Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“And that’s the last of our leads,” Makoto finished, dropping the stack of papers he was holding onto the desk in frustration. “In short, we have nothing. UNDEAD could be anywhere.”

Mao sighed. “So? What do we do now?”

“Well, I guess we just have to report that we couldn’t find them and return to our usual hero activities,” Makoto answered.

Mao had to admit his friend looked tired. Trickstar and Knights had been working to track down UNDEAD for weeks, and they had come up with nothing, despite following every lead they could possibly find. The Knights had gone out and searched everywhere they could think of, with Makoto sending out information from where Trickstar was waiting in the Agency’s control room. And now, despite their best efforts, the trail had gone cold.

“I’ll go report it to the president, then,” Hokuto said stoically, standing from where he and Subaru had been sitting (and possibly taking naps). The two soon left the room.

Makoto spun around in his chair, pushing away from the desk as if to separate himself from work. He turned to Mao. “For today, let’s just go home. I already let the Knights know that they’re free for the rest of the day.”

“Thanks, Makoto,” Mao replied, giving him a tired smile. “And I’m sorry things didn’t work out. I know you’ve been putting a lot of work into finding UNDEAD.”

“Don’t worry about it,” was the blonde boy’s answer. “I’m just doing my job.”

Mao went to pick up his bag, making sure he had everything in order before he headed home. He moved slowly, tired from the long hours they had spent in the control room. Finally, he stood, walking to the door while giving Makoto a casual wave goodbye.

Just as he was about to leave, though, the phone in the control room went off. It was close to the door, so Mao picked up.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Isara.” It was Hokuto. “We reported that we can’t find UNDEAD, so President wants to reassign us.”

“Reassign us? To what?” Mao asked.

“Apparently he wants us to join forces with RYUSEITAI who were recently sent to find the villain group Crazy:B,” Hokuto explained. “It’s another search job, but since we have Yuuki, he wants us to do it.”

Mao turned to explain to Makoto, silently asking if he would be okay with another mission. After a moment, Makoto sighed and adjusted his glasses before saying, “Alright. We can do it.”

Mao turned his attention back to the phone. “Okay, we can accept,” he told Hokuto.

“Great. Then can the two of you meet us in meeting room 3A?”

“We’re on our way.”

Ritsu sat down on the grass. He was so tired. The sun was high in the sky, and they had been searching for hours. Makoto had let them know that they were done for the day, which meant now he could sleep. And the grass here was quite soft, so he figured it served as a good enough bed for right now.

“Ritsu-chan, don’t just sleep on the ground,” Arashi scolded, kneeling down next to him. “At least go home.”

“I don’t wanna,” Ritsu whined. “Then I’d have to walk home, and home is so far… and Secchan already teleported home with Tsukipi, and I want to sleep… Maa~kun will come pick me up later…”

Arashi sighed, giving up, and instead opted to sit down in the grass next to Ritsu. A gentle breeze blew past, enforcing the peaceful atmosphere. The two stayed silent for a moment, with Ritsu about ready to doze off.

“Ritsu-chan?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you move out of your dorm?”

Ritsu blinked, turning to look at Arashi. He wasn’t sure he could read her expression. What kind of question was that? Everyone just assumed he had wanted to move in with his boyfriend, which was true enough. And why now? She hadn’t said anything about it before. Maybe it was just sudden curiosity?

“Why else? I wanted to live with Maa~kun,” Ritsu replied sleepily.

“What about Mika-chan? I thought you liked living with him?” Arashi asked.

Ritsu sat up, rubbing his eyes. He could see where this was going. As much as he really didn’t want to have this conversation right now, he knew he should be a good friend and address the issue before it got worse.

“What brought this on, hm?” he asked.

“You know, don’t you? That Mika-chan is a villain.”

Ritsu hummed, setting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his palms. “You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Arashi asked back. Her violet eyes stared directly into Ritsu’s with a sort of determination. Maybe a little fear. He knew she wasn’t going to leave without answers.

“I was kind of hoping you would never find out,” Ritsu replied simply. “For both you and Mikarin’s sake. Well, it’s also true that I never found a good time to tell you since everything happened so suddenly.”

Arashi sighed, looking up at the clouds. “Right. That makes sense. You already knew how it feels to have someone you know turn out to be a villain…”

“Yeah.”

Once again, silence took over. Ritsu wondered what his friend was thinking about. Maybe she felt as conflicted as he had when he first found out. Ritsu once again lay down on the grass, but now he wasn’t really inclined to sleep. He had somewhat come to terms with the idea that his former roommate and his older brother were villains. There might even be more people that he knew who were villains. He wasn’t sure anymore, but he also figured there was nothing he could do about it. That was the life they had chosen. Soon enough, Arashi, too, would come to the same realization. He felt somewhat disappointed that things had turned out this way, though.

“I’ll call Mao-chan for you,” she said finally, taking Ritsu’s phone. All the Knights knew his password since he was often too lazy to use the phone himself.

Ritsu listened as the phone buzzed, but there was no response.

“Huh, that’s strange. Seems like he’s busy,” Arashi said. “We were just on a mission together. What could he possibly be doing?”

Ritsu grumbled a bit. “So Maa~kun isn’t going to pick me up?” he complained.

“No, he is not. So come on, let’s walk home together.”

“Fine…”

Mao and Makoto entered the meeting room, finding the members of RYUSEITAI, as well as Hokuto and Subaru, already seated around the table.

“Aha! Now everyone is here!” came the loud voice of Ryusei Red, who was sitting at the end across from Hokuto. “Now we can begin!”

Mao was sort of excited to work with RYUSEITAI. After all, he actually knew all of the members.

In the first place, RYUSEITAI wasn’t very secretive about their identities, as they were the most public hero group in the Agency alongside Fine. Their names and powers were well-known to pretty much everyone.

But it also just so happened that almost all of them were roommates with either a Trickstar member or a Knights member. Ryusei Red and Ryusei Blue were Chiaki and Kanata, both of whom shared a dorm with Makoto*, while Ryusei Black, Tetora, was Arashi’s roommate. And Shinobu- Ryusei Yellow- was Tsukasa’s roommate. The only one who didn’t fit this standard was Ryusei Green, Midori, but he was a member of the basketball club with Mao.

“Ossu! Thank you for agreeing to work with us,” Tetora said with a smile. “We’re probably going to need all the help we can get.”

Midori sighed. “This sounds like so much work… I don’t want to do any of this… I want to die…”

“Stop that,” Tetora said to him. “We’ve talked about this!”

“Sorry…”

“So, our mission is to track down Crazy:B, right?” Hokuto asked.

“That’s right! Supposedly, those villains have kidnapped a hero from Double Face as well as an innocent,” Chiaki explained.

“So more than catching those ‘villains’, Emperor-san wants us to ‘save’ the hostages,” Kanata added, his voice as slow and flowy as usual as he explained. “But we wanted your help to find them ‘first’.”

“And that’s where I come in,” Makoto said, his voice a bit tired. “Got it. Is there anything else we need to keep in mind or shall we just start?”

“We can start right away,” answered Shinobu. “We already have quite a few witness testimonies that we gathered before this meeting. Here, you can look over them.”

He turned around and pulled a folder out from behind him, opening it so everyone at the table could see. There were a couple of files noting down what the witnesses had seen and the general direction that they thought the villains might have gone. There were a few pictures, but they weren’t very clear and really didn’t have much content to them; just pictures of explosions and grainy images of people standing in the road.

But not much was known about the encounter. It seemed that most people had only seen four people go past. Oukawa Kohaku of Double Face, the kidnapped innocent Shiratori Aira, his fellow idol Amagi Hiiro, and the chef Shiina Niki.

Mao was surprised to see so many names that he knew. It was surprising to him that Kohaku was the hero that was kidnapped. He had his suspicions when Chiaki had said it was a Double Face, but Mao had figured that Kohaku was the capable type. And it was truly unfortunate that both he and Aira had been kidnapped twice now, within a relatively small timeframe. The only parts of it that made sense were that the pair had been together- since he knew the two were friends- and the fact that their kidnappers had been Crazy:B.

Shiina Niki was also of importance. He had recently admitted to being a member of Crazy:B and agreed to work with the heroes. He had provided an anonymous tip with the villains’ location and informed the Agency of their powers. However, it seemed that he had turned his back on that promise in favor of helping the villains once again.

Mao flipped through the pages with the rest of Trickstar watching behind him. He finished flipping through, then looked up at RYUSEITAI.

“Did you not get a witness account from this Amagi Hiiro?” he asked. “He wasn’t kidnapped, right? Wouldn’t he be the best source?”

