Picking up the Pieces

Chapter 7: Picking up the pieces

"Sometimes it's about picking up the pieces of the new you, without the expectation of them fitting together as they once did." -Arlo Lorenz

≈*≈

"MEEEDIC!" Peter continued to scream. "SOMEBODY HELP!"

Peter lightly slapped Ojiro's cheeks to try and get him to come to, but his half lidded eyes still stared off blankly and without focus. He checked his pulse: faint. And his breathing, likewise.

Peter gently picked Ojiro up in his arms, making sure to cradle his head and not further agitate his broken tail.

A moment later, Awase's group ran back towards Peter in response to the cries for help. It only took a moment's glance for them to understand the situation.

"He needs help." Peter reiterated. "Any of you have any idea of where we can take him?"

"The UA staff should be at the entrance, I say we get him there as quickly as possible." One girl supplied.

"That's right! Recovery Girl is the school's nurse, she's got this awesome super regeneration quirk, she'll heal him in a second."

Peter nodded. "Just that direction, right?" He emphasized with a jerk of his head towards the path in question. "My quirk makes me pretty fast and coordinated. Even with the extra weight, I could probably go around 25 miles per hour without jostling him too much. Anyone have a better mobility quirk than that?"

They just stared at him blankly. "Oh right, that's about 40 kilometers per hour by the way."

They shook their heads. "None of us can go that fast. Our quirks aren't much in the way of utility either."

"Alright, thanks anyway, we should be off."

With that Peter adjusted his grip on Ojiro to keep him more steady and ran off towards the entrance.

Despite his efforts to avoid a bumpy ride during the run, Ojiro still stirred and groaned after a particularly heavy jump.

"Uuugh… It's soo cold…"

"Ojiro buddy, stay with me, we're going to get help."

"P- Peter? Wuzzz's gooin on? I- I, I can't feel… my tail." His words were slurred, and Peter could tell from the look in his eyes that he was oscillating in and out of consciousness.

"Nothing you'll have to worry about for long. Just grit your teeth, look up at the sky, and try to stay awake. Maybe try to flex a few muscles, get your bearings a little. Just do whatever you can to remain alert."

Ojiro took in a gulp of air. It seemed even getting oxygen was a chore that required his full attention. "I'll *huh* *guh* try."

≈*≈

Eventually, Peter arrived at the large crowd gathered just outside a gate connected to a short wall around the city limits. When Peter had first come this way, he wasted no time in jumping it, supposing it was the same wall around the front of U.A.'s main building on campus, and imagined the practical was being held in a sports field or park in the School's backyard. He now realized it was more likely an evacuation perimeter to contain the robots and section off the area. Maybe something quickly set up by that Cementoss guy he had heard about.

Thankfully, the other people in the crowd gave him a wide berth when they saw the injured Ojiro he was carrying. He could see on the other side of the crowd were some parked buses, the limited transportation was likely what was holding up the evacuation.

A person wearing a U.A. lanyard approached him, "What happened?" he asked while guiding Peter to a small administrative building on the outskirts of the crowd.

"That massive robot hit a building, my friend Ojiro here saved us from the falling debris, but got buried himself. He was under there for about a minute before we got him out."

The man nodded in understanding. And some small service robots came out with a stretcher for Peter to lay Ojiro on.

"You did good son, we can take it from here."

"I heard U.A.'s school nurse has an amazing healing quirk, I could-"

The man held up a hand to interrupt. "It's quite alright, we're sending Recovery Girl a call about the severity of the situation. She just has to finish up helping the injured in the other battle areas, and she'll be right over here in about an hour."

"An hour!? Ojiro can't wait that long. Don't you see the kind of state he's in? Where's Recovery girl right now?"

"Easy kid, she's just in Battle Center B, one of the kids there broke an arm and both legs. You don't have to worry about your friend, we've seen plenty worse before."

Peter didn't bother listening to the whole spiel, and was running out the door once the man mentioned Battle Center B.

Of course, it didn't take long for Peter to realize he didn't know how to get to Battle Center B, so he asked one of the bus drivers.

"Excuse me, how would I get to Battle Center B from here?"

