Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mitsuki rolls her neck, looking around the fancy restaurant from the entrance. She practically feels underdressed, even though she and Masaru were in some of their best clothes.

She could see some people she faintly recognized from tv, magazine covers, and those people who had that background recognizability that meant they did something on camera. The people she didn’t recognize were board-room types, or others who moved things around in the background. Of course, that didn’t mean they had any less power than their dining mates. They were all having lunch, enough ambient noise from conversations that everyone had the veneer of privacy. And yet Inko was the one who’d invited them here, when she’d have taken one look at the menu prices in this place and fainted a year ago…

But a lot changes in a year, apparently. So much that Mitsuki isn’t sure she’d recognize herself, if she’d had the chance. A year of slowly escalating villain attacks, a League of Villains forming after long enough. Her son, the boy she raised, was such a menace that her closest friend felt she couldn’t tell her…

Mitsuki turns when the front door of the restaurant opens, Inko striding in. She looked freshly put together, as if she’d only been pulled out of the box that morning. Even when she’d gone to school events when it was them and the boys, she didn’t try as hard to look so professional. As if the layer of frump wasn’t a mask, ready to be tossed aside at the first opportunity.

And it’s a small wave of silence that makes Mitsuki realize that people notice Inko’s arrival. And unlike when she was just Izuku’s parent, or ‘some lawyer at that one firm’, people were looking as she smiled at Mitsuki. “Mitsuki, Masaru, it’s been too long. Please, how have you been doing?”

Mitsuki quickly puts on a smile, things becoming a bit easier as Inko puts up a pleasant facade. “Good, actually. Masaru’s getting offers to work at big name restaurants, and it’s not just because our brat placed in the Sports Festival. It’s a hassle, trying to help keep a schedule for him. And I hear Nedzu’s been working you to the bone?”

A waiter begins walking them over to a table, Inko waiting until they’re seated and opening a menu before continuing the conversation. “Oh, I have it a bit rougher than the other Consultants for the other Courses. All Might and Gran Torino are organizing continued Hero work around exercises for the Older Classes, and there are four different Support Heroes who consult for different sections of their Course. And Nedzu, who plucks some talent from Support and Business to man some of his side projects. I’m having a look over the rest, basically proof reading his web of schemes…”

“I didn’t know he was part spider, too.” Masaru murmurs that little comment, Mitsuki trying not to snort while Inko chuckles at that. He stays hidden in the menu, or was maybe engrossed in wonderfully unique options.

“Yuuei is practically a multinational corporation, at this point. Nedzu has more than one Support Lab he allows graduated Support Students to join to work for until bigger shops invite them, and fresh Business Course Students try to sell successful inventions and raise those Support Students up. Successful sales go to other Hero schools, even going to neighboring country’s schools in China and South Korea.”

Mitsuki nods, hardly able to imagine the span of something so complicated sounding. Some of Masaru’s cooking methods and favorite dishes were complicated enough that she just smiled and ate, accepting she’d never understand it. Inko was not only sitting at the table while Nedzu cooked, she was doing everything but flipping the meat in the skillet to brown. “That… Yeesh, I need a drink just thinking about this.”

“Oh, agreed.” Inko speaks with a bit of a laugh, but an obvious air of exhaustion as well. The waiter comes over, seemingly waiting for something to that effect to be said as his summons.

Masaru helps them pick a wine that compliments their choice of dishes, the waiter quickly leaving while only collecting the other two’s menus. He still looks over his menu for a moment, before setting it down to talk with Inko. “I heard you were putting together something big, against Endeavor. You were the one who’s been authoring these reports, coming out about him?”

Mitsuki can practically see the comically large sweat drops dot Inko’s head, as she reaches up to scratch at her chin. “Well, I did a minor one. But other Statistics Majors smelled a pattern to chart, and began collecting records and putting together complimentary reports. I just wanted something like this to be talked about; I hate to admit it, but things have gotten carried away from where I started this little pet project.”

Mitsuki shakes her head, her eyes flickering down to the hand. And she can’t help but tilt her head, Inko’s ring finger conspicuously empty. Before she can comment on that, Masaru continues. “Just like Izuku, whenever a new Hero breaks onto the scene. He just had to fill a notebook page on them, like a Compulsion.”

Inko nods, but Mitsuki can see an eyebrow twitch. Inko takes a moment, clearly noting a thought before changing gears. “Yes, well that’s actually doing him quite a few favors. Nedzu actually had him do some Analysis work as an elective of sorts, for his Hero Course Classmates and the Third Years. I’m told they’re the sort of thing he could sell, as a very nice side business.”

Mitsuki has known Inko for long enough, to spot the woman’s tells. She has some uncomfortable business she needs to talk about, but wants to exhaust everything else first before she gets to it. So the blonde smiles, leaning in. “With how that Quirk of his wrecks his body, he needs something to do while recovering. Good thing he’s at Yuuei, or Recovery Girl’s bill would be through the roof.”

“Yes, Shuzenji has been such a reassuring presence during his training. But it’s actually the rest of the class’s efforts helping him, gaining all this basic Quirk Control advice, that’s really helped him tap into all of that.” Inko lets out a visible sigh of relief, Masaru nodding as the waiter returns with the appetizer and bottle of wine.

“Inko, could I ask you a favor?” Mitsuki leans in as Masaru opens the bottle, Inko looking at her with a bit of a raised eyebrow. “The brat tells me that he’s doing well in his classes, that everything’s going great. And… Well, We both know I have reason to disbelieve that, now. So how is he really doing?”

Mitsuki knows they can’t talk about why she can’t trust what Bakugo says to her, trying to give it distance. Because she’s tried apologizing, but every word feels hollow. ‘Inko, I’m sorry my son physically tormented your son, and made his life a living hell. Lunch Date next Sunday?’

Inko grins faintly, picking up her wineglass after Masaru fills it. “He’s doing well in the courses, I can say. He’s ranked third in Academics behind Iida and Yaoyorozu, and rated Second in Physical Hero Training behind only Todoroki. Socially… He’s prickly, but that’s how he always was. He’s actually made some very good friends, Iida and Todoroki included.”

Mitsuki tries not to let her eyes flicker to Masaru, picking up her own glass as Inko takes a dainty sip. “Iida… Oh, Ingenium’s younger brother, yeah? And Endeavor’s Youngest… All three of them, in the same friend group? Eraserhead is going to be grayer than Gran Torino before Christmas, if he makes it that long.”

Inko suppresses a snort of laughter, Mitsuki instantly knowing they’ve been picturing the same thing. “Katsuki is actually a very nice young man, when he’s not getting in his own way. There’s another student in the class, Sato. He was in the Totem Stacking side event of the Sports Festival, who did that condor totem almost single-handedly? Both of them are helping with the kitchen duties for the kids, and actually making sure they eat something other than ramen.”

“Damn straight…” Masaru looks away when Mitsuki looks at him, that murmur from him speaking volumes. “He said he and that Gravity girl are also getting along? After their match, even?”

“Yes, Uraraka is practically the glue that holds those three boys together. It makes sense; a girl who can control gravity has three of the strongest boys in the class orbiting her.” Mitsuki can imagine it, even seeing a secret reason for matching her up against Katsuki in the tournament round. The girl who uses soft power to control people, and her boy who was disturbingly like Endeavor with his style of Hero.

“Cheers to that.” Mitsuki raises her glass to Inko, the two of them clinking glasses before taking a healthy sip. “Speaking of wrapping a boy around your fingers…”

“What you and Masaru do together is your business…” Masaru almost chokes on his drink, Mitsuki almost shocked Inko would be so out of pocket.

“Please. I didn’t want to say anything, but I see you aren’t wearing your ring. And the magazines are spinning rumors that a certain Number One Hero’s Secretary took a romantic flower garden walk with you…”

Mitsuki can see a flash of hurt behind Inko’s quick smile, getting her second hint that something was wrong. “Oh, please. We’re just colleagues… Maybe he’s expressed interest, but neither of us are quite ready for a committed relationship. All Might runs poor Yagi ragged every day, and Hisashi…”

Normally, Mitsuki would wait for a third sign before saying anything. But Inko seems to signal to her, so she bites the lure she was casting. “Let me guess, he’s had meetings whenever you try to call, and he gets back to you when his schedule’s free?”

“Actually… I haven’t heard from him in quite a while.” Inko lowers her voice, saying it like a shameful confession. “And with… Well, with Izuku getting into the Sports Festival, I thought he might try to reach out. Maybe he lost his phone, so some time was expected. But… I don't want to be alarmist, but Nedzu is having everyone be a little paranoid with all this League business.”

Mitsuki shudders, bringing her glass over for a refill as Masaru begins pouring himself one. “Oh, I can’t go a day without some terrifying new headline. Kids going missing, Stain copycats popping up here and there, the Creature Rejection Clan doing something disgusting. Everyone’s still confident the Heroes will stop villains and the League… But after that big attack in Hosu, there’s that tension, you know?”

“After seeing some of Nedzu’s projections, believe me I know. That’s half the reason for Nedzu throwing open one of his warchests. All those Support Companies, where students can patent and improve on designs? He’s sending out goodies to all the other hero schools, and recommending hires like Gran Torino to them too. The next couple of years of Hero Student are going to make All Might look like Death Arms… I say it with love, Masaru!”

Masaru rears his head at that comment, narrowing his eyes at Inko at that slight against his personal favorite hero. Mitsuki rolls her eyes, swirling her glass. “Good. It’s felt like the Heroes have been leaning too much on All Might showing up, if they can’t get the job done. I’m not saying we need a new All Might after forty years, but having two or three half All Mights wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

Inko represses a fit of laughter, setting her glass down as their food comes over. “If other Hero Schools are doing half as well as Yuuei, then we’ll be doing better by this time next year.”

-

Nedzu steeps another pot of tea, looking away from the complicated chart of all the information he’s tracking just for Class 1-A. He was the ‘owner’ of seven in-house Support Companies, three Advertisers, and two Shipping Arms of Hero and General-Ed students responsible for making sure the Support Items made it to their destinations. And he had investments in several others, routinely getting updates or sending in notes about previous updates… How was the newest Hero Class so high maintenance, that all of that was his escape?

He had eighty Hero Students in the higher years, out on nearly sixty work studies throughout the year. Nedzu didn’t know which universal force to thank that several were doubling or tripling up at agencies, if only to save some space on the other charts he keeps. And he’d hardly had half the scope of problems with the Third Years in their entire careers, with only one minor incident during their First Year Winter Finals to even compare directly.

Only the maintenance of the school was a singularly larger task, with just the Cafeteria and the U.S.J. being an endeavor most other Hero schools would boggle to see the annual upkeep of. That first one was mostly Lunch Rush’s salary, but the man knew to charge for desperately needed skills. Feeding three hundred and sixty students at least two meals a day, plus offering the nearly seventy staff members three meals per day if they needed it, at least six days a week wouldn’t have been cheap or easy even if Nedzu pinched pennies.

Frankly, Nedzu is desperately hoping that ‘Jin Bubaigawara’ would be willing to accept a very luxurious position Nedzu’s already begun faking history for. Having at least one more Nedzu just to chat with, let alone coordinate with, would be such a weight off his shoulders… It would also reduce the time table if he ever really pursued world destruction from thirty days to eleven, but then there wouldn’t be nearly as many brain-teasers to fill the time.

Like determining the identity of the good Bubaigawara. It had taken him nearly two months, and multiple hours studying footage of the destroyed Doubles from his Quirk, before he’d been able to find anything. And the notes were clearly out of date; The Quirk registry hadn’t been updated in almost a decade, and the man could clearly make more than just two duplicates. Hana Shigaraki had been spotted in four places across the world simultaneously, and Nedzu was impressed she’d restrained herself from wearing a carmine trench-coat and matching fedora.

Though, the Doubles seemed to be unable to take more than basic strain. The NoMu doubles in Hosu had all barely taken a strike to be destroyed, creating the new problem of copious amounts of mud in a leaning tower. Of course, the League attacked one of the most illustrious gatherings in Japanese Hero History, to eulogize Endeavor’s mud-stained career… Nedzu pauses, wondering if the ‘mud-slinging’ was intentional commentary or not.

That thought waved away, Nedzu could see the major benefits of that Quirk in other ways. Oh sure, two or three Izuku’s might not be able to use One for All without immediately exploding, or even use Heal effectively. But the boy’s non-combat skills copied onto just a second Midoriya? Oh, how terrifying to imagine, if a Nedzu and Izuku pairing were left with nothing but time to scheme together. It might only take a week to bring the world into his paws…

But those plans were somewhat ruined, following the League’s Actions. Multiplying the Mayhems, who appeared to have at least noteworthy proficiency in Hacking, into a unit of dangerously coordinated Hacktivists was already dangerous. Why, a Nemuri or four would be able to pacify the entire Sports Festival Stadium in a matter of minutes. And Ectoplasm… Nedzu shudders to think, wondering how many Clones a Double of Ectoplasm could manufacture. And since it was at least Quadruples, maybe Sextuples if some evidence was to be believed… Regardless, his schemes would now have to account for much more variance, until Bubaigawara and his Quirk could be brought into the fold.

The man seemed to have no practical experience in teaching, but Nedzu had already fabricated a janitorial job that he hadn’t thought he needed. But Shuichi Iguchi was proving more than useful, and Bubaigawara would serve equally well. He’d similarly need to be working closely under a Hero, if not be leashed to Aizawa as a precaution.

Even if some of the Hero teachers couldn’t reasonably be copied, duplicates of the other staff would be so useful… and copies of certain students… Like Yaoyorozu… Oh, now that was an academic question. Would a double of Yaoyorozu be able to mass produce items until starvation? Was there some sort of block her Quirk put up, or was it just studious dedication? And would those items disappear if their creator disappeared, carrying the temporary nature of their manufacturer with them?

Nedzu shakes his head, waving away even more hypotheticals before he can be swarmed by them. Goodness, the tea’s already started steaming as he lets his mind wander. He carefully pours himself the next fresh cup, letting it cool as he moves back to that thought of recruiting the League of Villains.

Could someone like the male Shigaraki be saved? Nedzu had yet to see evidence, but that’s what Hound Dog and Recovery Girl would determine, as the health professionals. Nedzu would be more in line with the Commission’s idea of punishment, but could probably be convinced to seek lighter punishments if his story proved compelling enough.

Magne and Compress had complicated rap sheets, but Magne was already being stacked with all the charges from that CRC base. So the records couldn’t be completely believed, and only a personal interview could be trusted. Nedzu was well aware of the struggles of people who dared away from the heteronormative hegemony, especially someone who found their gender presentation a hurdle. Thirteen shared some sympathies for the villainess, but Magne would have to be subdued all the same until a conversation could be had.

And Compress himself… Nedzu could see some uses for him, if he was willing to keep his Black Hat firmly on his head. Besides which, he and Snipe… Nemuri was more of the type to surmise about their relationship, but all of the staff knew something worth gossiping about happened. Something Shouta and Hizashi seemed to know a bit deeper, after a drunken incident that had somehow.

This ‘Bansa’ seemed like a sympathetic woman, from the little Nedzu dug into her. A high society woman, unexpectedly exposed to the tribulations of street level life on a very bad day. Her husband getting caught with his hand in the Trigger Trade, her reputation ruined without a moment to save it. Her attempt to get some financial control was overturned by an unknowing Endeavor, giving that final push to just accept the title of Villain already painted in Scarlet letters across her back.

And Touya Todoroki… Oh, the novels Nedzu could fill with that. A young man, supposedly uninterested in being molded into the toy soldier Enji Todoroki would use to satisfy his nearly thirty year chase after All Might’s shadow. And considering he was only in his mid forties, Nedzu truly hates to imagine what arrangements the Todoroki and Himura families reached for the union between Enji and Rei. But that toy soldier refused to march to the beat, even once Enji had other siblings to menace who didn’t have nearly the level of power Touya did.

Because seeing the evidence of Dabi's crime sprees every so often, Enji had forced the boy into learning basic skills, which over a decade out on the streets honed into their own deadly arsenal. Deadly for their wielder too, if reports were to be believed. Nedzu shakes his head, wondering how agonizing it must be to have a Fire Quirk trapped in an Ice Quirk user’s body.

How strange it must be, to finally be working under his Father again.

Enji would never have imagined himself the villain in his darkest nightmares, but All for One was seemingly where Nightmares go to Breach Reality. Nedzu pulls up the chart as he sips his tea, shaking his head in consternation at the trail of bodies and blood supposedly linked to him.

One for All had a way of making its way from Hero to Hero, quickly making them the talk of their age. All for One seemed to have a similar pattern, taking new bodies when it suited him or his machinations. What he wanted in the large scope, Nedzu still had yet to find; besides some nebulous ‘World Domination’, there didn’t seem to be a larger plan. But with their theory that he’d set himself on taking Endeavor as his next meat puppet, Nedzu knew it was only a matter of time before the whole world would find out.

And Izuku Midoriya was probably going to be the lynchpin in stopping that. As much as Nedzu didn’t want to, desperate to spare this poor Quirkless fifteen year old any more agony, he couldn’t find a suitable path. All for One purposefully obscured his history, so Nedzu only had speculation on some forty Quirks he might have. And no one could singularly withstand that, let alone anything but an army of the Top Heroes of Japan.

And Toshinori Yagi was quickly losing the flickering flame of his torch. While Izuku continued to grow his light, Toshinori was only just now stabilizing from a devastating nosedive. But that plane would crash, leaving lots of hopes up to a Boy who already held himself to an impossible standard.

And Class 1-A had already been crossed by that villain’s shadow too many times. Shouto Todoroki and his family tragedy being pulled nearly to the center of the storm, Iida Tenya and Momo Yaoyorozu having family members attacked by the Hero Killer Stain. Denki Kaminari, and his possibly unwitting alliance with Mayhem and Dabi, having taken him from this very school in the guise of caretakers, after the U.S.J. incident. Ojiro Mashirao, Katsuki Bakugou, and Hitoshi Aizawa all, and the social pressures inching them towards different shades of villainy.

And Nedzu wasn’t going to allow them to be needlessly harmed, so long as his chimeric heart beat in his chest. There would be pains, of course. But Nedzu wasn’t laboring under the delusion his metaphorical plane would have a smooth landing. But there were chances to pull out of this nosedive, chances that required several long term plans to not be interrupted. And when they inevitably were, Nedzu had options to brunt their failures as well.

But like many beloved games, he could construct fanciful strategies all he wanted. Until he matched up with someone of equal talent, he couldn’t be sure what the actual result would be, nor whom fortune favored until the metaphorical dice started to roll. And the first several rolls hadn’t been favorable, or even kind.

But when luck and skill failed, there was one last resort… So Nedzu was going to start cheating, and stack the deck in favor of the students. Of the staff, and all the families who’d tied their fate to this school. Of all the Pro Heroes and Support Staff in Japan, anxiously looking for someone to straighten the plane and begin soaring again. Of himself, if there was time… And if there wasn’t, then someone needed to be ready to make that sacrifice.

-

Shouta pulls his baseball cap low, keeping his eyes up as he searches everywhere that can watch the alley he was told to slip into. Normally, that would be an even bigger red flag than the vermillion flood that the past four months had been. But when two sweeps while he pretends to drink a coffee and look at his dead phone reveal nothing, he takes his chance and crosses the street.

Shouta slips down the quiet Shizuoka alleyway, looking like a basic break between a few shops. But Shouta can see a portion that oddly broke some graffiti on it, making a very obvious narrow passage once he presses in on it. He does another check behind him, before pushing the brick wall in and walking into a narrow hallway.

He walks into the unused storage room of some hipster clothing store, a bit surprised by the company already here. He sees Ms. Joke and Mr. Brave, both similarly dressed down and incognito. Emi’s growing her hair out a bit, her green hoodie down to show her green hair tied up in a high ponytail. Whereas Yuuki’s was in the usual high spikes, though he’s starting to let some grow across his chin.

Shouta stops when he sees the other two, quickly trading information while they have the time. Partially because of an aggravation he’d been expecting, and a surprise he wasn’t sure was entirely good. “Nighteye, Edgeshot. A surprise to see the two of you here, in person.”

Kamihari’s eyes flicker to him as he speaks, Shouta unsure if he was startled by his approach or not. Sasaki reaches up to adjust his glasses, Shouta briefly sees the man’s eyes without the faint purple gleam of Foresight active, and is quick to avoid them in case he hasn’t used it yet today. “Shouta, good. This concerns you the most, though the rest of the Underground needs to be updated.”

Shouta takes a breath, reaching up and pulling his hood off. He pulls his hair out of his collar, leaning against a wall and letting his eyes rest while he has the chance. “I also have an update. I’ve acquired a second stalker in two weeks, and I’m only eighty percent sure it isn’t either Mayhem or the League of Villains.”

Emi gives an awkward chuckle, slowly realizing Shouta’s entirely serious. “Yeah, right… Wait, really? How can you tell?”

Shouta reaches into his pocket, pulling out his bottle of eyedrops. He takes a second to look at the four, appraising mostly grim acceptance before he applies the drops. “Picking up missing patrol hours, as the Commission decreed. Noticed the first one started following me about after that Italian fortuneteller's disappearance, but I figured that was just people like Kizuki Chitose, from some rag. The second stalker… I’m half convinced it’s two, trading who’s doing it night by night.”

“How soon after Maestra? Two days, or three?” Shouta takes a moment as the drops profuse his eyes, then looks at Mirai as the man seems to be trying to confirm something. He adjusts in his white suit jacket, him and Kamihari both wearing their typical identifiable Hero outfits.

He stares at his former ally, wanting to figure out his angle before giving up anything. Considering the last time he’d been able to act on half information, he’d had to go and reveal everything to his students… Well, part of everything. “Wednesday night, if I’m correct. Part of your update?”

“I think so… I have reason to believe that you and Miko, of the Hero Commission, might be targets of someone in the Quirk Reactivity Business.” Mirai pulls out a set of thumb drives, holding them out for everyone to take.

Shouta takes a moment, internalizing that information for a long second. So the woman who was standing in Endeavor’s shadow, trying to minimize the damage of his fall before he’d been kidnapped in Hosu, was feeling eyes on her as well. More of the Commission being paranoid of Nedzu? Or was Mirai going out on a limb again?

“Um… Kinda needed to talk about that, too.” The four men in the room look to Emi, who produces her own data to pass around. “Over around Ketsubutsu, there’ve been a couple of incidents with Anti-Quirk bullets. I managed to grab one guy’s gun before he fired it, and it got analyzed before the chemicals broke down. So we now know that; their anti-Quirk bullets have a short shelf life, so they get them and use them quickly. And they wear off within an hour, though it’s been getting a little longer each time one of them gets used.”

“I got a look at the deeper report, since I’m the Commission and Police Chief’s Liaison.” Kamihari offers that information freely, not seeming to have brought scans of his information with him. “If I were to suppose on Nighteye’s theory, then the Yakuza are using samples of Anti-Quirk Quirks as the agent in these bullets. And whatever supply they have, it’s either drying up or insufficient.”

Yuuki looks over at Shouta, then over at the two older Pros. “Hang on, then why did we ask Aizawa to come all the way out here? If he’s being stalked, then he might have gotten grabbed, or something…”

“A risk I’m constantly taking, Brave.” Yuuki looks over at him, Shouta taking the offered data before sliding it and the bottle of eyedrops into a pocket. “Not any different than when I was out on my Work Study, with Nemuri and…”

Shouta’s voice gets caught in his throat, and he curses his new found glut of emotions. He was supposed to be better than this, not getting tripped up over every little thing. But this year… He wasn’t going to curse finding Hitoshi, but that was the moment everything started changing in him.

“You’ve heard the theory, about Oboro?” Shouta looks up, Kamihari seeing the surprise without Shouta seeing his reaction. The ninja stares at him for a long moment, then looks down. “Well… The Commission isn’t sure of the connection, and is trying to do what research they can on it. But… There’s a theory…”

“Don’t… Don’t say it’s Kurogiri…” Kamihari goes silent, Shouta looking at the ground as he feels that old knife twist in his back. “I hadn’t… But I’d started thinking about it, back when I first saw the Portals when the Press broke into Yuuei. Shigaraki and Mayhem used the press as cover, and I saw the purple mist of a portal in the alley they’d moved to as we cleared the scene. And… I didn’t want to think it was the same Quirk.”

Emi walks over, rubbing shoulders with him while looking around. “So, the Yakuza and the League are going after our friend here. They’ve gone and declared war on the Underground directly, with this. So what the fuck are we doing, standing around here for?”

“Making sure all of us are properly informed, Fukukado.” Shouta looks up at Mirai, who composes himself as he looks around. “The League has succeeded by playing Three Card Monte, and convincing us of the lie that the Queen is ever on the table. The Yakuza might be making a real move against Aizawa, or they may simply be diverting attention from the League as they prepare for whatever Summer Schemes they have. We can’t afford to spread ourselves thinner, when even our best hasn’t proven enough to deal with them.”

Shouta nods, rolling his neck and offering a feral grin to the group. “I’m not the easiest target for them to try and hunt, unless you’ve forgotten. I got trashed by that NoMu, but they were on All Might’s level. That besides, my track record with villains and criminals speaks for itself.”

The others nod, seeming to want to set that awkward conversation aside. Yuuki looks over at Mirai, crossing his arms. “Nothing to report, up in Northern Japan. Nothing the Spotlight isn’t taking care of… Well, maybe a bit. The CRC is stirring up trouble, probably from the League taking out their base.”

Shouta raises an eyebrow, wondering if anyone else was buying that story. Oh, the League would probably kill the CRC to get the practice under their belts. And with what they supposedly knew about Mayhem’s motives, it even fit for her and the villainess Magne to do so in a violent manner.

But the plants, and the lack of disintegrated bodies reported… Shouta knew there was something else going on there, he just wasn’t sure which direction. Was it some NoMu the League was testing, a new member debuting besides Magne, or a Trigger accident by the CRC themselves?

“Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of those. A bunch of CRC members tried to go after the Tokyo Humarise priests, who apparently went and got their hands on Anti-Quirk bullets of their own before the attack. The CRC ambushers had to be scrapped off the pavement, after those guys were done with them.” Emi reports that with a hint of glee, not trying very hard to scrape a grin off her face.

“They committed felony assault and battery, Fukukado. Their lack of Quirks does not change the near lethal means they used, and should in fact highlight their abilities further.” Shouta is surprised by the heat in Emi’s expression, Mirai’s speech stumbling to a halt under her gaze.

Emi crosses her arms, looking at the rest of the room. “I’ve got a dozen Mutant Quirked Hero Students who would have to put up with the CRC’s shit, who feel a little bit safer walking home at night. I’m not going to feel bad for the Government Recognized Hate Group getting their shit rocked, regardless of the people rocking their shit. Humarise is… Kooky, on a good day. But they can have this win, for all I care.”

Shouta sees Mirai turn to him, either for support or to confirm its lack. And… With one of his students seeming to be passively spreading that church’s kinder messages, and the pain he was now aware the CRC inflicted on his students, he wasn’t against them breaking a few arms in self defense. Especially because of the technique of the bodyguard involved; they had almost the same style as him, and had stopped short of long term damage well before Heroes arrived on the scene.

Given they’d also rocked a pair of minor Heroes who mistook them as the aggressors, Shouta was at least slightly less enthused than Emi. “They stopped just short of the point where it’s a problem, since they didn’t go for lethal maneuvers if the reports are true. That’s a concern for the future, not a current problem.”

Mirai takes the concession, straightening out his suit jacket. “Finally, some caution from you. I was afraid All Might’s cavalier attitude was beginning to rub off on you.”

“You’d be the expert on what All Might rubs off on… I’m sorry.” Mirai instantly levels a glare at Emi, who barely manages to finish the thought before she begins giggling to herself…

And for once, Shouta feels himself pulled in by her Quirk. It comes out less ‘laughing at a friend’s joke’, and more ‘the last thing you hear walking down a dark alley at night’. He feels his eyes tearing up, Yuuki shifting a step back as he leans forward, clutching his stomach as he laughs. “Oh… Fuck. I think I needed that…”

“Who are you, and what have you done with our Eraserhead?” Shouta reaches up to wipe away the few tears that escape his eyes, Emi nudging him with her elbow.

He raises back up, flipping his hair back as he looks at the other teacher. “Please, most of your jokes are still terrible. I just really needed… Well, about three bottles of scotch, to start the night with. A laugh or two will have to do, until Summer Break.”

“Might not be much of a break, to the Summer.” Shouta sighs, Mirai turning as Edgeshot breaks the news. “Knowing the Underground might start kicking things up besides, the Commission is talking about more targeted searches for the League. And… Well, any of them become substantially less dangerous without their Quirk.”

Shouta nods, nodding at the Number 4 Hero. “You tell me when, and I’m in. The sooner that’s done with, the sooner I can try to actually get some meaningful rest. Any other information to spread around?”

The others start shaking their heads, Edgeshot holding up a hand. “Actually, I need to have a private conversation with you, Eraser. It’s… Sensitive, to your position in Yuuei.”

Shouta raises an eyebrow, then looks at the others. Mr Brave and Ms Joke both start inching towards the entry hallway, Mirai taking a moment to pull out a notepad and compose notes. He tilts his head, the clothing shop having a back-back room that was the forgotten manager’s office. Kamihari nods, so Shouta leads the way over.

-

Shinya watches Aizawa walk into the abandoned office, looking over his shoulder. He was mostly certain no one from the Commission was watching at this moment, but he couldn’t be sure. There were at least three people who could observe locations from a distance, but this room shouldn’t meet any conditions for them… and Kamihari needed to pass a message along.

Several messages, but while he trusted Aizawa individually, he didn’t trust Nedzu. Aizawa was a skilled younger Hero, someone Shinya remembered watching grow as the teacher’s senior of two years in Yuuei. And as people who’d immediately gotten into Underground work, intentionally avoiding press until it wasn’t possible, they had been aware of each other without making personal connections. That Edgeshot was elevated to the now Number Three Hero in the country was unfortunate, for his abilities to coordinate with members of the Underground.

But that disadvantage balanced out with others, including access to information some would kill for. “The Commission is preparing for different levels of crackdowns, to smoke the League of Villains out. I’m not disposable enough to be used in that regard, but I’m aware plans are forming. You might want to let the Yuuei staff know they may be drafted for… less savory displays, to restore faith in the Commission’s reach.”

Aizawa growls low in his threat, both of them able to imagine what ends the Commission might go to. Even forgiving the presence of the power-loving hands like the Hero Public Safety Commission President Sayaka Kinoshita on the wheel, the Commission had several tools at their disposal to try and regain control. “Last I heard, they were loosening the reins for low level criminals.”

“They’re not so much releasing little fish, as putting them on hooks.” Aizawa takes a second, then nods as Shinya explains. “If they are truly reformed, then the Legal System isn’t wasting resources rehabilitating ordinary citizens. If they return to criminality, then space has been opened up for their connections to be thrown behind bars with the bait. Either way, the Commission has good publicity to spin, should their other plans fail.”

Aizawa sits on the dusty table the manager’s office has instead of a desk, massaging his temple as he considers the other methods the Commission might use. He must have some rumors, some of which Shinya could verify if the man knew how to ask subtly enough. “What other plans do you know about?”

Shinya holds up his hands, counting down several. “Actually going after Mayhem’s long list of targets who’ve gone unpunished for generally disgusting behavior, specifically the rich ones. Apparently, there’s talk of using Civil Asset Forfeiture to take what can be taken from them, whether the perverts and bastards get lawyers or not. Plus a few more Mayhem hasn’t gone after, and seeing if there was any reason for that yet.”

“Broken clocks, and all that; They’re only right for a very short period of time.” Aizawa rolls his eyes, Shinya agreeing with that sentiment. CAF-Laws had been generally rolled back as Heroics had grown in popularity, but not fully repealed. Conveniently, all of them had pauses put on them that could be removed ‘when the situation demands it’.

“General crackdowns on medical research, to see if anything can be linked to the NoMu experiments.” Shinya takes a breath, taking a moment to check his surroundings again before saying the next bit. “After the discovery of a lab of unfinished NoMu…”

Aizawa instantly locks on to that statement, Shinya scanning for a moment before noting its genuine nature. He crosses his arms over his chest, his left hand moving to cover his scarred right elbow. “They found a NoMu lab? How was no one hurt after something like that?”

“The NoMu were somewhere in the middle of the process, and weren’t able to complete. A random electricity grid failure, if you can believe it, might have saved thousands of lives by disrupting this lab’s process. A few notes were recovered, but most Heroes aren’t exactly studying advanced medicine and bio-mechanical horrors in school. Even the best ‘experts’ we can throw together can only begin to understand the processes, telling us what labs or research facilities might have more specialized information.”

Aizawa nods, and Shinya can see him considering details that only Yuuei had. He begins twisting those pieces around, considering questions before looking up in his eyes. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Several reasons. You were hurt by one of these NoMu, so I thought their elimination would bring you some comfort.” Shinya resolutely ignores the existence of ‘Subject Nine’, the human looking NoMu that somehow had a Quirk that let him steal other people’s Quirks. Including one from his sidekick, which made his legitimate concerns about the thing seem personally motivated.

They usually were, but that’s a separate point against that thing not only not being stuck in Tartarus, but being used as a secret Commission asset. Especially bringing in other murderous villains, and being used to assassinate potentially threatening collections of known villain groups, like the CRC.

“No, why are you telling me this?” Shinya jerks back to the present moment, Aizawa studying him. “Not the rest of them, unless you told them before I got here. Either there’s more to say that they shouldn’t hear… Or you specifically want to see my reaction to it, and you’re planning around a bad answer.”

Shinya sighs, Aizawa instantly becomes tense when Shinya shifts how he’s standing. “I don’t want to fight you, Shouta. But everyone’s planning betrayals and backstabs, or just some personal social movements, after seeing how much damage the League can do. I trust you enough to have a solid head on your shoulders, and be able to take the room’s temperature accurately.”

Aizawa flickers his eyes to the door, Shinya taking a step away from it. It was an empty gesture considering how Foldabody worked, because Shinya could kill the other Hero easily. He plays it out in his head, Aizawa probably doing similar math.

Aizawa Erases Foldabody, and rushes the door. Shinya moves to stop him, and stalls him long enough to force the man to blink. Aizawa was a hint better at physical combat, but not good enough to escape him before needing to blink. Then a hand becomes thread, quickly piercing the man through any number of organs or muscles to render him stunned, unconscious, or dead.

The fact that neither of them act is a good sign, one Aizawa moves to capitalize on. “It sounds like you’re one of those people sharpening a knife. Forgive me if I don’t pull my hoodie up, and let you pick the best spot.”

“I’m not asking you to, hopefully. I just want to ask you a reasonable question; can Nedzu be trusted to think of the rest of us as something more than Pawns?” Aizawa stops, and Shinya doesn’t like how it takes several seconds for an answer to form.

Nedzu was many things, Ruthless being disturbingly high on the list. He always twisted the risk away from his current and former students, but seemed more than fine playing games with the rest of the world. Spinning gold from the exchanges across the world, damn the cost to other countries. The rat-bear-mouse had basically limitless funding, spending it to enshroud himself in enigma from even his closest allies.

“He… He’s actually consulted with me, recently.” Shinya isn’t quite expecting that answer, then amends that thought as Aizawa looks him in the eyes. “A man with the world’s most unpredictable Quirk shows up, and Nedzu isn’t going to have me on standby in case he makes a public showing? Besides which, I would have stepped in anyway, out of spite if not protectiveness of my students; that NoMu played me like a fiddle, and half my usefulness disappears if villains think I’m easy prey.”

Shinya nods, almost willing to cut off the conversation here. That told him what he needed to know, or so he thought. Nedzu was pulling strings on people pulling more strings, trying to mastermind a solution to the direct problem in front of him. If he could solve the Hero Commission and Police growing weary of him as well, all the better.

“But if I’ve gone soft, Nedzu has gone liquid since the start of this year.” Shinya raises an eyebrow, and Aizawa huffs a tired laugh at that. “He’s still building deadly defense protocols, and traumatizing students both knowingly and unknowingly. Bakugou and Midoriya… I barely believe half the things he’s done to them, and it’s only the Spring Finals.”

“So you think he’s gotten more… ‘humane’?” Shinya can’t help the play of words, a faint laugh escaping the mask covering his face.

“Maybe. He’s actually asking me, before he does stuff like stake my husband out to be attacked by the League… the Radioshow.” Shinya almost forgot that, three weeks of secretive missions and side projects having chased that from his mind.

What a world, where the League hijacking an interview between a Pro Hero and the HPSC President fades so quickly from people’s minds. “I’d say July can’t be here soon enough, but I have a feeling I’ll regret saying that come August.”

Shouta nods, rolling his neck. “All I can say is that Nedzu seems to be taking a kinder approach this year, like I suddenly am. If that’s a mask he’s putting on, I can’t see the seams around his face.”

Shinya nods, a metaphorical finger lifting from the trigger. He still had a list of sins of the people in power, with old schemes of Nedzu, Police Chief Tsuragamae, and Sayaka Kinoshita noted and ready to expose them. All of them clung to power in their different ways, but held their fire on each other until the threat of All for One can be taken care of.

After that… Shinya is quickly considering what would happen after that, coming to several conclusions in quick order. Hawks is the Number One Hero, it’s just a question of when All Might’s Quirk Burns-Out. Whoever the Commission picked to replace Kinoshita would have to become an expert at The Game, and quickly, because they’d go from a spectator to Hard-Mode in an instant.

Shinya could see Tsuragamae lining up a successor, trying to clean what mistakes he could as his haunting choices drew closer. But while the man had turned his guns to point at Nedzu and Kinoshita over to the Hero, he was still acting as if he was playing The Game. Maybe he was, maybe he was keeping the two from noticing Shinya held his cards now.

The only one who couldn’t be said to have an easy replacement was Nedzu. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely not a good thing when all those plans spin out of rhythm and collapse without his paws resetting them. And maybe there were some good intentions, hiding under actions that no one could fathom until much after the fact.

But Shinya knew this holding pattern couldn’t stay the same forever. What came next might be worse, but he became a Hero out of some sense of optimism. That bright outlook has faded to a single ember on the wind, after dealing with all the worst of humanity he’s dealt with since he became a Hero.

But that ember was still burning; There had to be something better ahead. And he was the one with the choice to throw the switch, and the responsibility to see it done. “Thank you, for your honesty. Keep your head up, and maybe we’ll be able to go out for drinks soon enough.”

Aizawa nods, and Shinya makes his way out into the backroom of the clothing shop. Mirai had left by now, but Shinya assumed he’d stayed and listened in to at least some part of it. Unfortunate, but fine enough.

Chapter Text

Mashirao takes a deep breath, adjusting his bag on his back. He looks at the principal’s door, wondering which of the several things Nedzu might be summoning him for. His tail curls up around his waist as he leans against the opposite wall, waiting for whatever meeting the rat-bear-mouse was having.

Several minutes drag on, Mashirao missing part of Homeroom for this appointment. Considering they were taking their Exams next week, he appreciated that even less than usual. With how brutal the Midterms had been a month ago (Don’t ask him to solve that math problem, cause he’d do worse than he’d done on the Math Test itself), he wanted as much time to study and review as he could get…

The door slides open, a third year Hero Student he half recognizes walking out. The red-haired girl gives him a mock salute, setting off at a jog to get to whatever the Third Years were doing on a Saturday. Mashirao takes a breath, looking into Nedzu’s office as the door stands open.

“Ojiro, wonderful! Please, come on in.” Nedzu was behind his desk, waving the blond in. He edges in the room, taking a few notes as he moves to the seats in front of the desk. Several folders, sorted by some color system that was beyond him, were sitting over a book in a language Mashirao couldn’t read. The rest of the office had more folders, like Nedzu’s shift to paper records could not be contained to the three tall filing cabinets now along the back wall behind him.

Mashirao slides his bag onto the ground next to his seat, Nedzu watching him expectantly. “So… You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes, and offer you congratulations. You upheld our agreement, even as the others in your class began to speculate and panic about the physical Exams. And so, a promise I will deliver on; you all will be taking your Physical Exams next Saturday, staggered thirty minutes between the start of them.”