“He refuses to speak on the matter,” Shinobu responded. “We don’t know why.”

“Weird,” Subaru said from behind Mao. “This whole thing is weird, actually.”

“That’s all the information we have from the shopping center incident, but we also have documents with their past hideouts and sightings, if that would be useful to you at all,” Tetora told them.

“I’ll take everything you have,” Makoto answered. “Just give me some time to look over all of it, and then we can start on field work.”

He reached out to pick up the folder, but Chiaki suddenly snatched it.

“Well, first, you should go home and rest. Even heroes need to take a break sometimes! We just wanted to have a quick meeting to go over what needs to be done, so don’t do any more work today. Take the rest of the day to relax!” the red hero said with a wide grin.

Mao watched as Makoto’s shoulders relaxed. He hadn’t even realized they were so tense. “Okay. Thanks,” the blonde said with a relieved smile.

The group talked a bit more, chatting about whatever came to mind before they finally agreed to go home as Chiaki had suggested. Once again, Mao made sure that he had everything he needed, then stopped to check his phone.

Ritsu had called.

He hadn’t even checked with his boyfriend once the mission ended, getting too caught up in talking with RYUSEITAI. He was about to panic until he noticed a text notification. It was a message from Arashi, letting him know that she had taken the liberty of taking Ritsu home and that he was now sleeping at his house.

Which meant that Mao didn’t have anything to worry about on that front. He gave a small sigh of relief, then headed out the door.

His house, where Ritsu was currently also staying, was relatively close to both the Hero Agency and the school, so he only needed to walk for a few minutes to reach his destination.

Soon enough, he found himself opening the door to his house. He was surprised to be greeted with the smell of food cooking.

“Ah! Maa~kun,” Ritsu called out, turning to face him. He was standing in the kitchen, wearing an apron, putting curry onto a plate of rice.

“Ritsu, you cooked?” Mao asked, setting down his bag and walking over.

“What else was I supposed to do? I was getting bored waiting for you,” Ritsu replied simply. He shoved the plate in Mao’s direction, and the latter took it gratefully. He hadn’t even noticed just how hungry he was until the smell of curry took over his senses.

He quickly sat down to eat, with Ritsu grabbing his own plate and sitting next to him.

“So? What are you assigned to now?” Ritsu asked. “You got new hero work, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. We’re supposed to help look for Crazy:B. Apparently, they kidnapped some people, too,” Mao explained between bites. The curry was incredibly delicious, and soon he had cleaned off the plate.

“Hmm, is that so~?”

Mao nodded, turning to Ritsu. “I was hoping that we could have some more free time for a bit… I know it’s selfish of me to think, but I know the other Trickstar members are worn out, and I’ve got so much other work to do.”

“What other work?” Ritsu asked, giving a sort of mischievous grin.

“Student council work and homework, obviously,” Mao said, “What are you so happy about?”

He watched as Ritsu stood and walked over to the bedroom, briefly disappearing into the room. He reappeared with a stack of papers neatly clipped into organized stacks. He placed the papers in front of Mao, tapping the top.

Mao peered at the top sheet. He recognized the document as one he was supposed to fill out, but all the boxes that had previously been empty were filled out in neat looped handwriting that of course, Mao recognized.

“You did it all?” he asked in shock. He could barely convince Ritsu to do his own homework back when they were in class together, yet he had gone out of his way to do all of Mao’s student council work. The thought filled his chest with warmth.

“Mhm~. You looked busy, so I did it for you,” Ritsu said. “So you can focus on your hero work.”

Mao leaned forward to hug Ritsu gratefully.

“Thanks, Ricchan.”

He felt a hand patting his head. “Anything for you, Maa~kun.”

Chapter Text

Kohaku followed Rinne through the hallway. They were in a relatively dark building. The windows were small and high up on the walls, letting in little sunlight, and even then the light wasn’t very strong. They were, after all, mostly underground, the windows peeking just above the surface of the ground. Taller buildings surrounding them blocked all the light. And he guessed that by now, the sun was beginning to set, anyway.

It was a fitting place for a villain's lair. The kind of dark place that Kohaku was accustomed to.

He couldn’t say the same about the boy walking behind him, though. Aira walked sort of hunched over, his hands gripping Kohaku’s arm as they traveled through the foreboding halls. This kind of stuff was new to Aira. He had spent his life in peaceful, ignorant bliss, his attention focused on shining idols who fill the stage with light and joy. The exact opposite of Kohaku.

Right now, all Kohaku could do was reach up and give Aira’s hand a reassuring squeeze. He didn’t know what was going to happen. What he did know was that he would sooner die than let anything happen to his friend. The two of them were going to make it out alright. That much was as certain as the sky was blue.

It wasn’t necessarily because they were in the villains’ hideout that he was so worried, though.

As much as he hated to admit it, he trusted Rinne’s words. He truly did agree with the villains’ cause. The villains had caused problems in the past and committed crimes, sure, but they typically had reasons behind their actions. Obviously Kohaku knew that much since he had been a villain in the past. And while it wasn’t true for all, many of the villains (including those he had agreed to work with) avoided murder, and especially took care not to kill innocents. That was better than he could say about himself, so who was he to deem them evil?

In his eyes, the fight between heroes and villains was just that. A conflict between two different parties, but not between good and evil, nor light and dark. But a conflict was a conflict nonetheless. No matter who was fighting who, there was a possibility of Aira getting hurt if he got involved in the fighting. Even if he had powers, it was still true that Aira was weak compared to the heroes and villains.

“We’re here.” Rinne’s voice pierced through his thoughts, grabbing his attention.

“Took a while,” Kohaku answered dryly.

“Leave Girlfriend-kun out here. He can’t listen in on our conversation, now can he?” Rinne told him, grinning cheekily.

Kohaku fought the urge to retort. “Fine.”

Aira’s green eyes spoke of uncertainty, but the blonde let go of Kohaku’s arm. “Be careful, Kohakucchi.”

Kohaku gave a reassuring smile. “We’re just goin’ to talk, Love-han. No need to worry.”

Aira found a bench to sit on, and Kohaku and Rinne opened the door and entered the room.

Waiting there was a villain wearing dark purple clothing with shoulder length black hair and red eyes that seemed to glow in the dim lighting. He was sitting on the couch facing the door, and there were two more such couches on either side of him with a simple coffee table in the middle. From what Kohaku knew, this was Rei, the leader of UNDEAD.

“Ah, Oukawa-kun. Welcome,” Rei said. “Take a seat, both of you.”

Kohaku did so, eyeing both Rinne and Rei a bit wearily. Rinne took a seat casually, crossing his legs and leaning back comfortably. Kohaku, meanwhile, sat about as comfortably as he could be expected to in this situation, which was to say, not at all. He sat on the edge of the seat, feet flat on the floor.

“I appreciate you joining us, Oukawa-kun. I know it was probably not an easy decision for you to make. But I am glad that you can see the truth: that our cause is good and that we need your help.”

“Sure,” Kohaku answered blandly. “What is this plan of yours, anyway? Why would you need me for it?”

“Your power is a form of mind control, correct? And you can read minds as well.”

“Somethin’ like that.”

“We believe it would be possible to put a stop to Tenshouin-kun’s plan with your aid,” Rei explained. “He intends to send out messages to his allies both discreetly and through public broadcasts to the Hero Agency.”

“And you want me to change the message?” Kohaku asked.

“Precisely. Has Rinne already told you of Fine’s objective?”

“Not quite. I know some details, but not many.”

Rei smiled. “I see. Well, allow me to explain. Tenshouin-kun has a position of power, and he has been abusing that power without any of the heroes noticing. Many of the major villains that you know- such as UNDEAD and EDEN, for example, are simply Tenshouin-kun’s enemies. Many of us had never intended to become the villains. Rather, Fine handpicked the people who stood in their way and turned the Hero Agency against them. Of course, real villains exist as well, so it was easy for them to alienate those they wanted to get rid of.”

“Right.”

“That way, they could ensure their spot as the group with the most power, at least politically,” Rei told him. His expression was difficult to read, being someone with quite a poker face, but Kohaku could almost sense anger in his crimson eyes. “And then, he intends to use the Hero Agency in any way needed in order to defeat the assigned ‘villains’.”

“So he wants to be credited for those heroic deeds, establishing himself not only in the hero world, but in society as a whole as a person to be trusted,” Kohaku finished. “And then he can use that power to do as he pleases, right?”

“Correct. You pick things up quite quickly, Oukawa-kun,” Rei said, wearing a satisfied grin.

“As expected of Kohaku-chan,” Rinne teased. “He’s a villain through and through!”

