My Hero Academia Symbol of Hope (DC x MHA)

Back to School

It was Monday morning, and Izuku Midoriya's alarm hadn't even gone off yet. Not that it needed to—he'd barely slept.

There had been no dreams. No ghostly whispers from the previous wielders of One For All. No tremors in his arms. No phantom pains or glitches in his Quirk. Everything had been quiet. Peaceful, even.

But that didn't mean his mind was.

What kept him up wasn't some ominous feeling or the burden of legacy. It was a girl.

Kara.

More specifically, Kara kissing him on the cheek as they boarded the ferry back from Nabu Island. Just a quick, light peck. Barely a second long. But to Izuku, it may as well have been carved into his memory with a branding iron.

He'd been blushing ever since.

And to make things worse—or better? No, worse. Definitely worse—he hadn't seen her all weekend. She'd stayed over at Kai and Melissa's place, probably doing hero training, eating home-cooked meals, and basking in the comfort of being surrounded by people who loved her. That was the benefit of being part of a family of heroes. The sister of Superman himself. The adopted daughter of All Might.

And yet... somehow... she'd chosen to be his friend.

Her first friend at U.A., Kai had told him once. That Kara didn't really talk to anyone before the license exam. That she'd been... hesitant. Guarded. Understandably so, given her past—used by All For One as a living weapon, a tool to be aimed at others, not a person to be loved.

But she had opened up to him.

She trusted him.

Izuku's chest ached a little with how much that meant to him.

He pulled on a hoodie and slipped out of his dorm quietly, the cool morning air brushing across his skin as he started jogging through the campus pathways. The sky was still a dim gray-blue, dew fresh on the grass, birds just beginning to stir in the trees.

His legs moved on instinct, but his mind stayed tangled in thoughts of her.

He admired Kara. The same way he admired Kai or All Might. She was powerful—incredibly so—but she carried herself with such calm intensity. She never bragged. Never showed off. She fought with purpose. With control. And behind those stormy blue eyes, there was always something burning quietly: a desire to protect.

But Kara... Kara was more than just a hero to him now.

He didn't want to admit it out loud, not even to himself, but...

Yeah. He liked her.

Maybe more than liked.

And now, thanks to that tiny little kiss, his brain had officially short-circuited.

At the same time, as the sun crept higher over Musutafu, a sleek silver car cruised along the main road back toward U.A. High School. The driver's seat was occupied by Melissa Shield, one hand on the wheel, the other adjusting her sunglasses, and in the passenger seat sat Kara—though she looked just a little bit different.

Her usually long, wind-swept hair now framed her face in a neat, shoulder-length cut. Still slightly wild, still her, but definitely shorter. Fresher. A change.

Kara leaned back in the seat, window slightly cracked, letting the morning breeze play with the ends of her hair. Eri was dozing peacefully in the back seat, wrapped in a soft blanket with a stuffed rabbit tucked under her arm, clearly worn out from the whirlwind weekend.