The driver was an older man with slicked back silver hair and tinted wire frame glasses who looked oddly familiar. "Well you see, the battle centers are all lined up east to west, and we're in Battle Center E, so if you head east, you're gonna take the next four left hand turns, and then you go straight on until the second to last one."

"Thank you sir." Peter ran off as instructed, trusting his legs to get him there faster than a bus would.

"Go get 'em, Tiger!" The bus driver called after him.

≈*≈

Peter passed by the next two adjacent city blocks, each of which was also sectioned off. It seemed the affected area of the attack was much larger than Peter had first suspected.

It wasn't long after he arrived at the gate for Center B that he came across who he could only presume to be Recovery Girl, a short old lady in a nurse's outfit with a boy on a stretcher being carried behind her, legs and arm in heavy casts. It didn't take him long to convince her to come to Ojiro's aid. Following which, Peter ran all the way back to Battle center E with the small old lady riding piggyback.

≈*≈

With that taken care of, and all the robots seemingly defeated, Peter decided it was best for him to relax, get out of the way, and let the pros handle the rest. He opted to make his way back to the bus stop by U.A.'s front entrance and take the next bus back home to inform Connors and Setsuna of what happened so they could be prepared for any residual effects of villainy that made its way over to the nearby residential complex.

≈*≈

Aizawa sat hunched over, forehead resting on steepled fingertips.

"So let me get this straight…"

Aizawa sat before a panel of unusual suspects. Apparently, something had caused quite the mess: a kid stumbled into the practical when he shouldn't even be there, and then proceeded to demolish the whole thing.

That of course meant that Aizawa was the one left to pick up the pieces. Not Vlad, who had the patience to properly consider the situation; not Yamada, who had the right enthusiasm; not even All Might, who bumbling as he may be, still knew how to put people at ease. They couldn't have even shoved the task onto Power Loader, one of the guys actually responsible. Rather, the man now sat across from him on the opposite sofa as one of the guilty witnesses. No, Aizawa was chosen precisely because everyone knew he didn't have any patience for bull crap.

Might as well go in order. Aizawa turned towards the first person, a rather uncomfortable looking receptionist. "A few days ago, Parker came in and asked about his "arrangements," by which we know he meant living arrangements, but you assumed he was referring to the entrance exam."

"Well of course! Every day, dozens of kids come in to ask about what they need to enroll at the nation's top hero school, especially at this time of the year, how could I have known he didn't need to take the exam?"

Aizawa held up a hand to stop her protest. "Easy, I just need your testimonies. But in the future, make sure you check in with the foreign exchange committee first should a situation like this ever come up again. We're not going to send our exchange students home right after they've come all the way here just because we couldn't bother to properly examine them before offering a scholarship. That goes doubly so for students here on recommendation."

The receptionist was about to retort that clearly wasn't the case for that French kid who had also taken the exam, but held her tongue.

Aizawa moved on. "You told him that all students were required to take the practical exam, and to show up at 11:30." Aizawa then turned his attention to the next guy, the man who had been attending the front gate. "You not only knew he was an exchange student, but you also saw he was already enrolled in the support course in the student directory."

"Well yes, but the student data didn't show any tags of him having completed any of the entrance exams."

"Because he was already enrolled," Aizawa reiterated with a tinge of leaked annoyance. "And then, knowing this, and knowing he had missed the deadline to sign up, you printed out an exam ticket for him anyway. Even though he said he was a support course student there to take those exams, not the hero course exam!"

"But he said he was here for the practical exam, I thought he was just enrolled in the support course as a second choice in case he couldn't make it into the hero course. And he was clearly already enrolled and said he had already done the written test. I thought the discrepancy was just some quirk of being a foreign exchange student and didn't see any harm in helping him through a misunderstanding that got lost in translation."

"That situation does happen pretty often. Kids will often apply to another course like general studies in case they don't pass the practical exam. And he was told to show up late." Power Loader supplied to help cover for the unfortunate employees.

Aizawa shot a side glance glare at his fellow hero. "Your situation is even worse. You heard about Parker personally from Connors, you more than anyone should have seen through the misunderstanding immediately."

