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If only to avoid looking at his neighbor, now you have Deku's full attention.
You share a puzzled glance with Shoto, who just shrugs before returning his attention to Deku. Figuring that you must have stumbled onto an inside joke between neighbors, you shake your head and try to compose a less personal answer before you arrive at the train station.
"Deku, Ah think you know that sometimes there's such a thing as doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons." You start twirling a lock of your hair as you go, a small distraction to help you focus on what you are saying. "There are loads of heroes who are just in it for fortune and fame, and it's true that they're still helping people while they do it... But what happens when people like that become the majority? That’s where Ah was coming from back when our necks were in a pinch."
You give a meaningful look to him to emphasize what you said. By your reckoning, heroes only doing it for their own gain may already outnumber the selfless ones. If the boy was into heroics as much as he has let on, he ought to be able to figure the same.
"If heroes are only ever saving lives or fighting evil because they stand to gain something from it, what's going to happen when they need to put their lives on the line for someone who can't afford to…or doesn’t want to, give anything in return?" You posit with a sigh. It was only some months ago that you would have agreed with his stance from the outset. But now… "Is someone not moved by the desire to help alone, really a hero? A <span class="mu-i">true</span> hero?"
For a moment Deku seems enraptured by your answer, scratching his chin and deep in thought.
>"Can’t afford to or even… if such a thing were to happen, it'd need to be from a massive shift in how heroes are recognized..." He starts thinking out loud before descending into a fast muttering under his breath, mumbling things you can't make out.
"Oh, it could very well be hell on Earth." You agree. At least you think you are agreeing, having only heard the beginning of his thoughts. “But all too feasible. In mah opinion, anyway. And that’s what Ah mean when Ah said ‘people care about the ‘why’ as much as the ‘what.’’”
>"As interesting as the philosophical debate between the heroic ideal, the paragon and the idol are, it'd do us well to return to the matter at hand, Ushi." Shoto reminds you of your goal while subtly nodding at the approaching train station.