Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Minoru approached the edge of the plaza where Aizawa was currently alone engaging the bulk of the villains who had not been warped. They could barely make out some of the students and Thirteen fighting against the portal creator in the distance; as far as Minoru could tell, Ida hadn't yet made it out the doors to call for help.

  However, Midoriya did not appear to see anything beyond the fight that Aizawa—Eraser Head—was engaged in. He broke off muttering under his breath when Tsuyu spoke up. "What should we do now?"

  Midoriya surveyed the battle, which was moving almost too fast for Minoru to keep track of. "For now, calling for help is our main priority. If possible we should follow the shoreline and make for the exit, avoiding the plaza altogether."

  Minoru could only shake his head. He'd vaguely remembered this, but twenty years down the line, Midoriya as he'd been when they first met felt painfully, dangerously na?ve. "There's no way we're getting through that crowd, Midoriya. As soon as we get closer, someone is going to notice us and attack."

  Midoriya stared out at Aizawa. "I'm not saying we should dive right into the fight. But maybe we can watch for an opening and do what we can to lighten Sensei's load."

  Minoru didn't even need to come up with a counter-argument for that, however, because moments later the nomu suddenly moved. Faster than Minoru could track, the nomu shot behind Aizawa, pinned him to the ground, and broke his arm with a sharp crack!

  Shigaraki spoke up loud enough for the three teens to hear. "Meet the anti-symbol of peace. The bio-engineered nomu."

  "Shit," whimpered Minoru. He'd forgotten how viscerally terrifying something that big and fast could be.

  The nomu grabbed their sensei's other arm, and he screamed as it too broke.

  Oh shit. Minoru suddenly remembered; he'd had a false sense of security thanks to Aizawa's skill and their success against the aquatic villains, but he never should have allowed his classmates to get this close. "Midoriya, Tsuyu, change of plans, we need to go. We need to go now!"

  As the nomu slammed Aizawa's head into the concrete, the portal user materialized near Shigaraki and they discussed something out of earshot.

  Minoru tugged at Tsuyu's sleeve. "Seriously, we need to get away right now!"

  Shigaraki spoke louder and began scratching at his neck in an agitated fashion. "We won't stand a chance against dozens of pros. It's game over, man. It's game over for now. We're leaving."

  "Did he say leaving?" asked Midoriya.

  "I think so," responded Tsuyu, relief in her tone.

  "Please," pleaded Minoru. "We need to get out of here!"

  Tsuyu absent-mindedly pushed Minoru a bit further away from where he'd pressed near her. "I've got a bad feeling, Midoriya."

  Midoriya nodded. "Yeah, to do all this and then just leave on a whim…"

  And then there was no time left. Minoru saw Shigaraki start to sprint their way, and his body moved on its own. Right hand out, shoving Tsuyu aside and into Midoriya as he side-stepped into the space she'd been occupying. Left hand to his scalp to snatch a grapeshot, rotating to interpose it between himself and Shigaraki. He couldn't be touched, though, so as he rotated his hand he splayed his fingers, the only point of contact between himself and the grapeshot his palm.

  And then Shigaraki was there, hand shooting forward, the grapeshot disintegrating into purple dust as Minoru yanked his hand to the side, desperate to avoid contact…

  And then his vision was largely blocked, as ever so gently, Shigaraki's fingers came to rest around his face.

  Shigaraki paused, as Minoru stared at him in wide-eyed terror. "You really are pretty cool, Eraser Head."

  The nomu behind Shigaraki slammed Aizawa's face to the pavement once more, and Midoriya came flying at Shigaraki from the side. "Get OFF him!" he shouted as he flew.

  "Nomu," snapped Shigaraki.

  Midoriya unleashed a punch with a cry of "SMASH!", but the nomu was there in front of him as Shigaraki danced back and Minoru stumbled further into the water.

  Tsuyu's tongue shot toward Midoriya as the nomu's hand clamped around his arm, Minoru desperately floundered as Shigaraki lunged toward him once more, and then everyone froze yet again as a BANG resounded through the area, the door to the outside thrown open with such force that it collapsed to the side.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  "FEAR NOT," proclaimed a larger-than-life voice. "I…AM HERE."

  All Might had arrived.

  "I've been waiting, hero!" spat Shigaraki, turning completely away from Minoru and the other teens. "You worthless trash."

  There was an explosion of dust where All Might had been standing in the entrance and a split second later all the villains in the plaza area were collapsed and All Might was cradling Aizawa's limp form.

  "I'm sorry, Aizawa," said All Might quietly, and then he seemed to vanish once more and Minoru found himself flying through the air before being deposited behind All Might along with Midoriya, Tsuyu, and the unconscious Aizawa. Past All Might ahead of them, Shigaraki staggered, the hand that had been obscuring his face fallen to the ground.

  All Might spoke over his shoulder to the teens. "Everyone, to the entrance. Take Aizawa. He's unconscious, so hurry!"

  Beyond All Might, Shigaraki had reclaimed his missing hand. "Throwing punches to save people…ha ha ha. That's our state-sponsored violence. You're fast. Too fast to keep up with, but not as fast as expected. Could it really be true…? That you're getting weaker…?"

  "It's no use, All Might!" cried out Midoriya. "That brain villain! One For—I mean my attack wasn't strong enough to break my own arm, but…he didn't even flinch! Against that, you…"

  Minoru shook his head. How on Earth had he failed to realize that Midoriya had inherited All Might's One For All Quirk? The kid couldn't keep a thought in his head to save his life.