"Regardless, at that point he was an official examinee with a ticket, and thus had the right to enter the exam. What if he really was trying to apply for the hero course and just got lost? He clearly has the heroic spirit and quirk for the job. What should I have done then other than what I did?"

"It's still no excuse, the terms of the scholarship only applies to the spot in the support course we offered him and set apart for foreign exchange students. It wouldn't be fair to all the other foreign exchange applicants he beat out. He can't just use the support course as a back door to the hero course, leaving the support course seat empty. If he wanted to enter the hero course, he'd have to reject the offer and start from scratch like everyone else, or at the least wait to transfer to the hero course at the end of the semester."

"Bureaucracy, bureaucracy. The kid's merits speak for themselves. And he was just trying to follow the rules, not his fault he was misled. He should be rewarded not punished."

"You know as well as I that being ignorant of the rules is no excuse for breaking them, especially in the hero field. Regulation is what separates us from vigilantes and villains. He should have double checked instead of ruining the exam for others."

Aizawa pointedly didn't voice his hidden sympathies for vigilantes. Aizawa was all logic. Sometimes regulations were rational, sometimes not. And sometimes illogical actions were necessary to produce the best results. Let no one say Aizawa didn't understand the nuance.

But on the surface, Aizawa continued his devil's advocate stint. He remained nothing if not a stickler for the rules. There was no other way people would learn if they weren't held accountable. You had to understand the consequences, accept them, and do the right thing anyway. Then, and only then, was it heroic to break the rules. If that heroism was rewarded by pardoning the punishment, it undermined what made it so heroic in the first place. That's why he would expel students only to immediately re-enroll them. They got their 2nd chance, but had to live with the black mark on their record. Mercy could not rob justice.

"That is exactly what he'd learn in the hero course," Power Loader retorted. "You can't expect a kid to know better. You're just going to let a prospect like this slip through our fingers? Kid's got crazy potential. He will know better if we foster him."

Aizawa's brow further creased, shading his eyes in consternation. He dismissed the others and sat contemplating the file on the coffee table before him. The whole thing really was a big fat mess. His brief conference had confirmed that.

The whole headache wasn't even strictly necessary. They had almost all of Parker's interactions on surveillance footage, but irrationally, they had to confirm the eyewitness testimony as well.

They also had every inch of the Battle Centers under surveillance too, though for grading instead of security purposes. And thankfully, it seemed the only person who talked to themselves more than Hamlet was one Peter Parker, so they knew his whole thought process after stumbling into Battle Center E.

Apparently the kid was under the impression that the battle center was in fact the site of a villain's invasion. And to his credit, under those pretenses, he did just about everything right. He retreated out of the way as to not interfere with the pro heroes and avoid the robots.

In fact, his pathing was uncannily efficient, as if he knew exactly where to go to best do exactly what he wanted. There was definitely something more there, like someone was secretly feeding him information on where to go and what to do, but they could investigate that later.

He did use his quirk, even though he thought he was in public and would therefore be restricted from doing so. However, Parker's Simian quirk seemed to be a passive blanket augmentation of his physical abilities, so it'd be hard to pin him down on any particular conscious infraction when all his actions could technically be considered within the realm of a quirkless athlete. Plus, he had the the excuses of self defense and doing his best to comply with what one could only assume was the proper course of action given the situation. That was another thing Aizawa begrudgingly admired. If you were going to break the rules, might as well be smart about it. And it's not like Parker was actually in public rather than an exam area where people were expected to showcase their quirks, so Aizawa was fine not sticking Parker with that nitpick when he inevitably interviewed the lad.

Of course, if that's all there was to it, Aizawa wouldn't be sorting out this mess. No, after the test started in earnest, Parker's retreat strategy quickly hit a brick wall. And when he saw "civilians" being "attacked" by the robots, he switched tactics to assisting the people caught in a tough spot, again carving the perfect path through the robots. That is, the perfect path to help the most people, not rack up villain points like everyone else. Though, he got plenty of those too.

And Aizawa need not even consider what happened when the kid got into the robots' back panel controls. Sure, it was designed that way to encourage examinees to sabotage them, but shutting down every robot in every battle center was an unexpected step beyond that.

