The next morning (L/N) was set back to work in the mines. As much as he hated to admit it, he had to credit Aizawa for coming up with such a unique training regiment for him. The work demanded a delicacy (L/N) was unfamiliar with coaxing out of his quirk, which required his full focus, and the nature of the task helped build these skills through hours of repetition. What was more, the limited exposure he had to sunlight over the past two days meant there was little chance for him to lose control and end up hurting someone. Alas, the sheer scale on which his quirk operated meant disaster was never more than one stone's toss away. The rock dust in the cave had been irritating his nose all morning, and a single sneeze was all it took to shake his hand enough to cause a small cave it. He emerged coughing from the tunnel entrance, a small cloud of dust trailing after him.

"It's just as well." Aizawa said when (L/N) told him what had happened. "I was just about to come get you. Lunch is in five minutes. After we eat, you'll be moving onto a different exercise. One that factors in the power up you get from the sun's energy."

"I'll clear out the rocks now, then."

"Leave them." Aizawa said. "I'll have Uraraka clear them out as part of her endurance training."

After lunch, Eraser Head led (L/N) to a small field of solar panels that provided the camp with most of its power.

"Before now you've been working with high power, low precision, but that was just to help the school set a baseline for your abilities. Low power, high precision is going to be the key towards helping you control your quirk." Aizawa said. "As you get better, we'll slowly start adding the power back in until you have full mastery over your abilities."

He was given a portable electric meter which measured the campsite's production and consumption levels and was instructed to provide a continuous stream of power, so the two numbers matched. This meant he would have to continuously alter his power output as the energy levels were in constant flux. If there wasn't enough sunlight to meet energy needs, he'd add his own power until there was. And if the panels outpaced usage, he would need to limit the amount of sunlight energizing them.

"All right, let's see how you've been doing." Mr. Aizawa said, coming to check up on him after six hours. "Hmm, not bad." He said, checking the data recorded by the meter. "But there's still room for improvement. You'll keep at this until your margin of error is less than two percent."

After dinner they had even more training scheduled. They'd all gathered in a small clearing about half a mile/0.8 kilometers away from the main camp to listen to Pixie Bob explain the rules. Partner work, because of course it was, and it involved people jumping out of bushes trying to scare him. Perfect. The only way this could be any worse would be... yeah, he should have seen that coming. The universe really liked kicking him in the balls. Maybe someone would be willing to trade partners.

"(L/N)." Mineta came shuffling over to him. "Please switch me partners, I should be with her!"

(L/N) slowly backed away from his drooling classmate, wrinkling his nose in disgust. A few paces away Yaoyorozu mimicked his actions, eyeing him nervously. As much as he didn't want to be partnered with her, he couldn't in good conscious allow the alternative.

"It's no fair!" Mineta cried, flailing in the air as a sphere of hard light carried him far away from the pair. "Why do you get Yaoyorozu all to yourself?"

[My Hero Academia]

Needless to say, Yaoyorozu was relieved to find (L/N) willing to partner with her for the test of courage. Or at least, willing enough to spare her from Minoru Mineta's perversions. But as they walked down the dark forest path in tense silence, she almost found herself thinking she would have preferred the dwarf's not so subtle attempts to feel her up. Almost.

"Try to keep up." (L/N) said impatiently.

Yaoyorozu blinked a few times and looked up to find a sizeable gap between them. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't realized how slowly she'd been moving. Nodding, she quickened her pace to catch up to him, but it wasn't long before she was dragging her feet again. Draping one arm across her body, she slowly shuffled to a dead-end stop.

(L/N) sighed frustratedly when he noticed the sound of her footsteps had ceased. "What now?"

She didn't hear him. Still holding her own arm, her gaze was focused on a point of the forest floor off to the side of the path.

"Yaoyorozu."

"Hmm?" She asked distractedly, still staring off into space. "Sorry."