“Say what you will, Rinne-han,” Kohaku replied with a sigh. “And how do you intend to intercept the messages that he wants to send out? Surely you won’t just send me through the front door. Do you even know when he plans on sendin’ out those messages?”

“Not yet,” Rinne answered. “But we have some undercover spies in the Agency, yaknow? Soon enough we’ll get the intel we need.”

“That so?” Kohaku mused. “Good to know, I guess.”

“Well, if you’d like to infiltrate on your own, feel free. Don’t you like scout missions? I’ve heard Double Face does those quite often,” Rei said.

“I’ll do whatever it is that I deem necessary,” was Kohaku’s reply. “But you can trust me to get the job done.”

“We’ll be sure to keep you updated. Thank you once again.”

“No problem.”

A part of Kohaku still wondered if he was doing the right thing, but it was too late to back out now. Not with Aira here with him. He had to commit at this point.

He just hoped things wouldn’t end up crashing and burning.

Aira kicked his legs idly. He was in the villain’s lair. A real life evil hideout. All of the events leading up to this moment felt like a fever dream. He didn’t regret the choice he made- far from it. Kohaku was always protecting him, and it was about time he returned the favor. As scared as he was, he knew this was the right decision. The two of them would fare much better if they stayed together, after all. How would he be able to do anything knowing his best friend was surrounded by villains?

He looked down at his hands as conversation continued within the room. He couldn’t hear anything that they were saying, no matter how much he strained his ears or leaned against the wall. It was soundproof in there, even more so than the practice rooms back at the Idol Agency. He hoped Kohaku was alright. Well, of course he was. Kohaku was Kohaku, and as much as Aira worried, he also knew that his friend was a capable person.

Capable enough that it was sort of unnecessary for Aira to be here- but he definitely stood by his reasoning! He wouldn’t let anything change his mind on the matter. Not even the fear that made his chest tight. Not even the voice in the back of his head telling him that he was just being a burden by being here. That he was just an idol, a nobody, sticking his nose into places it didn’t belong.

His hands were shaking. He wasn’t sure when that started, but it was noticeable now.

If he was to be honest with himself, Aira had to admit that he was terrified. Especially now that he was alone in the dim hallway, just him and his thoughts and the sliver of light that peeked through the tiny windows. He was in a villain hideout, for goodness sake. Him, a guy with nothing but a little bit of electricity magic that wasn’t even that strong.

He had been so stubborn, but now he was having second thoughts. What would Kohaku think if he saw him now? Would he say ‘I told you so’ and send him home? Was he a burden after all? Was the voice right?

This wasn’t what he was meant to be doing right now. Right? He was supposed to be on a shining stage, singing and dancing, celebrating ALKALOID’s debut. Pretending the shadows weren’t there.

The door swung open.

“Love-han?”

He turned up to look at Kohaku, doing his best to wipe the troubled expression off of his face. He really would be a burden if he let his negative emotions get in the way.

“Hey, Kohakucchi. You finished?” he asked, his voice coming out a bit rougher than he had been anticipating. “What did you talk about? Wait, sorry, you probably shouldn’t be telling me that, huh?”

“Yeah, sorry… I can’t talk about it. Rinne-han is goin’ to show us to our rooms.” Kohaku narrowed his eyes. “Are you feelin’ alright, Love-han? Are you sick?”

“No, I’m perfectly fine! Right as rain,” Aira told him chipperly, plastering on the most genuine smile he could muster. “Sorry, I was just thinking about… stuff. But nothing’s wrong, don’t worry about it.”

Kohaku still looked suspicious, but released the tension in his shoulders with a sigh. “Okay. Let’s go then.”

“Right.”

Rinne came out of the room and began leading them down the hallways once more, muttering something about how it was annoying to have to escort them around the building. The pair followed him in somewhat awkward silence.

Aira tried his best to remember the route as they walked, but all the hallways looked exactly the same, broken up only by the occasional bench or doorway. Soon, they arrived at their destination- two doors that opened up into simple bedrooms.

“Alrighty, here’s where you’ll be staying. Merumeru, Niki, and I are the rooms to the right,” Rinne explained, motioning at a couple more doors down the hallway.

“Don’t you all have your own places? Why is everyone stayin’ here?” Kohaku asked.

“They know our identities, so they got warrants to search our places,” Rinne answered. “So we’re staying here temporarily. Hopefully once this whole thing works out, we can go back.”

“Didn’t I tell you before to be careful about identities? Honestly, the three of you are so careless.”

So this was what they were like, Kohaku and his old team. It was kind of strange seeing Kohaku act so friendly with Rinne, even though it made sense. There was a point in his life where those three were his team, his family, even. Like ALKALOID was to Aira. It was beginning to really sink in that Kohaku truly was a villain in the past. Aira wondered what had caused him to be one in the first place. After all, his best friend had never talked to him about his past. All that Aira knew was what he knew from their online messages and calls from back then. Which was really nothing.

Rinne retreated into his own room after a while, leaving Aira and Kohaku alone in the hallway.

“So, now what?” Aira asked.

“We go into our rooms and get some rest,” Kohaku replied, his hand already on the doorknob. “I’m goin’ to start scoutin’ and gettin’ ready for my mission, but I don’t know if they’ll have you do anythin’. Chances are, you’ll at least talk to some of the other villains tomorrow. So make sure you’re ready for that.”

“Alright,” Aira said. He really didn’t want to have to talk to a bunch of villains on his own, but if that’s how it was going to be, he would just have to mentally prepare himself for it. He had signed up for this as soon as he made the decision to go with Kohaku. He couldn’t be of any use on the mission itself since he was so weak, so he would be left behind. Simple as that.

He opened the door, ready to enter his new room. The window inside was larger than in the hallways, so now he could see that it was sunset.

“Good night, Kohakucchi,” he said.

“Good night, Love-han.”

Chapter Text

“Heading out?” Ritsu asked from where he was sitting at the dining table, doing his homework (Mao had insisted, after seeing that Ritsu was, indeed, capable of doing work after all).

“Yup,” Mao replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder and double checking that he had remembered to pack his hero costume.

Ritsu got up, walking over to give Mao a quick kiss. “Have fun~”

“As if I would have fun doing hero work,” Mao grumbled, but he smiled regardless. “See you later.”

“Mhm~”

Mao began his walk to the Hero Agency. It was a short walk, and a route that was ingrained into his mind after taking it so many times. He felt like he was going there even more than he was going to school at this point, which was honestly kind of sad to think about, because he also spent a lot of time at school. He barely ever had free time anymore, which Ritsu made sure to complain about at least once or twice a day.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice in his head.

“Isara-kun!”

“Makoto? What’s so urgent that you need to use your telepathy?” he asked. Usually, Makoto refrained from using telepathy out of nowhere. He always stayed linked to all of the Trickstar members in case of emergency, but he was also aware that talking to people out of the blue was quite startling.

“Come quickly, Crazy:B is currently attacking downtown. We’re quickly meeting up with RYUSEITAI and then we’re heading over. Izumi-san is here, so he’ll teleport us all over.”

“I’m right in front of the Agency. I’ll be there in a minute,” Mao said. He picked up his pace, jogging into the agency building and heading straight to the same meeting room where they had met RYUSEITAI the day before.

A few minutes later, everyone from both teams was gathered and ready. Izumi was standing against the wall, arms crossed. He must’ve come to talk to Makoto and ended up becoming their transportation. After all, the Knights had an off day today (according to Ritsu, at least).

“We’re all here,” Hokuto confirmed. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah ☆!” Subaru and Chiaki said at the same time.

Without a word, Izumi snapped, and with a blink, Mao found himself downtown with the others. The whole place was full of smoke. Several explosions seemed to have gone off, and the streets were crowded with evacuating people. They had been teleported in front of an already empty cafe.

“We don’t know how many of them are here. We know that one of them has an explosion power and another can put enemies to sleep, so keep that in mind. Don’t get caught off guard. We’ll split up into groups of two to three to look for them,” Hokuto said over the chaos. He quickly made some weapons, four swords appearing out of thin air with a gentle flash of light, and handed one to each of the Trickstar members.

“Move out!”

Mao found himself running down the street with Subaru. Makoto went with Hokuto in case he needed to send out any more instructions and RYUSEITAI easily split, with Chiaki and Kanata running off one way and the other three staying together.

“This way, Sari!” Subaru called out as they ran. He shot beams of light through the smoke, clearing the air a bit so they could see. Mao followed in his wake, activating his power so the two were prepared in the case of a surprise attack.

And it was a good thing he did, because the smoke parted as a villain with blue hair jumped at them.