The kid was smart. No, he was downright prodigious. Strong, fast, efficient, clever, focused, great handle on his quirk, and beyond all that, humble enough to prioritize the safety of others above any cost to himself. Possibly the best support course prospect of his generation. He was a talent that needed to be fostered, and for that reason, U.A. simply could not afford to let him slip away. It was too the point that Aizawa was half convinced he had staged the whole thing to give off the best impression possible, something that would only be more impressive if it turned out to be true.

However, those reasons were also why they needed to be tough on the kid. Aizawa had seen too many young talents waste away due to arrogance or lack of discipline, oftentimes it was a recipe for a disgruntled turn to villainy.

But, innocent until proven guilty, and that was good news for Parker because of all the meddling he had done. Even if they ignored how he shut down the villain bots, therefore ruining the exam for the over 10,000 other examinees, there were still plenty of other issues besides that. Entering the wrong center and doing it before the exam started? That had made the examiners livid. He started a panic among the other examinees by interrupting their fights to "save" them and then tell them to run because of a villain attack. That had unfairly ruined many examinees' chances at a spot, and there was some good potential among some of them too. Though, to his credit, he also managed to prevent more than a few broken arms when examinees got in over their heads. Kid probably got a ton of hero points for that.

So, are we going to let him into the hero course? Aizawa sighed. Parker was bullheaded, flippant, and worst of all, completely incapable of resisting the urge to eschew the rules if it meant satiating his conscience. But despite it all, that conscience had good moral judgement. He was prime hero material, no doubt about it. Did that mean Aizawa was just going to allow him to brute force his way into the hero course? Aizawa didn't like that idea.

But, no matter how much he grumbled and dragged his feet, Aizawa was loath to admit that Power Loader was right in this instance. They couldn't let this one slip through their fingers, even if it meant railroading his education off track.

Aizawa's shoulders slumped as he let out a final lethargic sigh. Looks like I have to report my decision to the board. Parker's a go.

≈*≈

Aizawa shuffled into the teacher's boardroom. How he yearned to be in his sleeping bag rather than here, but in this line of work, when duty called, you didn't have the privilege of sending it to voicemail.

"Ah, Aizawa-san, pleased to see you could finally join us. We've finished most of the class assignments for our top 40 scoring examinees." Nezu greeted.

Aizawa set down his coffee and files on the table, and took his seat. "Any standout cases in my class?"

"We agreed your disposition was better suited than Vlad's for counterbalancing both Bakugo and Midoriya. We also thought that due to their shared history, that keeping them in the same class could be good for their development if handled correctly. I have no doubts you'll rise to the task."

Aizawa nodded as he took a sip of his coffee. "Midoriya's the one who wrecked his body fighting the zero pointer. Irrational that one, good choice placing him with me. And Bakugo… he's the hothead that nearly beat Endeavor's villain point record of 80, right?"

"Probably would have done it too, if the robots hadn't shut down in the last minute. How are we going to reprimand Parker for that disruption?" Snipe remarked.

"Such passion in those young men!" Midnight gushed.

"I'll be sure to cool them all off, Principal Nezu." Preventing people from getting smug and cocky was his specialty. With that in mind, he might as well rain on Snipe's parade while he was at it. "Though I don't think Parker is to blame for either Midoriya or Bakugo's situation. Everyone's attention was on the zero pointers during the last minute, they didn't underperform because of him."

"That's not the stance you took when you were talking to me, Aizawa. I'm starting to think you're just a contrarian." Power Loader chided. "Or have you gone sweet on the kid?"

Aizawa's glare was interrupted by a sudden arrival. "Sorry I'm late, had things to attend to. Wish I could be in two places at once, eh, Ectoplasm?"

Ectoplasm wasn't amused. And an embarrassed sweat drop appeared on All Might's forehead in response. The #1 hero really was terrible at keeping his appointments, just couldn't help but acquiesce to every little request. Even though he was officially Toshinori Yagi in this form—just a regular faculty member—that flighty nature of his hadn't changed.

