Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

From: Hashimoto Yuki <[email protected]>
To: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Information about Intelligence Analysis

Awata-san! Look at this cutie!! I figured that you'd be the best to deal with this! The kid seems really sweet and I don't wanna inflict the boss on him.

Yuki

Forwarded message:
To whom it may concern,

Hi, my name is Midoriya Izuku, and I'm a student at Orudera Middle School. According to my research, Nighteye Agency is one of a handful of major centers of intelligence analysis and covert operations in the greater Tokyo arena, and employs the most intelligence analysts of any hero agency (if you don’t count the Inter-Agency Consortium of Underground Crimefighters, IACUC, as an agency). It's also the only case of a non-underground hero both running an agency and working in analysis!

Anyway, I was hoping that if one of your analysts had some time, they might be able to meet with me? I really want to go into analysis, but it's an “invisible” job and there's little to no reputable information about the training and education needed to succeed in the field. I understand that this is a long shot! Please also let them know that I'd be willing to pay for lunch!

Thank you for your time!
Midoriya Izuku

From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Analysis for Review
Sir,

Please take a look at the attached file and tell me what you think.

Awata Kaoruko

- How many UA graduates does it take to change a lightbulb?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Analysis for Review
Awata-kun,

A solid analysis of the situation. There was more attention paid to quirks than I'd expect in this sort of report, and the divergence into speculations about the possible improvement and creative uses of the quirks in question was unnecessary (although well done). The organization was shoddy, and seemed to be stream-of-consciousness in some parts.
However, the connections drawn between this simple robbery and more high profile cases in the area was inspired. The analyst brought up possible motives and long-term implications that none of those assigned to the case had considered. A few of their speculations are absolute garbage, but that seems to be due to a lack of crucial information rather than stupidity. I’ve even decided to look more into the gang connections they highlighted - it seems like a promising line of research.

Where did you find this analyst?

Sir Nighteye

- I don’t know. How many?


From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Analysis for Review
Sir,

He’s a 13 year old boy who wanted to know about the profession. He showed me some analysis he’d done of local incidents, and a couple of them caught my eye.

Is there any way we can take on another intern?

Awata Kaoruko

- One. They hold the lightbulb, and the world revolves around them.

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Analysis for Review

That’s not a good joke.

Sir Nighteye

- That goes for both of them.


From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Analysis for Review
Sir,

It’s not a joke. Please, just meet with him - one lunch meeting, less than an hour. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Awata Kaoruko

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Forms for Internship
Midoriya-kun,

As discussed, attached are the forms for your internship, to be filled out by you and your guardian. Since you’re not yet in high school, we have to use the liability forms commonly used for legacy children. They’re usually just a formality - the children intern at a family agency, and it’s assumed that members of the agency will be conscientious about preventing any injury done to the child and in the case that the worst occurs, that no lawsuit will be filed against the agency. Because we cannot rely on this familial relationship, I have added clauses that state the above assumptions explicitly. If anything is concerning to you or your guardian, please contact me and my legal team.

I look forward to working with you, Midoriya-kun.

Sir Nighteye

Official Intelligence Brief - CONFIDENTIAL - 808-11-97A-4145C

Event 4145C - Musutafu, Shizouka Prefecture, Japan

Analyst: Midoriya Izuku (Support ID: 9093341) With additions by Sir Nighteye (Hero ID: 8082956). Midoriya-kun was involved in the incident. We’re trying to teach him caution. This is likely a losing battle.

Time: May 3, 2178, 3:42-3:45pm, 19 minutes following Event 4145B and 28 minutes following Event 4145A. As is standard in Nighteye Agency operating procedure, Midoriya-kun was subject to traumatic experiences during Event 4145B, and thus is not the primary analyst for that event.

Type of Incident: Single villain aggravated assault following petty robbery (see Event 4145A).

Individuals involved: Mizusawa Fumio, Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341)

Heroes assisting in Villain Apprehension: All-Might (HID: 4542298)

Heroes assisting in Rescue and Containment: Kamui Woods (HID: 6690187), Death Arms (HID: 300211), Backdraft (HID: 4947222), Armament (HID: 4443165)

Heroes assisting in Information and Covert Operations: None. Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341) - Yes, you do count.

Overview of Situation: Mizusawa Fumio, fleeing from capture by All-Might after assaulting Midoriya Izuku (Event 4145B) and robbing Yokohama’s Convenience Store (Event 4145A), assaulted Bakugou Katsuki. Mizusawa’s quirk (Living Slime) is a mutation type, and allows him to fit inside a corpse and control it as his own body. Technically, this is speculation, but it’s a solid deduction (and Midoriya-kun’s intuitions about quirks are rarely wrong). Mizusawa attempted to drown Bakugou and take his body in order to evade authorities. Bakugou has an explosion quirk (registered as Explosion) - his sweat is nitroglycerin and he can ignite it. He attempted to escape by exploding the villain, but for obvious reasons, this didn’t work. Fires resulting from this altercation damaged nearby buildings (see Damage Report 4145C).

The situation was resolved when All-Might intervened and scattered the villain with a high-velocity punch. Bakugou Katsuki and Midoriya Izuku were treated by paramedics, but no hospitalization was required for either. This skips over the entirety of Midoriya Izuku’s involvement. Some of it has to be redacted for confidentiality purposes, but in summary: the problem child told the attendant heroes that the villain’s weakness was the solidity of his eyes and mouth. He outlined a solid plan that would have contained both the raging fire and the rampaging villain with minimal risk to all participants. As Bakugou suffocated to death, the heroes did nothing with this information and discounted Midoriya-kun’s suggestions because of his age and ruffled appearance (see Event 4145B for why he may have appeared dirty and distraught). Midoriya-kun felt compelled to intervene himself, attacking the villain’s eyes to give Bakugou a chance to breathe and attempting to calm down Bakugou long enough for other heroes to navigate the fire. He was unsuccessful with his second objective.

Had All-Might not apprehended the villain soon after, we may have had two casualties logged in this incident report. I am aware that few heroes from Rescue and Villain Apprehension agencies would recognize my interns, but Midoriya-kun’s analysis of the situation was of the highest caliber and should not have been dismissed out of hand. Midoriya-kun has been officially reprimanded for his reckless behavior, but if I had my way, every hero involved would have been officially reprimanded. I am distributing his photo and status to all agencies in Musutafu and surrounding areas.

This cannot happen again.

From: All Might <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Reaching out
Sir Nighteye,

I hope I have the right email. I got it from an intern of yours, Midoriya-kun? From what I’ve seen of him, he’s a smart one. You always did have an intuition for these things.

He asked me why I wasn’t… well, why I was avoiding you, I guess. And I thought about it, and I didn’t have a satisfactory answer for him. I suppose I’m still a little angry at you, and a little hurt, but most of all, I think I was scared. I don’t like to think about what we argued about - especially as it becomes clearer to me that you were right all along. I’m sorry for what I said to you. It was ugly, and you didn’t deserve that.

I’m tired, Osamu, and I’m sorry. You don’t have to feel obligated to reply - I just wanted to reach out and apologize.

Yagi Toshinori

- Also, Midoriya-kun knows about the incident from five years ago. It was an accident, but you should be aware.


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: All Might <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Reaching Out
Toshinori, you idiot,

I forgive you. I said some hurtful things as well. The fault lies with both of us, I believe. The best recompense, in my opinion, would be for both of us to move on from this. I must admit, I have missed talking to you. It’s been a long four years.

And of course this is a result of Midoriya-kun’s meddling. That boy doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone. He’s a problem child, Toshi - utterly brilliant, keen deductive skills, an advanced level of empathy, and more recklessness than sense. He gives me a heart attack at least once every month.

We fought, Toshi, and I still refuse to watch you die, but I didn’t mean that you had to stop relying on me. If you’re tired, let me take some of the burden. Do you need assistance with public relations? Investigation and Covert Ops? Do you want me to help you find a successor? Anything, Toshi. Please, just ask.

Osamu

- Of course he found out. Shit, I’m going to have to loop him into the All for One case. You gave him a scrap of information - he’s going to dig until he finds the whole conspiracy. I’ll have to head him off before he bites off more than he can chew.

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Some Preliminary Research
Sir Nighteye,

Sir, I know you said to leave the All for One case alone, but it occurred to me that I’m the only other analyst in the agency that knows about this, and you can’t have had much time to research it yourself. And I had some free time, so I started looking through old news articles, internet forum gossip, and certain classes of incident reports because I thought that if my hypothesis was right, I’d find something.

I did. I’m sorry that I researched this when you explicitly told me not to, but Sir, I found something. Please, just take a look, and if you want to fire me, I completely understand.

Midoriya Izuku

- What is old, dangerous, and leaves a paper trail a mile wide?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Some Preliminary Research
Midoriya-kun,

I should fire you, you infuriating child. If I thought that would curb your self-destructive tendencies, I would.

But this is also the biggest break we’ve ever had. You’re right - because of the secrecy of this situation, we don’t have the manpower necessary to pursue All for One’s operations. I’ll allow you to continue, but Midoriya - I mean this very seriously - if you do anything more than research possible leads from one of our encrypted terminals at the agency, I will take you off the case and any others until you graduate high school. Do not test me on this. If you need to do field research, you will express that need to me, and I will outsource it to one of the underground heroes in IACUC. Do not tell anyone else about the details of this case, although you can still ask Bubble Girl and Centipeder for assistance as long as you don’t divulge the secret of All for One.

Good work, Midoriya-kun. Don’t make a habit of it.

Sir Nighteye

- I don’t know. What?


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Some Preliminary Research
Sir,

Thank you so much!! I promise I won’t let you down. Thank you!

Midoriya Izuku

- A paper mill on the run!

An excerpt from “Unsolved Mysteries, Vol. 2” by Midoriya Izuku

• Mizushima Katsu - Quirk: Self-Regulate (Could control his own metabolism/cell growth/etc.) Subject of quirk studies - Hashimoto et al. 2151, Liu et al. 2156. Died from cancer in 2161. (How could he die from cancer considering his quirk?)
• Nakahara Gorou - Quirk: Void Cheek (A portal to an infinite void was located in the inside of his left cheek). Quirk manifested when he was 14 and was unlike his mother’s quirk (father was quirkless). Started with petty crime around this time, graduated to felonies after high school. Killed after a string of high-profile bank heists - likely by another member of his gang (Brief 271-28-00-2199K). Money was never found, and neither was the team. Two weeks later, three bodies were fished out of a nearby river (Police Case #55509192). This was not connected to the bank heists, but a careful examination of the ME report confirms that they were all the right heights and body shapes to be the other three criminals. One of the corpses had a strange configuration in their vocal cords and their inner ear which would be consistent with the sound quirk observed at the bank heists. Additionally, all three displayed an extra toe joint. The cause of death was unknown - there were no wounds and tox screens came back negative. (Where did the money go? Why are they all dead? If they are the bank robbers - did someone give them a quirk?)
• Minami Megumi - Quirk: Elephant (Perfect memory and recall). She was missing from work for a week. When they checked her apartment, they found it covered with the words “I can’t remember” repeated over and over. All the walls, furniture, papers, etc. were covered with it. The knife she used to slit her wrists was found beside her. It was ruled a suicide (Police Case #10274407). One note deviated from it - “Remember him. Remember him. Him. Him. Him.” (Him. Him?)

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Training for Intelligence Analyst
Nedzu-san,

You know as well as I do that most analysts fall into the profession one way or another - heroes who find they have a knack for it, police investigators who catch the attention of a hero agency, etc. - and thus I understand why UA doesn’t offer an intelligence and covert ops track. However, I have an intern who’s been working with us for a year and a half, and if his high school doesn’t encourage and foster his career in intelligence, it would be a tragedy. I’ve laid out a potential course of study integrating classes from the management, support, and hero departments. I’m aware that history and English would have to be eliminated completely from his schedule, but my intern is already fluent in English and he would be able to complete UA’s history curriculum before enrollment.

Let me know if this is a possibility.

Sir Nighteye


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Training for Intelligence Analyst
Sir Nighteye,

I would be delighted to have Midoriya-kun attend UA, and I agree that his plan of study must be adapted to nurture his potential! I’ve made a few edits - just minor ones, really. Would Midoriya-kun also be able to complete the first year math curriculum by the beginning of the year?

Just to be clear, are you officially recommending Midoriya Izuku to UA?

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Training for Intelligence Analyst
Nedzu-san,

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that you knew I was talking about Midoriya-kun. Yes, he’ll be able to complete first year math as well, but what are the independent study blocks marked on his schedule? He will be continuing his internship, but that will be outside of school hours.

Yes, I am recommending him. I’ll submit the paperwork tomorrow.

Sir Nighteye


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Training for Intelligence Analyst
Sir Nighteye,

Oh, those are for independent study with me! Midoriya-kun is a promising student, and I believe that I could assist him in reaching his full potential!

I’ve received the paperwork, and I’ve decided to admit him into the management department. You recommended him for support or management, but he doesn’t have quite the engineering bent we see in most support students. Additionally, management students don’t receive any media attention, which is perfect for Midoriya-kun! We need to ensure that he remains a ghost.

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu


From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Fwd: Training for Intelligence Analyst
Sir,

Please tell me that this is an elaborate prank. Midoriya-kun is already terrifying! Yesterday, he took a glance at my case file during lunch, and then, with his mouth full of rice, pointed to the primary suspect and mumbled out: “he’s dead.” He then proceeded to pull up the week-old police case file, and sure enough, even though the body wasn’t identified and was severely decayed, it was the correct age, weight, and height, and even had a gold tooth in the right spot and had evidence of knee surgery that was consistent with the suspect’s. I asked him how he had known, and he gave me a strange look and then pulled out one of those notebooks of his. It was entitled, “Mysterious Bodies, Vol. 3” and it was filled with every police case that has appeared without a positive identification in the past month. He was like, “You don’t keep track of these?” No, I do not! Most people don’t!

The thought of a Nedzu-trained Midoriya-kun will haunt my dreams, Sir.

Awata Kaoruko

- How many underground heroes does it take to change a lightbulb?

Mirio-senpai

Mirio: Hey, I heard you’ll be joining me at UA next year! Exciting news little buddy!
Izuku: I’m what?
Mirio: Oh no
Mirio: UH ignore that
Izuku: Senpai
Mirio: OH NO I’M LOSING CELL SERVICE CHCHCHCK
Izuku: Senpai
Izuku: You have read receipts on

Police Case #093-2011-820, Tokyo Prefecture

Time: August 20, 2011 8:52pm

Victim: Shinatori Ryuusuke

Perpetrator: Unknown Assailant, Male, mid-twenties

Situation: Shinatori and the unknown man brawled in front of Lucky Parlor - a bar and gambling den, suspected Yakuza front. Shinatori was intoxicated. Both men allegedly possessed a quirk, but the nature of each is unknown. Witnesses claimed that Shinatori was a regular in the area, and boasted of a strength quirk, but he was unable to display such when later questioned by police.

Upon police arrival, Shinatori was found catatonic, muttering “He took it, he took it.” His condition did not improve, and he committed suicide in his holding cell. Witnesses’ descriptions of the other man were vague, but all reports claim that he provoked Shinatori into a fight. His quirk is unknown, but seems likely to be criminal.

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
Subject: High School
Bubble Girl,

Is Mirio okay? He seems to be under the impression that I'm going to UA, which I certainly didn't know! Just thought I'd check in with you!

Izuku


From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: High School

AHAHAHA. Suddenly remembered I left the stove on at home - I'll be back in a week!

Awata Kaoruko


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: High School

You've never cooked in your life.

Izuku

An excerpt from “The Origins of the Heroics Industry” by Midoriya Izuku:

Everyone in Japan is at least somewhat aware of the Anti-Quirk riots that engulfed the country in the early 2000s. Although not as bloody or destabilizing as the first riots in Korea and China, the riots set the tone for quirk legislation for the rest of the century. Seeing the devastation that occurred in the rest of Asia, Japan cracked down heavily on the riots, even creating a small force of quirked individuals to control the populace and protect innocent civilians. This is popularly considered the genesis of the hero system, and is hailed as a brilliant and tolerant move by the Japanese government.

The truth, of course, is much darker and more complex than that. The force of proto-heroes were treated like criminals by both their bosses and their colleagues in the police departments. They were frequently thrown into dangerous situations with no back-up and no support items. They saved countless quirked and quirkless lives, but none of them lived past the age of 40, and it's difficult to even find a record of their legal names. Their public image was crafted to portray them as lone, self-sacrificing individuals who were trying to bring peace to the country. It can be noted that there was no talk of understanding quirked individuals or welcoming them into society - the government was just trying to turn a few quirked people into larger-than-life sensations in order to stop the violent riots.

It worked - the riots concluded more quickly and peacefully than those in other Asian countries. However, analyses of crime rates show that violence against quirked individuals was as common in Japan as in other countries. Meanwhile, recognizing the potential of the system that they had created, the Japanese government recruited quirked who possessed flashy, marketable quirks to maintain the uneasy peace. This commoditization of heroism and quirks is still felt strongly today - a handful of heroes and regular citizens speak out about it every generation, but their concerns have not translated to a broad overhaul of the entrenched system.

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: UA High School
Sir Nighteye,

Am I going to UA high school next year? Mirio mentioned it, but every time I try to get information about it from anyone in the office, they run away from me. Mirio says I’m scary, but he can’t provide any actual evidence.

Midoriya Izuku

- What is loud, fast, and has no legs to stand on?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: UA High School
Midoriya-kun,

I don’t know, are you? I’ve recommended you and Principal Nedzu and I have created a special intelligence and covert ops track for you, but you have to be impressive enough to secure that spot at UA. You’ll have a test on the same day that the other recommended students do, but it will be significantly more challenging. You’ll be the ultimate one deciding whether or not you attend UA.

As for the level of fear you inspire in my office, I suggest you ask Bubble Girl - if you can get anything coherent out of her on the subject.

I’ll let you know about the schedule for UA. I must say, for an intelligence agency, they let the secret slip quickly. You said MIrio was the leak?

Sir Nighteye

- I don’t know. What?


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: UA High School
Sir Nighteye,

Thank you so much, Sir! I promise I won’t let you down. I’ll do my best to make you proud!

Midoriya Izuku

- A snake driving a car with the radio on!


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: UA High School

I’m already proud, Izuku.

Sir Nighteye

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Chapter Text

An excerpt from “A review of quirk genetics” by Yoshitaka Hosi, published in 2033:

In 2024, Winston et al. published the paper that would revolutionize the field of quirk studies. The researchers, using the linked phenotype of the extra toe joint, reported in the 2020 paper by Schumann et al, identified an area on chromosome 20 that is epistatic to other quirk-related genes. Essentially, a mutation in this region allows for development of a quirk, although more complex elements determine the type and expression of this quirk. The ancestral genotype suppressed all quirk development entirely.

Evolutionary biologists, like Gordon in her 2029 paper, followed up on this finding to try to understand why quirks would develop so quickly in the population at this time. The region identified on chromosome 20 seems to have been subject to negative selection during most of human history, meaning that mutations in this area were not tolerated and generally led to fatalities. There have been many hypotheses about the sudden ability of humans to survive the mutations that led to the development of quirks, but as of now, there has been no significant evidence to support any of the theories.

Izuku’s notes, handwritten in the margins: Ability to directly manipulate DNA? Does stealing quirks excise out parts of genome?? Does giving quirks to quirkless people change the chr. 20 region as well?

Mirio-senpai

Izuku: good luck in the sports festival today senpai!
Izuku: you're gonna do great!
Izuku: we're having a watching party at the agency
Izuku: sir’s at the festival tho
Mirio: thanks buddy! I'll do my best to make you all proud!!
Izuku: tell tamaki good luck too!
Mirio: i will!
Mirio: he's blushing and stammering
Mirio: he manifested a wing just to hide himself
Mirio: god he's so cute
Mirio: ...ignore that

Transcript of UA sports festival, second stage:

AU: Hey, coming back to you after the break, it's AU, UA’s Golden Hero, here with our guest, #32 in the pro-hero rankings, the Dragon Hero, Ryukyu! It's been a great showing so far - what are your thoughts, Ryukyu?

Ryukyu: Well, I certainly don't remember my UA class being so accomplished at this age!

AU: (Laughs) They just get better every year, don't they? Going into the third round, are there any students that have really stood out to you?

Ryukyu: Hmm, well, I think it's pretty clear to see that in the hero class, there's three students that have really distinguished themselves - Tamaki Amajiki, Nejire Hado, and Mirio Toogata. Tamaki took that first round by storm - and he didn't let the storms deter him, either. For those just tuning in, the students had to collect hidden gemstones from a variety of inhospitable landscapes. Tamaki’s ability to adapt quickly let him collect those gemstones and get out before his classmates converged on him. His situational awareness and his versatile quirk make him a hero to watch out for!

AU: Speaking of situational awareness, let’s talk about that stunning second round!

Ryukyu: I was certainly stunned! I haven’t seen footage of his first year sports festival, but from what I heard, Mirio Toogata barely passed the second round and got knocked out early in the third. I can’t believe it looking at him now! I could barely keep track of him during the event - he kept popping out of the most unexpected places!

AU: I know the teams were luck of the draw, but what a lucky draw! Mirio and Nejire decimated the other teams!

Ryukyu: For you people unfortunate enough to miss it, our second round was a team battle - teams of two had to claim the gemstones collected in the first round from each other, but they also had to guard certain arenas. If you lost control of your arena, you couldn’t pass to the next round, no matter the number of gemstones you had.

AU: Mirio and Nejire figured out the point of the test pretty quickly - if enough teams lost control of their territory, the gems became functionally irrelevant - but the gems were a shiny draw to most of the participants.

Ryukyu: Yes, plus the two of them were well-suited to sneak attacks - Nejire could blow the teams away and engage most of them head-on with her shockwaves, and Mirio could pop up behind them to claim their territory.

AU: I know a lot of heroes will be hankering to grab these three kids for their agencies, but Tamaki’s been snapped up by Fat Gum already, and Mirio’s been with Nighteye’s agency since his first sports festival!

Ryukyu: Hmm, I’ll be sure to offer an internship to Nejire, that’s for sure!

AU: As we set up the field for the individual battle round - Ryukyu, what are your predictions for how we’ll see this play out?

Ryukyu: Well, based on sheer strength and quirk adaptability, I’d bet on Nejire or Tamaki to take first, but I feel like I can’t discount Mirio quite yet.

AU: Oh?

Ryukyu: If you told me a boy with a permeability quirk could go toe-to-toe with some of the other quirks we’ve seen out there, I would have laughed in your face. But he’s creative, he’s tricky, and he just might surprise us.

AU: He’s been with Nighteye’s agency for a year - Ryukyu, he’s definitely going to surprise us.

Ryukyu: (Laughs)

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: URGENT - Missing Persons Case
Midoriya-kun,

I’m assigning you to this one. You have a knack for unearthing forgotten people, and I’d like to resolve this as fast as possible. I’ve asked your mother if I could pull you out of school for this, and she gave her approval, so report to the agency every day at 8am. Centipeder is running point, but you’re designated as primary analyst. We’re working with both IACUC and the police, and if you have any problems with either group, report them to Centipeder or to me. Don’t let them intimidate you - we need your insights on this case. Five people’s lives may depend on them.

Sir Nighteye

Aizawa sighed, waving his ID at the receptionist at the front desk. He didn’t need to be directed up to the familiar conference room on the third floor - he’d been involved with enough joint missions to know the layout of Nighteye Agency.

The room was already packed with people when he arrived and the noise of their chatter pounded through his head. He rubbed at his temple, but he knew it was futile. He could feel the developing ache in his skull.

Centipeder waved at him across the room. Aiwaza darted through clumps of people to make his way to the hero - he liked Centipeder, who was quiet, astute, and, most importantly, didn’t ask stupid questions.

“Hail the conquering hero,” Centipeder chittered at Aizawa as he slumped into the chair on Centipeder’s left. “I heard you expelled an entire class, and that’s why you’re on our case.”

Aizawa grunted. “You’d have expelled them, too.”

Centipeder nodded seriously. “Of course, of course.” Aizawa couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic. It was the most frustrating thing about talking to a man with a centipede head. There were limited expressions available for a face with an exoskeleton.

“Speaking of,” Aizawa said, jerking his thumb at the green-haired boy on Centipeder’s right who was furiously typing away at a laptop and muttering to himself. “Who’s the kid?”

“Hmm?” replied Centipeder. “Oh, that’s right! You haven’t worked with us in the last year or so. This is Midoriya Izuku - you’ve heard about Sir’s infamous baby intern?”

Aizawa had in fact heard rumors about Sir Nighteye’s youngest intern - including the wrath that Sir Nighteye would rain down on any heroes foolish enough to endanger him. Somehow he hadn’t quite pictured… well….

“Is he always…” Aizawa gestured to the boy.

Centipeder chuckled. “He’s more manic than usual - I’m pretty sure that he forgot to sleep last night. So no, but also… yes? If that makes sense.”

“Not really.”

Centipeder shrugged. “Well, you’ll likely understand after this case. Or, if not, next year for sure.”

Aizawa’s stomach sank to his shoes. “Next year?” he asked, dreading the answer.

“Well, Midoriya-kun is going to be attending UA,” the harbinger of doom told Aizawa. “I mean, maybe, but also if he doesn’t pass the test I’ll eat my hat.” He’d never seen Centipeder wear a hat. “He’s doing a joint thing between heroics, support, and business.”

“Fantastic,” Aizawa muttered, trying not to think about Sir Nighteye’s precious child being his responsibility. If he was lucky, they’d give him to Vlad (who didn’t work in Intelligence and Covert Ops… fuck).

Centipeder gave him a thumbs-up. Aizawa was sure that it was sarcastic this time.

“Okay!” cried a police officer, rising to his feet and clapping his hands sharply. The room quieted and people shuffled to find seats at the long table. Aizawa recognized him as Tsukauchi Naomasa - a frequent liaison between the police and Nighteye Agency. “Thank you. I’m Tsukauchi Naomasa and I’ll be marshalling our resources and serving as head of this investigation along with Centipeder from Nighteye Agency.” Centipeder raised his hand in acknowledgement and nodded to the room.

Tsukauchi then proceeded to lay out the facts presented in the case file - there were five abductions that had occurred in Chiba Prefecture. The abductions were similar in that they all occurred at the same time in the same way (white van, two assailants grabbed the victim and then the van took off before anyone could respond or call for help). However, none of the victims were in the same place, were the same age or gender, or were acquainted with each other. The only similarity between them were that they were all quirkless.

Aizawa dozed a little during this briefing - it was all in the file, and he’d read that when he received the email last night.

“And with that,” Tsukauchi finally said, “I conclude my briefing. I’ll hand the floor over to Midoriya Izuku, the primary analyst on this taskforce.”

Murmuring broke out around the room as Midoriya stood, collecting his laptop and a nondescript pair of notebooks. As he maneuvered his way to the front, Aizawa leaned over to whisper to Centipeder, “Is he the type to crack under pressure?”

Centipeder chuckled. “You’d think so, but when push comes to shove, that boy’s as strong as steel. Still, this sort of situation would get to him normally. He’d be a stuttering mess. But I think he’s got his teeth into something, and when he gets fixated on something… well, you’ll see.”

Midoriya slammed his notebooks on the table, silencing the chatter. “So,” he started, and for the first time today, Aizawa got a good look at his face. His eyes were shining with fervor, and there was a sort of manic set to his mouth. “You’ve all heard the 20% quirkless statistic, and you might be thinking - the chances of all five being quirkless by chance isn’t impossible, yes?”

“No introductions?” Aizawa muttered.

“What most people who parrot that statistic don’t realize,” Midoriya continued, “is that it’s a worldwide statistic. In some parts of the world, like Northern Europe, Central America, and parts of Africa, the majority of people are quirkless - in Sweden, the most quirkless country, only 10% of the population is quirked. In Asia, where quirks first developed, only about 5% of the population is quirkless - in Japan, this shrinks to 3%. It takes a concerted effort to kidnap five unrelated quirkless people, so we can assume that the quirklessness was an important factor in their kidnapping.”

Midoriya began to pace, his steps quick and even. He seemed to be lecturing to himself more than the heroes and the police. “The question then becomes, ‘why did the kidnappers target quirkless people?’ Or so you might think. But that’s not what caught my attention in this case.”

“Oh dear,” Aizawa heard Centipeder murmur.

“This is a bold move - five simultaneous kidnappings, in broad daylight, in crowded spaces. All of them were observed by multiple eyewitnesses. This was meant to be seen, meant to attract our attention - but it doesn't make sense. It's an escalation, but from what? No gang starts with five public kidnappings. And this isn't a declaration to law enforcement - there's no message, no attempt to make contact… so why do they want our attention?”

Midoriya suddenly slammed his hand down on the table, causing much of the room to startle. Centipeder, Aizawa observed, hadn't reacted at all. “I think,” the boy stated, eyes blazing, “that it's a distraction.”

He flipped his computer around to display the screen to the room. Everyone craned forward to see it.

“There has been a 140% increase in abductions in Chiba this year. You've all noticed it - I've read the reports. You didn't have any reason to suspect it was the action of one group, although several of you proposed the idea. But now… it's my suspicion that some number of these missing people are connected. Here I’ve compiled a list of all reported missing people in Chiba - both quirked and quirkless.”

“O-of course,” Midoriya stuttered, suddenly losing his manic air and reverting to an embarrassed teenager. “That’s just a theory! S-so please keep investigating p-possible reasons to target uh, quirkless people, b-but keep this in mind, and I would, ah, I would appreciate if you l-looked into these disappearances as well.”

“Thank you, Midoriya-kun,” Tsukauchi said warmly. “Keep us informed about any other insights you have, and let us know when there’s specific information you want us to obtain.”

He turned to the rest of the room. “Going forward, we’re going to do as Midoriya-kun suggested - let’s look into why they might want to kidnap these quirkless people, but let’s also treat the other disappearances as connected to this situation.” Tsukauchi paused, surveying the room. “Any questions?” No one spoke. “Great. Let’s go, and keep me, Centipeder, and Midoriya-kun informed of any progress, no matter how small. No lone wolves here, understand?” He let that sink in for a moment and then nodded firmly. “Dismissed.”

“Good luck next year, Eraserhead-kun,” Centipeder murmured to him as they all filed out of the conference room.

Aizawa just groaned.

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Recommended Student Test
Nedzu-san,

I’m aware that the recommended student test is scheduled to be held early next week, but Midoriya-kun is working on the missing persons case in Chiba Prefecture. I’ve assigned him to work as primary analyst - honestly, he’s been invaluable on other missing persons cases, and I’ve heard that he’s already been a vital part of this investigation. Thus, unfortunately, he won’t be able to make the test. Can we reschedule?