Mashirao blinks, relaxing slightly when he realizes what this is about. A random visit to his dorm room by the principal, just under a month ago. He’d thought it was just going to be about… Well, the complications of leaving the Dorms, to spend time with his Uncle for his birthday. But instead, it became an assignment of sorts, and it looked like he passed. “I might have asked Izuku about how to see how all the teachers handle combat, for preparation. But that was after Tsu told us how she heard about the Teacher versus Students Exam…”

“It was Asui who learned this?” Mashirao freezes, resisting the urge to bring a hand to his mouth. But Nedzu gives a little tittering laugh, pulling several large bills from his wallet. “Looks like Ryou is winning that bet, then… But good on you, pursuing that information while you had the advantage. Tell me, which teacher do you think you’d match best against?”

Mashirao takes a second, running through the list in his head. Because he’d had weeks to come up with strategies… Which wasn't his strong suit. He could admit that, and that he was primarily good in combat. “Well, you and All Might are automatic losses. Aizawa is a fair fight, which is why I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t match him up against me. Present Mic and Cementos would be hard to get close to, but I have a chance if I close the distance. Not sure about Power Loader, but I’m pretty sure I could match with Ectoplasm, and Midnight if I don’t spend too long in her Quirk’s fog. Snipe probably hurts like hell, but I could probably hold my own against Vlad King if I had a partner…”

“Oh, your Class won’t be matching against Vlad.” Mashirao stops, his thoughts jumbled up by the interruption. “With All Might is participating this year, our usual plans had to be adjusted. We usually have Thirteen substitute for the Homeroom Teachers, but we do need to allow for some flexibility in the schedules. And what a coincidence, considering They will be one of the teachers you’ll be matching with!”

Mashirao blinks, loose plans falling apart like popsicle stick houses as he remembers the teacher from the U.S.J. “Thirteen? Doesn’t she have Black Holes for fingers?”

“They have the ability to generate spontaneous Gravitational Singularities, yes. But worry not, Thirteen is well trained to not grossly endanger the students They have this exercise with. Besides which, Power Loader will be there as well, to both supervise and add to the Test.”

Mashirao takes a moment, nodding as he considers that. The teacher he knew the least about to prepare for, and one he hadn’t prepared anything for at all. So much for that advantage, then. He was going to need a week to prepare anything, especially against them.

“You’ll be challenging the two of them in the U.S.J., along with Iida, Uraraka, and Aoyama. You’ll be taxied to the farthest edge of the Mountain Zone, and you’ll have to make your way out of the U.S.J. through the main front doors. You’ll have an hour to get through the doors, facing whatever traps the teachers set for you… Although, Thirteen will not be triggering any of the U.S.J.’s active challenges during your Exam.” Nedzu looks down at a paper, reading off the conditions for Mashirao.

He then passes the paper across the desk, Mashirao reading over it and nodding. He can feel some hope forming in his chest, actually able to picture passing the test with the listed conditions. “Okay… I think we can work with this.”

Nedzu nods, turning and typing on a wireless keyboard to manipulate his computer. “Excellent! Now, I was hoping you might have time to discuss another matter… One concerning the incident in April.”

Mashirao feels his stomach sink, the breakfast Rikidou had made for the dorm turning to lead. “April… What did you want to talk about?”

Nedzu gives him a moment, and Mashirao isn’t sure whether that was better or worse than quickly moving through this. “Well, let’s make sure we understand each other. The week preceding the Sports Festival, Eraserhead and a number of other Underground Heroes were looking into a lead concerning the League of Villains. This lead was a broker, who had much business tied into illegal matches between people with Mutant Quirks… Including Yourself.”

Mashirao wasn’t expecting the first part, wondering just how much Nedzu might know about what Mashirao had done. A few package deliveries, including one to a sketchy bar in Kamino once, but nothing really bad. “I… I didn’t talk much to the guy who ran it. He scouted me last year, when I was showing some basic moves in my uncle’s dojo.”

“Yes, last year. Meaning the incident in April was not the first incident of this kind, where you participated in unsanctioned matches with others with Mutant Quirks.” Mashirao nods, Nedzu lifting a file up. It looked pretty thin, but that didn't mean it wasn't enough to end his hopes of a Hero career. “Never mind the rocky grounds of Illegal Quirk usage in the case of Mutation Quirks: There are grounds for several charges of assault, conspiracy to commit, and financial fraud. According to this report Nighteye decided to send to me, that was at least the seventeenth match of that nature you participated in.”

“It… It was the twenty-sixth.” Nedzu raised an eyebrow, Mashirao taking a deep breath as his tail tightened around his stomach. There wasn’t any point in lying, given the sheer difference between his ability to hide things and Nedzu's ability to look for it. Might as well get this weight off his chest, here in private. “It… It wasn’t supposed to be that often. But… My Uncle tried so hard to take care of me. But there were times… There were some weeks when the Dojo couldn’t open, or just didn't have any students. If I didn’t join a fight or two, then He would have lost the place last Fall. He and my… My parents built that place…”

Mashirao’s voice gets weaker and weaker through the explanation, trying to ignore the sucking feeling in his chest. Nedzu just lets him go on, Mashirao noticing him reaching for something else under the table…

Nedzu holds out a small box of tissues, setting them on the desk within the student’s reach before retaking his seat. “Your family history was discussed, when I talked with your uncle about your weekend visit to him. And if I had the power to waive all of this away, I would almost do it without a thought. But with additional information presented to me, I need you to understand the edge you’re teetering on. Should anything else like this happen while you’re my student, then actual punishments will be in order.”

Mashirao blinks, unable to stop a tear from escaping his eye in the process. “I… What?”

“This is your first offense while you were my student, so I have some control over this situation while you are in my school. People like Sir Nighteye will judge you, but you have yet to have crossed a line most Underground Heroes are given the discretion to cross on a long term mission. Should anything else of this nature happen while you are enrolled in this school, or after you graduate, then I will have some responsibility in seeing some corrective measures are put into place.” Nedzu pauses, a faint glint in his eyes as he stares at Mashirao.

The student eagerly nods, resisting the urge to prostrate himself in front of the principal. “I… Thank You! Thank You so much, Sir!”

Nedzu nudges the box of tissues closer, seeming to implore the student to take one. “Oh, don’t thank me yet. I have one condition for you, if you would be so kind.”

Mashirao nods, expecting something to pay for everything. He takes a single tissue out, wiping his face and recomposing himself in front of the principal.

“This man, who scouted you. Otuka Kagero, I believe his name is. I’ll need to take that phone number, the one he called you from earlier this month.” Mashirao freezes over entirely, staring at the principal as he announces that in a chipper tone.

Mashirao stands, barely keeping his tail from agitatedly swinging behind him by crushing his stomach tightly. “I… I swear, I haven’t told him anything! I wouldn’t do that, to my classmates! Or you, or Aizawa, or…”

Nedzu nods, waving his paw. “Rest assured, the contents of that call are not my concern. If I were to subject you to monitored communications, I would have the decency to inform you of that. No, I just want to know how he’s contacted you, in our attempts to trace the League. You recall your conversation with Kaminari, wherein he revealed some parts of his history?”

Mashirao takes a moment, his heart beating like a hummingbird as he tries to figure what conversation he could be referring to… Then understands, more confusion driving his thoughts away from rationality. “Denki? He… Oh, when he fried himself a few weeks ago? He said… Wait, so you’d just do this to find the League of Villains?”

Nedzu nods, and Mashirao quickly pulls out his phone. He holds it out, Nedzu taking it and looking over it. “I would like to connect it to my computer, and do a quick backup into my system. Anything unrelated to this matter will be quickly discarded, I assure you…”

“Please, take it.” Mashirao sees Nedzu stumble in confusion, a quiet voice under the ringing in his ears marveling at that. “The League… I’m only good at fighting people, not all this planning and scheming, like you or Izuku and Momo. If I can help you at all, try to end this early, please. I can tell you everywhere a match was, and days he came by the Dojo so you can get him on nearby cameras. Whatever I can do to help.”

Nedzu blinks, Mashirao surprised he was seemingly able to out-think Nedzu twice in the span of a minute. “Well, then… If you’d be willing to assist me for another few minutes, we won’t have to deprive you of your phone. And perhaps you could answer some ancillary questions? I’d rather keep any potential for surprises for the remainder of the year small, and light-hearted.”

-

“So, do you have any other plans for the Break?” Tenya blinks, taking a moment to consider the question.

He and Ochako were just paying for their lunch, Ochako proudly walking away with a moderately full tray from the line. Tenya sees a sort of fire in her eyes, unable to stop a familiar warmth from spreading in his chest. “I am… I’m keeping my options open. Busy schedules besides, I might be spending a bit more time at the dorms, but in a less strict manner than when classes are in session.”

Ochako grins at him, the two of them walking to the table they’d coordinated in class. “That sounds great. After the whole I-Island stuff, I’m not sure what I’m going to do, either. My parents were floating a couple of weekend plans, since the Yuuei Dorm Project’s going to stretch on a little longer.”

“Really? I thought I heard older classes saying they’d be done mid-July.” Ochako blinks, the two of them evidently having heard different things. Not surprising; besides being Hero Students, Tenya tended to attend meetings or gatherings of Business Course Students. A few Third Year Hero Students, looking to see if the Idaten Agency was recovering after his brother’s incident, trying to curry favor with a generally respected Hero Agency.

Meanwhile, Ochako spent some portion of her time with the Support Students, her Quirk being an invaluable aid for some concerningly colossal constructions. “Huh… Maybe some of the dorms need Specialized Accommodations, and they’re keeping their calendar open for that?”

Tenya takes a moment to consider, tilting his head as the quiet corner table already has its two other occupants. Yuga looks up at Tenya, winking as the two boys sit in opposite corners of the table. Ochako takes the other interior seat, her and Yuga taking quick looks around as a couple of people walk by with trays.

Mashirao waits until the two nod to him, Tenya taking a moment to consume a small part of his lunch before the boy pulls out a tightly folded up paper. “So, good news. I know what our Final’s going to be.”

Tenya turns, Yuga leaning in with his hands framing his face. “My, isn’t that a surprise… How did you come across this information?”

“It… It’s a long story, which we can talk about at the dorms. Not… anyways…” Tenya catches Yuga’s eyes sliding to meet his, the two of them noticing Mashirao’s tone carrying a healthy helping of guilt as he tries to brush past the subject.

“So, the four of us… the U.S.J., which is kind of nice. We’ve done a couple of exercises there now, so we know the area… Thirteen and Power Loader?” Ochako reads out the paper to all of them, her extended pinky fingers curling in as she reads the last bit in surprise.

She quickly loosens her grip, the paper hanging in the air for a moment. Yuga and Tenya both reach forward for it, Tenya quickly relenting as the Frenchman pulls it in to review it as well. Ochako looks at the table for a long moment, seeming to consider something as Yuga reads it over. “We’ll start in the Mountain Zone, and make our way to the Main Entrance to escape the exam. Failure to complete it in an hour… Oh Good, Thirteen is restricted in what actions they can use in the exam. At least we can avoid the Conflagration Zone, this time.”

Tenya blinks, his remembrance of the U.S.J. being very different from the rest of the class. He’d barely made it out the doors, barely thirty seconds down the road when the teachers had come rushing in. The others stuck in the Entrance Zone stalled the Portal Villain, rescuing Thirteen when their suit had been compromised by the Portal Villain warping Thirteen’s attack back on them. “Me and Ochako mainly did rescue exercises in the Collapsed and Conflagration Zones, in our return trips through the facility. Which means we have experience navigating a path running counter clockwise to the entrance, possibly saving us valuable time. That’s not accounting for the Central Plaza which is fairly open in and of itself…”

“Which creates a bit of a problem, I believe.” Yuga spins it out faster than Tenya, Mashirao and Ochako looking as Yuga dramatically swipes his overly long bangs from his face. “Either we risk the open areas, where Thirteen’s Quirk will quickly drag us in and subdue us, or we brave the disjoint and chaotic areas that Power Loader can make more unstable. Besides which, they do serve each other in their Combat Styles, being Rescue Heroes that Subdue at complimentary Ranges.”

Tenya can almost see a display behind Yuga, little versions of them playing out several failing scenarios. Not good, but not entirely the worst. Ochako reaches into her pocket, pulling out her semi new smartphone to begin pulling something up. “Our classmates may have an advantage in knowing their teachers better, but I doubt they’ll be blessed with nearly as familiar terrain. And… We might be able to ask Aizawa if the U.S.J. is being used tomorrow, and we could do some basic laps from our starting point to the exit.”

“Four minutes, fifteen seconds from the Conflagration Zone Entrance to the base of the Stairs in the Plaza.” Mashiro says it with frightening accuracy, quickly blinking and shaking his head.

Yuga takes a moment, Tenya seeing him count off on his fingers the path the two of them had taken during the Incident. They’d been partially rescued by Izuku, Hitoshi, and Toru, and Tenya couldn’t begin to fathom what they’d gone through in their challenges. “Yes, but Ochako doesn’t necessarily specialize in speed. I mean no disrespect, but high-heels create a bit of a complication for celerity. And I’d begun dropping the larger pieces of my original costume as we ran through our Zone, whereas I’d assume I’d keep most of the parts for this exercise. So… Six minutes?”

“Then up the stairs, and out, ignoring the teachers for a moment… I believe fifteen minutes is a safe estimate, Yes?” Tenya watches the other two nodding, Ochako taking a moment before she sets her smart phone down.

She takes a moment, then nods as a video loads. “Maybe… Sorry, I was checking with some of the students I know in the Support Course. We did some safety drills for the Support and Business Courses, but we haven’t really gotten to see how Power Loader really works as a hero. But one of them submitted improvements to his gear… I think it was mostly an April Fools thing, but they were very thorough with their research.”

Ochako slides the phone where the three boys can see it, Yuga quickly takes the chance to eat as Mashirao and Tenya watch. The man was combating a wildfire in a plain-like space, creating large shifts in the ground that broke the fire up for his allies to more effectively combat. He also used his tools to toss handfuls of dirt over more concentrated flames, a pair of semi-familiar Water Heroes spraying in the area to create a bed of mud to further limit the flame’s spread.

“Oh, isn’t that the couple who share their Hero name? What was it… Water Hose, right?” Mashirao looks up, Ochako giving a sort of wistful smile as she nods.

“Yeah, they were a really great team. They’re related to Mandalay, from the Wild Wild Pussycats. So the six of them would all go on missions together… at least, they did.” Ochako turns the phone around, minimizing out of the video.

Yuga watches her for a moment, the two boys who’d watched the video finishing the thought. Tenya remembered his older brother attending the service, having had some close friendship with Ragdoll from a case a few months after Tensei debuted. And… Well, Tenya remembers the reason why Water Hose wasn’t around.

Yuga and Mashirao would know especially well, considering the Villain responsible for their death had menaced them in Hosu. When Endeavor’s Sunset Gala had been attacked by the League of Villains, which included a disturbing number of NoMus, Muscular, and Stain in addition to the League themselves. He knew Mashirao had barely dodged a rampaging Muscular before he’d been subdued by the Blazing Sword Hero, Altmile… At least, that’s what the reports said.

Considering the information Tenya was now privy to, the Hero Commission couldn’t be trusted to tell an unvarnished truth. The official story was that no NoMu had been recovered during Hosu, and both Muscular and Stain had been captured and sent to Tartarus. And at least one of those accounts had been proven a lie, with Stain having been walking mostly free as a Commission asset at a closed door gathering.

“So… Anyone have any more ideas about the exam?” Mashirao looks around, slowly picking up his utensils for his meal.

“Maybe… A bunch of 1-H are hanging around today to finish their models for finals, so I might be able to get some tips easier today than usual.” Tenya turns to Ochako, the girl clearly solidifying an idea in her mind.

He nods to her, a faint smile forming without him having to try. “I’m sure you can, Ochako. Should we accompany you, or would you find the task easier without us there to hinder you?”

She takes a moment to answer, then shakes her head. “I think I can do this on my own, this time. If you guys can come up with a couple basic plans while I’m doing that, or just prepare for the written. I’ll let you know if I find anything!”

Tenya nods, turning to his lunch. Obviously, there were disadvantages to this Exam they’d have to work through. But Class A has done more with less preparation then they were getting, so they were going in with an edge they would rarely get to utilize.

-

The Construction Lab of the First Year Support classes wasn’t a quiet place, unless you were strange enough to frequent it in the early morning hours. But in Finals Week, with semester deadlines looming, was a time of constant motion. Even the students with healthy time-management skills were insistently hammering their last few projects, mostly unshaped bits and bobs slowly morphing into their final forms.

No station was as packed as Hatsume’s, though. She had no less than five assignments finished on her desk, with the third part of her five segment Final assembled. And if anyone were to check, they might notice the bag of supplies to work through the weekend; some cup noodles and tea, and the eventually needed change of clothes, taking up as little space as possible as she commands every inch of workspace she could get.

Hatsume shifts the blueprints for her current design to the top, pulling her goggles off her eyes as she considers the fresh welding job. The shell was almost good, the interior power storage cell slots all sitting nice and protected. If she could have gotten Awase to help with the job, she’d get more points for the Cosmetic portion. But she could tolerate losing a few points off there, so long as her Design and Construction went off even half as well as she thought it would.

Now, she just needed a half ruined golf cart to start retrofitting, and she’d be set for her Pre-Final Submission. Or one of the still okay ones, if she could weedle on Snipe for them. Or maybe Power Loader could be convinced, if she mentioned it, then started working on some of her more dangerous babies. The Support Course Teacher always tried to convince her to do less dangerous projects, so she’d started intentionally playing with what he thought she wanted to do. That way, they both win.

So she looks at her finished Babies, debating which of her unfinished ideas could be her timed entry. Because all of them had taken two full periods of lab time to assemble, which was only barely in the time limit. If she could find something smaller, like her Hydraulic Bracer Backpack, then she might be able to build and test it within the six hour time frame of the Practical.

Because while she was able to work on the kinetic redistribution system, that wasn’t something she could really shrink down to fit a single person in six hours. Now, making a flying Bumper Car of Doom for her Semester Entry…

“Uraraka!” Hatsume looks up, seeing the Hero student edging her way into the lab. Several people in between motions are already waving at her, others stopping when they hear the name called out.

The girl quickly looks around, smiling and waving at everyone. Hatsume offers her a salute, looking down to look at the Converter that would feed the Kinetic Absorbers into the Charger. Besides actually getting them to sit safely in whatever automobile body she could get her hands on, then give it enough of a shell to survive a hit…

“Hatsume, can we borrow you for a second?” The pink haired girl looks up, quickly flicking the welder’s power switch before walking over.

Sokutei is sharing a station with Zaphira, the girl occasionally looking at his sketchbook while she works on… A bean-bag shotgun? Hatsume knew a bit about guns from Snipe, but her Dad wasn’t a fan of the bigger models. And Ochako is looking at Sokutei, showing him something on…

Oh, she finally traded up her phone. Good for her. “Did you need a baby for your Exam, Ochako-chan? Cause give me a couple hours with your Quirk, and I can have your entire costume decked out in my newest creations.”

Ochako starts to say something, stopping as an automatic refusal is tempered on her tongue. “That… We can talk about that later. Instead, I needed your help with something else…”

Ochako doesn’t look over at the teacher, who was watching from his desk as he surveyed the lab in general. But his image on her phone told a story, one which made Hatsume grin. “Oh… You need the Analysis videos, from the Third Year’s files?”

Ochako nods, turning her phone down and sliding it away. “Being able to copy down a couple of them would be nice, but I only need a few on… Two teachers, specifically. And if I can do something for you, let me know…”

Hatsume tilts her head, a little disappointed. “I mean, your Quirk would be really helpful. But I don’t need it as much, and I’m the one who the older students lend the files to directly…”

“If you need, I can do a trade lay-up for you.” Hatsume looks at Sokutei, who sets his sketchbook down to display a page on Present Mic. He pulls out a pocket notebook, quickly flipping through pages.

“Your ledger?” Zaphira taps her shoulder with a semi-soft plastic rifle butt, looking at the notes the Design Student flips through pages.

“Yeah… Oh! Tainetsu, you need some help from Ochako for your Semester Project, yeah?” Hatsume turns, seeing the two heavy-set boys in the class trade nods.

The one with cherry red skin is currently buffing the blue glass shells for Aoyama’s light-focusing armor, the shoulder pauldrons being refitted to also release blasts of energy. If the occasional sparks bouncing off him onto his station affected him in his white undershirt, he didn’t show an ounce of care that the shirt was burning through in places. He sets down the cloth buffing gun, quickly picking up a notebook that he flashes over.

“I could also use some help, if we’re offering!” One of the other Design girls calls out from the other side of the lab, waving a long strand of blond prehensile hair holding a pencil.

Sokutei turns, nodding to her. He turns to his book, quickly comparing two pages before looking up. “So, Sutetchā and Tainetsu both need Uraraka to help them. They both have favors they owe me, and I owe you for talking up my Quick-Change Fabric to the Third Years. Uraraka helps them, they’ll get with me to figure that part out, while I help you and you help Uraraka to complete the chain.”

Hatsume nods, looking at the Hero Class Girl with a grin. “Sure. I’ll text the older students, you go ahead and help them. If the driver certification goes the right kind of bad, I might owe you another favor later if you can help me pump out a baby tonight!”

Ochako takes that in stride, quickly nodding and quickly walking over to Sutetcha. Hatsume walks back over to her desk, quickly pulling her phone out to ask for the password for the files.

They were constantly resetting the password to access the Analysis Files, in a step beyond acceptable paranoia. So she has to ask for new access for it, changing the tab to pull up her notes for bettering Ochako’s gear.

Hatsume had a couple of prototypes, including a modification to the Hero’s shoes. She seemed to want heels, but modified Turbine Boots would be amazing if she really wanted to go for aerial moves. Ochako would just need to keep her balance and orientation, or learn how to go without orientation…

“What are those weights?” Hatsume turns, seeing Ochako looking at the High Density Weights Tainetsu’s neighbor was working on incorporating into a training costume for Sato, Shouji, and Kirishima. She’s handed one to examine, the thing calibrated to a setting both of them struggle to… lift…

Hatsume looks at the weights, then down at her designs. She quickly pulls up her notes on Ochako’s Quirk, a long series of pages on how her Quirk affected the Gravity of Objects. How the objects had their mass altered, but could still cause an impact when sent shooting at a target… And the weights were a good way to change Ochako’s mass, and put some real strength behind an attack of hers even with her gravity canceled…

But would she cancel their weight, when she changed hers? Or did she need to hit them individually? And what about when the weight’s weight was adjusted after her Quirk was activated? Would her Quirk naturally compensate? Would…

Hatsume begins visibly vibrating, several of the students in the desks around her suddenly finding something interesting on the ground behind their desks. She ignores that, half a dozen different ideas just for Ochako desperate for paper to be scratched out on. Luckily, Hatsume had a scratch notebook full of her ideas, even if she needed to take several minutes explaining the scratches to anyone who saw them.

She fills up the pages, almost missing the answer text with the analysis folders new password. She takes a minute to scratch out half her ideas, then picks her phone back up to sort through the files for good clips of Powerloader’s fighting style.

She starts downloading them, then turns to look at Ochako again. The girl was letting Tainetsu get readings of the weights with no gravity, readings Hatsume would beg for later. The Hero student looks over at her, then checks that Powerloader is looking elsewhere.

She holds up both her hands, fingers spread out. Then she turns one hand, holding up three fingers… Hatsume nods, quickly pulling up Thirteen’s file to get some of their analysis notes on. Of course, the Hero didn’t like to fight, their big puffy costume made that a very hard thing to do.

Hard, not impossible.

Hatsume could relate, looking down at the parts for her most ambitious baby yet. She sets her phone down as the downloads cue, rubbing her hands together as she begins writing down the rest of her ideas for Ochako’s costume upgrades…

Her phone rings as she’s nearly done with the first generation ideas, already having ideas of how to pair all these pieces together. She looks down… And she can’t help but let out a cackle, picking up and answering the Third Year Support student she’d ask to keep an eye out for a chassis she could get her hands on.

-

Higari takes a steadying breath, watching Hatsume sprint up to his desk. Best case scenario, one of the Third Years finished their submissions early, and was offering to help her with one of her projects. Worst case scenario… No, that might also be the worst case scenario.

“Maijima-sensei, can I please go down to the driving test range? Please?” Higari takes a moment, pulling out his phone. He swipes his uncovered thumb across the screen, accessing Nedzu’s security system to make sure nothing really bad happened over there.

He sighs when he sees the golf cart they were using for students to get learners permits to drive was still in one piece, the hood open and smoke pouring out. The new janitor, a lizard Quirked young man with shock pink hair tied back, was waving an arm through the cloud while trying to get a look at the internals.

Higari looks up at Hatsume, then looks over at the pieces of her modification she clearly wanted to do to it. “I’ll call down to the range, and tell them to shift the cart to the side as safely as they can. I’ll check it later tonight, and get it moved into a lab for you to safely modify tomorrow.”

Hatsume, who was vibrating so fast it almost looked like there were two of her, slowed to a stop. She sighs, slightly defeated as one of their oldest sticking points rears its head. “Okay… If you want to make sure it’s safe, I guess. So long as I can have enough time with it to modify it for my Semester Project, it’ll be fine.”

Higari blinks, hopping up behind the desk to look at the parts Hatsume was putting together. It takes him a solid few seconds, looking at the pieces she made and twisting them around a golf cart in his head until they make sense. “You’re… Oh, a Kinetic-Redistribution upgrade? I know you’ve been working on getting that to work for Iida’s armor, but you couldn’t get it to scale down to a be on a single person. You’re attaching it to a vehicle, instead?”

Hatsume grins, her fists pumping as she finally gets to explain one of her ideas. “Yeap, I’m making a real life Bumper-Car! Plus, it doesn’t need as much fuel if I can calibrate the Adapter to properly feed into a Battery, then replace the Engine. I’m eighty percent there, and that last bit can’t be finished until I know what I’m looking at.”

Higari takes a moment to consider that project, and how dangerous it could be to let her finish it. Not just because of the project itself, but whatever other ideas she was holding onto that she’d start when this project was done. Now, a bumper car that got more powerful the more it ran into things… That might be okay enough to let her finish, and he could think of at least a few uses for it.

Uses that include ramming into a Nomu, or pinballing through a crowd of them. Higari imagines it for a long moment, considering how much damage someone like Nemuri could do to an army of them. Safely ram her way into the center, and immobilize an entire crowd of those inhuman science experiments. Or Hizashi, safe enough as he unleashes a full volume scream with nothing but a few seat-belt shaped bruises after the fact.

“If the cart is safe to work on, and I get to see your basic designs now, I’ll set everything up for tomorrow.” Hatsume sighs, walking over to grab her phone. A minute later, her school email sent him a copy of the schematic to review…

And he’s not sure whether to be thankful that Hatsume doesn’t have any more interest in conventional weaponry than the basic Support Course Student, or terrified that everything she’s designed has a lot more potential outside of lethality. A gun had one use, maybe a handful more if someone like Snipe got fancy with the right sort of trick shot. Hatsume’s modifications to her jetpack and hover-boots could be weapons if used intentionally wrong, and incredible tools with a myriad of uses besides.

He surveys the room, counting off the gear everyone was making. Most of it was tailored to two students in the Hero Course, maybe a handful of Pro Heroes with a generic enough powerset. Tainetsu’s Electric Quirk gear had enough mechanical applications besides, and he had a solid portfolio to be set if even one Aoyama Hero family member caught wind of the modifications he was making to their standard equipment.

And the Design Students Sutetchā and Sokutei had good eyes for detailed and memorable outfit modifications, Sokutei even getting tapped for one of the Big Three’s Costume Remakes since the older students were helping the Teachers with their Costumes for their Semester Exam.

But then, there were students like Zaphira. Some Support Course students specialized in weapons, which was just a hazard to be expected. Sometimes it was just a field they specialized in, other times they were taking a dangerous Quirk and watering it down as best they could. If Bakugo was in the Support Course, Higari could only hope he never made it up to Megatons of Damage.

Zaphira was modifying weapons up and down the scale of lethality, fortunately down more often than not. Honestly, there might be uses for that if the League of Villains started doing anything on a bigger scale. Nedzu got all the credit for dreaming up apocalypses, but Higari could see the temperature of the table. He watched volatile inventors tread moral lines all the time, dancing on the fine line between Victor Frankenstein and the Rani; Unaware of the Dangerous Ground they were treading, or uncaring of the fact.

If Higari was going to try and destroy the world, smashing things up wasn’t the best way to do it on its own. Crushing people’s hopes in the hero system would maybe do it, and going right for the head by taking out Endeavor would catalyze the whole thing nicely. But if Higari was going to do it, he’d get people to start rebelling against the system. Enough people were close enough to the line, even if they wouldn’t move closer without the crowd crush carrying them along.

Some would be selfish, wanting their slice of the end of the world. Others would be defensive, wanting to protect their families as they saw the world fall around them. Even if they had to steal from others plates, so long as their parents and partners and children were fed at the end of the day.

Some would just give up, not willing to stop the collapse as they watched the world crumble. Whether gleefully watching the world burn, or just succumbing to entropy…

Higari blinks, shaking his head. He looks around at the Support Students, all grinning as they invent and iterate. He waves those darker thoughts away, or at least into the back of his head. He can give advice and guidance as the students bring him their inventions, and try to help foster their better selves as they pursue their shades of excellence.

And if he happens to earmark a few designs for use against the League members they know about, then it was just him being overly prepared. Hopefully, it was a list he’d never get any use out of.

Chapter Text

”Okay, and… There we go. Flood Zone’s routine maintenance, caught up with for once.” Anan scoots back along the edge of the center fountain, bringing a cloth to wipe across their brow.

The computer they had opened up on the same fountain’s edge ran through its checklist, and finally chimed completely clean. Anan reaches for a tall thermos of lemonade, looking up at the Sunday Morning sun shining through the glass roof of the USJ.

Now, as long as the computer ran without issue another few times, Anan could safely say the entire U.S.J. has been recalibrated after Nedzu’s requests. It had a dozen new features they could use for testing and training exercises, and another dozen that were probably too much even for the Third Years.

Maybe Nedzu planned to have some Pro Heroes in? Anan could see that, having groups cycling through the USJ for extreme training courses. There wasn’t any way to reasonably copy the sheer craziness of a NoMu, except maybe fighting All Might. And considering the limited time he had from a serious injury, Anan was fairly certain no one would sign off on that. So training in the rescue and response time category was the best substitute they could get.

Anan sees the computer flash up another window, one of the security bots locking onto the group of training students. They switch the windows around, one of the flying drones following the four students Anan would be testing running a lap through the USJ. They’d cleared it with Aizawa, who’d cleared it with Anan, and they’d come with their backpacks and gym uniforms.

Iida could easily complete the course in five minutes flat, maybe sooner if Uraraka cut his gravity and he could just blast off for the door. Of course, that would only get him a pass, but Anan doesn’t know if Nedzu shared that with this group. Everyone could just go every ‘man’ for themselves, the fastest student passing by sacrificing their three teammates.

They look at the two blonds of the group, Aoyama hauling a bag that seems stuffed from the back of the group. A good facsimile of his armor, and he seemed to be doing better than the start of the year. Just because he’d grown up in a family full of Heroes didn’t mean he would be a natural athlete, and he seemed to not particularly excel in either the academic or physical classes.

Anan doesn’t like measuring the students like that, since Aoyama did obviously deserve a spot at the school. He’d gotten better than average on the entrance exam, and clearly had the rigor to put in extra hours of training like this. But They had to look critically at all of this, since that was what a teacher had to do.

Of course, Aoyama’s lacks didn’t hurt the group the most. Ojiro… Well, Anan couldn’t see much of the Mutant student’s potential. Nedzu saw something worth testing, to give them the week’s notice. But Ojiro didn’t have as versatile a Quirk, and his martial arts training wasn't going to be of much use against a bulldozer or black hole.

Then Ochako… Anan can’t help but grin, remembering the girl eagerly asking about some of Their jobs in the past. They were used to the other teachers getting those sorts of questions, and just quietly working in the background. But knowing at least one person was interested in Their career, in the same way other students would ask questions of Nemuri or Hizashi… It was nice, for a change.

And her Quirk… Anan knew there was a document being drafted by the Support Course, studying her Quirk’s strange boundaries. Anan had half thought something was weird since the Sports Festival, but hadn’t had much to go off of since. Seeing the footage of Ochako’s Comet Storm, and all the stones seeming to point at Bakugou and orient themselves to fly straight at him… Anan had a personal interest in asking to match with the student, with someone else who could manipulate Gravity with their Quirk.

It wasn’t the rarest thing, with maybe one in every thousand Quirks able to move things against gravity’s pull. But actually bending it, manipulating it on a scale like Ochako could… Anan could think of about fifty people in world history like that, several of whom were long dead. Anan and Higari matching up against Ochako might pull some interesting results from her, getting to stress her Quirk with the singularities They could make.

Frankly, there weren’t a lot of easy ways to balance out the classes in a four on two matchup. Two on One had worked for years, and now Nedzu was dialing it up for this class of First Years specifically. Anan knew why, but that wasn’t any fairer. They’d already matched up against the League of Villains, and however many NoMu had been thrown around in Hosu through a Copy Quirk and Teleport Quirk.

Anan watches them reach the bottom of the Mountain Zone, Iida checking a watch. The four of them form a circle, pointing one way and another as they debate which path to take. Which was basically choosing to be devoured by Scylla or Charybdis, no path allowing them out without losing something.

Of course, whichever teacher they decided to confront, the other could move back to the entrance to cover it. That’d probably be Their job, since Power Loader was the person the students were most likely to try and confront first.

The computer chimes, Anan looking over as a video call pops up. They tilt their head, clicking on the link that quickly opens up to a connection to Nedzu. “Hey, Boss Mouse. Just got the tuning finished in the Flood Zone, and I’ll do my double blinds with Higari when he’s done making sure Hatsume doesn’t destroy something important.”

“Excellent! I also saw that the Fortress Auxiliary Terminal and Manual Assault Nullifier system was properly debugged, and partially integrated with the systems of the USJ. Any issues you or Higari have noticed that you haven’t gotten back to me, yet?”

Anan takes a second, tilting their head with a nervous grin. They reach up, scratching covered fingers through the blue hair that was starting to get too long for them. “Well, I think the FATMAN system should be ready if we need it, yes. If you ever want to use the USJ to launch the school’s robots at a problem, we’d be able to while also preventing Mayhem from hacking it from either side. How effective they’ll be is up to Higari, and whatever Mecha Anime plans the Third Year Support Students have.”

“And the First Year students, supposedly. Those siblings with the Drone Army have practically been absorbed into the effort wholly, with their impressive knowledge of aerodynamics and regulation.” Anan nods, looking at the footage of the students coming towards the plaza.

The two of them had a minute, Anan leaning in and lowering their voice. “I have to say, I don’t feel comfortable helping with the system if all Higari does is add additional weapon systems to it. I was thinking we could upgrade the security and rescue protocols, in case the League decides to drop a portal full of NoMu in the middle of the campus…”

“Of course I want those upgrades, when you and the other staff have the time to assist in such designs. Frankly, I’ve already been impressed with the thorough programming details you’ve already supplied them with.” Nedzu pauses, Anan feeling a bit of comforting warmth at the principal’s genuine compliment. “That’s why I’m more eager to improve their offensive capabilities; If the League ever fires off that particular nuclear option, I want to be ready to respond in kind. Hence, the FATMAN’s current bend.”

Anan nods, quickly manipulating the screen to see the progress updates on the updating. “Well, it should be ready for a demo later this week, while the students are busy taking exams.”

“It might need to wait, until Higari’s blood pressure goes down from corralling his classes. Perhaps concurrent with the I-Island Expo?” Anan takes a moment, thinking about their calendar for that week.

They pull out their phone, scrolling through a meager list of appointments and conferences. “I think… I should have most of next week to run those tests, too. I might need next Wednesday, for a clinic follow up.”

“Of course, Anan. You have more than enough sick days, and I shouldn’t monopolize your time.” Nedzu turns, clearly getting an update from another teacher. “Oh, and that’s Class 2-C’s homeroom teacher. If there are any complications, don’t hesitate to send me an update.”

Anan nods, the call ending. They take a second, their ears faintly picking up the sound of Iida’s engines boosting him along.

The four students sprint into the Center Plaza, all of them checking their time as they clear the change in bricks that mark the area’s differences. Aoyama nearly falls backwards from his bag, Ojiro and Iida both hopping a few steps as their adrenaline hums through them.

Anan grins at them, the boys all taking a moment to adjust to seeing their face. Like they couldn’t decide if this was Thirteen spying on the students they’d be testing, or just how Anan likes to spend a Sunday morning.

But Ochako… Oh, the girl’s face lights up. Like when the other students saw All Might for their first lesson with him, seeing the Number One Hero for the first time in person.

Ochako looks at the boys, who each wave her on with a grin. She quickly jogged over, positively beaming at the teacher. “Thirteen… Um, I know you’re more comfortable in your helmet, and all. But… Could I get a picture with you?”

Anan watches the girl pull out a smartphone, grinning and adjusting on the fountain’s edge. “For my favorite fan, sure. But if I beat you in your Finals, you’re not going to do any mean edits to my photo, will you?”

Ochako moves over, taking a few seconds to actually flip around to the selfie mode. “Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. I actually have one of your exclusive posters on my wall in the dorms, so one little match won’t sour my feelings. As long as you’re okay with losing to me, too!”

Anan can’t help the grin that spreads across their face at that, holding up two fingers over Ochako’s head as she gets the right angle. Just as she moves her thumb to the button, Anan focuses on the faintest bit of force concentrating in their hand. Not actually pulling on her hair, but more like it was being held on end with static electricity.

Ochako’s hair spikes up for the photo, Anan laughing as the girl lets out a confused noise. Anan drops her Quirk, the water in the fountain audibly sloshing as the gravity in the space is altered. “Hey… Wait, you can do more than Black Holes?”

Anan picks up the computer, turning as the fountain’s water waves over and splashes over where it had been a moment ago. “Yeah, everyone thinks it’s just Black Holes. And that’s a really useful Quirk to have, when you need to clear out a mudslide or get rid of some really dangerous stuff. But that’s just one of my Super Moves… Don’t tell anyone, though!”

Ochako nods, both of them raising their fingers in a ‘shush’ while she leans to check where the boys are. “That’s so cool. That… Wait, you could be a really great fighter! Like, you could throw off someone’s entire balance, or make a punch really impactful.”

Anan nods, a faint queasy feeling in their stomach. “I mean, yeah. I did all of that Combat Training when I was in Hero School, and I was good enough. But… Well, doing that can get really messy. Pull too much, and people’s bones and muscles can start to get permanently damaged. And I just really don’t like punching people, you know?”

Ochako takes a second, some of the shine in her eyes fading as she nods. “I… I understand. I… Honestly, I didn’t really start thinking about how my Quirk could be used in a fight, till I started studying for Yuuei last year. I just wanted to get a license to use my Quirk commercially, so I could help my parents with their construction business.”

Anan tilts their head, leaning in. “Really? We really do match, huh? If I can be honest with you, I transferred into the Hero Course from the Business Course after my First Year’s Sports Festival. If anything, I just wanted a quiet life in some warehouse job, until a bunch of Hero Course teachers took the time to talk me up on Rescue Work.”

Ochako raises her eyebrows, looking entirely enraptured. She looks ready to continue the talks, only for Ojiro to cut them off. “Ochako, we’re going to head back up to the Mountain Zone.”

Ochako looks at them, Anan nodding and tilting Their head. “Go on, concoct a scheme for the Exam. Do us Rescue Heroes proud, eh?”

Ochako nods, her smile bright as a sun lamp as she runs over to follow the class. Anan looks down at the computer, running status checks on Nedzu’s defence programs.

And even if Anan could obliterate every NoMu that dared cross Their path, They might not get there in time. So the choice was clear, even if the hope was it never got used.

Better to be healthy with a first aid kit, than injured without one.

-

Ochako types on her phone, more than a little frustrated when she can’t pull anything up. “Come on… I know I’ve seen Their Sports Festival before…”

“Something wrong, Ochako?” She turns, seeing Yuga move to look at her screen.