Mao quickly drew the sword, blocking the blade of the villain’s dagger. Thinking back to the information he knew, this villain must be the one known as HiMERU. Subaru quickly shone light into his eyes and the villain backed away slightly, spinning the dagger in his grip. Mao and Subaru jumped forward together, each aiming their blade at the villain, but HiMERU easily dodged. Mao turned as his blade slashed through the air, pushing away more smoke. Where had he gone?

Subaru used his power to clear all the nearby smoke. Still, HiMERU was nowhere in sight. The smoke slowly began drifting to cover their vision once more. Mao could still hear explosions in the distance, so there was likely going to be smoke for a long while. As the explosions rose in frequency, he assumed someone had found the villain named Rinne, and was currently fighting him.

Suddenly, he heard a thud and turned around to see Subaru on the ground.

“Subaru?” he called out, running over. The hero was asleep.

Mao looked around once more. HiMERU was still nearby, seeing as he had used his power to put Subaru to sleep, but Mao still couldn’t find him.

Suddenly, drops of water started forming all around him. They grew in size, then suddenly shot off away from him, forcefully pushing away the smoke. Finally, Mao could see HiMERU a bit further back. The villain started running off when a familiar face stood in his way.

“Red flames are the mark of justice! The life-giving sun, burning bright red! Ryusei Red, Chiaki Morisawa!”

Next to him, Kanata swayed lightly, relaxed as ever, before adding, “Blue flames are the mark of mystery. I have come from the blue sea~ Ryusei Blue, Kanata Shinkai. Sparkle ☆”

Mao checked that Subaru was alright before running over to join them, applying his power to the two RYUSEITAI members. “You’re surrounded, HiMERU.”

He pulled out a pair of handcuffs. He just needed to find an opening to use them. Hopefully, he would get one with both Chiaki and Kanata here.

HiMERU looked around, then sighed. “This is not what HiMERU wanted to do today. That is alright. HiMERU will take you all down.”

He lifted his dagger, rushing forward at Mao, who deflected the smaller blade with his sword and stepped back. He still had the cuffs in one hand, and his sword in his other. He quickly stepped forward once more to meet blades with HiMERU, hoping to disarm the villain. Now that he could see properly, it was much easier to fight, and he slowly started increasing his speed using his power. HiMERU kept up with his pace, redirecting his attacks expertly.

Mao gasped as HiMERU managed to cut his left hand, and the handcuffs fell from his grasp. He didn’t have time to pick it up. Luckily, Chiaki knew this as well, and fired a flaming bullet at HiMERU. Mao jumped backwards as Chiaki closed the distance between himself and the villains.

A circle of red flames surrounded them, trapping the four in a small ring of fire.

“Where are the hostages?” Chiaki asked, another fireball already hovering over his palm.

“Hostages? HiMERU knows of no such thing,” HiMERU replied, dodging the fireball and turning his attention towards Chiaki.

“What have you done with Oukawa Kohaku and Shiratori Aira?” Chiaki demanded, ignoring him.

HiMERU scoffed. “Those are not hostages. Those two willingly joined the villains. HiMERU is always stunned at the ignorance of you heroes.”

He rushed forward, activating his power. It seemed like he needed to touch the target for the power to activate. Chiaki quickly shot another fireball at him, but he ducked underneath, not losing any momentum, and reached Chiaki in a moment.

Kanata quickly stepped forward, forming a barrier of water that protected Chiaki. HiMERU jumped back, throwing his dagger so quickly that Mao barely even noticed it happened. The blade hit Kanata in the arm.

The water barrier dissipated in Kanata’s surprise, and soon Chiaki collapsed to the ground, asleep. Mao jumped forward to interrupt his next move, but was too late, as Kanata fell asleep as well, the blood from his arm slowly seeping onto the concrete.

HiMERU turned to Mao, gaze hardening. “Don’t be mistaken. Oukawa is with us because he is one of us. Shiratori came of his own volition as well. Unlike you, Oukawa understands the flaws of the Hero Agency, and has decided to help bring it down. Perhaps if you knew what we know, you would do the same.”

A moment later, he dashed forward, and the world went black.

“Maa-kun.”

Mao blinked awake.

Ritsu was leaning over the side of the bed he was laying in, his red eyes carefully watching as Mao sat up.

“Good morning~”

Mao turned to look out the window. “It’s night.”

“That’s true,” Ritsu said lightly. “They found you and the others asleep on the road once the smoke had cleared. Don't worry, everyone is fine now... All three of the Crazy:B members got away, though. It was three to nine and you somehow lost~”

“Don’t say that so cheerfully,” Mao grumbled. “We were at a disadvantage with all that smoke, and there were still so many people trying to evacuate.”

“Yes, yes, I believe you,” Ritsu singsonged. “No worries, Maa-kun. Yuu-kun managed to put a tracker on one of them, and some other heroes are going to scout it out today. Who was it? I think it was that group Switch. After they scout out the area, they’re planning to take the Knights to infiltrate their base.”

“I see,” Mao said. “Then that’s good.”

“Mhm. We’ll rescue the ones who were kidnapped soon.”

“Speaking of,” Mao began. He paused for a moment, thinking about it. “Obviously, I’m not going to just believe anything that a villain tells me, but I thought I should bring it up.”

“Go on, tell me then,” Ritsu said, resting his head on the bed with his eyes trained on Mao’s.

“That villain, HiMERU. He said that the hostages had joined the villains of their own volition,” Mao explained slowly.

“Oh? And why would they do that? One of them is a hero, you know?” Ritsu asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking that too… but he said that Oukawa joined because he knew something about the Hero Agency. Or something like that.”

“Hmm, is that so?” Ritsu hummed. He seemed to think about what was said for a moment longer. “I suppose this isn’t the first time you’ve heard something like that, or you wouldn’t bring it up.”

As expected of Ritsu, he seemed to read Mao’s mind like it was nothing. “Yeah. One of the UNDEAD members, the one they called Oogami, he said something similar. Like they were trying to help us, and that us heroes ‘don’t know anything’,” Mao said, doing his best to recall the wolf-like villain’s words from that day.

Of course, it was possible that the villains were just saying that to get to him, but Mao couldn’t help but bring himself to at least consider the idea that maybe they were telling the truth. That maybe something was amiss about the Hero Agency, something he’d been missing out on. But if that were the case, who was in the right? Who was wrong? Had he been working for the wrong side this whole time? He sort of doubted that, considering the terrible things the villains did and the amount of lives the heroes saved. But maybe some of the villains weren’t so bad? Maybe there was something else going on here, just beneath the surface.

Ritsu also seemed to be thinking about it, with his eyes narrowed. After a moment, though, his gaze softened and he gave a carefree smile.

“Don’t worry about it, Maa-kun. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

But his ever-so-slightly determined gaze seemed to say something else.

The moon shone down on Ritsu’s usual patrol route. It was foggy, so visibility was low. He wished Arashi were here to clear it. Well, at least he wasn’t alone. Today, Mao was accompanying him. Usually Ritsu didn’t ask for him to come with unless he suspected that he would actually encounter villains or criminals on the route, but Mao had insisted.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to bed?” Ritsu asked. “You had a busy day, you know?”

“I did have a busy day, but I spent a good chunk of it sleeping thanks to that HiMERU,” Mao replied. “What about you? Didn’t you actually do work today as well?”

“I did, but I took a nap while I was waiting for you to wake up,” Ritsu replied. “And it’s not like I expect to do much beyond this patrol tonight.”

Suddenly, he sensed someone’s presence. Mao noticed it too, and his power activated, filling Ritsu with strength and familiarity. Ritsu narrowed his eyes. It could just be a civilian taking a nighttime walk. He didn’t sense any hostility.

A pair emerged from the fog. One with green hair, and one with dark blue hair. They were wearing outfits that Ritsu recognized: mostly dark gray formal clothing with accents in their respective hair colors paired with elaborate masks that only covered their eyes.

“You’re from EDEN,” Mao said. They were villains. Yet none of the four made a move.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t here to start a fight,” the green haired one said. “Unless you want it to be, of course~!”

“No, that’s okay,” Ritsu cut in. “What do you want?”

“We came to deliver a message,” the blue haired one said.

“Honestly, that Rei-kun thinks he can turn me into a messenger? The nerve,” the other villain said dramatically, flourishing his arm. “Nonetheless, I have arrived!”

“So what’s the message?” Mao asked.

“It’s for him,” the one in blue replied, pointing at Ritsu. “Sakuma-senpai wants to talk to you, I guess. So he wants to let you know where he is. Personally, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to me, but who am I to question his actions?”