Sir Nighteye


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Recommended Student Test
Sir Nighteye,

Of course! A primary analyst on a major investigation at his age - that’s the sort of student that we’d love to nurture at UA! When the case concludes, we can re-schedule his test. Don’t worry!

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu

Fuyumi

Fuyumi: How was it, little bro?
Shouto: fine
Fuyumi: Were the other recommended students nice?
Shouto: i don’t know
Shouto: one was missing
Fuyumi: Missing?
Shouto:they were vague about it
Fuyumi: Oh! Well, I suppose you’ll have a very mysterious person in your class this year!
Shouto: no
Shouto: i think he’s a management student
Fuyumi: A recommended management student?
Fuyumi: That’s very strange…

From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: he crashed
Sir,

Picture is attached, as requested. Should I send him home?

Centipeder

- Ask me if I’m a penguin.


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: he crashed

I’ll call his mother and let her know. I’m going home anyway, so I’ll take responsibility for him.

Sir Nighteye

- You’ve told this joke at least ten times. I’m not going to ask if you’re a penguin.


From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: he crashed
Sir,

He’s been driving himself into the ground. We need a break in the case, and soon.

Either that or he needs to learn self-preservation - but we all know which one will happen first.

Centipeder

- I’m not a penguin.

Unknown Number: Hi, this is Midoriya Izuku. I got your number from some mutual friends. Please confirm identity.
Aizawa: Aizawa Shouta. 6661845.
Midoriya: Great, thank you!
Midoriya: I need something
Midoriya: I’m not allowed on the ground in Chiba, but I need you to go to The Cage
Midoriya: The strip club
Midoriya: I think Takahashi Noburu (the bartender) knows something
Aizawa: Are you planning to call in?
Midoriya: Do you have an earbud?
Aizawa: I do.
Midoriya: Okay I’ll use your phone’s sound system
Midoriya: Thanks for this
Aizawa: It’s my job.

An excerpt from “An Exhortation to all Good Christian Men” by Edmund O’Rourke, 2014:

No matter the scientific world’s insistence on trying (and failing) to explain quirks using their short-sighted, close-minded techniques, we know the truth. God-given powers! Pieces of divinity that God has bestowed upon His Chosen. Truly, they are marks of God, like John wrote in the The Book of Revelation.

Thus, the Apocalypse is upon us. God has come to cleanse the world. The seals will break, and locusts will pour forth from the earth, and the beasts will rise. Hold fast to your faith, brethren! “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Revelation 6:17)

Transcript of Conversation between Takahashi Noburu and Eraserhead (HID: 6661845), advised by Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341), September 14, 2178 at 2:25am, Police Case #00289910:

Takahashi Noburu: What can I get you?

Midoriya: Order something very alcoholic.

Aizawa: Absinthe. If you have it.

Takahashi: Sure thing, man. Straight?

Aizawa: Yes.

Midoriya: Pretend to drink it pretty quickly. And look… sad? Disturbed?

Aizawa: Fuck my life.

Midoriya: That’s… that’s the spirit?

Aizawa: (Grunts)

(21 minutes of electronic music and the conversations of other patrons.)

Takahashi: Hey, you want another?

Aizawa: Absinthe again, yeah.

(Clink of glass, splash of liquid.)

Takahashi: You doing alright there, man?

Midoriya: Down the entire thing and slam the glass on the table.

(Clunk of glass on table.)

Aiwaza: No -

Midoriya: Your wife left you.

Aizawa: My husband left me. Just… took it all and, fuck, just…. Look, man, can I have another? I haven’t slept in days.

Takahashi: God, that’s rough, buddy. Here you go. On the house.

Aizawa: Thank you. First good thing that’s happened this week.

(Clunk of glass on table.)

Midoriya: You need him to believe that you’re isolated, alone. Don’t mention that you have a quirk yet.

Aizawa: My family… My family took his side, too, you know. Just… fuck, told me that I wasn’t welcome until I sorted out the shit with him. Like I was the goddamn fucking problem here, you know? Like the sun shines out his ass and I’m the one full of shit.

Takahashi: You got your friends at least?

Aizawa: What fucking friends? I just moved here and it wasn’t like I got friendly with anyone in the last three places we lived. God, I just had him. Fuck.

Takahashi: Hey, you want another?

Aizawa: God, do I… but I don’t have the money, man. Took everything. Don’t even have a fucking job yet - we moved here for his, just like we… we moved to the last… fuck… places. Is hard to remember.

Takahashi: Hey, hey dude, don’t cry. Here, another on the house, and look… I might have a job for you.

Midoriya: Here it is.

Takahashi: What’s your quirk?

Midoriya: Useless, but present. Your hair floats.

Aizawa: It’s use… useless, man. Just floating hair and color-changing eyes. Here, I’ll show you.

Takahashi: No, that’s fine! The guy I know, he doesn’t like flashy quirks. Here, I’ll give you his number.

Aizawa: Thanks… thanks, man. I mean… fuck… thank you so much.

Takahashi: Hey, don’t mention it, and don’t… you don’t have to cry. Here, you want me to settle your tab?

Aizawa: Yeah, I… yeah.

Takahashi: I’ll be right back.

Midoriya: Eraserhead! You were fantastic! Wow! Thank you so much! Also, sorry, can I just say - I’m such a fan of yours. I saw your work with the Shinoda drug cartel last year, and it was phenomenal, I mean, your investigation was inspired, and then how you targeted their quirks in a calculated pattern to sow maximum discord -

Aizawa: Later. Please. Gotta… finish this drink.

Midoriya: Oh! Right! Sorry.

(Two minutes of electronic music and chatter.)

Midoriya: Okay, but I just need to say - I respect you so much, sir. Just… you’re one of my favorite heroes.

Aizawa: (groans)

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: All Might <[email protected]>
Subject: Hear me out
Toshinori,

I know that this might open some old wounds, but I found a boy who I truly think would be the best successor for One for All. If you'd be willing to talk about it, let me know.

Also this is your daily reminder to take care of yourself. If I find out that you haven't eaten, I will come to your apartment and I will make you eat.

Osamu


From: All Might <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Hear me out
Osamu,

Is the boy in question perhaps your intern? I've seen heroic qualities in the boy, and I think… I think I'd really like to meet with you and him about it.

I have eaten something today, I promise.

Toshinori


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: All Might <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Hear me out
Toshinori,

Thank you. I'll set up a time for us and Mirio to meet.

Osamu


From: All Might <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Hear me out

Wait, not Midoriya-shonen?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: All Might <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hear me out
Toshinori,

Have you heard the myth of Icarus? In the past two weeks, Midoriya-kun has slept an average of five hours a night - this is because he tends to live on a 48 hour schedule - 38 hours awake, 10 hours asleep. He has collapsed from exhaustion twice. He eats only because his mother and his friends make sure that food appears in front of him regularly. He does this because he considers his own suffering inconsequential when he is trying to help someone else. He has a true heroic spirit. If he were to enter the heroics industry, he wouldn't reach his 20th birthday.

I know that you see a lot of yourself in Midoriya-kun - you both are reckless, rejoice in giving me gray hairs, and are truly, entirely committed to helping people. If you gave Midoriya-kun One for All, he would save thousands of people, but he'd fly too close to the sun. Besides, Midoriya-kun is already a gifted analyst - and he's only 15. When he graduates UA, he's going to be terrifying. He couldn't stay underground if he had to become the Symbol of Peace.

Please, just meet with Mirio. Give him a chance.

Osamu


From: All Might <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Hear me out
Osamu,

Alright, schedule a meeting, and I’ll be there.

Toshinori

Chapter Text

“Mutilated Body Found in Funabashi!”

A gruesome scene confronted police this morning in Funabashi, Chiba. A dismembered body was found in front of Funabashi City Hall this morning. The limbs were hung in various positions and framed the entrance. “I couldn’t go to work,” Shiratori Shigeru, 64, told reporters. Shiratori-san is an accountant with the Funabashi Finance Department. “I felt sick to my stomach. I knew her face.”

The identity of the body was confirmed to be Tanaka Saya, who went missing two weeks ago from Ichikawa, Chiba. She and four other people were kidnapped simultaneously from different locations in Chiba Prefecture. The others have not been found.

“We have a few leads,” Sansa Tamakawa, a police officer from the Musutafu Police Department, said in a press conference. “What happened to Tanaka-san was a tragedy, and we are pursuing her murderers with tenacity and determination. We failed her, but we will endeavor to succeed in the future to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again.”

When asked, Sansa-san refused to elaborate any more on the details of the case.

Inko-san

Osamu: How is he taking it?
Inko: Poorly
Inko: I don’t know what to do
Osamu: I’d give him the day off if that would help, but
Inko: He’d just tear himself into pieces without a distraction
Inko: Why did you put him on this case?
Osamu: I’m sorry.
Osamu: I knew it was going to be a tough one.
Osamu: But we have three possible leads.
Osamu: Without him, we’d only have one.
Inko: He’s so happy now, you know
Inko: He used to get home from school and he’d smile at me
Inko: Like he could fool me
Inko: But now his smiles are real
Inko: If I could stop Izuku from doing this, I would
Inko: and part of me will never forgive you for starting this in the first place
Inko: So you take care of him
Inko: Please
Osamu: Inko, I would die for Izuku. Keeping him alive is the least I can do.

Inko: I’m sending him over now
Inko: Are you still good for dinner on Thursday?
Osamu: Case permitting.
Osamu: I'll try my best to make it permit.

An excerpt from “The Rise and Fall of Rationality” by Takenaka Fuyumo:

But in 2035, the face of quirk genetics changed forever.

The 2024 paper by Winston et al that identified the region on chromosome 20 was common knowledge as soon as the major American news publications picked up the story. A single region of the genome that determined who was quirked and who was quirkless - the genetics determining the nature of the quirk were more complex, but the secret to quirks lay in a single strand of DNA.

The outcome could have been predicted from the start. With the advent of advanced genome editing techniques in the 2010’s, debates had raged about the ethics of using these techniques to perform germline editing - essentially editing the genome of children before they are even conceived. The UN and UNICEF spoke out against and forbade the use of genome editing to provide or erase quirks from children, but no other action was taken. Everyone knew it was possible, but politely ignored the issue.

In 2035, the massive change in leadership in Russia brought many atrocities perpetrated by the previous administration to light. One of the most shocking were the labs devoted to quirk science and to creating quirked individuals. At the time, mutation quirks were much rarer than they are today, and photographs of the labs showed children with an array of extreme mutation quirks, as well as emission and transformation quirks with devastating consequences on the children.

The reveal of these labs caused an uproar around the world. Suddenly, countries were passing draconian laws about gene editing machinery. Quirk prejudice and public opinion created a controversy that surpassed the irrational anti-vaccine panic of the early 2000’s. It became almost impossible for scientists to get the approval and the resources to edit any sort of genetic material. Advances in genetics stalled as experiments ground to a halt and funding dried up. The field withered, and to this day, it’s never recovered.

Izuku’s notes, recorded in Quirk Science, Vol 2: How do I find people & resources? Three genetics labs, all Tokyo area. Unlikely to have resources. Money from agency??? Won’t get gov. approval - need private sector.

Transcript of conversation between Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341) and Eraserhead (HID: 6661845, September 18, 2178 at 7:15am, Police Case #00289910:

Midoriya: I’m back on. Good morning. Objectives for today - suss out reactions about the body found in Funabashi, and, I don’t know, try to get to see the boss. Figure out what he wants or if we’ve been going the wrong direction this whole time.

Aizawa: Are you okay?

(Minute of silence.)

Aizawa: Kid, are you okay?

Midoriya: You’re talking to me? Don’t do that. It could lead to awkward questions.

Aizawa: There’s no one here. Don’t lecture me on protocol.

(Two minutes of silence.)

Midoriya: I’ll be fine when we find the others.

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>, Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Joining the Case
Centipeder and Midoriya-kun,

Considering the recent news, I’m assigning myself to your case. Both of you will obviously retain your positions - you’re both doing well. I know that Midoriya-kun is working with Eraserhead on infiltrating whatever it is that you’ve managed to unearth and that Centipeder is working with the police to investigate the other abductions and the quirkless prejudice angle. I’ll assist with whatever will be most helpful. You know that I don’t like using my quirk, but if it will make any part of this case easier, let me know.

Good work so far, both of you.

Sir Nighteye


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Joining the Case
Sir,

Can I be allowed on the ground in Chiba? There are a couple of leads that it’s difficult for me to follow up on, especially since I need to be on call for Aizawa-san’s infiltration and thus can’t supervise another underground hero.

Midoriya Izuku


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Joining the Case
Midoriya-kun,

I’ll reluctantly allow it, with permission of your mother. And I’ll be coming with you as well. We need to return before Thursday. I refuse to miss a Midoriya home-cooked meal.

Sir Nighteye

- You forgot to include a joke.


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Joining the Case
Sir,

Thank you! I promise it'll be worth it.

And you know you can come over for dinner anytime, right? Mom doesn’t invite you more often because she doesn't want to be an annoyance. But we both like the company.

Midoriya Izuku

- I don't feel much like joking right now.


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Joining the Case
Midoriya-kun,

Just keep yourself safe, and that will make the trip worth it.

I don't want to impose on the two of you, but let your mother know that neither of you could ever be an annoyance.

Sir Nighteye

- That's the point, Izuku. Joke when you least feel like laughing.

- What did the orange say to the banana?

Transcript of conversation between Sawamura Taka, Boss, and Eraserhead (HID: 6661845), advised by Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341), September 18, 2178 at 11:47am, Police Case #00289910:

Sawamura: Hey, Miyagi.

Aizawa: Hey, what's up?

Sawamura: Boss wants to meet you today.

Aizawa: Nice, that mean I'm doing a good job?

Sawamura: Yeah, sure. Anyway, he’ll be in around noon, so just be ready, yeah? Clean… up a little bit.

Aizawa: Sure thing.

Midoriya: Hmm, why’d you ping me? Let me listen back.

(One minute of silence. Yells and the sounds of machinery can be heard in the background.)

Midoriya: Oh, finally! This is amazing!

Aizawa: (Grunts)

Midoriya: Alright, I’ll stay on the line. Remember, any concrete details at all - names, descriptions of people, locations - they’ll all be helpful.

Aizawa: (Grunts)

(Ten minutes of silence.)

Sawamura: Hey, Miyagi!

Aizawa: Yeah?

Sawamura: Boss is here. Get your ass over here.

Aizawa: Yes, sir.

Sawamura: Hey - just a reminder - be respectful.

Aizawa: Yes, sir.

Sawamura: (pause) Alright, then. Go in.

(Door opens, slams shut. Sounds of machinery, etc. suddenly muted.)

Boss: Ah, Miyagi, the man of the hour!

Aizawa: ...Yes? ...Sir?

Boss: (Laughs) Miyagi, Miyagi, no need to look so confused. I know we haven’t been introduced, but let me rectify that - you can call me Boss.

Midoriya: No name? Not even a fake name? (High-pitched whine.)

Aizawa: Yes, sir.

Boss: I’ve heard good things about you, my boy. Heard some sad things too - sorry about your recent circumstances - no improvement?

Aizawa: Still single, if that’s what you’re asking.

Boss: (Laughs) Oh, you are a funny guy! They did warn me!

Aizawa: (Yelps in pain)

Midoriya: Aizawa-san!

Boss: I asked you if there was any improvement. Do you want to answer, or do you want me to, ah…

Aizawa: (Yelps in pain) No, no, no improvement!

Boss: Oh, good. I mean, not good, but ah, you get what I mean. You do get what I mean, don’t you?

Aizawa: Yes. Sir.

Boss: Good, good. Well, from what Sawamura’s told me, you’ve been a good worker. More muscles than you’d expect from a guy so skinny. But ah, how do I put this? This work is just a little diversion, a little bit of contract work that I do on the side. I’ve got some other projects that I care about a lot more than this gig. You follow?

Aizawa: I think so, sir. What do you want me do?

Boss: (Laughs) Miyagi, Miyagi, that would ruin the surprise! You do like surprises, don’t you?

Aizawa: (pause) I suppose so, sir.

Boss: I, personally, love surprises. Here - report to this address tomorrow. And don’t be late. You won’t like it if you are.

Aizawa: Yes, sir.

Boss: Oh, Miyagi, wipe that look off your face! (Laughs) I’m joking, I’m joking - it’s not like we’re the Yakuza! (Laughs. Stops mid-laugh) But really, don’t be late, understood?

Aizawa: Yes, sir.

Boss: Oh, call me Boss! I absolutely insist.

Aizawa: Yes… Boss.

Boss: (Laughs) Wonderful, wonderful! Take care, my boy!

(Door opens, slams shut.)

Midoriya: Aizawa-san, are you okay? I know you can’t respond, so - one grunt for yes, two for no.

Aizawa: (Grunts)

Midoriya: Okay, okay, good. Read out the address out loud, and I’ll get back to you with more information. And give me a good description of Boss later. He sounded… I don’t know. I feel like I’ve heard that voice, or something. I don’t know. I don’t like the feel of this.

An excerpt from “The Origins of the Heroics Industry” by Midoriya Izuku:

While the mainstream heroics industry can trace its roots back to that first group of governmentally sanctioned proto-heroes, underground heroics arose out of the natural expansion of the police force into cases that required quirked intervention. In the beginning, underground heroes were not called heroes at all, but were instead referred to as “quirked consultants” or “special contractors”. These titles were a benign name bestowed upon a position that was far more dangerous than they would suggest. The police force, never the most tolerant of institutions, treated these quirked individuals like cannon fodder. And while the public and commodified nature of the mainstream proto-heroes protected them from outright and obvious abuses, the first underground heroes did not have a similar protection.

These quirked consultants performed the same role that underground heroes do today - they were infiltration and information specialists, and they often had quirks to match. While a few may have joined the police force by choice, the majority of quirked consultants were forced into the position. Possessing a “criminal quirk” - usually just mental-based or subtle quirks - was enough to attract the negative attention of both the community and the police. Even considering the rampant abuses within the profession, taking a position as a quirked consultant ensured a level of protection against both violent crimes and police brutality. Additionally, “villains” who had these “criminal quirks” (and who were often unjustly imprisoned) were allowed to serve as quirked consultants to reduce their sentences. People who took this offer usually died before their reduced sentences were done.

As the public opinion of both heroes and quirked people rose, quirked consultants were renamed “underground heroes”, and to this day work in a role closer to that of a police officer than a mainstream hero. However, unlike the police force, underground agencies are a loose group of independent underground heroes and hierarchies and formal structure are rare. Even within structured agencies, individuals are expected to contribute as best as they are able, and to discard protocol and hierarchical structure if it is interfering in their investigations. This has served the underground hero community well, since it has allowed a necessary degree of freedom as their workload has swelled in recent years.

Mirio-senpai

Mirio: hey buddy
Mirio: i need to talk with you about something
Izuku: face-to-face?
Izuku: im in funabashi rn
Izuku: ill hopefully be back on weds, thurs?
Mirio: yeah that’s fine
Mirio: good luck!
Mirio: take care of yourself

Profile of Unknown Subject, Police Case #00289910:
Analyst: Midoriya Izuku

Name: Unknown
Alias: Boss
Quirk: Unknown

Height: 180 cm
Weight: 90 kg
Hair Color: Blond
Eye Color: One black, one milky white
Distinguishing Features: Scar beneath his left ear running along jawline to midpoint of chin. Left eye is entirely milky white. Where have I seen this?

Personality: Jovial, but easy to anger and quick to violence. Likely his good nature is a front. Is happiest when subordinates seem fully cowed. Likes to establish dominance quickly and viciously.

Associations: Sawamura Taka
Organizations: Unknown organization
Relatives: None -

Wait - Nakahara Gorou. That was it. Nakahara Gorou - the bank.

Shouta <3

Hizashi: hows it going shouta?
Shouta: Fine.
Hizashi: aw darling u gotta give me more than that
Hizashi: idk im worried
Hizashi: sorry i dont mean to be overbearing
Shouta: No, it’s fine.
Shouta: I’m worried too.
Shouta: There are things that aren’t adding up.
Shouta: The police haven’t gotten anywhere.
Shouta: Literally it’s just me and this kid who are getting somewhere.
Shouta: I just don’t know where.
Hizashi: this kid?
Shouta: Nighteye’s intern.
Shouta: It feels like we might be getting close to a break, but I don’t know.
Shouta: shit g2g
Hizashi: bye darling
Hizashi: be careful

From: Endeavor <[email protected]>
To: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Recommended Students

The fifth recommended student doesn’t have a quirk listed.

Endeavor


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Endeavor <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Recommended Students
Todoroki-san,

That’s because he doesn’t have one!

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu


From: Endeavor <[email protected]>
To: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Recommended Students

A quirkless kid is getting a recommendation? Don’t make me laugh. Has UA really lowered its standards that much?

Endeavor


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Endeavor <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Recommended Students
Todoroki-san,

UA has always had quite a stringent non-discrimination policy, so I believe that this year we’re finally raising our standards. If you have such concerns, however, you are welcome to withdraw your son from the school. But I’m afraid that you don’t have any jurisdiction over children that aren’t your own.

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu

Katsuki

Katsuki: hey auntie inko
Katsuki: do you need me to bring the nerd’s homework over?
Katsuki: mom told me to ask
Inko: No, thank you, Katsuki!
Inko: Izuku didn’t tell you?
Katsuki: tell me what
Inko: He’s probably going to be out of school until high school
Inko: He did the entire curriculum, so it’s not really necessary
Inko: I thought he’d tell you!
Katsuki: he didn’t
Inko: Oh, well, thank you for the offer, Katsuki!

Transcript of conversation between Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956) and Eraserhead (HID: 6661845), September 19, 2178 at 8:15am, Police Case #00289910:

Nighteye: Hello?

Aizawa: Hey, I was just calling because I wanted to know if my kid got to school all right.

Nighteye: We might be a little late.

Aizawa: No, no, man, nothing like that.

Nighteye: No one’s listening to him, then. Centipeder, pull up the tracking data for Midoriya-kun. We are talking about Midoriya-kun?

Aizawa: Yeah, Midori-chan. I was expecting her to call me this morning, you know. Since I had to leave for work early, and she always likes to see me off.

Nighteye: Shit! We can’t find the tracker in his phone. He has the GPS turned off, so there’s no data from that. Was there anything on your end of things?

Aizawa: (sighs) Yeah, that sounds like Midori-chan. I think I might have scared her yesterday with my description of Boss. He’s not that scary! But you know I get carried away.

Nighteye: Check Midoriya-kun’s notes. Someone bring them to me, quickly.

Aizawa: Listen, okay, she’s my daughter too!

Nighteye: Are you trying to keep your cover story now?

Aizawa: Yes, yes I am!

Nighteye: Alright, fine.

Aizawa: Yeah, I cheated, okay? But I’m a good father!

Nighteye: If Midoriya’s doing fine and he just got distracted, I’m going to kill him for putting me through this.

Aizawa: (crying) Yeah, well how do you think I feel?

Nighteye: Got them. (Papers shuffling.) You’re right. Something with Boss, maybe. Nakahara Gorou… and a bank. Mean anything to you?

Aizawa: It’s like I’m nothing to you! Like all those years together meant nothing!

Nighteye: Are we sure that Midoriya-kun is nowhere to be found? He’s not asleep in a corner somewhere? (Pauses) His laptop’s in his room? What about - (Pauses) All the notebooks, okay. Fine.

Aizawa: I can’t believe this! You asshole!

Nighteye: Wrap this up, Aizawa. We’ve got another missing person.

Aizawa: Fuck this! (hangs up)

Nighteye: Yeah. Yeah. Fuck this. Shit.

Chapter Text

Interview of Nakahara Nobu by Officer Suyuki, Intelligence Brief 271-28-00-2199, Police Case #40511255, March 25, 2174:

Suyuki: First of all, I’m sorry for the loss of your brother.

Nakahara: Gorou, Gorou… thank you, officer, but god, was that boy an idiot.

Suyuki: An idiot?

Nakahara: Trusted people a little too much, if you know what I mean. Quirkless, desperate to be liked… I loved him, I loved him, but he wasn't the, ah, the sharpest knife.

Suyuki: Quirkless? But he had a quirk. What was it… Void Cheek?

Nakahara: (Laughs) What a name, what a name. Effectively quirkless, late bloomer. The mindset sticks, you know?

Suyuki: Sure. Okay, did you know any of his acquaintances?

Nakahara: I wouldn't say that I knew them well. He didn't really bring them by.

Suyuki: So you couldn't identify his fellow bank robbers?

Nakahara: I'm afraid not, officer, I'm afraid not. But, ah, I'm sure they'll turn up sooner or later. (Laughs)

Bank - undeveloped - why? Hiding something? What to hide - devastation total, money likely gone

something missing that would be expected

HOUSE

- Note on scrap of paper, written September 19 by Midoriya Izuku, tucked into Unsolved Mysteries, Vol. 2

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>, Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>, 18 others
Subject: URGENT - Missing Analyst

You're all off your cases and on this one unless your case is exceedingly time-sensitive or you're in charge of an undercover operation.

Midoriya-kun has gone missing. It's likely that he was checking out a lead like the problem child that he is and he ran afoul of something.

He seems to have had a breakthrough concerning the identity of “Boss”, who appears to be Nakahara Nobu, the elder brother of the well-known bank robber Nakahara Gorou. Something about that case caused him to go haring off without informing anyone. I've taken possession of his notebooks and case files and Centipeder and I will analyze them. Anyone in Chiba, call your contacts and ask around. Anyone at HQ, look into the old bank heist case. What did Midoriya-kun find?

Sir Nighteye

Inko-san

Osamu: How are you holding up?
Inko: Don’t waste your time on me.
Inko: Bring him home.
Osamu: We’ll make it to dinner on Thursday
Osamu: I promise

Transcript of conversation between Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956) and Eraserhead (HID: 6661845), September 19, 2178 at 11:13pm, Police Case #00289910:

Nighteye: Give me some good news.

Aizawa: Don’t have much of that. Give me that chair - I haven’t been sitting in cushy abandoned warehouses all day.

Nighteye: Were you followed?

Aizawa: No, but you can check if you want to be sure.

(Pause)

Nighteye: You’ll be fine undercover. We’re safe.

Aizawa: Did you see….

Nighteye: No, but keep an eye out.

Aizawa: (sighs) It’s a gambling ring. Illegal fights, outcomes of broadcasted hero fights, races, the usual. I think there’s something more to it, though. Trafficking? There’s definitely an export of drugs to somewhere - they could be transporting more than that.

Nighteye: I hope we’re not looking at trafficking. Fuck.

Aizawa: I don’t have confirmation of that. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Nighteye: Did he say anything to you? Anything at all?

Aizawa: He thought he recognized Nakahara’s voice and he had a bad feeling about it. The real mystery is why he had watched interviews from that case. The bank is in Funabashi, right?

Nighteye: What’s left of it, yes. In the incident that killed Nakahara Gorou, half of the bank collapsed in on itself. It’s likely his quirk went out of control for some reason.

Aizawa: Did you check out the bank?

Nighteye: First thing we did. It’s still a ruin. There’s no sign that Midoriya was there. We even asked Hound Dog to come in from UA. He didn’t catch his scent.

Aizawa: (hums) What would Problem Child do in this situation?

Nighteye: What do you mean?

Aizawa: I’ve only known Midoriya-kun for a week, but I’ve noticed that the kid doesn’t just think outside the box, he doesn’t seem aware of the concept of a ‘box’. He definitely reached this point in his investigation - Nakahara Nobu, destroyed bank, missing money, missing bank robbers.

Nighteye: He found the robbers - popped up in a lake two weeks later.

Aizawa: Of course he did. Alright, did he follow that lead?

Nighteye: No, no, wait. Destroyed bank. In central Funabashi.

Aizawa: Yes?

Nighteye: He’d ask - why wasn’t it repurposed? Who owns that property? It’s worth a fair amount of money, and it’s not a bad location. Why is it still a ruin?

Aizawa: Sounds like him.

Nighteye: Yes, it does. Aizawa, thank you for your help.

Aizawa: Don’t thank me. It’s my job.

(Pause)

Aizawa: Get him back safely.

Excerpt from “A Changing Profile of Pharmocology” by Edwin J. Hume

As human body chemistry has diversified, so have the chemical structures of the substances that we choose to put into our bodies. One of the most popular drugs of the last decade, Slip Slider, or Double S, was originally derived from methyl bromide. Methyl bromide was toxic because of its interaction with a class of enzymes (glutathione S-transferases) that produced a undesirable byproduct. As quirks were emerging, scientists were already noting that workers exposed to methyl bromide had widely different outcomes depending on their specific subtype of GSTs.

If you gave Double S to an average person in the 1980s, they would have most certainly have died, but give Double S to someone today, and they will likely get very, very high. The cause for such a change is unknown, but the ramifications of it can be felt throughout Japan. While most people nowadays are resistant to methyl bromide, there have been a handful of cases involving unfortunate people stumbling upon a Double S production site and succumbing to the toxic methyl bromide fumes.

Izuku’s notes, recorded in Quirk Science Vol. 2: All cases were quirkless ppl. SS linked to quirks like toe joint? Look at SS distribution patterns + unexplained quirkless deaths.

From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Bank property
Sir,

The bank sold the property to a construction company - Miku’s Construction, to be specific. It’s a bland name for a bland company. Everything’s aboveboard… or so it seems.

But if you look into Miku’s Construction, it seems that the company owns only a little bit of property - the bank, a handful of empty lots, and some scattered warehouses in the Keiyo Industrial Zone. Nothing has been done with any of them. Miku’s gets income from only two sources - an anonymous donor who is only known as “Hisakazu” and a monthly payment from a company that bills itself as a renovation company. It’s called Chishiki, and guess what? They have a man that looks suspiciously like Nakahara Nobu on their board of directors. I’m sending over a list of their properties.

Go get him, boys.

Awata Kaoruko

Izuku didn’t know how long it’d been. He was thirsty, desperately so, and hungry, and tired. He’d had to soil himself once already, and he hadn’t heard anything since they’d stuffed him down here. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for just… taking off like that. He’d been excited, high on the thrill of discovery, but if he had just paused for two seconds, texted Sir or Centipeder….

If he had, he wouldn’t be here, and the missing people who were just upstairs would have already been found and he wouldn’t have fucked this whole operation up. But he hadn’t, and all he could do was hope that the others could find what he had found.

He heard the creak of a door and the thump of booted feet on the stairs. Two pairs, one man with a pronounced limp. He could venture a guess who his visitors were.

