In the Common Hall of the Heights Alliance, the students of 2-A heatedly discussed the Hero Agencies they had managed to get into for their Hero Work Studies, which were starting the very next day.
Some didn't have their Provisional Hero Licenses, and thus didn't need to spend their summer working as Sidekicks for someone.
Surprisingly, only one of these three students was feeling good about it.
He, along with the other two, wasn't in the Common Hall but in the Staff Office, where Eraser Head was staring them down.
"…" Luke looked to Todoroki on his left.
He ignored Bakugo, who stood farther to Todoroki's left.
"Look at me," Aizawa hissed.
Luke licked his lips and faced forward.
"Neither Bakugo nor Todoroki has their Provisional Hero License," Eraser Head said. "Yet, neither of them wanted to waste their summer, and both have secured Internships. Because they must know that a second-year Hero Course student with no Internship or Work Study in the summer is a tragedy.
"Imagine how bad it would look on your resume. Forget Bakugo and Todoroki. The entire Class 2-B, who didn't even need to apply for Hero Work Studies until their Provisional Hero License Exam, have also secured Internships. Yet, here you are… one of the most popular students at UA…"
Aizawa was the last person from whom any student could hear about their popularity and feel good about it.
Luke scratched his head, not knowing what to say.
This was the outcome he had always been aiming for, anyway.
He wanted to spend the entire summer working on the Shie Hassaikai and hunting the Wraith, focusing the full might of the Apostles of Mr. Fool on securing Eri.
The coming weeks were going to be too delicate and dangerous.
This was especially true with Kannagi and Shigaraki in the picture.
Only a few days ago, Iron Mentor had reported that the Shie Hassaikai and the Claws of Conformity had made contact. As predicted, things hadn't worked out between them; the short meeting ended in a full-out brawl, claiming a life from each side.
Overhaul wasn't a fool, Luke knew.
If he had gone to meet the Claws of Conformity, he wouldn't have taken Kannagi with him.
Moreover, Kannagi's specialty lay in a region that he needed to claim through some ritual, as Gehrman Sparrow had found out.
So, there would have been no point in running the risk of revealing a trump card like that, knowing that things could go sour.
That was why Luke believed that if Overhaul and Shigaraki had ended up fighting anyway, it was definitely related to the former mentioning his ability to get Compound Monocle—or something connected to it, irritating Conformity, who was already furious about not being involved in the matter of ORIGIN.
Luke's Intuition said that Shigaraki would definitely arrange for another meeting with Overhaul, hoping to learn more about the Shie Hassaikai's connection to the Monocles, using either Trigger or the Erasure drug as an excuse.
This made the coming week very important, requiring Dr. Blessed's full attention.
Then there was another, more complex matter—a matter that would again put Luke head-to-head with Fate itself.
Sir Nighteye was fated to die fighting Overhaul.
So, not only did Luke want to keep an eye on the relationship between Shigaraki and Overhaul, monitor the Sequence 5 Wraith and Kannagi, and find a way to secure Eri, but he also wanted to defy Fate once again and save Sir Nighteye.
Such a Quirk was just too precious to be lost so early in the game, the Magician and Cryptologist within Luke knew.
If things went south down the line, requiring the Apostles to focus entirely on Monocles, then Sir Nighteye's Quirk could change the very board of the Final War in the Pro Heroes' favor, unlike what had happened in his previous life.
And because of all that, Luke would rather have Pro Heroes question his lack of enthusiasm for Hero work due to an empty summer than needlessly spend his time playing Hero on the streets.
Sadly… fate was already bent on beating him to it.
"Well, I've got two pieces of bad news for you, Luke," Eraser Head said, narrowing his eyes. "First, there are rumors of Hero Public Safety Commission conducting the next round of Provisional Hero License Exam earlier. Perhaps, in the very beginning of next semester."
Todoroki and Bakugo's eyes lit up.
Luke frowned, as Melissa hadn't heard any such rumor.
"Second," Aizawa continued, "you are one of UA's Aces. Even if it doesn't matter to you, it matters to UA. The Principal and the rest of us have decided that you must get yourself an Internship as well. You have twenty-four hours. If you don't get a written response from any Hero Agency by that time, then UA will assign you a Hero Agency at random. The choice is yours."
"Sir…" Luke said, his heart beating fast. He couldn't believe that of all things, his being a student would come back to haunt him like this. "… this is not fair."
Bakugo tsked. "Coward…"
Luke's lips twisted as Todoroki instantly grabbed his wrist, squeezing it hard.
He looked back toward Eraser Head and found the man glaring at him, as if waiting for him to do something stupid again. "Sigh… Can I choose a teacher?" he asked, giving up. "Sand…"
Aizawa shook his head. "Sand is on a leave of absence until next semester," he said. "He doesn't even have a proper Hero Agency. So, no."
Luke frowned internally.
A leave of absence? That wasn't like Sand at all.
"Alright," Eraser Head said, taking a seat. "Dismissed."
The moment Luke left the Staff Office, he pulled away from Todoroki and Bakugo and called Sand.
It didn't even ring.
Luke's face instantly gained several hard wrinkles.
Almost running to the Class 2-A dorm and ignoring everyone in the Common Hall, he went straight to his room.
Before Nyx, noticing his expression, could even ask what was going on, Luke pulled out the Spirit Pendulum.
Closing his eyes, he repeated the same question seven times in his mind.
And even before he opened his eyes to see the result, Nyx gasped. "Oi…" she cawed. "… Just what did you divine?!"
Luke slowly opened his eyes and clenched his hand into a fist so hard that his knuckles went white…
… the Spirit Pendulum rotating clockwise like a motor, indicating Sand's dire situation!
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