ENTER: An orderly bedroom. The sunlight plays over MINNIE KIM's placid, slack face. She yawns, arching her back, and sticks a hand down her shorts. Her eyes snap open.

MINNIE: What the -

A loud THUMP echoes from next door. MINNIE vaults out of bed, eyes wild, and wrenches the door open, sparks spraying from her free hand. She looks down at herself, swallows, and lunges out into the corridor, back pressed to the wall.

MINNIE: M-Max?

There's a long silence.

MAX NGUYEN, muffled and uncertain: Yes?
MINNIE: It's me. Minerva. Minnie.
MAX: Uh-huh.
MINNIE: Are you okay?
MAX: Me? I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?

She sounds slightly hysterical. The door to her room opens, revealing the girl in question. They size each other up.

MAX, under her breath: This is way too fucking meta, fuck.
MINNIE: What?
MAX: You don't need to pretend, man, I know it's you.
MINNIE, weakly: What?
MAX: I know because I am you. The last thing you remember is going to sleep in your own bed, right? After a long and productive night of making your first moodboard in ages, posting your relationship chart, and responding to all those juicy, juicy (You)s.
MINNIE: Oh.

She's silent for a long moment, then -

MINNIE: Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

A telltale chime rings out from inside MAX's room. She glances over her shoulder and re-emerges with her phone. The two of them stare down at the screen. It is clear from their private chat that FAITH KANG, HAILEY CHANG and EDIE LEE are in basically the same predicament as them. MAX dashes off a quick confirmatory response before looking up at MINNIE.

MAX: The good news is that we're definitely not alone.
MINNIE, weakly: I think I'm having a panic attack.
MAX: Join the club. I think I'm going to wait until we get to Hailey's, though.

CUT TO: INIGO MYOGA, standing outside his apartment, looking lost. His mouth is filled with the taste of cigarettes, and his muscles are tight and rigid. The green dragon on his shoulder chirrups, concerned, as INIGO stares blankly into space. His usually dapper suit looks more than a little rumpled.

INIGO, to himself: Didn't this already happen?

He glances at Gigan.

INIGO: I remember reading this whole - this whole scene. And now it's happening to me.

His phone chirps. INIGO unlocks it and runs his free hand through his hair.

INIGO: Things are different this time, though. It's not June anymore. Faith got the chat set up faster. And it looks like everyone's here. The full complement. All twenty-four.

He looks at Gigan.

INIGO: Looks like we're fetching Orochi, buddy. Like last time.

CUT TO: A palatial penthouse buzzing with activity. MINNIE, HAILEY, FAITH, MAX and EDIE are clustered on the couch, whispering with one another and sneaking glances at a group of boys which comprises BOBBY SAMSON, HIFUMI TAKEDA, SANDATSU OWARI and CHRIS CAIN. SALLY MCCATHY is eyeing NOAH ABRAMS uneasily as he gestures animatedly, in deep conversation with SON JUGO, SOUJYUURO IMAI and ASHLEIGH KATSURAGI. CHIHIRO MITSURUGI is giving a shell-shocked SHINKAN SEN an extremely condensed TL;DR of the past six months. SORA TANAKA is pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

SANDATSU: - seriously regretting giving myself such a fucked character arc.
CHRIS: Join the club. Not that my situation is in any way comparable to yours.
HIFUMI: Yeah. Sorry about your girlfriend.
SANDATSU, weakly: Please stop bringing her up.

A blur of green alights on the balcony, resolving into INIGO and OROCHI ATSUSHI. The two teenagers stumble indoors wordlessly. INIGO moves to join the boys.

INIGO: Junichi didn't get dropped in.
CHRIS: So. Bone-Zone isn't happening?
INIGO: Nope.
BOBBY: This seems very arbitrary.

Looking up from her phone, HAILEY jumps to her feet and strides over to the intercom. As she does, SHINKAN raises his voice.

SHINKAN: - telling me that I'm in this situation because of a PREGNANCY FETISHIST?!
CHIHIRO, soothing: I know it's a lot to take in, anon, but -
SHINKAN: DON'T CALL ME ANON!