“Yeah. I was talking with Thirteen, and They were saying something about their Sports Festival. You know that website Izuku showed us, with all the Sports Festival Broadcasts?” Yuga nods, the memory playing out for all of them.

Izuku wasn’t just smart, although he was definitely in the running for Smartest in 1-A. He had so many Hero websites he’d recorded and had access to, which he’d periodically shared as the year had gone on. No one paid attention to every one of them, but a few stuck to one or two of them when they found information they wanted.

But he’d gone and found Sports Festival Footage of all their teachers that might be in the Exams, only missing Power Loader since the Support teacher didn’t really make it to the tournament rounds. Everyone had those videos bookmarked, and were doing different analyses as they searched for anything to use.

But Thirteen both hadn’t been expected, and hadn’t been seen in any of the footage… Well, they hadn’t known they were looking at Thirteen. But Ochako knew Their face, and knew she’d seen something about a General Ed kid with a Gravity Quirk in at least one tournament.

Yuga takes one look at her phone, then points up in the corner. “You’ve got your data turned off. Swipe down up here…”

Yuga guides her through the process, letting her lack of understanding about her new phone slide off his back. She sees a few bars light up, and the pages start loading. “Wow… Um, thanks.”

Yuga nods, his hand coming up to frame his face. He had sweat beading at his hairline, and his little trick of making small sparkles at his hands causes them to refract out like a disco ball. “Of course, mon cher. And did you get anything else, while you were talking to Thirteen?”

Ochako frowns, tilting the phone into her chest. “I mean, that wasn’t why I was doing it. I wasn’t just scouting for information for the test…”

“I would never accuse you of that, Ochako. You’re a modern woman; your every action has five reasons behind them, only three of which even you are aware of.” Yuga waves his hands, smoothly passing over Ochako’s offence like he was icing a cake. And Ochako helped him with Rikidou’s cake last week, so she knew just how smooth he could be when he set his mind to it.

Ochako shakes her head, the phone starting to quietly play the intro to the Sports Festival broadcast. She checks it, seeing the most recent Third Year’s Footage was playing.

Tenya and Mashirao both turn, the four of them pausing at the base of the Mountain Zone. All of them recognize the tune, Tenya nodding and looking around. “You have something to show us? While you pull that up, we should discuss the best path out of the Mountain Zone. There were a number of exits to the two Zones adjacent, but only one to the Plaza Center.”

“There was also a path leading to that ridge, right up there.” Yuga points a finger, Ochako briefly looking up to see a ridge with a nice patch of sunlight shining on it. “If Ochako is able to suspend our weight, Tenya might be able to propel the four of us straight towards the Entrance…”

“We’ve checked, and Ochako’s current limits don’t include all of us, with our sets of armor. She’d be able to hold it a minute, and Thirteen interfering with the process would cost us greatly.” Ochako finds the right footage, and all of Tenya’s points are correct. She knew her upper limit of weight from all the helping the Support Course, and a few months of Strength Training weren’t groundbreaking. They’d helped, but she wasn’t going to be able to reach the necessary point in a week.

“Under everyday circumstances, I’d agree. But we’re mainly combatting our partner’s nausea, yes? We know we’re doing the test Saturday morning, and Ochako can plan so her stomach is prepared. With some accuracy, once we know the order of the tests. It’s what I do every Tuesday, before Foundation of Heroics.”

Yuga sweeps lengthy bangs from his face, Ochako actually nodding as Tenya turns to her. “That’s not a bad idea, but there is something else. If you guys… I can hold my Quirk better if I’m just standing, not using it on myself.”

Mashirao raises an eyebrow, looking to the other boys in the class. “Hang on… You’re not suggesting we sacrifice you for the three of us to pass, are you? What… What if we need you to shut off your Quirk?”

“The comms.” Tenya nods, Ochako taking a breath. “Momo’s helped the Sound Specialists in the Support Course add them into our basic equipment, and we’ll probably set the frequencies the night before. It’s possible, but not preferable.”

“I’m not saying I want that to be the plan! I just… It’s worth pointing out.” Ochako quickly mutes her phone, having finally scrolled down to the year she’d bookmarked for review.

“It’s also completely senseless. I’m the best choice to be left behind, if we’re speaking of sacrifice.” All of them look at Yuga, who studies his nails with a grim frown. “If we’re looking at this sensically, Ochako needs to use her Quirk, and Tenya is the Engine powering your momentum. Mashirao joining you doesn’t add any problems, and gives you some physical presence if Power Loader manages to catch up. But let’s leave that as our last resort, for now.”

Ochako looks at the French student, who has a minute tremble to his hands. She shakes her head, waving off all the bad thoughts they were pulling in. “Here’s Thirteen’s First Year Tournament.”

The three boys crowd in, Ochako manipulating the phone so they could see. Mashirao reaches out to take it, beckoning her to stand between him and Tenya. She maneuvers in, since she was short enough that it wouldn’t block them from view.

The footage wasn’t as good as their year had, just a few cameras around the ring that had good zooming. Apparently run by the Business Course, the student’s had a little blurb read out by one of the Third Year Hero Teachers giving a quick summary of their Quirk over an animated still of them.

Ochako reached forward, skipping through the footage until they reached the important match. Thirteen was matched up against a student with a Beastal Transformation Quirk, reminiscent of one of the boys in Class 1-B. They’re nervously shifting around, looking up at the crowd watching while fiddling with the ripped up hem of their gym shirt.

“Why is Their shirt damaged like that?” Mashirao asks while the video buffers, all of them taking a moment to analyze Thirteen’s total lack of defensive stance.

“The second round that year was a capture the flag variant, and there was a girl using paperclips with a Metal-Controlling Quirk. Thirteen matches up with her in Round Two, and it’s a pretty mean looking grudge match.” Ochako taps the screen, seeing the bars flicker before the video starts playing at a lower quality.

It’s still plenty easy to see the Beast Quirk student transform into something bovine, quickly going down on all fours to charge Thirteen. They look to both sides, struggling to pick before the Hero Course student is too close for Them to dodge to the side…

Thirteen instead runs at him, throwing Their arms down as they meet the student…

The four all let out noises as the Bull Student contorts to the ground, like he’d been hit with an invisible hammer. The video buffers as Thirteen’s arms thud into the ground, the cement base actually cracking from whatever forces They were controlling. The exact frozen frame is a close up on the two student’s faces, both of them extremely shocked Thirteen was able to hit the Hero Student that hard.

Ochako had seen the footage before, but she was still surprised by it. She’d been thinking about how she could do a move like that, not really coming up with anything she could do on her own. She could help someone else do it, like when she and Katsuki had helped the Support Class with a turbine that got jump started by a hammer blow. A super heavy hammer she’d made weightless, only to return all its weight on impact… Honestly, she’d had that idea from watching this video.

“So, it’s not just Black Holes. It’s also Super Punches… Ochako, is it too late to ask for a few lessons from Them?” Ochako tilts her head, Mashirao’s glib words making her consider a few options. Because knowing Thirteen could do this changed their plans, even if the Hero didn’t like using it.

“Not in a week, no. But I’m definitely getting lessons from Them as soon as we’re back from Summer Vacation.” The three nod, Ochako taking a moment. “Until then, we still need to decide which of them is easier to fight. Powerloader might be our best shot, if Thirteen is actually able to fight.”

“We’ll study those videos from Hatsume when we get back to the dorms, after a few laps. Let’s do a lap through the Landslide and Collapsed Zone, then another few between both to get an average.” Tenya lays the marching orders, Mashirao passing her phone back as the four begin taking the path back up the mountain.

Ochako reaches out, tapping Yuga’s bag to negate the weight he’d packed into it. He looks over, and she shrugs with a grin. “Save you a bit of strength, on the walk back.”

Yuga nods, mouthing ‘thank you’ as the four of them retrace their path to the top. Ochako begins scanning the Mountain Zone, seeing several side paths and plateaus that could end up areas where Powerloader might ambush them from. He wouldn’t just be limited to the Landslide or the Collapsed Zones, just because those Zones were the easiest to trap them in.

There were so many options to prepare for, too much for one person to process. So Ochako begins typing them out into a notepad, making sure she could keep all of them so the four of them could come up with a good enough plan.

-

Yuga lounges on one of the Dorm couches, an ice pack on his forehead. He’s also loosely fanning himself, a magazine helping as he tries to recover from all the exertion of the day.

“How could you not tell us you knew which teachers you’d be going up against? That is primo knowledge!” Yuga looks over, seeing Denki and Hanta both looking at Ochako with betrayed expressions.

“Because we didn’t ask, until now! That’s what the answer always is!” Mina grouses from the kitchen, a popsicle from the freezer still pointed at Ochako a little menacingly.

Ochako shrugs, Tenya politely moving around Mina with a quiet request to fetch Ochako her sweet of choice. “This was Mashirao’s deal, and we kind of got distracted planning for our test. I almost think it’s a punishment from Nedzu, making us worry about our Exam all week.”

Mina opens her mouth, then nods a little gloomily. “Yeah, he’s definitely sadistic enough to pull something like that. But I guess it makes it easier to guess what our tests will be like. How much easier, who can say…”

“About three quarters, if my math is right.” Everyone looks at Hanta, who looks around a little offended. Yuga’s offended in his honor, considering none of them are particularly foolish in this class. “I might not be Izuku smart, but I am more than competent at math. Sure, it’s combinatorics, but there’s guides for that.”

Denki tilts his head, Tenya quickly offering the explanation. “The math of how many ways different things can be combined. A basic question on it would be, ‘I have four thousand yen in my wallet, How many different combinations of bills could I have to make up that amount?’ Things like that.”

Denki takes a second, then nods. “Okay… Oh, got it! So you plug in how many different ways they could combine us, then however many combinations of the teachers testing us, then plug those together into a calculator.”

Hanta nods, Yuga walking over as the boy types into his calculator. “Okay… So we calculate the different student combinations by… okay, so plug in to find all the unique combinations…”

“Why… Right, we can’t have a team of all the same single person. Got it.” Denki quickly cuts himself off, Hanta tapping a finger to his nose.

He turns his phone on its side, pulling out a scratch piece of paper to write down a number. “Right… So the four person combinations of the twenty of us is a little under five thousand, but sixteen of us only have some eighteen hundred…”

“No way…” Mina starts counting off in her head, Yuga almost worried for her as she starts dragging her fingers up and down her arm.

“What’s worse, we then do the teacher’s difference. They go from a simple forty-five combinations, to twenty-eight… assuming this combinatorics calculator is correct.”

“No, that’s right.” Everyone looks up at Denki, who brings a hand to his chest as if offended. “Okay, now I get how hurtful that is.”

Mina stops her counting, rapidly blinking as if her brain was being scrambled. “How can you possibly know that, just off the cuff?”

“Most recently, Izuku and Katsuki’s card game Mashirao got a deck for as his birthday present. There’s a format with a bunch of Hero Combinations, and the new sets coming out in a month. It has eight new Heroes that can all team up in the deck, and the combination there is just adding one through seven, since eight is them paired with themselves.”

Yuga nods, Tenya verifying the math. “That’s correct, for this smaller sample size… Maybe I should talk with Yaoyorozu, to adjust our study halls…”

Hanta shudders, setting his phone down. “Okay, so… four from twenty, measured by two from ten… I don’t know the name for that sort of number, but it’s four followed by a hundred and nine numbers, according to this.”

Everyone leans over to see the phone, everyone needing a second to process that number. Even by his standards, Yuga has a hard time even picturing anything remotely comparable.

“The number the rest of us care about is 5 followed by sixty-nine numbers…”

“Nice…” Hanta rolls his eyes, Denki referencing something that completely breezes past Yuga.

“But that includes combos like Me, Kouji, Toru and Asui versus All Might and Nedzu. They’re not all equally likely, is what I’m saying.”

Yuga nods, slowly sliding into the chair beside Denki. The other blond takes a long moment to think about the math, writing something on the table. He then jumps when he notices Yuga’s presence, and a chuckle can’t help but escape the Frenchman. “Regardless, we weren’t intentionally keeping you all in the dark. We merely… Pursued our own self interest. And there was no appreciable harm to the collective, so I think it’s forgivable.”

Hanta nods, rolling his neck as everyone tilts the phone for them to compare two formulas plugged in. “Anyways, we have a lot less raw odds to consider. Plus, we at least know the remaining teachers well enough to at least guess if we have a chance against them. Power Loader and Thirteen… I mean, you guys have the best chance against both of them. A secret weapon, really.”

Yuga nods, Ochako’s face heating up as Mina and Denki both turn on her. “I mean, it’s not really a secret. I said Thirteen was my favorite Hero in the USJ, and I’ve been helping the Support Course since the Sports Festival.”

“Yeah… Oh, I get it.” Mina takes a second, looking at something Yuga couldn’t see. “They’re testing all of our skills, not just our academics and Quirks. Ochako knows a lot about the two teachers, but she’s kind of passive when we’re all planning or plotting things out.”

Yuga blinks, slowly running through the many activities they’d done. From Foundation of Heroics classes, in groups or as a class, to additional activities throughout the semester.

Ochako takes a moment, actually turning the statement over as Mina nods sagely. “No… Wait, hang on. I was tied for most points in the Hero Course Free Day, and I was leading us around to all of the challenges.”

Mina takes a second to finish off her popsicle, seeming to think of how to keep her point. “Yeah, you followed the plan Izuku and Momo made. All of us move in groups through the challenges, helping each other when we overlapped before moving on. And I remember you taking a big time penalty to help six of us through the Night Vision Maze, when Eijiro is the one who suggested it…”

“Hey, something going on down here?” Yuga turns, seeing the red haired boy walking in with Momo. Everyone was in casual clothing, Eijiro in a loose t-shirt that he typically wore when he was going to the gym facilities the school allowed them to use.

“We’re just discussing the Practical Exam, with which a number of us have an advantage.” Yuga produces the paper Mashirao had received, the two new students walking over to take it. “And apparently, there’s some aspect of psychological warfare to the teams.”

Momo quickly reads over the paper, passing it to Eijiro as she connects threads. “I suppose… Ah, I see. You, Ochako, and Tenya have dynamics amongst each other, leaving Mashirao out of the loop. Ochako’s got a passive personality that requires time to participate in planning, and neither teacher is particularly vulnerable to Tenya’s combat style. In fact, they both pose physical threats to the both of you, since either can take advantage of limited mobility.”

Yuga blinks, considering the web of connections Momo was drawing. He lowers the ice pack to the table, tapping his fingers on it as he considers. “Astute observations. I wonder if Nedzu plans to proctor your test himself, for a battle of wits.”

“Oh, that would make things so much easier…” Momo and Yuga both turn to Mina, who takes a second to visibly regret speaking out loud. “Right… Hey, do any of you guys want a popsicle? Rikidou made sure to stuff the freezer, when he took the weekend trip to spend time with his parents.”

Mina quickly turns, not waiting for an answer. Everyone clocks the quick dodge, shaking heads as Hanta turns to Momo. “You said your mom was calling you? Anything happen?”

“Oh, nothing important for the school. Just that she’ll be busy until after the I-Island Expo, with international partners.” Yuga raises an eyebrow, leaning in as everyone else starts turning away.

Eijiro nods, the three of them on a slightly different wavelength than the rest of the class… Well, not everyone. Shouto and Tenya shared Yuga’s claim to being from Hero Families, even though most of Yuga’s active relatives called several Western European Countries their home. Hanta shared Momo’s claim to being from a family with successful companies to their name, Momo’s family concentrated into a largely successful one while Hanta’s had about a dozen belonging to different wings of his family.

And all of them had connections with the Kirishimas, who made up several vestigial parts of the Hero Commission. So his interest would usually, in more normal times, be met with a hint of suspicion. “I thought she’d be busy in July, after those South American elections were over.”

“That’s the normal season, yes. But with the League of Villains still active, everyone’s shifting to secret private meetings, rather than the usually more public ones they do.” Mina walks out of the kitchen, Eijiro turning and grabbing the offered sweets.

He waits till Momo’s finished to offer hers, Yuga taking the remainder with a quick expression of gratitude to Mina. “Uncle Loui is saying much the same, even in smaller countries. The League not only still being around for months, but having several successful operations, is causing quite the disquiet. Everyone expected them to be handled by May, and then Hosu shattered that notion. Japan’s status as the Hero Capital has been greatly impinged, with other countries apparently picking up their Police and Hero training programs and ramping them up.”

He unwraps his confection, the table going quiet for a moment when they overhear that open information. Of course, Yuga only knew a handful of countries where it was the case directly. His cousins in Hero Schools or as Young Heroes in France, Italy, and Spain were all talking about new training regimes, twice as grueling as anything they’d had to do before.

And his Uncle, being the Head of Otheon’s Police Force, could be trusted to relay that information. Assuming everyone else was telling the truth, even though Yuga’s parents weren’t in a position to directly obtain useful information in their own right.

Tenya seems to want to say something, but the words get caught in his throat. Yuga raises an eyebrow, that tinge of social pressure enough to coax the words out of his mouth. “The Heroes should have this under control, without us needing to worry. The Commission has been focusing on the project, so we should be able to put this all behind us come Fall.”

Yuga nods, looking up at the hidden camera in the corner of the room. He wasn’t always sure Nedzu or one of the teachers was watching, but he felt that that reassurance was equally for their benefit. Tenya was trying to keep his fellow students calm, and tell the teachers they had their trust.

And of course they did; Of all the times something could have happened to them, the teachers had been there to protect them. Yuga wasn’t sure where his faith was going at the moment, with so much uncertainty going around.

He wasn’t even sure he wanted to be a Hero; it was the best thing for his family’s benefit, so he’d studied for the Yuuei Exam. But now that he was here, in the Hero Course, he’d be a fool to give up that sort of position. Not just because of the social benefits to him and his family, but because of all the danger building because of the League of Villains.

Sure, he was technically a target of theirs by being in Class 1-A. But they’ve shown a willingness to endanger the public with their attacks anyways, and here he was being protected by Nedzu and the Yuuei teachers as a student. And he was getting better at defending himself, both martially and with his Quirk.

And… Well, he thoroughly appreciated the company of his classmates. He didn’t show it often, but their company was a delightful way to break up the hours in the day. Perhaps he wasn't anyone’s closest friend and confidant, but he could live with being a small part of a greater whole.

That’s what Yuga had done all his life, as an Aoyama. At least with Class 1-A, he chose what was expected of him. And the disappointment wasn’t as pointed, when he failed.

-

It’s scenes like this, of a teenage girl excitedly revving up a saw over a destroyed golf cart, that makes Iguchi really regret missing out on those last few high school classes. He’d been halfway through considering an internship with a local mechanic for his third year work study, only for circumstances to entirely spin out of his control…

The lizard-Quirked man shakes his head, pulling down a pair of goggles as the pink haired girl excitedly makes her cuts and modifications. He quickly steps forward, grabbing part of the cart’s body that would tip over onto her as she pretty much dismantles it.

He was aware of this Hatsume girl by reputation, but hadn’t seen her work before. He’d cleaned up enough soot and ash to know her general vibe, and he’d been expecting more of that when he’d been asked by Power Loader to mind her while the Teacher helps the Third Year Support Course Teachers set up for their Finals. The fact that she was just cutting up pieces and generally stacking them up was a bit of a surprise, and he was waiting to see something actually explosive pop up…

Hatsume stops as something loudly chimes under the saw, which she flips the switch for. She looks up to notice him, nodding before shifting to let the saw slow down while pulling out her phone. “Perfect. I need you to go bring my friend in, while I finish laying everything out. I need his sticky hands, so this baby can gestate for a few days!”

Iguchi takes several seconds to process the sheer audacity of that statement, slowly letting the bent and dinged up frame lower to the ground in front of the pink haired girl. He turns, and walks with some speed across the separated Support Lab to the main door.

He swipes his Staff I.D. across the scanner by the door, the thing sliding open to reveal one of the Hero Course First Years. He had spiky black hair, a blue and white plaid headband matching the jacket and t-shirt under it.

The kid gives him a look, then snaps his fingers with a grin. “Hey, you’re that guy teaching us how to drive, right? Kaibara mentioned you stole one of his nicknames… Spinner-Sensei?”

Iguchi blinks, almost laughing at the absurd luck that he’d gotten the same nickname in two different places. Frankly, hairpin turns in a cart makes for a much cooler Spinner than a spin kick to the side of a guy’s head. “Yeah, plus whatever else they need someone durable to handle. Hatsume wants your help putting something together?”

The kid nods, the two of them walking inside. He spreads his hands out, wiggling his fingers. “My Quirk lets me Weld stuff together, almost perfectly. The bond can break down after a few days, but the Support Kids are working on compounds to improve the connection.”

Iguchi nods, turning to see Hatsume carefully dragging over a wagon of mechanical parts. She begins moving her hand like a cameraman framing a shot, seeming to move all the pieces into the perfect place in her mind before touching them. “Oh, you’re the kid who can do that? You’re doing a lot of favors for the Support Course, I hear.”

Iguchi knows he heard the kids name, but he can’t place it immediately. The boy rubs a hand on the back of his neck, a faint grin spreading across his face. “I mean, yeah. I had a couple of gearhead friends in Middle School who always asked me to help them, even though we kinda shouldn’t have. But it gave me a lot of practice with my Quirk, so it’s long lasting for all the jobs these guys need it for.”

Iguchi nods, tapping a finger over his lips when the kid starts. The boy nods, the two of them agreeing he hadn’t heard anything. And really, what could the kid have done with a little Quirk like that? Maybe a few pranks, but it wasn’t something permanent.. “Actually, that’s pretty interesting. Your Quirk lasts for days… Can you just undo it, un-Weld things?”

He nods, pulling out two little deformed pieces of metal. “It’s harder, if I stick something inorganic to something organic. We did a Capture the Flag game a couple weeks ago, and the Flag was kind of stuck to my hand for a minute. But otherwise, I can pop things apart in a few seconds if I need to…”

“Well, I need those digits at maximum stickiness, Awase!” The two guys jump, Hatsume suddenly right next to the two of them. “I need to stress test this thing, and we usually don’t do that to your work until after we add to it. But I need to see if I got the prototype right, then we can work on making it permanent.”

Awase nods, Iguchi watching him survey the bits with a curious eye. “Okay… Usually, you let me mess around with whatever you have me help with. But I can’t drive… And I don’t know if I want to drive this, if it isn’t finished yet.”

Hatsume lets out a long exasperated sound, shaking her head. “Come on, give me some credit! If I wasn’t willing to put myself in the epicenter of an explosion, I wouldn’t risk one of the Support Course’s favorite Hero Students to a little organ juicing…”

Iguchi holds up a hand, the two kids stopping as he imposes himself. “Excuse me, what was that about liquifying organs?”

Hatsume turns, waving her hand. “I was kidding! If the calibrations are wrong, it’ll be a little vibration as the Capacitor and Converter don’t properly sync up. Your legs will go a little numb, and you might go a bit hard of hearing for a few minutes… an hour, tops!”

She walks over to the wagon of parts, moving to pick up pieces over to the cart. Iguchi looks at Awase, who stares wide eyed for a few seconds. Iguchi almost respects the kid’s survival instincts, right up until he jogs over to help Hatsume with a heavy looking piece to slide under the cart.

Iguchi shakes his head, and walks over. The two kids are struggling with finding an angle to slide the thing under the cart, apparently thinking the large battery pack looking thing that they can barely hold together will be easier for Hatsume to lift while Awase slides up under the cart, and Welds into place with his Quirk.

Iguchi turns, seeing a couple of tie down straps from a big pile of tools and pieces one of the older years brought in. He takes a few seconds while they lug the piece over, running over some of the random tools and parts he’d seen in his walk about while Hatsume had done her initial examination of her prize. “Both of you, set that thing down. If you’re going to do this, I’m going to make sure you do it right.”

Hatsume sighs, setting down the battery pack. Awase partially collapses on the other side, his arms trembling while Hatsume’s just has a faint sheen of sweat from all her other work.

She crosses her arms, and Iguchi can hear the sass she’s trying not to spitefully throw at him. He got the feeling she just liked working on stuff, and probably hated all the extra social bits that happened around her in the school. Big mood, honestly. “Okay, then. How do you want us to do this?”

Iguchi hooks a thumb over, Hatsume’s eyes flickering over and seeming to dilate to focus on the straps. “There’s a couple jacks over there too, last time I checked. We jack the cart’s body up, so you have room to check before he Quirks those pieces together. You and I use those moving straps for leverage and grip, sliding the thing under there. We trade ends, then pull it up into place for Awase to Quirk his magic.”

Hatsume takes a second, her head tilting to the side as she imagines it. She tilts her head back, pointing between parts as she twists the problem around. “Okay… Let’s do the Body Stabilizers first, give the bars of the cart enough strength for us to hook the ratchets into something sturdy. If nothing else, we can just strip them if the initial test doesn’t work.”

Iguchi nods, turning around to help grab the necessary tools. “Good. When I test drive this thing, I’d like the odds of it exploding or liquifying my organs to be lowered…”

Hatsume rushes up behind him, her boots easy to pick out now that he was paying attention to her movements. “Hey, hang on a second! It’s my baby we’re talking about here! If it’s not behaving, I’m going to be the one who sets it right!”

Iguchi continues walking, taking the straps from where they were rolled up on a countertop to inspect them. “And you’ll still be checking it, after I make sure it doesn’t just explode when you turn it on. Your teacher wants me to keep stuff from exploding, so this is the next best thing.”

Hatsume makes a noise in her throat as Iguchi sets one set of straps down, taking the next two and their ratchets when they’re of acceptable quality. “Fine, but just this time. Most of my babies aren’t going to accidentally explode like this one might.”

Iguchi hands the straps over, going to a cabinet under the counter. He pulls out two car jacks, a pump bar close enough to grab between his pinky and ring finger as he hefts the other two up. “Oh, I know… Most of them explode intentionally.”

“They don’t… I mean, I test them to make sure they’re durable, so it’s not them exploding!” Awase watches them, walking over as Iguchi places the jack in the right place.

Hatsume picks up some bars laid down in the wagon, the girl instructing the boy on how to Weld them into place. Iguchi walks around to the other side, spinning the jack handle in his hand. “Nothing needs to be that durable. What, are you trying to make a suit of armor that can survive a nuke?”

Hatsume takes a second to answer, sending Awase to get the next pieces before talking across the cart. “Did the teachers show you the USJ footage, after they hired you? How that NoMu could just… obliterate a wall from Cementoss, and still keep up with All Might?”

Iguchi blinks, vaguely remembering news footage and a couple of people talking about the footage leaking online. “I didn’t see it, no… Hang on. That guy with the bird beak and exposed brain matched with All Might?”

Hatsume nods, hefting a heavy bar up with ease that Awase had to drag over by one end. “Yeap. And there are over a hundred Hero Students who are probably going to be fighting one of those, if the League of Villains goes after All Might again. And the rest of us here, since I know at least a dozen of the Support Course Third Years are designing gear for themselves. No shame to anyone who won’t, but there’s a good number of us who are already planning where to be, when it happens.”

Iguchi takes a moment, imagining what he’d seen of the League of Villains. And then he mentally wanders the halls of Yuuei, having seen most of the students halfway as he’d run paper memos or paperwork between classes. Plus all the teachers, especially the older ones who weren’t Licensed Heroes.

He knew Nedzu had a bunch of robots to defend the school, which was already impressive. Now Iguchi was imagining Snipe leading a battalion of Support and Gen-Ed Students, raining ordinance from the third floor with Cementoss reshaping the shell of the building into defensive battlements.

Iguchi had an entire Siege playing out in his head, quickly refocusing as Hatsume slid across a stripped out seat to start on this side of the cart. “Yeah, I explode a lot of stuff. But with those explosions, I test what kinds of fabric make the best school uniforms for the students who don’t have cool Hero Costumes. The Second Years and up have a super cool stitching machine, but even the 3-D Printing Queen Yao-Momo can’t make up for super rare materials needed for a job of that size.”

Iguchi nods, walking over to help move the surprisingly heavy metal bars for Awase to Weld into place with a few taps of his hand. He then drags his finger over the seam, taking a jagged and rough job and seeming to soften it and better complete it on a slower scale. “Sounds like you’re planning to be the General, in this Army.”

“Nah, that’s Kenkyū. I’m just making sure if things are that bad, my babies are here to pick up the slack.” Hatsume looks over the Welding job, nodding before walking over to unroll the straps.

“Then it’s more important for me to test this, rather than you.” Hatsume turns, Iguchi offering her a grin. “Well, sounds like you’ve got a lot of work in front of you. And Recovery Girl doesn’t like her patients working themselves to death in her clinic, so that’s just time wasted, right?”

Hatsume takes a second, then lets out a small giggle before throwing the wound-up end of the strap to him. “Okay, then. But I still get to do the first test drive, once it’s safe. This Baby is worth a fifth of my grade, and there’s a lot of work to do before this Saturday.”

Iguchi nods, the two of them ready to lift this heavy as hell piece that’s going under the cart for whatever reason. And maybe he should pay a bit more attention to the Support Course, in the next couple of weeks. He might just end up with the mechanics Work Study he’d been planning on years ago.

Chapter Text

“Alright, and that should prove an appropriate division of the students for the Exams.” Nedzu strolls through the halls, to a wing of the school that’s less often used. He scurries up a second floor incline, to the halls that went mostly unused in the normal school year.

A number of basic function automatons open the doors to the rooms, Nedzu mildly surprised when puffs of dust don’t escape into the hallway. Peering into the closest one, he sees he hasn’t given Gran Torino’s hired help enough credit. He’d taken keeping the school clean seriously, even the hardly used sections. He’d really taken to the ‘Plus Ultra’ spirit.

The robots begin lifting and arranging desks, pulling them from stacks along the walls of a slightly larger room to spread out into an appropriate hall. Nedzu looks down at the list, typing the order while also saying it. “Four students from each of the eleven classes in the grade, easily fitting into the sixty desk halls with space to discourage cheating. With the twenty halls of that size, that leaves five in case anyone’s Quirks cause undue disturbance during the tests. That allows the Business Course and Gen Ed Teachers to mind the students for the Common Core Exams, leaving the Hero and Support Teachers to their more involved Finals.”

Nedzu walks out of that one room, checking all the others. He nods, the automatons spreading the desks in the same pattern across all of them. All the while, they were grumbling in patterns of speech that would sound new, if he hadn’t programmed them long enough ago to hear every variation.

Yes, they were repeating the patterns that indicated they hadn’t been serviced in long enough, but they were going to get their much needed overhauling and upgrading through July. He’d made sure the Support Course staff who were interested in the project were all informed of the opportunity, and he’d specifically reached out to former students and discreet employees of the companies he had his paws in, all to make sure that went off without a hitch.

Nedzu walks out into the hallway, a set of automatons attaching group markers to each of the doorways. Nedzu sent an order to print, finally getting all the students safely divided in ways that should reduce the risk of accidental Quirk Interactions interrupting the test. Like keeping the eight different Electricity Manipulating Quirks out of the same hall, when three of them were in the same Support Course. He wouldn’t make that complacent mistake, again…

His tablet chirps, and he tilts his head. He reaches into his finely pressed suit’s chest pocket, pulling out an earpiece he quickly connects to. “You are now connected to… ‘Principal Nedzu’… How can I help you?”

He takes an intentional mechanical affectation, to match the directory number for people looking for a specific section of the school to call. It was always interesting, when someone called this direct line to him…

“Good Morning, Nedzu.” The mouse bear raises an eyebrow, not expecting the heroine on the other end of the phone this early in the week. “I felt the need to inform you of an urgent matter.”

“Of course, Ryukyu. Dare I assume you’ll be needing to bring your Work Study student out of class, later this afternoon?” Nedzu quickly minimizes the call screen, already able to tell from a faint whistling of wind that the number 10 Hero wasn’t calling from her agency building.

He pulled up the schedule of the Third Year Hero Course, which wasn’t so easy as dividing up the students in their classes. Enough in both classes had pressing work studies, so making sure their Heroics Finals were in the earliest slot was paramount. And fortunately, he’d set the ‘Big Three’ into the earliest Finals slots just in case this sort of thing happened.

“I can’t speak in specifics, but that’s partially because Fatgum hasn’t given them. We have an urgent tip, which might require our Work Study Student’s presence sooner in the week than we planned.” Nedzu hears Ryukyu sip from something, hopefully something to perk her up from a long night or a too early morning.

Frankly, he was planning on taking a nice weekend long nap, huddled in one of the dark corners of the school he’d made into a perfect nest. “I was already scheduling the students with Active Work Studies as such, with their academics easy enough to postpone if they were summoned. Simply let me know when they’re needed, and I’ll make sure to send them over the instant they’re ready.”

“I don’t think it will be until Noon, but I literally can’t say more… For more than one reason, these days.” Ryukyu seems to emphasize that, trying to pass a message along at her easiest convenience.

Considering she was acting as a spy of sorts for him on the Hero Commission, he would hope she was doing this from one of the phones he’d gotten her the Commission didn’t know about. “Yes, these are very troubling times we’re all preparing for. I’m just glad I have Pro Heroes like you, Kamui Woods, and Fatgum shepherding my students as they get desperately needed experience.”

“Kamui… Right. He was saying Padmini was coming along well, since Ahsha’s unfortunate meeting with Stain. Nejire tells me the others in Work Studies are also growing more skilled at a necessary speed.” Ryukyu goes quiet for a minute, Nedzu taking a moment as a quick moving automaton races down the hallway.

It pauses for other automatons to take copies of the Hall’s assigned students, racing around to hit all of the Halls in use. Nedzu flicks his finger across the screen, seeing Aizawa’s little automatic message that he and his earliest rising students are preparing for class.

That, and the students who travel from outside the newly constructed Dormitories are starting to arrive. One of the Gen-Ed advisers, an Owl Mutant woman, offered students who had to take inconvenient early trains a Study Hall. One that was mostly for catching an additional hour of sleep, but Nedzu wasn’t about to turn down a necessary sacrifice of her time to provide a frankly needed service.

“Sorry, just a group of kids spray-painting a building. They’re not half bad, actually…” Ryukyu seems to be appraising whatever piece she was looking at, a wistful whisper as she trails off.

Nedzu nods, the sheet automaton taking copies to drop off at all the Homerooms. “Well, I need to prepare my Testing Halls for the proctors. And while a Business call like this is perfectly pleasant progress proclamation, a more social solicitation would surely stand sensational.”

Ryukyu gives him a moment, Nedzu imagining the heroine rolling her eyes from the grin on her voice. “How long have you been saving up that one?”

“Three weeks, actually. I had to take a few minutes to find some astute vernacular, but I haven’t had the chance. We all have our ways of making it through the day, after all.” Ryukyu lets out a long noise of agreement, the call ending as the automatons finish setting up neat rows of desks in the halls.

Nedzu looks over at the list on one of the doors, each of them marked so each Grade and Class wouldn’t get confused. Really, he wanted the students to get into the Halls in as painless a fashion as possible, without too much wandering through the halls… actually…

“Let’s add a few units through the adjacent halls, to provide directions. The Basic Units, which won’t be used in the Third Year’s Exams.” Nedzu speaks as he types out the commands, having a little laugh at the groups for the exams.

Well, the groupings of the Hero students. It was one of his more merciful moments, all things considered. Class 1-A was the ones who would notice first, and there were enough of them with positive connections to Class 1-B to tell them this was their groupings for their Foundation of Heroics Practical Exam.

And the students he would be testing… Oh, he had such plans. The selection of Ashido hadn’t been more than pettiness at first, but he had found his excuse after not too long. The girl had such acumen, if she was just allowed to focus on a problem. She had more kinesthetic sense than most of her class, so a physically demanding final with necessary logical thinking would be perfect… Yes, that was how he’d explain picking her.

Kaminari was rather the same, with the boy’s random trivia showing he had some promise. But with his Quirk’s potential to cause such damage to himself… Well, Nedzu had some sympathies there. More than one student had Quirks that caused detrimental cognitive effects, or simply had learning processes of entirely different kinds. Nedzu wasn’t going to let a potentially useful mind fall to the wayside, when it learned more from a weekend Wikipedia binge than daily history lessons.

Then… Oh, Nedzu, had little excuse for the next part. But he saw the potential to take care of a twisting problem, one which none of the groups of teachers were really able to handle. Midnight, Aizawa, and Hizashi were all in different groups, all of them having their hang ups testing Hitoshi. And with Higari and Anan already selected, that just left him and Ectoplasm to ensure the boy was fairly tested on his abilities, with less bias than any other option.

And then there was Katsuki Bakugo… Pairing him and Hitoshi was bound to cause problems, unfortunately. But none of the four man groups were perfect, all having some flaw Nedzu had been unable to properly balance. At least this way, he could ensure the exercise went off with as few hitches as possible.

He had many hopes for the Explosive student’s emotional growth, but this was still a measure he thought necessary. Besides which, Ashido and Kaminari should be able to prevent the two of them from doing anything more than petty fisticuffs, which was far less destructive than them using their Quirks to fight each other…

At least, hopefully it was less destructive. Acid, Electricity, and Explosions all running amok in close proximity. Inviting that much Disaster was bound to balance the scales, at that point. At least, that was Nedzu’s hope…

Besides, Ectoplasm was the one teacher whose survival was… negotiable. So long as the original was kept out of harm’s reach, there was an acceptable threshold for carnage.

And Nedzu’s personal amusement. If he happened to enjoy a bit of terror from them as they fought through his latest Maze, no one but the omniscient audience need be wiser.

-

Oh, this is the revenge for all those snide comments. Mina looks at the little handout for several long seconds, all her notes pouring out of her head as she hears Mashirao mumble in front of her. “Huh, the four of us testing together on Saturday are in the same Study Hall. That… that could just be a coincidence, right?”

“Sure. It’s one in five thousand, but there are smaller odds.” Denki turns to look at her, the two of them quickly looking back to the papers. Mina doesn’t look over to the other side of the room, trying not to insult the two of them by staring.

Because… Well, she needed to get Katsuki and Hitoshi to work together to pass. No one was sure if one person failing meant the whole group failed, or if it was a case by case failure. But while the two of them didn’t look like they were actively considering murder as a career path when the other entered the room, they weren’t exactly vibing together where she could see.

And she had extra reasons to worry. Because she’d been in the right place at the right time, and gotten advice about this. That weird old Italian woman, who was apparently important enough that her death had warranted an entire lesson in History out of nowhere to explain why she was important, had warned her about this. Maestra had, on her last day alive, decided this was important enough to devote a prophecy to.

Mina had long since gotten rid of the paper, but she’d copied down the note onto her phone. The warning was also burned into the back of her eyelids, enough that she could read it off from memory like a prayer. “One Man with Many Faces: The Rat God’s Conspirator. Do Not Run the Maze Blindly: Blue Stars Will Guide the Mindful. Keep your Friends Close at Hand: They will be Seized Otherwise. Danger in the Forest Camp…”

Apparently, Maestra’s Quirk worked a bit like the app Hanta used to work out the combinations for their groups. She could take hundreds of points of data, maybe from reading people's thoughts if the rumors were true, and spin them into a prediction of people’s behavior. Of course, acting on that information would cause the prediction to change. And Mina had seen enough Greek Mythology Summarized videos online, understanding that it wasn’t good when you tried to subvert a prediction of the future…

Mina shakes her head as Aizawa claps at the front of the room, drawing everyone’s attention. “Alright, things are going to be different this week. For the Midterm Exams, we just changed your class schedule while staying in the same room. For these Finals, we’re going to assign you to a Testing Hall up on the Second Floor. Vlad will take you and Class B up there shortly, and you’ll divide up into the appropriate Hall…”

“Aizawa-Sensei, um…” Izuku raises his hand, the teacher turning to the Class Rep as his fingers curl in. “… Will the Testing Hall be our Homeroom for the week? Or will we still start the day here, and come back here for some portion after the tests?”

Aizawa nods at the question, pulling out a remote to click on a projection on the board at the front of the room. The usually grungy brunette actually looked a bit better put together, his hair freshly washed and combed with a better fitting black turtleneck on. Despite it being Summer outside, the teacher didn’t show any discomfort at the temperature. “Nedzu provided this provisional schedule, noting that any changes will be immediately given as necessary. You’ll be given a copy in your Hall, when you head up there.”

