The next day Class 1-A was excused from classes; not only had they suffered a vicious villain attack, but their homeroom teacher was so badly injured it was unclear whether he would retain his eyesight.

  Although he spent the early part of his day off trying to replicate sticking grapeshot to himself, Minoru eventually defaulted to stewing in his own guilt over doing nothing to prevent Aizawa's injuries and wrestling with the question of what he even dared to change. After all, he'd remembered that no one had died in the villain attack, and indeed by mostly repeating his actions from his first go-round that had remained the case. Give or take himself almost dying when he'd jumped in front the attack against Tsuyu.

  What scared him most, however, was the fact that he could think of several excellent reasons to simply keep coasting through this second life of his. Both battle training and the villain attack on USJ had shown him that he could take concrete steps to improve his personal life without upsetting the overall pattern of events. That, in some ways, was the best for him personally, since he remained able to benefit from his fore-memories but without the likelihood of becoming a social pariah as in his first life.

  But on the flip side, it would also likely result in exactly the future he was trying to avoid; maybe he could find Aoi-chan and prevent her death now that he knew what to look for, but millions of people had suffered and in many cases died in All For One's assault on Japan. Heck, his personal dreams of heroism were a casualty, too, and having Tsuyu thank him had lit a bit of a fire in him. He'd originally joined the hero course because he wanted to be cool and get girls, and while those desires had faded with time…he couldn't deny that having someone tell him he was cool had a huge impact. And beyond that, he wasn't sure he could live with himself if he just allowed the destruction of Japan as a country to happen a second time.

  The problem was that he, personally, was simply not up to the task of contesting someone like All For One. So far as he knew, no one was personally strong enough to do so. And he certainly wasn't smart enough to out-plot someone who had been setting things up for his eventual return for far longer than Minoru had been alive.

  There was nothing for it; he needed an outside perspective, and if he was going to gain that he needed to solidify his thoughts. Minoru pulled out his trusty notebook and started a new list.

  The next day, as most of the class headed for the cafeteria, chattering about the upcoming sports festival, Minoru nervously approached an open doorway and knocked on the door to announce his presence.

  Inside, Principal Nezu looked up from where he sat at his desk. "Why hello, Minoru Mineta. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?"

  Minoru stepped just inside the door. "Um, could I talk to you, Principal? In private?"

  The principal cocked his head. "Certainly, certainly." He jumped down from his desk and scampered over to shut the door as Minoru stepped further into the room. As he did, Minoru checked the corners but was unable to spot anything that looked like a recording device.

  Nezu returned to his desk and waved Minoru toward one of the chairs situated in front of it.

  "There isn't anything recording what's said in here, is there?"

  "My, my, what could possibly be so needful of secrecy as all that?" chirped Nezu. "But no, you need not worry. Even were I to reveal the secrets behind my resplendent fur, none would know. Now, just what is it that necessitates such concerns?"

  Minoru took a deep breath. "Well, you see…I'm actually from about 20 years in the future, and I could really use some advice."

  Principal Nezu stared at Minoru, his beady eyes giving nothing away. "That…was admittedly outside my expectations. Say that you have in fact gone back in time; how was this accomplished?"

  Minoru shook his head. "I didn't physically go back in time; I just have memories of the next 20 years. I think a friend's Quirk from the future was responsible. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, though. I was, uh, pretty drunk when it happened."

  Nezu hummed. "A Quirk, eh? A difficult assertion to disprove. Would this friend of yours happen to exist at this point in time?"

  "I think so, but he'd be pretty young. He was maybe 10 years younger than me. I also have no idea where he would be living."

  "And thus possibly not have manifested his Quirk. Very well, we shall abandon that line of enquiry for now. I assume you have some way you intend to convince me of the truth of your claims?"

  Minoru laughed slightly. "Yeah, that's the trick, isn't it? I could tell you about what will happen in the future, but until it actually happens that isn't very convincing. Best I could come up with was this: All Might is injured, and he's passed his power down to Midoriya as his successor."

  "…I underestimated the amount of privacy this conversation requires. One moment." Nezu pulled a device from his desk, consulted it, and adjusted several controls before returning it to his desk and placing his focus on Minoru once more. "When exactly are you claiming to have regressed to from the future?"

  "The first day of school. I woke that morning with future memories."

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  The principal's gaze went distant for a moment before he shook his head ruefully. "That timing would explain some discrepancies in your behavior that I had flagged. I assume the villain attack two days ago must have something to do with your visit to my office today? Did it not occur in your future memories?"

  "No, it did. Aside from me stepping in front of the attack aimed at Tsu—Asui, that was basically identical to what I remembered. But…" He hesitated.

  The principal's beady gaze never left his face. "But you did nothing to stop it…your sensei was badly injured…hm, I might posit you feel some guilt over inaction."

  "Yes," said Minoru, some tears springing to his eyes. "I know I can't change too much, especially before All For One is caught, but where do I draw the line?"

  Nezu jumped up onto the desk proper, scattering papers. "All For One? You're claiming that All For One was behind the attack?"

  Minoru nodded, unconsciously leaning back in his chair. He'd never seen their rodent-like principal so worked up before.