“God, it stinks down here!”

“That’s what happens when you don’t think things out. You, ah, you get a teenager and nowhere to put him.”

The blindfold was ripped off of Izuku, and he blinked his eyes against the harsh light as he tried to focus on the two familiar faces swimming in front of him.

“If you hadn’t panicked,” continued Nakahara Nobu, “it wouldn’t have come to this, Gorou.”

Transcript of intelligence briefing led by Centipeder (HID: 1105921) and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), September 20, 2178 at 7:00am, Police Case #00289910:

Tsukauchi: As all of you are aware, the primary analyst in this case, Midoriya Izuku, has gone missing. I just want to make it clear that it was likely a result of his investigations, and does not suggest a risk to headquarters or the integrity of this case.

Ventriloquist: I don’t quite understand - how have his reckless and stupid actions not comprised us? And why are we devoting so much energy towards this and taking our attention off the case?

Sir Nighteye: Are you seriously suggesting that we leave a 15 year old boy at the mercy of criminals?

Ventriloquist: No, of course not. I would never want to put him in such a dangerous situation. Unlike some.

(Silence)

Sir Nighteye: What is that supposed to mean.

Ventriloquist: You put a 15 year old in the position of primary analyst. Really, what did you expect to happen? It was a foolish thing to do. It’s been three weeks and his only major accomplishment is getting himself kidnapped. He’s worse than useless.

(Loud bang)

Sir Nighteye: You will shut your mouth. “His only major accomplishment”? Who was the person who made the connection between Takahashi Noburu - the bartender - and this underground trafficking organization? Who was the person who discovered the identity of “Boss”? Who in this room has made any progress whatsoever that was not assisted by Midoriya-kun’s observations?

(Silence)

Sir Nighteye: (Quietly) You may criticize his recklessness. You may castigate him for his lack of communication when it was most necessary. You may question my ability to keep him safe from harm. But never suggest that Midoriya-kun is useless, or worthless, or unworthy of the respect given to him. You all know the truth.

(Pause)

Centipeder: I second this, and furthermore, this whole line of conversation is entirely unproductive. Ventriloquist, sit down and shut up. You’ve wasted more of our time than Midoriya-kun ever has. Sir Nighteye, would you please present the current findings about Chishiki?

Sir Nighteye: Of course. All of you should be aware of the identity of Nakahara Nobu and his connection to the renovation company Chishiki. Bubble Girl provided me with a list of properties owned by this company. Now, we can assume that Midoriya-kun got this far in his investigations. There was a partial list of these properties scribbled in one of his notebooks. One of them caught both his attention and ours - most of the properties are industrial or in development. However, one is a house.

Cat Burglar: A house?

Sir Nighteye: Yes, that was our reaction. It seems likely that Midoriya-kun left to investigate this property.

Tsukauchi: What did he expect to find there?

Centipeder: Something “missing from the bank that would be expected”, in his words. We’re starting to put together his theory. It’s a long shot, but it seems likely that Midoriya managed to find the unlikely truth.

Sir Nighteye: Hound Dog, you’re with us. Let’s see if we can’t pick up Midoriya-kun’s scent.

“I didn't… I didn't want to, you know? I didn't want to work with heroes.”

Izuku tried to ignore the shooting pains in his chest as he desperately assessed Gorou’s expression with his one good eye.

“Why'd you hafta?” Gorou drawled, trying and failing not to look interested. When Nobu had been using Izuku as a punching bag, Gorou had laughed and laughed and laughed, until he had choked on his own spit.

“My foresight quirk… was too valuable… I wasn't given a choice….”

Gorou scowled. “Yeah, it all comes down to quirks, doesn't it. Having one or not having one… what kinda one you get. Hey kid, you like having a quirk?”

If Izuku was actually quirked, he knew what he'd say. He also knew, as a quirkless person, what he'd want to hear in “late bloomer” Gorou’s shoes.

“Honestly… I think my life… would be even shittier if I were… quirkless.”

Gorou laughed. Izuku hated the brothers’ laughs. Gorou’s was loud and grating and it always had a mean edge to it. Nobu’s was… empty. He laughed frequently, but there was never any humor behind it, just a strange cynical amusement.

“Yeah, yeah, you get it,” Gorou said. “It’s bad with a quirk but it’s worse without! At least if you have a quirk, you… ah… I don’t really know….”

“You… you matter? Either way?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Gorou slapped Izuku on the back in his enthusiasm. Izuku cried out at the blow and his vision whited out for a brief moment. He came back to the awful sound of Gorou’s laughter.

“Sorry!” Gorou said. He didn’t sound apologetic. “But yeah, if you have a quirk, especially a real flashy one, people look at you! They notice you!”

Izuku was well aware of how his quirklessness allowed him to slip under most people’s radar. Before his internship, he’d hated it. Now, he wished he could have been just a little more invisible.

Gorou was just warming up to go on a rant when Nobu strolled into the room. Izuku forced himself to breathe through the fear. Gorou was a sadistic bully, but he was simple, easy to manipulate. Nobu was a manipulator himself. Izuku didn’t know how long his lies were going to hold up under Nobu’s determination to pry the truth out of him.

“Shut up, Gorou,” Nobu ordered, his eyes fixed on Izuku. Izuku wondered what he was seeing. He was strung up from a hook, his tethered wrists wrenched just high enough that he had to stand on his toes to take the pressure off of his shoulders. His ribs protested with every breath. His left eye was swollen shut, and he could taste the dried blood on his lips. He must have looked a mess.

“No,” Gorou whined, “but Izu-chan and I were having such a good discussion.”

Nobu laughed. “Oh, a good discussion! That’s what I came down here for.” Izuku’s breathing sped up and his heart raced in fear as Nobu drew out a thin knife from his jacket. “Let’s start at the very beginning again. I have such an awful memory, you know. Just terrible.”

The cold metal of the knife rested delicately on the curve of Izuku’s cheek, under his black eye. “Tell me again, Izu-chan - What’s a kid with a Support ID belonging to Nighteye Agency doing here in Chiba Prefecture? A little out of your scope, isn’t it?”

“We came in.... because of the body,” Izuku said. “Chiba… Chiba police didn’t think they could... handle the case alone.”

Nobu hummed. The point of the knife traced the bridge of Izuku’s nose. “And Gorou’s house had to do with that?”

“No,” Izuku gasped. He couldn’t shake his head. “That was… I saw it, with my quirk.”

“Ah yes, that… ah, what was it? A mild foresight quirk? Just like Sir Nighteye’s! What, ah, what providence!”

“No, I can’t… I can’t choose, not like him. It’s… I get directed towards things that... might be important.”

The blade of the knife dug into his cheek. He gasped into the pain. Blood trickled down the line of his jaw.

“Important? Why do you think you ended up, ah, that is, why do you think the house is important, hm?”

Izuku swallowed. “Nakahara Gorou. I… recognize him. From… from the bank heists.”

Nobu laughed. “Oh, oh, those, yes. Makes sense.”

Izuku hummed nervously in agreement.

“A good story,” Nobu said with a wide smile. It didn’t reach his eyes. “All the details in place.” The knife lightly traced looping patterns across Izuku’s face. “I certainly can’t disprove any of it.” The knife came to a halt right beneath the corner of Izuku’s right eye. “Too bad I don’t believe a word of it.”

Izuku screamed. It felt like a line of fire was drawn agonizingly down his face. The pain was overwhelming. He forced himself to open his eyes only to see Nobu holding the bloody knife, laughing and laughing, Gorou’s guffaws echoing in a sick harmony. He could feel the blood pouring down his jaw, could feel it soaking into his shirt.

“I could believe every word,” Nobu told him, tilting his head up with a gentle hand under his chin. “You see, every story is ah, a little unbelievable, right? There’s a little coincidence, a little bit of strangeness. If it’s too nice of a lie, it just, it doesn’t go down quite right, if you know what I mean.”

Izuku looked at Nobu, at his implacable expression, the blood spatters speckling his hand, the light in his one good eye. “You would have done this either way.”

Nobu stared at Izuku for a long moment before a large grin split his face. “You’re a perceptive one!” He laughed, and patted Izuku’s cheek in a gesture that would have been kind if he wasn’t touching the long slice that he had carved down Izuku’s face. Izuku whimpered. “You’re right.”

“Anyway,” the man continued, insouciant. “I’m bored of this now. Think about it, Izu-chan. Give me a better story in a while, yeah?”

He’s going to kill me, Izuku thought, as Nobu tossed the knife, stained with Izuku’s blood, onto a small table near the door. He’s going to get bored of me, and I’m going to die.

How long can I stall?

Excerpt from Quirk Analysis, Vol. 5, by Midoriya Izuku:

Foresight Quirks:
Notable Heroes: Sir Nighteye, Omen, Split Second, Oracle
Notable Villains: Doomsday, Anton Meissner, Wang Li Chun
Type: Emitter

Characteristics: A broad category of quirk, although rare and often dangerous - the only thing that can be said about foresight quirks in general is that they can’t be generalized. Often born out of strange lineages, foresight quirks have never been explained scientifically in a satisfactory way.

Most common are the foresight quirks that give a short burst of possible futures, not usually exceeding a day. Split Second could only see futures up to ten seconds away, which she used to her advantage in fights. Less common are foresight quirks that see vast future timelines. These place an incredible mental burden on the individual and are often uncontrollable. Oracle and Wang Li Chun are both examples of this type - Oracle worked as a hero until his mind shattered under the strain, while Wang Li Chun tried to shape the world to her visions in her insanity.

The least common type is foresight quirks where the user can adjust the length of the time seen. Sir Nighteye is the most notable example. This quirk is powerful, both in the long and the short term. It should be noted that the mental strain seems not to increase with the length of time viewed, which would be expected since more variables would have to be analyzed. This means that it is likely that the longer the future foreseen, the more likely there are to be errors.

Foresight quirks are rarely wrong, but they have been known to be fallible, either because of another’s quirk, or simply because the future is difficult to predict.

“The… the reason I... recognized… Gorou - I… lied.”

“Oh? Color me surprised.”

“Three… three people died in… the Tokyo bank heist - the one… in October. My dad… was one of them.”

“There wasn’t a Midoriya among them.”

“I… know. It’s my… mother’s maiden name.”

“And so you studied the case out of, what? Curiosity?”

“I wanted… to understand… the crime that killed… my dad.”

“What a touching story. Do you recognize me by any chance, Izu-chan?”

“You’re… his brother. I… saw the interviews.”

Izuku screamed as a matching line was cut down his other cheek.

“Better,” Nobu said, clinically watching Izuku cry painful tears into his cuts. “More interesting. You definitely know details about the case. I don’t believe the rest of it, but that’s more information than I expected.”

Izuku knew that last bit was to make him feel like a failure. It was blatant, obvious manipulation. That didn’t mean that it wasn’t effective.

Excerpt from “A Meta-Analysis of Crime in Japan” by Suyuki Yui:

Official stats from the Japanese government claim that the crime rate is currently at 6%, and has been decreasing every year since All-Might’s debut and meteoric rise to the unofficial position of the “Symbol of Peace”. However, a careful reading of the definition of a country’s “crime rate” will reveal that the term has subtly shifted since its usage in pre-quirk days. Crimes that count under this new definition are robberies, murders, arson - in short, any crime that a mainstream hero could respond to. And indeed, that’s how the government calculates this statistic - by looking at the workload of its mainstream heroes. All-Might’s tenure as the Symbol of Peace has certainly kept this crime rate low.

However, in recent years, underground heroes and the police have reported a drastic increase in the more insidious crimes - human trafficking, drug manufacturing and distribution, gambling rackets, fraud and insurance scams, and extortion and blackmail. Criminals, it seems, have not disappeared altogether, but have simply evolved ways to stay beneath the notice of mainstream heroes. This is concerning news for a heroics industry that sees more and more heroes swelling the increasingly unnecessary ranks of the mainstream side of the industry, while the underground agencies are struggling with a lack of manpower and a steadily growing burden of cases.

“I… I actually don’t… have a foresight… quirk.”

“Yes, I know.”

“W-what?”

“Quirkless. Don’t look so surprised, kid, I can spot it at a hundred paces. You’re… ah, I can’t describe it. Like a little patch of nothingness in a vibrant world. A blemish of black on a canvas of color.”

“That’s… That’s your….”

Nobu laughed. “My quirk, yes. Handy, handy, I know. In my line of work, it’s cheating.” He laughed again, like he just told a joke that only he understood.

“That’s how… you saw….”

Nobu hummed. “That must have been puzzling, hm? For your little case, I mean. ‘How did someone abduct five quirkless people at the same time?’” he squeaked in a high voice, obviously imitating Izuku. “‘They must have stalked them for days! But no one saw anything!’ My boy,” he said, abruptly switching back to his normal voice and demeanor, “there was nothing to see.”

Izuku pretended to let realization bloom across his face. “You… you’re the one… who abducted them?”

Nobu’s face suddenly lost all expression, turning hard and flintly. He grabbed Izuku’s chin roughly, his fingers digging into the cuts on either side of Izuku’s face. “Don’t insult me,” he told Izuku, deadly calm, with no hint of humor. “Lie as much as you like, it’s entertaining. But you saw the people upstairs when we brought you down here, and there’s no way that you didn’t recognize them. Don’t think me so stupid as to buy that swill.” Tears gathered in the corners of Izuku’s eyes as Nobu rubbed the cuts with his calloused fingertips. “You might have, ah, you might have even known before Gorou caught you skulking around his place. Who knows? But you know now, and the acting is insulting. Don’t do it again, understand?” When Izuku didn’t answer immediately, he dug his fingernails into the cuts.

“Yes,” Izuku gasped. “Yes, please, I understand!”

Nobu withdrew, leaving Izuku to blink away the tears from his eyes. By the time his vision cleared, he was alone again.

Transcript of communications on Intelligence and Villain Apprehension Operation led by Centipeder (HID: 1105921) and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), September 22, 2178 at 3:13am, Police Case #00289910:

Centipeder: Everyone in position?

(Chorus of affirmations.)

Centipeder: Let’s be clear - Midoriya Izuku’s safety is our first goal. Apprehend villains for questioning if you can, but Midoriya is the priority. I’m authorizing lethal force - use your judgement. Sir Nighteye, get in there first and assess the situation - let us know if you foresee any difficulties.

Sir Nighteye: Understood.

Centipeder: Eraserhead, we might need you and your undercover operation if things go south here. Stay back and don’t engage, but we’ll need you to deal with Nakahara Gorou if he really is… there. And alive. We don’t want a repeat of the bank.

Eraserhead: Understood.

Centipeder: Good. On my go, ladies and gentlemen.

(Pause)

Centipeder: Go.

A prophecy of Oracle, recorded on May 10, 2059 - three days before his official retirement:

Listen, it’s like - it’s like the sound of seagulls, or, or a crowd of believers confronted with… or like, the sound of gold shot through with prismatic red. Adulation and terror, something more than a man but less than a god.

It’s the lynchpin, the turning of the world. The ending of an age, a shattering, a breaking.

Who? Oh, who? Oh, he’s always been here - a silent pane of glass - distortion and shadows - unseen and seeing and blind.

What shatters? It was not meant to last.

Who shatters? Many, many. They shatter into shards and dust. The lynchpin and the heroes and those who watch - fragments of… it’s a kaleidoscope.

Izuku was jolted into awareness by the sounds of distant yelling and gunshots. He was hazy with exhaustion and pain, but tried to blink away the bleariness. He had to be ready - he had to have a lie on the tip of his tongue or Nobu would get bored, would… He shook his head to dispel the thoughts.

His individual pains had lost their definition and now his body was one, blazing ache. He could barely keep himself lucid and he knew that he’d break, this session or next session or the one after that…

There were footsteps coming down the stairs, hurried and pounding. Tears pooled at the corners of Izuku’s eyes. He couldn’t dare to hope… but what if….

The door swung open. A familiar figure was framed in the doorway.

“Izuku!” Sir Nighteye cried, and then, “I have him, I have him - Midoriya Izuku has been found and secured.”

Gratefully, finally, Izuku let himself relax into unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Medical Record - Midoriya Izuku, 15, M, SID: 9093341
Mother: Midoriya Inko

ER Admission Report:

September 22nd - Admitted with severe injuries obtained in the course of heroic duty.

Lacerations on the left and right cheek, infected. Minor damage to the Zygomaticus muscles. Scarring likely, function unimpaired. Antibiotic routine required.

Severe abdominal contusions. Bedside ultrasound examination was performed - no internal bleeding was observed. Overnight observation required.

Rotator cuff strain, possible ligament or tendon injury. Immobilization required. Arthrogram recommended.

Dehydration. Intravenous saline and overnight observation required.

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Admissions test
Nedzu-san,

Thank you for delaying Midoriya-kun’s test. As you likely already know, Midoriya-kun sustained major injuries during the Funabashi investigation, but he will be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days. As long as the test does not include a physical element, he should be able to complete it at your convenience.

Sir Nighteye


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Admissions test
Sir Nighteye,

Oh, Midoriya-kun doesn’t even need to visit UA’s campus! I’ve attached the files and the videos of the admission test for the other four recommended students. I’d like Midoriya-kun to provide me with a full profile of each - including an assessment of their physical and mental health, a consideration of which field of heroics they are most suited to and why, and a hypothetical plan to subdue them should they engage in criminal activity. Please pass these along to him, and tell him that he has a week to finish them once he starts! No rush!

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu

Mirio-senpai

Mirio: hey buddy!
Izuku: hey sejpai
Izuku: whst did u wwmt to talj abpt?
Mirio: what?
Izuku: sry hsrd 2 type
Izuku: druuuuuuugs
Mirio: please go to sleep
Mirio: sorry I woke you up!
Izuku: noooo its nicee
Mirio: huh?
Izuku: itz niicw to hav ppl who care
Izuku: i didnt have thst befor
Mirio: oh
Mirio: well, midoriya-kun, for all the people who care about you
Mirio: you have to promise to rest and get better
Mirio: we’re counting on you!
Izuku: k srnpai!
Izuku: i promise

“Illegal Genetics Lab Busted!” by Ito Fumiko, published in 2132

Last night, police conducted a raid on an underground genetics lab in Iwate Prefecture. A total of seven people were arrested on charges of unauthorized genetic manipulation under international law, and were also found to be in violation of several animal cruelty laws.

“It was like a horror movie,” arresting officer Tanaka Hayato told reporters. “A menagerie of patchwork animals with strange quirks. A frog/toad/salamander that could lift a bench and throw it at us. A dog/horse/cat that could breathe fire. A mouse/rat/dog/bear that could speak Japanese. I didn't know what to make of their research.”

Not everyone in Japan finds this research so horrific, however. “What were they supposed to do?” an anonymous source from a major Tokyo university weighed in. “The draconian restrictions on genetic research have slowly strangled the field of biology. I can't say that I've never considered starting an illegal genetics lab myself. You can't do genetic quirk research on anything less complex than a vertebrate model organism, and that's against the law. At this rate, quirks will always be a mystery to us.”

Transcript of debrief of Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341) by Centipeder (HID: 1105921), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), September 24, 2178 at 10:00am, Police Case #00289910:

Tsukauchi: Okay, I’ve turned the recording device on. Gentlemen, when you’re ready.

Centipeder: Alright, Midoriya-kun, let’s start from the beginning. You were talking to Eraserhead when you recognized “Boss” - the head of the organization that Eraserhead was infiltrating. Is that correct?

Midoriya: Somewhat. I didn’t recognize him fully at the time, but I knew he sounded familiar. After Aizawa-san sent me a physical description of “Boss”, I was able to place where I’d seen him.

Centipeder: And that was?

Midoriya: I’d watched his interview when I was researching the bank heists and Nakahara Gorou’s apparent death. His missing eye and his… laughter were…. I remembered them.

Tsukauchi: Why were you watching those in the first place?

Midoriya: Ahhh, it’s… uhhhh… the case is, well, I mean… It was interesting? And, ahhh….

Sir Nighteye: (Sighs) Midoriya-kun, you’re a terrible liar.

(Pause)

Sir Nighteye: Midoriya-kun, are you all right?

(Pause)

Sir Nighteye: Midoriya-kun….

Midoriya: Don't touch me!

(Heavy panicked breathing.)

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, I'm sorry.

Midoriya: No, no, it's… it's fine. (Pauses.) It's just, I mean, this is out of order, but - he… I lied to him, right? I lied to him over and over, as convincingly as I could. And he knew I was lying, every time, because he could see…. I told him I had a foresight quirk, but he could see that I was quirkless. But he let me lie to him again and again, just because it amused him. He gave me pointers. And he'd hurt me every time because he claimed that I wasn't a good enough liar, but really, he just liked to inflict pain. I knew that the moment I cut his little game short, the moment I told the truth, he'd get bored and kill me. And there was only so long that I could make up interesting lies. So… anyway… yeah, it's not your fault… Sir?

Centipeder: Sir, perhaps you, can ah… relax your grip on the chair?

Sir Nighteye: It's either this or I get arrested for excessive brutality against a prisoner. Please, take your pick.

Centipeder: Fine, alright, moving on - Midoriya-kun, we were at your recognition of Nakahara Nobu.

Midoriya: Ah, yes, so, um, I recognized him, and I dug quickly into his financials, since I had his name, and I found that he owned the bank, essentially - he had bought the property after the heist, and he hadn't done anything with it.

Tsukauchi: We got to that point as well, retracing your steps.

Midoriya: Yeah, so, then you picked up on the inheritance thread?

Centipeder: Wait, what?

Midoriya: You… didn't? Then, wait -

Sir Nighteye: Nevermind our investigation. What was your logic here, Midoriya-kun?

Midoriya: Ah, well, they hadn’t found the money, right? All eyewitness said that the other robbers had been carrying the money out, and as long as Nakahara Gorou was dead, it wasn’t like they were going to really search all of his belongings for the cash. Plus, Gorou had only recently “accidentally” shown his face to cameras at the last bank heist. The only one of the bank robbers to be identified dies messily and obviously in the next heist? It seemed a little coincidental to me, especially when the robbers could just drop the money discreetly in Gorou’s apartment or something, which would then pass easily and unobserved into the possession of Nakahara Nobu. But that wouldn’t work if the authorities found no body when the ruined bank was cleared from the property.

Tsukauchi: That….

Centipeder: That makes a great deal of sense, yes.

Tsukauchi: And you figured that out from the fact that Nakahara Nobu owned the ruins of the bank?

Midoriya: Well, that and the fact that Nobu was running an operation that would have required a lot of overhead capital. And that the other robbers turned up dead and unrecognizable two weeks later, which suggests that they weren’t in charge of the heists.

Sir Nighteye: (Huffs) Don't look so stunned, Tsukauchi-san. There's a reason I employ Midoriya-kun.

Centipeder: Many reasons.

Sir Nighteye: Well, yes.

Tsukauchi: (Laughs) I can see that.

Midoriya: N-no, I'm not - I mean - I should have… this is my fault!

Sir Nighteye: Midoriya-kun?

Midoriya: (Crying) I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm -

Sir Nighteye: Midoriya-kun! Izuku! Is this about….

Midoriya: I… I should have called. Or texted, even.

Sir Nighteye: Yes, you should have. Why didn't you?

Midoriya: It was… speculation. A long shot. And everyone was so stressed, and… we were understaffed, and frustrated, and I… This sounds so stupid, but I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. I thought I could go to the house, confirm or disprove my theory that Gorou lives there, and then… you know… tell you after. And… I was excited enough about it that I didn't really… think that through.

Sir Nighteye: Izuku…

Midoriya: I know! I know it was stupid, I'm sorry -

Sir Nighteye: No, I'm sorry.

Midoriya: What?

Sir Nighteye: I'm sorry. We've been understaffed for the last ten years, critically so for the last five. You're an intern, Midoriya-kun, not even in high school yet. In a mainstream heroics office, you'd still be fetching coffee. I pulled you out of school to be primary analyst on a case that would have been difficult for an analyst twice your age and 10 times your experience. And you rose to the challenge, Izuku. You found the other kidnapping victims, as well as 10 other people who had been labelled as missing. Thanks to you, we have Nakahara Nobu in custody, and we can question him about his trafficking operations.

Midoriya: W-what about Gorou?

Tsukauchi: When Eraserhead erased his quirk in the raid, he became enraged and provoked the heroes into taking lethal measures.

Midoriya: I… I see.

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, that isn’t your fault, either. Listen, I officially reprimanded you, and you understand why.

Midoriya: I do.

Sir Nighteye: But I also blame myself for this. I should never have put this burden on your shoulders.

Midoriya: But -

Sir Nighteye: No, listen. You’re capable, observant, and too clever by half. I knew that you’d do a fantastic job, and you did. But you shouldn’t have had to - I let my concerns about the agency’s workload supercede my common sense and gave you too few people and resources and a position that carried too much responsibility. That you were stressed enough to put yourself in a precarious situation is a testament to my own failures.

Midoriya: Sir, I chose to go! I chose not to tell anyone!

Sir Nighteye: Yes, and I chose to put you in the position to do that.

Midoriya: Sir, you can’t blame my failures on yourself.

Sir Nighteye: And you can’t take responsibility for mine.

Centipeder: Sir, do I need to call Midoriya-san in here to intercede?

Midoriya: No, no, please don’t!

Sir Nighteye: Yes, we’ll continue with the debrief now.

Tsukauchi: No, I think that’s enough for now, anyway. Midoriya-kun, rest well, and I assume you’ll be filling out an official report later?

Midoriya: I will.

Sir Nighteye: After you’re released from the hospital, not before.

(Silence)

Sir Nighteye: Inko would kill me otherwise.

Excerpt from “Education in Heroics: A Retrospective” by Miyagi Juurou:

Arguably the most highly-regarded high school in Japan today, UA began as a private school of middling regard. Founded in 2001 by Otsuka Kiku, the heiress to the Otsuka fortune, the school initially billed itself as a business-focused high school that would give students the connections that they needed in the corporate world. At the genesis of the heroics industry and the end of World War III, UA’s management was quicker than most to see the way the wind was blowing, and in 2016, they added a heroics course to their curriculum. The government offered to support the initiative, but Otsuka, wary of outside control or dependence, refused. This would set a precedent in future decades for UA to remain independent of governmental control.

The well-known H-shaped building did not always exist in that form. UA started out with only the east building, but when the hero course was added, parents expressed worries about their children being in proximity to quirked people, especially quirked people who were being trained to fight. Another building was created next to the original one to house the quirked students. When the support course was added, the hero course building was remodelled and expanded to mirror the other building and the walkway was added between them. To this day, management and general course are housed in the east building, while the support and hero course are located in the west building.

Profile for UA Admittance - 1/4
Analyst: Midoriya Izuku
Name: Yoarashi Inasa
Quirk: Whirlwind

Quirk analysis: Powerful and flexible - adaptable to many situations. Subject demonstrates impressive control of it, able to manipulate several objects with very fine control simultaneously. For further development, ascertain whether he can use the wind as an extrasensory aid - can he use the wind to tell positions, movements of people, etc? Also, a proper costume design would allow himself to easily propel himself through the air.

Physical health: Fantastic. His strength and muscle tone is extraordinary for his age, and as long as he avoids too-heavy free weights in his training regimens, he should be able to maintain this.

Mental health: Enthusiastic about heroism and respectful and admiring of his recommender. Halfway through the exam, after a break, he returns sullen and resentful. Unsure of the cause, but he seemed to be unusually fixated on the Todorokis. If they are in the same class, observation recommended.

Field of heroics: Quirk and personality seem most suited to Villain Apprehension, but if quirk is able to provide extrasensory information, that coupled with his stunning control would make him an outstanding Rescue hero. Entirely unsuited for Intelligence and Covert Ops.

Weaknesses: At this point, he doesn’t seem able to use his quirk to predict sneak attacks, so at this point in his training, considering his skills and his personality, a quick, fast strike would be the most successful method of attack. Considering only his quirk, a combination of a hero with a gun license and infrared goggles and a hero (like Desert or Rockslide) who could create obscuring particles that would be swept up in his wind. Once Yoarashi’s wind is clogged with particulates, he would cut off his quirk to “clean it out” and restore his visibility, and during that break, he would be unable to react in time to deflect a bullet. It is likely that you could increase the chances of this working by riling him up, as he doesn’t seem to have good situational awareness or emotional control.

Kacchan

Kacchan: hey deku did u really drop out of school
Kacchan: are u that much of a loser

Kacchan: i said, are u that much of a loser

Kacchan: hey fucker don’t ignore me

Kacchan: deku im gonna fuck you up
Izuku: oh, too late kacchan!
Izuku: i’m already in the hospital
Izuku: next time, maybe
Kacchan: deku what the fuck
Kacchan: why are u in the hospital
Izuku: that’s classified, kacchan
Kacchan: cut the crap nerd
Izuku: okay
Izuku: what did you even want, kacchan?
Kacchan: did u really drop out of school
Kacchan: auntie inko said ur not coming back
Izuku: i finished the curriculum
Izuku: so no, i didn’t drop out
Izuku: kinda the opposite of that, really
Kacchan: how did u swing that u fucker
Izuku: classified!
Kacchan: what the fuck nerd
Kacchan: im gonna explode ur face
Izuku: you know kacchan
Izuku: you’re not really that scary, are you?
Kacchan: say that to my face u fucking deku
Kacchan: ill show u scary
Izuku: i’m sure
Izuku: later, kacchan
Kacchan: im not done yet fucker
Kacchan: dont fucking ignore me you asshole
Kacchan: fucking deku

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Moving Forward
Midoriya-kun,

After discussions with your mother, as well as Centipeder, Bubble Girl, Eraserhead, and Tsukauchi-san, who all felt like they had a stake in this, I’ve decided to take you off of active duty for a month. During this time, you should complete your UA admittance test and then relax. We’re not sending you back to school, so you may come in to the office if you want. However, everyone is banned from talking about active cases with you, so don’t try to ferret out any information about them.

After a month, you’ll be back on active duty, but until you graduate UA, you will never be either the sole or primary analyst on a case. None of this is punishment, so don’t view it through that lens. I know that this feels like we’re grounding you, but all of us just want you to recover, both physically and mentally.

And I think we need to repair trust, on both sides.

Sir Nighteye


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Moving Forward
Sir,

I understand. I’ll still visit the office enough that you’ll all get sick of me, so don’t worry!

Mom says that I should tell you that she actually grounded me. Also, my injuries are healing well, although I’ll need some physical therapy for my shoulders and the cuts on my cheeks are going to scar.

I’ll do better, Sir. I promise, I’ll show you that you can trust me.

Midoriya Izuku

- What has a knife, one eye, and is covered in dirt?