He handed Ritsu an envelope. “Do with it what you will. He said the chances of you actually accepting it were pretty low.”

Normally, Ritsu would throw it to the ground right then and there and step on it just for good measure. Maybe rip it up and throw it out when he had the chance.

But his conversation with Mao earlier in the day was still sitting stubbornly in the back of his mind. And if he could gain information from this, well, maybe it would be better to accept. As much as he hated to admit it, his brother knew something he didn’t. He knew too little about the heroes and villains, and he wanted to be able to piece the picture together fully.

After all, his Maa-kun was worried about it.

He took the envelope. He carefully opened it, seeing several sheets of paper inside. He decided not to read it here, though, and closed it once more after a glance.

“Thanks,” he said flatly.

“No problem!” the dramatic villain said.

“You didn’t even do anything,” the other one grumbled, and soon the two departed, leaving Ritsu and Mao standing on the foggy road alone.

“What was that all about?” Mao asked.

“I don’t know. But I think this might help us figure out what’s really going on.”

Chapter Text

A few days had passed in peace. The villains seemed to take a step back into inactivity. Ritsu had spent less and less time doing hero work throughout the work. He still had to go to school, unfortunately, but most mornings he had been able to convince Mao to carry him there, and he counted that as a victory.

He had looked at the envelope several times. There were three items inside. One was a map of the city, with red lines drawn on it leading from Mao’s house to what he assumed to be the villain's lair (It was a bit creepy that they knew where Ritsu was staying, but maybe Mika had told them). The second item was a more zoomed-in map of the villain's lair. None of the rooms were labeled or anything, there was just a red line trailing through the hallways leading into a room cheerfully labeled ‘Onii-chan’s Room!’ with little red hearts surrounding it. Disgusting.

The final item was a letter, which basically consisted of Rei saying he wanted to talk to Ritsu and that he had included maps of where to go as well as what time to go. It, too, was overly sappy and, in Ritsu’s humble opinion, gross. But whatever.

Now that the moon was high in the sky, the time outlined in the letter was fast approaching. So Ritsu made sure he had everything he needed (which wasn’t much, since he was going without his usual hero gear, choosing to show up just as himself), then began to follow the route on the map. He had already memorized it, since the path was relatively simple. Using his power to run quickly, he arrived after a handful of minutes. He took a moment to rest before taking a look at the building.

A villain’s hideout indeed. The place was hard to spot, even now that he was right in front of it. It was surrounded by taller, sort of foreboding buildings, and its walls were concrete. It looked like the basement or foundation of another building that sat on top of it, but in truth, there was a back door with a staircase hidden further back.

Ritsu swung open the door, now taking the path from the second map. It was dark, but of course, seeing in the dark wasn’t an issue for him. After some traveling, he saw a light up ahead.

He wasn’t at Rei’s room yet, he knew that for sure. This room was someone else’s. The door was slightly ajar, revealing a bedroom. Since the light was on, someone must be inside. He still had some time before it was time to meet with Rei, so he stole a glance inside.

“Shiratori Aira?” he asked in a whisper.

Aira looked up, seeing him in the doorway. His green eyes filled with recognition.

He opened his mouth, but Ritsu quickly ran in and covered it with his hand.

“Don’t make a ruckus,” Ritsu said, eyes narrowed. “You’re one of the hostages, the one who’s friends with that Double Face kid, right?”

Well, he already knew the answer, since he’d seen Aira before when he and Mao went to the ALKALOID concert and fought 2wink.

Aira nodded. Ritsu put his hand down.

“So. I assume this isn’t a prison.”

“No, it’s not,” Aira said. “This is the room where I’m staying since we’re working with the villains. I promise we have a good reason though!”

“I believe you. I’ve been suspecting as much myself,” Ritsu told him, crossing his arms. “So? Spill it. What happened?”

Aira fidgeted a little bit, looking down at his hands as if considering whether to tell him or not. But after a few moments, he said, “On the day I was kidnapped, Hiro-kun’s brother… or well, Amagi Rinne, told Kohakucchi that they needed him for their plans. I don’t really know why… but when we saw him again later, he said something that made Kohakucchi want to go with them. I don’t know what he said, but Kohakucchi said he was going to go be a villain and I said I’d join him.”

That explained why the witness Amagi Hiiro hadn’t given RYUSEITAI and Trickstar any information. He was protecting his friends and brother.

“I see. So you’re just hanging around here?”

“Yeah… I’ve been talking to all the villains too, and they seem nice enough. Kohakucchi went to the Hero Agency yesterday and he’s still not back. I think he’s doing something important but he won’t tell me what. To be honest, I just don’t really know what’s happening. ”

“Well, of course not… they’re not going to tell some kid what they’re up to,” Ritsu said. “Anyway, thanks for the information. I’ve got to go.”

“Wait! Did you break in? Maybe I could help make sure you don’t get caught on your way out,” Aira said worriedly.

“No need,” Ritsu responded. “I’m here on invitation.”

“Oh… okay, then. Be careful,” Aira told him.

Ritsu waved at him on his way out. “No problem.”

Soon, he reached the room. There was even a sign on it in Rei’s handwriting that said ‘You Made It!’.

“I’m not a kid anymore,” Ritsu grumbled. He grabbed the doorknob and entered the room.

True to its title, it was certainly a bedroom, but it was a lot larger of a room than Ritsu had anticipated. Large enough that there was a seating area where multiple people were waiting for him.

Sitting front and center was Rei, who immediately stood to greet him.

“Ritsu! Welcome, welcome. Take a seat,” Rei said.

Begrudgingly, Ritsu obliged. As he sat, he took note of the others.

Crazy:B’s leader, Amagi Rinne, and both members of 2wink were sitting to the left, while the leaders of EDEN and AKATSUKI were sitting to the right. The only one of the villains who wore a mask was the leader of EDEN, though they were all wearing their villain outfits.

“You didn’t tell me so many people would be here,” Ritsu said, his voice unimpressed. “I thought you just wanted to talk to me?”

“I do,” Rei said, a smile on his face. This smile was less genuine than before, though. Now he was scheming something, Ritsu knew.

“I thought you’d be the one to convince. Since I do not intend on hurting the heroes… only Fine,” Rei said.

“Fine, huh… so you’re saying that Fine is the true evil? That you want to get rid of them to save the Hero Agency?” Ritsu asked. He couldn’t help the sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“Pretty much,” Rinne said with a shrug. “That’s the gist of it.”

“How do I know you’re doing the right thing? You might just have a grudge against Ecchan, I don’t know,” Ritsu continued.

“We’re here precisely to talk about that,” AKATSUKI’s leader said, adjusting his glasses. “I trust you know of my unit’s past?”

“Bits and pieces. Enlighten me,” Ritsu said, leaning back. The couch was, admittedly, quite comfortable. If it were day, he’d probably be tempted to take a nap.

“AKATSUKI was once a hero unit. And I, Eichi’s right hand man. You could say I was the vice president. I had a heavy role in the Agency’s founding and inner workings,” the villain explained.

“Yes, I do remember hearing something like that.”

“But it appears I was too involved for his taste. Eichi began choosing people who were in his way and made them into villains. At first, I simply told him that it wasn’t right. He was abusing his power to get rid of his enemies. Because I opposed him, we were added to his list.”

That sounded plausible enough. It had always been sort of strange to him that AKATSUKI, having once been a well-known hero group, had become a villain unit seemingly overnight. It would make sense if Eichi had used his influence to make such a thing happen. He still didn’t know if it was true, and he doubted there was any sort of physical evidence. He needed to hear more to know if he was being fed lies or not.

“Is that all?” Ritsu asked.

“‘Course not,” Rinne scoffed. “I wish. That guy’s currently schemin’ to get rid of us for good. Then he’s gonna take all the credit and make himself famous.”

“And then he’ll do whatever he wants with that power, is that what you’re saying? But isn’t that just an extension of ‘getting rid of his enemies’? How is getting rid of him going to benefit the rest of us heroes?” Ritsu asked.

“Of course he plans to do more with that prestige. We believe one of the members of Fine has a terrifying ability that he eventually plans to use on all of the heroes,” Rei explained.

“That’s right!” one 2wink member said.

“The power to steal powers and give them to someone else,” the other twin finished. “Using that ability, Tenshouin-senpai will become the only person with powers!”

“And who do you think has that power? The Fine members all fight with weapons, you know. Yuzuyuzu is a healer, but we’ve never seen the others use powers.”

“Exactly. They’ve been hiding their powers so we don’t know which of them has this ability,” Rei said.

