"My decision . . . I . . ."
Truly, it was a hard decision, but deep down you knew what you had to do. Even if everybody was sent back to your world... Well, you said it before, didn't you? Everything happened for a reason... Sure, Ai had sent you hurdling through a different dimension on behalf of an ill-thought wish, but out of all the worlds you could have landed in, you landed here. That had to have counted for something. There was still so much work to be done here; The League of Villains hadn't been stopped yet, after all, and quitting in the middle of U.A. just felt wrong.
In the end, the decision was up to you.
And you knew what you had to do.
"I'm sorry, but I'm staying," you announced, giving your friends a bittersweet smile. Slowly, you met the eyes of everybody; Gon, Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika. They all looked varied degrees of startled at your admission.
"But you hate this world," Leorio tried to reason, and before you could refute that claim, Kurapika was speaking up on your behalf, a soft smile on his face.
". . . I see." Everybody looked over at him in question, and he continued, only addressing you. "You've matured a lot, [Y/n]. Just... Don't give Shouta too much of a hard time."
It took you a moment to try and remember just who Shouta was, not used to hearing your teacher get called by his first name.
"Wait wait wait," Leorio exclaimed, holding his arms up in an 'x'. "What's going on here?"
Kurapika replied with the amount of sass that you had first come to know him for. "I guess somebody like you wouldn't understand, so let me put it in simpleton terms," oof, "[Y/n] wants to finish what she started. It's as simple as that."
Before Leorio could blow up at the blond — and yeah, he looked ready to burst — Kurapika stepped forward and seemed to hesitate before patting you twice on the head. ". . . I'd love to stay and chat more, but... I do have business to attend to back in our world." Kurapika's face darkened, reminding you of the fact that not all was well in your world, either. With Chrollo's nen chain removed, there was nothing stopping him from reconvening with the rest of the spiders.
Kurapika certainly was going to have his work cut out for him.
Bidding goodbye to a confused Gon, bored Killua, and a fuming Leorio, Kurapika was the first to step through the portal and disappear.
"Have fun!"
Interrupting Leorio's mindless raging was, of course, Gon. Jumping up with his hand high in the air, Gon grinned at you before holding his pinky out.
"Swear that we'll see each other soon, big sis?"
You didn't need to be asked twice as you linked your pinky with is. "Cross my heart and hope to die..."
"Or poke a needle in my eye!" you and Gon finished in unison. "And seal it with a kiss!" Tapping your thumbs together, you then gave Gon a quick hug, managing to pull in Killua as well. He didn't struggle or pull away, but he certainly didn't return the hug, looking as if he wanted to be literally anywhere else.
"I'll visit soon," you promised the two younger teens, letting go of them. Gon had started towards the portal, but stopped when he realized Killua hadn't yet moved. The Zoldyck looked frustrated, almost.
". . . [Y/n]," he started, blue eyes meeting your seriously. "About Ai..." You immediately perked up, eyebrows raising as you awaited his question, but after a moment of deliberating Killua huffed, turning away. "Never mind. See ya never, hag."
Normally, you would have been mad, but his reluctance to ask had you more worried than anything else. Before you could question his behavior, though, he was tugging Gon into the portal — not without sticking his tongue at you one last time, though.
Little brat...!
This left you and Leorio. The older teen had cooled down a bit, and you blurted out before he could ask you about that confession.
"I thought a lot about what you said," you admitted brazenly, meeting his eyes. "But... I'm not in a place where I can accept anybody's feelings right now. I have a lot of growing to do, still..."
Surprisingly, Leorio was more mature about it than you had expected, nodding once. A sad, somewhat bitter smile was on his face. "Focus on yourself first," he urged you, stepping forward only to engulf you in a warm hug. You immediately reciprocated, arms wrapping around him as he continued to speak. "And, if you find yourself coming to terms with any feelings for me..."
You snorted. "You'll be the first one to know," you promised, pulling away. Carefully, you stood on your tiptoes to kiss Leorio on the cheek as a goodbye before playfully shoving him towards the portal. "Now get going. I'm getting a migraine from keeping this open for so long."
Leorio grinned goofily at you, nodding twice. "You better not get into any trouble, ya hear?!"