Profile for UA Admittance - 2/4
Analyst: Midoriya Izuku
Name: Honenuki Juzo
Quirk: Softening

Quirk analysis: Versatile. Honenuki is already highly creative with it, although his default move of softening the floor beneath his opponent quickly becomes predictable in a drawn-out battle. Can he also soften organic material? If so, he could use his quirk against villains to disable them. It might end up being too lethal, however.

Physical health: Very good. Has obviously undergone a fitness regimen appropriate for his age. He is quick and strong enough - his trainer seems to have concentrated on endurance, which was a good choice.

Mental health: Excellent. He is calm under pressure, and seems friendly and willing to work with others. A healthy sense of competition, but takes losing graciously. Has a close but respectful relationship with his recommender.

Field of heroics: His quirk and personality are such that he could go into any field and do well. Rescue would be the trickiest for him, as he’d need specialized training to be able to calculate which parts of disaster scenes he could and should soften. His quirk is not especially suited to information gathering, but it is perfect for sneak attacks and for subtle sabotage, so Intelligence and Covert Ops is a good option. If he gains more diversity in battles against an opponent, he would also shine in Villain Apprehension.

Weaknesses: As noted above, his go-to attack is predictable and easy to counter. Any heroes with quirks that let the user hover above the ground or fly (Hawks, Starshoot) would easily take him down. However, the true danger is his ability to undermine the structural stability of any buildings around him. Fighting him in an open area is preferable.

Excerpt from “A Pedigree Study of Quirks” by Cheung Yaling:

When the “quirked gene” on chromosome 20 was discovered in 2024 by Winston et al., it was assumed that quirkedness might follow Mendelian inheritance patterns. However, it soon became clear that it was nothing so simple. In this paper, we will discuss how results from several pedigree studies point to the quirked gene being subject to imprinting. Although a copy of the quirked gene is inherited from both the mother and the father, the copy from the mother is entirely silenced. Only the father’s copy of the quirked gene will be expressed. For example, if a man carries both the normal and the mutated form of the quirked gene, half of his children will be quirkless and half will be quirked, no matter the genotype of the mother. It seems that the nature of the quirk, if there is one, is inherited normally from both the mother and the father.

Izuku’s notes, scrawled in the bottom margin: Hisashi must have carried quirkless allele of quirked gene. Doesn’t matter now.

“Hey, Mirio-senpai!” Midoriya seemed in good spirits, but the scars across his cheeks stood out starkly against his freckles and he still moved his shoulders gingerly.

“Hey Midoriya-kun!” Mirio replied, trying to sound as upbeat as he could. He knew it was futile - he wasn’t really good at this subterfuge thing, and Midoriya was the sharpest kid he knew. He’d been scary when Mirio had met him as a 13 year old - trembling from nervousness and hero worship and still able to analyze and pick apart Sir Nighteye’s quirk in front of the entire agency - and after one and half years in the crucible of underground hero work, he was terrifying.

Sure enough, Midoriya’s eyes sharpened, darting from Mirio’s face to his body and then to his bookbag and the rest of the room. “Senpai? Is something the matter? Is it something to do with what you wanted to talk about last week?”

Mirio gestured to a chair. “Please sit down, at least.” Midoriya cautiously lowered himself into a chair across the table from him. Mirio had asked Sir Nighteye for permission to use one of the soundproof conference rooms for this meeting, and Sir had agreed. Mirio knew that Midoriya was probably confused by it - they’d hung out together many times in the break room or in the cafe across the street, and this strangely formal venue was alien and off-putting. But it was necessary.

“What is this about, Mirio-senpai?” Midoriya asked. He fiddled with the strap of the sling that supported his right shoulder. Mirio had heard that Midoriya’s shoulders had been severely strained, but he hadn’t been allowed to know any of the details of the case. He yearned to ask Midoriya about it, but that wasn’t why he was here.

“Sir told me that you were the only other person in the agency I could talk about this to,” Mirio replied. Midoriya still looked uncertain. “Ugh, I’m not… One for All?”

Midoriya jolted in his seat. “What? Are you…. Sir knows about this?”

“Well, yes. You do know that One for All is… an inherited power? Passed down?” Mirio asked awkwardly. All Sir had told him was that Midoriya was in the loop, and that the boy “knows more about All for One than any of us”, and that was surprising enough that Mirio hadn’t followed up and asked what exactly he did know.

“Yes, I do. And… you do too?” Midoriya ventured.

“Yeah, I mean… All-Might wants me to inherit it?” It came out as question, uncertain.

“What?” Midoriya shrieked. Mirio was glad that he had chosen to do this in a soundproof room. “Wow, really?”

“Yeah,” Mirio said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and looking away from Midoriya. “I mean, I was surprised too. Me? Inherit One for All?”

“What? No, Mirio-senpai.” Midoriya leaned across the table to grasp Mirio’s hand. He winced as he shifted his shoulder too much. “No, you aren’t a surprising choice.” Conviction filled his voice. “I could hardly believe that All-Might’s chosen successor would be someone I know, but out of everyone, I agree - you’d be my top choice as well.”

“What?” Mirio blinked at Midoriya, stunned.

“A-ahh!” Midoriya stuttered, releasing Mirio’s hand to retreat back to his side of the table. “N-not that I c-could, I m-mean, All-Might knows better than I do, and I w-wouldn’t -”

“Buddy, buddy,” Mirio laughed, reaching across the table to ruffle Midoriya’s hair. “I get it, and I… I appreciate it. I… I haven’t said yes, anyway.”

“What?” Midoriya looked adorably confused, his hair sticking up all over the place. “Why not?”

“I… I don’t know,” Mirio confessed. “I mean, it’s… it’s All-Might’s power! Am I the best person to wield it? I’m proud of how far I’ve come with my Permeation quirk, and I know that I’m going to be a good hero - I can save people, and really, that’s what matters. But… All-Might’s quirk….”

“That’s no way to think of it, Mirio-senpai.” Midoriya replied, shaking his head firmly.

“Alright,” Mirio acquiesced good-naturedly. “How do you see it?”

“You’ll save a million people with your own quirk and your own training,” Midoriya said, conviction burning in his eyes. “You’ve declared this, and I believe you. We all believe you. But - how many more people would you be able to save if you also had One for All?”

“Oh.” Somehow, it was so clear when Midoriya put it like that. Mirio was suddenly, viscerally grateful for the younger boy. “I… Yes, I just had to think of it like that, didn’t I?”

Midoriya smiled. “You’re gonna be a great hero either way, Mirio-senpai. Lemillion.”

Mirio returned his smile, reaching out to ruffle his hair again. “So will you, Midoriya-kun. If you avoid killing yourself first.”

Midoriya pouted as Mirio laughed, feeling lighter than he had since he had first talked to All-Might. Midoriya was right - it really was very simple, wasn’t it?

Excerpt from “Big Brother is Watching You” by Minami Kenichi, written in 2129, banned in 2131:

Quirk registration was one of the more insidious policies to emerge from the aftermath of World War III. Billed as a necessary measure to keep track of quirked people and to prevent foreign nationals from infiltrating the country, quirk registration legislation first appeared in China. Other countries rapidly adopted the idea. While small groups of quirked activists protested it at the time, quirk prejudice was at an all-time high, and the motions passed in all countries. As the number of quirked people rose, the idea was already so entrenched in society that nearly no one challenged it.

Quirk registration set a precedent for a slew of laws that targeted or severely impacted quirked people. Even today, Japanese laws concerning quirk usage are backwards and unnecessarily restrictive. To use a quirk in a business or in everyday life, one must apply for a quirk license, which are arcane and fiddly bits of paperwork that have a steep fee attached to them. Mutation and “permanently-on” quirks are exempt from this, but these quirked people must register as such, and any businesses that hire them must also fill out paperwork pertaining to their quirk usage. In a world that already discriminates against mutation quirks, this extra step hurts the employment prospects of a marginalized group of people for no satisfactory reason. Quirk registration is the basis of this restrictive government control, and must be dismantled before anything else can be changed for the better.

From: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: URGENT - Nakahara Dead

Nakahara Nobu was found dead in his cell, no signs of foul play or any signs of forced entry. The guards heard nothing, and the cameras malfunctioned, so we don’t have any recordings around the time of death. We had barely started questioning him the day before, so we have nothing. We’ll do an autopsy, but I’m not sure if we’ll find anything. I’m sorry.

Tsukauchi Naomasa


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>, Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: URGENT - Nakahara Dead
Tsukauchi,

When you do an autopsy on him (and actually, when you do an autopsy on Gorou as well), can you make sure to look for the presence of the extra toe joint? And can you save some genetic material - I don’t know where I’d find anyone who does genetic testing anymore, but I have a few theories that I want to test. Thank you.

Midoriya Izuku


From: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>, Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: URGENT - Nakahara Dead
Midoriya,

Sure. That’s easy enough. I’ll let you know what we find.

Tsukauchi Naomasa

Chapter Text

Profile for UA Admittance - 3/4
Analyst: Midoriya Izuku
Name: Yaoyorozu Momo
Quirk: Creation

Quirk analysis: The possibilities of Creation are almost limitless, and Yaoyorozu is well aware of this. She's able to create a wide variety of materials as well as complex machinery. She has unyielding control and amazing flexibility over a quirk that requires a great deal of determination and intelligence to use well.

Physical Health: For a quirk that uses her body fat, she has a very low amount of it. It seems that she builds up enough to use her quirk and then blows through it quickly. Such a strategy doesn't seem healthy or smart - and she's intelligent enough to know that.

Mental Health: Intelligent, creative, and friendly. Seems a little too willing to defer to others, but that's not a huge issue. Biggest issue is why she’s not building up a store of body fat.

Weaknesses: With a limited amount of body fat, she likely has low stamina. It would be easy to outlast her. If that were not the case, her flexibility would be difficult to overcome. A team of people with diverse quirks would be necessary, since she wouldn't have the ability to quickly counter them all.

Excerpt from Unsolved Mysteries, Vol. 3, by Midoriya Izuku:

Chiba Prefecture missing persons (reported missing since last year) who were not found in Nakahara sting:

• Matsuoka Ken (19, M) - Quirk: Cough Up. Can regurgitate anything inorganic that he has swallowed, perfectly preserved. Reported missing by his mother on June 4, 2178. Last seen leaving school on June 2, 2178.
• Oshiro Kanon (34, F) - Quirk: Beak. Mutant-type quirk. Has a beak. Worked as a cleaning lady for several local businesses. Single, lived alone. Was reported missing by her boss on December 12, 2177. Last seen at work on December 6, 2177.
• Yukimura Yumiko (29, F) - Quirk: Quirkless. Not part of the group of five Quirkless people who were kidnapped in early September. Working as a journalist. Reported missing by her boyfriend on January 29, 2178. Last seen leaving work on January 28, 2178.
• Hisakawa Hideki (88, M) - Quirk: Shock Absorption. Retired, living with his daughter and her family. Reported missing by his daughter on November 30, 2177. Last seen earlier that day at his daughter’s house. No signs of a break-in or any signs of a struggle.

Mutation (2045) - Rated R - 1hr 23min - Horror - Oct 4 2045 (USA) - 7.4/10 stars (92101 reviews)

A night-in turns into a nightmare when a mysterious figure with a dangerous quirk invades a family’s home. How can they fight against an intruder who can turn their bodies against themselves?

Review by horrorFlicker: Still a classic. It’s a shame that it’s not rated higher. Even now, there’s something very scary about someone being able to use your DNA against you. Everyone disses this movie because of the weird mutation-type quirks that the family has developed at the end, and yeah, the special effects aren’t great, but the part that’s really horrifying is the terror of the kids and the parents when they’re trapped in these twisted bodies that don’t feel like theirs.

Review by leafmealone: A piece of quirkist garbage. I know it was “back in the day”, but like, god. Portraying mutation-type quirks as this horrible affliction and this whole “trapped in a terrible body” thing… it’s just really gross. Not to mention the whole idea of a “criminal quirk”. It’s trash, don’t waste your time.

Profile for UA Admittance - 4/4
Analyst: Midoriya Izuku
Name: Todoroki Shouto
Quirk: Half-Hot, Half-Cold

Quirk Analysis: Would be an overwhelmingly powerful quirk - but for some reason Todoroki only demonstrated the Half-Cold part of his quirk. His control over this half is fantastic, and it is also powerful in its own right. However, like all people with ice quirks, it’s likely that a consequence of overuse is hypothermia. Using fire would balance that out. I don’t know for sure why he’s crippling himself, but I have my suspicions.

Physical Health: Fine, normal for an athletic boy of his age. Likely does a light routine of fitness training. Could be severely impacted if he continues to overuse his ice without using his fire to balance out its effects on his body.

Mental Health: Todoroki is cold, closed off. He responded poorly to the other students’ overtures of friendship, and even worse to every adult who interacted with him. His reflex is to hide his emotions away from others and to limit contact with adult men. He is utterly controlled around his recommender and it’s general difficult to read him, but when Endeavor lost control of his emotions during Principal Nedzu’s opening statements and allowed his flames to flare, Todoroki reacted with fear and disgust. This is not a healthy relationship. There is something very wrong here.

Weaknesses: The aforementioned reluctance to use fire is his biggest weakness right now. It would be easy to drain his stamina and force him into hypothermia. Should he use his fire, it would likely be less controlled, and he wouldn’t be experienced with switching between the two. A variety of attacks should keep him off-balance and easy to defeat. Additionally, his negative relationship with his father could be exploited as a source of psychological stress.

Excerpt from “A Proposal for a New Classification of Quirks” by Yamamoto Kazuo, published 2140:

Mutation, emitter, and transformation - this classification of quirks emerged in the early 21st century and has remained mostly unchallenged since then. Like Carl Linnaeus’ taxonomic system in the 1700’s, this classification was based on simple observations of how quirks presented - their phenotypes. Was the person strangely shaped or did they have weird features? Mutation. Did they change their body in any way? Transformation. Did they have some other power that wasn’t linked to their physical form? Emitter. This system worked as long as the underlying basis of the quirks wasn’t examined too closely or the quirks in question weren't too complex. But as quirk science has grown and quirks have become more diverse, this system has shown itself to be too simplistic.

I propose a new system based not on a sliding scale of obvious physical mutation, but on a combination of blood tests, brain scans, and pedigree analysis. It has been a long established test in quirk science to use a panel of metabolites in the blood to assess “quirk factor”. The term is catchy and vague and does not capture the range of variation that can be observed in a quirk factor test. The balance of quirk-use byproducts can give information about the mechanism of action, as well as the frequency and intensity of its general use. Functional MRI scans of the brain during quirk use can further elucidate how the quirk is controlled by the user, and pedigree analysis can reveal the genetic factors that would influence the quirk.

For example, a 38 year man who could vomit out fully-formed snakes was admitted to our clinic. He couldn’t always control this snake vomiting, and some were unfortunately very venomous. In the past, quirk therapists had classified this as an emitter quirk, since although he had very thin lines of scales across his body, they were determined not to be related to his quirk. We did a blood profile to observe his quirk factor, and we found that he was always using his quirk at a very low level. A fMRI revealed that when he vomited snakes, his sympathetic nervous system was activated, and in fact, looked no different from another person vomiting normally. When we conducted pedigree analysis, we found that his mother had a reptilian mutant quirk and his father generated lava in his stomach. Based on all of these tests, we were able to determine that this man was generating snakes in his stomach, and the vomiting of them was not his quirk - it was the generation of them. He couldn’t control the vomiting until he controlled the genesis of them. Technically, this is an emitter quirk, but labelling it as such was useless for therapy - the term emitter led everyone to believe that his quirk worked very differently than it actually does. With accurate information, we were able to successfully help him control his snake genesis quirk.

From: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>, Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Results from Autopsy
Midoriya,

No idea how you knew, but Nakahara Nobu and Gorou both had the extra toe joint in their feet. By all rights, they should have been quirkless. We’ve saved some blood and tissue for you and we can send them to a geneticist when you’re ready for us to do so. The full autopsy report is attached below and doesn’t contain any other surprises.

I’m not going to ask, but just know that I am friends with All-Might, and I can hazard a guess to what this is about. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

Tsukauchi Naomasa

Script from “All-Hero Merchandise, Commercial #2”, aired in 2170:

Announcer: Are you tired of missing the release of that new Endeavor limited edition shirt? Frustrated when your local store keeps selling out of your favorite All-Might plushies? Wondering if you can ever get your hands on a Crimson Riot mug?

Animated All-Might: FEAR NOT, CITIZENS! FOR ALL-HERO MERCHANDISE IS HERE!

Announcer: A new partnership between all your favorite hero merch providers! We’re bigger, brighter, and better than ever! Visit us at our new locations today, or order online without hassle! If you sign up for our newsletter today, we’ll give you 20% off your first purchase!

Animated All-Might: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? THERE ARE VILLAINS ON THE LOOSE! RUN TO YOUR NEAREST ALL-HERO STORE AND HELP ME DEFEAT THEM - TODAY!

From: UA Admissions <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: UA Decision
Midoriya Izuku,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the management department at UA for the coming year! Please let us know if you plan to attend by January 1, 2179.

Plus Ultra!
Principal Nedzu


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
CC: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Logistics
Midoriya-kun,

Welcome to UA! You might have received your UA acceptance form letter - it needed to be sent so that it was on record, and you also have to send a formal note confirming your attendance. But now we can discuss the particulars!

Officially, your homeroom is 1-I. This way you’ll escape the media attention that is inevitable for our hero course students. However, your homeroom teacher, Itou Mao, will be your homeroom teacher in name only. Unofficially, you are under the joint purview of Aizawa-san and myself. If you have any problems, report them to one of us.

I’ve already received your scores for English and History and have confirmed that you’ve successfully tested out of both of those subjects. How is your math curriculum progressing? You’ll need to test out of it by the beginning of the year in order for your modified schedule to be possible.

I’ve attached your schedule - as you can see, you’ll be spending your afternoons either with class 1-A (when they have a practical exercise), or with me. In the morning, you’ll attend the computer coding class with the support students, the finance class with the management students, and the science and literature classes with the general education or the management students, depending on the day. When internships occur for the hero course, you have the choice to participate, though only with agencies other than Nighteye Agency, since Sir Nighteye has informed me that you’ll be continuing to work with him after school.

I’m thrilled to welcome you to UA, Midoriya-kun! Plus Ultra! Let’s go beyond!

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu

Police Case #047-2008-408, Chiba Prefecture, Chiba City

Time: April 8, 2008 7:22am

Victim: Moto Shiro

Perpetrator: Unknown Assailant, Male, teenager

Situation: Reported as a domestic disturbance, officers arrived at Moto-san’s apartment at 7:29am, five minutes after the emergency call was received. Moto-san was dead on arrival. His body was riddled with wounds that looked like bits of flesh were cleanly scooped from him. His eyes were missing, but were later found on his kitchen counter.

Neighbors reported that they heard shouting from the apartments, mostly Moto-san, who was yelling that he “didn’t do it”, and that his assailant “didn’t understand”. Neighbors only heard the other person yell, “For what? Why?” One of the residents of the building, Yamasaki Mai, claimed that she saw a dark-haired teenager leaving Moto’s apartment at 7:25am.

Moto Shiro possessed a quirk, which he apparently called, “ice cream scoop.” It could take even-sized scoops out of any matter. This is consistent with the wounds on Moto-san’s body. It is unknown how or why he would inflict these wounds on himself, since it is clear that some of them would have been impossible - he would have passed out from pain or blood loss long before he was finished making those wounds. They are possibly the result of a quirk-related unconscious backlash.

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Officially Ungrounded?
Sir,

It’s been a month since the incident! Can you give me an assignment? I haven’t worked on or even asked about any active case! Please!

Midoriya Izuku

-- What has three legs, two wheels, and one direction?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Officially Ungrounded?

It’s 4am. No.

Sir Nighteye

-- Please sleep.


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Officially Ungrounded?
Sir,

Oops! Sorry! I’ll ask you in the morning, then!

Midoriya Izuku

-- A three-legged dog on a bicycle, careening down a hill


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Officially Ungrounded?

Wait a second - what are you doing up?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Officially Ungrounded?

Any active case. Any active case. Goddammit, Izuku.

Excerpt from “Trigger - A Biochemical and Biological Profile” by Takahashi Sho:

The mechanism of action of Trigger is still unknown, but we do have several key clues. First is the effect of Trigger itself - it enhances quirks while also turning the tongue black. In a traditional blood quirk factor profile, one of the metabolites accessed is benzoquinone acetic acid, which, when polymers of it accumulate in the skin, would turn it black. It is therefore likely that Trigger is stimulating or enhancing the pathways that produce this metabolite.

Principal

Aizawa: You put problem child in my class.
Aizawa: Really, Nedzu?
Nedzu: No need to pretend with me, Eraserhead! If I had put him in anyone else's class, you would have protested that decision.
Aizawa: If anything happens to him, Nighteye will have my head.
Nedzu: If anything happened to him under anyone else's watch, you would have theirs!

Nedzu: No need to tell me I'm right, Aizawa-san!

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Keeping you out of trouble
Midoriya-kun,

Your month of forced relaxation is up. Until UA starts, I'm going to put you on a regular schedule. Your work day is nine hours and you must sleep eight hours. Eating and other life necessities will take about two hours per day. This means that you have five hours for recreation every day, and I am requiring you to relax. Play video games, exercise, take up knitting - I don't care what, but if your “recreation” is “work on cold cases”, I'm banning you from the office until the start of the school year.

Choose wisely.

Sir Nighteye

-- And if you work on active cases for recreation, you're banned from this office until graduation.

Formal correspondence between Nakashima Kyou, Head of IACUC, and Oshiro Mika, Japanese Minister of Defense:

Oshiro-san, I can say this to you no more plainly - unless there is a concerted effort to recruit underground heroes, international defense efforts will be compromised. Your recently unveiled plans of a 20% increase in intelligence agents placed in China, Korea, and Russia would draw directly from my organization, and frankly, we don't have the personnel. Underground heroes and our supporting Intelligence and Covert Ops agencies are stretched to the limit. No, excuse me - that is false. We were stretched to the limit ten years ago. We are now past the breaking point.

Data from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare found that heroes, on average, report a nine hour work day. However, if you restrict that to mainstream heroes, the number drops to seven hours. If you restrict it to IACUC heroes and related personnel, the average is a ten and a half hour work day. Even with that, we have more cases than we can handle.

While the number of students entering the mainstream hero force is exceeding the number of heroes retiring, IACUC has been barely breaking even in the last couple of years. We can't spare any veterans or new recruits for your intelligence program, not if you don't want to compromise national law enforcement efforts.

Talk with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and persuade them to modify their propaganda. Increase recruitment efforts at the school level. Tighten the restrictions on mainstream hero licenses. If you do, you might be able to get the spies you want in the next couple of years. But it's not possible now.

Game chat:
mighteye: hey
NoBrainNoGain: hey?
mighteye: sorry i know u don't know me
mighteye: but we're gonna lose and you're the only one on the team who isn't rushing in blindly
NoBrainNoGain: yeah i cant do that anyway im a squishy dps not a tank
mighteye: that's not stopping any of our other teammates
mighteye: listen i’ll buff and pocket heal u
mighteye: we just have to flank
NoBrainNoGain: k fine lets go

mighteye: nice job!
mighteye: you were awesome
NoBrainNoGain: couldnt have done it without ur heals
mighteye: wanna play again sometime?
mighteye: i mean you don’t have to
mighteye: i’m not great at this game
mighteye: you probably don’t want to sorry
NoBrainNoGain: calm down
NoBrainNoGain: just sent u a friend request
NoBrainNoGain: and ur fine
NoBrainNoGain: ur good for a newbie
mighteye: oh, thanks!
mighteye: i haven’t played video games in… a while
NoBrainNoGain: school?
mighteye: kinda
mighteye: internship
mighteye: my boss is forcing me to relax now tho
mighteye: so i have to figure out things to do
NoBrainNoGain: oh no ur one of those types
mighteye: ??
NoBrainNoGain: u unironically say that u can sleep when ur dead
mighteye: …
mighteye: no comment
NoBrainNoGain: ughgghghghgh
mighteye: you don’t have a leg to stand on tho
mighteye: it’s 3am
NoBrainNoGain: ur wrong i have exactly 1 leg to stand on
NoBrainNoGain: imsomia
NoBrainNoGain: fuck wait
mighteye: imsomia
NoBrainNoGain: noooo
mighteye: imsomia
NoBrainNoGain: imsomia
mighteye: that no-sleep juice
NoBrainNoGain: ur not wrong
NoBrainNoGain: but now its u with no legs
NoBrainNoGain: go to sleep mighteye
NoBrainNoGain: we can play later
mighteye: alright!
mighteye: and my name is midoriya btw!
mighteye: goodnight!
NoBrainNoGain: omg dont just… give out your name u dork
NoBrainNoGain: goodnight
NoBrainNoGain: im shinsou

I have assembled a pedigree of the Nakahara family to prove that Nakahara Nobu and Gorou could reasonably have been born quirkless. (Red marks quirked individuals. Circles are females, squares are males, and a line struck through the symbol indicates that the individual is deceased.)

Both are marked as quirkless and deceased at the bottom of the tree. Of their parents, I have found that the father was quirkless and deceased and the mother was quirked. However, quirkedness is only inherited through the male line, since the mother’s quirk gene is silenced in her offspring.

Therefore, for now, we can ignore Nobu and Gorou’s mother’s side. Their father was quirkless, so of course it is possible that he passed the quirkless allele to both of his sons. To rule out the possibility of him carrying an indetectable quirk (we cannot exhume the body simply to check his toe joints), we can take a look at his parents and siblings. His father was quirked, but about half of his father’s offspring are quirkless, one of those confirmed with an x-ray of the foot. This suggests that Nobu’s father’s father was heterozygous for the quirk gene - he carried both the quirked and quirkless allele, and could have passed either on to his children. Thus, it is reasonable that Nobu’s father had at least one copy of the quirkless allele. Nobu’s father’s mother was also quirkless, so it is also possible that Nobu’s father could be homozygous for the quirk gene - he could have carried two quirkless alleles, meaning that all of his offspring would be quirkless.

In summary, it is very likely that the two brothers were born quirkless, and only later somehow acquired a quirk.

From: Mirio Toogata <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Is he supposed to be doing this?
Sir,

Midoriya-kun has been joining my workouts with All-Might. It's very fun - I love having him there. He's very dedicated and honestly inspires both me and All-Might to do better. But is he allowed to do this? Just thought I should check.

Mirio Toogata

-- What's a ghost's favorite kind of fruit?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Mirio Toogata <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Is he supposed to be doing this?
Mirio-kun,

He's on an enforced nine hour work day - so if he talks to you about a case or uses your workouts to investigate something, then no, he's not allowed. If he's exercising a moderate, healthy amount, then that is acceptable and should be encouraged.

Sir Nighteye

-- I don't know, what?


From: Mirio Toogata <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Is he supposed to be doing this?
Sir,

Okay, he's definitely not working on any cases when he's with us. Is he doing this in moderate amounts? Kinda - it's Midoriya moderate, though, and that's as much as we could have hoped for.

Mirio Toogata

-- Boo-berry!

Game chat:
mighteye: hey u haven't been on in a while
mighteye: everything okay?

NoBrainNoGain: hi yeah sorry
NoBrainNoGain: im applying to high schools rn
NoBrainNoGain: its a time
mighteye: good luck!
mighteye: you're gonna do great shinsou-kun
NoBrainNoGain: uhhh not so sure about that
NoBrainNoGain: thanks tho

From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Why?
Sir,

Midoriya-kun gave me a knit hat today. He also gave one to Centipeder. It even has holes for his antennae. Can you… give me an explanation for this?

Awata Kaoruko

-- How many bureaucrats does it take to change a lightbulb?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Why?
Awata-kun,

I firmly suggested to Midoriya that he get a hobby outside of his work at our agency. He seems to have approached it with his usual determination and lack of moderation. Given that I doubt these hats are the key to solving one of our cases, we should reinforce this behavior. I hope you thanked him sincerely for the hat.

Sir Nighteye

-- How many?


From: Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Why?
Sir,

Of course I did. I’m not a monster.

Awata Kaoruko

-- Three. One to file the paperwork in triplicate, one to assure the public that everything possible is being done to change the lightbulb, and one to screw the lightbulb into the water faucet.

Excerpt from “UA: the Rise of a Giant” by Taguchi Shou:

But the most important battle against the government was yet to come - and although no one knew it, UA’s staunchest general was already within its hallowed halls.

Nedzu arrived at UA as part of a protection program. He had been found in an illegal genetics lab - the biggest and most complex that has been uncovered since the infamous 2064 bust in Yokohama. Twenty-five quirked animals were rescued from it, fifteen with human intelligence or greater, including Nedzu. Heroes were required to guard these animals as they waged a two-pronged legal war - in one court case, they brought charges against their captors, and in the other, they applied for the right to be considered alive and sentient - human. It was controversial, but the animals won in both cases.

Nedzu was the face and the driving force behind both legal cases, and so after the decisions, heroes had to guard Nedzu for his own safety. It is unknown why, but several years after he was declared legally human, Nedzu announced his intention to become a hero, specifically with an Intelligence and Covert Ops specialization. In interviews, Nedzu has always claimed that he was “inspired to public service”, but will say no more than that on the subject.

Sir Nighteye

Izuku: hey so
Izuku: mirio-kun may have uhhh
Izuku: broken his legs
Izuku: both of them
Nighteye: where are you
Nighteye: stay right where you are
Nighteye: I'm coming
Izuku: we're at dagobah beach
Izuku: and we're not moving anytime soon

Chapter Text

Katsuki was already fucking sick of these extras, and it hadn’t even been a full day yet.

Their weird-ass teacher had let them show off their quirks, and the rest of the class had started bitching about the threatened expulsion. It didn’t fucking matter - Katsuki was going to beat them all anyway. If someone got expelled, they weren’t strong enough to be at UA in the first place, simple as that.

Turns out that the teacher didn’t even expel anyone anyway, even the little fucker who had come in last. And more importantly, Katsuki didn't come in first. Creation girl and the half and half bastard had beaten him. Next time, though, he'd kick their asses.

“Hey Sensei,” one of the girls asked, “why do we only have 19 students in our class anyway? I heard the other hero class has 20.”

“We do have 20,” Sensei told them. Some of the idiots started looking around like the missing student was hiding in the corner. “He should be here soon.”

“He’s running late?” Private School yelled, chopping his hands through the air. “Is that allowed at a prestigious institution like UA?”

Sensei sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no. He can explain more later if he wants.”

Almost if summoned, the door burst open, and an unfortunately familiar head of green hair tumbled in.