"R-right, well, don't mind me. What did I miss?" The gaunt man with wild hair took his seat.

Aizawa pinched and massaged the bridge of his nose. He might as well take that as an invitation to get a move on with the important matters at hand. "Nothing. Power Loader here was just reminding us that we need to figure out what we're going to do with our little problem child."

They don't mean Midoriya, do they? All Might worried. Sure, he didn't get any villain points, but he still got more than enough hero points to make the cut. He was about to speak up on his protégé's behalf when Nezu beat him to the punch.

"Yes, Parker's situation is definitely one we need to pass judgement on. I trust you've come to a proper decision, Aizawa?"

"Wait… who's Parker? That's an American name, isn't it?"

Of course that's what Mr. Red, White, and Blue would notice. "Yes. Parker's the exchange student that shut down every single villain bot in the exam. Surely you noticed." Aizawa supplied pointedly.

"Oh." Toshinori nervously scratched the side of his face with his index finger. "I… must have been distracted while watching the broadcast."

"Anyway." Aizawa shot a glance around the table, daring another interruption. "I've decided that Parker should not be outright disqualified for his actions."

"I'm surprised to hear you of all people make such a call, Aizawa." Vlad, the other home room teacher, commented. "You are aware he'd be taking lessons with your class due to the vacancy, right?"

"I'm aware, Vlad. But it can't be ignored that Parker did nothing wrong given the unusual circumstances he acted under. If it was a real villain attack, he would have saved several lives and taken out even more villains. Such an incredible performance merits consideration."

"Incredible performance," Snipe snorted behind his mask. "I'd say. The kid gamed the system. All the other examinees were bottlenecked at the beginning of the exam. There was an immediate scarcity of points at the entrance, forcing examinees to radiate outwards and gather information on the location of villain bots before their fellow examinees completely swept the area. That was a critical part of the test. But Parker started the exam in the middle of the Battle Center, surrounded by a cornucopia of targets. And how he found the optimal path to maximize his points and undermine the other examinees just about proves he was being fed information from an outside source. Probably a telepathy quirk. This spectacle was no accident."

"You can't prove that, Snipe. By the facts available, Parker is exonerated." Aizawa retorted with annoyance.

"In the hero field, you have to know how to trust your gut. If you have a reasonable suspicion, it's your duty to act before things have the chance to get out of hand. It's your job to make quick judgement. And my gut's telling me to suspend Parker until further notice. The truth will come out in time. To hesitate and let him off because of a lack of justification right now, is just asking for trouble later. Are any of you worried we might be welcoming a traitor into our midst? We'll look back on this and regret not doing anything when we had the chance."

"Well my gut feeling says the opposite." Power Loader retorted. "I spoke with the kid, although briefly. And Connors has nothing but good things to say about him. And he's on recommendation from Norman Osborn. In my eyes, anyone who's in the good books of both Connors and Oscorp must be doing something right. Besides, to punish someone for a crime they haven't been convicted of is the essence of vigilanteeism. Interrogate him, investigate him, police his future actions, sure we can do that. But to punish without due process is wrong."

All Might didn't comment, and only watched: he didn't know the facts of the situation. But he held a hard focus in his piercing blue eyes nevertheless.

Nezu was the next to speak. "I must agree with Power Loader's point. I also spoke with Mr. Parker before all this. I find subterfuge on his end highly unlikely. And if Aizawa says he shouldn't be disqualified, I'm inclined to agree with him. Of course, it's ultimately up to Mr. Parker what happens."

"There's still the matter of score though, we'll need to establish just how far into 1st place Parker places before we can publish the official leaderboard." Cementoss pointed out.

All Might furrowed his brow at that. "Is it really that certain that no one else even comes close to the top spot?"

"He deactivated every single robot in all 7 Battle Centers, Toshinori." Aizawa reiterated.

"Still, there's only so many Villain points one can grind in only ten minutes. If you discount the tricks like the hacking towards the end and his early start, then his score is more towards the middle of the top ten." Snipe elaborated.