Everyone nods, looking around at their groups. Mina didn’t know who was in what groups, and she didn’t really have that many people she could ask next to her… And she shouldn’t, since she needs to keep all her Finals cramming in her head.

“That’s probably going to make things really hard, Kero.” Mina tries not to turn, as Tsuyu talks to herself. Because she could be talking about anything; as the only student who wasn’t living in the dorms full time, Tsu had a lot of stuff going on that they only heard about during Lunch and her occasional overnight stays…

“What’s going to be hard, Tsu?” Mina hears Ochako asking, the faint sound of desks squeaking and moving a few inches as people lean to talk to whoever they were close to.

“Well, I’m paired with Izuku for the Finals.” Mina stops, and looks up at the ceiling. She can hear the dramatic violin music, as one of the best potential partners for the Practical Finals paired with Tsu and two other people.

Really, Tsu kind of deserved a group partner like Izuku. He was one of the best students academically, and he was constantly trying to help everyone while training. And he was practically the star of Class 1-A, everyone in the school had heard by now he was the kid who beat a Zero Pointer Robot in the Entrance Exam with one punch…

Except, Mina can also understand the hiss of sympathy that echoes out from the people around Tsu. Because all of them were aware of how Izuku was that strong. How he was improving so fast, and why he was so eager to help everyone else in every little way he could… And why that was maybe a terrible burden for him to shoulder, and how it would affect his partners in the Finals.

Also, any test meant for Izuku might be unfair for the rest of them… But that could also be said for the other high ranking students. Whoever was paired with Shouto would have to deal with a test made with Shouto in mind, with his double Quirk. And whatever Nedzu had in mind, it was tuned to test Katsuki and Hitoshi along with Denki and Mina, not the other way around.

The door to the classroom slides open, Vlad King stepping in. Mina looks out the door, seeing a few members of Class 1-B standing there and looking in. “Alright, everybody up. Bring your bags with you, and stay with Class 1-B until we’re at the Testing Halls.”

Everyone in Class A rises, rearranging as they join Class B in the hall. Mina and Denki wait for Hitoshi, Katsuki lagging behind to whisper something to Izuku when she checks behind her.

“Hey, Mina?” Mina turns, quickly looking up at the tallest boy in the Hero Course. He adjusts his ketchup red backpack over his shoulder, which paired with his mustard yellow skin in a way Mina has laughed about more than once. “Looks like we’re going to be in the same hall, for the Exams.”

Mina looks at her paper again, actually looking at the rest of the names besides Class 1-A. “Oh, yeah… Oh, and Nagisa from the Support Course is there, too. She’s one of the Design Students, and helped with my costume…”

“Yeah, I know her. She helped with mine, too.” The classes start to follow Vlad King, Mina keeping up with Bondo for a moment as they catch up.

The two of them weren’t absolute friends, but Mina really liked him. Especially after he helped with the Chemistry Midterm notes she needed, and they’d talked a bit about their Quirks. She and Bondo were stuck together like glue after that, and no, she would not stop making that joke, thank you very much.

Vlad leads them through hallways, quickly going into sections Mina didn’t recognize at all. “Sheesh, you never really appreciate how big this place is. I swear, Nedzu is some kind of wizard, to fit this much building in here.”

“It’s because we’re already on the second floor.” Mina jumps, not expecting Toru to suddenly add to the conversation. Bondo startles too, a barely perceptible yip causing a few of the other students to look over. “One of the older kids showed me around, and explained it. See the yellow trim, between the ceiling and the walls?”

Mina follows the sleeve that lifts up, nodding when she sees the color’s changed. Class B didn’t look as used to following Toru’s motions, taking a few seconds of Class A looking up before they followed their looks. “Huh… Wait, when did we start walking up?”

“About three doors back.” Most of the Hero Students turn the other way, another hallway intersecting with them. Mina focuses on the person who spoke, a younger man leading another group of students. He was in a bright red suit jacket, which clashed with the dark red leather armrests of his wheelchair in an eye popping way.

“Karasuma, been a minute. You got your tie clip back, I see.” Vlad King speaks to the man in a familiar way, the Hero students pausing as this teacher rolls up to meet him.

Mina half recognizes the students who begin folding into the Hero Student’s group, mostly from tables in the cafeteria. General Education Students, and evidently the ones in their year. “Yeah, Kayado finally played another hand of cards with me. She nearly added my watch to her collection, but I got three kings and a pair of pocket aces against her club's suit flush. You should come by next week, for our next Poker Night.”

“Oh, you’re just saying that because I still have that hourglass you won at the last Fall Festival.” Mina hears the obvious mirth as the two teachers banter, Vlad King lagging a step behind this Kurasuma guy. It was really weird to think about, the Hero Teachers hanging out with all the others.

Not weird on its own, obviously. But Mina can’t imagine Vlad King in normal clothes. So she’s imagining him in his full Hero costume, trying to bluff in Poker against people dressed normally.

“You think you know everything about Yuuei, then something else happens that makes you realize how little you know.” Mina can’t help but giggle at Bondo’s statement, waving her hand as the boy tilts his head quizzically.

Because BOY, did he not know how right that statement was. And he didn’t even know about the generational Supervillain Conspiracy, yet. At this point, Mina wasn’t sure she wouldn’t trade seats with someone from Class B… No, actually.

The universe could pry her spot in Class A from her cold hands, even with all the complicated Villain stuff they hadn’t worried about in about a month. She cared too much about her friends to wish them away, even in a stupid hypothetical. If she was in this, she was in it for the long haul.

-

“So, you two aren’t going to try and kill each other, right?” Denki looks between Hitoshi and Katsuki, who are appraising the other carefully from the back of the group. A group which had gained another two classes, one having some of the Business Course kids Denki recognized from Hanta introducing them.

Hitoshi looks back, flashing a tired grin his way. “Oh, I won’t kill him. No matter how much he begs for it…”

“Not even in your dreams, Insomniac.” Katsuki always has a bit of anger in his tone, but Denki is pretty sure this is the nicer anger he’s been sporting for the rest of the year. The drill instructor anger, from people not living up to his expectations, not the homicidal kind from before the U.S.J.

The hundred students and three teachers, the third of which Denki had barely seen before she joined the other two at the front, seem to come to a halt at a corner. And Denki can faintly hear the rolling of something heavy made from metal, and a high voice calling over it. “And you all should be in Hall Seven… Good! And now the First Years, right on schedule!”

The crowd is a bit sluggish, Denki taking a moment to walk between the two and whisper between them. “So, how are the four of us going to prep for the Heroics Finals? Anything we can look out for?”

Hitoshi takes a moment, seeming to be looking at someone in the crowd before leaning in. “If I had to put money on it, Nedzu wouldn't let Aizawa or Mic be our proctors. Maybe Midnight, but I'm not sure if she’s that biased.”

“So that leaves… Ectoplasm, Cementoss, All Might, and Vlad King?” Denki runs through the list, Katsuki huffing at the third one.

“If I could put money on it, All Might is going to be matched up against Izuku. It’s the only match up that’ll prevent the two of them from obliterating the school; they’ll pull their punches with each other, whether they mean to or not.” Katsuki taps his fingers on his bag, clearly running through the combinations in his head.

Denki nods, a few of the Business Course students near the back turning to them. He waves at them, then considers the teachers left. “If I had to guess, Aizawa would be on that test, too. To make sure neither of them go too far, and to specifically see how good Izuku is without his Quirk.”

“Makes sense why he’d be paired up with Fumi and Tsu, then.” Denki looks over, Katsuki rolling his eyes and pointing up in the crowd. “Fumikage flashed me his paper, back in the hallway. The two of them and Sero are paired with the Nerd, for whatever that’s worth. Putting Tsu in a test with Aizawa makes sense; he can’t cancel her Quirk, and she’s a good fighter that can back the others up if theirs are turned off.”

Denki nods, Katsuki already plowing ahead on the logic behind the matches. Maybe he was lucky, to get paired with the explosive blond and two of his closer friends for this test. “Cool… So, we just need to figure out some team moves between us, and not fail the written tests.”

Hitoshi nods, Katsuki huffing with a laugh. The three of them follow the line, Denki turning as he hears a bunch of quick footsteps coming up behind them.

He almost hides behind Hitoshi, recognizing the girl leading the Support Course classes in a jog behind them. But Hatsume gives him a happy grin, not a ‘I’m going to dismantle your torso with a sledgehammer and spite’ grin, like when he fried her stuff during the Sports Festival.

Hatsume turns, waving the Support Courses along as she jogs in place. And besides one person in an ankle cast with a crutch he partially sees in the back, all of them look like they jogged over from the Support wing of the school. A lot of sweat and reddened faces, but no one was collapsing from the exertion. And considering all the labor they did for their inventions, most of them should be in top shape, like the Hero Course.

The class in front of them finally passes the corner, Denki hopping up to see who was organizing everyone. He sees an Owl Mutant woman waving people into rooms with normal looking arms, a sort of brownish set of feathers poking from her short sleeves and her collar. “Good, you’re all already grouping up. Find your rooms from the lists, and step inside. Formal seating will be given, so don’t get too attached to any seats while you wait!”

Everyone in Class 1-A was already divided into groups, Hanta waving up the Business Course students who were in his room. That caused other Business students that hadn’t already to find their Hero Course hall-mates, something Gen-Ed copied enough to create a column through the crowd as people began moving along the walls.

Denki follows the two boys into the frontmost right-side Hall, seeing a bunch of desks spread out in orderly rows for all of them.

“They’re going to make us turn in our phones, once the test starts.” Denki turns, seeing a boy with a tall black pomp at the teacher’s table at the front. He was writing on a small sandwich bag with a marker, a stack of empty bags sitting next to a large plastic bin on the desk next to the teacher.

Denki plants himself against the wall, another dozen kids coming in as he pulls out his phone. He goes to the actual phone section, going to that little section that lets you set specific messages for when someone tries to text or call, but gets bounced to Voicemail.

Taking a Test right now, can’t talk. Will Call you back later!

He looks up, seeing the Owl woman poke her head in to look around. “If everyone could… Oh, thank you, Tsutsutaka.”

The boy at the front nods to the teacher, who quickly leans back out to apparently start guiding the last First Years into place. Denki shrugs, walking up to bag his phone for the testing.

It takes another few minutes before the teacher comes back in, everyone cycling up to at least claim a bag and write their name on it. A few people stand at the front, sending off a series of texts before they’re taken away. In the meantime, Denki starts looking around the room, taking in details while he has a minute. Like the metal rolling cart against a wall, probably the clanging he’d heard from around the corner.

Sixty desks, forty… four students, the last one coming in with the teacher. The Support Course boy with a crutch, who the teacher waves to take the front most seat as she walks up to the desk.

She fluffs up her jacket, quickly waving an arm to get everyone to look up to the front. “Alright, everyone. Some of you haven’t met me this year, or might have just forgotten. I’m Professor Mavinda, the General Education Courses Consultant. Like All Might for the Hero Course, Or Inko Midoriya for the Business Course, I provide supplementary educational resources that wouldn’t otherwise be available… Although, I’m not nearly as impressive as either of them.”

“You’re great, Professor.” The boy with the pomp calls from the front row, several students adding to it. The owlish woman flushes, producing a small fabric fan that she cracks open with a satisfying sound.

The teacher quickly moves her free hand across the front desk, moving a few papers before pulling one to the top. “Ah, here we go. As I call out your name, please make your way to the seat I indicate. The seating chart was specifically designed to make the testing go as smoothly as possible, but we have a few minutes to make any adjustments needed… Like this one. Maehara, you’ll be traded into this frontmost left desk.”

The kid with an ankle cast quickly takes to the seat, a girl Denki half recognizes from Business giving him a sympathetic look. “How’d that happen?”

Maehara looks up, laughing a bit and reaching up to scratch at his pinkish blond hair. “Oh, it’s nothing cool or interesting. I was helping one of the Second Years, and got it rolled over by one of those rolling toolboxes.”

“Alright, then for the rest of the front row… Hatsume Mei, Bondo Kojiro, Togeike Chikuchi, Aizawa Hitoshi, and Tsutsutaka Agoyamato.”

The teacher doesn’t notice the entire room suddenly go silent, forty sets of eyes flying up to land on the purple haired boy. Hitoshi stands still for a moment, then quietly moves over to the seat as two General Education students move to take the seats next to him. Denki waits for him to look over, then flashes the purple haired boy a grin and a wink.

His face flushes slightly, but he’s still tense as the rest of the class is organized. Mina’s settled into the front left behind the kid with the hurt ankle, and Denki waits before getting put in the middle of the class. He’s quickly joined by one of the Class B students, the brown haired boy giving Denki a small wave when he sits down.

A pair of Business Course students are placed behind them, Denki almost starting a conversation with the Class B boy before he hears their conversation. “Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll Brainwash you like he did the rest of his class…”

Denki’s easy grin becomes harder to maintain, half turning in his seat to look at the two behind him. They look up when they notice him, quick to offer fake smiles as more students are sat around them. A pair of girls with black hair, one in twin tails while the other had it loose over her shoulders.

“Hey, guys. Couldn’t help but overhear, despite your best efforts…”

The one with her hair tied in tails laughs, bringing her hand up to cover it. “Yeah, I figured. Be honest; Does he pay for you to lie about him, or is that just more Brainwashing?”

Denki frowns at the both of them, debating on whether to actually say something mean about the both of them. Sure, they were saying stuff about Hitoshi he couldn’t stand. But he didn’t exactly want to just do the same thing to them… Besides, they don’t really have any outstanding features to even comment on.

He starts thinking what he’d even insult about them, only for that thought to be cut off by the Class B boy next to him. “You shouldn’t say that sort of stuff about one of your classmates, you know.”

The one with the looser hair focuses on him, a confused grin on her face. “Tsuburaba, what are you talking about? Don’t tell me you don’t see it.”

Tsuburaba opens his mouth to respond, only for Katsuki to pass to go to his assigned seat. He pauses just behind the girl with her hair in tails, then hooks his foot around the leg of her desk chair.

He tips the chair off balance, the first girl slipping and crashing into the other as Katsuki quickly moves past them. The two girls let out confused shouts as they jostled each other, the rest of the class turning to see what happened. He takes his seat, looking at them and giving an entirely flat and dull apology. “Sorry, didn’t see your chair leg there.”

“Bakugo, no more of that for the rest of the week. Am I clear, young man?” Denki sees Katsuki look up at the teacher, whose kind soft tone immediately takes a hint of steel to it.

He offers a quick salute, sliding his phone out of its bag to send a quick text. “Loud and clear, Sensei.”

“Good. Honenuki, please take Bakugo’s seat. Bakugo, if you could take his seat at the very back of your row.” Denki turns as the two girls pick themselves up, everyone turning around as the teacher quickly deals with the problem. “Okuda, Kanzaki, do I need to separate you to opposite sides of the front rows?”

“No, Sensei.” The two quickly answer with drops of poison in their tone, but they don’t say anything else that Denki can hear. They’re probably texting each other, or someone else who shares their thoughts on Hitoshi…

And man, did Denki completely miss that people would think about Hitoshi like that. Add in that now people would have some half truth about him being adopted by Aizawa before the day was done… Oh, this was not going to be fun.

-

“Pencils down, please.” Katsuki looks up, his test already done a few minutes ago. He’d started adding notes to the scratch paper for the Math Exam they were doing, running through possible strategies for the Practical.

The teacher scans the room, Katsuki bristling when she focuses on him. He figured Nedzu would leave a note on him for whoever was watching this class, or the teacher would just keep an eye on him just because. His shitty behavior at the start of the year wasn’t exactly a secret, if everyone’s reaction to him during and after the Sports Festival meant anything.

And if those two girls had been shit-talking him, fine. He deserved all of it, and a lot worse than they’d ever know. But talking about Hitoshi like that? No fucking way was he going to let them get away with that, when he could get his message across perfectly fine without doing what middle school him would do.

“Starting with the left most column of students, please bring your tests up here. You can collect your phones, while you’re up here. Hatsume, please bring up your and Maeharas’ tests. Bakugo, please bring yours up too.” The professor does the same thing she did when their History Test finished, adding that last comment in as neutral a tone as possible.

But people still clock it, heads turning as he rises from his seat. He walks the long way round, up the right side of the desks with his test folder in hand. He ignores how a few people adjust their seats away from him, others casually moving their arm to cover their test folders.

He drops his test in the bin it had come from, shifting two phones to take his back. The professor lightly taps a finger on her table, pointing to the door as the rest of the students start coming up.

Katsuki walks over to the door, the professor rising to follow him out. “Once everyone in the preceding row retrieves their phones, the next row can come up. We have twenty minutes until Lunch, which you may spend in any reasonable manner.”

Katsuki takes a few steps down the hallway, unfamiliar with how this was going to go. Whatever shitty thing he did, he was used to the reaction being public. Whether being praised for bullying kids like Izuku back in Alderia, or reprimanded here at Yuuei.

Mavinda slides the door closed, giving the two of them a moment to appraise each other. She takes a breath, raising a hand to fuss with the feathers coming out of her collar. Close up, Katsuki could see the almost beak-like quality to her sharp nose.

Her eyes are sharp, like Inko when she wasn’t putting on the ‘totally helpless’ act Mitsuki described. Katsuki wasn’t sure if this teacher was the same, but he had a good amount of respect for her before she addressed the issue. “Do you have a reason for your behavior, before the exams? Any explanation you’d like to offer?”

Katsuki takes a few seconds, thinking of the multiple visits with Hound Dog he’d gone through in the semester. “Yeah, but it’s up to you if it’s a good one. They were saying things about my classmate that aren’t true, and are insultingly stupid besides. I wanted them to know I wasn’t going to let them get away with saying stuff like that.”

Mavinda takes a moment, Katsuki actually surprised she takes that time at all. “I see… Are these comments you could repeat, for me? So I know what to pass along to Ryou, when we meet for lunch?”

There’s another few seconds, where Katsuki looks down to his phone. He pulls it from the bag, seeing Hanta getting back to him with a bland looking text back. “They’re spreading rumors about Hitoshi, and him using his Quirk on us to make us like him. Shit we’ve already dealt with, that made him turtle up for a week because those kinds of rumors have gotten him decked in middle school.”

Mavinda takes a long moment, looking at the wall for the Hall. She takes a deep breath, Katsuki watching her feathers ripple like a dog’s hackles. “I see… I understand that reaction well, Bakugo. But I can’t condone that sort of reaction, or let it go unpunished.”

“I’m not asking you to. Do what you need to.” Mavinda pauses, her diplomatic phrasing falling apart when he zags instead of zig. “It was shitty behavior, to. I’m working on it, but it still happens; Go ahead and tell Hound Dog I did his stupid counting trick, and still fucked up.”

Mavinda lets out a tiny huff of laughter, which almost sounds like the cliche who owls make in cartoons. “Well, you’ve definitely improved from the start of the year, from what I heard. But you should have found a nonviolent way to resolve this…”

“Oh, I did that, too.” Katsuki can’t help the evil grin, holding up his phone. “That was my warning not to say that in front of me. But to make sure they don’t say that sort of stuff again…”

Two sickeningly familiar voices both come muffled from the Hall, Mavinda turning to the door. She quickly walked over, Katsuki walking up behind her with twisted satisfaction growling in his chest like the Dorm Cat.

He barely gets back through the door before the two girls are up in his face, theirs flushed red with anger. And he instantly starts appraising them, trying to mark their potential if they wanted to get physical. Loose Hair was in heels, her school uniform having little seams at the wrists and shoulders like Eijiro’s did, meaning she had some sort of Transforming Quirk.

Twin Tails is the faster talker, probably with an Emitter Quirk if her lack of any physical signs meant anything. “What the Hell did you do?”

Mavinda is quick to step up, an arm spreading to try and keep them separated. Katsuki sees Mina slide out of her seat, slowly inching up the side row as everyone focuses on the fight.

He looks between the two of them, trying not to let all his anger show as he stares them down. “What, can't you take what you dish out? I didn’t do anything but repeat what you said to one of my classmates… what? You’re obsessed with Class 1-A, and forgot Sero was also in it?”

Loose Hair pales, staring at him in a way that makes it feel like he’s looking in a mirror. Because he’d looked very similar months ago, when Nedzu threatened him with expulsion if he didn’t fix a lot of his fucked up personality very quickly. And apparently, she’d never gotten this sort of wake up call until this moment. “That… Those Summer Internships were really important for us! We don’t have time to find another one, before the start of Summer Break.”

Katsuki raises an eyebrow, then offers an uncaring shrug. Twin Tails tries to push past the teacher, Mavinda holding her back as she points a finger at him. “What gives you the right to judge us, you asshole! What gives you the right to ruin…”

Katsuki quickly steps forward, planning on leaning in to be just inches from her face. But Twin Tails nerves evaporate like ice on a hot skillet, the teacher holding her back accidentally propelling her onto her back as both of them are in sudden agreement that she needs to move the other direction.

He shifts back as Mavinda pivots fully to facing him, but he’s staring down the girl as she inches back on the ground. He can feel his hands starting to itch, a sickly sweet smell filling the air around him. “If you know how much of an asshole I am, then you should notice how nice I’ve been today. So let me be clear; next time one of us hears you saying what you did… Well, I’m sure you can imagine.”

Katsuki gives a second for the almost threat to hang in the air, then turns to walk back to his desk. Mina catches his eye as he goes… And she gives him a half nod, her eyes quickly flicking back over to the two girls he was walking away from.

He sees a few people with their phones conspicuously high as he walks back to his desk, but he didn’t care. He sinks back into his seat, sending another few texts as the Class A group chat starts lighting up.

He looks up, Denki turning back to him. There were two unfamiliar Support Course Kids between them, who were absolutely checked out while whispering over a design notebook. There was also that recommendation boy from Class B, who isn’t exactly jumping up to defend the two girls.

Maybe Honenuki agreed with Katsuki’s handling of the issue, maybe he was just waiting to get a group of his class before confronting him. Either way, that was a problem for Katsuki later in the day.

Denki shoots him a private text full of emojis, nodding and flashing a thumbs up when he looks back up from it. Katsuki looks back down at his phone, shaking his head as Mavinda claps her hands together. “Now, Lunch is still fifteen minutes out. Please, let’s remain civil until you’re dismissed.”

Chapter Text

“And three hours before there’s an attempted Brawl in the Exam Halls… Who had four hours or less?” Ectoplasm looks up, an ice pack held to his jaw as the other Hero teachers all try to uncoil from their testing of the Third Year Hero students.

They were in the private section of the Cafeteria, audible chaos and pandemonium coming from the kitchens as Lunch Rush works his interns to the bone. The good thing about Exams was the teachers had some freer time than usual to catch up on work; The bad news, the scheduling meant all the kids ate at pretty much the same time. Meaning Lunch Rush’s title was put to the test for six days straight as he times all the food being prepared meticulously.

Nemuri looks around, clicking her pen and pointing around. Her left arm was in a sling, a minor sprain that Shuzenji would help fix after Lunch. She points it his way, and he shakes his head. He holds up a hand, turning it to count up to six before she looks away.

“I had three days, so here’s my cut.” Hizashi pushes an envelope across the table, sighing and shifting his shoulders with an audible creaking noise. “Shou said as the students were heading home, so there goes his hope for the fiscal year.”

Nemuri shakes her head, already slashing through others. “Alright… Higari had Day Two, Anan said on the last day when everyone was done testing. And Toshinori… I’m not sad to take his money, but he had too much faith in the kids.”

“Yes, yes. ‘Youthful Exuberance’, as you put it, is not to be underestimated.” Toshinori walks in from the side door, adjusting his suit jacket over his tall boney frame. He pulls an envelope of his own out, joining them at the staff table with a box of something he sets on the table.

Ectoplasm produces his own gambled money, tapping on the table towards Toshinori’s food. Nemuri takes the winnings, taking a quick whiff of whatever it was. “Shuzenji letting you eat real food? And she let Shouta drink a cup of coffee this morning, at the teacher’s briefing? Did I get hit too hard during that Exam?”

Toshinori awkwardly chuckles, shaking his head as he opens the box. It looked like a freshly made salad, plus a small cup of some sort of soup or broth that had many Mediterranean fragrances wafting off it. “It’s her professional opinion that all this stress on my body might be useful, in kick starting some forgotten healing process. Testing the students, and having fuller nutrition on top of it, is as worth trying as anything. And that was a strenuous test; Young Amajiki put me through my paces. Is the Third Year’s Test usually this active?”

Present Mic and Nemuri both let out high pitched noises of denial, Ectoplasm raising a hand and tilting it back and forth. Toshinori looks around, nodding as he begins to take his meal. And considering part of the testing had changed to accommodate his barely an hour and a half time limit, it had been silently agreed upon not to mention it. His Muscled Form besides, Toshinori was finally seeming to display additional skills besides the insane physical prowess All Might always had. That they were cultivating his skills as well was an embarassing truth, one best left unsaid for the time being.

Nemuri checks her list again, shaking her head. “I swear, I had someone for four hours or less. Vlad said before testing even started, and he’s going to lobby for that from Bakugo technically striking first in whatever little tiff that was…”

Ectoplasm sighs heavily, knowing exactly what that fight was about. It paid, being the only teacher who could be in seven places at once. Sure, his Quirk didn’t let his clones instantly share information. But there was this nifty science fiction invention called a Group Chat…

He pulls out his phone, quickly scrolling to the top of the necessary channel. He offers it to Hizashi, who's currently trying not to gargle a shake to help soothe his vocal cords. “Oh, and Breaking News, fresh from the studio. Our friend here… Now tell me, when did you get invited to the Business Course’s Group chat?”

Ectoplasm brings up his free hand, making a simple sign that Nemuri rolls her eyes at. “I think I’ve asked one of you about that, but whatever. Now, you can’t just drop juicy gossip on the grill like that, and not expect me to line up with a plate in hand.”

Hizashi nods, turning his attention back to the phone. “Let’s see… Ah, Mavinda specifically at-ted Ryou, so he’d take a look. This is going to be good… Oh… Oh…”

Nemuri stands there, Ectoplasm filling her in as Hizashi reads. Pulling away the ice reminds him of the feeling of something in his jaw stretching too far, and the speaking causing a familiar pain to ooze down his throat. “Apparently, some girls from the Business Course were speaking ill of Hitoshi. Katsuki checked one of their chairs, which is what started going around before the tests started. The big blow up a few minutes ago was the girls finding out he texted Sero, who apparently had pulled a string to move their internships up the pile…”

Nemuri looks rightly infuriated for a few moments, seemingly satisfied by the end result. “Well, Bakugo shouldn’t have lashed out physically like that… And if anyone asks, that’s all I said on the matter.”

Hizashi hands his phone back, his mostly empty cup creasing in his hand as he resists crushing it in his hand like a stress ball. Ectoplasm quickly puts the ice pack back under his chin, the explanation aggravating his strained jaw. “After all of Ryou’s good work, to. Hitoshi has been paranoid about how people see his Quirk, even after months of trying to get him to relax. They were saying he’s only in the Hero Course because he used his Quirk on all of us…”

Nemuri stares at Hizashi for a moment, then puts on a fake sweet affect as she turns to Ectoplasm. “Ect-ty, who were these girls again? I just want to talk…”

“Nemuri, please. Take a moment…” Toshinori raises a hand placatingly, leaning back as Nemuri turns to him with a palpable aura around her. “… Please. Let the Business Course teachers handle this, for Hitoshi’s sake.”

Nemuri glares at the still Number One Hero, only barely pulling her feelings back in a box as the doors to the Private Nook open. She takes a breath as the General Studies and Business Course teachers come in, mingling rather liberally as they move to hand in orders to Lunch Rush’s still chaotic sounding kitchen window.

Ectoplasm looks up as Mavinda walks over, the owl woman being someone whose path he crossed rarely. Not out of active malice of either of them, but just because he himself didn’t physically meet her. His copies did, but he’d never know her as well as his copies would in the times he’d spend supervising Gym classes for the other Courses of the school.

That was something he’d accepted, after long enough. He could leave himself notes of conversations, but it was a copy of him leaving notes for another copy to then carry on. He barely knew many of the other teachers, but they were familiar with him at points that caught him off guard. But years of Hero work made that a familiar feeling, one he didn’t need to burden the others with as he silently grappled with the truth that he’ll never really know the rest of the school staff.

She’s walking with an older woman, whose wrist was wrapped in a series of beaded leather strips currently tied to a part further up her arm. She lowers her head to Nemuri and Hizashi, Mavinda taking the seat next to him while leaving the seat next to Nemuri. “I would like to apologize, for the behavior of my students.”

Nemuri takes a moment, Hizashi sighing as he waves his hand. “We can’t really hold that against you, Suiko. Imagine if Higari had to apologize, everytime Hatsume scared students from the other classes. But we should apologize for Katsuki, getting physical like he did.”

“Frankly, I wouldn’t have spared them the rod like he did.” Suiko shakes her head, Nemuri looking with interest as the old woman sinks down into the available seat. “Considering what you all said about him earlier this year, I wouldn’t have expected his only public episode to be so… justified, if you’ll forgive me.”

Nemuri seems to relax slightly, Toshinori quickly moving in to add to the conversation. And he adds that fake doddering affect he does around the other teachers, to add some separation between All Might and Toshinori Yagi. “He has made lots of progress, but stress brings out the worst in all of us. I just hope he won’t be judged too harshly, for a momentary slip like this.”

Suiko shakes her head, short graying hair bobbing as she reaches for her own device. “Well, I can’t offer much hope of that. The School social is already filled with several angles on the whole thing…”

Ectoplasm tilts his head, Suiko showing a layout he himself hadn’t actually seen yet. Toshinori looks abjectly confused, Nemuri and Hizashi both reaching out to tap the screen and scroll by. “Sorry, what? I wasn’t aware Nedzu had a social media page for the school.”

“Oh, that’s something the Support Students upkeep. Have been for a bit of time, for almost a decade now; the original designers pick out the better software inclined Gen Ed and Support kids to help moderate it and redesign it, after they graduate. I think Nedzu allows it because he has access, and can see what all the students are posting about. Why wouldn't he allow the students to maintain their own Panopticon, if he gets to make use of the all seeing eyes?” Mavinda quickly explains it, producing her phone to show Hizashi so he and Nemuri can stop silently fighting over how fast or slow the other one reads.

“That sounds like quite the undertaking, as something voluntary. But it does make sense, in a way… Has it been updated since the start of this year?” Toshinori asks the question innocently enough, struggling to come up with the right way to phrase his question.

Mavinda nods, twiddling her fingers as Hizashi turns her phone so he can watch a recording of the incident. “It was down until just before the Sports Festival, which was a real blow to the Business Course. There’s always a speculative betting ring, about which Hero Students will break through on the stage.”

Nemuri hands Suiko’s device back, propping her arms up to hold her chin. “I can’t believe no one told me about all of this! Please, you have to help me get an account on this!”

Suiko swipes her finger across the screen, propping her tablet up in its case so Nemuri can scan some sort of QR code. “Please, but don’t expect to get much. All the interesting talks happen in private chat rooms, which the students curate vigorously. We just see club announcements, or other school wide posts like this… Which reminds me. I should also offer my apologies to Aizawa, as well.”

“I’m afraid he’s out, for the day.” Toshinori pokes a fork through his salad for a few seconds, offering a convincingly unknowing shrug to the two other teachers. “I was trying to get these three to share with me, as well. After he ran his Third Year Exam, he left to handle some sort of ‘personal business’.”

“It’s nothing really interesting, really. Shou said some old colleagues wanted to meet him for Lunch, and Nedzu approved it after he completed the Exam. And if he wants to go out on the town, who am I of all people to say no?” Hizashi waves the question off, him and Toshinori raising the question and answering it convincingly in the same breath.

Mavinda and Suiko both take the answer and move on, Ectoplasm watching as orders come to the window to be collected. And he tilts his head, hearing the cafeteria starting to fill as the students empty out from the testing Halls.

Hopefully, whatever drama had started in that class wouldn’t repeat in the lunchroom.

-

If it weren’t already too late, Hitoshi would try telling Katsuki to cool it. That they weren’t even the first people to say that in the school, or say it while meaning for him to hear it. That no one needed to defend him, since there wouldn’t be any end to those sorts of jokes or rumors.

Hitoshi starts scribbling out of the tests’ more complicated math problems as the bell dismisses them, wanting a plausible excuse for staying behind as everyone else leaves. He ignores the burning feeling of people looking at him as they move to the door, knowing he’s to blame for everything that just went down…

He waits until what looks like the last people scurry out the door, checking and seeing the teacher has also left. Leaving him alone in the room, to just sit on how fucked this entire thing was. How it would probably make the rumors worse, that Katsuki jumped up and helped him for no good reason…

“Hey, ‘Toshi?” Hitoshi blinks, looking up. Denki’s perched on the desk that Gen-Studies girl had been in, head tilted as he tries to read the scratch page of his notebook. “Still trying to figure out one of those problems? I know; I am so glad they let us use those calculators.”

Hitoshi blinks, seeing Mina whispering something to Katsuki behind the electric blond. Red eyes roll, the other boy walking over with his arms crossed. “Well, we need to plan for our Exam. You want to do it here, or in one of those off the path places Fumi showed off last week?”

There’s a few seconds where the purple haired boy is left buffering, Denki turning to ask the question for him. “Hang on, how come you get cool tours of the grounds? That’s so cool…”

“You know the layout of all the other Dorms, Denks. You helped us find that weird tunnel, leading under the Dorms to only Nedzu knows where.” Mina lightly elbows the electric blond, the two of them sharing a quick burst of laughter as they remember that.

Hitoshi shakes himself out of just watching them, trying to force himself to actually add to the conversation. “Maybe we sneak through one of the back hallways, to one of the side exits of the Cafeteria? Long way round, gives us plenty of time to talk through strategies.”

The three accept the justification at face value, all of them sliding bags onto shoulders and walking towards the door. Katsuki lags a step behind, seeming to want to get a private word in with Hitoshi.

Before he can, Denki opens the door to their testing hall. Which causes Eijiro and Hanta to fall through the doorway, Mina just barely jumping back before the two boys take Denki to the floor.

Hitoshi stares for a second, then looks up into the hallway. Where he sees Fumikage and Kyouka on the opposite wall, the two of them watching opposite ends of the long hallway before turning to look. Kyouka instantly nods at him, Fumikage pushing off the wall to help unmuddle the pile-up in the doorway.

Hanta is helped up first, dusting himself off before looking at Katsuki with remorseful look. “Sorry about all this, Baku-bro. I couldn’t really get them to cancel the internship, but it was a kind of ‘contract renewal denied’ sort of situation.”

Katsuki looks up from yanking Eijiro to his feet, the red head flushing as Katsuki keeps a grip on his hand from pulling him up. “Then they did all that for less than no reason. Got any other tricks you can do, or is it just murder left at this point?”

“I can stitch their lying mouths shut. I’ve already got the needles…” Dark Shadow inches out of Fumikage’s uniform jacket, indeed holding a pair of sewing needles with thread hanging from them. Fumikage doesn’t immediately chasten his Quirk, instead brushing some small paper bits from Denki’s jacket.

“Can we not? Just leave it alone, guys.” Hitoshi doesn’t want to sound so defeated about it, but everyone rallying around him makes his chest feel weirdly constricted.

Denki shakes his head, walking over with fake resignation as he sling an arm around Hitoshi’s shoulder. “Sorry, but we simply cannot let such an offense go unchallenged. And it would be rude to joke at a funeral, especially for two people who mysteriously disappeared at the same time…”

Mina slings her arm around his other shoulder, Hitoshi turning to see a dark grin on her face. “Simply tragic. They say there was nothing left to find of their bodies…”

Mina wriggles the fingers on her other hand, a few viscous globs of her acid slowly dangling from her fingers. And at that, Hitoshi can’t help the huff of nervous laughter that finally escapes him. “Guys, really. It’s… It’s not fine, but just leave it alone. I don’t want you guys wasting your time on something small, like this.”

Eijiro looks down at his hand clasped in Katsuki’s grip, the explosive blond seeming to notice and let go as subtly as possible. The red head looks up, clearly trying not to think about all the blood rushing to his face. “Sure, man. But next time someone says stuff like that about you, just know we have your back, yeah?”

“Whatever you say, man. We still have all the rest of our exams to do, and then our Practical Final. And… I say this with love, whoever picked my group is an asshole.” Kyouka quickly puts a pillow over the topic, Hitoshi gratefully letting it die as they march out of the room.

“I mean, it’s not that bad, right? All of us are pretty great, in our own ways.” Eijiro tries to persuade Kyouka otherwise, the seven of them winding through the confusing halls in the general direction of the cafeteria.

Kyouka nods, rolling her eyes and counting off fingers on her hand. “The four of you guys are together, while Hanta and Fumi here have Izuku on their team. And Eijiro is on a team with Momo and Shouto, who are both the Recommendation kids. Class B’s Recommendation students are apparently in different groups, since I didn’t see Honenuki…”

“He’s in our hall.” Kyouka sighs heavily, Hitoshi looking at her. He tilts his head, trying to cross everyone off. “So… that leaves five people I don’t know the groups of.”

“Tsu is in our group and Rikidou is on team Recommendation.” Hanta, having already done the math, speeds Hitoshi to the conclusion. “So that’s Shouji, Toru, and Kouji working together on their final… And they’re great, but I kinda agree that this doesn’t seem really balanced.”

Kyouka nods, turning and waving a fist at a camera. Hitoshi wasn’t sure, but it looks like the camera turns away as she does. “Look, we all have great mix of abilities in Scouting and Stealthy movement. But the Top Five scoring students on the midterms are almost all on different teams, doubling up at our detriment.”

“Sure… I bet you’d be really happy to have Momo on your team, huh?” Denki uncurls from Hitoshi’s shoulder, sidling up next to Kyouka with a smug grin on his face.

And while she flushes slightly, Kyouka isn’t nearly as obvious as Eijiro. “That’s not the point! There’s probably some lesson to it, but I just want to grouse about how everyone else has an advantage.”

“Yeah, but you guys are going to be fine. Powerloader and Thirteen are a hard pair for anyone else to prepare for, and Nedzu and Ectoplasm are probably the easiest for us to deal with.” The others idly note Mina’s words, their meaning not occurring until they start turning a corner.

Hitoshi comes to a halt, Mina pausing with him as everyone else turns on the pink girl. “Hang on… You sound certain about that.”

Mina blinks, and doesn’t manage to hide her nervous reaction quick enough. “Do I? I mean, it’s just a guess. Like what you were talking about this morning…”

The others look like they want to find ways to question Mina… No, not quite. Hitoshi notices Eijiro and Denki trading looks, then looking at him with a sinking feeling. And it doesn’t connect instantly, Hitoshi having to cast his mind back to why the three of them would be privy to something like that…

Hitoshi huffs a little laugh, continuing to walk as he considers the solution he can think of. Of course, he’s not attached to the hip to the three of them. But he was accidentally made aware of the way all of them could know about something before it happens. “What, did you finally have those talks with the Third Year Hero students you’ve been envious of?”

Mina instantly grabs onto the carelessly tossed out life preserver, trying to smooth out her reaction. “Yeah, me and Bondo met this older kid when we were getting after class tutoring from Cementoss. They told us about how it was last year, for their second year matches.”

There’s some reluctant acceptance of that story as everyone moves on, but Katsuki makes sure to hold him back when they finally reach the cafeteria. He waves the others along, Kyouka and Fumikage both giving the two of them nods as the six move in a group through the absolutely packed cafeteria.

“You know something, about whatever she was saying.” Hitoshi takes a moment, remembering the vague warning Eijiro had given him and Izuku when Hanta had joined the five of them from Aizawa demanding to be informed. How everyone acting on future information made it bend and shift for the worse… somehow.

Hey, he could Brainwash people by asking them questions. There wasn’t a reason to believe that Quirk couldn’t exist.

Hitoshi takes a breath, Katsuki obviously knowing something is up. “She didn’t tell me more, so I don’t have specifics to give. But when she, Denki, and Eijiro went out for smoothies last month, they met that Italian Fortune Teller.”