What the hell. “What the hell?” Katsuki demanded. “What the fuck are you doing here, fucking Deku?”

Deku turned to face him, and Katsuki twitched in surprise. Two thick scars ran diagonally down his cheeks, just under the line of his cheekbones on either side of his face. They started under the outside corner of his eyes and ran almost to his nose, the left one a little longer than the other. The nerd’s hair was as messy as ever, and he still had prominent bags under his eyes, but he was paler than Katsuki remembered. Not that he thought about the nerd much. But, those scars…. I’m in the hospital... that’s what Deku had told him months ago. He hadn’t really considered what that meant. What had even happened to the nerd? Not that Katsuki actually cared.

“Kacchan,” Deku replied evenly. What the fuck was this? Deku should be cowering away, like the useless quirkless coward he was. Not staring at him like…. “Fancy seeing you here,” Deku continued. “I didn't know -”

Sensei snorted, cutting Deku off. “If you didn't get a copy of the class list already, I'll eat my hat.” Deku ducked his head and muttered something about spending too much time and a centipede. “Sit down - you're already causing problems.”

“You can interrogate Midoriya on your own time,” Sensei told the class as Deku sheepishly sat at the sole empty desk. And what was this? Sensei seemed to know Deku well enough to know both his name and his fucking weird habit of squirrelling away stupid, meaningless bits of information. How did shitty Deku know a Pro Hero? “I'm not paid enough to deal with this.”

Oh, he'd certainly interrogate Deku, Katsuki resolved, glaring at the back of that mess of hair. He’d get the fucking answers he wanted, one way or another. And if reminding shitty Deku of his place was a side effect of that, so much the better.

From: All Might <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Quirk Control
Osamu,

You’ll be glad to hear that Mirio’s control of One for All is progressing well! His experience with Permeation is serving him well. Between that and Midoriya-kun’s constant and creative advice, he’s improving faster than I ever thought possible.

The broken leg incident was a combination of him trying to use Permeation and One for All simultaneously. In the future, I think this will be a very effective strategy (just ask Midoriya-kun for his notes if you don’t believe that - I think he’s already filled half a notebook while watching Mirio-kun’s training). However, he’s now aware that this technique isn’t possible at his current level of skill, and hopefully this won’t happen again.

I have eaten twice today.

Toshi


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: All Might <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Quirk Control
Toshi,

I know I yelled at you on the phone after I took Mirio-kun to the hospital, and I’m sorry about that. I’m fully aware that the fault lies with Mirio and Midoriya - Mirio-kun generally has good judgement, but Midoriya-kun’s insanity can often be very persuasive. Honestly, Toshi, now that I’ve calmed down, I’m just very, very glad that you didn’t give it to Midoriya-kun - do you know how many broken bones we’d be dealing with at this point?

That’s encouraging news. My caseload has eased somewhat, so let me know if I can do anything to assist in Mirio-kun’s training (besides forcing Midoriya-kun out of the office at a reasonable time).

Also, I hear that you’re scheduled to teach Midoriya-kun’s class tomorrow. Let me know how that goes.

Osamu

“Ah, Midoriya-kun!” Nedzu greeted him. “Come in, come in! Have you enjoyed your first day of school so far?”

Izuku thought about the weird stares he'd gotten in every class thus far, the strange behavior of the teachers (he only knew Aizawa - he didn’t know why the rest of them were acting so twitchy around him), and the lunch period that he’d spent dodging Kacchan’s attempts to corner him. “Yep,” he lied brightly.

Nedzu hummed in response. Izuku suspected that he didn’t buy it, but he mercifully didn’t call Izuku out on it.

“Well, good, good,” Nedzu continued. “Would you like some tea?” Izuku declined, but Nedzu didn’t seem put off. “Okay, down to business then - Midoriya-kun, what do you expect out of these sessions?”

“I… I don’t quite know what you mean,” Izuku admitted. “I assumed that these would be… I don’t know, a grab-bag of advanced subjects that would be useful? I'm not sure why you scheduled them, to be honest.”

Nedzu shook his head. “No, I can see why you would think that, Midoriya-kun, especially when we consider the structure of education in Japan. You're used to teachers dictating facts to you, telling you what is and is not true - but you've seen the wider world, Midoriya-kun. Tell me, how helpful have the facts been?”

Izuku shrugged, unsure what to make of this conversation. “Unexpectedly helpful, sometimes, but on the whole….”

Nedzu nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, yes! The facts alone do not an education make! The point of education is not to teach students the truth, but how to distinguish between truth and fiction - that is, how to think. I’m aware that you already approach problems from unconventional angles - I’ve read your intelligence briefs - but I think that together we can expand on the foundation that you’ve built.”

Izuku nodded slowly. “Okay… I understand that. How are we going to go about that, then? Are we going to review my past cases?”

“No, no, I don’t believe that concentrating on the past would be beneficial!” Nedzu chirped. “That sort of reflection has its time and place, but now is the time for advancement!”

Izuku bit his lip thoughtfully. “Okay… considering all of that… teaching me to think, I mean… I think that I want to focus on being more proactive, if that makes sense? It’s easy for me to reconstruct something from evidence - like how or why a crime happened - but I’m not… good at predicting what a villain would do.”

Nedzu clapped his paws together and sprung to his feet, landing on the table. “Yes! Yes, exactly, Midoriya-kun! I knew that it would be a pleasure to teach you. That’s precisely what I’d noticed in my review of your cases. To that end, I feel it best to start with a sort of evaluation - so I can see how you approach this kind of prediction.”

“What sort of evaluation?”

Nedzu gave him a bright smile, and Izuku felt the stirrings of dread in his stomach. “I thought we’d start ‘close to home’ as it were. Midoriya-kun, by the end of the week, I want you to infiltrate UA.”

Izuku blinked at him, frozen in surprise. “What?”

Nedzu chuckled. “Not actually, of course. You do have permission and you’re not an enemy agent. But I want you to find the flaws in our security. That includes the physical building, our computer networks, our surveillance systems, and of course, our personnel. You’ll need to be able to predict how people and systems will react to your investigations and how to preempt these responses. For this assignment, you’ll have the advantage of already being in the school, but that’s it. Anything goes, Midoriya-kun, as long as you don’t actually compromise our security.”

“Anything?” Izuku repeated.

“Anything.” Nedzu nodded firmly. “Recruit your classmates, hack our systems, engage in psychological warfare - do your best. I look forward to seeing the results of your efforts, Midoriya-kun.”

Excerpt from “A Discussion of Quirk Factor: Why we Need a Scientific Revolution” by Kitamura Gaku, written in 2132:

It has become clear from 100 years of quirk genetic research and pedigree studies that we can conceptualize the inheritance of quirks on two axes. First and foremost, there is the “quirk gene” that is located on chromosome 20 and is linked to the phenotype of the missing toe joint. Only the allele inherited from the father matters in this case - if the child inherits the quirkless allele of the quirk gene, they are quirkless, and if they inherit the quirked allele, they are quirked. The copy of the gene from the mother is silenced, and thus does not matter in determining the presence or absence of a quirk. If the child does inherit the quirked allele from their father, then the second axis of quirk inheritance comes into play - the nature of the quirk. This is inherited from both the mother and father and is usually similar to one or the other, or, more rarely, a combination of both. Quirks that resemble neither parents’ are vanishingly rare. It is difficult to predict what specific quirk a child will inherit, although it is very easy to predict if they will be quirked or quirkless, at least if genetic information is available.

The implication of this, of course, is that there exists a common “quirk pathway” that leads to the development of all quirks. For all the phenotypic diversity of quirks, there is a unified biological pathway that accounts for the existence of all of them. Quirk scientists in the 2040s capitalized on this fact and determined that there were a set of small molecules that could be detected in the blood that were a result of quirk use. The balance and relative abundance of each of these small molecules were affected by the type of quirk and the long-term and short-term use of it, as well as the usual suspects - age, sex, and general physical health.

In the absence of genetic methods to investigate quirks, quirk scientists fixated on this quirk factor blood test. It has been an accepted diagnostic test and research assay since the early 2080s, and it would be difficult to find a paper in the last 50 years that doesn’t reference the method. However, metabolomics has never been a precise science, and without a genetic basis for their conclusions, scientists and quirk counsellors have been relying far too much on this limited panel of small molecules to tell us about the nature and function of quirks. The time has come to consider how to expand our diagnostic methods and to create a new standard of quirk testing and measurement that is based on a more complete biological understanding of quirks.

Izuku's notes, scrawled in the margins: Quirk factor is still a vague term and unhelpful. Seems like outdated term and scientists can't use genetics to update.

Police Case #081-2008-711, Chiba Prefecture, Funabashi

Time: July 11, 2008 9:01pm

Victims: Yamaguchi Shou, Yamaguchi Hiro, Asanuma Nagao, Ito Shouyo, Takahashi Kyou

Perpetrator: Unknown Assailant (M, teenager), possible unidentified others

Situation: Reported as a domestic disturbance, officers arrived at the Yamaguchis’ apartment at 9:12pm, eleven minutes after the emergency call was received. All five men were found dead on arrival. Coroner reports indicate that they all died from blood loss. Their bodies were riddled with wounds that looked like someone had cut perfect spheres of flesh out of them many, many times. All were missing their eyes. They were not found in the apartment.

According to neighbors, the Yamaguchis and their associates had spent an abnormal amount of time during the past two months inside their apartment. They were “twitchy”. “I swear that Yamaguchi-san’s friend almost punched me when I came up behind him on the stairway one time”, said Miyagi Miku, the neighbor who called the police. She also reported seeing a young boy exit the Yamaguchi apartment after the screaming began and she opened her door to investigate the noise.

There had been yelling before the screaming had started, she also reported, though she couldn’t make out any of the words.

Excerpt from “UA: the Rise of a Giant” by Taguchi Shou:

Nedzu’s decision to become a hero created legal ripples throughout Japan, but his actual schooling and licensing went remarkably smoothly. His provisional exam was of especial note - despite his stature and his lack of physical strength, he obtained a perfect score. At the time, it was written off as a fluke, and in hindsight, this was likely exactly what Nedzu wanted the public to believe.

Nedzu never competed in any of UA’s sports festivals or other public events. He graduated with honors and then quietly disappeared into the world of Intelligence and Covert Ops. Attempting to trace his history during this time is utterly impossible, as every mission that he could have possibly participated in is classified. Did he stay in Japan, working as an underground hero? Did he go abroad? Nedzu has never answered these questions, and it’s likely that he never will.

He reemerged fifteen years later, in 2150, to become a teacher at UA, and then, three years later, the principal of the school. His appointment generated an outcry in certain sectors, but opposition disappeared remarkably quickly. Most of that can be attributed to the intense publicity regime that Nedzu began that ultimately boosted UA’s reputation while simultaneously obscuring the “man behind the curtain.” Throughout Nedzu’s career, this pattern - achievement followed by an intense obscurity - repeats over and over, and it has been highly effective.

Incident Report - April 6, 2179

Student: Bakugou Katsuki
Class: 1-A
Supervising Teacher: All-Might
Homeroom Teacher: Eraserhead

Summation of Incident:

During a practical Foundational Heroics class, Bakugou Katsuki displayed belligerent and antagonistic behavior toward one of his classmates, Midoriya Izuku. For this exercise, I sorted the students into pairs and randomly assigned them to either protect or capture a fake bomb. For most pairs this was a straightforward exercise, but considering Midoriya's focus on Intelligence and Covert Ops, I decided that Midoriya would direct his other teammate (Uraraka Ochaco) through the simulation, and to make it fair, I allowed them an additional 15 minutes to set up defenses around the bomb.

Midoriya and Uraraka's plan was ingenious and included an array of traps and a final dilemma that forced Bakugou to choose to attack Uraraka and in effect to set off the bomb, or allow her to escape the building with the bomb. He chose to attack and thus lost the exercise.

Bakugou was visibly enraged, but ignored both Uraraka and his own teammate. He stormed into the simulation room and confronted Midoriya. He threatened Midoriya with his quirk and Uraraka intervened. Uraraka will not be subject to any disciplinary actions. For Bakugou, I recommend detention, and if this occurs again, suspension.

Homeroom teacher's notes:

Once again, I must reiterate, leaving All-Might, who does not have a teaching degree or any sort of experience with children, in charge of a bunch of rowdy teenagers with dangerous quirks is the height of folly. You can see it even here. His description of the situation only contains cold hard facts and he does not show an understanding of the deeper issues of any of the children involved.

It has become clear that Bakugou and Midoriya have a history, and that this history is not a good one. I was not aware of this, and I feel like I should have been, considering that Midoriya knew since at least yesterday that Bakugou is in this class. If Midoriya did not know that this sort of situation was imminent, then either he has a blind spot concerning Bakugou, or we have been gravely overestimating his intelligence all this time. I think it far more likely that he decided not to tell us, and this speaks to the amount of work we still have to do concerning his need for self-destruction. Did All-Might notice this? Apparently not.

Bakugou's anger problems are troubling. That he was provoked to this level of rage not only because of losing, but because of losing to a specific person, would already be a red-flag for me. The fact that this specific person displays skills and behaviors that are often linked to abuse or childhood bullying is even more of a concerning detail. A responsible adult should always be supervising when Bakugou and Midoriya are together, at least until we get a clearer picture of the situation.

It is also worth noting that, on the second day of classes, lines are already being drawn in the sand. A severely fractured class is rarely a successful one. While it is heartening that Midoriya already has a friend in Class 1-A who is willing to leap to his defense, Bakugou is still at risk for ostracization due to this incident. Let me be clear - I do not condone his behavior, and think that the punishment assigned by All-Might is sufficient. I am also worried for Midoriya's continued health around this student. But I think he has potential, if the situation is handled carefully. I do not trust All-Might to be careful with anything.

From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Financial Analysis, Nakahara Case
Sir and Midoriya-kun,

Attached is my financial analysis of Miku’s Construction, the shell company that ostensibly owns the ruin of the Funabashi bank. During the Midoriya Rescue Operation we already found the connection to Chishiki, and I need far more than 9 months to get anywhere with that mess of a company (especially considering our recent workload). Maybe Midoriya-kun can pitch that to his management class as a final project.

However, I didn’t turn up that much more about Miku’s other source of income, Hisakazu. The name is written with the kanji for “long life” and “one”. That’s the only name that was given on the donation records - and it is a donation. It’s within the limits for legal donations and the amount is low enough and dispersed frequently enough that it didn’t draw any government attention.

The bank accounts used for the donations are impossible to track, mainly because they were opened at the branches of banks that would be hit by Gorou's band of robbers after the accounts were opened. The banks only retain the information that the accounts were opened, but somehow lost all other info about them. Each account was closed six months after the bank was robbed. The last donation and the last account termination occurred 6 months after the Funabashi heist. I assume most of the donations were used to buy the bank ruin, and the funds from Chishiki were used for upkeep of the shell company.

I'm sorry that I can't find more about this “Hisakazu” fellow.

Centipeder

-- Ask me if I'm a penguin.


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Financial Analysis, Nakahara Case
Centipeder,

Thanks for this and thanks for the advice about my management final project! I like the idea!

It's only been two days of school and I already miss seeing you guys at the office every day. Bubble Girl's been sending me pictures of you all wearing the hats I gave you, though, so that's helped. I'm glad the antennae holes have been working out well!

Midoriya Izuku

-- Are you a penguin?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>, Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Financial Analysis, Nakahara Case
Centipeder and Midoriya-kun,

First, Centipeder, thank you for your work on Hisakazu. I know it doesn't seem like you've uncovered much information, but I think it might be unexpectedly helpful someday. We'll see.

Second, don't give Midoriya-kun ideas about his final projects already. By the time final projects actually come around, he'll have researched and developed them until they're so huge that he won't have time to sleep for months.

And Midoriya-kun - you'd think that I'd banished you from the office for a year, not six days. I just want to make sure that you have a week to adjust to school. Also, thank you again for the hat - it's very soft.

Sir Nighteye

-- Don't ask him if he's a penguin. Centipeder, please find a new joke.


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Financial Analysis, Nakahara Case
Tsukauchi,

Midoriya-kun's theory about the Nakahara brothers’ connections has gotten even more support. Centipeder's financial analysis of a man known as “Hisakazu” is attached.

Sir Nighteye

STAR TREK: TO BOLDLY GO

James T. Kirk returns to the Starship Enterprise, but this time, with a quirk! Return to the nostalgia of the Star Trek universe, but updated for the modern age.

James T. Kirk is living in Iowa, a genius kid with an unhelpful and unwieldy propulsion quirk. His dad, he’s been told, had a flight quirk, but he’s never known either of his parents. When a Starfleet recruiter comes to town, Kirk realizes that he’s belonged to the stars all along...

COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU!

Excerpt from The Newbie Officer's Guide, an unofficial document archived on police servers, written circa 2150 and updated every year:

Chapter 7: Collaboration with heroes

Collaboration is the fancy term for it, and it's what your CO will call it - “This case will be investigated in collaboration with Ingenium's office”, or “We're collaborating with Endeavor's Hosu branch.” What they mean is that you'll be doing the grunt work, and the heroes will get the pay and the prestige.

But there are agencies that officers will fight to collaborate with, and agencies that experienced officers won't touch with a 10-foot pole. Here's your quick who's who of police collaborators.

Agencies that you want to work with:

IACUC - Even if you didn't want to work with them, you'd have to. Underground heroes collaborate with us all the time, to the point that we're all pretty much the same division. We have a mutual understanding with them, and most officers have at least a couple of underground heroes that they go out with for a drink occasionally. However, DO NOT DATE ANY OF THEM. There's a reason they chose to be underground heroes, and whatever it is, I can promise you that it's not conducive to a healthy relationship.

Nighteye Agency - The best of the independent agencies. Sir Nighteye was once a sidekick in Mighty Agency, which was a headache to work with mostly because of the media circus that you'd have deal with. But even then, he was a fair man who ran a tight ship. When you work with Nighteye Agency, you know that Sir and his team give your words and ideas as much weight as they give contributions from licensed heroes, sometimes more. He's exactingly fair. If you do a good job and go above and beyond, he'll report that and make sure you get the compensation you deserve. If you fuck up, he will also make sure that you're given what you deserve - he's not skimpy on the official reprimands. He also doesn't care about age, sex, or quirk. A true merit-based agency. (Note: Nighteye Agency is primarily composed of the Intelligence infrastructure of Mighty Agency that broke off to follow Sir Nighteye when the two split. This includes the investigative contracts that the police department had with Mighty Agency. Thus, we don't work with Mighty as much as we did.)

Gunhead Hero Office - One of our favorite criminal management offices. Gunhead is skilled and polite. He and his office respect the police force and do their job with a minimum of fuss. Anyone who’s worked or interned in his office is also likely morally upright and hardworking - he has a good sense for that sort of thing.

Fat Gum Hero Office - Fat Gum is a long term collaborator, and he’s always professional, yet cheerful. Like Sir Nighteye, he is very fair and egalitarian. His interns and sidekicks are always… interesting, since he just seems to attract colorful personalities. But they’re always fun, and this agency is one of the most entertaining to work with.

Agencies that you don’t want to work with:

Endeavor Agency: RUN FAR AWAY. Endeavor doesn’t like the police, and we don’t like him. His singular focus is villain apprehension, and he doesn’t care about collateral damage. He won’t take anything you say into account, even when your advice would save lives. He might listen to his fellow pro heroes, but that’s a long shot. Your best bet is to just clear the area quickly and keep an eye on the surrounding infrastructure in case you have to evacuate a burning building or two. And don’t expect that you’ll earn anything more than the base compensation - no police officers have ever been mentioned in any of Endeavor Agency’s official briefs. Several police officers have tried to “burn our bridges” with this agency, so to speak, but Endeavor dispenses so much bullshit that it seems that he’s immune. It’s hard to insult someone who doesn’t even know you exist.

Hawks Hero Office: Hawks is a nice guy, and he’ll at least listen to you, so that’s a plus. However, his hero office is a mess. The PR department is solid, but his financial and analytical departments are disorganized and they squabble over everything. Honestly, it’s even odds that he’s even aware of the problem. Also, there’s something particularly grating about coming off a 12 hour shift and hearing a Pro Hero talk about his dream of having no work. Don’t expect to be mentioned in any official briefs in this office, but that’s because the intra-office politics overshadow everything else.

Miruko Hero Office: Any hero that doesn’t believe in cooperation is going to be a pain to work with, but Miruko is worse than most. Ask the older officers if you want details on The Clusterfuck that went down with her office. The only upside to that incident is that now Miruko Hero Office avoids working with us whenever possible, which is fine with us.

Hatsume Mei was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored. Power Loader refused to let any of the support students into the workshop yet, and Mei needed a project or she’d go INSANE! She’d tried to break into the workshop three separate times, and was just waiting for the numbness in her hands to go away before she made a fourth attempt. Power Loader was fond of trapping the locks with electricity, but that would be his downfall!! Somehow!! Mei had a couple of ideas! Maybe one. Maybe none. But she needed to get into that workshop!

She was preparing to make another raid on a janitor closet when she ran across - almost literally - a floating boy and his friend.

The girl that Mei ran into jumped and yelped, and with a short scream, the boy pulmetted to the floor. They were all a pile of limbs for a moment, but they eventually managed to sorry themselves out.

“Sorry!” Mei chirped. “I didn't mean to interrupt!”

“No, it's fine!” The green-haired boy shook his head frantically. “It was our fault!”

“What were you doing up there, anyway?” Mei asked. “Was that your quirk? Can you fly?”

“Nope.” Green shook his head. “That was Uraraka-chan's quirk!”

A quirk that could make people float! That was even better than a flying quirk! “What's your weight limit?” Mei wanted to know. “How much concentration does it take? Can you lift multiple items at once? Could you use your quirk and operate tech at the same time?”

“Umm,” Gravity Girl stuttered. She was pretty cute, Mei noticed. “We don't really have time right now, but I could tell you about my quirk later?”

Oh right, what these kids were up to! She'd forgotten about that! “Yeah, what were you guys doing?”

Green and Gravity Girl shared a long look. Mei waited patiently.

Finally, Green nodded firmly to Gravity Girl and held out his hand to Mei. Nestled in the center of his palm was a tiny camera. It wasn't very interesting. You could easily buy the same model at any old store. “I'm trying to set up my own surveillance system of UA,” Green told her. “It's for an assignment, although you have no reason to believe me.” He paused. “You can help, if you want. You… you don't have to, though,” he stammered, waving his hands urgently. “You could even report us, if you wanted to-”

“Midoriya-kun!” Gravity Girl hissed, but Mei wasn't really paying attention. A project! The chance to build some babies! She'd make Spy Kid as many tiny cameras as he needed, and they'd be so cool! Heat vision, motion sensors, night vision… and legs, for independent movement. But why stop there? Wings! A self-defense system! Lasers!

“Uh… Miss? Miss?” Spy Kid seemed to be trying to get her attention.

“Yes?” She replied, her head still swimming with camera plans.

“So you'll help us?”

She grabbed Spy Kid's hand in hers and shook it vigorously. “Get me into the workshop and I'll make you the best cameras you've ever seen!”

“Not quite the help we were expecting, but okay,” Gravity Girl muttered.

“And there are some people you should meet!” Mei continued. She wasn't good at names or people in general, but she was good at remembering potential collaborators! There was that one guy in her class that was into security… cyber security, but it was the same thing really. And another that was into face and voice recognition software… oh, this was so interesting!

Hatsume Mei certainly wasn't bored now.

Chapter Text

Notes of Abdul Attar, social scientist studying the nomadic Bajau people of Southeast Asia, 1960:

As for the son of Jatmin, I still have not seen the boy. I have overheard some of the older folk talking about him fearfully, although whether they are afraid for him or of him, I am unsure. The Bajau language is an amalgamation of Southeast Asian languages, and I am still not completely fluent. I heard them mention their old gods, the ones that existed before Islam came, and something about breathing the water, although this is likely metaphorical.

It is true that Jatmin's wife sells more fish than the other families, and the fish are often bigger and healthier. And last week, she was selling a small bluefin tuna, but it looked as though it had been killed by a speargun. The tuna have already dove to depths that are unreachable by free divers. Perhaps the boy is a very good and dedicated fisherman. Perhaps he is just very lucky. Perhaps - well, no.

Game Chat

mighteye: hey hey you’re on!
NoBrainNoGain: yeah
NoBrainNoGain: i needed a break i guess
mighteye: how's high school going? did u get into the one u wanted?
NoBrainNoGain: hey ur name is really midoriya right?
mighteye: yeah?
NoBrainNoGain: weird question but
NoBrainNoGain: do u have two scars
NoBrainNoGain: like on both cheeks?
mighteye: yeah…
mighteye: wait
NoBrainNoGain: im in ur science class
mighteye: NO WAY
mighteye: aghhh i would have noticed
mighteye: i even have the class list, but like
mighteye: this week has already been crazy
mighteye: wait i thought you were going for heroics programs
NoBrainNoGain: yeah like that was actually going to happen
mighteye: ???
NoBrainNoGain: i dont have a heroic quirk
mighteye: oh yeah that can make mainstream heroics difficult
mighteye: but listen, i wouldn't write it off
NoBrainNoGain: oh u wouldnt
NoBrainNoGain: great fantastic good to hear
NoBrainNoGain: what good advice from the recommended student
mighteye: oh sorry that might have come off wrong
mighteye: i mean, there’s a lot of diverse quirks in mainstream heroics
mighteye: there are even some mainstream heroes with “underground” type quirks
mighteye: so don’t give up!
NoBrainNoGain: “underground” type quirks?
NoBrainNoGain: are u sure u don’t mean villainous quirks
mighteye: no!! i mean quirks that are suited to covert ops!
NoBrainNoGain: oh yeah that makes it so much better
NoBrainNoGain: deception and trickery and manipulation
mighteye: that’s a really reductive description of underground heroics
NoBrainNoGain: its almost like i havent had ppl telling me that id be a great hero
NoBrainNoGain: u know as long as i become one of those underground heroes
NoBrainNoGain: either that or a villain
NoBrainNoGain: u know that underground heroism arose out of a criminal rehabilitation program?
mighteye: yeah, but thats missing about half the context
NoBrainNoGain: everyone’s real fond of telling me that
NoBrainNoGain: oh yes the “context”
NoBrainNoGain: whatever
NoBrainNoGain: u wouldnt even be talking to me if u knew what my quirk was
mighteye: i doubt that
mighteye: i have a lot of friends who have underground quirks
mighteye: so whatever your quirk is, it won’t change what I think of u
NoBrainNoGain: really
NoBrainNoGain: havent heard that before
NoBrainNoGain: especially not from ppl who are fucking blessed
NoBrainNoGain: i bet u “dont care what quirks people have”, right?
mighteye: shinsou its not what u think
NoBrainNoGain: u see the person, not the quirk
NoBrainNoGain: real easy to do that when
mighteye: you're making a lot of assumptions and if you'll let me explain
NoBrainNoGain: your quirk makes ppl think the sun shines out of your ass
NoBrainNoGain: oh IM the one making assumptions?
mighteye: why won’t u listen to me?
NoBrainNoGain: im too tired for this bullshit

NoBrainNoGain is offline.

mighteye: shinsou
mighteye is typing…
mighteye is typing…

mighteye: nevermind

UA takes defensive measures against reporters!

With All-Might teaching at Japan's premier hero school, the spotlight is on UA more than ever. But can they handle it?

This morning, UA triggered its front gates as a flood of reporters descended on the school, hoping to get a few words from the students and the teachers about the #1 Hero. According to the official statement by the school, the gate was triggered by the reporters passing the threshold of the school without a badge, but the reporters present claim that they didn’t trespass on UA grounds.

“Our primary concern is the health and safety of our students,” Principal Nedzu said in an impromptu press conference outside the school’s closed gates. “We are thrilled to have All-Might impart his knowledge to the next generation! We understand his unique position as both a teacher and a public figure, but we cannot compromise the security of UA to satisfy the curiosity of the public. We are an institution that exists, first and foremost, to nurture and to educate our students.”

Two weeks ago, Ibu Ryuuzaki, Japan’s Minister of Education, released statements that condemned UA’s refusal to follow government-mandated standards of education. In the press conference about these statements, Principal Nedzu claimed that UA’s independence was necessary to maintain both its standards and its security. Specific examples of instances where this security was needed were not provided in either that conference or the most current.

“I appreciate my fans and their continued support!” All-Might told reporters at the end of the press conference. “But my number one priority in the coming year is my students! I must request that you treat them with all the respect that you treat me! Please don’t harass them, and please contribute to their education in any way that you can!”

Excerpt from the notes of Abe Hanae, archived in police storage, and recovered from the 2064 Yokohama bust of an illegal genetics lab:

The quirk region on chromosome 20 seems to be dosage-dependent, as expected. The silencing of the mother’s copy of the gene did seem to indicate that more than one active copy of the gene would spell disaster. We’ve confirmed it. Also, knocking out the gene (removing the gene completely) leads to death.

Below I will summarize years of mouse research. I sincerely hope that even if we can never be published, other scientists in the field will see this. I hope that our efforts were not in vain.

We began with two mouse lines, one that was homozygous for the human quirkless allele and one that was homozygous for the quirked allele. The human allele was successfully inserted, and the mouse’s natural chromosome 20 region was excised. Silencing was allowed to happen normally. The mice were able to survive and thrive with the human sequences. The quirkless mice were normal and lived a normal mouse lifespan (See table below, Reference ID: 1). The quirked mice did indeed display quirks. They could be subtle, but all mice underwent frequent blood tests, and the quirked mice all generated metabolites that are assessed in quirk blood tests (2). Some quirks included acid blood, increased speed, and the ability to phase through walls. Mouse containment was certainly a challenge. However, this early success galvanized our team, and we began to generate more complex mouse lines.

First, we decided to assess the outcome of having two unsilenced quirk genes. When the second copy of the allele was unsilenced in the quirkless lineage, the mice were more sickly than normal, and died earlier. There seemed to be neurological abnormalities (3).

In quirked lineages, the mice with two unsilenced copies of the allele died in utero (4). In order to try to understand why the dosage of the gene led to death, one copy of the gene was silenced in the quirked mice throughout development, and then both copies of the gene were unsilenced when the mice reached adulthood (5). The mice died fairly quickly once that occurred. They became voracious and ran fevers as their energy output increased. At the same time, quirk-use byproducts began to build up in their tissues. The most noticeable of these was benzoquinone acetic acid, which appears black when it is deposited in tissue. By the time of death, all mice had turned entirely black. They also developed neurological tics. Autopsies revealed an intense degradation of brain tissue, especially in the frontal cortex.