"Let's just... get this over with." With a flick of his wrist, he sent forth a few wisps of gaseous light into the trees ahead. Awase and Bondo from Class 1B went stumbling by, swatting at the glowing vapor that was dancing around their heads. "Come on."

"What did I do?" Yaoyorozu asked, not moving forward.

"What?"

"Why are you pushing me away?" She clarified.

"Do we really have to do this?" (L/N) asked wearily, still advancing down the path.

"Yes." She replied very matter-of-factly. Crossing her arms rather confrontationally, she finally tore her gaze from the spot on the ground to look resolutely at his retreating figure. "I think we do."

(L/N) dropped his head as he came to a stop. Then, bending his neck back so he was looking skyward he let out a very resigned breath. "Fine." He said wearily. "Fine. What is it?"

"It's just... we were doing so well." She told him sadly. "We were talking, and you were opening up to me. I thought..."

"You thought what?" (L/N) asked bitterly.

Yaoyorozu dropped one of her arms to her side, the other draped across her body so she was hugging herself. "I thought... that we were friends."

The white fabric around his eyes bunched up as his brow furrowed, a small crease finding its way onto his forehead. "We're not friends." He said forcefully.

"Yes, as you were so kind to remind me." She bit back.

His scowl deepened as he finally turned to face her, albeit fifteen feet/five meters apart. "What do you want from me?" He asked resignedly.

"I want the truth." She said, taking a few steps closer to him. "I want to know why you won't let anyone in."

"Is it really so hard to believe that I simply don't like people?"

"If that were true," Yaoyorozu said, drawing closer still, "you never would have let me get close to you."

(L/N) flinched as he once again felt her small, soft hands gently wrap around his own. "Maybe you're the exception." He said, not pulling away.

"Then why push me away?"

He struggled to come up with an answer that wouldn't result in him talking himself into a circle. One that would satisfy her to the point where she left him alone. But their propinquity had him flustered until all he could think about was the feeling of her hands. They were soft and gentle and filled with a lulling warmth. The same warmth that she carried in her voice, one that filled him so completely in the hours they'd spent together reading on the couch in her family's library. She was like a roaring fire amidst an unforgiving snowstorm. But every day when their time together came to an end, the warmth left him, and he was once again drowning in cold isolation.

The days between their visits he spent alone in his room, starving for the warmth she filled him with; so, he devoured the books she lent him, desperately searching for any trace of heat she may have left within their pages. And on it went, subsisting on embers for days at a time until he could steal away more warmth from the fire, until one day he was reminded of the last fire whose heat he had stolen. Whose flames he hoarded and whose warmth he leeched off, smothering it until its flame was extinguished, and he was left colder than ever before.

He gently brushed the pads of his thumbs along the backs of her hands. The quiet breath of contentment that escaped her parted lips filled him with guilt. He was giving her false hope, and he hated himself for it, but he needed to savor her warmth one last time. As he pulled his hands away, he wondered how long he could make it last.

"Letting you get close was a mistake." He told her. "I wasn't looking for anyone's kindness, but still, I... I took yours. I just didn't realize until now. I-I'm sorry."

"I-I don't understand." Yaoyorozu said sadly, missing the feeling of his hands around her own.

"That's because you're a good person." (L/N) said. "You've given so much to me, but I can't give you anything back. All I can do is take, and take, and it'll never be enough."

"Then I'll keep giving to you." Yaoyorzu cried, stepping towards him again.

(L/N) smiled sadly at her. "I know you will." He said as he walked further away from her. "Because that's who you are. You'll give, and you'll keep giving, until one day you'll realize you have nothing left, and even then, you won't stop." His body became enveloped in a dim light that illuminated the darkened forest. "And that is why I have to stop you."

With those nine words Yaoyorozu watched as his feet left the ground and he grew further and further away from her. He flew higher and higher, like a fallen star rejoining its brothers. Above the canopy of leaves, he flew away, and her tear-stained eye followed after the light he left in his path, streaking across the black sky like a shooting star.