  "Fear not!" said All Might, finally looking back at them, flashing a smile and victory symbol. And then he was gone with a cry of "Carolina…SMASH!"

  Minoru grabbed Aizawa's feet. "Come on, Midoriya, Tsuyu. We need to get Aizawa sensei to safety."

  "Yeah…" said Midoryia, hoisting Aizawa's front half over his shoulders despite his clear distraction with the ongoing battle between All Might and the nomu.

  There was the sound of a massive impact and dust and debris fountained into the air. "Seriously?!" muttered Minoru to himself as he glanced over his shoulder. "An explosion like that with just a suplex?"

  "Yet he's a newbie as a teacher, with those cheat sheets and all," chimed in Tsuyu. Minoru chuckled, though there was a slightly hysterical edge to the sound. Nothing seemed to phase her.

  As the smoke cleared, however, Midoriya sucked in a breath. "Asu—Tsu…yu!"

  "You finally got it right," complimented Tsuyu. "Nice. What is it, Midoriya?"

  "Take Aizawa sensei for me…!"

  "Sure," responded Tsuyu, grabbing Aizawa's arms as she spoke. "But what're you…"

  Midoriya, however, was already gone, pelting towards the super-powered battle without a backwards glance. "All Might!" he shouted as he ran, only to be cut off by Bakugo flying in from the side and slamming the portal user against the ground.

  "Get the hell outta here!" yelled Bakugo.

  "Tsuyu!" said Minoru, deciding that although Bakugo was clearly yelling at Midoriya it was still advice worth taking.

  "Right," croaked Tsuyu, and tore her gaze away from the ongoing melee where Kirishima and Todoroki had followed Bakugo into the fight.

  Step by step, they approached the steps leading toward the entrance, concussive sounds of fists meeting flesh exploding from behind them.

  "Mineta," said Tsuyu suddenly, glancing back over her shoulder at him. "Why did you do that back there?"

  "Do…what?" Minoru panted. Damn, but he was not built for lugging full grown adults around after facing death multiple times.

  "Put yourself in danger in my place."

  "I don't…I didn't…" Minoru fell silent, no easy answer coming to mind.

  Tsuyu glanced at him over her shoulder. "I don't mean to put you on the spot. I don't know you all that well yet, but you didn't seem like the kind of person who would do something like that."

  "I'm not," Minoru answered reflexively. "I mean, I didn't think I was." He glanced over his own shoulder, where Midoriya and the other students were still clustered near All Might and his fight with the nomu. "I think it's super cool the way Midoriya can just throw himself into danger for anyone, but at the same time…I think he partially does that because he doesn't value himself. I've always hated that about myself; I don't particularly like myself, either, but I can't just throw my life away selflessly like that."

  "But you can," said Tsuyu quietly. "If Sensei hadn't erased that villain's Quirk right then…and that would have been me, if you hadn't stepped in."

  Minoru grunted and tried to shift Aizawa's legs higher on his shoulders. "I just…I feel so helpless most of the time, you know? Like All Might and that nomu and even people like Midoriya or Bakugo or Todoroki could just crush me without even trying. But when Sh—that villain started running toward you, I just moved. I can't try to save everyone, but maybe…" His voice dropped. "Maybe…I at least want to try to save the people right in front of me."

  Tsuyu was silent as they trudged several steps closer to the students near the entrance, who had at last noticed them. Uraraka was hurrying down the stairs to help them get Aizawa up the stairs.

  Just before Uraraka arrived, Tsuyu spoke up again. "Thank you, Mineta. I don't want you to get hurt for me, but…you talk like you can't measure up to our classmates, but you were pretty cool."

  Minoru just bobbed his head. Clearly Tsuyu hadn't noticed that he was actively crying as he shoved her aside. Desperation wasn't cool. Also not cool: lack of physical stamina, because damn it, he was going to collapse any moment.

  Thankfully, before he could do so Uraraka was there and with a light tap, Aizawa's weight disappeared and the two girls hurried him up the stairs, Minoru trailing behind.

  He knew he should be scoping out the battle behind him, make sure there hadn't been any changes as a result of his own changed behavior, but he couldn't help but stare at his own left hand. The left hand that had torn a grapeshot from his head in a desperate bid to throw up some sort of barrier between him and Shigaraki's deadly Quirk.

  The hand to which his grapeshot had, ever so briefly, stuck to firmly despite only being in contact with his palm. He'd been using his Quirk for over 30 years at this point, and that entire time it had abided by a single immutable rule: his hair balls stuck firmly to everything but repelled him.

  Until, apparently, now.

  With a resounding series of bangs, several bullets zipped over Minoru's head, causing him to flinch and look up.

  The pro hero teachers had arrived. Behind him, the portal user sucked up Shigaraki and retreated as the teachers hurried into the area to secure the remaining villains and ensure Class 1-A was unharmed.

  Through it all, Minoru sat at the top of the stairs, absent-mindedly bouncing his palm off a grapeshot that he held in his other hand.

  He wanted to go home and sleep for about a week. But after that…then maybe self-directed Quirk training needed to move up the priority list.

  and his personality have drifted quite a bit from canon, thanks to living for a couple decades and then regressing. Under those conditions, it stands to reason that his Quirk, too, would likely evolve.