Knocking out the gene also resulted in fetal death (6). Decreasing the expression of the gene significantly in adulthood led to a slow death in both lineages (7). The mice began to display erratic behaviors and refused to eat. They died from starvation. The autospies showed slight degradation of brain tissue, and it seems likely that a lack of the gene interferes with neurological function.

The table above summarizes our results with respect to genotype and gene expression. In conclusion, too many copies of the quirk gene results in fetal death, and if introduced in adulthood, the body and the quirk going into overdrive, destroying the organism by depleting its energy and cannibalizing its brain tissue. No copies of the gene also leads to fetal death, and if the gene expression is decreased in adulthood, a sharp decline of neurological function and a slow death from starvation.

Spy Kid

Mei: hey i have a guy you should meet!
Mei: like, soon!
Mei: after school?
Mei: hey
Mei: hey
Spy Kid: yes hatsume sorry i’m in class
Mei: that’s boring
Spy Kid: yeah, we can meet up after school
Spy Kid: what’s this guy’s name?
Spy Kid: he’s actually down with infiltrating the school?
Spy Kid: knowing that I don’t actually know the consequences if we get caught?
Mei: i don’t know, but he’s a hacker
Mei: he says that he really wants to hack UA
Mei: so i think we have everyone we need to get me into the workshop!
Spy Kid: alright sounds good
Spy Kid: see you then

Excerpt from Hero Analysis for the Present, Vol. 4, by Midoriya Izuku:

Tactics - Stalling

Most useful: Hostage situations, cooperative missions, covert ops.
Least useful: Solo missions, rescue missions.

Heroes that rely on it: Mask, Puppeteer, Sound, Fury, Scheherazade

Tactical breakdown:

Many mainstream heroes wouldn’t even count stalling as a heroic tactic, but it is, as evidenced by the number of underground heroes who have made a successful career out of it. Stalling is most useful when working with others and/or when timing is a crucial element of the mission. Has the villain arrived too early? Are reinforcements late? Is the sniper not yet in position? Stall.

Some underground heroes have quirks that were made for it - namely Scheherazade - but others have had to adapt by adopting skillful stalling methods in order to utilize their quirks, like Sound and Fury. Sound and Fury have fairly well-documented quirks because they’re twins who had the rare phenomenon of complementary quirks (quirks that are functionally useless without the other.) Sound can make everyone in an area “hear” a specific frequency of white noise, and Fury can influence emotions, but only the emotions of anyone who is hearing the frequency of sound that Sound produces. This effect is lost as soon as the target leaves the radius of Sound’s quirk, so the twins have developed methods of luring targets to stay in their radius until their mission is completed or backup arrives.

Sir Nighteye’s insight, when I asked him: “The two of them tell me that the key is to give the target part of what they want. You can’t give them everything they want, or they won’t have a reason to stay, no matter what emotions Fury evokes in them. But you also can’t endlessly string them along, because they’ll get too frustrated for Fury to affect. You have to tease, imply that they’ll get everything they desire if they just stick around for a while. I’ve never put their lessons to use, but I’ve seen the results of their missions. Their methods are… very effective.”

On the other hand, Mask and Puppeteer have quirks that they could use in other ways, but they most frequently use them for stalling. Mask can make anyone look like someone else, but she can’t do this to herself. She frequently switches people’s faces in high-tension situations in order to sow confusion. She then plays off of this chaos, encouraging suspicion and complicating the situation until other teammates are in position (or escaped in the confusion). Puppeteer can control the actions of others, but only if they have a strand of the target’s hair. Puppeteer has to move and speak like they want someone under their control to do, which makes their quirk use not very subtle. However, Puppeteer can act at a distance. In emergency situations, Puppeteer can sow discord and stall from within the villains’ ranks while physically in the mission control center. They are often used as a backup and a last resort on many underground missions, and many underground heroes collect the hair of villains that they encounter in order to turn them over to Puppeteer later.

Personal notes:

I had to stall with Nakahara Nobu, and I didn’t do it well. I dream about it. I say something wrong, and the knife goes into my throat instead. It’s hard to think about it. But I have to. I have to. It was only my life on the line last time. Next time that might not be the case.

I’ve written everything I can remember of the days of conversation in a different notebook. Sir wouldn’t be happy if he knew that I’d been doing that with my free time. But there are lessons there. I have to get better. I have to be better. If I don’t use this to save more people, then what was the point?

I’ve told Sir that I’m trying to put it all behind me. That I’m moving on, that I’m not dwelling on it, not thinking about it. I’ve told him that my continuing interest in the Nakahara brothers is simply because of All for One. That I don’t have nightmares, that I don’t wake up in a cold sweat, that I don’t see the shadow of them dogging my steps...

Nobu was right. Every good lie is a little unbelievable.

From: Eraserhead <[email protected]>
To: Snipe <[email protected]>, Cementoss <[email protected]>, Glitch <[email protected]>, All-Might <[email protected]>, AU <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>, Itou Mao <[email protected]>
Subject: Sir Nighteye isn’t that scary
All,

Please stop making my student twitchy as hell. Midoriya Izuku has trained under Sir Nighteye for two years, so he’s smart and observant, which means that you’re not being half as subtle as you think you are. I know that you’re all terrified of something happening to him under your watch and Sir Nighteye coming to rain down fire and brimstone on you. Let me make this perfectly clear - if you don’t stop making him uncomfortable with your weird behavior (such behaviors include staring at Midoriya, refusing to look at him, stuttering when you talk to him, keeping at least five meters between you at all times, etc.), Sir Nighteye will be the least of your problems. If Midoriya is still paranoid because of you fuckers come Friday, I will be knocking on some doors. I know where you all live.

Treat Midoriya like any other student, or answer to me.

Aizawa


From: Itou Mao <[email protected]>
To: Snipe <[email protected]>, Cementoss <[email protected]>, Glitch <[email protected]>, All-Might <[email protected]>, AU <[email protected]>, Eraserhead <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Sir Nighteye isn’t that scary

Threatening other teachers with bodily harm is against UA policy. Section 2, point 1A and 1B: “Physical harm against another teacher will be subject to disciplinary action at the discretion of the principal…. Threats of physical harm are also covered under these guidelines.”

Itou Mao


From: Eraserhead <[email protected]>
To: Snipe <[email protected]>, Cementoss <[email protected]>, Glitch <[email protected]>, All-Might <[email protected]>, AU <[email protected]> Itou Mao <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Sir Nighteye isn’t that scary

I only looped you into this because you’re his “official” homeroom teacher, Itou. Don’t quote UA policy at me, especially when you’re deliberately misinterpreting my words.

Aizawa


From: Itou Mao <[email protected]>
To: Snipe <[email protected]>, Cementoss <[email protected]>, Glitch <[email protected]>, All-Might <[email protected]>, AU <[email protected]>, Eraserhead <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Sir Nighteye isn’t that scary

Am I? Your missive seemed fairly clear. Regardless, I feel that official complaints against offending teachers would be a better solution and one that is not against school policy. Section 5, subsection 3, points 2-4: “To file a official complaint, the offended party should fill out and file the UA Complaint Form in triplicate. One copy should be kept, one given to the subject of the complaint, and one filed with the principal’s office…. The principal will moderate all complaints, and determine what action, if any, should be taken in each case.”

He is officially one of my homeroom students, and I will file any necessary paperwork. Threats are not allowed and are not needed. Don’t overstep your bounds, Eraserhead.

Itou Mao


From: Eraserhead <[email protected]>
To: Snipe <[email protected]>, Cementoss <[email protected]>, Glitch <[email protected]>, All-Might <[email protected]>, AU <[email protected]> Itou Mao <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sir Nighteye isn’t that scary

Great. You do that. I’m sure that quoting the UA rulebook will be very helpful in this situation. Meanwhile, I’ll take care of my actual homeroom student in the way I see fit. We all know he’s in your class for appearance’s sake. He’s really one of mine, so don’t tell me not to overstep.

Aizawa


From: Snipe <[email protected]>
To: Cementoss <[email protected]>, Glitch <[email protected]>, All-Might <[email protected]>, AU <[email protected]> Itou Mao <[email protected]>, Eraserhead <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Sir Nighteye isn’t that scary
Hey,

As entertaining as this pissing contest is, I think it’s time to stop. We got it. No paperwork will be necessary. Eraserhead pointed out the problem, and we’ll all fix it. Thanks for the heads up.

Snipe

Yasu honestly didn’t know how he’d gotten dragged into this. He'd heard rumors about the insanity of the UA Support Department, but he wanted to eventually design network security protocols for hero agencies, and UA had the education and networking opportunities necessary for that.

He didn't expect to be undermining his school's cybersecurity in his first week of classes. But Hatsume Mei was a force of nature and this Midoriya kid was weirdly intense too. And they made good points about discovering flaws and being able to report them to Nedzu. Although Yasu wasn't too sure how necessary that was. He wasn't a god-tier hacker, which you'd have to be to breach the UA network off-site. So he was crouched in the corner of the UA computer lab, plugged into the network via an Ethernet cable.

“They'd have to get in here first,” he'd pointed out to Midoriya, who seemed to be the leader of the operation.

“Easier than you might think,” Midoriya had countered, and then Hatsume ran in babbling about an electric generator, and locks, and Power Loader's sins, and that was the end of that conversation.

Yasu was currently waiting for the power to cut out. He wasn't quite clear what the main goal of this was - asking Uraraka had seemed like the safest option, but she had only looked Yasu dead in the eyes and said - “Chaos. Absolute chaos.”

He didn't know why he had expected anything different out of a girl who willingly spent time with Midoriya and Hatsume. Uraraka looked sweet, but she was obviously insane as well.

Anyway, he was clear on the secondary goal, at least. He'd sent a fake update to the system that would install when the system rebooted after the power failure. All it did was establish a login for him. He wouldn't even have administrator privileges. But he'd be able to get a window into UA's systems, and Midoriya had assured him that a glimpse was all that he needed.

Around 4pm, on schedule, the power shut off. Yasu waited for it to turn back on. And waited. And waited. Distantly, he heard the sounds of screaming. “Put it back, put it back!” Midoriya's voice echoed in the halls.

“No, I'll die!” wailed Uraraka, and then there was Hatsume's loud raucous laugh, and then the screaming was back again. Yasu did not move. He was safe here. No way was he getting dragged into… whatever was happening.

Finally, the lights flicked back on, and the network booted back up. Yasu smiled to himself in satisfaction as he was able to successfully log on with his new account. He amused himself by browsing through their systems, looking at student disciplinary records (wow the hero students got into a lot of shit), archived purchasing orders for the support department (did they really need that many power tools?), and a log of network changes (huh they really… wait.)

Something strange caught Yasu's eye. Ostensibly an update pushed from the manufacturers of the servers a couple of days ago, it was… surprisingly small. And it didn't seem to affect any major systems. But it had thrown up an error when the system tried to run it, which is why Yasu had even noticed it. Yasu surveyed the handful of lines of code, and then read them again, more urgently.

He dialed Midoriya's number.

“Hi Arai-kun,” Midoriya answered, panting as if winded. “Sorry for the delay, we'll be right there -”

“We're not the first,” Yasu cut him off. He didn't know what to do, but maybe this intense boy with a million insane plans would know. “Midoriya, we're not the first. Someone hacked in days ago. I'm looking at the code right now and… I think the gate activation this afternoon was planned.”

There was a pause. “Stay where you are.” Midoriya sounded more serious than he'd ever heard him. “I've got to make some calls. Uraraka-chan and Hatsume-chan are coming to you now.”

“O-okay?”

“Do the hackers know that you've discovered this?”

“They shouldn't. There'll be a record of me viewing it, but their code is very limited - I think it's already done what it's meant to do.”

“Okay.” Midoriya took a deep breath. “Alright. Just in case, make a record of what you found. Write it down on paper.”

Yasu nodded, and then realized that Midoriya couldn't see it. “Sure. I'll do that.”

“Good. I'm going to call Nedzu and Sir, and then I'll meet you all there.” He hung up before Yasu could reply.

Call Nedzu? Yasu wondered, staring blankly at his cellphone. How the fuck does he have the Principal's number? And who is Sir?

Script from “Shibuya Insurance Commercial #4”, aired in 2175:

Almost 40% of buildings in Tokyo have suffered from heroics-related damage during their lifetimes. [A video of a ruined and smoking skyscraper surrounded by helicopters - footage taken from a 2102 incident that famously ended with the death of both the hero Instrumentive and the villain Bombardier.]

A recent survey found that 1 in 20 urban landowners in Japan will have to deal with moderate to severe property damage as result of purposeful villain sabotage or collateral damage from villain apprehension missions. [A video of a row of collapsed buildings in Tokyo - 2072 footage from the destruction caused by Abhorrence’s infamous confrontation with a branch of the Yakuza.]

Don’t let it take you by surprise. [A video of a high rise on fire - a 2166 incident involving Endeavor and a gang of burglars.] Protect your investments and your property today. [A photo of two smiling middle-aged women.] The Shibuya family has been insuring your life and everything in it since 2051. Trust us to be there for you when the worst happens.

Excerpt from “The Dangers of ‘Unbounded Discovery’: Why the Government Should Limit Genetic Research” by Kato Tomiko, published in 2144:

Groups such as “Unbounded Discovery”, which advocate for the abolition of government restrictions on scientific research, specifically biological research, point to the good that will result from the discoveries that will be made if scientists are once again allowed to use gene-editing software on vertebrates and human cells in cell culture. They claim that a full understanding of quirks can’t be obtained from genetic studies on invertebrates or single-celled organisms, or from non-invasive human clinical studies. They can only learn so much from organisms that don’t have similar physiologies or cellular mechanisms, they say.

And they are correct. If the government were to allow full access to gene-editing software, our understanding of quirks would increase exponentially. We would be able to build better quirk technology, provide better quirk counseling, and generally deal with quirks more effectively as a society.

But this would open up the doors to a host of abuses. In a world where genetics has meant more to humanity than any other time in its history, the ability to edit our own genomes would be a terrible temptation, and as history has shown, someone would eat the forbidden fruit.

Imagine knowing what combination of genes would lead to a child with super-strength, or one with the ability to fly, or one who could fly and control fire and lift buildings. For the first time in human history, we could create humans with powers that comic artists and fantasy writers in the 20th century could only dream of. The prevalence of eugenic quirk marriages at the turn of the century demonstrates that the draw of perfect, powerful quirks would be too much to resist.

We still don’t understand how the machinery of quirks truly functions. And yes, we might need gene-editing software to uncover the truth of this machinery, but the destructive potential is too great. Genetics is more limitless than we ever imagined. With that power, we could very easily create gods - or monsters.

“Your first week in school,” Sir Nighteye said into his hands. “Your first week in school, and you discover a conspiracy.”

When Ochako had been introduced to Sir Nighteye, her first impression was that he was intimidating. Not because he was particularly muscular or tall, like All-Might, or because he was too pretty, like Midnight, but because he had this intense aura around him. He seemed to be constantly cataloguing your every move while somehow keeping an eye on the rest of the room as well.

Well, she still thought he was intimidating, but there was something very relatable about his despair over the fact that her new friend seemed to perpetually attract trouble. I understand, she wanted to tell this lanky, sharp-eyed man. I’ve only known Midoriya-kun for a week, and I’ve already been involved in (hopefully school-mandated) sabotage, doused three teachers in body paint, and learned the position of every surveillance camera in the school. I’ve also punched a boy in the face for him. So. You know. I guess that’s that.

“Okay,” Midoriya-kun argued, a mulish set to his mouth. “To be fair, this one was not my fault.”

“No, not your fault!” Nedzu agreed, clapping his paws together. “It was simply serendipity!” He somehow managed to survive the glare that Sir Nighteye fixed on him. “You do have a peculiar kind of luck, Midoriya Izuku.”

“Don't encourage him,” Sir Nighteye muttered.

“But to the point,” Nedzu continued, “this is indeed a boon. We could have been caught unaware. Now we have the time to plan. Arai-kun, would you mind outlining the malicious code that you discovered in our server?”

Arai looked shell-shocked, but Ochako wasn’t certain if that was the situation or just how his face was. He'd had that same expression ever since Hatsume had introduced him to them.

“Um, well,” the boy began, “I mean, it's not very complex. It just copies certain files to an external drive. The error that the system reported was because that location no longer exists and the path was invalid.”

Sir Nighteye and Midoriya-kun had startlingly similar grim expressions. It was difficult to read Nedzu's body language, but he was no longer smiling.

“They've already retrieved it,” Midoriya-kun said darkly. “The gate incident?”

Arai shook his head. “Some of the files targeted were the system logs during the time of the gate being triggered - essentially a look at how UA systems respond and function during an emergency. They had to retrieve the drive after the incident, not during.”

Sir Nighteye grimaced, rubbing his temples as if to try to stave off a headache. “Just to be clear - this external drive must have been part of UA's network - a flashdrive or an external hard drive that someone connected to a computer in UA. And it's very unlikely that someone outside the school could have infiltrated it to either place or remove the drive. Which means…”

“Yes,” confirmed Nedzu. “We have a traitor at UA.”

“What other files were targeted?” Midoriya-kun wanted to know. Ochako spared a moment to be impressed by Midoriya-kun's confidence. He'd sometimes stutter or freeze up in class, but he seemed in his element here.

“Class schedules mostly,” Arai informed them. “Specifically the schedules for tomorrow. And the class files for the third-year hero students.”

“The third years are training at some of the training areas furthest from the central campus,” Nedzu said. “An intelligent enemy could neutralize many of the students before reinforcements arrived.”

“Then pull them back closer to campus,” Sir Nighteye snapped. “Simple enough.”

Nedzu shot a glance at Sir. “I know your intern Mirio-kun is in that class, but consider our position. There is a traitor at UA. For our sanity, I will declare that all of us in this room are trustworthy, but everyone else is a potential suspect. They don’t know that we know about them breaching our security, but that won't last if I change the third years’ training plans without a solid rationale.”

“Wouldn’t the teachers be trustworthy too?” Ochako piped up. It was nerve-wracking, but Nedzu and Sir Nighteye seemed like they wouldn't mind the interruption. They seemed approving (or tolerant, in Nighteye’s case) of Midoriya-kun’s interjections. “I mean, they already know the class schedules and the students’ information. They wouldn't have to get the information from the servers.”

Nedzu shook his head. “They would still need the security information, and if the third years were attacked, we'd look at who had recently accessed the files. And there would be no reason for a teacher who didn't work with the third year heroics class to look at their class files.”

Ochako nodded sharply in acknowledgement. Midoriya-kun caught her eye and flashed her a discreet thumbs-up.

Sir Nighteye frowned. “There are some we can trust, surely. All-Might, for one.”

Nedzu nodded fervently. “Of course, of course! And we can and should inform the third years’ homeroom teachers as well. I find it unlikely that either would be the culprit, based on the reasons that Uraraka-chan outlined.”

“That's all very well and good, but what precautionary measures will you actually take? You can’t simply sit back and do nothing in the name of secrecy.” Sir Nighteye demanded. “This forewarning only benefits us if you act on it.”

“We’ll pull All-Might from the first years’ class and re-assign him to the third years. It will be easy enough to make up an excuse for that.” Nedzu tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I could also pull a handful of teachers from the school in order to make the instruction one-on-one, as well as assigning our handful of second year heroics students to that training ground, with the attached teachers. I’ll say that it’s preparation for the sports festival, especially given the small size of our second year class.”

“That pulls a lot of teachers away from the school.”

“It does.” Nedzu hummed. “It’s a gamble, I will admit. But those are the files that were accessed.”

“There will still be enough teachers to raise the alarm,” Midoriya pointed out. “And we could try to establish alternate routes of communication just in case.”

“I have some babies that might help!” Hatsume exclaimed. “Would you like me to show them to you, Principal-san?”

Nedzu nodded. “After the meeting, certainly.” He tapped a paw on the desk and then clapped decisively. “It’s risky, but we likely have foreknowledge that our opponents didn’t expect us to have, especially considering their quick timeline. We don’t know who we’re playing against, so we can’t assume anything about how they’ll act. All we have is this piece of code. I’ll put as many teachers as I safely can near the third years’ training ground, but I’ll make sure to keep enough near the main campus in the case of a frontal assault.”

Sir Nighteye tipped his head in acknowledgement, obviously still unhappy. “You won’t mind if I give Mirio-kun advance warning?”

Nedzu thought for a moment before shrugging. “Only Mirio-kun. And that goes for you four as well,” he addressed Ochako and the others. “The events of this afternoon must be kept secret between all of us. Do you understand?” Ochako nodded. She could see the others agreeing as well.

“Good.” Nedzu smiled at all of them. “Thank you for your timely intervention. And Midoriya-kun, Uraraka-chan - have fun on your field trip tomorrow! Try not to worry about the rest of us. We’re well-prepared, thanks to you.”

Personal account of an urban legend about a man who could take quirks, collected from Matsushita Jun (95) in Chiba, collected by Saitou Ayano in 2140. Recording destroyed in 2150, surviving transcript is archived in the Saitou house.

Recording starts:

My memories of my childhood have lost their sharpness, become hazy and vague with the passage of time, but I will never forget my father’s screams.

His quirk hurt him. I don’t remember the details. I’m not sure I was ever told them. But his quirk was not meant for his body. Some nights, he would scream from dusk to dawn. The neighbors must have complained, but I don’t remember any of that. Only the terror, and my mother’s comforting, constant presence.

I think they were worried about me. My father’s condition was… not good, but in hindsight, I think they were more worried about the possible consequences if I inherited his quirk. My mother was quirkless, but as I have learned, quirked-ness is inherited through the father’s line. I had a good chance of being quirked, and thus a good chance of having a quirk that caused those screams.

It started out as an ache in my arms, a shifting underneath my skin. The first time I dislocated my elbows - well, they say that you can’t remember pain, that the mind dulls it. But I swear that I can recall the burning, throbbing agony. I can hear the pop and feel the tearing of my tendons. I know I screamed. My mother came running, and my father, and they cried over me like I was dying. I felt like I was dying.

My life was a haze of pain until the man came. I don’t remember what he looked like, only that he was very tall, and that there was something about him that terrified me. When he placed his hand on my head, it was cold as ice. But after that day, the pain was gone, and my father’s screams stopped.

No one explained it to me at the time, but I found the legends on the forums later, and I knew that I had met the Stealer. My father died when I was eight. He was a part of a mob that descended on a police convoy and allowed for the escape of a high-profile criminal. It was his first and only crime. My mother never denounced him for the crime, and maintained that he was a good man. She always glanced at me when she said it. I didn’t understand then, but I think I understand now.

End recording.

Excerpt from “Brushfire” by Maki Keiko, published in 2100:

The fire rose about him, with no escape on any side. The boy screamed at it but all that came out of his mouth was meaningless noise. He’d forgotten that he couldn’t talk to it any longer. There was no crackle in his lungs, no burnt ember of a tongue, no incandescence in his throat. The place where his quirk used to sit was barren and empty.

“Listen to me!” he cried with a tongue, with a mouth, with lungs that were too ordinary. “Please,” he screamed uselessly, “let me live!”

“Hey,” Izuku said, stepping forward, hands outstretched. “Hey, there’s no need for that.” He purposefully didn’t look at the monster beside him, focusing all his attention on Shigaraki. “I can explain why All-Might isn’t here today.”

“Oh?” The man drawled, lazily scratching at his neck.

“Yes.” Izuku absentmindedly stroked a thumb over the wide scar under his eye. “It’s a story, for sure. Bear with me - it can be a little hard to believe in parts.” He shrugged, and managed to produce a thin, trembling smile. “But I suppose that’s how you know it’s real.”

Chapter Text

Transcript of debrief of Uraraka Ochako by Nedzu (HID: 2333077), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), April 8, 2179 at 2:34pm, Police Case #06618760:

Tsukauchi: Please, take your time.

Uraraka: Uh, where did you say I should start?

Tsukauchi: Wherever the beginning is.

Uraraka: Okay, well, I guess it all started yesterday? We thought we found out where the villains were going to attack, but, well… we were wrong.

They’re here, Ochako thought numbly as she tumbled through a void. Panic made her mind a haze of white static.

We were wrong. They’re here.

Excerpt from “Order in Chaos: Heroes and Villainy” by Mizushima Hinata:

The value of the Symbol of Peace is not as a criminal deterrent. Criminals will be deterred by nothing - not by laws, not by consequences, not by utter annihilation. Criminality exists to exploit society, and as long as a criminal behavior is profitable or pleasurable, there will be criminals who are willing to do it, regardless of the consequences. All-Might’s power and reputation may make certain types of criminal behavior less profitable, but a dedicated force of elite heroes could achieve the same effect.

The value of the Symbol of Peace is just that - as a symbol. Like an army’s standard in early warfare, All-Might’s status serves as a moral boost to those allied with the government and the law. Peaceful, law-abiding citizens and his fellow heroes feel emboldened by his seeming invincibility. This is not the first case of this phenomenon. In the early 2050s, Phoenix rose to prominence in western Europe. Her regeneration and combat prowess galvanized her compatriots and drove down the crime rate all across Europe.

When she was killed in a mob hit, western Europe was destabilized, not because she occupied an important governmental function, but because the populace was demoralized by her death. Criminals felt emboldened and crime skyrocketed. That was the power of a symbol - and the danger of it.

Like Phoenix, All-Might is not, in fact, invulnerable. And like Phoenix, when All-Might falls, it will destabilize Japan unless there are already spiritual successors to the “Symbol of Peace” position. Although most criminals are too intimidated to directly attack All-Might, Japan’s heroes should be watchful for attempts to undermine or cripple All-Might. It is dangerous to invest the public’s trust in a single man, but since it has already been done, the best thing to do is to protect that man at all costs.

Transcript of debrief of Sato Rikido by Nedzu (HID: 2333077), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), April 8, 2179 at 1:45pm, Police Case #06618760:

Sato: At the beginning?

Sir Nighteye: If you would, yes.

Sato: They came out of nowhere - through that mist villain. Just… so many of them. And that villain with the hands and the monster.

Tsukauchi: Did you hear any names for them?

Sato: The hand man definitely called the monster “Noumu”. As for the villains’ names? Uh, I never got too close to them, so I might have heard wrong, but I think the hand guy was… Shigaraki? I don’t know what they called the mist villain. I’d ask Midoriya, honestly.

Sir Nighteye: We will.

Sato: Is he okay?

Nedzu: Midoriya-kun will be perfectly fine! The hit from the monster - the “Noumu”, was it? The hit from the Noumu fractured some ribs, but the damage was well within Recovery Girl’s ability to fix.

Sato: Oh good. He really saved all our skins, you know?

Sir Nighteye: He has the habit of doing that.

Tsukauchi: Sorry to interrupt, but we have to question all of you tonight -

Sato: Oh right, sorry, sorry! Uh, well, all the villains came through the mist portal, and the mist guy talked about how they were here to kill All-Might.

Sir Nighteye: To kill All-Might! Are you sure that’s what they said?

Sato: Yes, sir. They were pretty adamant about that. The guy with the hands, Shigaraki, he was really upset that All-Might wasn’t there. They really thought he would be.

Sir Nighteye: All-Might was the goal… but why attack here? And now?

Nedzu: We’ll puzzle that over later. For now, we need to interview Sato-kun. Sato-kun, please proceed. What happened next?

Sato: Well, Aizawa-sensei told us to stay back and to evacuate the USJ. He wasn’t able to contact the school - Thirteen wasn’t able to either - so he told Kaminari to try to use his electric quirk to alert the teachers. And he told Midoriya to get one of his beacons out of the USJ however he could.

Sir Nighteye: The teachers were alerted via a beacon, so I assume Kaminari’s efforts were unsuccessful?

Sato: He was teleported to another area soon after, so I’m not sure.

Tsukauchi: Right, so, after Aizawa told you to evacuate?

Sato: Well, Midoriya was concerned because Aizawa-sensei’s quirk isn’t good with large groups. And apparently a lot of them had mutation-type quirks. Aizawa-sensei told Midoriya to trust him, and then put him in charge of evacuation efforts since he and Thirteen had to deal with the villains.

Nedzu: He stated that Midoriya-kun was in charge?

Sato: Yes? Does that matter?

Nedzu: Legally, yes.

Sato: Is he going to be in trouble?

Nedzu: Aizawa-san?

Sato: No, Midoriya.

Nedzu: No, no, definitely not! He was in charge of securing backup and evacuating the premises, and his actions directly contributed to the success of that mission.

Sir Nighteye: He only managed to put himself in danger. Like always.

Sato: Like always?

Tsukauchi: Yes, well, anyway, back to the matter at hand - Thirteen and Aizawa were both incapacitated. How did that happen?

Sato: Oh, um, well - I didn’t directly see how Aizawa got hurt? He was fighting the villains and then the monster… happened. But Thirteen - well, the mist villain teleported a lot of the students away. There were a handful of us left in the plaza - Midoriya, Kouda, Mineta, Tokoyami, Ashido, Shouji, and me. I couldn’t feel much in the mist. I think someone pushed me out of the way of one of the portals, but I have no idea who. I was kinda frozen in fear, to be honest.

Tsukauchi: That’s nothing to be ashamed about. It’s natural in that sort of situation.

Sato: Well, yes, I suppose.

Tsukauchi: Your classmates who were teleported away - did you have any idea where they’d gone?

Sato: None. I think all of us feared the worst, honestly. Finding out later that they were all still in the USJ - that was a relief.

Tenya assessed his motors grimly. Asui-san - Tsuyu-san - had scooped him out of the water before any of the villains could harm him, but he had been sprinting when the portal had opened up, and it was likely that he had been running his engines when he hit the water. As long as there wasn’t water in the combustion chamber, they’d be okay. But if he ran the engines and there was water in the chamber, the engines would be severely damaged.

“Thank you for saving me,” he said to Tsuyu-san, bowing sharply at the waist. “Without you, I would have been at the mercy of those villains.”

“Of course, kero,” Tsuyu replied. “Uraraka-chan, are you alright?”

“Thanks to you, Tsuyu-chan,” Uraraka answered. She attempted to smile at them, but it was thin and shaky.

Tsuyu nodded. “We’re all safe enough for now - it looks like they’re keeping their distance.”

Tenya peered over the side of the ship, and sure enough, they were surrounded, but the villains weren’t approaching them.

“Uraraka-chan,” Tsuyu continued, “I speak my mind, so I’m going to be blunt. You didn’t seem to be as surprised as the rest of us by the villains. You pushed that boy - Midoriya-kun - out of the way of the portal when we were warped here.”