"Absolutely zero promises will be given," you joked back. "I'll see ya later, Mr. Leorio." A light blush scattered his cheeks, and without saying anything else or looking back, Leorio turned and stepped through the portal, leaving you by yourself in the field.
The moment he was gone, you dropped the portal, feeling exhausted. You could just sleep for a week...!
How do you think Dad is going to react to you staying?
You groaned at Ai's question. "Hopefully he'll cut us some slack. I'm tired."
Teleport home?
"No," you told Ai. "I've had enough of the portals for a long time. Let's just... Walk back. I don't have a dorm room yet, after all, so I might as well get back to Aizawa's apartment."
With that said, you started to walk back; even though you were exhausted, you stayed alert. Not that it mattered. Any villain to make a scene against you when you were already all over the news would be extremely stupid. As you had expected, news traveled fast in this world, and with the streets thankfully cleared out for the night, you were able to make it back to Aizawa's apartment in one piece without any unfortunate run-ins.
Pulling out the apartment key you had kept, you stealthily unlocked the door, trying your best to be quiet in case Aizawa was inside sleeping. Chances were, he was out on patrol, but still!
. . .
"I knew you'd be coming back."
The lights were on, Aizawa was definitely not asleep, and was looking at you expectedly. In front of him was two mugs, and he sighed, sliding one mug across the coffee table in the living room towards you.
"You... You knew?"
The door shut soundlessly behind you, and your feet automatically carried you in, taking your shoes off before flinging yourself at Aizawa (and nearly knocking over both mugs in the process). Your teacher and father figure caught you, disgruntled, before awkwardly hugging you back.
"Just a feeling," he grumbled, before peeling you off him. ". . . I made you hot chocolate."
Gratefully, you took the mug off the table and began to gulp it down, not saying anything else for a moment. Only when you had finished and set the cup down did you finally speak.
"So . . . what happens now?"
As if you were the biggest pain in his ass to ever exist, Aizawa exasperatedly sighed. "We'll need to set up a dorm room for you," he claimed, "and you're lucky I foresaw this, or else we wouldn't have a room available for you. After classes tomorrow, I'll have you focus on moving into your dorm."
You nodded with wide eyes, not interrupting him yet.
"There's also the matter of your guardian."
"Ai?"
Aizawa sighed, pinching his nose. "No, your parental guardian," he corrected you. "Before, I was a temporary guardian since your stay here wasn't considered permanent, but now... You're almost eighteen, but until you are, you need a legal guardian."
Catching on quickly, you perked up, eyes starting to water. "Does that mean...?"
"I doubt anybody else would want to take on a problem child such as yourself," he started, "so this weekend we'll go down to the court and get the paperwork for me to legally become your parent."
You couldn't help it — you started to cry.
"Y-you really — you'll adopt me?! Even though I've — and my world — and the villains—"
You were a blubbering mess. Perhaps it was exhaustion or the thoughtfulness behind the action (adopting was pretty serious, after all), but it touched your heart, and you found yourself getting pulled into another hug as your father figure (soon to be your actual dad!) sighed.
"Stop that," he gruffly ordered, voice somewhat hoarse. "You're making my eyes burn."
Oh. He was trying not to cry — breathlessly, you laughed mid-sob at him.
"I... I'm sorry," you sniffled. "It means a lot. Thank you, Aizawa. Really."
". . . Welcome back home, kid."
—·—·—
The next day, unsurprisingly, was chaotic. Nobody else had really expected you to stay, especially not after you had constantly griped and complained about this world — walking back into U.A. was filled with tears, laughter, and a lot of hugs.
Katsuki especially had a bone to pick with you.
"HEY, FOREIGNER!" Nearly blowing up your desk as you sat down, you shot the blond a bemused look. "What did you tell shitty Deku yesterday about being number one?!"
Oh — talk about a delayed response. Maintaining the best poker face you could (which, admittedly, wasn't too great), you pursed your lips. "It's called motivation. Four syllables, a positive noun. Something friends do, ya know?"
He didn't appreciate the sass you gave him, but Aizawa had walked in before Katsuki could continue yelling at you, yelling at the blond to sit down and stop disrupting class. You beamed at Aizawa in thanks, giddy to get back on track to becoming a hero. Yeah, school sucked, and sometimes the laws of this world were just exhausting, but...
You believed in yourself.
And this was your hero academia.