Katsuki blinks, then slowly nods. “Fuck… Apparently, Fumikage didn’t burn enough sage in the dorms. All of us are still getting the worst luck.”

Hitoshi lets out a dark chuckle, the explosive blond joining the grim exhalation before a thumb is pointed into the cafeteria. “So, want to go grab food as we try to figure out how not to screw up the future?”

“Our future is surviving an hour with Nedzu. How much worse can it get?”

-

“It can get a lot worse, if you keep jinxing it.” Mirio shakes his head, staring up at the low ceiling of a building’s attic crawl space.

He turns on his stomach, pulling the earpiece out of his ear. He takes a deep breath, and carefully inches his face through the brick wall separating him from the alleyway they were needed to retrieve reconnaissance gear from.

He does a thorough scan, pulling back just as his lungs start burning. He forces himself to not gasp as he lets all that air out to be replaced with fresh… Well, fresher air. “They’re still inside, doing their business talks. I’d say you have two minutes, maybe three, based on them passing suitcases…”

“You saw them making a trade?” Mirio can’t help but flinch at Sir suddenly speaking in his ear, his voice coming out sharper than usual. The Work Study Teachers had mostly busy with looking very busy up the street, leaving the hard work to the three of them to handle. That hadn’t been the plan, but there was some sort of antiques fence up the street that needed dealing with, and Fatgum and Nighteye were the only Heroes close enough to handle that.

That’s why they needed the Big Three to help with taking down all the spying equipment they’d set up, as the business meetings were conducted in a nearby cafe; give Tamaki a hood and facemask, and it was easy enough for most people to look past him before he uses Chameleon abilities to actually hide from view.

“Yeah. The Hassaikai are taking three suitcases, and this other Yakuza group is getting one back. I think Camera Three was pointed at it…”

“Hang on… Yeap, Three has it archived. We got it.” Bubble Girl chimes in over the earpieces, Mirio nodding as Tamaki begins walking up to collect the hidden equipment.

“Uh oh… Who, me?” Nejire starts talking, her mic picking her up as she slips into some stereotype school girl pattern.

“Yeah, what are you doing back here?” Mirio can’t place the voice immediately, but he can hear Nejire hum as she comes up with an answer. So, it must be one of the Yakuza guys watching the back.

“I… Okay, this is a total embarrassment.” Nejire fakes a more sincere voice, Mirio carefully pushing himself up into a crouch. He can barely fit like that, but it was enough that he could leap onto the roof and down to the street if she needed him. “My boyfriend is kind of an artist, and he’s looking at some of the studios up the street. But it’s just a bunch of empty buildings, ya know? At least there’s interesting stuff, out here on the street.”

“Yeah, well there’s plenty to see that isn’t back here.” Mirio can’t tell from the mic if this Yakuza guy actually buys her story, but she’s getting waved off after getting everything they needed. That’s enough of a win…

“Guys, we might have a problem… Nope, we definitely have a problem. Mirio, nine o’clock, two hundred feet.” Bubble Girl goes from slightly confused to panicked, and Mirio quickly grabs his earpiece to shove into a belt pouch.

He phases up through the roof, leaving his feet and part of his legs solid as he quickly scans towards his left. He takes a second, then hears something loud coming from that direction.

The building under him shakes, slamming his still solid knees up into the roof. And that’s one of the many painful sensations that he’s lived through that is impossible to describe, his legs hurting from the knee down down to the bone. He chokes off a curse, making his arms corporeal so he can pull himself up onto the roof.

He sits there a second, pulling out his earpiece to try and get more information before he’s up close with whatever’s going on. “Ow… Bubble Girl, what does it look like?”

Mirio quickly hops to his feet, running along the roof as Bubble Girl starts shouting adjectives. “It’s… Big, Slimy Something… Twelve feet, looked like a normal guy… Trigger Ampule, at least…”

Mirio blinks, the earpiece filling with static as he clears the first hundred feet. He looks up, seeing street lights and business signs flickering on and off erratically. There were a few dozen people on the street, looking up as their phones started acting on the fritz.

He sees something that looks an awful lot like an octopus tentacle slithering from a neighboring street, quickly pulling his earpiece out as he sees something about like how Bubble Girl described pulling itself into this street.

Mirio leaps off the roof, sucking a deep breath as he falls through the street. Everything goes black and indistinct for two seconds… then he’s down in the municipal system running under the street, which was mercifully clean at this time of day.

He lets himself start to fall through that too, only to catch himself with his hands he quickly moves above his head. He feels them strain, but he pops himself back up onto the floor with only a grunt. “Right… One problem with always practicing this at Yuuei; Those cities don’t have a realistic sewer system yet.”

He dusts himself off, looking up as collected dust flakes off the ceiling. The tunnel shakes, the limited lights flickering rapidly as whatever Quirk this person had messed with the electricity.

“Thank God for that Trigonometry tutor…” Mirio brings a hand up, quickly running the numbers like that Business student helped drill into his head. He knew his acceleration when he tried to unphase in a solid object, and where to start it on his body to pick the angle. Now, the only math he wasn’t a hundred percent on was not cracking his head on the sewer’s roof when coming back out.

Mirio takes another deep breath, and moves into a runner’s position before phasing. He sinks down, counting the partial seconds to not overshoot where he last saw dirt tumbling from. Then, it’s just about quickly unphasing his legs before phasing them again…

Good news, the bar napkin math goes off without a hitch. He manages to clear up to the sewer roof, getting just far enough that he can then launch himself up into the street with a good enough push.

Bad news; the reason the twelve foot tall person was both slimy and messing with electricity both became clear as he launched himself into the person’s midriff. Based on the sound as both of his fists slam into the guy’s chest, he would guess they were a guy when not hopped up on whatever messed up batch of Trigger he was on.

And based on the feeling of several spare hundred volts spreading down his arms, he’d guess the Quirk getting amped was an electric eel variation of some sort. Training with a classmate with similar electricity manipulating Quirk makes this a familiar feeling, but one that still throws him for a loop for a second.

He bounces off the guy, barely phasing to not faceplant into the ground. He then rolls to the side as he unphases, rolling away before landing in a crouch.

He shakes his hands out, seeing Tamaki quickly waving people away from the eel guy as he stumbles a step back. He turns, not quite seeing Nejire.

“Are you hurt, Lemillion?” Mirio barely doesn’t jump, turning as a man in a ninja costume seems to appear from nowhere. His long slash of silver hair covers one side of his face, and everything outside his torso is currently spread out in thin red thread spanning the street around them.

Mirio shakes his hands out, hopping on his feet as he looks at the guy. “Been better, but yeah. I’m eighty percent sure this guy has an electric eel Quirk… But since when does Trigger swell you to twice your size?”

“There was a strain, about five years ago. But this… This is a bit tamer than their size back then.” Edgeshot bobs up, his arms and legs quickly raveling onto his torso before he lands on the floor. “Aizawa was going to grab the ampule, and the others were sitting on the antiques fence last I heard.”

Mirio nods, the Eel guy growling like someone strumming a base cord on a concert’s sound system. He squares his fists, measuring the guy in his mind. “The sewer’s too close to the surface for me to get enough momentum to one shot this guy. How good are you with electric shocks?”

“Fair enough, but the mucus prevents Pillabody from quickly switching between string and body…”

Mirio turns at the sound of shattering glass, seeing two of the Hassaikai guys flying through the glass of the cafe they’d been in. He sees Tamaki stuffing his jacket down a sewer grate nearby, his fingers changing into octopus tentacles from this distance…

And Nejire follows the two Hassaikai guys in their flight path, barely forming a curl of energy to swing above them. She slides to a halt, pulling at a ruined jacket sleeve as her Quirk shreds it.

“I believe the element of surprise is no longer needed. Shame… Lemillion, go get Nighteye and Centipeder if they aren’t already on their way.” Mirio nods, quickly running that direction as Tamaki comes his way.

He winks at his boyfriend, who is momentarily confused before nodding. He couldn’t hear Sir as he slid in his earpiece, and Edgeshot had the highest authority to set orders. And besides maybe helping an angry looking Nejire, who starts running back into the cafe, he isn’t a good match for the big Quirked problem at the… moment…

“Nejire, behind you!” Mirio lets himself partially phase through the floor, launching himself as one of the Hassaikai guys points something gun-shaped at her back.

-

Nejire flares Wave Motion, spiralling energy from her hands boosting her back through the wide open hole in the window. She hears Mirio shouting about something, but she has a bigger problem to worry about as she swings her legs from under her to land a kick in the big guy’s face.

She slams into the bald guy's head, but some weird blue crystal just causes a jolt of pain to run through her leg. She cancels Wave Motion, pushing off the guy’s suddenly diamond face in the same motion to flip backwards onto the ground.

The bald guy rolls his neck, the other Yakuza guys in the room backing up towards the back exit she’d run through. They’d had the place cleared of normal people already, so all Nejire had to do was clear the kitchens before running in here. So now, all she has to worry about is keeping them from escaping. “Ow. What’s a little Hero Student doing, out and about on a school day?”

Nejire shifts, looking over the other people she can see. There were four Yakuza guys here, two of them currently outside on the street. And the third had his sleeve damaged, swirling blue energy around his arm as he guards the middle aged woman who’d been doing the discussing and dealing of the Yakuza here.

And of the six Hassaikai she could keep count of, which was easier with them all wearing facemasks, it looked like Crystal man was the muscle for the Hassaikai. But more the take a hit muscle, rather than the ‘give out hits’ of the Yakuza guy.

Nejire ignores the stinging in her side, the Yakuza guy being the one to the hit that threw her out the window. Based on the hand on his shoulder, the older woman behind him was calling the shots. And she was willing to let the Hassaikai handle things, considering Nejire had managed to match the two Yakuza guys and blast them out the window when they’d grabbed her.

So she had the Hassaikai to worry about, shifting to be ready to defend against either of them. “I got an exemption from Exams Week, thanks…” Wow. Are those diamonds, you’re growing?”

Crystal man undoes his black dress shirt cuffs, large mace-like spiky crystal growths growing from his hands as he does. He spreads his arms, trying to step between Nejire and the seven remaining assorted Yakuza in the room. “No, they’re not something anyone would buy. Learned that lesson the hard way…”

“That’s a real shame. They still look really pretty, under this light… Have you ever tried setting up a Quirk grown Jewelry stand?” Nejire tries to relax, slowly stepping forward to get a closer look at the guy.

He obviously doesn’t trust her, sticking a jagged shard out to spear through one of the chairs. “Shut up!”

He flings the chair at her, Nejire quickly flinging herself to the side with a pulse of Wave…

She lets out a grunt as she slams into something, her neck shifting as her momentum suddenly stops. She bounces off it as the chair slams into the spot she’d just been in, continuing on and slamming through the door with another loud crash of shattering glass.

She stumbles a step back, tilting her head before throwing it to the opposite side to get her neck to pop the other way. She faintly notices one of the other Hassaikai has moved up next to the two Yakuza, his eyes closed as he stands perfectly in line with whatever she just hit. He was dressed in Old Formal, in the sort of robes that makes her remember her World Religions section in History.

Nejire rolls her shoulders, moving her arms in front of her to focus on Crystal Guy. “Ow… I was being serious, by the way. Even if they don’t have any monetary value, they can still make a bunch of beautiful looking pieces of jewelry. Money isn’t everything, you know.”

“Sounds like someone who grew up without having to worry about it!” Nejire throws Wave Motion towards whatever Barrier this guy was able to make, throwing herself into the not yet destroyed tables.

The guy comes swinging after her, the blond man calling out in a bored sounding tone. “Hojo, our business here is done. Leave these Heroes to that pitiful man outside, so blinded by revenge he’d poison his spirit so completely.”

Nejire swings herself back over the counter for the cafe, unable to help as she counts up all the damage the guy’s swinging mace hands cause. ‘Forty thousand yen per table, about ten thousand for each of those chairs… There goes the Dinner budget for the month…’

Nejire looks at the blond guy, whose Barrier kind of flickers from Wave Motion hitting it earlier. But he didn’t look any more exhausted or taxed than her, and she could feel her tank emptying out as the Crystal guy just started ramping up on adrenaline.

She brings her hands up, the Crystal guy slowing down as she waves for him to stop. “Hey, please stop smashing up this place! I’ll even let you guys just go out the back, okay? This… Oh, this is a lot to have to pay to fix…”

Nejire doesn’t have to fake sounding nervous, just trying to fake it being towards something else. But Mirio and Tamaki were outside, and her earpiece has been fritzed out since she ran inside here. Either a Hassaikai, or the slug man outside, were interfering with the frequency. So she’s effectively on her own, and while she doesn’t know what five assorted Yakuza can do, she knows she’s too winded to take down the three of them she knows about without knowing when help would arrive.

Crystal guy slows down, the mace growths on his hands shrinking slightly. “You… What kind of Hero are you, just letting us go?”

“I’m not a Hero yet, and I don’t even want to fight you guys. I just saw that guy transforming, and wanted people to clear out so a real Hero could get here. It’s your thugs that tried to grab me… Can I please have one of your crystals? I already have an idea for a necklace…”

Crystal Guy takes a step forward, but Nejire blinks as the Barrier Guy steps up behind him. Crystal Guy’s outstretched hand hits the golden barrier from the inside, Barrier Guy walking forward to pull a protrusion from the mace head. “All of you, go. We’ll meet at Rendezvous B… Hojo, let the girl be.”

The barrier fades, and the guy throws the piece of crystal to her. Nejire quickly hops over the counter to catch it, turning it in her hand as Hojo turns to… Barrier Guy… Wait, Hojo? The Eight Precepts of the Hassaikai, Yu Hojo? “Tengai, what gives? We can’t just let a young Hero take a shot at us…”

“She defended herself, when the other family’s men decided to attack her. And she’s acted as peacefully as one can expect, in such manners. We should accept her offer, and allow her to pursue the enlightenment she’s displayed.” Tengai… Oh, crap. Two of these guys were Precepts? She thought the one guy might be, since she specifically remembered reading about his Quirk. But two of them…

Nejire turns to look at the street, which was mostly empty. She shifts away from their exit, raising an arm defensively as two of the Hassaikai pull sidearms from under their suit jackets. “Look, there were a bunch of Heroes up the street from here, doing some public service work. I wanted to make a good impression, and get a good Internship when I graduate. But… No way am I fighting two of the Eight Precepts, plus all your friends over there.”

Nejire doesn’t have to fake the anxiety in her voice, even as aggravation makes her want to set her teeth. But they didn’t seem to recognize her, except when they spotted her in the alleyway after grabbing the spy stuff she’d been told to. She wasn’t endangering the Hassaikai case, and she was trying to make sure to minimize damage and keep herself safe from a probably unwinnable fight.

Tengai nods his head to her, turning and waving at the others. The other Yakuza look at her, and she just braces her arms with her free hand spread towards her as they run for the exit. Hojo stalks out, Tengai walking slowly out in a way that feels like gloating, even though his serene expression never alters in a way she could see.

Nejire looks down at the crystal in her hand, letting her teeth gnash as something big hits the street outside. She turns, and quickly steps out towards the street.

She barely makes it to the window before Mirio phases up from the floor, right where Tengai and Hojo were standing. His arms are raised to punch somebody, but he quickly catches himself when he sees nobody left in here. He turns left and right, then back around to her. “Nejire… Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

He rushes over even as she shakes her head, checking her torso and arms from her messed up jacket. He brushes against her left side, and she can’t help but hiss through her teeth at a hit she didn’t even remember taking. “Mostl… ow. The other Yakuza thought this was a set up, and those two guys tried to jump me. There’s… I think that nightstick under that broken table was his.”

Mirio shifts to her left side, pulling his cape around her as they push back her jacket. Her white undershirt for her school uniform was a bit torn up, a fist sized bruise starting to turn darker purple. “Yeesh… You might be getting a free day, if this is as rough as it looks.”

“No… No, it’s fine. I dodged most of the big guy’s hits. But… Two of them were Precepts, Miri’. I… I should have been able to take them on. But the Exam, and forcing my way through those walls Cementoss made…”

Mirio stops checking on her health, and quickly pulls her into a spine correcting hug. “No, I don’t care about that. You’re okay, and we still have the two you tossed out earlier. That’s good enough for me…”

“Nejire…” The two of them turn, Ryukyu jumping through a cleared out window. Nejire quickly turns as her mentor checks the room, her flexible red uniform allowing her to move through the wrecked room in her inspection. “You broke protocol, getting those people out. Those Yakuza saw your face, didn’t they?”

“Yeah… Two of them were from the Precepts, Tatsuma-Sensei.” Ryukyu wheels around, her headpiece moving askew to show both of her eyes going wide. “I… I told them they could just go, so they wouldn’t keep smashing the place up. I don’t think they recognized me, but they pegged me as a Hero student. Maybe we can use that… Oh, and I grabbed this…”

Ryukyu quickly steps over, doing a check over Nejire while ignoring the piece of crystal. Something falls out of Nejire’s pocket, and she checks to see a shredded mic hit the ground. “Two of them… Well, obviously one of them was Hojo. He must be the one who smashed everything up… Who was the other?”

Nejire takes a second, forcing herself to walk through everything that had happened. “Tengai, I’m pretty sure. The blond guy, with the Barrier Quirk… I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve used up a lot of my stanima, but his Quirk stood up to mine when I pushed off it to dodge Hojo. The others all had guns, but only two of them pulled them.”

”You had guns pointed at you?” Nejire turns as Tamaki pushes through the wrecked door, his hands slowly turning back into their human shape.

“Yeah… Wait, they talked about that guy outside!” Nejire closes her eyes, trying to push through her own adrenaline and pounding heartbeat in her ears to try and remember the words. “They said… something about poisoning? Poisoned… ‘Revenge Poisoning his Spirit’, that’s what he said.”

Tamaki is suddenly in front of her, him and Mirio both sandwiching her between them. She looks between them, then at Ryukyu. Tamaki digs his chin into her shoulder, almost undoing the adjustment Mirio just did. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t come to help you. Please, forgive me…”

Nejire shakes her head, pulling Tamaki’s face back to peck him on the cheek. “You helped take down that big guy, right? That was important, too. I just… I wish I’d done better than two out of ten, is all…”

Ryukyu snorts, the three students turning to face her. Her mentor takes a moment, then nods to her with a comforting small smile. “Nejire, you did better than anyone would expect. Do not allow a reasonable stumble to lose you the marathon; there’s still much of the race to run.”

Nejire takes a few seconds, then nods before letting her arms wrap around her two partners. She looks at her mentor for a moment, then hisses as Tamaki places a little cold pack on her side. “Thanks… But, how much of the paperwork am I doing, for all of this damage?”

The other three take a moment, then all let out a few moments of laughter. It wasn’t really that funny, but they all needed it. “Oh, not nearly as much as those Hassaikai rampaging. But let’s regroup with everyone.”

Chapter Text

Shouta stands during the briefing, putting his back to a wall as Tsukauchi has the crime lab run tests on the ampule the Surprise Villain managed to use. The plan had just been to be there in case the Yakuza whipped out their Quirks in public, quickly locking those down to tilt the fight in their favor. They still had guns to worry about, but there were better odds their Quirks were more lethal…

Only, he hadn’t canceled the Surprise Villains Quirk. He’d latched Erase onto the guy, and everything still happened as several cameras captured it. So Shouta had run back to grab the dropped ampule, recovering it to put a theory to bed.

He looks around the room, the larger blond Hero turning to him with a characteristic grin. His yellow jacket was sitting looser over a skinnier form, though he wasn’t completely out of energy if they needed it. “Come on, Eraser! We’ve got a fence off the street, a bunch of their books to track down previous buyers, and a Pop-Up Villain safely being checked by nurses. Why do you look so glum?”

“Besides the fact that we traded Shimada and Madam Qin Xiong Di for two street level enforcers?” While Shouta isn’t Mirai’s biggest fan, the lanky Pro’s cold words bring some sense to Fatgum. He looks up from a file he was speed reading, his jacket carefully placed on the back of his chair to expose his white button up. “The entire operation could very well be compromised, if we do not act carefully in the coming days.”

“True, but it’s very likely we avoided undeniable tragedy today.” Shouta looks up, Edgeshot offering a bow of the head to Nejire down the table. He was also standing, leaning against the opposite wall as Shouta with Fatgum between them. “You did well, both when you were fighting and when avoiding it. I hope you can forgive us, putting you at risk as we did.”

Nejire waves a hand, Shouta noticing her eyebrow twitch as she intentionally uses her left arm. If the bandage wasn’t visible through her uniform shirt, she’d make a more convincing case. “I know I messed up, you can say it. Let’s just hope the piece of crystal they let me have can help, maybe find some old contacts of Hojo for us to question. And that the stuff I was recovering didn’t get fried…”

“Happy to report it’s all still there.” Bubble Girl floats in, holding up a set of tablets for the four other heroes to review. There wasn’t one for Shouta, but he wanted to avoid getting involved with this if he could. The last thing he needed was to drag all of them into his problems. “Needed a bit of syncing with other feeds to clean it up, but we’re ninety percent sure we didn’t lose anything.”

“Good. And did the Hassaikai have anything good for their Yakuza compatriots for trading?” Bubble Girl blinks, quickly handing out the tablets before helping Mirai navigate to the section he needs.

The three Hero students don’t look like they mind, Tamaki and Mirio helping Nejire write up the damage from the cafe to be paid for. Shouta can practically see the weekend plans and summer trip turn into puffs of smoke as the three of them work, quietly debating how much cup ramen they could stand as their limited funds went to help pay for the damages. Just like the… Well, not ‘Good Old Days’ when he and his friends had been up-and-coming Heroes.

Ryukyu gets to something interesting first, Shouta half glancing at a partially visible screen to see Chinese characters he could muddle his way through with a half hour and a dictionary. “Not sure… They’re speaking in coded jargon, so I have to guess. But they’re talking about multiple projects being given to the Yakuza branch, which I assume is Trigger and whatever Quirk-Canceling drug is going around right now.”

Shouta nods, almost interested to see what was in that drug. The only other person in Japan who could directly cancel Quirks worked for the Hero Public Safety Commission, and they hadn’t been friendly before this almost Cold War between Nedzu and the Commission. But if someone had found a way to make a substance that could cancel a person’s Quirk… He could almost imagine stepping back from Hero Work short of disasters, maybe focus on teaching or just living a quieter life…

Mirai looks at the page, taking a long moment while Ryukyu starts scrolling through it. “Anything on what Madam Qin Xiong Di offered the Hassaikai?”

“Looking through this… Hard to tell. Qin’s father led a branch of the Yakuza over to China, when Japan became the Hero Capital of the World. They had enough connections to marry into a strong collective amongst the Triads, and they’ve mostly become vestigial here. But… this says something about ‘medical resources’, which is an almost useless translation.”

Ryukyu reaches up to massage the side of her head, Edgeshot nodding. “That could mean smuggled ambulances, or scalpels and cotton balls. And I doubt anything of true value could be stored in one briefcase…”

“Not if it was something like a shipping manifest, or locations of warehouses they control.” The rest of the Heroes turn to Fatgum, who shrugs as he swirls a can of soda he was mostly done with. “Hey, I’ve picked up some Detective skills since me and Eraser worked together on Onomura Pharma… Well, I talk to people who are better detectives. Selkie, for this case: He says the Triads are the major shippers of the Underworld, and they’ve been in legitimate shipping for the past eight years or so. He’s tangled with their lower ranked members, and mercenaries they pay to pull attention from important shipments.”

Shouta takes a moment, nodding as Fatgum brings some information the others can use to the table. “Not a bad theory, that the former Yakuza family just passed dead drop information. They were suspicious of Nejire getting people out, so their paranoia might extend further. They wouldn’t want to get caught with goods on them, when the Hassaikai are already playing Shell Games within Shell Games.”

“See if Tsukauchi can get anything useful, during his interrogations of the two street level members. Besides that, it appears this fishing expedition didn’t provide much more than some old leather boots.” Edgeshot pushes off his wall, walking towards the door to the conference room.

Shouta moves to follow him, Ryukyu looking up at the blond hero. “I didn’t know you worked with him, Gum. Seems like I’m the odd woman out, in more ways than one.”

Fatgum grins, swiping an upheld thumb across his nose. “I didn’t get to do too much with him, but we… Wait a minute. Didn’t Onomura also have to do with chemically altered villains? Back around the Sky Egg incident?”

Shouta blinks, Edgeshot pivoting with a sigh. “The Villain Factory Case is a mountain of information, even if we could benefit from technological assistance. I have a team mining it as we speak, but they’re basically trying to empty the ocean with a siv, with all the misdirections and dead ends in the research. Research which could be faster, but all my agency members I could reassign to work on it normally are currently helping identify leads on the NoMu research…”

“They might be one in the same, though.” Shouta throws his mind back to his days in Naruhata, a lot of it a blur he’d thought were behind him. Which wasn’t great, since that meant he didn’t bother remembering nearly as much as he should. “Trigger had to be developed, to be as potent as it is. Same with their Quirk-Canceling drug, same with any criminal empire. It was there, we just didn’t notice it until a root broke through the soil in its search for nutrients.”

“So… the Villain factory was a part of the NoMu project?” Fatgum tilts his head, nodding to himself. “Sure, makes sense. The League of Villains is being run by some kids, but they’ve definitely got someone older guiding them. Whoever that is must be the mad scientists behind the Villain Factory, doing some Beta test of the NoMu…”

Shouta looks at Mirai, the man nodding to him as the two try to draw a fine point from that to each other. Because yes, they had a very good suspect for that Man behind the Villain Factory… Or, at least someone very interested in their research.

There’s a rapid knock on the door, everyone flinching and turning from the current subject. Tsukauchi slips into the room, immediately finding Shouta’s eyes while holding up a folder. “Eraser… I hate to say it, but you were right.”

Shouta stares for a minute, the other Heroes turning to look at him. He crosses his arms, nudging his chin in the detective’s direction. “Well, what other Quirk Factor did he have in him?”

“Other Quirk Factor… Wait, so this guy was secretly a NoMu?” Takami seems the most freaked out by that thought, his free hand immediately reaching down to Nejire’s arm.

Tsukauchi rapidly waves his hands, everyone slowing down as he holds up a folder. “Yes, he had other Quirk factors in his body. But they… They weren’t mixed, like the info the Commission and Tartarus have gained from the U.S.J. NoMu. They were mixed with whatever type of Trigger was in that ampule; The guy’s got a weak Radio Wave Quirk, barely strong enough to strengthen a bad Television signal. But that Emitter Quirk was mixed with a Giant Form Transformation Quirk, and trace signs of Slug Mutant Quirk factor.”

The room goes silent, then Shouta can’t help the nervous laughter that bubbles up from him. He can literally hear the jokey delivery Hizashi would make to break the tension, and can’t help but repeat it to everyone in the room. “We’ve had Pop-Up Villains, we’ve had NoMu. Now, this Summer, get ready for… Pop-Up NoMu.”

Shouta looks at Mirai, whose face is washing pale as he considers the possibilities. Because yeah, Shouta hates the idea of anyone on the street shooting up to become a NoMu. He can feel his elbow start to itch, the entire arm starting to burn as he remembers what it was like in the grip of one of them.

And then there was chaos in Hosu. Of those things coming from every which direction, barely having time to Erase one of them before another three showed up. That level of chaos not just focused on one room, but possibly an entire neighborhood in minutes…

“This… We have to warn other Heroes, right? Get the word out, make sure they know how to stay safe…” Mirio looks around, almost starting to trail off as the Pros all exchange glances.

“Of course, we need to spread word about this. But how we spread the word is imperative, these days.” Edgeshot looks at Shouta, slowly undulating three fingers at his side. Shouta tilts his head, the ninja Hero nodding before moving on. “Not only is technology not to be trusted, but we can’t discount any number of outside parties monitoring us.”

Shouta nods, getting that hidden message loud and clear. He looks at Mirai, flexing his hand to catch his eyes before scratching his arm with three fingers. The man nods, the three Underground Heroes confirming their working theory.

Someone had been watching Shouta today, at least one more than he’d thought over the past week. He’d been doing more Spotlight Work to lure them out, and it looks like they’ve edged enough out of the shadows for Edgeshot to catch sight of them. At least, one more than he’d been aware of before.

And the fact that anyone could become a NoMu in an instant made his Quirk that much more valuable, even if he apparently couldn’t Erase all of a NoMu’s Quirks. Or maybe it was the recent exposure to the Quirk Factors… He was handing this off to Nedzu as soon as he got back to Yuuei.

Mirai takes a breath, then looks over at Tsukauchi. “I believe we could use some additional assistance, than just the Underground’s information network can provide. There’s too many resources searching for the League of Villains, trying to prevent another Hosu. Besides which, there’s not enough time for anyone to brush up on the Pop-Up Villains case and the greater Trigger trade.”

Shouta blinks, actually having half a solution in mind. He hadn’t done work in Naruhata for months, and his familiarity with the Pop-Up Villains had faded too much to be of much use. But for notes on the detective work that had gone into it…

Tsukauchi turns to him, raising an eyebrow before holding the folder out to a reaching Edgeshot. “Well, I can get copies of our records printed up for you guys. But the Commission probably has better records about that incident, considering how most of the Vigilantes involved never ended up in police custody for questioning…”

Tsukauchi noticeably trails off, Shouta pulling out his phone. The five other Heroes take a few seconds of silently questioning each other, during which he finds a note on his phone that was actually updated recently.

He quickly dials the number in, walking towards the door while holding his phone off. “I’ll see if anyone on Yuuei’s rolodex has a contact we can pull in. All the blockers are still up, aren’t they?”

Tsukauchi nods, and the corners of his mouth twitch as he holds a grin down. Because the two of them had a lot more connections than the rest of the room strictly needed to know, and that was before Shouta was pulled into the Conspiracy Sundae that was All Might’s backstory.

And they’re both already thinking of exactly the right person to talk to, assuming he can Crawl his way to the school in the next few days.

-

Tamaki can’t help his quick pace, him and Mirio quickly walking through the Halls of Yuuei. Sure, Nejire was probably fine after a night of rest with Recovery Girl, but that had been a really big incident. His nerves were entirely shot, and there were still all of their tests to take…

Mirio doubles his pace, looping their arms together to slow him down. “Take a breath, Tamaki. There isn’t anywhere safer for Nejire than in Recovery Girl’s clinic, after a fight like that. She’s probably already grabbed breakfast from the cafeteria, by now.”

Tamaki tries to relax, but can’t help the tremble running through him. “I… I know. It’s just… you two instantly jumped into action, even though you knew you could get hurt. I… I froze, until Edgeshot started giving orders. And those guys… Nejire could have died…”

“But she didn’t, so stop worrying about what didn’t happen.” Mirio wraps their fingers together, leaning in until Tamaki has to stop to hold up the broader boy’s weight. “Besides, you matched up against All Might yesterday, and passed! Come on, celebrate our accomplishments for a minute!”

Tamaki takes a second, then lets a little grin form. Because yeah, he had managed to match up against All Might. The teacher had been held back by compression weights, but it was still All Might. Maybe… Maybe his partners were right… maybe there was some hope for him, in the Spotlight.

They turn the corner into the Clinic’s wing, Tamaki recognizing at least two of the people there. In casual workout clothes, his legs crossed across the front of his wheelchair, was the Engine Hero: Ingenium. And talking with him was a white haired boy Tamaki had seen photos of, along with the rest of his siblings and famous parents.

Natsuo Todoroki is wearing a badge that marks him as working in Recovery Girl’s clinic, currently writing some information down as Ingenium and the guy behind his chair talk. The guy was kind of lanky, wearing a size too big Ingenium jacket with the hood up over his shaggy black hair. But he was leaning on the back of the chair, him and Ingenium trading banter as Natsuo tries to keep them focused.

Ingenium notices the two as they walk up, reaching up and tapping on the arm of the guy behind him. The guy looks up, and taps Ingenium’s hand in return before walking over. He flips his hood down… And Takami finally recognizes him, feeling his face warm up. “Oh, you’re Sky Crawler!”

Sky Crawler smiles, reaching up to scratch his face. “Yeah… You’re one of a few people who got my name right. It only took five years… Eh, a lot of that was me doing Underground work most of the time. But that’s paying off; I was told you needed the download on the Villain Factory?”

Tamaki looks at Mirio, both of them confused for a moment. “Um… Oh, you’re the guy Eraserhead called before he left?”

Sky Crawler nods, offering a hand. “Haimawari, and it’s an honor to be working with you all. I was boots on the ground for the Naruhata Pop-Up Villains case. Actually, I’ve also run across Fatgum a few times, and Eraser told me you’ve got a work study with him?”

Takami nods, Mirio staying silent next to him. He waits a second, a little worried when the blond doesn’t carry on the conversation. “Um, yeah. Fatgum’s working on a case, and the subject of Trigger came up. Yesterday, you might have heard…”

“Yeah, a couple of my friends sent me messages about it. We… There’s a lot of personal reasons for us to keep a finger on that pulse.” Haimawari reached into his pocket, pulling out a flashdrive. He holds it up, a little grin spreading across his face. “I haven’t been able to help them so much, when I started Spotlight work. But I made sure they could hang their hats with Idaten if they needed it, and we’ve built up as much data as anyone could want about Trigger, and the Villain Factory’s experiments.”

Tamaki reaches out, taking the drive and looking over it. It looked like a pretty low storage drive, but it could be packed full of information. And if even some of it was of any help in the Hassaikai case, that would be a massive help for the Police and Commission…

“Sorry, Sky Crawler. But… Nighteye has said a few things about you. Rumors, he’s heard.” Tamaki looks up, and is a little taken aback at the hard look Mirio is giving the older hero.

Tamaki turns, seeing the man sigh a little defeated. He crosses his arms behind his back, leaning back in a stretch while looking at Mirio. “About my early days? If that’s a problem for him, this doesn’t have to be a full time thing. I’m busy taking care of my guy over there, and kind of running Idaten while he trains up to be Support Staff. Just a little guest appearance, maybe a couple minutes setting up stage lights for the real Spotlight Heroes…”

“Sure… But your ‘friends’ who got you this information? Where do they land, these days?” Tamaki looks back at Mirio, a little unsettled by the hard line he seemed to be drawing between himself and this guy. From basically the Sun personified, it wasn’t something the quieter boy would ever expect.

Haimawari takes a second, seeming to try and measure Mirio’s attitude. He leans back forward, his grin fading as he seems to tune in to whatever weird frequency Mirio was on. “What… Oh, I get it. Nighteye can’t get past my start, huh? Tensei said he could be a bit of a hardass…”

The door to the clinic opens, Mirio shifting to step closer to Sky Crawler. Tamaki looks, seeing Nejire tapping the heels of her school shoes so they sit right on her feet.

He tries to catch her eye, and she turns their way just as Mirio responds. “Sure, someone like you would say that. But there’s a right way to do things, and you just chose not to do it. Not for any other reason, and not because someone forced you to. You just chose not to get a license like we’re supposed to, and thumbed your nose at everyone who did it right.”

Haimawari raises an eyebrow, then just turns with a shake of his head. “I thought an Underground-er like Nighteye would get it. Not gonna waste Tensei’s time, going over this again when he needs me. Let me know if you guys want anything else…”

Nejire quickly walks over, looking slightly concerned as Sky Crawler passes her. She looks after him, then at the drive in Tamaki’s hand. “Oh, you guys got the info. Cool… Miri’, is something wrong? You look…”

Mirio takes a second, flicking on a smile like someone turning on the light in a room. And if you’d never been in that room before, you’d think that lightbulb was the brightest it had ever been. “Yeah, I just needed to answer a few questions for Sir. Sorry, about getting all serious like that.”

Takami looks at Nejire, who tries to wave off the awkward air with her hand. “Hey, think we can talk more in the Cafeteria? My Quirk really doesn’t mesh with Recovery Girl’s, especially after I’ve just used up a lot of my stamina. I am starving…”

Mirio nods, quickly turning to avoid walking past Haimawari. Tamaki turns to them, Haimawari quickly offers him a grin and a wave before turning back to Tensei.

Takami almost turns away, only to see Haimawari flip his left hand up for Natsuo to see… And he turns quickly, feeling heat fill his face as the hallway light catches onto something gold on the Hero’s hand.

“Right… Hey, guys. I had an idea about everything from yesterday, and something we can do to help dig up some info our Mentors can use.” Nejire looks at them, and threads an arm through Mirio’s as they walk.

“Yeah, I was thinking about something too. I think there’s an underclassman or two I can talk to, who might be able to find some stuff out for us.” Takami looks at Mirio, who quickly raises a hand to his lips as they look at him. “Can’t say more, until I talk to them. But until then, who should sit on the thumb drive to make sure it doesn’t get damaged?”

“Well, you’ve got ‘Raigin’ from the Support Course in your Exam Hall…” Mirio lets out an exhausted sounding chuckle, Nejire craning her neck to smile at Takami. “I trust Takami to keep an eye on it; That’s cool with you, right?”

Takami nods, quickly sliding the drive into the breast pocket of his jacket. “ Yeah, I can handle that. Now, what would you like most for breakfast?”

Nejire unlatches from Mirio, quickly moving around him to snare the both of them in her arms. “Anything, as long as the three of us can have a lot of it. Seriously, I will die if I don’t get something before our Exams.”

Based on her barely contained giggles, Takami only partially doubts that. But if Lunch Rush had anything available, it would be a miracle. They’d barely managed to grab something before running to catch the same train as Aizawa, before heading out yesterday. But they’d seen the chaos of everyone in Yuuei trying to fill the cafeteria at the same time, and the exhausted lumps it left of the Third Year General Studies students.

Hopefully, it was a bit better today, for them.

-

Momo keeps her smile in place, nodding as the fourth Business Course student in lunch comes to her with whispered apologies. She and this boy had had several conversations on International Trade, a topic she was happy to share what she knew about purely from the novelty of the experience. “I know everyone’s already come up, to apologize about Okuda and Kanzaki. But it requires repeating that none of us think like that, and we hope you’ll forgive us for not speaking to them about these rumors.”

Momo waves her hand, Shouto blankly watching the ritual like the Dorm Cat watching an animated round of video games in the Living Room. “I understand, Rashi, and I hold no ill will beyond those responsible. Please, perish the thought that I would engage in needlessly unfocused reprisal.”

The darker skinned boy bows his head repeatedly, quickly slipping out a few pocket notebook pages from his breast pocket. He sets them on the table, quickly turning and dodging his way through the pandemonium of the cafeteria.

Momo picks up the papers, considering the madness around her. Yesterday had been an amusing disaster, much like that day when the press had broken through the security wall before the U.S.J. Incident. But that had been a smaller portion of the student body, maybe a third from all the schedules intentionally being out of sink. Now, not only was every seat at every table filled, but the courtyard just outside the cafeteria was undergoing tense lunchroom jockeying as hierarchy establishes itself.

“Anything interesting, in those notes?” Shouto doesn’t try to steal a look at them, nor does anyone else sharing the table. Hanta is in the position to do so, being on Momo’s other side. But of the eight people sharing their table, they were the people least in need of stealing a peak.

Momo quickly flips through the papers, shaking her head after a minute. “No, nothing really interesting. A few of the other rumors in the school, most of which I assume Hanta already knows…”

“Can I check?” Momo hands off the relevant papers, the rest being mildly interesting current events she takes a minute to read through as Hanta reviews. “Nothing new, just some old rumors coming back. Everyone thinks Fumikage is some kind of warlock, but the only thing that changes about that one is what kind of magic user he is.”

“He’s okay with us joking about that, right?” Eijiro looks around, Rikidou nodding and letting the redhead breathe a sigh of relief. “Cool. So, how’s the planning going for your Exam? Kats was talking about Fumi minding Izuku, who was busy with thumb tacks and string in the Private Room.”

“Oh… That’s unrelated, actually.” Momo raises her eyebrows, Hanta wiggling his eyebrows and making a ‘shush’ motion. “But Kats said we need to be ready for All Might, so me and Fumikage were talking. Dark Shadow was able to take a hit from Izuku in training, and grapple him when he was really pushing himself. So we might be able to bind the Big Guy, if we surprise him.”