To Tenya’s surprise, Uraraka nodded. “I suppose there’s not any harm in it now. Yeah, Midoriya-kun and I knew that there was going to be an attack at UA today. But Nedzu-san thought it was going to be at the third years’ training facilities. He told us not to tell anybody about it.”

“How did you know?” Tenya asked.

“Well,” Uraraka started, “we were trying to… you know, it’s a long story. But the quick version is, the villains used the reporters and the gate to get information about class schedules and UA’s security system.”

“So the teachers think that the attack is going to happen at a different location,” Tsuyu summarized thoughtfully. “Far away?”

Uraraka bit her lip and jerked her head in a sharp nod. “On the other side of campus.”

“We have to get a message to them!” Tenya exclaimed. “Aizawa-sensei said our communications are jammed - they don’t know we’re under attack.”

“He’s right, kero,” Tsuyu agreed. “Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen can’t hold off all those villains for long.”

Suddenly, the floor buckled beneath their feet. Tenya grabbed onto Uraraka’s arm to steady her. She flashed him a nervous smile.

“Thanks, Iida-kun,” she said, glancing worriedly at the villains, who had drawn closer to the ship as they’d been talking. “I think we need to get out of here first. We can worry about alerting the school later. Besides, knowing him, Midoriya-kun has a plan in the works for that already.”

“Midoriya-kun?” Tenya asked. From what he’d seen, Midoriya-kun was terminally late and terribly nervous. He was apparently interested in “intelligence and covert ops”, according to All-Might during their Foundational Heroics Class, but Iida hadn’t seen him in action. He didn’t even know what his quirk was.

But Uraraka nodded firmly, with confidence. “I bet he’s already got a dozen plans in motion and another dozen in the wings. Let’s just focus on ourselves for now.”

It was a rational course of action, especially as the villains drew closer to the boat. And if Uraraka trusted Midoriya so much… maybe Tenya would reevaluate his opinion of the other student after they got out of this mess.

“I unfortunately cannot use my quirk without risking a catastrophic injury,” he told the two girls. “If we need to use it to escape, I of course will, but if we can escape without its use, that would be safer for us.”

“We should be fine without it, kero. Ochako-chan, you can make things float, right?”

“Yes,” Uraraka replied with determination. “I can’t make you all float for long, but….”

Tsuyu nodded. “Long enough for me to jump with both of you out of here.” The jeers of the villains were growing in volume. “Ready, kero?”

Tenya met Uraraka’s eyes as she stretched out her hands to Tsuyu and him. “Ready!” they answered in unison, and then Tenya was flying over the water, leaving the frustrated villains in his wake.

Excerpt from “An Argument Against Schools of Violence”, a pamphlet written by Yamasaki Akemi in 2091, distributed by Pacifists Against Government Violence:

So-called “Hero” schools are inciting our children to violence! They have been compared to military schools, but they are more cruel and insidious than those institutions! While military schools were a place of discipline and regulation, hero schools promise that your children can be government-backed arbiters of violence while living at the comfort of home.

Our society has already become numb to the reality of heroes and the programs that funnel quirked children into a career of blood. The propaganda promises our children that all they have to do to be successful is to turn their quirks into instruments of slaughter, and hero schools ensure that the children have the skills to do so. What is a hero school student to do other than join the system? They have no skills other than violence.

Rise up today and protest the institutions that oppress our children! End the reign of the schools of violence!

The fire roared around her, hot enough that she could barely breathe. Toru had already stripped her gloves off so that the villains couldn’t see her, but the sheer heat of the fire zone made her want to strip off her skin.

The floor scorched the bottoms of her feet, but she didn’t make a peep. There were sounds of fighting coming from the center of the zone. She made her way there, hoping that the other student wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the villains before she got there.

And that it wasn’t one of the students who had a wide-ranging destructive quirk. She couldn’t call out to them without alerting the villains to her existence as well.

As she neared the center of the zone, a body flew over her head and she only barely dodged in time. Following the trajectory of the villain, she saw her classmate with the tail, the one that she had worked with just a couple of days ago. Oshiro? Okijirou? She was so bad with names….

He was holding his own pretty well. Still, it didn’t sit right with Toru to just hang tight and watch his (admittedly impressive) martial arts demonstration.

A villain on the sidelines went down to a fist in his gut, and she choked him out with a headlock and a hand over his mouth. He tried to use his quirk (some sort of pain generation), but Toru just rode it out. After a minute, he stopped struggling, and she let him fall limp. Her grandfather had been a police officer back in the day, and while he hadn’t been happy about her decision to pursue heroics, he had taught her everything he could. She took a brief moment to silently thank him in her head.

But she didn’t have long to relax. Someone was going to notice the unconscious man sooner or later. And there were plenty more where that came from.

A big guy with a mutant quirk was the next to fall. Apparently the hardened plates didn’t extend to... down there. Toru slammed a bit of rubble into his head when he fell to his knees, and he was down for the count.

Eventually the crowd was thin enough for her to sneak her way to tail-guy. “Hey,” she whispered, and then ducked as he swung a fist at her face. “Hey! Watch out!”

“Hagakure-chan?” he asked cautiously, and then swung back around to trade blows with some guy who was covered in spines. “I thought I was alone in here.”

“Nope!” Toru chirped. “I took down some guys in the back for you.”

He flashed a quick grin in her general direction before two more guys jumped into the fray. “Thanks, much appreciated.”

“Who the hell are you talking to?” demanded spine guy, and then screamed as Toru nailed him in the head with a thrown brick.

“Is there anyone else here?” Tail Boy wanted to know. He followed up on her brick attack by decking the guy in the temple, finally dropping him. Huh, they made a pretty good team.

“Not that I could see.”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Was that an invisible joke?”

Toru laughed. “You bet!”

Tail Boy huffed out a reluctant laugh. Toru tripped a guy that was trying to flank him and then slammed another brick into the back of the villain’s head.

“Any idea what’s going on?” Tail Boy asked.

“None,” Toru replied. “I could try to check it out and spy on other groups of villains after we’re done here.”

Tail Boy shook his head and then took out another villain with a combination of a tail swing and a devastating punch. “Thanks to you, I think I can handle the rest here. Information is more important. You head out and I’ll catch up.”

Toru paused for a moment. “You sure?”

Tail Boy dropped another villain with a combination that included an athletic flip and a neck hit with his tail. “Yeah, I’m good. You have the best quirk in the class for reconnaissance. If anyone can figure out what’s happening, it’s you.”

Toru was touched. That was honestly the nicest thing a classmate had ever said to her. There was just one thing… “Before I go, quick question.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s your name again? I’m really bad with them….”

Tail Boy smiled and did another of those reluctant huff-laughs. “Ojiro Mashirao. Good luck, Hagakure-chan.”

Toru smiled, even though Ojiro couldn’t see it. She made sure it was in her voice, at least. “Thanks! Good luck, Ojiro-kun!”

Transcript of debrief of Ashido Mina by Nedzu (HID: 2333077), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), April 8, 2179 at 2:40pm, Police Case #06618760:

Ashido: So I was left in the plaza with some of the others - oh do you need a list?

Tsukauchi: The others have told us, but just to confirm - Midoriya, Kouda, Shouji, Tokoyami, Mineta, Sato, and you?

Ashido: Oh, yeah, I think that’s right.

Tsukauchi: Okay, so, you were in the plaza.

Ashido: Yeah, everyone else was gone. Shouji told the rest of us that he could hear some sounds from further away in the USJ that could be our classmates, but he wasn’t sure. Aizawa-sensei was in the center of the arena, fighting all those villains. And Midoriya told us that we had to get the word out. Thirteen really wanted all of us to evacuate, but Midoriya argued with them and told them that we couldn’t possibly all escape. I expected Thirteen to overrule Midoriya - I mean, Thirteen is a teacher and Midoriya is a student, but Thirteen actually asked Midoriya what they should do. I didn’t really understand that. There was a lot of byplay that I think went over my head.

Sir Nighteye: Eraserhead verbally left Midoriya-kun in charge, correct?

Ashido: Oh yeah, he did! But I thought he meant in charge of the students? In sort of a class president way, even though Yaoyorozu is our president.

Sir Nighteye: This is possibly more heroic operations protocol than you necessarily need to know, but in an emergency situation, defined as a situation in which criminals are on-scene or lives are at risk, heroes are subject to an operational hierarchy. Eraserhead was the senior hero on-site. Thirteen was under his command, and as a rescue hero, would have been far down the hierarchy in a villain apprehension situation if there were other heroes present.

Ashido: Okay, I think I followed most of that. But in that case, wouldn’t Thirteen be in charge instead of Midoriya? Since they were the only other hero?

Sir Nighteye: By default, yes. But Eraserhead was aware that Midoriya-kun is hero support staff with a specialization in intelligence and covert ops, and judged that he would be most able to create a tactical plan to evacuate the students. Thus Eraserhead verbally appointed Midoriya-kun as the head of the operation, and Thirteen then fell under his command. Even though Thirteen is a teacher, Midoriya-kun was the current field commander.

Ashido: Wow, okay. Support staff, for real? Is he not an undercover hero, though? Well, I guess you couldn’t tell me if he was.

Sir Nighteye: What.

Ashido: This definitely supports my theory though. Kirishima can suck it! He thought Midoriya was like, some hero’s kid who was at UA for his own safety.

Sir Nighteye: Excuse me?

Ashido: Sorry, sorry, I promise I won’t tell anyone.

Sir Nighteye: He’s not…. (Sighs) Thank you.

Ashido: Yeah, of course, sir! That makes everything make more sense…. Well, Thirteen didn’t seem too put out at it, I guess. Or like it was unexpected, which I suppose it wasn’t. So yeah, Midoriya told Thirteen that the goal was to get one student or one of his emergency beacons or both out of the USJ. And Thirteen said that they’d make a distraction for Midoriya. Midoriya told them to stall for as long as possible and he’d signal when they needed a distraction. So Thirteen started talking with the misty man; I have no idea what they said to each other.

Tsukauchi: Was this when Thirteen was taken out of commission?

Ashido: No, that was later. First, Midoriya started whispering to us, the group that was left. He was like, “Okay, I have two plans and no guarantee that either will work,” which was kinda grim, but he was also so determined that the rest of us couldn’t help but be inspired! I mean, I got really pumped when he laid out the first plan. The flashy one that he warned wouldn’t have a great chance of success. That was a little disheartening, but he told us that he’d try to maximize our chances as much as possible. So basically, I was supposed to acid-skate out of the USJ. Some of the others would cover my escape.

Tsukauchi: Acid-skate?

Ashido: Oh yeah, sorry! That’s my quirk. I can secrete acid. I can also skate on it really fast, so I was the fastest there, since they teleported Iida away.

Tsukauchi: Alright, what was the other plan?

Ashido: I don’t really remember… it was something complex with like, animals, and Mineta’s sticky balls and several points of entrance and exit. I’d ask Kouda or Min… actually, I wouldn’t ask Mineta - he was just really crying the whole time. Tokoyami or Sato, I guess.

Sir Nighteye: Yes, we already asked Sato about it, but the lack of mental ability after he activates his quirk made an accurate report impossible after a certain point. But we’ll be sure to ask the others about it.

Tsukauchi: Anyway, the first plan?

Ashido: Oh, right! Yeah, so Midoriya gave me one of his fancy beacons - it was really strange, like, it grabbed onto my hand with these legs? And it had what looked like mini-cannons attached? Anyway, then he called out to Thirteen as I started to skate as fast as I could. I think Shouji blocked the mist guy a couple of times - I could hear the sounds behind me - but I think Misty Man got fed up with him before too long and teleported him away. There was something else with Mineta and the main body of the mist dude, and all of that meant that I got so close! But the door was heavy and I paused for just too long. So Misty Man caught me. As I got warped away, I could just barely see Thirteen’s collapsed body, so I don’t actually know what happened there. I almost landed right on top of Yaoyorozu, and I helped out her and Jirou. It was a close call there, but we escaped and made it back to the plaza just in time to see… well… is he going to be alright? Midoriya?

Nedzu: Certainly! He’ll be up and about in no time!

Ashido: Okay….

Tsukauchi: What about you? Are you okay?

Ashido: Oh yeah, I’m fine! What about Aizawa-sensei? And Thirteen?

Nedzu: We’ll let you know when we do.

Ashido: Okay then… Do you need anything else from me?

Tsukauchi: No, I think that’s all. Send Tokoyami in for us, would you? And let us know if you think of anything else.

Ashido: Of course!

Excerpt from “UA: the Rise of a Giant” by Taguchi Shou:

It should be noted that Nedzu is playing a potentially dangerous game. As the government has expanded their control over hero schools in the past couple of decades, UA has remained completely free of government interference. Nedzu accomplished this by building a devoted base of graduates who are all too happy to donate some of their earnings to the institution that ensured them such a brilliant career in the first place. UA’s popularity among both its graduates and the public makes such a business model possible.

Nedzu also created the image of UA that is ruthlessly capable. The security is reportedly better than the security at the government’s Ministry buildings. Chances are that this rumor started with Nedzu, but the important point is that no one is able to disprove this. The heroes that graduate from the school consistently perform well at all licensing exams and most of the top ten heroes in the past thirty years have been UA graduates. In the face of this success, rumors about the high expulsion rate and the prevalence of student burnout are explained away as casualties of the success of the school as a whole. If the government claimed that UA’s security was lax or its standards too low, the Ministry of Education would be crucified by the public.

But this defense is all based in public opinion - if graduates become unhappy with the school, if UA’s security is demonstrated to be severely flawed, or if UA’s students perform to a subpar level, then UA will become vulnerable to outside interference.

Denki shivered, frozen to the bone. He supposed that he was lucky to get dropped in a zone with the strongest kid in the class, but…. His teeth chattered as he tried to use his electricity to do… something. Disrupt the jammer, get some sort of signal out, but… nothing. Eventually he had to admit defeat, and he started the long, slow climb down the ice pillar.

Halfway down, the wind started to howl around him. Luckily, Todoroki had encased the ladder down in a tube of ice, so it was sheltered from the wind, which would have certainly torn him off the pillar.

“Anything?” Todoroki asked over the screaming wind as Denki touched down to the ground. All around him, villains were frozen in jagged glaciers.

Denki shook his head. “No,” he said, and then again, louder, when his first word was drowned out by the wind. “No, I can’t get through,” he yelled. “What about you? Did you get any info?”

Todoroki shrugged. “Not a lot. Apparently they were recruited for a one-time event - a large-scale attack with a 100% chance of killing All-Might.”

“They really believe that?” Denki asked, surprised. “I thought that was… I don’t know. It’s just not something that’s likely to happen. Ever.”

“They seem to be pretty certain of it,” Todoroki replied.

“What should we do?” Denki yelled.

Todoroki thought for a moment. “Aizawa’s going to be overwhelmed soon.”

Denki nodded. “Okay, then, back to the center of the mess, I guess. Plus Ultra!” he cried, just to lift his spirits, and, hopefully, Todoroki’s.

Todoroki didn’t even smile, just turned towards the middle of the USJ and started walking. Denki followed, a little dejected, in his wake.

Transcript of debrief of Tokoyami Fumikage by Nedzu (HID: 2333077), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), April 8, 2179 at 2:53pm, Police Case #06618760:

Tokoyami: When the swirling darkness engulfed us, Kouda pulled me out of the way of one of the endless portals. And then the darkness retreated and we were left unharmed, but our comrades were missing.

Tsukauchi: Okay, did you manage to catch the mist man’s name?

Tokoyami: The being of infinite darkness? He was called Kurogiri by the other man.

Tsukauchi: Kurogiri! Fantastic, thank you. And the other man?

Tokoyami: Shigaraki. Tomura Shigaraki, I believe.

Tsukauchi: (Scratch of pencil on paper) Tomura… Shigaraki. Alright, great. So you were left in the plaza, and then?

Tokoyami: Midoriya gathered us together and outlined two plans. The goal, he stated, was to get some emergency beacons out of the USJ. Getting a student out as well would be an additional challenge, but one that he was willing to undertake. The first plan involved Ashido Mina skating on her acid towards the door. It was a full-frontal assault, so to speak, and would have been foolish if not for Midoriya’s clever protective measures. It may have succeeded entirely if not for the inhuman cruelty of Kurogiri.

Sir Nighteye: How so?

Tokoyami: As Ashido began to skate towards the exit, Thirteen unleashed a powerful attack. It should have sucked Kurogiri into the depths, but instead he redirected the attack and tore open Thirteen with their own quirk.

Tsukauchi: Ah, so that’s how it occurred.

Tokoyami: Yes. It threw all of us off-balance, and our hesitation cost us. Kurogiri darted towards Ashido, and only Shouji blocking his advance saved us. Midoriya marshalled us quickly - he ordered me to use Dark Shadow to attach one of Mineta’s sticky orbs to Kurogiri’s chestplate, which likely covered a solid, tangible body. Once attached, I would try to stick Kurogiri to the floor, and then Dark Shadow would become incorporeal and escape.

Nedzu: A fairly good plan of action!

Tokoyami: Yes, it should have worked, but Kurogiri was too fast and he evaded my attempts to attach the orb to his armor. The fault was mine. By the time that I managed to tag him with the orb, he had already banished Ashido and Shouji. To where, I know not.

Sir Nighteye: Tokoyami-kun, the fault was not yours. Sometimes villains exceed our expectations in unfortunate ways. Remember that - a villain being faster or stronger or smarter than you is not a failure on your part. The only failure is overconfidence and the refusal to implement backup plans when they are necessary.

Tokoyami: Thank you, Sir Nighteye, for those wise words.

Sir Nighteye: Ah, you’re welcome.

Tsukauchi: So after the first plan didn’t work, what did you do?

Tokoyami: Since Shigaraki’s attention was still on Aizawa-sensei, Midoriya ordered me to continue to try to pin down Kurogiri. While Ashido had been making her bid for freedom, Sato used his quirk and had pitched a large stone through the USJ ceiling. He had thrown other stones at Kurogiri to cover for this action, and he continued to do this as I tried to stick Kurogiri to the floor. Meanwhile, Kouda called for a bird, and one arrived through the opening, I assume. I’m not quite sure of the sequence of events - I was trying to pin down a very fast man. But they certainly attached a beacon to a bird, because Kurogiri turned towards it at precisely the wrong time. He was dodging one of Sato’s rocks, and, well, I’m not quite sure. Perhaps he saw the glint of sunlight from the shiny metal chassis of the beacon, perhaps it was the movement of the bird that caught his eye. Whatever the cause, his infinite darkness swallowed and consumed that bird before we could stop him.

Tsukauchi: Consumed?

Tokoyami: I am unsure of where its eventual destination was, certainly.

Tsukauchi: Ah, alright then. And after the failure of that plan?

Tokoyami: You must understand, from the moment that Aizawa heroically threw himself into the desperate fray for us, Midoriya had been acting as our commander. He martialled us and our quirks into two terrifyingly effective plans, but he did not use his quirk to implement either. I had… wondered at that. If I may be so bold, is he…?

Nedzu: Yes.

Sir Nighteye: Nedzu-san!

Nedzu: The students will know sooner or later, Sir Nighteye. I’m positive that at least two or three members of Midoriya-kun’s class know already, and I would be surprised if others didn’t suspect. It is not a dirty secret, is it?

Sir Nighteye: Of course not, but -

Nedzu: In this world, information is power. I understand. But his classmates are not the enemy.

Tokoyami: I will be circumspect, Sir. I’m sorry.

Sir Nighteye: No, no, don’t apologize. Your deduction is correct and not entirely unexpected. Nedzu-san is right - you have been a brave and stalwart ally to Midoriya-kun and the rest of your classmates.

Tokoyami: T-thank you, Sir!

Tsukauchi: You have been brave, Tokoyami, and your account has already been invaluable. But if you don’t mind?

Tokoyami: Yes, of course. Where was…? Right, so you understand the position Midoriya found himself in? Two brilliant plans had both failed, a teacher was grievously injured and the other was losing ground and stamina quickly, and two of his remaining classmates had been sent somewhere else - hopefully somewhere else in the USJ, but we couldn’t be sure. It was a truly grim situation, without a shred of light or hope to sustain us. And then there was that monster….

Sir Nighteye: Yes. I think we understand all too well.

Tokoyami: He saved us. We could tell that he was terrified, but he stepped forward and he… just started to talk.

Aizawa felt his elbow begin to dissolve under the man’s hand. The agony of it burned through him and he held back a scream with pure force of will.

“Don’t overdo it now, Eraserhead,” the man said with a horrific grin. Thanks for the advice, Aizawa wanted to retort, but he’d had years of practice in keeping his sarcastic quips to himself during villain fights. His elbow screamed in pain, and its movement felt sickeningly wrong. He wondered briefly if some ligaments or tendons were part of the light coating of dust on the floor.

The man was picking apart Aizawa's quirk, so fucking proud of himself for listing Aizawa's quirk's weaknesses. Congratulations, Aizawa wanted to say, You're almost as good at quirk assessment as a fifteen-year old boy. But that would draw the man's attention to his students, and the whole point of this was to buy them enough time to escape or to fetch help. So Aizawa channeled his frustration into a flurry of attacks.

“But I'm not the final boss,” the man said, and the huge beast stepped forward, a dumb, terrible hatred in its eyes.

And at the same time, Aizawa heard a voice behind him, and his blood ran cold.

“Hey, sir, uh, can we talk?”

Aizawa opened his mouth - to order Midoriya to get away, to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing, to scream - and then the monster lunged forward.

Urban legend about a man who steals quirks, collected from Minami Yori (77) in Tokyo, collected by Tanaka Hiraku in 2122. Recording destroyed in 2125, surviving transcript is incorrectly filed under “Folktales of the Hokkaido Region” in the folder labelled “Akkorokamui”, in the library of Seijo University in Tokyo.

Recording starts:

I grew up around Kabukicho, in, oh, around the 2060s. After the crackdown in the early 2040s, it wasn’t as seedy as it used to be, but, well, it’s still a red light district. And I ran with a bad crowd for a while. I won’t get too into that. Let’s just say it got me out of the apartment and out of the reach of my father.

When I was 15, I was dating this guy, Kazuko. I don’t even remember his last name. That’s not important, really - what’s important is that he was all mixed up with this guy, Hisakawa Kichirou. Yeah, I thought you’d recognize the name. The guy who would later call himself Abhorrence then single-handedly remodel Kabukicho. I’m sure you remember that quirk - the way that the buildings just crumbled under his hands, the screaming people just… missing limbs.

But then his name was just Hisakawa-sama, and his enemies had the habit of disappearing, and, it was whispered, the habit of losing their quirks.

The guy that Kazuko told me about was a cocky brat by the name of Taiki. He had a quirk that let him shoot poison needles from his fingernails, and he thought he was hot shit. Apparently he was going to cut Hisakawa’s drug trade from under his feet. He had some sort of knowledge about Hisakawa’s lab and some poor sucker that he’d enticed into making Double-S for him.

So Taiki sabotaged Hisakawa’s lab. Hisakawa launched a fucking manhunt for him, and well, Taiki didn’t have the best of friends. A couple of people rolled over, Hisakawa caught up to Taiki, and then that was the last that people heard of him for a while.

But Kazuko’s friend told him that he ran across Taiki in one of the underground whorehouses. The guy was fucking insane and missing about a fourth of his teeth, half of his fingers, and… his quirk. I mean, I don’t know how much I believe this, but Kazuko swore by it. Made me promise that I’d steer clear of Hisakawa and his ilk. Told me to keep out of the flesh trade and drug trafficking - not that I’d planned on getting involved with either. Kazuko said that Hisakawa had backers who had interests in both, and if anyone was supplying… whatever or whoever it was that was stealing quirks, it would be one of those wealthy backers.

Anyway, I don’t know how much that’ll help you. Hopefully you can get, like, a paper or something out of this crap. Whatever you guys do with these statements.

Oh yeah, one last thing - I swear, back then, that Hisakawa had a transformation-type quirk. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but… Well, I have to be remembering wrong. It was obviously that deconstruction quirk. I’ve seen the footage, and the brain’s an unreliable thing, so…. Anyway, that’s been bothering me for a while, but it’s nothing. It’s - Just ignore me. It’s nothing, I’m sure.

End recording.

Failure burned in Izuku's throat. He hadn't expected the first, flashy plan to work, but Kurogiri shouldn't have noticed the bird. They should have been able to get one tiny piece of circuitry out of the USJ, Midoriya should have been able to - He cut off that panicked train of thought, but the guilt stayed, leaden and heavy in his gut.

Currently, Thirteen was gravely injured, and Aizawa was in a precarious position. He'd lost two classmates and one beacon, and Kurogiri's attention was focused on the students. Izuku had been outplayed and outclassed at every turn. And to make things worse, he was surrounded by his classmates who were looking at him like he would get them all out of this mess when he didn't even know if they could survive this -

He had to do something. If he continued to try to contact the school, Kurogiri would stop them and likely split them up to weaken them. Shigaraki would kill them and he was too close to killing Aizawa already. He was back in the basement, surrounded by capricious enemies. He couldn't escape, but, well - he could definitely buy them some time.

He subtly palmed the other beacons and passed them to Kouda - to his credit, the other student didn't react visibly. The beacons would do no good in Izuku's hands.

Izuku could feel the fear boiling up, choking him. His scars burned. When he blinked, the USJ was gone, and in its place was a dark room that stank of fear -

He shook his head firmly, banishing the image. He stepped forward, his heart beating rabbit-fast.

“Kurogiri-san?”

The mist man turned to Izuku, obviously a little taken aback. “Yes?”

“Can I talk to Shigaraki please, sir?”

A couple of the students behind him gasped. Kurogiri's eyes widened and his body briefly wavered. “Why would you want to do that, child?” he asked Izuku.

“I have something that he'd like to hear,” lied Izuku. He had nothing Shigaraki would like to hear. His mind was blank and gibbering in terror. He was going to have to make up something on the fly, which, well - he had to hope that was enough. His life wasn't the only one on the line at this time.

Kurogiri wavered, the fringes of his body flickering frantically. “I suppose,” he said finally. “Ah, this way. But no sudden or aggressive moves, or I will remove you from the situation.”

Izuku bowed his head and obediently followed Kurogiri. He halted when Kurogiri did, and cleared his throat. From a closer viewpoint, he could see that Aizawa-san was in rough condition. He was exhausted and suffering from dry-eye, and his elbow - Izuku swallowed the scream that came bubbling up.

“Hey, sir, uh, can we talk?”

Izuku saw Aizawa-san stiffen, and then the monster was right in front of them.

A hand came down, and Izuku was too slow to react, but a heavy weight plowed into his side and he tumbled to the ground.

There was blood on his clothes, Izuku registered vaguely. A spattering of warmth on his face and his clothes and next to him there was a hand, and under it was Aizawa-san. Aizawa's blood was on his clothes and his face. Aizawa-san was crushed into the ground and the monster was breathing heavy, fetid air into Izuku's face and he had Aizawa's blood on his clothes. Izuku distantly wanted to scream or cry or run far, far away, because Aizawa was - he couldn't even think the word. Aizawa-san was - he had saved Izuku, and his blood was on Izuku's clothes.

“Oh?” Shigaraki said, looking at Izuku like he was a particularly interesting insect. “You want to talk? You're just an NPC.”

“I could,” Izuku started to say, but there was a scream stuck in his throat, so he cleared it with a cough and continued, “I could have a quest to offer you.” He didn't know where in his distant, muted brain he was pulling this shit out of, but he was too far away to be scared.

Shigaraki's interest sharpened. “And what's your name, quest hook?”

Not my real name, something innocuous, Izuku thought. “Nobu,” his traitorous mouth said. “Nakahara Nobu.”

Shigaraki accepted it with a shrug. “What can you give me, Nobu?”

Izuku's brain came to a screeching halt and went completely blank. There was blood on his face - was it his? The knife was right below his eye -

Shigaraki tsked in impatience. “The lag is boring,” he complained, his eyes roving over Izuku and Kurogiri and then travelling to the small group of students huddled in the plaza. “I'm tired of all these extras and NPCs - I want the boss battle already. Say, Kurogiri -” and his mouth stretched into a wide, gruesome smile. “What do you say we leave All-Might a message that he can't ignore? Noumu.” The monster cocked its head.

And Izuku knew what was going to happen, could see the blood, his classmates’ bodies - “No!” he cried out, and then his brain caught up with his mouth. “Hey.” He gentled his tone and outstretched his hands, a placating gesture. “Hey, there’s no need for that.” He didn’t look at the monster, although he could hear its loud breath near his ear. “I can explain why All-Might isn’t here today.”

“Oh?” Shigaraki cocked his head to one side. Izuku could see a thoughtful narrowing of the eyes behind the hand that covered his face.

“Yes.” Izuku lied through his teeth. “It’s a story, for sure. Bear with me - it can be a little hard to believe in parts.” He smiled, and hoped that his terror and his panic and his rage didn’t show. “But I suppose that’s how you know it’s real.”

“Hard to believe?” Shigaraki echoed. “How’s that?”

“Everything thinks that All-Might is paragon of virtue,” Izuku said. Reflect his beliefs, he thought. Create a rapport. “But it’s a carefully crafted image, and all of this class has been forced to be a part of that.”

“Hmm?” Shigaraki leaned forward, his eyes fixed on Izuku. Hooked, Izuku thought, a touch hysterically. Now I’ve just got to keep him on the line.

“You said that you expected him to be here?”

Shigaraki nodded and he scratched at his neck in agitation. “He was scheduled to be here! He was supposed to be here!”

That was more information than Izuku expected him to divulge. If he hadn’t already uncovered the hack, this would have been enough for him to suspect something similar. Scheduled to be here, like Shigaraki had seen the schedule.

“They write it on all of our schedules.” At least Shigaraki’s slip let Izuku reasonably make up some sort of explanation about that which would satisfy him. “Even our internal ones, even though he never shows up. They tell us to tell reporters, our friends, and even our parents that All-Might teaches us, that he cares about our education. I mean, they eat it up, you know? All-Might teaching the fledgling students of this generation.”

Shigaraki stared at Izuku. “But you don’t believe that?”

Izuku snorted. “He teaches the third-years, the pride and joy of UA. He doesn’t bother with teaching us the basics. I suppose when we’ve got two years of training under our belt he’ll grace us with his presence then.”

Shigaraki studied him for any trace of a lie. Kurogiri shifted beside Izuku. Next to them, Aizawa’s blood seeped into the ground as the monster crouched over his body. Izuku knew what was going to happen next. Shigaraki wasn’t going to buy Izuku’s shitty lies and even shittier acting, and then he would order the Noumu to crush the others and then Izuku himself and he’d just be a smear on the ground, his head cracked open and his brains spilled out on the plaza and, god, his mom would be a mess and Sir would be so disappointed -

“You don’t like All-Might either,” Shigaraki said finally, and Izuku wanted to cry with relief. “Why?”