Nezu nodded. "Yes. That's one of the issues. We can't very well list Parker's score in the thousands for sending out that kill signal. Especially in light of his dubious circumstances. And even the dozens of points he racked up by commandeering the robots' weapons system is in question. But to start with, we can establish at the least that Parker scored 70 hero points."

"Woah, that's a rockin' perfect score! Nothing like that has ever happened before." Present Mic exclaimed.

All Might was astonished. All 7 judges gave him 10 points? Even Midoriya only managed 60 because of short-sightedness.

"Are you sure it's alright to award that many? I felt Midoriya's self sacrifice struck more of a chord." Snipe argued, voicing All Might's sentiments. "Just because Parker was more capable and accomplished more doesn't mean it was more heroic. Even if he thought the situation was real, I feel he didn't risk nearly as much in helping out. Kid barely had a scratch on him walking out of that thing. Any kid with a good enough quirk might have done the same. A perfect score is quite the embellishment."

"Quite the contrary, Snipe." Nezu replied. "Rather, the 70 points are a compromise, not an embellishment. Every single judge, upon reviewing the events from Parker's perspective, attempted to award more than a perfect 10 each. Of course, that would compromise the integrity of the 10 point scale, so it was promptly denied."

The normally silent Ectoplasm spoke up for the first time. "I must agree with the judges' assessment. Sometimes the most heroic thing you can do in a situation is to get good results. Make sure you are as capable as possible, and restrain yourself from risking too much, lest you become a liability yourself. Imagine if you will, when fighting the zero pointer, that Parker had run to shove that group of examinees out of the way of getting crushed by that falling building but got crushed himself like that Ojiro kid did. Maybe if he had Midoriya's super strength quirk, he would've tried holding up the building so they could escape. A noble self sacrifice for sure, far more touching than what he actually did, but ultimately a far greater risk and needless waste of strength than the alternative. I'm sure the idea of the more picturesque rescue crossed Parker's mind, and I'm sure the thing that prompted him to not go through with it was not cowardice. He took the more creative route not because he lacked conviction, but because he had restraint. The judges should appraise a pragmatic heroism more highly than a sentimental one."

Aizawa took Ectoplasm's side of the debate; he thought Midoriya could learn a thing or two from Parker in that department. All Might on the other hand, agreed with Snipe and valued the power of self sacrifice to inspire others. The true value of the symbol of peace wasn't the number of efficiently resolved incidents, but the hope and smiling light that deterred villains and inspired new heroes. There was a reason why Japan had one of the highest heroes per capita afterall, and the absolute lowest crime rate for that matter. It was why All Might was #1, and Endeavor—the hero with the most incidents resolved on record—was #2.

Present Mic added his own two cents. "Because Parker wasn't there for my totally hip presentation explaining the exam, he probably felt restricted and on edge compared to everyone else who could jam out freestyle without the worry of any harm befalling them. He was totally reigning in his quirk and not taking risks because he wasn't supposed to interfere as a civilian. Unlike what Snipe suggests, it's not a very powerful quirk that anyone could use to get 1st place. As far as we saw, that quirkless vigilante Knuckleduster would have given Parker a run for his money in both the power and speed departments. If he was in the frame of mind to shred it like everyone else, he would probably have an even more killer performance."

Midnight also took a stance supporting Present Mic. "In the context of a real villain attack, Parker took much more of a risk than Midoriya who only had to deal with the pain of bodily harm. And it appeared to me that even Midoriya wasn't expecting such a huge backlash, probably got too worked up in the youthful spirit of things and let his quirk run more wild than he wanted it to. Midoriya knew he had little chance to pass with the time he had left, so he risked injury and failing the exam in order to save that cute girl Uraraka. But he knew his life probably wasn't in danger. Parker meanwhile, risked all that and more every moment he was in the battle center. He could have kept running to 'get to the exam in time' but instead he threw it away to help people and risk his life fighting a villain bot army. He not only gave up his dreams of entering U.A., but would be left as an American stranded in Japan, and probably with no place to sleep. That's what he muttered to himself anyway. If Parker and Midoriya switched quirks, I think Parker would still be on top," Midnight said as she licked her lips.

