? Benevolence ?

Chapter 53

The class cheers excitedly and I bound over, thrilled to see them again. I never had the chance to visit after the camp.

"It's been so long!"

"You all look well, kittens!"

Pixie bob sweeps me into a hug, smiling blindingly. "Meraki kitten! It's wonderful to see you!"

"Y-you too! I'm glad you're all doing okay."

Tiger pats my head. "I'm sorry we weren't able to protect you back then."

"You don't need to bring up the past!" Bakugou growls quietly, backing off from the rest of the group.

In contrast, I offer the hero a soft smile. "You guys d-did your best and th-that's all we could've asked. Thank you."

He pulls me into a crushing hug and I sink into the embrace, happy to see the heroes doing so well.

Satou comes into the room with a tray of tea. "But what brings you back to Yuuei?"

"We wanted to stop by and let people know about our comeback."

"Congratulations!"

I watch Midoriya cock his head. "Did it go back to normal? You had to suspend your activities because your quirk was taken away, right?"

Ragdoll shakes her head with a bright smile. "Nope! I'll be supporting the three of them by doing the office work! I'll be an office lady cat!"

Pixie bob frowns. "We did receive a report from Tartarus, though."

She goes on to explain that All For One offered to return the quirk but because they don't trust him or understand much regarding how many quirks he really has, they can only keep him contained without letting him do anything at all. My stomach rolls nervously at the thought of him.

"...Then why decide now to make a comeback?" Yaoyorozu asks quietly.

Mandalay responds. "They're about to be presented but it's because of the second half japanese hero billboard charts. We were in 411th place."

I remember the charts. By factoring in one's number of resolved incidents, contributions to society, and public approval rate, they present a ranking of all active heroes biannually.

Midoriya chimes in. "Last time they were #32."

"I see! It's because you guys dropped that much?! Fight on!" Kirishima holds up both fists passionately. It's kind of endearing.

Ragdoll jumps in. "No, that's not it! In fact, it's surprising we were able to stay in the three digits even though we'd done absolutely nothing!!"

Tiger nods. "It was our approval ratings that allowed us to be where we were."

"There are people out there waiting for us! We couldn't just keep standing still!" Ragdoll poses with a grin.

I smother a laugh when Kirishima covers his no doubt teary eyes. "That's the reason! So manly Wild, Wild Pussycats!"

Some of my classmates converse quietly about the rankings and I find myself wondering how the rankings will turn out with All Might out of the running.

As it turns out, the rankings are revealed and the number one hero turns out to be previous number two hero, Endeavor. The flame hero has always given me a bad feeling but I have no place to judge anyone. Especially with only the argument of bad feelings.

Number two was the hero Hawks. He's pretty young for a pro doing as well as he is. At 22, he even has his own agency. He seems really nice and I almost wish he was number one but I also know that the ranking comes with lots of responsibility. As young as he is, he'd probably prefer to be a lower rank.

Thinking over it all, I find myself hoping I stay a lower rank. It's easier to stay out of the public eye and do my job as I only want to save people. Part of me wonders if Aizawa sensei has anything to do with that mind set.

---
Sorry for the late update!!

I hope I find a way to include Hawks in the story. He's one of my favorite manga characters.

Thanks for reading!!!