  The principal ran his paws over his ears, smoothing down his fur, before turning and clambering back into his seat. "My apologies. I suppose at this point I should just assume you are going to say whatever I am least likely to predict. Do you have any evidence of your claims?"

  "Beyond the nomu possessing multiple Quirks? No. If things go how I remember them, All For One won't reveal himself until Shigaraki and the other League of Villains members are almost caught after they kidnap Bakugo at our training camp."

  Nezu dragged a paw down his face. "Of course not. Silly me. Why, might I ask, did you come to me for advice about this rather weighty problem? Why not All Might himself?"

  "Well, All Might isn't exactly the soul of discretion. I'm actually a little surprised no one has figured out his connection to Midoriya after that battle training. And honestly, uh…well, you're in charge of a school that regularly puts its students in near-lethal danger without ever quite killing them and are supposed to be one of the smartest beings on the planet. I figured if anyone would be able to help me figure out how to determine what was too dangerous to avoid stepping in, it would probably be you."

  Principal Nezu's eyes lit up and he clapped his paws in delight. "You came to me for my pedagogical theories?! Oh, how wonderful! Please, don't get up; let me serve you some tea!" The principal scrambled to the floor and scurried over to an electric kettle, conveniently located on a low side table by the wall. "I must say, even if you are making all of this up, I am delighted by your visit! Absolutely delighted! You see, so many people think that teaching the next generation of heroes merely requires schoolwork, but you have accurately identified the fact that students such as yourself will not grow into your full potential without real danger."

  The president pressed a cup of tea into Minoru's bemused hands, and rather than returning to his desk instead trotted over to the other chair in front of it and climbed up into it. "But of course, too much danger would result in your untimely demise, disfigurement, or loss of hope. And while I personally find great enjoyment in seeing the hope die in human's eyes on occasion, that would entirely defeat the purpose of U.A. Plus Ultra! People think that motto something that the likes of Present Mic came up with to hype up impressionable youths, but those two simple words encapsulate the very root of why U.A. remains the pre-eminent academy for training heroes in the country."

  The president carefully placed his own tea on a nearby side table and gestured expansively to Minoru. "And we come to you, an alleged time traveler, returned to this bastion of learning in search not merely of improvement for yourself, but improvement for perhaps Japan as a whole! Marvelous."

  Minoru was beginning to think that this whole conversation had gone wildly off track. "…Right. I take it you're willing to help me?"

  "Of course, of course. Even if you are making all of this up, even the slightest chance of All For One returning to power cannot be ignored, and indeed him being behind the actions of that man-child who had the audacity to invade the USJ would explain quite a lot. Let me just call your classroom and excuse you from your afternoon classes. You absolutely must tell me everything."

  Hours later, Minoru had given Nezu a broad overview of the events he remembered up until All For One's disappearance and presumed defeat. At the time, Minoru had been desperately trying to survive after the attack that destroyed U.A. and he'd fallen out of contact with the students who had accompanied Midoriya in an attempt to prevent All For One from completely taking over what was left of the country, so unfortunately his knowledge of how ultimately All For One was brought low was limited.

  He'd also been stuck sitting through multiple tangents from the principal on his educational theories and how they applied to Minoru's situation. He was pretty sure if the principal were to share his ideas with the parents sending kids to U.A. there'd be massive disenrollments. Minoru vaguely wondered what it said about him that the canny little mammal was willing to be so forthright with him.

  "I think that is sufficient for today," the principal said, hopping down from his chair with just as much pep as he'd exhibited at the beginning of the hours-long talk. "Now, if what you have told me about this Hero Killer turns out to be accurate, you are going to need to find yourself a useful internship like your more combat-oriented classmates, I do believe. So! While I am working to verify your claims, your challenge will be the upcoming sports festival. If you want to be in position to leverage this future knowledge of yours, you are going to need flexible options, which means you need to place highly in the sports tournament! Get your name out there, so to speak!"

  "What? I can't just leave things to you?"

  "Heavens, no!" exclaimed the principal with perfect cheer. "Should your claims be substantiated, I will certainly liaise with the police and pro heroes to support you. Honestly, your decision to come to me about these issues was nothing short of inspired, as I am well positioned to both feed you information and disseminate important facts and theories based on your future knowledge. However! Surely you recall from your future memories that I am an animal of knowledge and preparation. You are the individual who is best situated to enforce actual change upon the events you described."

  Nezu's eyes gleamed and he rubbed his paws together. "Truly, despite the dire times you described, I do hope that you are telling the truth. I cannot wait to see what your Plus Ultra looks like in the coming weeks! Now fare well and good luck, Mineta!"

  Mineta found himself gently shepherded into the hall, as behind him the door to the principal's office shut with a quiet click.

  Minoru groaned as he dragged himself through the exit of U.A. and started on his way home. Plus Ultra, indeed. Based on his first time around, he was fairly sure he could get through the first two events. But what on earth was he supposed to do in the fights? There was no way he could win against monsters like Bakugo or Todoroki. What did future knowledge matter, in the face of overwhelming power?

  He'd been looking forward to some down time, but it seemed the next two weeks were going to require some intensive training instead.