"All very good points," Nezu surmised. "That still leaves the issue of villain points. Unlike the hero point judges, the exam administrators were very displeased with the mess Parker made of things and demanded he be subjected to every point deduction in the book, if not outright disqualified. We were able to come to a compromise. All villain points he gained before the start of the exam, or by hacking the weapons and radios of the villain bots, will not be counted towards his score. That still leaves the roughly seven minute time frame where Parker went around saving imperiled students with his own skill. Those points will not be deducted from further. Leaving him with 42 villain points. Any objections?"

"A worthy compromise," Cementoss assented.

"It's only fair," Snipe relented.

All Might realized something. "Hang on, 70 + 42, that's 112, that breaks my old 100 point record. Very impressive."

"Looks like all that's left is to interview Parker himself and make him the offer." Aizawa concluded.

Man, Power Loader thought. Wait till Connors gets a load of this.

≈*≈

Peter arrived back home after his disappointing and exhausting morning. I hope Ojiro turns out alright. I never got to thank him for saving me back there. After Recovery Girl healed him, she said he just needed a few days' rest, plus a couple follow up healing sessions, and he would be as good as new. Peter certainly hoped so. Come to think of it, I never got his number, so I have no way to check back in and see if he's okay. Peter snickered at the thought of handing Ojiro's bloodied and beaten form a pen and paper to write down his contact information. Suppose it's not too big a deal, so long as he's safe.

Peter went to Doc Connors place and knocked on the door.

"Peter-kun, you're back! How did it go?" Setsuna greeted as she opened the door.

Doc Connors looked up from what he was reading. "Did he go somewhere?"

"Yeah, just to U.A. for the exams."

Connors gave him a confused look. "Alright, I guess."

"It didn't go wel-"

"Aww, how come?"

"I'll tell you about it more later, Setsuna-chan. But anyway, I got lost and encountered a big villain attack nearby. It was over in a few minutes, and the pros should have everything under wraps by now, but you guys should be ready in case any trouble propagates our way."

"Thanks for the heads up, Peter."

"No problem, Dr. Connors, just wanted to make sure you had proper warning." Peter relaxed his shoulders, and found he was rather spent from the morning's excitement. "If you guys are all good then, I think I'm gonna rest up for a bit."

Doc Connors gave his passive goodbye without looking up from his reading. "Keep up the good work, Peter."

≈*≈

Peter was lying on his bed—silently moping—when a knock came to his door.

"Come in." He called as he sat up.

Setsuna let herself in, "Hey, what happened at the exam? You doing alright? You said something about catching a glimpse of a villain attack nearby." She could tell how heavily this was weighing on her friend, and as a hero course student, comforting people after the stress of villain attacks was also part of the job she was training for.

"Yeah, something like that." Peter gestured for her to sit.

"So, how'd things go? You said not well, but you still made it in, right?"

Peter sighed. "Truth is, I missed the exams entirely. I got lost and sidetracked. Before I knew it, I got caught up in that villain attack and by the time it was over, it was already past time for the exam to have ended."

"That's horrible! Did you get hurt?"

"No, not really. But it was scary. I didn't know what was happening. Someone almost died because of me."

Setsuna rested her hand on his. "I'm sorry Peter-kun, you shouldn't have been forced to go through that. Will you tell me what happened?"

Peter nodded. "I was digging someone out of rubble when this other kid, Ojiro, came to help. We got him out, but more debris fell on our heads. Ojiro shoved us out of the way, but got crushed himself. That was the second time he had to save me, it was my fault he got hurt. Eventually I was able to get Ojiro to a healer, he's alright now, but…" Peter had been pressing the heel of his palms against his knees, but now his fingers balled into fists as he began to shake.

"I think what you did was very heroic, Peter-kun. Do you think you could explain the situation to U.A. to ask for a 2nd chance?"

"No. Only 1 in 300 applicants get accepted into U.A.; it was always a long shot for me. Those seats will all be filled by now, there's no way I'm getting in at this point."

She moved her hand across Peter's back to steady him. "I'm sorry, I know how much you wanted to get in. If it were upto me, I'd have made an exception."