“Nonetheless, we know that one of them does,” the EDEN leader said, arms crossed. “I trust Ibara’s information.”

“Hmm. So, what are you planning?” Ritsu asked finally.

“We can’t tell you that unless you choose to help us,” Rei said.

Ritsu leaned back, assessing the room once more. He had gotten all the information he could. And so, the next thing he said, he chose to say out loud.

“You got all that, right? What do you think?”

Mao always thought Makoto had the most useful ability in Trickstar. He could communicate with anyone as long as he established a mutual link with them. With his telepathy, those on either end could choose to communicate verbally, or in their minds. Truly a handy skill.

And at the moment, he was linked with Ritsu and all the members of both the Knights and Trickstar. Other than Ritsu, they were all sitting in the living room of Mao’s house, fully dressed in their hero costumes.

Ritsu had been transmitting his entire conversation with the villains (and his earlier conversation with Aira) for all of them to hear, along with any other details he noticed.

A few days ago, upon first reading the letter, Mao had tapped him on the shoulder a bit nervously.

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea, Ritsu,” he had said. “I don’t want you to go alone straight into the villain's lair.”

“Then I won’t,” Ritsu had said, a mischievous smile growing on his face. “I wouldn’t go in without a plan, Maa-kun. You know me~.” He had taken a moment to think about it before continuing.

“We have two very important players in our units,” he said, holding up his fingers.

“Who?” Mao asked.

“Secchan and Yuu-kun,” Ritsu listed, putting his fingers down with each name. “I’ll let Yuu-kun know if I need help, and if I do, you can all come. What do you think?”

Mao had simply smiled. “Sounds good.”

So they had carefully planned. Ritsu sent Izumi ahead of time to see the room with the help of one of the Switch members, Tsumugi, who had the power to turn people invisible. After all, Switch had already been assigned to scout out Crazy:B’s hideout and Ritsu had confirmed with Switch’s leader, Natsume, that they were going to the same place. After that quick mission, Izumi would be able to teleport there at any given time.

The day Ritsu planned to leave, everyone gathered at Mao’s house, and Makoto established telepathic connections with each of them. He had even brought a notebook, spending the entire conversation copying down what was said.

And now, the jig was up. He didn’t know why Ritsu had felt the need to give them away, but at this point, he never questioned Ritsu’s decisions anymore. Maybe he was spoiling his boyfriend a bit too much, but that was just how it was.

Izumi snapped, and suddenly they were all in the room. The villains all gave surprised looks of some kind, though none of them seemed to panic. None of them even moved.

“How clever. As expected of my little brother,” Rei said. “You had backup this whole time.”

“As if I would meet up with you by myself,” Ritsu retorted. “And rather than backup, they’re here to help me make a decision. They’ve all heard what you have to say, and now we’ll decide if we want to help you villains or not.”

He smiled before adding, “I think that works in your favor, really. Since I’m quite biased against you.”

“How generous of you,” Rei replied.

The air was tense. Somehow Mao gathered the courage to speak next.

“After hearing everything you’ve had to say, I do have my doubts about the Hero Agency. But I hope you understand that it’s hard to trust your words right away,” he said.

“That’s certainly reasonable,” the leader of EDEN said. “You have no way of knowing that we are telling the truth without proof.”

“Exactly.”

Just as he thought the conversation couldn’t get any tenser, the door swung open.

“What’s goin’ on here?”

“Kohaku-chan! Welcome to the party!” Rinne said. “Get this, Kohaku-chan. The president’s been going around telling people that we kidnapped you. Isn’t that hilarious?!”

Kohaku only narrowed his eyes, fully entering the room and looking at the heroes. “Well, you’re not here to save me or Love-han, clearly. So what are you here for?” he asked. He seemed to be asking Tsukasa in particular, maybe because he was the leader of Knights? The other Knights were all looking at Tsukasa, too, though, so Mao figured they must know each other somehow.

“We are deciding whether we should join you VILLAINS,” Tsukasa said. “I had my doubts since hearing that you had changed sides, Kohakun. We all did.”

Kohaku smiled a bit. “Thinkin’ of betrayin’ the Agency, huh? Well, if it helps you at all, I do think that’s the wiser choice. There’s nothin’ inherently wrong with heroes, but if things stay how they are, Tenshouin’s goin’ to take over the world, crazy as it sounds.”

“And you truly believe that?” Tsukasa asked, his tone serious beneath the voice distortion of his mask.

“I do. Unlike you, I’ve seen both sides of the coin,” Kohaku answered simply.

Tsukasa took a breath, then walked over to meet the pink-haired boy. “I trust Kohakun,” he said after a moment. “That is my CHOICE.”

To Mao’s surprise, he turned to see Ritsu smiling. He crossed his arms.

“Well, my leader has spoken… I hope you all are satisfied with his response.” His eyes seemed to glow mischievously. “And since we’re all here now, it’s about time I, as your strategist, share my plans with you.”

Chapter Text

Kohaku pulled against the handcuffs. It was storming outside, and water dripped from his hair and clothing as he was shoved unceremoniously to the floor of the agency building’s lobby with Tsukasa standing behind him. The lobby was quite full of heroes and civilians alike. Some turned to look at him, and some didn’t.

Anzu ran up to them.

“This is… Oukawa Kohaku, isn’t it? I thought he was one of Crazy:B’s hostages? Why did you tie him up?” Anzu asked, looking at him.

Kohaku shot her a hostile glare.

“He defected to become a VILLAIN,” Tsukasa said. “I managed to capture him and brought him here.”

Anzu looked at Tsukasa, eyebrows drawn. “So you want me to imprison him? I can, but are you okay with it?” She lowered her voice to add, “He’s your cousin, isn’t he?”

Kohaku wondered what kind of face he was making under the mask. His voice came out sounding sort of strained.

“He’s a VILLAIN,” he repeated. “It doesn’t matter if we’re related.”

Anzu nodded. “Sure. I’ll put him in the agency building’s prison for now, but I’ll need to talk to Tenshouin-senpai about it later…”

She looked up. “Strange, it was supposed to be sunny today. I guess it’s a sign.”

“Thank you for your help,” Tsukasa said.

She nodded as she took Kohaku’s cuffs in her hands and they started walking together. Kohaku turned to look at Tsukasa angrily.

“You’ll regret this,” he said. He didn’t get a reply.

Anzu led them through the winding hallways. “It feels a bit strange leading you to the prison, Kohaku-kun… just what did you do?”

“That’s none of your business,” Kohaku replied.

She sighed. “What a weird day… Well, here we are.”

She opened the door of the cell closest to the main entrance, gently pushing him inside. Not that she needed to. He was perfectly capable of walking in on his own. It looked like any old room from here, but Kohaku knew that the walls were enforced with magic. Soon enough, he was left alone in the room, the click of the key confirming that he was trapped.

He couldn’t stay here long. He needed to get out somehow. He still had cuffs on, but that was no problem. He checked his pocket.

Good. The key he had gotten off Tsukasa was still there.

He pulled it out with some difficulty, then fidgeted around for a couple of seconds until the key entered the slot. Once he turned had turned it, he shook the cuffs loose. They hit the floor with a loud clang, but it seemed that Anzu was already long gone, because nobody responded. He let out a small sigh of relief before continuing.

First, Kohaku put a hand up against the wall. As expected, there were invisible walls reinforcing them. He clicked his tongue. How was he going to get out of this one?

Of course, when he infiltrated the building alone and used mind control on Eichi the day before, everything had gone smoothly. He had quickly been able to change the messages that Eichi was sending out discreetly to what Rei wanted, effectively stopping the possibility of reinforcements coming from elsewhere to aid Fine. But of course, as soon as more people got involved, he found himself in prison.

Kohaku sighed. His power would have no benefit here. He would just have to sit and wait. For how long, he wasn’t sure.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like he’d have to wait long.

He heard a knock on the door, and after a moment, it swung open.

Standing on the other side was Madara, wearing a grin. “Let’s go.”

“They showed up on my usual patrol route, trying to convince Maa-kun and me to join them. And so we told them that we would team up with them, but of course, I was lying about that…” Ritsu explained with a yawn. “I only said that to lower their guards before we attacked.”

Eichi nodded. “Of course, as expected of the Hero Agency’s best strategist,” he said with a smile. “And so? I doubt you came here just to explain to me how you captured Oukawa-kun.”

“Of course not… I wouldn’t waste your time or mine that much. It’s already day, so I want to sleep.” He leaned back in the chair, blinking away his drowsiness. “While the others managed to escape, Maa-kun put a tracker on UNDEAD’s leader first.”

“And so?”