Shouto looks up for a moment, like he was watching the fight play out. “Depends on whoever they picked to support Him, then. But the four of you might be able to wear him down, if he really has…”

Shouto trails off, the table nodding at the unshared information. He continues enjoying a bowl of soba, pulling out his phone and texting something to Kyouka. Who was across from him at the table, but had a set of headphones on and a dampener over the jack not plugged into her phone.

Kyouka looks at her phone, then looks up. She leans over to Kouji, showing him the text. The quiet boy nods, flashing thumbs up to the rest of the table. “This track sounds great, after the TLC from last weekend. Think we can get Present Mic to lend us a guitar, for Fumi to practice on?”

Momo blinks, looking between the two as Shouto considers it. Eijiro beats her to the question, looking around Rikidou as the boy tries a sample of Earl Gray they were testing for his Quirk. “Hang on, you guys are actually making music together? That is so manly! Can I listen to it?”

Shouto takes a few moments, seemingly looking to Kyouka for her opinion. She swipes her finger across her screen, shaking her phone like a training knife as Eijiro reaches for his. “This is the Demo version, so no sharing it around. We still need to get the rest of the band together for a session.”

Eijiro pulls out some earbuds, quickly looking around. “Hang on, you guys are putting together a band? Who else is in it? It’s Fumi, and who else?”

Kyouka crosses her arms in front of her, flashing a screen with some sort of album cover Momo and Hanta’s way. “Nope, not until we’re ready with our Debut EP. But I will say, Shouto is an awesome mixer; He could start a channel, if he wanted.”

“That’d be super cool, actually. Like when one of us joked about me doing a baking vlog, Shouto becoming an Internet DJ would be super cool.” Rikidou considers it his tea, his lips twitching as he lets the taste ruminate. “A little sharper, but not the same as peppermint. I’m so glad they let us have water bottles in the Exam Hall.”

Momo nods, waving away a little voice about how unfair it was for him to use his Quirk like that. She was obtaining social position and advantage from the use of her Quirk, and so was the much less financially fortunate Ochako. If anything, their Quirks were yet another equalizer in this world. Besides, Shouto’s Quirk wasn’t helping him pursue music, like when she’d tried to learn the piano as a child…

Momo blinks, then looks up at Kyouka. The girl was watching Eijiro, who starts swaying back and forth at whatever mix he was listening to. “Wow… That sounds so epic! Like, I have a playlist for when I join Tenya on a jog, and this fits perfectly! It makes me want to run a mile, you know?”

Kyouka nods, Momo almost letting the point go. Only for Tsu, the silent assassin who’d been quietly scrolling on her phone, looks directly into Momo’s eyes. “Momo, weren’t you telling us your parents had you take piano lessons?”

Kyouka and Shouto look over, and Momo can’t help but feel her face flush. “I mean, yes. But I’m sure that wouldn’t really fit into the sound you two are designing…”

“No, it’d be perfect.” Kyouka’s face lights up, leaning in and grinning to Momo. “An actual classic piano would be cool, for some of the moodier pieces me and Shouto come up with. Plus, Mic has one in his set up at the Teacher’s Dorms. Do you want to come over with us sometime, maybe just do a warm up or two?”

Momo flounders, her words failing her at Kyouka’s obvious enthusiasm. There’s another nagging voice in her head, saying she’d just embarrass herself by trying to match Kyouka in musical talent…

“Kyouka… Are you asking Momo out on a date?” Kouji freezes as Kyouka’s face quickly starts flushing brilliant vermillion, looking to Hanta on his other side.

“I… I mean, I wasn’t thinking about it like that…” Kyouka’s voice trails off, and Momo can’t help but notice how the goth girl’s eyes keep flickering over to her. “But… I mean, if you’re not interested…”

“I never said that.” Momo blinks, everyone at the table watching the two of them stumble through the clumsiest date offer she’d seen outside of a romantic comedy. “I mean… I suppose I would like to see what your band is like, when making music. But if it being a date makes you uncomfortable…”

“It doesn’t! That sounds great!” The two of them try to contemplate what they’re doing, the rest of the table just watching with looks ranging from bemused to completely blank.

Hanta grins, running a hand up to sweep his lengthening bangs from his face. He picks up the passed over notes, Momo taking them as he winks at her while Kyouka looks away.

Eijiro pulls his earbuds out, nodding to Kyouka as he sets his phone down. “Honestly, I really like the sound you guys have. I can see it going viral, or being an uncharted hit. And you said you had a second type of song?”

Kyouka nods, swiping through her phone to look up something. “I mean, there’s a lot of Rock influences. But there’s also some Pop-ier stuff, some moodier pieces that are kind of Pop in a weird way. Labels don’t always help, considering the stuff we’re coming up with.”

Eijiro grins, better understanding Kyouka’s hedging than Momo did. Obviously, she’d learned the distinctions in types of music. But not from the perspective of actually enjoying them. More which types were a respectable sort to listen to, and which groups were enough of a cultural impact to be worth an investment down the line.

So… Maybe it would be fun, when she wasn’t worrying about Exams. Or all the complicated schemes that seemed to orbit their class, at least one of which she was actively facilitating with several of her classmates. But that was only fair; if her parents wanted her to be an unknowing spy for them in Yuuei, they really shouldn’t have been so thorough in their education of High Society Etiquette and manipulations.

And there’s some guilt in her, in feeding her parents false information. But the Hero Public Safety Commission seemed to be considering Nedzu a hostile ally, and were using the children of their confidants to get information for use against him. Maybe, if they had told her that they wanted her to do that, Momo might have been more willing. She wouldn’t have been so open with her classmates, gotten so close with so many of them.

But now, she had a balancing act to do. Keep usable information going to her parents, while making sure nothing truly damaging made its way out. Through her, and by Eijiro, Tenya, or Yuga that she was aware of. Maybe Kodai from Class 1-B, but they’d drifted apart enough that a question like that was too obvious without weeks of work up. Weeks she’d started on, but hadn’t gotten into enough to try to dig.

But Momo had time. She didn’t know how much, and there were all the nagging voices saying she was making all the wrong choices. That she was overreacting, and her choices were the worst ones she could have made…

But again, she had time. Time to worry about that later, as Eijiro spins a finger around at the four of them who were teamed up for their Practical Exam on Saturday. “So, do we have any big combo moves we want to work on? Me and Momo have some up close experience by now, and Rikidou’s not too bad in a fight either. Then Shouto… Well, we have a lot of options to consider.”

Momo nods, reaching for her drink. “Let’s worry about this Chemistry Exam first, and meet up in the dorms.”

-

Shouto sprawls out on the grass of the Dorm’s Backyard, arms crossed over his eyes. He might have gotten up from sprawling quietly onto his back by now, but he’d soon been perched on by the Dorm Cat. And if you didn’t want your stuff shredded by claws in retribution, everyone in Class 1-A obeyed a very simple Dorm Rule: if Arashi sits on you, you sits.

But besides that, Shouto really liked when the cat perched on him. It was a nice, simple interaction he could count on. Even though he liked the rest of his class, loved how different it was from living with his father and siblings, it was too different for him. So, he just laid on the ground sometimes, either Arashi or Yuwai quickly springing to capitalize on the premium lounging spot that rarely chased them off.

Those rare times being when someone else came to rouse him, either for Homework or Dinner. Dinner wasn’t for a few hours, giving him time to think to himself… Well, himself and his neighbor in silence.

Hitoshi was sprawled next to him on the ground, just at his arms length. His finger was itching just behind the old black cat’s ear, the old thing purring from her spot on a premium perch. “If I never see the word ‘Titration’ again, it’d be too soon.”

Shouto nods, his eyes itching from reading so many questions. He wonders if this is how Aizawa feels, from all the strain he puts on his eyes. “I think the right thing to say is ‘I can’t wait for Summer’. Do you have any plans, for the break?”

“Not really. Summer… It was never fun, for me.” Shouto makes a non-committal noise, the two of them so alike in a terrible way. But it meant they had a nice respite in the other, when everyone else socially overloaded them. “You plan on spending time with your siblings?”

Shouto reaches down with his hand, scratching behind Arashi’s other ear. “Maybe. Mom was talking about planning a visit to my Grandparents, or holding some sort of dinner party for Natsuo’s school friends. Maybe, if Kyouka doesn’t have plans, do some more sound design stuff with her.”

“Yeah… I was wondering about that.” Hitoshi hesitates, and the two of them spend almost a full minute in silence. Shouto doesn’t poke and prod him, something he’ll gladly be repaid later if he needs some time alone with someone around him. “You… You were talking about wanting me to… help with vocals?”

Shouto moves his other arm to cushion his head, turning to see the purple haired boy watching his face for a reaction. “Kyouka thought someone with a deeper voice would help, balancing her lyrics out. And… I’ve been told my singing voice is inexpressive.”

“You, inexpressive? No…” Shouto’s lips bend upwards slightly, Hitoshi grinning at him. “You’re not just doing this to hear me sing, are you?”

“I think you wouldn’t bother hiding something, if it wasn’t for a reason. Like you hiding your adoption from the school, for as long as you could.” Hitoshi goes still, Arashi turning to look at him as he remembers the events of the day before. “As Mina’s joked a few times, we ‘have enough parental baggage to keep a plane from taking off’.”

Hitoshi snorts, looking back up to a cloudy sky. There wasn’t supposed to be a storm this week, but the sky had started darkening strangely soon after the end of class. Even as relaxing as an afternoon lounging on the grass sounded, Shouto would admit rain would chase him inside.

“Do you… Do other classes ask you questions? About Endeavor, or any of the other crap he did to your family?” Hitoshi looks like he hates asking the question, more so than normal.

Shouto takes a second then sighs. “Sometimes, but that died down after Midterms. People have started asking my brother questions, instead. He doesn’t like it, but he’ll answer some before kicking someone out. I hear he’s single handedly destroying Endeavor’s legacy, if Hanta’s recountings are right.”

Hitoshi raises an eyebrow, turning over onto his side to look directly over. “Wait, so… Your brother tells Business Course kids stories, which they tell Hanta, which he then tells you? That’s a weird game of telephone, dude.”

“Me and Natsuo talk, when he has time. But he’s been talking to some Third Year from the Business Course, who's putting together a Documentary. He seems thrilled, however that’s going. Hanta says they want to interview me, if I’m interested.”

Hitoshi sits up fully, looking at him with a bit of incredulity. “Hanta… Is he trying to make you do an interview, or something? Is that why you’ve been out here in the afternoons, since last week?”

“No… He doesn’t pry, really. He’s talked about his Internship with Hound Dog, about boundaries and that sort of thing. Said if I ever wanted to talk, he’d be happy to listen. And… We’ve talked, outside of studying.” Shouto gets that weird feeling in his chest, thinking about the brunette boy.

Hitoshi looks ready to continue the conversation, only for thunder to roll across the sky. Arashi’s claws dig into his shirt, her head turning around to scan their surroundings. She actually hops up to walk to the back door, Shouto leaning up to see her pause near the door, looking back at them.

Hitoshi sighs, pushing himself up. He offers a hand to Shouto, the two of them getting up. “Do you… Have you ever thought about what you’d be like, if you were a Villain?”

Shouto looks at the purple haired boy, and honestly considers the question. Considering Endeavor’s lack of anger management, he was aware of how to use the Fire in his Quirk for extreme damage… Not to mention Touya. Who was working with the League of Villains, and had already done nearly as much damage in a fraction of the time as Endeavor.

That just left his Ice, but making glaciers that carved through a building sounded villainous enough. Or even just blocking a major road, if he wanted to do the sort of civil damage Mayhem seemed to like. “Yes, but everyone does that. There’s a difference between thoughts and action. Endeavor wanted to be a better father, but he didn’t act on that until it was too late. You’re nothing like Him, so you’re not much of a villain to me.”

Hitoshi raises an eyebrow, letting out a snort of laughter. “Thanks. That means a lot, from you.”

Shouto blinks, feeling like there was a secondary meaning in that. But before the two of them can consider what that meaning was, the wind around them picks up. What had been a beneath notice breeze turns into sustained gusts, the untucked hems of their shirts getting pulled by the air away from their skin.

The two of them move back to back, Shouto scanning out towards the campus while Hitoshi checks towards the dorms. Shouto holds his hands out, feeling the wind seem to change from blowing to his right to his left in seconds. He could faintly tell the temperatures, feeling Summer humidity being sucked upwards, being replaced by a dry cold… “Someone with a Wind Quirk is manipulating the air, to intensify the storm. It might be as strong as a tornado, if whoever’s doing it can keep it up.”

When Shouto can’t see anyone possibly doing this, he turns around. He and Hitoshi run back towards the Dormitory, Arashi turning and hissing at the clouds with her hackles raised.

Shouto sees Momo and Eijiro at the doors, the red haired boy pulling open the door for the two of them to rush inside. The Dorm’s intercom barely announces them before the loudest lightning bolt Shouto’s ever heard crashes behind them, the lights all flickering off moments after everyone reaches to cover up their ears.

Shouto looks around, his ears ringing as Momo quickly puts a hand on his shoulder. She scans around the dim Dorm Commons, a flashlight beam scanning around the room. “Is everyone alright? Eijiro, can you run up the stairs to check on everyone?”

“On it…” Shouto shakes his head as the boy follows Momo’s order, seeing Hanta and Mina similarly dazed around another of their card games. Mezou and Mashirao were also with them, Shouto stepping forward to see them huddled around a growling Kyouka.

“Fuck… Thanks for that tech upgrade, Mia.” She holds up her jacks, two black and gold pieces over the metal of the jacks that hung from her ears. She looks around, waving off everyone checking on her before they all turn to look outside.

Chapter Text

Eijiro races up the stairs, barely opening the second floor door before Izuku and Fumikage are meeting him. “What just happened?”

Eijiro shrugs, backing up and pointing over his shoulder. “No idea, but I think we should all be on the ground floor. I think I saw everyone else on this floor already downstairs, but can you help me check?”

Izuku nods, turning back and quickly throwing open his and Hitoshi’s doors. He makes it to the hidden room before Eijiro turns, racing up to the third floor while Fumikage makes his way downstairs.

The bird headed boy had a camping lantern in his hand, Dark Shadow’s inky body inching across his face and arms in a slow but obvious way. Eijiro turns after him, Fumikage turning back on the next landing. His head shifts to the side, Dark Shadow whispering something that causes him to resume running down the stairwell.

The stairwell door opens up, Yuga’s belt noticeably glowing as he and Tenya come out as well. Before they can say anything, the doors to the girl’s floor open up. “Is everyone alright?”

“Checking now, Ochako!” Eijiro looks at the two boys, stopping and running through a count in his head. “Um… Who haven’t I seen… Do you two know where Kat’s and Denki are?”

Tenya and Yuga trade looks, shaking their heads. Tenya turns back, quickly knocking on doors as Yuga steps towards the stairs leading up. Ochako and Mina come from upstairs, Mina noticeably holding her fingers apart on one hand as the two of them run.

They sort of glisten in the light Yuga was making, Eijiro relaxing when he sees the red color has some sort of glitter in it. “Is anyone up on the fifth floor? Do we know where everyone is?”

Eijiro shakes his head, running through a count in his head. He brings his hand out, running through everyone he knows is downstairs for them. “Only girl I don’t know about is Toru, but I think everyone else… Rikidou and Kouji!”

He slaps his head, the other three giving him an understanding nod as Tenya doubles back. The spectacled boy shakes his head, and the five of them make their way downstairs in as much of a hurry as they can in the suddenly dark stairwell.

They stop as Izuku pops into the stairwell, quickly waving his hands. “Guys, I need some help with this. Denki and Katsuki were in the Hidden Room, and it apparently needs electricity to slide open.”

Eijiro nods, quickly moving around the green haired boy as the others follow them. Even with the doors to rooms thrown open, Yuga’s bluish white light from his belt was the only thing any of them could use to see the hallway clearly, with the sudden storm clouds cutting all the lights.

The wall to the Secret Room… Blind Room? Whatever it was called, someone was thumping on the other side of it. “Hello? ‘Zuku?”

Eijiro moves to the place all of them knocked and pushed to get into the room, the spot a little dirtier than the rest of the wall around it. He tries to force it, actually feeling resistance and hearing something metallic clicking in the wall. “Denki? You alright in there?”

“Kind of… No. I feel like I’ve eaten a hive of sugar high bees, and now I can’t see anything. And Izuku couldn’t get the door open, and we’re going to die in here…” Eijiro blinks, hearing Denki’s answer slipping into mania as Tenya moves to help him push.

“Wait!” Ochako reaches out, grabbing their arms and pulling them back. “Denki, Katsuki! You need to step back from the door, and take a deep breath.”

“I’m fine, in here. Everyone else safe out there?” Eijiro looks around as Katsuki calls out, Yuga pointing the light towards the doorway. Izuku rushes to his room, coming back out with a tablet that bathes them in enough light from an exterior flashlight. Yuga passes him, heading to the staircase door and downstairs.

Ochako quickly turns her head around, looking at the seams of the doorway. “Oh… Guys, this is a Panic Room for the Dorms. I don’t know the exact computer stuff, but a lot of them default to locking up when power shuts off.”

Everyone nods, Denki calling from the other side. “Wait, is the power out in the whole Dorms? There’s a big storm outside, and it caused a power outage?”

“Yeah… Hey! Can you tell when storms are happening, with your Quirk?” Mina leans against the wall, trying to strike up a conversational tone to keep Denki calm.

Ochako offers the other girl a thumbs up, stepping back to look at the problem. “So… It’s probably bad if the school’s back up power hasn’t kicked in yet, right?”

“Um… The Dorms and School are on different energy systems.” The four people in the hallway turn on Izuku, who shakes his head and shrugs. “Nedzu said it’s temporary, until Cementoss and the Support Teachers can run stress tests during Summer Break. The school’s system alone can’t handle everything the dorms need, and they’ve been setting up Solar and Hydro-Electric Power Collection systems to help offset the otherwise massive cost to the prefecture…”

Eijiro brings a hand up, Izuku slowing down before just nodding. Eijiro taps Izuku’s shoulder, offering what he hopes is understood as a reassuring grin and thumb up before turning. “Okay… So, a powerless Panic Room. So the harder we try to break in, the more it’s going to reinforce to hold us out, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure Nedzu wouldn’t spare an expense on that.” Katsuki calls from inside, a few seconds of silence passing as everyone tries to figure out what to do.

Tenya moves to inspect the walls, running a finger across the wall until he can find the seam. “Should we go get Momo, see if she doesn’t have a tool in her Support Course catalog that can help?”

“That sounds just like trying to force through it, though. Maybe she can make a small generator, and we can hook it up to power the door long enough to get them out?” Eijiro looks around, Ochako actually considering the idea.

Izuku shakes his head, spinning a finger around at them. “Even if we know bits and pieces of this problem, none of us have enough electrician knowledge to know how to hook a generator up. The only person who might… Is in there.”

Mina takes a second, then reaches up and pops her forehead. “Hey, Denks? I need you and Katsuki to look around for us. You can see in there, where we can’t.”

“Okay… What are we looking for?” Denki calls through, Izuku’s heel starting to bounce as he considers whatever options he has.

Or maybe he’s picking up all the anxiety the rest of them are feeling, with his Inherited Multi-Quirk. Accepting that was true because it had come from All Might and Nedzu, Izuku had some Eight Quirks in his body, depending on if you count One for All as one Quirk or two. And having an Emotion Reading Quirk around a bunch of anxious teenagers must be hell, especially for one of the most anxiety prone kids Eijiro has ever met.

“See if you can find something like a button, or switch or something. Something that can force the door to unlock from the inside, or some sort of release around the door.” Tenya quickly nods, chopping a hand as Mina keeps up a calm demeanor.

“Yeah… Maybe there’s something out here…” Ochako joins Tenya in checking the edges of the door, knocking and dragging the backs of her fingers to not use her Quirk… on the wall…

Another crash of lightning comes from outside, the lights in the hallway flickering on for a moment. They go out, the five of them taking a moment to see if they’d turn back on.

Eijiro almost turns to look at the wall, some thought about an indestructible door trying to come to mind… But he quickly turns to the side, seeing something in the shadows of the hallway. He stops, trying to focus on the corner leading to the other hall of the second floor…

The door lets out a loud metallic clang, Mina pushing away from the wall with her arms up. Eijiro’s arms Harden before he notices the door inching back, quickly relaxing when he sees a familiar hand force its way out to pull the door open. “Nah, I’ve got this…”

Katsuki sarcastically doesn’t ask for help, Tenya and Ochako quickly move over to help force the door open. He moves out of the way, Denki quickly sliding through before the other blond follows him.

Katsuki drags a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath before looking around. Izuku lowers the tablet to not be pointed in his face, the blond’s eyes quickly taking everyone in. “Are the two of us the only people caught somewhere stupid?”

“Maybe… I mean, there’s still a couple people unaccounted for.” Eijiro quickly tries to change his answer, Katsuki’s eyebrow twitching.

Denki slides down the opposite wall, his arms shaking as he slowly leans his head down. He brings his hands up, massaging the heels of his hands against his forehead. “Do we know who’s making that storm? Because that feels like a big storm, but I have an hour's notice before the migraine starts like this. So that’s someone’s Quirk… Hopefully, a lot of people’s Quirks.”

Eijiro looks around, everyone else measuring that statement from the electric blond student. “Can… Can people’s Quirks make storms, like this?”

Eyes turn to Izuku, who tilts his head. “Um… Technically, anything is possible with the right Quirk. But unless they were really careful about hiding that they could do this, it would have been found out pretty early.”

“It could also be someone on Quirk Enhancers.” Tenya reaches up, adjusting his glasses as they slide down his nose. “My brother-in-law had some run-ins with such, before he joined my brother’s agency. There are several chemicals that enhance the body’s natural abilities, allowing a person’s Quirk to jump in power exponentially. It could simply be someone using those substances, either illegally or under scientific observation.”

“Hah? The hell do you mean, scientific observation?” Katsuki looks at Tenya, who turns enough that the light from the tablet hides his eyes.

“It makes sense, if you think about it.” Izuku shrugs his shoulders, Tenya looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Imagine if Cementoss was responding to a landslide, and it would take days to dig through all the debris. There are corner cases where the Commission has allowed Heroes to use controlled doses of Quirk Enhancing drugs, purely for Rescue Work on Disaster Level Missions.”

Katsuki raises his hands, the lights directly above them flickering on weakly for a few seconds. “Well, it looks like whoever did this is the one creating the disaster.”

Tenya nods, chopping his hand like he was killing the idea he’d spoken of. “Of course, I don’t imagine this was the intended reaction. But we will find out in due time, once power comes back on. Should we rally with the rest of our classmates, and wait for the adults to come check on us?”

The light above them dies again, and Eijiro reaches down to pull Denki up. The blonde claps his hands together, a visible web of electricity arcing from his hands. He then takes the hand up, Eijiro flinching and bracing for a shock that doesn’t come. “Before I forget, can someone help me grab some of those rubber gloves from under the sink? I… I haven’t really used my Quirk this week, and this storm is going to make it act up.”

Everyone nods, Eijiro seeing the green haired boy clearly make a note of that information to use later. The seven of them make their way to the stairs, Katsuki sending everyone up in front of him. Izuku goes part of the way down the stairs, holding the tablet up so everyone can see clearly in the stairwell.

They just open the ground floor stairwell door as the lights in there flicker on, everything slowly chiming and chirping as everything starts coming back to life. Eijiro sees everyone down here looking around, Momo quickly locking onto him from across the room.

The Intercom for the Dorm lets out a melodic series of chimes, Nedzu’s voice coming in after a moment. “And with that, all the Dormitories should be on Backup Power. For the Students currently enjoying Yuuei hospitality, we apologize for the temporary power outage. The Staff are currently investigating the matter, and someone will be sent to all the occupied dorms shortly to ensure you remain informed.”

The Intercom shuts off, everyone looking around as sixteen teenagers all try to figure out what could be happening… Wait, sixteen…

Eijiro looks around, Mezou jumping up to move through the room. Everyone watches as the boy’s additional hands morph into ears, the tall silver haired boy moving them around as he tries to pinpoint something. “What’s… There’s something banging around. Something metal…”

Everyone starts looking around, Ochako turning and pointing towards a pair of metal panels off to the side of the Common Room. “The Elevator!”

-

Rikidou takes a steadying breath, pressing his back to the corner of the elevator. One hand was gripped tightly around a thermos of fresh tea, the other wrapping around the support bar as the other two both blindly felt around them.

Toru makes some sort of grunting sound, Rikidou faintly seeing her white shirt as she brings her hands up. He faintly sees some shifts in the light, a brief little ring of light that fades as she growls. “Come on! I’ve been working on this for so long!”

“working on what?” Kouji speaks from next to the door, Rikidou hearing the boy’s feet tapping like his rabbit would, the few times it became nervous.

“I… I talked to my parents, about their Quirks and mine. My Mom can do a little bit of light bending, and Izuku was talking about how kids' Quirks were combos of their parents. So I’ve tried learning to bend light around me, and I sort of can…”

“is that what that flare trick is?” Rikidou takes another breath, ignoring the feeling of air ticking along his exposed neck. The darkness, and the drafts of cold air flitting across his t-shirt, the faint shifts in the elevator as the other two move around…

Rikidou almost drops the thermos, a taste of peppermint fresh on his tongue. Because everything feels too focused, like someone had hit a button on a remote that slowed down the entire world around him. A new trick he’d started feeling, noticing it after adding another trick of his Quirk into his toolkit.

Sugar Rush, something he’d always thought was kind of lame in his moments of self deprecation. Pure Processed Sugar gave him a massive burst of strength, only it made everything go hazy. During the rush, and after with a Crash that he shared with Denki. But that was just Processed Sugar; He hadn’t known about all the different types of sugars, or if they all had different effects.

In this moment, he was regretting that curiosity that led him to trying tea at a Birthday party earlier in the school year. Then following up on the feeling with Momo, and finding the feeling of everything in his mind becoming instantly available to him. It was great for Tests, he’d admit. But right now…

Right now, standing in a darkened and locked up elevator, he can’t help but find his worst memories. Of standing in the U.S.J., hearing his classmates scream as he’s surrounded in black fog, only to find most of them gone. Memories of laying awake at night, shadows on his dorm wall become inhuman monsters that he watched try to kill his classmates in Hosu. Of being the most forgettable person in the class, and nightmares of his teachers remembering to save everyone else in the next disaster, forgetting to even look for him as he’s left dying in some unseen corner of the campus…

And they come to him in crystal clarity, lasting for so much longer than he’d thought they could. Just like he could remember a repeated math problem from homework two months ago on the test, he watches Thirteen’s costume torn open around them. Immediately labeling half a world map from hard memory one second, the next feeling the air in his chest crushed out of him as he powerlessly stares at the ceiling in his room the next…

“Riki?” Rikidou blinks, his eyes stinging from trying to actually look around in the dark elevator. “Riki, are you okay?”

It takes a few seconds to answer, winding up all those terrible thoughts like a bad batch of bread dough and tossing it into a trashcan in his mind. “I’ve been better… Just a little exhausted, from all the Exam Prep.”

Toru doesn’t say anything for a second, then moves over to repeatedly press the button to force the elevator doors to open. When that doesn’t do anything, she huffs and turns around. “How long do you think the power will be out? Shouldn’t some sort of back-up generator have started by now?”

Kouji takes a second, then Rikidou can hear the metal panels of the door shake in place as he lets out a long whine. “Come on… Come on…”

Rikidou moves forward, accidentally bumping into Toru as she also moves to help. He reaches up, putting an arm on her shoulder so they can maneuver around each other. He blindly reaches forward, finding Kouji’s arms and moving to be the outermost grips in the equation. “You two focus on the right door, I’ll do the left. Get your grip, then we’ll go on three.”

The others take a second to move, then Toru calls the numbers. They all grunt from the exertion, Rikidou feeling the good kind of burn as he forces the door open under his regular power.

There wasn’t anything to see for a minute, just some stone without any more hint of lights. But Toru takes a second, and is actually able to force a ring of light in her hand. Just enough to see a line that divided the floors, marking they were halfway between the first and second floors. And the faint reflection off metal at the top of the frame, maybe four inches from Rikidou roughly eyeballing it.

The ring of light flickers out, Toru’s sleeve shaking like she was trying to wake her hand up. “I hate how that makes my hand go numb… But what the heck! I thought people came up with security protocols, so elevators didn’t get stuck part way between floors.”

Rikidou shrugs, he and Kouji letting go of the door. They take a step back, Rikidou pulling out his phone. He blinks as the light stings his eyes, quickly seeing a flashing empty icon for cell service. And the Wi-Fi icon was gone, so no sending everyone a message through one of those apps Lunch Rush’s Interns’ had shown him.

“Wait, you had your phone this whole time?” Rikidou extends his arm as Toru moves over to him, seeing a screen-saver of him and his parents on vacation. “Ah, no service!”

Toru takes a step away, and Rikidou turns on his phone’s flashlight. Kouji already has an arm up, Rikidou quickly swivels the phone to the ground to not blind everyone. “It’ll be fine. Just… It’s probably just taking a second for Aizawa to get here. Or Midnight, or one of the other teachers…”

“what if… what if that’s the League?” Kouji has his arms crossed over his chest, looking almost as freaked out as Rikidou felt right now. “what if… Mayhem cut the power, so all the school’s security was down? and they’re… they’re coming for us…”

“Then we need to get out of here anyways!” Toru looks around, her voice growing angrier by the second. “Because I’ll be damned if one of those NoMu things hurts one of my classmates, if I have anything to say about it! Riki, hand him your phone, and cup your fingers!”

Rikidou blinks, Kouji falling silent as the two boys trade looks. Quickly doing as the invisible girl says, he laces his fingers together…

He looks up at the ceiling, seeing a barely there indent in the metal off to one side. He moves to be under it, turning his hands to be more of a basket to boost Toru. They’d done something kind of similar in training, everyone pairing up to boost people with Ochako’s Quirk for a good leap. And as one of the stronger, largest build boys in the class, he was usually the one or part of the pair doing the boosting.

Toru steps up into his foot, putting her hands around his head. Rikidou carefully lifts her up, careful to let her use the side of the elevator to help her climb to the hatch. She steps up onto his shoulders, and he quickly reaches up to hold the backs of her legs to help her balance.

He also looks down at the ground, Kouji similarly averting eyes as Toru pushes on the ceiling hatch. She was wearing a skirt, and they’d seen enough anime to not test their luck in this situation. They wouldn’t see anything, but the instinct to not look was firmly in the two of them…

Toru takes a second to catch her breath as the hatch flips upward, Rikidou trying very hard to ignore the tightness in her legs he was feeling. Because Toru had seriously strong feeling muscles in her legs, and he wasn’t sure if it was better or worse to learn that in this position, with her ankles pressing up against his ears. Because… Well, no one could exactly judge how hot or cute Toru was, amongst the people in the class who would talk about that sort of thing.

And sure, several of the guys in the class were also interested in the other guys in the class. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t occasional talk about how the girls looked, quickly followed up by how cool they were, and their other interests.

But even before all the other girls had drifted into some sort of relationship, or the refusal of one with Mina, Toru had been the girl he’d had eyes for. Rikidou hopes his face isn’t noticeably red as Toru steps up into his hands, and he boosts her up on top of the elevator. Kouji isn’t looking his way yet, so he could lie and say it was the exertion…

Just as the elevator’s lights click back on, a faint series of mechanical whirls and dings. The buttons for the floors flash in a sequence Rikidou can barely keep up with, but not understand its meaning. “Student I.D.s detected. Elevator Safety Protocol 3 Dash 8 Point 2 Running: Resyncing paused until Safety Inspection.”

“COME ON!” Rikidou and Kouji both flinch as Toru slams her fist against the second floor door above them, the sound reverberating through the elevator shaft as the whole machine shifts slightly under her. “KYOUKA! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!”

Kouji backs up, reaching up to cover half of his face with his free hand. His fingers start drumming against his cheekbone, his pinky finger drifting down to the edge of his lips. Rikidou takes a second, seeing that the other boy's nails seem jagged and uneven from the limited light. “it’s all going to be fine… it’s just some weird storm. everything is going to be fine…”

Rikidou takes a second, then wriggles his fingers to get Kouji’s attention. “We’re going to be fine, dude. Just take a breath, slowly. We’ve done stuff like this in Foundation of Heroics class, and the best thing for people in our position to do is stay calm… Well, and make sure people know you’re trapped. Toru’s got that, so we just need to not freak out until the others hear us.”

Toru bangs on the door again, only for someone on the other side to bang in response. “Hey, we hear you already! The other two with you?”

“YEAH!” Rikidou lets out a sigh of relief as Toru responds, Katsuki’s voice coming through muffled by the door. It almost sounded normal volume, so he had to be shouting from the other side. “WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?”

Rikidou and Kouji move to look at the hatch, the otherwise dark elevator shaft illuminating as a familiar sounding shadow creature grunts from the exertion. “Tell the French Fri to turn away! His belt is messing with my grip!”

“Alright, everyone back up! Let Eijiro and Dark Shadow fight the door open, and let Ochako through! The easiest way to get the two in the elevator out is her Quirk, unless Momo wants to grab her grappling hook!” Katsuki starts loudly barking orders, Rikidou sighing as he imagines everyone quickly, if reluctantly, doing as he said.

The elevator bobs as Toru hops out, then shifts again. The two boys look up, Ochako leaning in with a smile. “Hey, guys. I hope you didn’t get any ideas when you boosted Toru up here.”

Now, maybe it was because of the weird situation of the elevator’s roof not being even with the floor above them. But there was a menacing shadow across Ochako’s face as she says that, which vanishes as the two boys rapidly shake their heads.

Ochako carefully shifts her arm down, taking a second to reach down to them as she adjusts her other hand. Because… Actually, would it be bad if the elevator suddenly went weightless? Oh, that was not something Rikidou wanted to think about…

“Iida Tensei, Haimawari Koichi…” The three paused, Kouji barely too short for Ochako to get the full five points of contact she needed. Ochako has now shifted partially into the elevator proper, her hair dangling as she barely resists the urge to try and look. Because she looked more confused by the intercom names, but shakes the distracting thoughts off to focus on the task at hand.

Rikidou reaches over, taking his phone back from the other boy. He then braces his hands again, boosting him up for Ochako to grab and lift out of the elevator. He grabs his thermos from the corner, and is able to reach his arms up high enough for Ochako to grab his wrist and pull him up.

Rikidou focuses on not letting his thermos drift away, orienting himself for when Ochako ends her Quirk. Dark Shadow reaches out to grab him, guiding him to stand on the ground before the girl does.

So he’s a little surprised when an unfamiliar voice rings out over everyone questioning if the three were alright, coming from a weird direction. “Ah, isn’t that sweet?”

Everyone looks around, only for Izuku to let out a high pitched gasp. Everyone looks to him, then follows a pointing finger… to a dark haired man, hanging upside down from the roof above them. “It’s Idaten Agency’s new headline Hero, the Sky Crawler!”

The guy laughs, raising one of his hands to offer a thumbs up. His other hand tenses, the guy spreading his limbs from the crouched pose. Rikidou notices how his other hand and feet were pressed flat against the ceiling, the tiles shifting slightly from his grip. “And you must be that All Might fanboy I’ve heard so much about! Miss Midnight just loves to gossip, but it takes a very special collection to really get her attention.”

Rikidou looks around, and sighs as he, Kouji, and Toru fade into the back of everyone’s minds. Honestly, if he wasn’t still standing in front of the elevator, he’d forget it too.

Still, it stings a bit as everyone watches for the guy’s answer to Tenya’s invective question. “Have you no shame? You shouldn’t be bounding about on the ceiling! You shouldn’t be in the Dorms, in the middle of a school day!”

“Calm down, Little Bro.” Rikidou watches as the guy slides along the ceiling, not seeing him shift or tense any visible muscles to start sliding across the ceiling. He drops down to land right next to Tenya, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pushing the boy’s glasses up. “Nedzu asked Tensei to watch you guys, and didn’t say I couldn’t tag along. Miss Midnight said that was practically an invitation, by his standards.”

“So, you’re responsible for us until the teachers get back?” Katsuki asks the question with a dangerous edge, which causes the Pro Hero to shudder and slowly turn to the blond. But Katsuki doesn’t look like he’s planning anything, if Rikidou’s reading him right. “Whatever just happened was so big, there wasn’t an Ectoplasm to spare? And all the other teachers are going out to check on this?”

A visible ripple passes over the rest of the class, Rikidou thinking of that panicked spiraling Kouji had done in the elevator. He could also see it on a few people’s faces, the Pro Hero looking around before flashing a big smile. “Ah, it’s all going to be fine. All of us Heroes just need to be a bit more vigilant, even with something like a little power outage. It’s probably just a little blown fuse, and we’re all just a bit jumpy… Speaking of! How about we leave this elevator for the adults to fix, and head downstairs. I saw a box of Ultimate Werewolf, and I’ve been dying to play since my friend Pop stomped me this one time during Naru-Fest rehearsals…”

Sky Crawler spins around Tenya, unlatching his arm and marching towards the stairwell. And after a grumble too quiet to understand, Tenya starts to follow him. Ochako quickly moves to catch up to him, and that starts pulling everyone down the staircase.

-

“Ishiyama, how does it look?” Ken takes a moment, inspecting the damage from his vantage point. He brings a hand up, blocking a gust of wind as he carefully leans over the edge of the building.

A number of the Yuuei Teachers were responding to the situation, since no one exactly knew what it might be. A sudden storm and lightning strike was one thing, the sort of signal the other teachers were watching for as some sort of opening play by the League of Villains. The strike cleaving through a familiar abandoned office building layered over another problem, Shouta and Nemuri barely restraining themselves until Ken assesses the building.

But as he inspected from the roof of the three story building, it didn’t seem overly compromised. Everything within range of the initial blast had been cleanly cut through, and there was minimal crumbling

He reaches up, turning to the waiting Heroes to wave them in. “It’s not quite stable, but I can solidify the roof easily enough. Start moving people out, so I have a clear field.”

Several First Year Hero Teachers all rush towards the building, Hizashi and the original Ectoplasm talking to the people who’d already pulled themselves out of the partially collapsed building. Ken looks over them, the small homeless crowd all barely restraining themselves from running in to help as well.

“There’s a lot of rubble down here; it must have carved through a wall holding up the second floor, and everything cascaded from there.” Thirteen sounds like they’re carefully pulling on the heaviest pieces of rubble, their comms crackling as pieces of the debris are obliterated in a Black Hole.

Ken moves to look through the hole in the roof, seeing a team of Ectoplasms moving over the top layer of rubble. But he closes his eyes, putting his hands down and spreading his fingers out. He takes a deep breath, and focuses on connecting to as much of the concrete as he could.

He could feel his control over the building spread, getting a solid picture of the shell of the building easily enough. He focuses, a wave spreading across the whole building as he ever so faintly softens the building, just enough for cracked and barely hanging on pieces to be solidly fused back together.

The whole process takes a minute, slowly panning his attention across the whole building inch by inch to avoid any more of the thing falling apart. When it all finally solidifies back, he stands, moving over towards the blackened and burned entrance to the building.

Ken sits on the edge of the hole, and takes just a few feet of the material under his control. He lets himself slide down towards the rubble, twisting himself to the side to not step on it. He keeps his hand on part of the material, thinning it out so more can drip onto the pile.

The instant he’s connected to it, the rubble starts to congeal and soften. He carefully pulls it up in chunks and pieces, making several more limbs through which he can extract more rubble with. But he can’t go too fast; Ken doesn’t want to accidentally entomb anyone in wet cement, or possibly move someone with a critical injury.

“Guys, we’ve got a set of siblings to look out for. Oldest is barely sixteen, last seen in… They’re saying ‘the Rec Room’?” Hizashi passes on information, Ken looking around the half crumbling hallway he was in. One door was completely blocked, and the other had a blanket someone was using as a curtain for a bedroom.

“You’re sure they said ‘Rec Room’, ‘Zashi?” Shouta calls to confirm, and Ken’s heart sinks when he hears Shouta’s answer to that response. “Ishiyama, that’s right next to where you said the impact was. Have you spotted them yet?”

Ken focuses for a second, all the concrete he was controlling rolling up into a makeshift tunnel. He spreads it out, creating a partial roof over all the parts of the original collapsed area that they were all clearing. It would all be coming out later, but there would be time to Repair and Replace after the Rescue.

