After the final war, life had changed for everyone. Shouta felt it in the quiet moments - how the world seemed heavier now, as if it were still catching its breath. The battle had come terrifyingly close to ending everything. If the heroes had lost, there wouldn’t have been anything left to save.

They hadn’t lost.

Izuku, and the last remnant of One For All, had made sure of that.

During the long weeks of cleanup and recovery that followed, they found you. You had been a villain - one of the core members of the former League of Villains. Bringing you in was unavoidable. But you were young, around the same age as Class 2-A, and Shouta had seen too much to believe people were beyond saving. After Tenko Shimura - Tomura Shigaraki - and Himiko Toga's stories, the heroes had made a decision. They wouldn’t let another child fall through the cracks. Not again. It wasn’t too late to try to make things right.

So you were given another chance.

You were enrolled at U.A., placed into Class 2-A. Yuga had transferred out, and you and Hitoshi had taken his place - bringing the class total to twenty-one. Shouta was ordered to keep a close eye on you. His Quirk made him the safest choice, a final measure in case you ever lost control. But U.A. itself was more secure than ever after the war. If you tried anything, you wouldn’t get far. Still, like everyone else, you were healing in your own way.

After a week of settling into a dorm room in Heights Alliance, you finally joined classes. Your name, your Quirk, and your past were shared with the class. Most of them accepted you - cautiously, but sincerely.

That afternoon, when classes ended and the halls began to empty, Shouta decided to check in. Not because he expected trouble - just to make sure everyone was still standing.

He pushed open the glass doors of Class 2-A’s Heights Alliance dorms, letting them close behind him with a quiet click, and scanned the common room.