Ritsu leaned forward to put a map on the desk. He grabbed one of Eichi’s pens from its holder, then circled the location where he had been the night before. “And so here is their base,” he said. “Secchan even managed to retrieve the tracker before they noticed it with Tsumugi-chan’s help. In other words, they have no reason to leave this place.”

Eichi raised an eyebrow. “Impressive. You’ve outdone yourself, Ritsu-kun.”

“Of course. They tried to hurt Maa-kun.”

“No wonder you put so much effort into this, then,” Eichi replied. “Thank you. Since you’re here and you’ve helped me this much, I might as well let you know my next move.”

“You don’t need to do that…”

“I insist. I’m sure you know this already, but my old Vice President defected and became a villain a while back. I’ve been wanting to get a new one,” Eichi said.

“Oh? And who were you considering for that position?” Ritsu asked.

Eichi smiled. “Who else but our number one strategist?”

Ritsu’s eyes widened in surprise. “Me? Really? I mean, I’d be honored, of course… but I’m sure you’ve noticed by now I’m not one to do extra work…”

“No worries. I just want your advice every so often. Hence why I wish to explain my plans to you. Is that alright?”

Ritsu leaned back, smiling. “Sure, then. Happy to be of help.”

“I want to get rid of the villains once and for all,” Eichi told him simply. “I had initially planned to start a campaign against them starting at this time. That is to say, I wanted to be a little more aggressive. I had plans to hire specialists with tracking powers and such so that I could lead hero units to the villains. But I suppose that part isn’t necessary anymore.”

“Only if they’ve abandoned their hideout… and like I said, I doubt they will,” Ritsu said. He hummed in thought. “So you want to get rid of all the villains at once? Are you saying you plan to redirect all of the heroes toward that? As you know, heroes do a lot more than just fight villains. If we do that, we’ll lose manpower in other areas. What will you do if crime skyrockets? If natural disaster fatalities rise?”

“I plan for this campaign to be short. Once we’re finished, things will go back to normal.”

“But there are so many villains,” Ritsu pointed out. “In what way will this be short?”

Eichi crossed his arms. “If we defeat the big names in the villain industry, many other villains will leave out of fear.”

“You have no guarantee that that’s how they’ll respond, though… And if that’s your ideology, aren’t you implying that you’re alright with lesser villains getting away without punishment?” Ritsu asked. He tapped the desk a bit impatiently. “I don’t think all that is necessary. At the moment, we know where they are. Pick your best heroes, send them to ambush the villains at their hideout, and end them in one fell swoop without redirecting too many forces. That’s the simplest solution. And while all of the villainy won’t end at once, we can keep things going as before until eventually everything works out.”

Eichi hummed in agreement. “That does make sense, of course. I agree with you. This campaign was an old plan that I formed before we had their exact location.”

He picked up a stack of papers that was sitting on the desk, tapping it against the wood so the papers lined up neatly.

“Thank you once again, Ritsu-kun. I do appreciate your input.”

Ritsu smiled. “No problem~ If you don’t mind, I’m going to head home and sleep now.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll be announcing the plan to a group of heroes later today. And I do hope you don’t mind being one of them,” Eichi told him.

Ritsu let out a yawn before answering. “As much as I would like to sleep longer, I’m also willing to join the operation, especially if you’re calling on all the Knights. I’ll see you later, Ecchan.”

“Goodbye.”

There were three things that Aira was in charge of doing. The first was already complete- that had been easy enough- so next, he needed to go with Mao to convince the other heroes to be their allies. It wasn’t that the plan was impossible without allies, but it would certainly be more doable with the help of the other heroes. Mao had helped him sneak into the Agency building without anybody noticing.

“Isara-senpai, are you sure this is going to work?” Aira asked.

Mao only smiled. “I trust Ritsu. Maybe I’m a bit biased, but I don’t know anyone else who plans things as thoroughly as he does.”

“I guess… This whole thing is pretty confusing to me,” Aira said, looking down at his shoes. “I just wanted to protect Kohakucchi, and things turned out like this.”

Mao walked ahead a little bit. “Oukawa will be fine. And I’m sure your presence made him feel better.”

“Thanks.”

Somehow, Mao’s words were enough to ease his worries. Right. If all went to plan, Kohaku would be fine, and so would he. This whole mess would finally come to an end, and life would return to the way it was before. If Mao was confident in this plan, then he had nothing to worry about.

They soon reached the meeting room. Aira knocked lightly.

“Come IN,” the voice on the other side said.

Taking a deep breath, Aira swung the door open. There were eight people seated around the table. Five members of RYUSEITAI in their color coded hero uniforms, and three members of Switch. All of them seemed to look at Aira and Mao somewhat expectantly.

“WelCOME,” the leader of Switch said with a smile. “You said you had something important to discuss with everyONE. What might that BE?”

Mao took a seat at the head of the table, motioning for Aira to sit next to him. Aira obliged, though it felt weird sitting at the head of the table when he was the least experienced person here. He wasn’t even a hero, for goodness’ sake. He was, though, committed to this plan.

“We need your help,” he said.

Arashi looked up. It was stormy.

Obviously, it was, because that was her power. To control the weather. It just felt wrong for today to be sunny. It was too gloomy and serious of a day, and so she changed the weather to match it. She did that sometimes.

Whenever she changed the weather because she was feeling moody, one of the other Knights would scold her about it. But they didn’t today, because they, too, wished for it to rain today.

Eichi had called several hero groups to attention. Okay, several was a bit of an understatement. Over twenty hero groups had been called. Among them were the Knights, Trickstar, Switch, and RYUSEITAI, to name a few. And of course, Fine themselves were there at the head.

At the moment, they were all gathered in the lobby, where Eichi stood at the front and center, prepared to give some grand speech or something.

“Thank you everyone for gathering here today, despite the weather,” Eichi said. “As many of you know, I have called you here today in hopes that we can put an end to multiple villain groups who have been plaguing this town for far too long. We have located these villain groups thanks to the Knights’ strategist- today will mark the end of UNDEAD, EDEN, 2wink, Crazy:B, and AKATSUKI if all goes to plan.”

Some of the heroes began cheering. Today, they would get rid of the villains once and for all.

Arashi felt herself smiling a bit mischievously, unable to fight the expression. Luckily, nobody would be able to see it under her mask.

Perhaps something else important would be happening today.

Eichi finished briefing the crowd, and they began to travel. They were going by foot. They had initially planned to teleport everyone over, but Izumi wasn’t here. He and Leo had called in sick, leaving only Arashi, Tsukasa, and Ritsu from the Knights. It felt weird that they were missing members, but things would proceed as planned regardless. So instead, the heroes moved as a group through the storm, which was growing in intensity. It was hard to see through the rain and fog, and cracks of lightning overhead gave a foreboding message.

“Can’t you make the storm go away?” Ritsu asked her loudly.

“Sorry, I can’t do that,” Arashi replied, making sure she could be heard over the howling wind. “The storm is too strong for me to will away. And you know I’m better at starting storms than stopping them.”

Suddenly, they heard a shout in the crowd. The sound of a blade slicing through the air whistled in her ears.

“It’s Valkyrie!” someone shouted.

Arashi turned to the sound of the voice. “Valkyrie?” she cried. She quickly ran towards the sound, and true to what she had heard, she found two villains, their masked figures intimidating as they emerged from the fog.

“We needa report this back to the others,” a familiar accented voice said to the other villain. “Quick, Teach, go! I can handle these guys.”

Arashi intercepted the pink haired villain as he attempted to escape. “You’re not getting away,” she said. Her sword met the other villain’s with a loud ringing noise.

“Tenshouin-senpai, you can leave these guys to just a few of us,” Arashi called to the front. “Keep going before they deliver the news!”

She could vaguely make out Eichi’s face through the rain. He nodded, and the majority of the group continued on while Arashi stayed behind with three or four of the groups that she didn’t know by name.

“Let’s do this, shall we?” she asked, brandishing her sword. The storm only seemed to grow worse as a smile appeared on Arashi’s face.

Soon enough, the pieces would fall into place.

“Look, look! There they are!”

“Yes, I know. I have eyes,” Izumi said, arms crossed.

How annoying. This was not how he had intended to spend his day. It was raining, which was ruining his hair and clothes. Well, his clothes weren’t particularly anything special. He was wearing a simple dark cloak over some casual clothing. They both were.

“Sena, Sena! I just had a great idea!”

“And what would that be?” he asked with little patience.

“We go in, and then I use my power, and then crash! Pow pow! And then we win! I’m a genius! Hahaha ☆!” Leo explained excitedly.

“You… ugh, whatever. Let’s go then.”