He moves up to be right across from the rubble filled door, moving part of the tunnel wall over the door to begin clearing it out. “The doorway's full, need a hand to search it.”

His voice is strained, his concentration shaking as he tries to talk and command such a large amount of material at once. He slowly lets some of his control pull away, the tunnel going solid as he floats the chunks out of the way.

Ken is able to peek into the room… And he quickly melts part of the wall, dropping down and melting the remaining pieces in the doorway into the hallway. He barely waits for it to solidify under his feet before jumping over it, running over to a metal cabinet with a leg sticking out from it.

Ken moved across the cracked wooden floor to the cabinet, seeing it slanted at an angle so the leg was sticking out from the side lower to the ground. He slides to the ground on the higher side, seeing a boy barely older than any of his First Year students straining under the thing’s weight. He had his body arched over another child, who was too covered in dust and grit to tell anything important about them.

He could tell both of them had some faint Mutant Quirk, or at least something that changed their appearance. They both had reddish pink skin, like a shade of expensive lipstick that would sell for a small fortune per tube. And within hair that might just be dirty blond from obliterated ceiling tiles, there were faint markings of ram-like horns that were jaggedly cut down to hide within their hair.

The boy holding the cabinet up looks at him, his breath ragged as his arms shake. “Please… pull him out from here…”

Ken shakes his head, moving up to his feet. He was already studying the cabinet, looking for the best positions to support it to pull them both out safely. “You’re both going to be alright. Just give me a second…”

“No!” Ken freezes, the boy’s voice suddenly frantic. He stopped, looking and seeing the smaller child was hardly moving. “Please… Please, save her…”

“Ken…” Ken turns as Shouta runs into the room, and he takes a breath. He moves forward, sliding partially under the cabinet as well to leverage it up… Which is easier said than done, apparently. This thing was dangerously top heavy, even though there hadn’t been any concrete debris to make it worse.

“Eraser, I need a hand moving these two. Thirteen, Ectoplasm, I need a Medical Evaluation and Scene Inspection Kit…” Ken tries to keep his voice even, the boy looking up at him with misty eyes. Whether it was exertion, terror, or maybe some faint gratitude, Ken didn’t have the mental space to confirm as he tried to get a look at the boy’s leg still under the cabinet.

He barely shifts it up, and the flashlight Shouta points at them reveals a terrible bruising marking where the cabinet impacted. The older sibling hisses as Ken slowly takes more of the weight onto his shoulders, barely waiting for Shouta to pull his younger sister from under his arms to collapse.

“Cementoss… On It!” Anan immediately assesses the situation, Shouta waiting for them to start minding the girl before moving in to inspect the boy. He tilts his flashlight to point at the base of the cabinet, the refracting light more than clear enough to show where a metal lock for one of the cabinets had dug into the boy’s skin.

Ken isn’t as quick on the medical diagnosing, having to put his focus into bracing the cabinet over the three of them. He cringes, imagining how much easier it would have been to just bring a long tendril of cement with him to shape the stuff into a brace. Of course the kids aren’t going to trust him to not leave them, even if he was just going to be out of their sight for six seconds…

Of course, Shouta’s quick and abrasive maneuvering of the boy into the open air is a sign that those six seconds might have made for a different scene. “Nemuri, prep the Emergency Kit in the back of the van for a transfer. Nedzu, get Shuzenji to clear a bed in her clinic for this kid; Tell her to open up that file she wrote for Izuku before the school year started, for the level of bruising we have here.”

Ken hears the two quickly chirp replies, Anan quickly moving out of the way as Shouta makes for the door. Ectoplasm moves to also brace the cabinet, giving Ken the opportunity to poorly duckwalk out before the two of them let the cabinet settle to the ground.

Ken rolls his shoulders, Ectoplasm giving him a second before offering him a hand. They pull him to his feet, turning as Anan taps metal tipped fingers to get their attention. “She’s probably safe to move, but generally unresponsive. Weak reaction to Pain Stimulus, but I’ve got strong pulses. Did we grab the van with a gurney?”

“Yes, but it’s currently being used to relocate an older woman who was similarly assailed by a tall metal object. Calling for it now…” Ectoplasm taps on his earpiece, switching to a frequency for him and his multiple copies to all communicate on.

Ken moves to the hallway, and quickly maneuvers all the cement up and around to allow a gurney a smooth in and out pathway. He moves towards the front while doing so, smoothing out the newly reinforced tunnel and correctly opening sections for crossing hallways and doors to have access.

He steps out the front of the building, smoothing the center of the stairs into a ramp for another Ectoplasm to rush the gurney inside. He takes a few steps back, doing a once over of the building to make sure it was as sturdy as his quick estimate had said.

“… Which still leaves the big question unanswered. What The FUCK Are We Supposed To Do?” Ken turns, seeing a very animated man talking at Nemuri and Hizashi. His hair was the sort of blue of a kitchen stove, wearing a ratty gray t-shirt that looked like it was one bad run through the washing machine from disintegrating.

Hizashi is spreading his hands out, Nemuri giving a look over the rest of the crowd to assess them as the blond takes over the interaction. “Woah, there. I know, this is a really stressful time. But we have resources, and unused space in new Dorms at Yuuei to temporarily house you all. We just need to make sure everyone is okay, and that there isn’t any more damage to the building…”

“Let me save you some time; The Building’s been Condemned for nearly two months. All of us have been trying to find the next best place that can take us, but everywhere else within train fare distance has been full for the past three months!” The man continues to raise his voice, only barely taking a step back before he loudly starts ripping through every single problem they’ve been facing. All of which shouldn’t be suffered by anyone, but Ken wasn’t delusional enough to believe they lived in a perfect world.

He starts taking mental notes, walking over as a woman with fish-like scales that glittered in the light tries to calm the man down. “Kagutsuchi, please…”

The man turns, seething before he points a finger at all of them. “Why should I calm down? All of us would be better off if these Useless Heroes had done their job, when they were supposed to! If they stopped the League when they attacked Yuuei, there’s no Stain! No Stain, No Hosu! And my brother doesn’t die under a building’s worth of rubble, because he’s bartending for their fucking party!”

His voice is cracking at the end there, Ken taking a moment and lowering his head. Because… In the rare quiet moments of his recent days, he can’t help but pull at the same thread. That so many people’s pain would be lessened, if they’d managed to stop the League when they’d ambushed Class 1-A in the U.S.J. Incident.

And like a crack in a load bearing wall, the entire structure was starting to groan and strain. The wear and tear was compounded by the careful and careless demolition alike, Mayhem and Shigaraki both acting on different faults in Hero Society to tilt the whole thing to collapse.

And Ken can’t help but think how much easier it would be, if he could just fix it with a wave of his hands. But this wasn’t where he shined, where his skills were best at use.

No, it’s Nemuri who gets this moment, stepping forward. The man turns to her, sucking in a breath to continue screaming. But Nemuri slowly raises her hands, her voice the kind of soothing anyone would want to hear. “I know, it feels like everything is falling apart. When I was training to be a Hero… one of my classmates… he got caught up in something bigger than we could deal with.”

The man’s anger, something that seems to fill him as naturally as air in his lungs, seems to crack and crumble under Nemuri’s careful words. “I… This isn’t fair!”

“It really isn’t, I know. But I can’t change that I lost my friend, or that you lost your brother. All I can do…” Nemuri actually seems to stumble, a sort of quaver in her voice that Ken knows isn’t fake. “… All I can do is keep moving, doing what I can to help everyone I can. I can’t stop the League, but I can make sure all of you have a roof over your heads, and at least a few days to figure out your next move. I can’t change yesterday, but we can at least make sure you all have a safer tomorrow.”

Ken does a slight survey, seeing most of the crowd of people slowly gathering next to Hizashi and Nemuri. The two of them quickly begin speaking with individuals, like they’ve been doing for almost six weeks with any of them they run across.

Back towards the building, the two Ectoplasms wheel the girl out, Anan close behind them. An older man is waiting by the door, quickly nodding as the Rescue Hero confirms no one else who should be inside was unaccounted for.

They’d still be checking the building over tonight, making doubly sure there wasn’t anyone else inside. Ken himself would make triply sure, as he went about the more careful process of reducing this building for something new to take its place.

That’s the funny thing about a building, that gets condemned. The man who owned it and let it reach this state had been looking to rid himself of the thing for a few weeks. And right around the time Ken had jumped in the back of the modified cart Hizashi had nabbed for them to get over here with, his emails about an offer were suddenly and enthusiastically accepted.

Meaning Ken had no reason not to turn His Property into whatever he wanted, if Nedzu was willing to let him spend a few days working on this. So turning it into an actually intended shelter, for all the people seemingly being displaced by recent events…

Well, he had no reason not to make this an official Shelter. One that had actual upkeep done on it. And if it was ever running low on space, Cementoss could always add to it easier than most people, with his Agency also conveniently licensed for construction projects.

Ken looks around, feeling someone watching him. He settles on Shouta, who walks over with a similar scan of his surroundings. The man takes a few moments, but leans in to share a private word with him. “Ken… remember a few weeks ago, when we talked about this place?”

The older Hero nods, an equal amount of concern and self-satisfaction welling up. “Yes, I do. I appreciate you helping, by actually listening to them while watching them.”

Shouta nods, his shoulders shifting as Ectoplasm starts the van. The two turn, seeing Anan and the original Ectoplasm treating the two kids until they can get to Recovery Girl. “I… If you need help with this place, keep my number in mind.”

Ken can’t help his lips curling, Shouta watching the van pull off. Maybe he was just off balance from the situation, maybe he was just different from the start of the year. But he tried to make the offer seem small, not anything worth noting. “I will… Now, how are we actually going to take care of all these people on short notice?”

Shouta nods, turning and looking at the condemned office building. “Better question; How long will it take to help them pack up their belongings?”

-

“What do you mean, ‘Extra Credit’?” Natsuo looks up, his eyes stinging from writing up a half dozen charts for all the kids who’d taken some knocks during the Hero Course Exams. Ultimately minor stuff, but that was only because Recovery Girl and all her tools made a fight with All Might something that the students could walk off.

The two Hero School Exchange Students are gone for the day, but the three Yuuei students are staying late to do work for Recovery Girl. They were wearing their school uniforms, while Natsuo had a white suit coat over a blue button up that suggested the cliche lab coat. And they were doing the physical grunt work of cleaning the room and changing the bedding of the clinic, while Natsuo did the mental grunt work of double-checking medical information before putting it into the offline copies.

Recovery Girl is walking out of her office, sighing heavily as she looks around at the students. “I’m sure you heard that sudden storm earlier this afternoon. While Nedzu and the Older Year’s Hero Teachers look into what might have caused it, he’s providing temporary housing for some people displaced due to damage caused by it.”

The three students nod, mentally preparing themselves for whatever tasks the school nurse was about to hand out. Natsuo looks down, going through the last few health questions to answer before readying himself to find the student’s data in the database.

“Todoroki, you’re here later than usual.” Natsuo looks up, the school nurse looking over at him. She had that green tinted visor over her eyes, but there was a sort of leading tone he’d learned to recognize.

He sits up higher in one of the clinic's guest chairs, nodding to the woman who helped him get out of that suffocating house he’d have been stuck in. Nedzu and Rei Todoroki may have suggested the whole ‘Hero-School Med-Student Exchange’ program, but Recovery Girl went through with it. So he could complete his Nursing credits in his own degree, without having to consider all the complications.

The complications of his Father being kidnapped by Terrorists, and not having been seen in almost two months. Which was… still something he was working through.

He holds up the tablet, trying not to get lost in all those complicated thoughts. “The guys who drive me here told me they’d need to do a later pick up than usual. Couldn’t tell me why, but I thought I’d use the extra hours to get the medical records caught up and filed. They said not to expect them for another hour, at the earliest.”

Recovery Girl takes a moment, seeming to consider the explanation. But Natsuo is already ready to forget the excuse, imagining plenty of reasons for it. The people in the Hero Commission provided security detail rotated through a steady schedule, but anyone would go mad getting stuck in the routine they were assigned. If today’s team just wanted to go out for a day, he wasn’t exactly on any high ground.

Or, they could be doing some sort of secret mission for the Commission. And if that was the case, Natsuo wanted even less to do with it. He’s had enough inside access to the Hero Industry for a lifetime, thank you.

Recovery Girl nods, looking at her other students. “I would like for the three of you to join the Support Course teachers modifying the Quirk Assessment Lab, for those Dearies joining us for the evening. They’re setting up basic cots and other amenities, and just need a few extra hands. If people start arriving, make sure you do a basic screening for any injuries the Hero Teachers might have missed.”

The three all nod, turning and briskly walking to the door. The Third Year boy holds it open for the other two, a Second Year Girl and Boy quickly filing through it. Natsuo sees one of Nedzu’s robots outside the door, seemingly giving the students directions as the door closes.

Natsuo sighs, and stands up. He holds up the tablet for the Nurse to see, pointing with his other hand towards her office. “Should I go ahead and plug this in, and copy over all the data to the Health Records?”

Recovery Girl takes a moment, then nods. “If you could, that would be wonderful… But I might need your abilities as a nurse, once the Hero Teachers arrive.”

Natsuo blinks, looking at his boss with a bit of trepidation. “So, you need extra hands? Should I be worried that you sent the interns out?”

Recovery Girl shakes her head, turning and walking with him to her office. There was a small doctor’s office rolling chair by her desk, which Natsuo takes to plug in the tablet he’d been using into an offline hard drive. “No, but there were a few Dearies being rushed to us. Some I thought you might… Well, you might be able to help us with their case.”

Natsuo listens to the old nurse slowly pad through the office, seeing the tablet connect. He doesn’t look up, taking what time he has to finish adding records before whatever case is about to be brought in. “Something more complicated than that girl’s broken arm, earlier? Because that was not fun, trying to set and fix it for you to use your Quirk on.”

“Sadly, it’s not going to be that simple a case.” Natsuo pauses, turning to the elderly nurse. She’s made her way to her side of the desk, picking up her drink while checking an update on her computer. “A pair of younger children got caught in a building collapse, and I’ll need you to take down notes as I collect samples for a medical file.”

Natsuo can’t help a shudder that runs down his back, too many recent memories running through him. Of running through a collapsing building with his sister and mother, with inhuman monsters roaring and people screaming. Of a Pro Hero getting ambushed and knocked out cold, and that purple haired Hero Student being the one who jumped in to save them. Only to disappear seconds later in the chaos, Natsuo not able to tell if he’d just run to help someone else, or just fallen through a hole in the floor down three stories…

Natsuo shakes his head, sucking in a lungful of air before continuing copying information down to the hard drive. Recovery Girl seems to give him a moment, his mouth suddenly dry as he tries to just do his work without losing track of his surroundings. “Do they have any family coming, that I need to take a history from? I can get those forms ready, if we need…”

Natsuo trails off, seeing Recovery Girl shake her head. “I’m afraid it won’t be quite that simple. The two of them… What information Shouta was able to collect from people on scene suggests they’re runaways, from a potentially… hostile, home environment.”

There’s several seconds of silence, Natsuo feeling everything in his body locked up at the description. He takes several seconds, Recovery Girl slowly walking over to him while offering a sympathetic look.

She starts to say something else, only for her phone to ring. She quickly checks it, then moves over to the door to the office. “They’re coming in now, through a side entrance. Take a minute, center yourself… But I do require you to be on top of your game, when they wheel in.”

Natsuo needs that minute, trying to just shove too many feelings away. All the resentment for his father, and the worry for him now that he’s been kidnapped by the League of Villains. But that worry is bitter in his heart, because of all the years he’d yearned for Endeavor to disappear, he’d known he was just the extra test tube child. The side dish that wasn’t wanted, even before Shouto was around…

The doors to the clinic are thrown open, Natsuo quickly turning and striding out to work. He needed to see if he could get a therapy session with Hound Dog, or something.

But seeing a boy Shouto’s age get wheeled in, on his side so all the bruising on his back wouldn’t get agitated, Natsuo throws all his worries about himself out. Because he could help this kid, or their younger sibling that comes in right after them.

He’s already moving around Recovery Girl, who begins giving orders to Midnight and Eraserhead as they wheel the kids in. “Carefully, get ready to move them to the clinic beds. Did you get readings for me, on the ride over here?”

Natsuo pulls the curtains back, already pulling out basics for when Recovery Girl called for them. He flicks on the heart monitors, hanging the electrodes to be uncovered and placed once the kids are moved.

“We have readings, and one of the people from the shelter made sure to document everyone’s medical problems. I didn’t ask, but he seemed to have very accurate copies of their medical records.” Eraserhead says that in a specific way, one that makes Natsuo’s skin crawl in a way he didn’t understand.

“Here…” Natsuo moves to Eraser’s other side, ready to move the boy off the gurney. He tosses a look up, seeing an older man in a patch covered suit jacket that was at least one size wider than he was. He held out some manilla folders, which were noticeably covered in a layer of dust.

The dust covered the rest of him… right down to noticeably bright red shoes, which Natsuo almost pauses at. But he doesn’t, focusing on the boy to grab what details he can. Reddish pink skin, hair that looked kind of dirty blond under the dust and debris caking it… And jaggedly cut horns, the angle of the cut messy and uneven.

Like someone had used something not meant for the job… and the Kid had been both conscious, and not approved of the act.

Natsuo stares at the evidence for a second, then shakes his head as Eraserhead braces to move him over. But the hero stops, Natsuo not understanding why until a voice weakly reaches his ears. “Did… Did I save her?”

Eraserhead stops, then leans down to look the boy in the face. And… Natsuo watches his serious face melt, becoming softer than he’d ever thought the Underground Hero could do. The few times he’d done something public, like the Sports Festival, he’d been a dead-pan and stoic man.

Whether that was the mask, or this softer expression was, the nursing student really couldn’t tell. “You did; she’s right over there, and Midnight’s keeping an eye on her with Nōnēmu. We’re going to help both of you, if you’ll let us.”

The kid nods, hissing in pain. Natsuo brings a hand to the kid’s bruises, and carefully focuses his Quirk. The kid’s temperature was a lot higher than the rest of the people in the room, so he has to pay close attention as he layers a thin coat of frost across the bruising.

The kid lets out a sigh, Eraserhead looking up at him. Natsuo shrugs, copying the position to lift the kid. “He’ll need actual pain meds, but a small bit of cold will take the edge off. On Three?”

Chapter Text

Kyouka strains her ears, Kouji guiding her as she tries to focus through the noise of everyone walking to their Exams. It was kind of the perfect exercise, trying to pick out a specific set of steps as almost everyone in the school came this way anyways.

And she couldn’t understand how, but this series of footsteps was… Familiar, but also not. She kept hearing them on occasion, randomly throughout the past month. When a bunch of the class was walking to Lunch, or when they went to one of the Gyms to practice with each other. She knew she recognized the steps, but she couldn’t place why she knew them. And it was starting to get creepy…

Because those steps had been in the Dorms, when the power was off. A little bit after too, when they’d all been playing Werewolf. Kyouka can’t stop thinking she was just being paranoid, only to hear the unmistakable slide of shoes on the carpeted floor. And seeing everyone down on the ground floor with her, when the person walking was on at least the third floor, if not the second.

Kouji pulls on her arm, stopping her from walking into the back of Mina’s tall Class-B friend. Kyouka shakes her head, needing a second to refocus after tuning everything out. She nods at Kouji, who takes his arms away and offers her a half smile.

They sort into their classroom quickly enough, the First Year Business Course kids giving the four of them overly friendly greetings. Kyouka tries not to feel gross about it, but she had overheard exactly why they were so nervous. And it was because of the kids who they were sharing a room with; Two people with Super Hearing, an Invisible Girl, and a Boy who could Talk to Animals.

Forget the fact that animals apparently couldn’t actually talk to Kouji, since that was one of the most persistent rumors running through the school. But Kyouka almost wanted to just tell the Business Course kids they weren’t intentionally spying on them. And by doing so, reveal that she’d accidentally spied on them. A real Catch-22, all things considered.

Kyouka starts walking to her spot near the back, stopping when she hears the footsteps getting closer. She steps to the side, Kendo from Class 1-B raising an eyebrow.

“Something up, Jiro?” Kyouka reaches up, pinching the guard that was over the audio jack that stretched from her earlobe. These things were half the reason she wasn’t constantly listening to the hundred conversations happening at any moment, but she wasn’t getting the best results with her Quirk either. But… Did she really need to know what those footsteps were about?

She begins curling her cord around her finger, the sensation feeling sort of like she was entwining her fingers. “Maybe… Probably not. It’s just the Black Out yesterday…”

“Yeah, TetsuTetsu mentioned that. My parents needed me to help them with some stuff, so I missed out on it here on campus. But everyone on the train ride back this morning was on edge.” Kyouka follows as Kendo walks to her desk, shaking her head as the steps seem to recede. It was probably one of the Teachers she didn’t recognize yet, or some sort of substitute teacher. There were plenty of reasonable explanations, and she shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

Like when she overheard Aizawa and Present Mic talking about Izuku and All Might, and chose the most farfetched of terrible conclusions. Which accidentally got even more confused after talking with Shouto, who had his own conspiracy theories about All Might. And then trying to explain had caused all sorts of assumptions to pile on…

And now they all knew about All Might’s Quirk. And how he passed it to Izuku. And there was some sort of centuries old Quirk Dracula out for the both of them specifically, and the rest of them if it twisted the knife or salted the wound. Said Dracula was also probably the guy behind the NoMu things, which had a seat reserved in Kyouka’s nightmares whenever Exam Stress got too high.

And everyone else’s nightmares, if she had to guess; Not everyone woke up screaming, but she had definitely heard plenty of the class jolt awake with a heart racing a mile a minute. She’d definitely heard Izuku wake up plenty of times, sometimes mumbling their names as he imagined something terrible happening to him. She almost wanted to talk to him about it, to try to help him not be so nervous…

But he had every right to be nervous. Really, the fact that everyone in Class 1-A was able to go through an average school day was a miracle. The only reason she could think of to explain it was denial. Sure, maybe this ‘All for One’ existed, and wanted to do things that would make them wish they were dead.

But he was, like, over there and shit.

Kyouka shakes her head, noticing the test packets being passed out. Those black roller cases had all the tests for each different class, separated into bins for each of the different years. Kouji is grabbing Class 1-A’s packets for this test, hoping over the backpack of a rabbit-like Class 3-C student to pass Mezou his test.

She flashes Kouji a little grin when he hands her their test for this section, sighing when she sees the title of it. Art History; Not her worst subject, but this wasn’t going to be a fun test…

It would also be worse, since she could hear whoever that mysterious person was, traipsing through the hallway. She could hear it a little better, the click of leather shoes on the tile floor. And if six out of ten students didn’t wear uniform leather shoes, she’d have a better idea of who it was.

As it goes back and forth for a minute, Kyouka crosses off most of the students she could recognize. They’d actually be in the Testing Halls right now, or be a Second Year Hero Student taking their Foundation of Heroics practical. Maybe a teacher, one of the ones from the General Studies or Business Course she didn’t recognize…

“… your time starts now.” Kyouka shakes her head, everyone opening their test packets. She pulls out a pencil, trying to focus on the problem at hand…

The footsteps recede, and Kyouka has about fifteen minutes to slowly go through the test before they come back. There was a large analog clock on the wall behind the teacher, which she checks as she gets stuck on a harder one of Midnight’s questions.

Honestly, she should care more about the ‘value’ of art this question was based on. But… Well, the question was ridiculous. Some nebulous painting, valued at ten million yen, goes missing. What is her job, as a Hero Course student, in recovering it?

Well, who decided it was worth ten million yen? Where did it go missing from? Is it a museum piece that everyone should see once in their life because of cultural significance, or some statement piece in some rich family’s manor that hasn’t even been looked at in weeks? Something that had earned its value by improving people’s lives, or something that just added zeros to someone’s estate?

Kyouka reads through the question, trying to see if there was anything she could sink her teeth into. But no, it was left intentionally vague. Kind of like a quarter of the Entrance Exam questions; write as much as you want about a kind of vague question, and hope you hit enough points on the syllabus or convince the teacher that they missed adding something to the syllabus.

Kyouka shakes her head, and just begins writing down bits she can remember from one of the heist movies the class watched on the weekends. When did the painting go missing, and where from. Who would usually have access to it, and were there ways for other people to gain access to it in a simple way. Did any of the regulars have outstanding debts that selling the painting could fix, or otherwise have a reason to do it.

She can vaguely hear one of Izuku’s mumble storms in her ears as she writes, and she’s only sure she’s not hearing him literally because the Halls have some sort of soundproofing to them. She could hear the hallway, but the other Hall’s walls block her out from hearing further. There was also a small white noise machine mounted in the corner, not on at the moment to her relief. That had been half the reason for upgrading these guards; if she had to listen to eight of those going off out-of-sync for eight hours a day, she’d have turned into a Villain within a week.

Kyouka shakes her head, answering the other open answer questions as best she can. She’s not going to get some impossibly high score, but she’s confident she hit the major points she was supposed to. Most of the multiple choice questions seemed right, with a couple of them that were fifty-fifty shots she could accept.

She finishes with a few minutes to spare, and goes back to begin checking her answers. With the rest of the test answered, she even changes a couple of those fifty-fifties, a couple of comments from Momo and Tenya during class study sessions coming back to her.

“Five minutes, class.” Kyouka looks up, then quickly begins checking the rest of her test. She could remember a lot of this, partially from how Momo and Kouji were the best at taking notes for the class. So she’s sure she’s at least getting eighty percent on everything but the written questions.

She barely starts rereading her first long answer before the teacher calls time, sighing and closing her booklet. The teacher sets the baskets the test packets had come out of on the front desk, and waves to the door. “There is a fifteen minute break between this and the Art History Practical, wherein you may refresh your bottles if you brought them. Do not stray further than the bathrooms, and I would not recommend trying to trade answers to a student in another class.”

Kyouka nods, giving the kids behind her a minute to walk up to the front. She drops off the packet there, then walks over to the door. Kendo and the quiet platinum blonde from 1-B also seem to be leaving the class, the two holding water bottles and waiting for Kyouka. Kendo flashes her a grin, clearly holding the door from sliding shut. “Are you planning on feeding the vending machine?”

Kyouka nods, reaching into her pocket to fish out a bill from her wallet. “Yeah, the bottle I usually use got used to mix protein shakes this morning by mistake. It just needs some washing out, but I just really don’t like the taste of them all that often.”

Kendo shrugs, and Yanagi narrows her eyes. Her eyes slowly move to the side… And Kyouka looks down the hallway, barely catching a flash of pink fabric disappearing around the corner.

She blinks, the color making her remember… Oh, right. There was someone who would be walking around while the students test, and the teachers were running the tests. It’s just… Well, she’d avoided Kyouka for the past month.

-

There were a few Yuuei students, who could find her in spite of her best efforts. But Toga takes some satisfaction that most of those are like the Earbud Goth in Class 1-A, all of them having some sort of Quirk that lets them have an easier time noticing her. If they weren’t around, she could literally walk behind groups of people across half the school without anyone spotting her.

Sure, she didn’t ‘need’ to be doing this. Toga had those basic Supplementary classes Hound Dog was having her do, catching up on the school stuff she missed over the past year. But she was so bored, just sitting off to the side all day. It was more fun, watching the other students go about their day.

Well, besides that burning feeling in her chest she got sometimes. Like when people would just take group photos with each other, grinning and making jokes. Or just walking up to a vending machine, easily getting a snack while reading an article or book without seeming to put any thought into it. Or sometimes the Hero Students, the ones going out on Studies with Pros and bragging about the ‘Villains’ they were taking down.

Toga shakes her head, staying well outside of the Hall’s main area while the students take some sort of break between tests. Honestly, she was thinking about sneaking down to the cafeteria, and watching that Lunch Rush guy trying to make food for everyone. He wasn’t very cute looking, but he did a lot of hard work. The few bits of his skin that were visible between gloves and sleeves were flushed the prettiest red, all that blood pumping as he does ten people’s work… And in a kitchen like that, it would be so easy for a blade to end up out of place. Just the tiniest knick, and all that red gushing out and free…

“Huh, Nemuri and Kan were right. That is difficult to see through.” Toga turns her head, seeing one of the teachers standing there. The one with the black mask, with all the yellow lines across his face and pronounced teeth.

Toga feels her muscles going tense, and she crosses her arms petulantly over her chest. “No fair. You have all of Nedzu’s machines, telling you where I am.”

“Yes, and I still couldn’t spot you until I concentrated.” Toga looks out the edge of her eyes, Ectoplasm gently tapping the back of his hand in silent applause. “You know, they didn’t do that skill justice. I’ve only known a few people who could do things like that, and none of them were as young as you.”

Toga can’t help but preen at the comment, relaxing slightly as the teacher decides to flatter her. “Well, that nice lady made sure I learned it right before she sent me off. Said I took to it like a fish to water, better than anyone else she taught…”

“You know, if you want to take the Yuuei Entrance Exam for the next school year, you’d be basically guaranteed a spot in everything but the Support Course.” Toga considers the thought, slowly shaking her head. “Especially with those acrobatics you did, when we had Gym Beta set up in an obstacle course.”

Toga looks over at him, wondering how she missed the teachers watching her. It must have been some cameras, that she hadn’t spotted when checking the place out after classes for that day. “Yeah… I had another teacher, who showed me a bunch of stuff like that. He… He didn’t really like teaching me, though. I really like him, but… I guess he didn’t like me as much…”

Toga feels her breath hitching, remembering how Stainy basically threw her out after they were made to leave that weird bar. She didn’t remember anything inside, just being in some weird misty space that was tinted blue. Then…

Ectoplasm slowly walks up to the wall beside her, giving her plenty of space as he tries something else. “I know, Hound Dog and Recovery Girl are giving you a bunch of information and options. And that… That can be overwhelming, considering your past year. More information means more potential threats, more angles to check if a knife is flying from.”

Toga nods, her fingers rapidly tapping on her elbows. Because yeah, all these Heroes were beginning to make her skin crawl. They meant well, and they could actually help a lot of people when they actually thought about it. And the students were all normal kids, the sort her parents wished she was…

But somewhere in between the steps, from being a student to being a Pro Hero or other Adult, something changes them. Everyone becomes selfish, focused only on themselves. Heroes care more about the optics than helping ‘certain people’, meaning anyone who isn’t ready to be put on the evening news.

Stainy was right… There was something wrong with this whole system. And she was almost sure she knew what it was. “Yeah… After a talk with Miss Midnight, I was sort of wondering about the HPSC. How… How they decide things, like Quirk laws and stuff.”

Ectoplasm pushes away from the wall, beckoning for her to follow. She does, vaguely remembering the route leads to one of the teacher’s halls the First Year teachers hung out most often. “Well, they’re basically three things in one. They’re an Advertising and Media Consulting Agency for Japan’s Heroes, they’re a Company that basically controls all the records relating to Heroics in the past eighty years, and they’re a Legal Entity that drafts laws relating to Quirk Use. They’re not the one that passes them officially, but the laws they write get passed without edits ninety percent of the time.”

Toga nods, vaguely remembering going to some building to get her Quirk identified. “They also do the Quirk Registry stuff, right?”

“It’s technically the Ministry of Health, but the HPSC does more than thirty percent of the work funding and storing the Quirk research they do. That’s true for most of the other cabinet positions; look closely enough, and it’s either the HPSC or someone with close ties to them. The President of the HPSC is the vizier to the Prime Minister’s sultan, if that helps you picture it. The Minister has final say, but the President of the HPSC can and will point them in a mutually beneficial direction.”

Toga slowly nods, remembering seeing footage of the woman that was the current President. She remembered looking up stuff about when she’d taken the spot… And how it was after the previous President was assassinated. By a former Hero, now confined to Tartarus until she dies probably.

Toga nods along as Ectoplasm talks, thinking how that Lady was a real Hero. Stainy would probably like her… And he’d like Toga too, if she did the same thing to this Kinoshita lady…

But that clearly didn’t work, the last time it happened. Things were still terrible, even after the Lady killed the bad guy. So the person wasn’t the problem, they were just someone making the whole thing worse by not changing it. Like Iguchi and Stainy said, talking about Heroes and the whole legal system.

The whole thing needed changing, from the ground up. But the stuff the League of Villains was doing was making them clamp up, like the muscles around a knife when you stab someone. Sure, you’d be able to cut them up and make them bleed, but they’d struggle and resist the whole time… If you did it while they were awake.

Maybe… If Toga got a job in the HPSC, she could do more damage on the inside. It was a lot easier to cut someone up when they trusted you enough to go to sleep near you. A sleeping person doesn’t go to keep their throat from being sliced…

Toga shakes her head, noticing Ectoplasm is still going. “But like all good things, it doesn’t come easy. But we’re doing what we can, as Hero Teachers, to help push things along. Do you understand?”

Toga nods, the teacher leading her to an open door. She pauses, the man going to a refrigerator in the corner to get a bottle of water. “Yeah… I think I understand perfectly…”

-

Mezou sighs, looking around the courtyard to the rest of his team mates. Lunch was as chaotic as it could be, with all the grades together. It was a giant distraction, when you were trying to come up with a plan to fight the teachers… And it was a good smokescreen, so they could be partially sure the plan goes unheard. “Do we have a plan for the Practical, besides ‘Ask Izuku for advice’?”

“You say that as if it isn’t a good plan.” Toru sighs dramatically, looking at the cheat sheet she’d written for them. It wasn’t very big, but it didn’t have to be. “We know Thirteen and Power Loader are out, and Mina is creepily certain her group is up against Nedzu and Ectoplasm. And for whatever reason, Hitoshi and Kats’ are backing her up.”

Mezou nods, offering the exasperated invisible girl a sympathetic shrug. “I don’t have anyone to blame but myself, for not understanding other people’s dynamics. But if Hitoshi and Katsuki agree without obvious sarcasm or attempted murder, I think it’s a safe bet.”

“Cool… That leaves Aizawa, Cementoss, Present Mic, Snipe, Midnight, and All Might. Who on that list… Doesn’t Murder us in the first five minutes?”

“Setting the bar high, huh?” Kyouka downs her bottle of juice, and seems to shift the teachers around on her free hand. “All Might is almost definitely going up against Izuku, so I think we’re safe there. A moment of silence, for Fumi, Tsu, and Hanta for their sacrifice.”

Kyouka bows her head, Kouji similarly makes a hand gesture like he was offering at a friend’s grave site. Mezou bristles a little at the comparison, but tries not to be too rankled by it for the sake of moving on. “I know everyone is saying Aizawa is going to be in on that fight, but I still think he’s a better match for Rikidou’s group. All of them have a Quirk he can turn off, and Shouto and Eijiro have been having problems keeping up in Physical Training without using them. But I bet he’s not testing us, since… Well…”

Kyouka nods, making a devil horns gesture with her hands. “The only person whose Quirk he can get is Kouji’s, and me and Toru are okay enough at fighting that the three of us could probably beat him if he doesn’t get the drop on us. Snipe, on the other hand…”

“I was going to say, everyone is kind of getting a teacher that picks on them the most, right? So that’s Present Mic, a hundred percent. What’s the use of all out Stealth and Recon training, when our target is literally a bullhorn Hatsume supped up because she had a free weekend?” Mezou nods at the resigned tone from the invisible girl, thinking about the teachers they haven’t mentioned.

They might be able to avoid Cementoss, but him and Present Mic felt like it was too uneven. Plus, he was noticing a pattern amongst the teacher teams they supposedly had. Someone dangerous up close and personal, that being Ectoplasm and Thirteen. And someone who was dangerous with time to set up, like Nedzu or Power Loader. The only problem with that being that All Might was both, so guessing who would be paired with him was better ignored until the other matches could be figured out.

That being said… “Well, pairing Aizawa and Present Mic, or Midnight and Mic, is almost equally unfair. They’ll have a lot better coordination than us, with them being high school friends.”

Toru nods, and personally holds up her hand. “Besides which, Midnight is really unfair to this group. She’ll have an easier time knocking at least three of us out… Mezou?”

Mezou takes a second, imagining the smugest side-eye of a cat as Toru leans over towards him. “She… I don’t necessarily resist her Quirk.”

“Yeah, so her and Present Mic would be super unfair… and that’s half the reason I think Nedzu would do it. You know, force the four quietest students to face the two loudest teachers, force us to show up and show off or lose.”

Mezou tilts his head, the line of logic actually being there. It was a little convoluted, but he could see the twisted logic. “We also don’t know what the terrain is going to be, so we’re just going to have to hope an outline will work.”

“um… I talked with one of the third years, about this.” Kouji speaks up, tapping his fingers together as he works up the nerve to talk. “He… He said that they had to wear compression weights, which slowed them down a bit. Gave the students a little bit of an edge, if they avoid the teachers.”

Mezou nods, and Kyouka sighs before flopping on her back. “Present Mic is already enough of a problem, if he can move around. I think it’s worse; If he can’t move that much anyways, he’ll probably just set up at the Exit and blast us if we get close. The only teacher that really hurts is Aizawa; Midnight and Snipe just need to pick a place to stand with their Quirks, Cementoss can just terraform wherever he is, and All Might…”

“… Is All Might.” The three all answer in unison, harmonizing like an unwilling Greek chorus to the tragedy in the third act. And Present Mic was the Diva to end all Divas, and wasn’t exactly someone to let his solo go… interrupted…

Mezou blinks, and snaps the fingers of one of his hands. The others look at him, then around at whatever he’s pointing at. “Kyouka… Isn’t it possible to counter a loud noise with another loud noise? If you fire off a tuned sonic attack against him, could you match him?”

Kyouka blinks, opening her mouth to refute him. But she brings her earbuds up to do it, and she stops when she notices her attachments on her ears. She brings one closer to look at, and stares for a good few seconds. “Well, maybe? I don’t think my speakers can match him, and he can definitely scream louder than I can boost them. Unless we get to fight somewhere with some speakers I can have ten minutes to mess with… Plus, that isn’t something that I can really set up in advance.”

Toru huffs, the cheat sheet partially crumpling in her clenched hand. “I mean, maybe I can sneak up behind Present Mic? Could you do better if I can somehow sabotage his speaker collar thing, make it not boost his Quirk?”

“Actually, his collar restrains his Quirk as much as it boosts.” Mezou nods, his eyes drifting around the courtyard. A couple of the older Hero students are giving them looks, seeming to understand they were struggling to come up with a plan.

But besides that counter frequency thing, what did they really have to go on? Honestly, Mezou would be thankful if one of the four of them managed to pass, let alone all of them.

And… Well, he was plenty used to being the one to get everyone else to safety. The Paintball activity comes to mind, his arms splattered after covering Rikidou and Kouji sneaking into the building their trainer had been shooting at them from. It had worked, but he’d been stuck on the sidelines for the second of the two rounds. Apparently, being shot meant he couldn’t continue with the test.

Hopefully, he wasn’t going to need to repeat that trick this time around.

-

Snipe adjusts his crouch, shifting to his other knee. He twists the dials on the binoculars he brought, keeping an eye on Shouta as he similarly stakes out some connection on the Yakuza case.

The man was nearly impossible to see in the dim light of the evening, but apparently several other people were making it their business to do the same. Shouta tries to check around him, but even Snipe from a perch several hundred feet above him couldn’t spot anyone out in the open. At least, not tonight.

Snipe taps on his ear, a slow series of clicks sent over their earpieces. Shouta visibly sighs, shaking his head as he settles into watching whatever lead he was following up on. He’d trusted Snipe enough to play overwatch for him, but not enough to tell him what he was doing tonight.

Or maybe, he thought he could keep Snipe out of this. Based on the crazy nonsense that seemed to orbit that man and his class, Snipe would take whatever blessings the universe decided to give out. He already had enough on his plate, keeping his daughter from causing more explosions than was necessary.

Snipe watches Shouta reposition into shadows, and quickly checks to the building he was clearly watching. He sees some man in a suit, the right sleeve rolled up to reveal an intricate tattoo. He goes to open a car door for a woman, who was in a dark pink-red dress that was both traditional and modest. Her lips barely twitch upwards in a smile, quickly climbing in the back to be spirited off somewhere else…

Snipe just barely feels something ghost over his ear, then the air in the room sliding over where his earbud should be. He instantly wheels around, hand going to his holster as his red cloak dramatically swishing around him. The binoculars go skidding across the ground, the clatter causing a motion trigger light to weakly flicker on above them.