"Thanks, Setsuna-chan…" Peter squeezed his eyes shut as they started to well up. "You know, I've been studying Japanese since I was 9 years old just for the hope that I could get into U.A., that's six years now. I thought it was my one chance at a fresh start. Means nothing now," Peter laid himself bare, holding nothing back. "What am I supposed to tell Harry? O-or Aunt May?" he choked as the tears began to stream.

Setsuna wrapped her arms around Peter, who could no longer keep himself from breaking down completely. "I already came all this way, and I let them down. I… I let myself down. Why do I even bother with these stupid dreams?" His shoulders heaved as tears fell freely onto his trembling hands.

Setsuna said nothing and simply comforted him as he broke down.

Get a hold of yourself Parker. he chastised himself.

You're 15, that's too old to cry. Spider-Man doesn't cry… but his emotions continued to pour out anyway.

He couldn't help but remember a time before Spider-Man. A time when he was just puny Peter Parker. It was less than a month ago, but felt like an eternity. And it all started with the last time he let himself break down like this… with Uncle Ben. He believed in me and I let him down again. He would be so devastated to hear I didn't make it.

"I think you made the right choice, Peter-kun. And I think your family would be proud."

Peter did his best to swallow the lump in his throat. "I know. And I know I would do it again too… That's what makes it hurt."

And that was what scared Peter the most. That villain attack had proven something to Peter that he didn't want to confront. Because it would have made Uncle Ben proud, it was the only choice that would do him justice. And he would do it again. Because when he looked in a mirror, he didn't see Peter Parker's reflection anymore.

Uncle Ben's death, it had left Peter shattered: his life, his plans, his dreams, they didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was carrying on Uncle Ben's legacy. And Spider-Man gave him the strength to do that. To pick up the pieces and create a reflection that Peter could bear to look at. But it wasn't Peter's reflection anymore. The shards of glass fit back together, but the spiderweb of cracks distorted the image so that the only clear pattern was the webbing on his mask.

And today proved it. What his priorities were, where his loyalties lied. Spider-Man wasn't just a thing Peter Parker did to make amends. Peter Parker was just a thing Spider-Man did to distract himself. But that pleasant life, those pleasant dreams, when duty called, they were shoved to the side. He couldn't have them, not really.

And so all Peter had left was to break down, cry, and mourn his loss, before he picked back up and did it all again.

And for as long as Peter wept, Setsuna stayed there to hold him. A lot of time passed in that still silence.

A/N: Another day, another chapter. Not the scene I planned to end on. Originally I was going to go for a couple more scenes and end with Peter and Aizawa talking, but I think this end point does a better job at coming full circle with the chapter's theme of dealing with the aftermath, allowing me to keep next chapter's theme of indecision distinct from this one. But as a result, the chapter title was changed like 6 times. Guess I'm the indecisive one.

On another note, I hope I wrote Aizawa well, I think I got his philosophy right. First major canon character appearance besides All Might. We'll see what everyone thinks.

With that last scene, I considered placing it at the beginning instead of sandwiching Aizawa's scenes between Peter's. It would add more legitimacy to Peter's worries, and more weight and suspense to the consequences of how the U.A. board decides his fate. But, the current order gives a nice sentiment to end on, and really emphasizes the key point of Peter's development in this chapter: his realization that he doesn't live for himself anymore.

Finally, about Peter's reaction at the end of the chapter. Normally, I have Peter respond to these negative situations the way that Spider-Man would respond: with aggravation. Motivated into brash action, clenching teeth and fists in stern rebuke (usually of himself). I wanted to give a bit more variety this time. He has his vulnerable moments too. The mask can't fully hide the dweeb that people walked all over for years. I wanted to show that losing his dream of getting into U.A. was important to Peter in a more emotionally visceral and personal way than the responsibility he feels to others. Not more important, but differently important. An internal obligation rather than an external one. 

Sometimes there's no more paths left to pursue, no more ways you can blame yourself. And without those deflections, you can only reflect back on the sad reality and feel sorry. Realize it's a pity more than a deficiency. The loss of a loved one, the loss of a dream. All that's left is to breakdown, grieve it, pick up the pieces, and move boldly on.