They suddenly appeared before the group, and a soundwave blasted away several of the heroes towards the back. Izumi rushed in with his sword, disarming quite a few of them before snapping loudly. Several of them were teleported away. He had sent them into one of the Agency’s prison cells. The one closest to the door, which he knew to be vacant.

“President! There are some villains attacking the back of the crowd!” someone called out.

“Don’t worry, Tenshouin-onii-sama. I will handle it. You and Fine should continue without the rest of us,” another one said. Izumi knew the voice to be Tsukasa’s (with a little bit of voice distortion from his mask).

Izumi pointed his sword forward toward the crowd. Most of them were facing him now, including Tsukasa, who took his sword out as well.

He looked around. They had gathered a decent amount. At this point, only Ritsu, Trickstar, RYUSEITAI, Switch, and Fine were left to infiltrate the villain’s base.

“Go on, then. Bring it on,” Izumi said.

And so he and Leo jumped into the fray. They parried off attacks, switching off with one another as if exchanging partners during a dance. He teleported around, slashing down their opponents from behind, also carefully watching Leo’s movements so that he could teleport him as well. They settled into their usual rhythm, fighting off the crowd easily.

Tsukasa, meanwhile, stood back, watching the scene unfold. Soon enough, the two had cleared the crowd without much issue.

Tsukasa clapped a couple of times. “Impressive as always.”

Izumi shrugged. “Of course. Just who do you think you’re talking to?”

“Yeah! Our teamwork is perfect! Wahaha!” Leo chirped in.

“Yes, yes. Good job. Let’s get going, then.”

Mao walked next to Ritsu, watching his feet so he wouldn’t slip in the rain.

“We’re here,” Eichi said after a moment. He turned to look at the group, eyes narrowed. “It is unfortunate that we have so few people right now. However, I believe that this is all we need. The heroes here are some of the best heroes we have at the Hero Agency.”

Beside him, Wataru did a little spin. “Today will be the villains’ last day causing terror among the people! Amazing!”

“Don’t be afraid to back up and ask Yuzuru for help if things go bad.”

Yuzuru nodded at the mention of his name, and Eichi continued.

“Let’s go.”

The heroes all nodded, and they entered the lair.

It was surprisingly quiet. Suddenly, a familiar figure barrelled towards them.

“Shiratori?” Mao asked as Aira approached, stopping to breathe heavily. He must have run through the hallways.

“Isara-senpai! Thank goodness you’re here… I just managed to escape from those villains,” Aira huffed. “They might still be looking for me!”

“Where were they last?” Eichi asked.

“I don’t know… But there’s a big room where all of the important villains were meeting. I don’t know if the guards from my room told them that I escaped. Maybe they’re still there,” Aira explained. “And I can’t find Kohakucchi…”

Ritsu sighed. “Sorry to break it to you, but we captured that kid a while ago. He was a villain, you know?”

Aira’s eyes widened in a mix of surprise and fear. The blonde was on the verge of tears now. “He was? I just… I didn’t know what was happening. That Crazy:B kidnapped me, and I thought Kohakucchi was a hostage too.”

“Enough about that. Lead us to the room where the villains were meeting,” Tori cut in.

Aira took one look at Tori, then looked back to Mao. Mao nodded, and he turned back to face Fine. “Sure… I’ll show you the way then.”

“Don’t woRRY. We will protect YOU,” Natsume said as they began walking. “Soon enough, we will defeat those villAINS.”

“Thanks,” Aira responded gratefully. “That means I can go home after all this, right?”

“Yup,” Mao replied.

After a bit of walking, Aira pointed at a door. It looked the same as the others in the hallway, but Mao knew it led to a much larger room. The biggest room in the entire building, which was the only one that they figured could hold all the heroes and villains that were about to meet.

Eichi turned to look at Ritsu, who simply nodded. After a moment, the president of the Hero Agency pushed open the door with Fine at his side and the rest of the heroes behind him.

The next second or so was the key. As soon as Fine were all inside, the others rushed inside as quickly as they could, pushing into the room quickly. An explosion went off overhead, and rubble blocked the doorway in seconds.

Standing in a line facing the doorway were the villains. All the members of UNDEAD, AKATSUKI, EDEN, 2wink, and Crazy:B looked at them with varying expressions. Most were slightly smiling.

Eichi looked around, taking a moment before realizing that the heroes that had come with him were all encircling Fine.

“You…” Eichi began.

He didn’t bother finishing the statement as heroes and villains alike surrounded the four.

Tori let out an exclamation, pointing at two who were standing near the back wall.

“What are you doing here? You should be in prison!” he said.

Kohaku smirked. “But I’m here anyway. You got a problem with that?” he asked, with Madara grinning beside him. “Actually, puttin’ me in prison in the first place was just a move to make you trust Ritsu-han so that he could influence your decisions. I was always meant to escape right away.”

“Why didn’t security catch you escaping?” Tori demanded.

“Aira-san was able to disable the security system with his power,” Madara answered with a proud smile.

Ritsu let out a yawn, stealing the attention of everyone in the room. “Hooray. You’re surrounded, Fine~ ♪. So? What’s your next move, Ecchan?”

The president seemed to be thinking.

Suddenly, Eichi’s light blue eyes seemed to glow as his power activated. He reached a hand forward, a light connecting him to Rei, who stood most directly in front of him. Rei jumped back, but the connection didn’t falter. The villain let out a cry of pain, stumbling to his knees.

Eichi, meanwhile, grinned, and a red aura surrounded him. Mao recognized it, used to seeing the same powerful aura surrounding Ritsu whenever they got into fights.

He had stolen Rei’s power.

Eichi teleported forward, this time towards where Ritsu and Mao were standing, ready to swing at them. Mao activated his power on Ritsu and the latter jumped forward to meet the attack.

Ritsu’s expression remained neutral as he countered, pushing Eichi backward. The two exchanged blows, with Eichi’s gaze calculating as he determined a way out of this situation. Mao watched carefully as Ritsu hit once more, then suddenly jumped out of the way.

“Now!”

At that moment, a glowing golden net came down from the ceiling, covering the members of Fine. The four began untangling themselves from the net in vain. They couldn’t escape.

“What is this made of?!” Tori said, fighting to free his leg.

“I’m glad you asked.”

They looked up to see a rope ladder unfurl, reaching the ground in no time. The members of Valkyrie descended, followed by Arashi. They soon landed, joining the villains at the side of the room.

“I should have known. The Valkyrie attack earlier was a farce,” Eichi said.

Arashi clapped once. “Indeed! We were really just there to separate as many of the heroes from you as we could. Naturally, the second villain attack was also planned. They weren’t villains at all. It was just Izumi-chan and Leo-kun.”

“As for the net, it was created by me, with help from Valkrie,” Hokuto said from Mao’s left. “As long as you are under it, you won’t be able to use any of your powers.”

“You’re finished,” Mao told them. “Give it up, Fine.”

“We’ve already called backup to escort you to prison,” Chiaki added. “In the end, justice prevails!”

Mao ignored the Fine members’ angry replies, crossing his arms.

Ritsu yawned once more, relaxed as always. Well, he had planned all this after all, and not a single thing had gone differently from what was planned. Even Rei getting his power stolen was part of it. Ritsu had said someone would probably end up taking a hit, and Rei had volunteered, purposefully standing closest to Eichi when the time came. Maybe he had just decided he didn't want to deal with hero and villain business anymore, or maybe he had wanted to make it up to Ritsu somehow, Mao wasn't sure.

With this, it was all over. It had almost been anticlimactic, with everything moving along so smoothly.

The members of RYUSEITAI and Switch started work transporting Fine to prison while Mao turned to Ritsu.

“So? What do we do now?” he asked. “What’s going to happen to the Agency?”

“We’ll abolish the Agency,” Ritsu replied simply. “Heroes and villains will continue to exist, of course, but the Agency itself will just continue causing problems if we leave it be. As for the villains, we dole out appropriate punishments to those who were turned into villains by Ecchan, and then we convert them into heroes. And then things will go back to normal.”

“You really thought this through, huh?” Mao asked.

“I guess~,” Ritsu responded a bit cheerily. “Personally, I like the idea of being freelance.”

“So you can sleep more?”

He feigned a gasp. “How did you know?”

Mao chuckled. “I wonder.”

By now, the room was starting to empty out. The other members all started heading out, probably to head back to the agency building to clear things up there. It felt weird knowing that everything was over. That soon, everything would change.

But that was alright. He had people by his side that he cared about and trusted, so Mao knew that everything would be okay.

He gave Ritsu a smile. “Let’s go home, then?”

“Mhm~.”