A layer of dust from the unused room is swung into the air, seeming to bounce off the canary yellow jacket he recognizes well. The design on the porcelain mask was new, but the brown eyes glinted with the same mischief as the last time he’d seen the Villain.

The scar on the left side of Snipe’s uncovered face twinges, a jagged line running from his lip back to just under his ear. Those brown eyes seem to lower down to it, and that smile grows as Snipe unsnaps his revolver from his holster. “You know, you’d probably have a higher popularity rating if you had someone post a few candid photos of you. You’ve certainly stolen my heart, Hatsume…”

Snipe pulls his gun, pulling the hammer back while keeping it pointed at the ground. “What do you think you’re doing here, Sako? I thought you were planning more heists, with your new gang.”

“Oh, you mean the League. They’re more than just another disposable group of thugs… more posse than patsy.” Atsuhiro doesn’t look at all bothered by the threat of being shot, thinking it was just more banter between the two of them. He’s smiling, like they were just friends meeting at the bar for a drink.

But his tone as he spoke was one of an actor on a stage, performing a play they absolutely love. And Atsuhiro was definitely a fan of drama; one of many reasons Snipe regretted letting this man charm him, when they were younger.

Snipe grits his teeth, letting his eyes scan the rest of the disused office floor. “What, are you trying to butter them up? Cause there’s no one else here, on my account.”

Atsuhiro slowly raises a hand, a green marble balanced between fingers. He closes it in his hand, Snipe’s finger inching to the trigger before he notices it’s his earbud in the thief’s dexterous fingers. “Sure, they can hear me. But I’ve already tempted the members that I can, and the rest are good friends of mine. We’re growing rather close, as we commiserate on the many wrongs done to us.”

Snipe does another check, then looks back. Atsuhiro freely tosses the earpiece back, and steps back to a dusted off office chair that he plops himself down on. Snipe looks down at it, then up at the thief. “Then what’s this little play for, Compress? And don’t think I can’t tell when you’re acting or not…”

“Please, we’ve been in enough scenes with each other. We both know all our tells…” Atsuhiro pulls his mask off, offering the most lascivious wink he can as he lets his coat relax open. And the tight compression shirt might paint a distracting image, if the dozen green marbles didn’t instantly raise Snipes hackles. “Besides which, I’m on the clock right now. Busy protecting our mutual friend down there, as he follows the Chinese Yakuza family.”

Snipe’s eyebrow twitches, and he carefully pressed down on and fully turned on his earpiece. “What do you want with Aizawa?”

“Oh, I don’t want much from him. He’s certainly good looking, but I prefer my partners to have a bit more class…” Atsuhiro barely contains a snort of laughter, raising his hands in mock surrender as the revolver slowly moves closer to him. “Alright, fine. The League has an interest in him remaining alive and well, until the dramatically appropriate moment comes to collect him. But Mayhem noticed someone stalking him, when she was keeping an eye on him. Someone who had the gall to avoid my attempts to identify them, getting away in an unmarked car.”

“We both know you can stop a car, if you want to. What kept you from doing it then?”

“And expose myself in the middle of a busy street? Even for me, that’s a bit much…” Snipe is one innuendo from shooting at Compress, his title as a Hero hanging by a dangerously thin thread. “It would have gotten too public and messy, and I didn’t have time to prepare for a show. You might think I’m a villain, but I don’t endanger my audience without reason. I’m a Thief, not a Murderer.”

“You grabbed one of my students, and held him hostage while Stain attacked Endeavor. Or did you forget what happened at the top of the Tower, in Hosu?” Atsuhiro actually frowns, seeming to agree with Snipe on that regard.

He looks around, and reaches up to tap his ear. He gives it a moment, then speaks in a much quieter, natural tone. “I am sorry about that little incident. Not the bit about Endeavor, but putting those three at risk. Shigaraki was… less negotiable, than he is now. If you Heroes manage to win the day, I will take those deserved lashes with humility.”

Snipe raises an eyebrow, Atsuhiro seemingly trying to slip him some sort of hidden information. “Shigaraki… Just how ‘negotiable’ is he now?”

“Enough that he’s willing to help us take care of our greatest common threat. You know how a man can get, when he’s defending his family.” Atsuhiro partially spins the chair, moving back and forth with the point of his leather shoes.

He looks at Snipe expectantly, waiting for him to state the obvious. “So him and Mayhem are siblings? That’s not just a rumor?”

Atsuhiro reaches up, tapping his nose. “And their parents really are dead. The circumstances are a bit questionable, since both of them seem to disagree on what happened. But all of us, from the League to the HPSC to you Yuuei folks, have a single common enemy. Once that old man is taken care of, then maybe we can go back to hating each other with a passion unsuitable for broadcast.”

Snipe narrows his eyes as Atsuhiro turns away, slowly setting his thumb on the hammer of the revolver. “The League’s boss… The rumors about him are true, too?”

Atsuhiro goes in a full circle, his mask slid back into place. “Oh, the rumors aren’t even the tip of the iceberg. Go collect your friend, and make sure he and Nedzu hear exactly this; ‘Maintaining Top Form is a Fool’s Endeavor…”

A loud crashing sound echoes from outside the window, and Snipe has to resist the urge to check as he keeps his eyes trained on Atsuhiro. He quickly hops up from the chair, and mimes blowing a kiss before quickly running to the door to the staircase.

Snipe waits until he’s out of view, having gotten grabbed when he checked on a distraction before. He then checks outside, seeing a large amount of water gushing from an alleyway at the base of the building. There were also bags of trash getting swept up in it, the two or three people walking around tonight quickly running down the street to the all night convenience store.

Snipe grits his teeth as the light flickers back out, sliding his revolver away. He grabs the binoculars, Aizawa’s earpiece fully turning on. “Anything I need to know about?”

“Apparently. Whatever conspiracy Nedzu’s got you tied up in, I’m a convenient messenger. ‘Maintaining Top Form is a Fool’s Endeavor’, for whatever that’s worth to you.” Snipe quickly vacates the floor, the motion lights flickering on a few seconds after he walks through their area.

Chapter Text

Hizashi slowly stretches his arms up, lowering them around Shouta’s shoulders as everyone reviews for the second batch of Second Year’s tests. “You keep coming home late, and I’ll start thinking you’re cheating on me.”

Shouta doesn’t even react to that quip, looking over the review of the students the two of them were going to deal with. “The Jūfuku twins have been keeping their grades up, I see. The sister is still the better one in combat, but they have much better control over their Quirks. The training with the Wild Wild Pussycats seems to have been exactly what they needed…”

Hizashi leans over Shouta’s shoulder, ignoring the copy of his folder to look at this one. “Yeah, I don’t think you can take credit for them surviving being dumped off the side of a hill, and forcing them to hike to their summer camp. Pixie-Bob’s softest hits still managed to thrash all of them; How are they going to feel, doing this test in the Wilderness Zone?”

“They’re made of sterner stuff than that. Besides which, you have a bigger problem to worry about.” Hizashi looks at the next paper, and sighs when he recognizes the student.

“Sure, match me up against the one Hero Student in the year who’s Deaf. How is that fair, Nedzu?”

“I’m sure you have plenty of uses of your Quirk, beyond simple sonic salutations. Haven’t you been trying to improve your use of it as a concussive force, after last month’s meeting?” Nedzu doesn’t even look up, talking with Power Loader on how the two of them can best challenge the students they’re matching up against.

Hizashi rolls his eyes, unwrapping his arms from Shouta’s shoulders to take up his own seat. He grabs his morning coffee, taking a sip as he flips his own cheat sheet open. “So, do any of you have plans for the Summer? Or are we all just going straight to those hours for the Commission?”

“After Nedzu’s satisfied with all the Security updates, I was planning on catching up on a manhua I’ve been reading for the past year. Hopefully, by August, I’ll have time to finally get to that reading.” Anan says it in a joking manner, her and Ectoplasm looking over notes they’d been preparing for about a week now.

Nedzu chuckles sadly, looking around at all the teachers in the room. “I’ve apologized for my recent militant focus, but I realize those are hollow words. You all need actual time to recuperate, which I will be happy to provide this month. Beyond the basics of maintaining the Altered Curriculum for the Third Years, I am allowing all the Yuuei Staff not participating in the Summer Supplementary Programs Uncounted Vacation days.”

Hizashi sighs, leaning back and considering that for a minute. “Well, I definitely need a couple of days with my studio staff. We’re all good, but they’re still rattled from being the bait to lure out Mayhem and that Shigaraki guy.”

Nemuri nods, her fingers clenching as she remembers something to irritate her. “Well, me and Uwabami still need to work on some connected case work of ours. Besides our talk being in Hosu, there’s been some updates she’s been sending my way. A couple of guys who are… Well, a Lady doesn’t discuss that sort of thing in polite company.”

“See if they’re on that list that Mayhem threw at the Hero Commission, of white collar criminals. You might get double the hours in half the time.” Nemuri looks over at Anan, who begins moving their finger over a simple diagram of the cityscape they’d be using with Ecto.

“Anan, I always forget how devious you can be. But even then, I’m going to be helping with our new passion project for a bit… How’s the planning coming, Ken?”

Cementoss looks up, him and Snipe mostly in agreement for their test they would unleash. “I already dried up local suppliers for the Dorm Projects, but there are a couple of kids in Nedzu’s Ebisu Shipping who are willing to donate their time. Hopefully, I can recycle at least some of the old material, or it’s going to tap my annual budget.”

“On an unrelated note, I’m increasing your agency stipend by eighteen percent, Ken.” Nedzu flips through his own information, everyone looking at the bear-mouse. He clearly didn’t need to go through that packet, since he was the rat who put the thing together. Honestly, he was probably humoring Higari more than he was planning with him.

“That… Well, that would cover the expenses I’m aware of. Thank you, Nedzu…”

“Of course. You’re choosing to use the time I’m giving you to continue to work on other pursuits. The least I can do is offer you financial assistance… And the occasional folder of blackmail, if you need it.”

Every teacher in the room takes a second, and Ken narrows his eyes. “The previous owner… He was very willing to sell to me, when we last spoke. Insistent, even…”

“Yes. What a world of coincidences, we live in… Kojiro! You managed to survive the breakfast rush!” Nedzu looks past all of them, Hizashi turning to see an exhausted man walk into the lounge.

He had his white button up shirt open, revealing a gray undershirt that looked like it had barely escaped a homicidal woodchipper. His red hair looks freshly washed out, and the plastic tubing leading to a mask is wrapped around his shoulders.

“Aizawa… Do you have any of those vile jelly packets hiding in here?” Everyone looks at the cafeteria manager, Shouta quickly sliding out of his seat. The man’s freckled face is angled towards the ground, the switch to English unable to assuage his shame at the pitiful request.

Shouta walks back from the refrigerator in the corner, holding two of his former meals in his hand. He also has an ice pack, which he holds out to the Hero as well.

Hizashi can almost see little lines of steam that hiss out when the icepack is placed on the Cafeteria Hero’s neck, and he opens and completely empties the first packet in a disturbingly efficient fashion. He holds the second, and everyone just watches as he waves the two at Nedzu like a threat. “Nedzu, I might have said some things yesterday. Things I no longer intend to follow through on…”

“The conversation shan't be repeated by me, rest assured.” Hizashi wheels around to Nedzu, the mouse keeping his composure as Lunch Rush makes for one of the spare chairs around the table.

Lunch Rush brings the oxygen mask to his face, and takes a deep breath of the air he had stored in whatever container made the back of his shirt puff up. Hizashi knows the official statement is ‘concentrated oxygen, to compensate for high-speed processing and mobility’, but he’d put money on it being at least partially Trigger or Trigger-alike. “I expect my overtime to be properly accounted for, by the way.”

Nedzu nods, Ken leaning back to get a clear look at Kojiro. “Is helping feed these people that much of a hassle?”

Kojiro nods, sticking a leg out and pulling on his pant leg. His ankle looked slightly inflamed, probably from all the moving around he did in the cafeteria kitchens in spite of his interns and staff aids. “Yes, actually. When my careful schedule gets mucked up for testing season, and my few waking hours off my feet are interrupted for additional work. Do those people need my help? Certainly. Do I want to be compensated for that work? You bet your ass, Mister ‘I Can Build a Whole Dormitory in Forty Minutes, Thirty-Seven if I Have a Malt’.”

Hizashi looks away, unable to really fault the man. Did he love being a teacher? Yes… Well, he did six days out of the week. Did he need at least a little time to himself? Yeah; After something like the Sports Festival, he blocked out the night to just decompress and relax.

Nedzu flips his folder closed, standing up on his chair. “Kojiro, you continue to go above and beyond the call to action. And besides the appropriate pay, I do believe some additional form of compensation is completely reasonable to demand…”

“I need a few more days off than normal, come Winter. A bunch of the family’s gathering in Galway this year, and I haven’t seen my baby sister since the last reunion six years ago. I’ll be able to do Third and Second Year’s work for your ‘Winter Warzone’ fun, but I’ll need to leave before the First Year’s.” Hizashi nods, thinking that sounds fine.

Nedzu takes a second, and actually seems to spin a yarn in front of all of them. And as five seconds stretch to ten… then fifteen… then thirty seconds, eyes slowly start turning as Nedzu contemplates something. Hizashi slowly picks up a pencil, miming aiming it like a dart before Nedzu seems to stir from his reverie. “I think we can manage that, for all the work you do for us. If you want to go ahead and make plans, I will make the accommodations as necessary.”

Shouta lets out a sigh, and quickly picks up his folder. He turns to look at him, his shoulders tensing as he tilts his head toward the door. “Well, me and Hizashi are up first. Come on, let’s go and prepare for the Test.”

Hizashi blinks, and hops up to follow Shouta. The door slides back open, Hizashi giving it a minute of walking through the slowly brightening halls of Yuuei before leaning in. “Why rush out, Shou? Did I miss something?”

“Nedzu freezing up like that, ‘Zashi. That… I have a bad feeling he just had a terrible idea.” Hizashi and Shouta both share a shudder, continuing their walk to the Wilderness Arena. Hizashi looks at Shouta, wondering what could possibly spook the guy who regularly fought people in dark back alleys at all hours of the night.

Well, besides all the details of whatever conspiracy Nedzu had dragged Shouta into. Something to do with Toshinori, and somehow leading to Izuku. Hizashi didn’t know the specifics… And that’s where he tried to end his thoughts on the matter.

Nothing was scarier than not knowing what was going on. Whatever he came up with, he’d definitely concoct something worse than what was happening. And when he needed to know, Shouta would tell him.

So he just threads his hand with the brunette, their lips quirking into matching grins as they stride through the halls of the school.

-

Kouji is usually speechless by choice, not having much inclination to speak. But as he looks at the pair of cork boards in the hidden room on the second floor of the dorms, he finds that he wants to say several things. It’s just that his words decide to fail him, leaving him staring in silence for a solid minute as he takes in what he’s seeing.

There are diagrams of Yuuei’s City Scapes, several blocks worth of mostly empty buildings occasionally filled out whenever an activity needs a convincing background to happen in. And by diagrams, he doesn’t mean pencil sketches or photos with a few details highlighted. No, these look like blueprints printed onto several pieces of paper, stacked and oriented like whoever was using these was planning for a war.

And some buildings had interior photos with them, too. Something that looked like a bank, some sort of museum if he was right, and several more with grimy photos Kouji couldn’t begin to understand this early in the morning. He was also trying to look at them in darkness, the lights of the hidden room not being turned on by him or the other person in the room.

In Izuku’s defence, he seemed to have fallen asleep in a beanbag chair sometime the night before. He had a binder of notes to his side, fallen open with his head lulled to the side. If Kouji couldn’t hear his breathing, and see the steady rise and fall of his chest, it would look too much like the nightmares he’s had since Hosu.

On the other boy’s binder was Yuwai, who looked up to sniff towards Izuku’s dangling fingers. Izuku is just awake enough for his fingers to twitch, stirring him enough to reach down and begin rubbing a circle behind the rabbit’s ears.

Kouji tries to edge out of the room, just having come looking for his rabbit. Finding them here was a relief, and he could at least go get dressed and try to wake up. He was still tired from a bit of late night studying, and trying to come up with plans to talk over with the other three members of his Team for Saturday.

He pulls the door to the room a bit more open, one of the hinges making a little creak as they move. Kouji wouldn’t have even noticed it, or had easily moved past it if nothing happened.

What he didn’t expect was a loud crackling behind him, and for noticeable frissons of blue and green lightning to race across Izuku’s body. Or for his head to have snapped around to face him, the green haired boys’ eyes to be pits of roiling energy that makes Kouji suddenly feel very brittle. Like when he’d been out camping with his parents, and accidentally found a sleeping bear that he’d then woke up when he’d tried to move away from it.

Izuku blinks, the energy fading as his eyes fade to their normal matching green color. Kouji stands frozen as the boy blinks, sucking in a breath and shifting his back with enough cracks and pops that Kouji feels his own back twinge in protest.

“Hm?” Izuku finally seems to take in his surroundings, his arms stretched up above his head. His white t-shirt has ‘pajama shirt’ on it in kanji, and is a size too small on him as the bottom of his stomach is slightly visible in the shadows. “Kouji? What are you… Oh.”

Kouji sees Yuwai darting around the wall of the room, running out of the room while staying away from Izuku. Kouji turns to look after the rabbit, then points and tries to explain himself. “uh… Yuwai sometimes sneaks out of my room, and I was trying to find them, and I saw this door open…”

“Yeah… Um, I kind of got sidetracked with… with a thing.” Izuku looks over the boards, and slowly stands up. He carefully pads over to the cork boards, folding them to hide the pages from view before getting a grip on them.

“That’s… That’s a very complicated looking thing…” Kouji barely manages to force his voice not to break, not used to speaking nearly as much as the rest of the class seemed to expect. He still said more words in one term with 1-A than every previous school year, and he’d taken to the same tea Momo and Rikidou shared to help soothe the aches in his throat from the overuse.

“There’s a couple of big activities Nedzu likes to do, and he uses these sorts of cityscapes to do it. He shifts which important points are where, but he tends to use the same designs… At least, that’s what the Support Students say.” Izuku picks up the boards, Kouji backing up to open the door for him.

The green haired boy nods, quickly going down the hallway to his room. Kouji waits a moment, wondering if Izuku was going to continue with the conversation. Because… Well, that might be an ending point. Or he was just putting those away before other people could see them; why he wanted to do that, Kouji didn’t know him well enough to say.

Izuku comes back out, a bag with his toothbrush poking out of the top. “It’s not really relaxing, because it’s a different kind of work. But… It’s a sort of work I can really focus on. And forget about everything else, for a little while.”

Kouji nods, Izuku giving him a knowing look. He couldn’t say for sure, since Izuku could be a very outgoing person with all of his friends. But knowing about his and Katsuki’s history, he had probably been another quiet kid in middle school. Something Kouji knows like he knows how to breathe, only he didn’t really have people to fully come out of his shell with.

“Okay… Are you going to do anything with those plans?” Izuku pauses in the doorway, and his lips seem to shift into the hint of a smile. Kouji feels a slight hint of dread at the expression, which he isn’t so sure is just paranoia as Izuku lets out a little hiccup of laughter.

“Maybe nothing, maybe give them to the higher year students. If this is what we’re doing for our Winter Finals… Well, I’ve got a few plans.” Izuku walks into the bathroom, and Kouji takes a few seconds before rushing back to his bedroom.

Kouji scoops out a dish of food for Yuwai, then changes into his uniform for the coming day. He looks over a notebook on his desk, looking over the thin handful of notes he could come up with for the Final. And… Well, he didn’t really have a lot of options to consider.

Kyouka and Toru were both really skilled at martial arts, better than Mezou in spite of his bulk. And while Kouji could defend himself, he wasn’t going to win a tournament against anyone in the class with his level of ability. They weren’t going to win a foot race against Tenya, but they were still mobile if they needed to worry about that.

And of the five teachers everyone was unsure of, Kouji could see a possibility of winning against them. He could maybe help the others win in a fight, and the arena might have some amount of animals he could use to help distract the teachers… But there was a big problem to consider.

There were several areas they trained that wouldn’t have many animals he could speak to, and use as allies. The best he could count on was birds, but there were a few places that were closed off from the outside. Meaning he’d be without his Quirk… Unless…

Kouji takes a deep breath, and walks over to his window. He looks on the other side of the glass, watching as a small arachnid weaves a web across the corner of the frame. He watches quietly, the creature seeming to stop and notice him.

It was a little garden spider, nothing that could actually harm him. But Kouji still needs to take a few seconds of staring at the thing, controlling his breath as he considers the only option he’d always have access to. Because no matter how well Nedzu kept the school cleaned, there were always places to find bugs and spiders he could talk to.

Kouji carefully opens his window, and slowly reaches a finger out. The creature stops its delicate work, seeming to consider him for a moment. Kouji remembers a book Fumikage and Mezou were reading together, some old Cosmic Horror story from centuries ago. About how an entity that existed beyond human understanding would shatter the mind if perceived, as you realise just how little space you really take up in the universe.

The spider reaches a leg out, tapping his finger a few times. Kouji sees it move over, faintly hearing the smallest of voices as he focuses his Quirk. Like listening to a movie from the other room over, needing to focus to understand the message. ‘Curious… Very Big Leg. Not Very Good for Spinning Web… Sad Creature, Giant is.’

Kouji watches the spider walk its way around his finger, then back to its web. There’s a faint shudder that runs down his arm, but he pulls back and closes the window without being fully panicked by the interaction. “Okay… Okay. I just have to work on this… For my team.”

-

“Is it really that bad?” Toru grumbles to herself, Kyouka’s words stinging as they walk to lunch. The two boys were caught up in conversations, giving them a minute to talk on their own.

Toru reaches up, an invisible hand carding fingers through hair barely long enough to complete the gesture. “I mean, it’s not the worst. It’s just… I like having my hair out longer. But they had to cut a bunch of it for my costume, so they could have all the genetic material to match my Quirk’s innate properties.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that back then. I thought you said it was better, not having to worry about hair ties giving you away during training exercises.” Toru puffs out her cheeks, trying to find a useful way of expressing her frustration.

“Sure, it’s easier to deal with. But… Even if other people can’t see it, it means something to me. You know what I mean?” Kyouka takes a second, actually seeming to fully get what Toru was trying to express. She lets her arm flop down, looking down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

The girls scan the cafeteria, and hurry over to the line leading through a selection of Italian food. It would still take a few minutes to go through it, but it was better to stake their claim early as the rest of the Testing Halls were released. Their teacher was that General Studies teacher in the wheelchair, and he gave them an extra five minutes since he needed to get to the Teacher’s Lounge before the hallways were crowded.

Toru looks back, seeing Mezou in line next to Fumikage and Tsu. The two are trading words, Mezou nodding and waving a hand as if he was explaining something. Toru sees Tsu look over, the girl having the almost unnerving ability to always find her eyes when they look at each other. Even people like Katsuki or Ochako, who were the best at holding eye contact when they talked to her, would still need a few seconds to find her eyes.

But Tsu always seemed to lock on to her, making an involuntary shudder run down the invisible girl’s back. She turns back, quickly taking a bowl of noodles coated in some sort of tomato sauce and adding it to her tray.

It wasn’t Tsu being able to do that that scares Toru… Well, not just Tsu. Because she was wondering how the girl did it, like if the way her Quirk bended light was somehow detectable to some people. And if that sort of person was turned into a Nomu… Well, she wasn’t exactly the hardest person to take down. Sure, she had surprise and some advantage in pulling complicated maneuvers. But take that initial surprise away, and she was just any other teenage girl with a few months of self-defense training.

Toru and Kyouka scan around for a table, Kouji waving from next to Izuku. Hanta quickly slides into the seat next to the green haired boy, saying something that causes Kouji to grin and huff a little laugh. Toru taps on Kyouka’s shoulder, the two of them quickly making their way over to their teammate.

Hanta turns to them, waving and beckoning them over. “Hey, guys. Just got some news from some of the older students, if you’re interested in hearing it.”

Toru barely pauses as she leaves the spot next to Kouji, Kyouka taking their middle seat before making it obvious that she was listening to Hanta. “I’m all ears, Hanta. What stocks are the Business Students telling you to invest in?”

Hanta rolls his eyes, pulling out a journal he’s mocked up into a graph. “Well, a couple of the Third Year students got great Internships with some of my family’s companies. I didn’t tell them they needed to pay me back, but if they want to tell me stuff, I’d be a fool not to listen.”

“Ah huh, so what did they give you that has you so excited?” Kyouka begins eating her lunch, biting into a piece of garlic bread as she vaguely glances at the available journal pages.

“Wel, they were able to get me a bunch of the teams of teachers the other students had to deal with. And Izuku helped me look at it, and saw that almost none of the teachers paired with the same partners. And a little checking with other years where Support Students took this sort of information, it’s a pretty consistent trend.”

“Sure… But there are still a bunch of combinations to go through. And you said ‘almost’; so how reliable is this information?” Kyouka asks a good question, but Toru catches a quick glance at the chart Hanta had scrapped out. And considering Izuku had them fill out a similar chart for their partnerships, she could mostly read it.

“Well, there’s one pair everyone said they fought. But you guys probably don’t need to worry about it… Midnight and All Might are the only group that’s stayed the same for the past three days. And we’ll get information about today’s later, and tomorrow if we can talk to Class 1-B.”

Toru looks at the information, seeing Hanta has three teams ironed out. The one all of them knew, of Thirteen and Powerloader. The one Mina and her team were certain about, Nedzu and Ectoplasm. And now All Might and Midnight, which sort of made sense if she looked at it. Extreme destructive power, and selectively applied technique and the ability to disable a large section of the arena.

Of the last four teachers not yet ironed out, Present Mic and Aizawa had worked together yesterday. Snipe and Cementoss were still complete wild cards, since they’d worked with only people that were already on the confirmed list. But compared to all their blind guessing…

“If it's true, that’s Midnight taken care of. Kind of our worst case scenario…” Hanta raises an eyebrow, Kyouka huffing and crossing her arms. “Oh, like she didn’t have you passed out in her lap after that training exercise two weeks ago.”

“I never said I wasn’t worried about her. But hey, you’ve got better than even odds of knowing who you’re up against on Saturday. If you have any ideas for taking her on that you want to pass our way…”

“Run, preferably to high ground and against the wind.” Kouji speaks up, Izuku looking up with a furrowed brow. “Her Quirk’s gas is heavier than normal air, and Katsuki’s explosions were able to repel her clouds for a bit. Maybe Izuku can create wind funnels, if it doesn’t hurt him too much?”

Toru looks at the quiet boy, noticing he’s focusing on something under the table. He brings his hand up, a butterfly fluttering its wings as it pokes at a spot of something gold like honey on the back of his hand. But… Yeah, that wasn’t a half bad strategy, actually. “Cool… That just leaves screaming, shooting, no Quirks, and a tidal wave of Wet Cement to figure out how to beat.”

“I’m hoping we get one of those fake cities to work in, personally.” Toru and Kouji turn to Kyouka, who shrugs and points at the list. “Hey, it gives us a bad match against Cementoss. But terrain makes Aizawa and Snipe less effective than an open field, and might be able to dampen Mic’s attacks.”

“A sound strategy.” Mezou walks up behind them, Fumikage and Tsu both taking their places between him and Hanta. Toru sees Fumikage’s feathers standing on edge, the boy shifting his shoulders as if to force himself to relax. “Hopefully, this isn’t some sort of trap by Nedzu.”

“I don’t think it is.” Izuku takes a moment, his voice sounding hoarse to Toru’s ears. He quickly takes a sip of tea, adjusting his still messy tie as he clears his throat. “Sorry, English Exam.”

Everyone nods, the teacher for their practical forcing them to read and recite a whole speech in English. And keep at it until they read it right, or time runs out. Apparently, speaking English wasn’t one of Izuku’s strong suits.

Izuku takes a second, then continues speaking with a more even voice. “I think he wants us to build up these sorts of skills, considering the League of Villains newer methods of villainy. Carefully planned attacks, with time to find out the When and Where. The How and Why are just as important, they just take more time and effort to dig up.”

“Like Nedzu’s efforts to track down the League you mentioned earlier?” Toru watches Izuku’s face go a little pale, looking in the middle distance for a long second before turning to Tsu’s flat gaze. “You said he wasn’t having much luck, that he’d tell you about.”

Toru begins taking her share of lunch, watching Izuku take a moment to figure out what he could say about his private meetings with Nedzu. Sure, he went to Lunch with the principal once or twice, and had a weekly seminar with him that everyone figured out and had been carefully trying to get him to talk about. But he was always cautious about the topic, like he was scared Nedzu would stop the meetings if he said too much.

“Well, Nedzu thinks he found a few people who may have taught Mayhem her basics. A couple of Hackers who turned up last year in Critical Condition, and refused to tell anyone what happened to them. Maybe some leads on the other members of the League, a few things that might help build profiles on them that can help find and protect future targets.”

“Any of those leads on that Fire Guy, from their videos?” Izuku fully flinches, Toru watching as Hanta casually asks a seemingly random question. But she also looks at Hanta’s eyes, which quickly flick over to watch Izuku as he clearly spins up his answer. “A bunch of people are theorizing he might be some old sidekick from Endeavor’s Agency, or maybe got rejected from ever joining it.”

“It would explain the League’s disdain for him, besides their general message about False Idols.” Fumikage comments from the side, but Toru watches as Izuku looks over towards Hanta. And the two share this look, one Toru recognizes from spy movies or that show about the team of thieves.

Someone who thinks they know something, and someone with a secret that might be compromised. Toru turns her body towards Fumikage, but tries to keep looking at the two as they have this sort of silent moment of trying to figure the other out.

But Hanta looks away, quick to leave that thread to be pulled later. “Oh, you mean all that Stain talk? Can you believe they’re making merchandise of him to sell?”

-

“I fail to see what some admittedly tasteless merchandising rights have to do with such a hasty meeting.” Mirai rolls his eyes, the deadpan delivery delivered with a faked grin proving enough to make his stomach roll.

He waves his hand, the Hero Commission official quickly doing away with the fake smile as the faint whine of sound dampening equipment hides them from easy detection. “For the record, I do find the decision to allow others to spread that maniac’s ideals to be a foolish miscalculation. I hope the idea wasn’t yours, Miko.”

“So recorded, and agreed to.” Mirai raises an eyebrow, the dark purple haired woman reaching forward to take a sip from the tea offered to her. Mirai takes the customary sip from his own drink, the woman enjoying the repressed flavors of the tea before continuing. “Unfortunately, the decision to utilize Stain as a consultant has yielded positive results. To prevent truly apocalyptic backlash, some public recognition needs to be allowed, if carefully monitored.”

Mirai prevents a truly sour grimace from crossing his face, setting down the mismatched tea cup before pulling out a small folder. “That business aside for the moment, I needed to inform you in person. This should also explain why I had Bubble Girl go fetch you, if you’d forgive the theatrics on her part.”

Miko takes the folder, pulling out a set of reading glasses. She flips open the folder, her eyes quickly scanning over a small collection of reports that could be removed without anyone but her and him needing to be the wiser. He watches her face, knowing a few micro-expressions that he could spot if she was caught off guard.

And reading through these… Ah, so the Commission had some idea about the threats he was confirming. She takes a breath, lowering her glasses to look him straight in the eyes. “These were mostly unconfirmed, due in part to the skill of whomever is monitoring my movements. Although, there is some blame to pass around, considering my now out of the way routes I’ve been advised to take.”

Mirai nods, everyone in the Underground hyper aware of any new cameras going up. Everyone in his line of work had two skills above any other; How to identify if a camera was pointed at you, and how to avoid needing that first skill. Those few routes that had no surveillance were slowly being encroached upon, the Commission forcing the Underground out into the spotlight to make use of their secret communications and pathways.

Something he was better equipped to handle, since he’d been too far in the Spotlight with All Might to truly disappear into the shadows. “Shouta suspects the League of Villains is acting in tandem with the Hassaikai, possibly to facilitate some deal with Qin Xiong Di’s Yakuza branch. If the crackdown on Japanese medical supplies is half as successful as we assume it is, that means they’ll need to start taking in resources from outside of the country.”

“Assuming they’re even based here, in Japan.” Mirai tilts his head, Miko waving her hand as she looks down at the report. “Mayhem’s little world tour, where she intentionally sent duplicates out to multiple locations. All of which were taken in by portals nearly simultaneously, as if to show off the skill of their Portal Villain. Clearly, Intercontinental Maneuvers are not beyond them. The Safety Commissions in other countries are demanding to be read in on this situation, in the annual Winter Summit happening in Otheon later this year.”

Mirai does not hide a souring look, the mention of that country bringing their primary export to mind. “Yes… Which reminds me. Is the Humarise Church an issue the Commission is interested in dealing with? They are, at the very least, giving the Hassaikai no small audience to advertise to and draw funds from.”

Miko flicks through the rest of the report, the limited information they’d gained in the last month being easy to peruse. “There is some discussion of dealing with them, although there already appears to be moves against them in the public. Anti-Humarise and Anti-Quirkless rights ads are slowly becoming more common, and their exact origins are yet to be known to us. Frankly, the Commission is worried too many disinformation campaigns running at the same time will ignite suspicion, and make all of them crumble before they’re truly useful.”

Mirai takes a moment, and pulls out a notepad. “I have a few contacts in Radio and Television, from my days as All Might’s sidekick. I can put a few feeler’s out, see if I can’t drudge up some results to send to you…”

“While that is appreciated, it might be wise for you to avoid this topic.” Mirai stops as he reaches for a pen, looking up as Miko considers how blunt to be. “Considering what the higher ups now know about All Might’s history, your moves to investigate this topic might lead to questions of bias that are too close to the truth…”

“What bias? I haven’t…” Mirai stops, a long forgotten detail coming to the front. In all his years working with All Might, even accepting the details of One for All, there was one little detail that was easy to forget. Something so simple, that he feels a faint rush of shame in having forgotten.

Toshinori wasn’t just passed One for All from his mentor. Without it, he would have been Quirkless his whole life… Much like Izuku Midoriya, the newest person chosen to bear that Quirk…

Mirai sits there frozen, old conversations bubbling up to the surface. Comments Toshinori had taken in stride, comments that had made Mirai’s skin crawl and blood boil. His constant choices in which charities to help and support early on, choices Mirai had let go because of their personal nature to the man. Several columns of unscientific drivel on Quirkless people, most of which he’d taken the time to see to eliminate… Some no less recent than the start of this year, still as fresh on the public’s mind as any news can be in interesting times.

Mirai takes too long to react, Miko picking up her teacup and taking a healthy sip before continuing. “You may consider looking into this matter in your own time, but recall that I advised you to do so with all due subtlety. With Toshinori’s history now known to the Commission, there are additional eyes monitoring him for any perceived biases. His connections with Nedzu notwithstanding, there are several actions and choices he’s made that now require additional review.”

Mirai tries to recompose himself, quickly picking up his cup and taking a sip. He can worry about that new angle of thoughts later, after the current matter is resolved. “Be that as it may, I do still believe we need to identify the origins of this maneuver. At best, it’s a nuisance we can then ignore. At worst, it’s someone like the Creature Rejection Clan attempting to drum up membership or sentiment.”

Miko nods, closing the file and sliding it into a large purse. It goes into a compartment on the side, which she then gently slides her hands over until the pocket disappears from naked eyesight. “The Commission is using a collection of assets to investigate and resolve this issue, but intelligence gathering is not within their abilities. Your aide in this matter will be most helpful.”

Mirai nods, though gets stuck on one word in there. “When you say ‘assets’, would you mind elaborating on that subject?”

“Unfortunately, I’m not authorized to release that information. But there is a reason I did not use a more convenient term, such as Hero.”

Mirai drains his cup, unable to stop himself from commenting on that topic. “I can’t help but notice that we continue to blur the line between ‘Hero’ and ‘Vigilante’ these days. Sure, perhaps Mirko has proven more than effective since her debut…”

“Your opinion on the dividing line between Hero and Villain is still the operating opinion of the Commission, Sir Nighteye. However, we cannot allow honor and morals to prevent us from using necessary measures against a foe as chaotic and multifarious as the League of Villains.” Miko adjusts her purse on her shoulder, clearly readying to leave.

Mirai shakes his head, writing out a few names and numbers for Miko to be able to call. “I agree that on occasion, there are exceptions that prove the rules. But you can only bend a rule so many times before said rule loses all meaning. Sky Crawler, for example; He was well known as a Vigilante, and didn’t have any actual experience at a Hero School to pretend he went Underground.”

Miko gives Mirai a single raised eyebrow, and he doesn’t quite realize she’s lining up a shot until she responds. “Yes, and there are only so many times one can bend the truth before they’re a liar. But some things need to be obfuscated, for everyone’s safety. Underground Heroes constantly operate on a level of secrecy, which I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you. Even Spotlight Heroes need to keep certain details about their lives hidden away, from their weaknesses and loved ones… to debilitating injuries.”

Mirai resists the urge to bite his tongue, Miko strolling right up to the point without quite reaching it. “There’s a difference between protecting a friend’s secret for the good of the country, and protecting your reputation for the sake of said reputation. Toshinori wasn’t deceiving the Commission out of malice, but out of a sense of duty to the world.”

“Yes, and that deception has resulted in the rise of the League of Villains. He also gave time for All for One to recover and gain more resources for their next match, including the creation and advancing of Numerous Mutation individuals.” Miko raises her nails up to examine them, Mirai half convinced it was purely to avoid looking him in the face while she says this. “Had he properly informed the Commission of these circumstances even six years ago, we might have been able to stomp this problem out before it reached this point. Now, we have no choice but to use more drastic measures…”

“Or, you could trust in his ability to finish what he started.” Miko raises an eyebrow, and sets her teacup on the desk separating them. And she lets her eyes stray over to a picture frame, which causes Mirai to curl a fist under the table.

Miko examines the picture of Mirai and Mirio Togata, the Third Year Hero Student he’d personally taken to tutoring over the past few years. Not just because he was a promising young Hero, with an impressive Quirk if used correctly. No… Mirai had picked him out of the hopes to convince Toshinori to pass One for All to him, and possibly spare him the otherwise unavoidably tragic death.

“Even in All Might’s prime, he couldn’t be everywhere at once. He has a truly impressive record, but even his best Rescue Scenes have some amount of unavoidable injuries and deaths. That’s why the Commission not only sponsors the Top Ten Heroes, but the entire Hero Industry around them. This is a Numbers Game, and one we only win if we outnumber any Villain Ten-to-One.”

Mirai takes a breath, unclenching his hands and leaning back in his chair. “Yes, you have a point. Which is why I haven’t acted on my protests of the Commission. As flawed as your actions are, we can resolve these issues after this generational threat is dealt with.”

Miko nods, rising from her seat. She turns to the door, looking over her shoulder as she reaches for the handle. “Removing the Shie Hassaikai is as good a start as any, if they are providing aid or shelter to the League. Hero Society exists only because we prevented Villains from forming the same groups we do. We cannot allow them to become pack hunters, after all the work we’ve done to isolate them.”

Mirai furrows his brow, watching Miko go. He gives the conversation some thought, and just grits his teeth as he thinks of all the compromises they’ve already made. From allowing Vigilantes and even actual criminals, like that blond boy with the Tail in Class 1-A, to continue pretending to be Heroes.

Or Izuku Midoriya… Mirai couldn’t put his finger on it, even after all these weeks. But there was just… just something about that boy that made him want to gnash his teeth. Not just from all the work he put into refining Mirio, but that this boy somehow had a quality that made Toshinori instantly trust him with One for All.

Even after all these years, Toshinori didn’t trust Mirai with it. Either to take the burden of fighting All for One off his shoulders directly, or by finding a suitable candidate. But this fifteen year old Quirkless boy had some quality that made him more worthy of Toshinori’s trust, his faith… His Adoration, if candid photos and context clues were to be believed.

Mirai shakes his head, focusing on the problem he can fix. He couldn’t save Toshinori from that brilliant arrogance and faith of his, but he could try and help clear his way.