He stands up abruptly and starts pacing. SORA, who is also pacing, neatly alters his path to avoid bumping into him. As he does, HAILEY opens the door to reveal KAYLEE SUZUKI, YUI SAGARA, KYODA HIRO, TAKARA TAME, and a blur that eventually resolves into NYORO HOGE. TAME is the first to storm into the apartment, raising her metallic arms in triumph.

TAME: THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!

She pauses and looks around. The entire penthouse is staring at her in silence.

TAME: Sorry. Carry on.

Behind her, the new arrivals are talking among themselves.

KAYLEE: I can't believe it took an actual isekai for Tame to get featured in a writefag.
HIRO: What?
KAYLEE: This is almost definitely being recorded. Like, back in the real world, I'm 100% certain that the pregfag is typing this out on his machine as we speak. Word for word. If he hadn't started writing, we wouldn't be here.
YUI: So you're saying that we need to kill the pregfag.
KAYLEE: That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that we need to make the best of our current situation, and moping around in the hope that we somehow go back to where we came from isn't going to help.
HAILEY: Easy for you to say. You've got super-strength and flight.

Back to the balcony, where JUGO has recently spoken up.

JUGO: What I'm thinking is - like, this previous timeline that you were talking about, the one that happened in June, this 'isekai 2.0' - it has to still be running, right? It has to have split off and formed its own timeline, even if it's not being actively chronicled by the pregfag.
IMAI: I suppose. And the same goes for the first version.
JUGO: Then doesn't that mean that we're - that this has happened to us before? Well, not US us, but - some version of us. Like a copy. Like whatever's going on with Spherethirst.
ASHLEIGH: I don't want to think too hard about this right now. Or ever.
NOAH: She's right. Enough introspection. What are we going to do?

They turn as one to look at INIGO, who has perched himself atop a nearby stool. The weight of their attention is staggering. The penthouse gradually falls silent.

INIGO, weakly: Why me?
SORA: Chihiro said you wrote the most for MHA.
HIFUMI: You should know what to do, right?
INIGO: I just like writing SOL.
SANDATSU, resigned: Guess it's back to the drawing board.

He turns back to BOBBY, HIFUMI and CHRIS.

SANDATSU: So, as I was saying, suicide-by-Enforcer actually isn't that bad an idea -

INIGO interrupts.

INIGO, raising his voice: Okay, well, fuck that, no one's dying.

Gigan starts to warp and stretch, morphing into a whiteboard. Words begin to appear on it as if by magic.

INIGO: Okay, so it's early-to-mid October, right? Means we're back from the provisional license exams. Everyone have their license?
ASHLEIGH: Uh, I don't. Nor do Jugo, Tame or Sally.
INIGO: That's fine. Just want to figure out where we are in the timeline. Means we're on the edge of it. Before internships and stuff.
ASHLEIGH: Also, you're writing in Japanese.

INIGO looks.

INIGO: Oh. Wow. How about that?

Everyone takes a few moments to absorb the implications of that.

INIGO: Anyway. Are we all absolutely certain that no one else is in here with us?
NOAH: I don't think we can ever be sure, but none of the other named builds seem very responsive. I've been dropping hints in my chats with them, but Victor and Genma don't seem to be picking up on them. Same for Damien or Johnny.
HOGE: Ditto for the teachers.

INIGO nods firmly.

INIGO: Well, if that's how it is, we have three main problems right now. First one is the whole crime situation. Quirks are volatile, society is volatile, Horikoshi's shit at worldbuilding. Second one is Sandatsu's whole -

He gestures.

INIGO: - deal. His whole fucked-up situation with his mother and living in the woods and shit. Third one is Mio. I say we tackle #2 and #3 first and worry about #1 later. We could probably settle them both in a day.

FAITH raises a hand.

INIGO: Yes, Spherethirst?
FAITH: By settling it, do you mean killing Mio?
INIGO: Are you offering?
EDIE: Maybe.
INIGO: Let's, uh, table that for a bit.

ZOOM IN on KAYLEE and JUGO near the back, arms folded.

JUGO, whispering: This is the part where the pregfag puts in a cliffhanger to source for opinions from the audience.
KAYLEE: Can you stop talking like we're in some kind of story? This is real life.
JUGO: For you. Anyway, you started it.