other students approached from different zones to assist as well.
‘They’re helping him…’ She sighed inwardly with relief, jumping slightly as Tsu helped to lift
Aizawa’s torso while Mineta grabbed his legs.

The frog and grape were saying something but it had all faded into white noise as Kumo was
overwhelmed by her fear. Fear of possibly dying here today, fear of what happened years ago…
It had been a long while since she felt such raw terror, ready to fight, ready to flee ready to- to-

“We’ve got him Kumo, you can let go” Uraraka’s voice broke through as everything came back
into focus, Uraraka before her and Shoji at her side ready to take Aizawa the moment Kumo let
go. “It’s okay. It’s okay”

Her vision was still blurred with tears, a sob escaping her as she released Aizawa into the care
of her classmates. Mina Ashido and Ochaco both grabbed Kumo, helping her up the stairs while
Tsuyu took up the rear, the whole group gathering near the entrance to escape the carnage
unfolding behind them.

The next hour was but a blur to Kumoko, she knew the teachers arrived and that the nomu was
defeated but she was catatonic until she got onto the bus, snapping to as Iida sat beside her.

“ Class has been cancelled for the rest of the day. Do you need a ride home?” He asked. And in
some way, Kumo knew he was put up to this by his classmates, she knew they were worried for
her and for each other.

“No… I’ll be fine.” She stammered, coughing a bit as she turned her gaze up towards the rest of
her classmates, taking in all of their troubled looks. The fear and adrenaline are still running
through all of them.

“You know um…. It’s kinda funny” Kumo started to say to the whole of her class. “Those villains
wanted to breh-... break the symbol of peace. But… But with their attack, they’ve only ensured a
stronger generation of heroes. Right….?”

The class was silent until Kirishima let out a laugh. “That’s true! They gave us hands on
experience with villains! Just think of how advanced that makes us as Heroes-In-Training!”

Slowly but surely, the class began to chat about what they’d faced in their zones and how they
bested the petty criminals they were tasked with facing. And Kumo breathed a shaky sigh of
relief, leaning back into her bus seat as she closed her eyes to try and shake off the resurfaced
trauma from today. At the very least, she’d succeeded in brightening her peer’s spirits.

Today wasn’t too different from what she was used to facing at night but… this time it felt
personal somehow. And she certainly planned on finding them again.
The bus arrived back at the school in just under twenty minutes where several members of the
press along with the families of class 1-A were waiting. It wasn’t too long before it was just
Ochaco, Kumo and Iida waiting at the school. The other two wanted to wait until Izuku came out
from the nurses, and Kumo was being held for reprimand.

“Miss Kumoko?” Midnight approached the group. “We’re unable to contact your parents, would
you please come with me to update your forms and discuss your punishment?”

“Yes ma’am” Kumo nodded, rising with a wince. “Tell Deku to get well soon okay Uraraka? And
here” She took a moment to take a small box of sweets from her backpack. “Help yourselves”

“Thanks Kumo” Uraraka offered her a bright smile. “Good luck in there”

And with that, Kumo left for the Principal’s office for her fate to be determined.

“Have a seat Miss Kumoko Shiro. I trust you are feeling well, yes? Recovery Girl has patched all
your wounds?” Principal Nezu asked.

“Yes, she did. “ Kumo nodded, seating herself down across from the row of teachers. She’d be
lying if she said she wasn’t worried. Her heart was racing at the thought of being expelled.

“And what about your parents? Are you able to give us the updated contact information or are
they at work?” A man in a trench coat asked, pausing before introducing himself. “My name is
Naomasa Tsukauchi, I’m a detective working with the school to bring the villains to justice”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you sir, no… no my parents won’t be coming to gather me or join the
meeting”

“And why is that?” Cementoss squinted at her, almost as though he thought she were lying.

The student would fall silent, a dark shadow over her face as she clenched her fists. “My Mom…
My Mom is overseas with my father. They’re trying to set up a bakery chain there. I know I
disobeyed direct orders today but…” She looked up, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m not
going to apologise for it. “

“Excuse me?” Present Mic’s eyes widened with alarm.

“As far as I’m concerned my actions today helped save lives. The lives of my classmates,
Thirteen and Mr.Aizawa. So send any punishment you want my way, frankly I deserve it. But
you’re not getting an apology”

A silence fell over the room, the teacher’s exchanging glances before the Detective spoke up-
“I think it’d be best if we let Miss Shiro go home so we can deliberate on what an appropriate
punishment would be. Right Mr.Nezu?”

“Why certainly Detective! Miss Shiro you are free to go. Please do rest up, we have no intention
of expelling you but you will receive a just punishment for what went down today” The principal
informed her with a jovial smile.

“Yes sir. Thank you” Kumo nodded, rising out from her chair to rejoin Iida and Uraraka in their
waiting game for Izuku.
“Kumo!” Iida shot to his feet with alarm when she returned to the two of them. “What
happened?! Are you getting expelled?”

“No, they’re just giving me a punishment. It’s probably just a suspension “ Kumo laughed half-
heartedly, rubbing away the tears still resting on her lashes. “I… I wish I could wait with you
guys for Midoriya but I need to pick up my sister from Daycare. “

“Oh my goodness, do you need a ride? I can call my brother, he could bring you-”

“It’s fine Iida, I’ll just walk. I need some time to clear my head, y’know? Tell Deku I’ll get the
notes from him tomorrow and that I hope he feels better soon.”

“Okay, if you need anything just give us a call, okay Kumo?” Uraraka advised, offering her friend
a worried but bright smile.

The bruised vigilante chuckled softly and gave a nod. “Will do. I’ll see you guys in school
tomorrow” She waved them goodbye, retreating from the school back to the cafe.