“I have a mild foresight quirk,” Izuku replied, because apparently this was his go-to lie about his quirk now. Fantastic. “Sometimes, I’m able to get feelings that I need to go somewhere, or that someone or something will be important in the future. But I can’t control it or feel when someone’s in danger or anything useful. But I’ve always wanted to be a hero, even still.”

So Izuku found himself babbling out some sort of bullshit origin story based on a half-dozen of his own childhood misadventures. The main antagonist was a childhood bully that he called Kazuko, just in case he started to say “Kacchan” and had to correct himself quickly. Kazuko was a lot meaner than Kacchan had ever been. He was permanently upset at “Nobu’s” tendency to always be exactly where Kazuko didn’t want him to be, thanks to his foresight quirk. Honestly, that part was actually kinda true, except Izuku didn’t have a quirk, just a pair of ears and a knack for deducing where Kacchan was going to corner his victim of the day.

Izuku made Kazuko’s quirk the ability to control fire, because Izuku had spent a solid week figuring out the logistics of how a combination between a psychic quirk and a fire breathing quirk could possibly manifest, and he could accurately describe this fictional quirk down to the smallest detail. The last thing he wanted to do was to give Shigaraki any usable information, even accidentally.

Not that he hadn’t already done that with “Nakahara Nobu”, but he’d deal with that when he had to.

Shigaraki ate it up, his eyes fixed hungrily on Izuku. Izuku made a particularly biting comment about “Kazuko”, and when he saw the flash of a smile, he continued to sprinkle his tale with plenty of cynicism and bitterness. “Nobu” was angry at Kazuko and the classmates and the teachers that supported his behavior, but most of all, he was angry at the society that he wanted to be a part of and which continually denied him membership.

Izuku hated the vitriol that dripped from his tongue, because only part of it was faked. He spewed out every terrible thing he’d ever thought about Kacchan and the rest of his tormentors, and Shigaraki became more and more gleeful with every word.

“By the time I was fourteen, I was almost ready to give up on my dream of being a hero.” Izuku continued. It felt like he’d been talking for hours, the fear stretching out every minute into an eternity. Izuku wished that he had some goal, some deadline, because if he knew that it would be over soon, it would make it easier to keep going. Now, the future stretched before him - an endless trial of deception until he made one wrong move, and then, bam. Death by monster.

“But then I had what seemed like a stroke of luck at the time. I got to meet my favorite hero, All-Might.”

Izuku couldn’t describe the sludge villain incident where he actually met All-Might. His name, and Kacchan’s, were in the intelligence briefs about that incident, and although calling himself Nakahara Nobu would give anyone a good starting point for figuring out his real name, he wouldn’t make it easier than it had to be.

He bastardized some incident from five years ago with a villain that could shift into a dragon-like monster, and that was close enough.

“And then, on that roof, I asked All-Might if I could be a hero. Me - scrawny, weak, with a sub-par quirk. I was fast though, and smart - he’d seen that with the dragon. I asked him, with all the hope I could muster.”

“He said no,” Shigaraki interrupted with a truly horrific, gleeful smile.

“He said no,” Izuku confirmed. Actually, he had asked All-Might why he didn’t talk to Sir Nighteye anymore, which had been awkward and kind of terrible, but it had led to the two of them talking again. Sir had been a lot happier after that, so Izuku couldn’t regret it.

But asking All-Might if he could be a hero was a much better story and dovetailed nicely into this narrative of “All-Might is a horrible, self-centered man whose only concern is his public image.”

“Why did you go to UA, then?” Shigaraki asked.

Izuku shrugged as casually as he could. “I’m not in the habit of listening to people’s negative opinions of me. And honestly, I want to see the look on his face when I become a hero.”

Shigaraki laughed, an awful, grating thing, but Izuku smiled at him the best he could. For the first time since Kurogiri had thwarted their escape plans, Izuku began to hope that he could get them all out of this alive.

And this was, of course, the moment when Kacchan decided to barrel in.

He lunged at Kurogiri with a roar, explosions sparking from his palms. Kurogiri went down, narrowly missing Izuku, with an enraged Kacchan on top of him. It would be funny if it didn’t spell the end of whatever hopes Izuku had entertained for a bloodless escape.

“Noumu,” Shigaraki hissed, his eyes narrowed to slits. “Get him off of Kurogiri.”

Kacchan, you idiot, Izuku thought despairingly, as his childhood friend was grabbed by a huge, black, muscled hand.

“H-he’s just protecting me,” stammered Izuku. He couldn’t let Kacchan die, not right in front of him, not when he could have prevented it. “Forgive him, please - he gets violent when he’s scared.”

(“I’m not scared Deku, you little shit!” roared Kacchan from above them, where he was clutched in the Noumu’s fist. There was the sound of explosions, but the Noumu didn’t even flinch.)

“He hurt Kurogiri,” spat Shigaraki, and indeed, Kurogiri hadn’t gotten up yet. Izuku crouched beside the man, his hands hovering over the chestplate. He wasn’t sure what he could do, but his panicked mind was throwing up images of Kacchan crushed, his body torn in two, his corpse splayed out on the plaza like Aizawa-san…

Luckily, Kurogiri groaned, and Izuku scuttled out of the way as the man rose to his feet.

“I’m fine, Shigaraki Tomura,” he assured them in his deep voice. “Retribution is not necessary.”

“What was that low-level grunt trying to do?” Shigaraki hissed at Izuku.

“He’s just protecting me,” Izuku repeated. “T-that’s my childhood friend, Katsuki. He - he hated when Kazuko would beat up on me, but there’s not much he could do, considering that Kazuko could control the flames from his explosions as well -” Izuku was well aware of the irony of casting Kacchan in an heroic role against himself.

(“Fuck off, Deku!”)

“Deku?” Shigaraki asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

“A childhood nickname. An affectionate one!”

“Doesn’t sound like a very affectionate guy.”

“It’s his way of showing he cares,” Izuku explained frantically. Shigaraki looked unconvinced.

“He probably thought that you were threatening me,” Izuku continued. Shigaraki’s expression didn’t change. Izuku was running out of options. “Can you please - I mean, he’s very sorry. I’m very sorry. Don’t hurt him, please?”

Shigaraki stared at him for a long moment. “It would send a message to All-Might,” he finally said thoughtfully. “If we killed him.”

(“Don’t you even think about it, motherfucker! I’ll kill you first!”)

Izuku’s heart leapt into his throat. No, no, no one else could die on his watch, please. “He likes All-Might about as much as I do,” he babbled. “He was so upset when I told him about how All-Might destroyed my dreams, please, he’s supported me all this time -”

Kacchan was mercifully silent above them, and Izuku fervently thanked the universe for small mercies.

“Fine,” Shigaraki huffed. “Kurogiri, warp him away.”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Kacchan screamed before he was swallowed up by a portal.

Izuku hoped that Kurogiri hadn’t warped him to someplace more dangerous than the USJ, but there wasn’t much he could do about that now. At least he was out of the line of fire. Izuku allowed himself to breathe a small sigh of relief.

“If I can’t kill him, can I kill the rest of these extras?” Shigaraki asked, turning his attention to the students in the plaza.

More had joined the group since Izuku had been stalling. They’d kept calm and quiet, and several of them were huddled together - discussing extraction plans, Izuku hoped. But he wished now that they had regrouped somewhere far, far away.

“Please don't.” His voice was weak, even to his own ears.

“Why shouldn't I?” Shigaraki slanted an expectant look at Izuku.

Why shouldn’t he? Because Izuku had already seen two heroes die in front of him today, testaments to his failures. Because these students were his responsibility and he knew their names and their hopes and their fears and if any of them died, a part of Izuku would die with them. Because their deaths would be senseless, useless things - sacrifices to a madman’s sadism. Because he’d see their faces in his dreams, accusing, condemning.

Because Izuku had known them for less than a week, and he already loved them.

But he couldn’t say any of that. “They're innocent of all of this,” Izuku replied. He couldn't think of any other excuses. His mind was blank. He stared at the huddled group of students and prayed that they’d just run. “They aren't guilty of All-Might's crimes.”

“You really are a hero, aren't you?” Shigaraki asked, his mouth quirked into a smile. His eyes were humorless.

“I don’t think so,” Izuku replied, the first truth he’d told Shigaraki. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be a hero.”

“You seem pretty heroic to me. Tell me, Nobu, would you die for them?”

If he said no, Shigaraki would take that as permission to do whatever he liked to the rest of the students. Any of Izuku’s protests would only mildly slow him down. And if Izuku changed his answer to yes, then Shigaraki would be less than pleased about that. He seemed childishly unhappy about any sort of change or unexpected roadblock.

What else could he say? “Yes,” he answered helplessly, truthfully. “Yes I would.”

Shigaraki pouted. “How disappointing. You’re more boring than I thought you were. Ah well, we'll see how long that lasts. Noumu.”

This was it. Izuku swallowed thickly. He'd bought them some time, at least. He'd done that much. He was going to die, but maybe his classmates would survive. Maybe, just maybe, he had stalled long enough for them to engineer their own escape. He could only hope.

Shigaraki jerked his head toward Izuku. “Get rid of him.”

There was a blur at the corner of his vision and then a thundering impact along the side of his body.

The world went black.

Chapter Text

Villain attack at UA!

Updated 3 min ago

At 1:15pm today, April 8th, villains invaded UA High School and attacked one of the first-year heroics classes, Class 1-A.

No details are known about this attack, but representatives from the Nighteye Agency and the police were observed arriving onsite. No casualties have been reported, but several people have sustained grievous injury and were rushed to the Mustafu General Hospital.

“The incident is under control,” Nedzu told the assembled press. “The safety and the well-being of our students is our top priority here at UA, and thanks to the timely intervention of All-Might and our other staff members, all of the hero course students are unharmed. Several heroes and associated staff were harmed in the course of duty, but are expected to make a full recovery.”

However, anonymous sources say that the rescue of the students was not as straightforward as the school suggests. One student from another department told us - “I heard that the students were trapped with the villains for almost half an hour. And apparently one of them was almost killed?”

Questions about UA’s security are already being raised. “How could this have happened at a school that claims to have the best security in Japan?” asked Ibu Ryuuzaki, Japan’s Minister of Education. “Just yesterday, there was a major gate malfunction, and now villains have managed to infiltrate the school and threaten our children. UA’s failing security could have disastrous consequences for these children and for Japan as a whole.”

Kouhai

Mirio: hey have fun at the USJ today! i rlly liked that area as a 1 year!
Izuku: thanks! i will!
Izuku: be careful today, okay?
Mirio: I will! dont worry about me!

Mirio: oh god i just heard
Mirio: are u ok

Mirio: apparently no one died ok
Mirio: thats good
Mirio: hey buddy i know u have a lot goign on but
Mirio: plz text me back

Mirio: hey sorry for all the texts but
Mirio: heard there were some bad injuries
Mirio: are u ok?

Mirio: its not like u not to text back
Mirio: maybe ur phones off
Mirio: or was destroyed or smthg

Mirio: ok its rlly like u to get hurt tho
Mirio: plz text back
Mirio: plz
Mirio: plz dont have done smthg stupid

Mirio: im calling sir

Transcript of phone conversation, made from an internal UA line from Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956) to Midoriya Inko:

Midoriya: Hello, this is Midoriya Inko speaking. Is this about my son?

Nighteye: Hello, Inko -

Midoriya: Osamu? This isn't from your personal - oh no.

Nighteye: Inko -

Midoriya: Oh no, oh no, oh no -

Nighteye: Inko! Izuku is fine. He's fine, I promise. Please, breathe with me. In… out… in…

Midoriya: (Panicked breathing, slowly decreasing in speed)

Nighteye: Good, good, very good. I'm sorry, Inko, I didn't think about what you'd assume, getting a call from this number.

Midoriya: Why are you - why are you calling now, then, Osamu? And from UA?

Nighteye: Well, Izuku is going to be fine, but -

Midoriya: Oh no, Osamu -

Nighteye: He’s injured.

Midoriya: What happened? It’s only the first week of school!

Nighteye: There was a villain attack, and Izuku, he, well -

Midoriya: Are the other students okay?

Nighteye: Yes, they’re unharmed, thanks to Izuku.

Midoriya: He - of course he did. Reckless, heroic son of mine.

Nighteye: (Chuckles) He is that. We’ve sent him to Mustafu General Hospital to recover, but he’s healing fine. He has some cracked ribs and a concussion. Recovery Girl healed him as best she could, but he needs overnight observation for the concussion.

Midoriya: Thank you, Osamu.

Nighteye: Don’t thank me. I’m sorry I didn’t do more to prevent this.

Midoriya: I’ll thank you if I like, sir. You’re good to him. Will I see you there?

Nighteye: At the hospital? Eventually. I have to interview the students and compile the intelligence brief, but after that I’ll head over.

Midoriya: Good. Take care of yourself.

Nighteye: Thank you, Inko. I’ll see you later.

Excerpt from “Villainy: The Vilification of the Lower Class” by Edward C. Rhodes, published in 2087:

It was a vicious spiral - the fear of certain quirks made individuals with those quirks essentially unemployable. While there were quirk restriction and quirk disclosure laws on the books, the US lagged behind in quirk non-discrimination legislation. It was far from the only country in which this was the case. In 2030, only Denmark, Sweden, and Finland had added quirk non-discrimination laws into their existing battery of non-discrimination legislature, and these were three of the countries with the smallest quirked populations. Many other countries had even gone a step further than the US and added quirk registration laws to their anti-quirk laws.

Thus, when applying for schools and jobs and housing, quirked individuals had to disclose their quirk along with a medical professional’s assessment of their quirk. Certain quirks - striking mutation quirks, “dangerous” transformation and emitter type quirks, and any mental-based quirk - were severely discriminated against, and these quirked individuals disproportionally found themselves unemployed, homeless, and hopeless. Their children would be in the same position as well, as quirks were extremely heritable. Is it any wonder that these individuals would turn to crime when society left no other options open to them?

Of course, since it was quirked people committing these crimes, the media was quick to slap the label “villain” on them, as opposed to the quirked “heroes”. The damage of this terminology cannot be overstated. For generations, “villain” was the term for storybook criminals - larger than life characters without any sort of sympathetic backstory. Their purpose in these stories was to be a terrible, irredeemable character for the hero to overcome. So people didn’t see the desperate person behind the criminal with a mutation quirk; they only saw a terrifying villain with spikes and claws. Thus, people with spikes and claws and other “villainous” quirks were seen as even more dangerous. This vicious cycle continues today, despite the dedicated work of quirk activists.

Transcript of debrief of Kouda Kouji by Nedzu (HID: 2333077), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), April 8, 2179 at 3:15pm, Police Case #06618760:

Nedzu: Kouda-kun, I will be serving as a translator today, as I am fluent in sign language. My words will be logged as your responses in the official transcript of this interview. Is this acceptable?

Kouda: Yes.

Tsukauchi: Great. Thank you, Kouda, for staying after school for this.

Kouda: Of course. Is Midoriya okay?

Nighteye: A few broken ribs and a minor concussion. He’ll be fine.

Kouda: Thank you. I was so worried about him. It’s my fault that he was hurt.

Nedzu: Kouda-kun, no, it’s not your fault.

Kouda: But it is! When the bird was captured, Midoriya had to talk to the villains to give me another chance. If I had just given the bird better instructions, then everyone would have been okay.

Nighteye: Due to other factors, the heroes took long enough to arrive that Midoriya-kun would have had to stall regardless. This situation isn’t your fault.

Tsukauchi: Speaking of, how did you get the beacon out of the USJ? None of the other students have been able to give us a complete picture of that yet.

Kouda: Did they tell you about Midoriya’s plans?

Tsukauchi: Yes, we’ve covered both of them.

Kouda: Okay, so Midoriya subtly handed me the beacons before he went to talk with the villains. And I had no idea what to do with them. Midoriya’s plans were better than anything I could come up with. So I was frantically trying to think of something when Uraraka arrived with Tsuyu and Iida in tow. And then I realized that we could adapt Midoriya’s plan.

So I mimed a quick outline of the plan to Uraraka, and I don’t think she really understood much of it. But she did make the beacon weightless like she did with the baseball in Sensei’s quirk test. And then I threw it towards the ceiling, but I missed the hole in the glass. I didn’t know what I should do, or if I should try again. But then the beacon unfolded legs like a spider, which was really disgusting, but it made me think of insects. I really don’t like insects. I can talk to them but they creep me out.

But Midoriya was talking to the really scary villains and I figured that talking to insects isn’t half as terrifying as talking to those terrible people. So I asked a bunch of ants to crawl up the glass and push the beacon over to the hole in the glass. And then another bird was able to retrieve it after it floated out of the hole. It also ate a couple of the ants, I think.

Nighteye: That was quick thinking on your part.

Kouda: Not quick enough, but thank you.

Nedzu: Kouda-kun, without you, your teachers and Midoriya-kun would have perished. Don’t doubt that you are a true hero.

Kouda: I hope for that to someday be true. Will you give Midoriya my best wishes? And tell him I’m sorry.

Nighteye: I will, but I doubt that he will accept your apology. He’ll be grateful that your quick actions saved both him and the others.

Kouda: Thank you.

Excerpt from Hero Analysis for the Present, Vol. 4, by Midoriya Izuku:

Copied from Hero Analysis for the Future, Vol. 10:

Hero Name: Scheherazade
Legal Name: Unknown
Affiliation: IACUC (Underground Hero)
Debut: Unknown (late 2170 - no earlier than Sept, no later than Dec)

Quirk: Unknown. A vocal quirk - forces others to respond, but must have specific activation requirements since teammates do not necessarily respond after she talks to them (see “Underground Operation in Action! Video 34!”). Name comes from the fictional woman who delayed her death by telling stories every night. As an underground hero, unlikely that this would provide a hint to the activation conditions since that would be suicidal, but very likely that she primarily uses her quirk as a stall tactic.

Skills: Long-term undercover work (bust of Double S dealers in 2171 with Mask, see “Mask Unmasks Drug Ring!” in the Tokyo Herald), hand-to-hand combat (see “Underground Operation in Action! Video 34!” and “some guys get asses beat”), diffusing tense situations (rescued hostages in Saitama bank robbery, see stills 2B, 14, and 22 from public criminal case filing 210221743B).

Background: Mask has claimed in an interview that Scheherazade and Mask were classmates, but Mask is known for purposefully misleading fans. So this may or may not be true. We don’t even know where Mask went to school, so this isn’t helpful at all. There’s a picture from 2176 of that year’s batch of IACUC interns that got archived on HeroInfo before IACUC took it down, and one of them looks somewhat similar to Scheherazade.

Update:

Scheherazade is a very nice hero and she signed the letter that IACUC sent me after the incident. I’ve talked to Sir and Bubble Girl about her quirk - apparently if she starts to say anything with a narrative, the listener will feel an intense urge to complete the story truthfully to the best of their ability (so useful for both stalling and interrogation). Her hero name is more on the nose than expected, although I suppose even knowing the activation requirements, you can’t stop it. She’s apparently very good at phrasing things for her teammates in non-narrative form - “The hostages are inside. I can see them. There are villains there. Twelve.” versus “It looks like twelve of the villains brought the hostages here and tied them up.”

According to Bubble Girl, Scheherazade and Mask are engaged, but she was told this by Mask, so we’re back to square one with that.

Transcript of debrief of All-Might (HID: 4542298) by Nedzu (HID: 2333077), Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), and Tsukauchi Naomasa (PID: 005-580-296), April 8, 2179 at 4:50pm, Police Case #06618760:

All-Might: This isn't being recorded?

Sir Nighteye: Just audio, not video.

All-Might: Good, that's… good.

Tsukauchi: Are you alright, Toshi?

All-Might: Will Midoriya-shounen be okay?

Nedzu: He has some cracked ribs and a concussion -

Sir Nighteye: He had pretty extensive internal injuries. If Recovery Girl had gotten to him ten minutes later, she wouldn't have been able to do much. She can't take blood out of the abdominal cavity.

Nedzu: Sir Nighteye -

Sir Nighteye: What? He's not a student or a reporter. It's not necessary to feed him the party line. Izuku currently has cracked ribs and a concussion because Recovery Girl's quirk can heal only as much damage as the person's energy can sustain. As it is, Izuku won't wake up for a couple of days at least.

All-Might: Shit. Shit, I’m so sorry.

Tsukauchi: It’s not your fault, Toshinori. You arrived as fast as you could.

Sir Nighteye: It wasn’t fast enough.

Nedzu: Sir Nighteye, you are out of line. Do I have to ask you to leave the room like with Bakugou-kun’s interview? I understand that Midoriya-kun’s injury is upsetting -

Sir Nighteye: (Snorts) Upsetting, yes, that’s the word for it.

Nedzu: But that is no excuse to vent your vitriol at All-Might. This was not his fault. We were all expecting the attack at a different location.

Sir Nighteye: It took twenty minutes for the heroes to arrive, Nedzu. Twenty minutes. The villains could have slaughtered them all. And it was only my - I mean, it was only Izuku who stood between them and wholesale destruction.

Nedzu: It was a failure of information, Sir Nighteye. We interpreted our data erroneously. That isn’t All-Might’s fault, is it?

Sir Nighteye: No. I suppose not.

Nedzu: And Eraserhead and Thirteen, who also bought time for the children - are you discounting their sacrifices? Was this their fault?

Sir Nighteye: I get it, Nedzu!

(Pause.)

All-Might: Osamu -

Sir Nighteye: (Muffled) I’m sorry, Toshi. (Clearer) I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Of course it’s not your fault.

All-Might: It’s not your fault either -

Sir Nighteye: Alright, let’s move on.

All-Might: Wait a sec-

Sir Nighteye: I do want to be able to visit Izuku at the hospital, so can we continue? I’m sorry that my outburst derailed us.

Nedzu: (Sighs) Yes, that would be for the best. All-Might, if you would describe for us your encounter with the villains at the USJ?

All-Might: I… Yes, alright. I suppose I should start from when I arrived?

Tsukauchi: Yes, that’s fine. When you’re ready.

All-Might: The doors were closed shut when I got there. I had around twenty other teachers with me - I don’t remember their names.

Nedzu: That’s fine! We have records of which teachers participated in the battle.

All-Might: Ah, that’s good. Well then, I broke down the doors since they were unresponsive to our UA keycards. When the dust cleared, I saw the two leaders, one made of mist and the other one covered in hands. In front of them was Eraserhead, who was motionless on the ground, and a gigantic monster. It had pitch black skin, a beak, and its… brain was exposed.

Nighteye: The mist man is Kurogiri and the man with the hands is Shigaraki Tomura.

All-Might: Ah, yes, thank you. I didn’t catch their names. Or maybe I didn’t remember them? You remember how bad my memory is. (Chuckles.)

(Pause)

All-Might: Ah, yes, well, anyway… Where was I?

Tsukauchi: The Noumu, I believe.

All-Might: Oh, right! The monster was staring at a small, crumpled form, which I… realized was Midoriya-shounen. I didn’t know what had happened to him, but the sight of him and Eraserhead enraged me. The - Shigaraki, I suppose, was excited to see me, because apparently these villains had broken into UA with the sole purpose of killing me.

Nedzu: I do doubt that, but continue.

Tsukauchi: You doubt that, Principal? But multiple students have testified to the same.

Nedzu: Oh no, I’m sure that is what the villains were saying. They certainly all claimed to be attacking UA to kill All-Might, but consider - why would they undergo such a risky plan to attack a hero who regularly makes appearances in the surrounding area?

Sir Nighteye: They specifically wanted to attack All-Might at UA.

Nedzu: Exactly. In their stated mission, they failed grievously. For here is All-Might, alive and as healthy as he could be. But they have succeeded in what was almost certainly their real goal - they have undermined both UA and myself.

Sir Nighteye: I would accuse you of narcissism, but…

Nedzu: Yes, you see it as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if Midoriya has come to the same conclusion. We were operating under the assumption that the only reason villains would attempt to overcome UA’s legendary security was to attack a target that could only be located here - our students. But we failed to consider the larger picture. UA is kept independent and secure because of its reputation - a reputation that All-Might has only bolstered by his association with us and his recent appointment here.

Tsukauchi: So if UA’s reputation were to suffer -

Sir Nighteye: So would All-Might’s, and vice versa.

Nedzu: These villains are focused not only on killing All-Might, but destroying his reputation and the reputation of anything associated with him. They wish for nothing less than the downfall of the Symbol of Peace and the society built around him.

(Silence)

Tsukauchi: Well, fuck.

Shouta <3

Hizashi: usj today! your favorite :P
Shouta: yeah
Shouta: hey Hizashi
Hizashi: yeah?
Shouta: I love you
Hizashi: awww shouta!!! i love u 2~

Hizashi: there’s an alarm
Hizashi: where r u?

Hizashi: intruders at the usj shouta
Hizashi: shouta please text me back

Hizashi: they say that its touch and go rn
Hizashi: listen shouta if u dont make it i’ll kill u myself

Hizashi: its 3am and i can’t sleep
Hizashi: one of your kids is in here too
Hizashi: his mom brushed out my hair earlier tonight
Hizashi: she was so worried and frantic and sir nighteye was trying his best to calm her down but he’s kinda a hot mess
Hizashi: at the emotions thing i mean
Hizashi: i know that i have no room to call anyone else a hot mess
Hizashi: so u don’t have to drag me, i did it myself
Hizashi: anyway yeah she obvs needed something to do so i played up my old shoulder injury
Hizashi: and she brushed out my hair
Hizashi: she’s asleep now
Hizashi: sir nighteye’s still awake
Hizashi: i wonder if the kid’s his intern
Hizashi: the one you were telling me about with the kidnapping case
Hizashi: the kid’s mom is asleep on nighteye’s shoulder
Hizashi: it’s unbearably cute
Hizashi: like he’s all stern and shit and so professional
Hizashi: but there’s this motherly sweet woman drooling on his shoulder
Hizashi: and he’s oh so careful not to disturb her

Hizashi: i miss u shouta
Hizashi: wake up soon

Unnumbered letter, collected in Destro’s Complete Collected Letters, complied by Ishikawa Kazue, banned in 2060:

To those who are in power, who enforce their control over the free will of others, I address this letter:

You are scared. I can understand that - what man has not quavered in the face of overwhelming force? When the Persians fell upon the Greeks at Thermopylae, with a force a hundred fold greater, the Greeks surely shook in their boots and prayed to their Gods. Yet they held their ground and although they perished, they are immortalized forever for their bravery. To fear is to be human. But to be a coward is not.

You speak of the danger arising from the use of special abilities. You claim that deregulating special abilities will bring chaos, disorder, and the fall of society. You liken the use of special abilities to a weapon, and say that free use of them will lead to violence across the country.

This rhetoric is inherently flawed at its most basic premise. Special abilities are not weapons, for a weapon, by its very definition, is separate from the person that wields it. A special ability is more akin to an arm, a hand, an eye. It is a part of a person's identity. Your logic falls apart at the slightest breath of air - but then, logic is not what you are concerned with.

Leaders, your cowardice is showing. You try to alienate us from the best parts of ourselves. You call them “quirks” - strange, unusual traits. You claim that they could be used for harm, discounting the characters of those that have these special abilities. But the truth is that you are afraid that if you let everyone use their special abilities, they will realize that yours is a corrupt, oppressive regime and they will overthrow you.

You are half-right, but not for the reasons you think you are. There will be a revolution. But it will not be because special abilities were unregulated - it will be because of your regulations.

See the folly of your ways or be the first to fall.

Destro

From: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>, Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
CC: All Might <[email protected]>, Sansa Tamakawa <[email protected]>, Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: League of Villains

I’ve been searching in our records and I’ve been leaning on Organized Crime, but so far it looks like no one from any division has heard of these guys before. I don’t know how they recruited this many small-time villains - every one of the guys we picked up has a rap sheet. I certainly don’t know how someone or something like Noumu flew under our radar.

We recovered the body of Noumu. It landed not too far from the USJ, but the force of All-Might’s punches combined with the height from which it eventually fell means that a lot of the external features are too damaged to be of any use in identification. The folks down at the lab are going to hold off on the autopsy until I give the word. I’d like to have Midoriya’s ideas about this before I proceed. He’s the only one that was really able to observe Noumu or talk to the villains at length. He’s likely to have unique insight on this.

I’ll keep you abreast of any developments on our end. Let me know when Midoriya-kun wakes up.

Tsukauchi Naomasa


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>, Centipeder <[email protected]>, Awata Kaoruko <[email protected]>
CC: All Might <[email protected]>, Sansa Tamakawa <[email protected]>, Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: League of Villains
Tsukauchi,

I highly doubt that this Noumu “flew under the radar” entirely. Bubble Girl is combing back through incident reports for anyone fitting its description or any mention of something like it in our criminal interviews. Our records are broader than police records, and I’ve got IACUC pressuring other hero agencies for their intelligence briefs and incident reports. (Since Eraserhead is one of theirs, all of the underground heroes are up in arms.) We’ll find something, I’m sure.

Midoriya-kun is still asleep. The doctors are expecting him to wake up sometime today.

Sir Nighteye

hawksmeup:

wow okay so we all knew that Tornadoom was a piece of shit but I’m still surprised about the bullshit he spouted today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

allrightallmight:

omg what the fuck. he really just said that quirkless ppl are a waste of space. he said that on national television. What The Fuck

gottaSANIC:

lol yeah but nothing’s gonna happen to him like usual. It’s gonna be like the Grandstander incident from ten years ago. And Grandstander actually flat out killed a quirkless person.

allrightallmight:

wait what the fuck?

cookiemomster:

oh baby you don’t know about Grandstander aka Grand Slaughter? okay sit tight and get ready for a history lesson because i was in the midst of this when it all went down.

Ten years ago, Grandstander was a small-time mainstream hero. He’d been sidekicking for Jocular up in Hokkaido, but Hokkaido was too small for this Grand boy. He wanted money and fame and all the shit that careless men with good quirks and a bad work ethic want. So he moved down to the Tokyo area and started his own agency, which like, yeah, stupid as fuck, because you can’t break into the Tokyo scene unless you went to UA and sidekicked with someone in the Top Ten which uhhhhhh Grandstander definitely didn’t. Small-time boys from Hokkaido ain’t gonna make it big, no matter how much they whine.

So yeah, he’s in Tokyo now and he’s “in a bad neighborhood”, which of course means one with a lot of poverty, a lot of mutation quirks, and, of course, a number of quirkless people. His agency (which is just him and his best friend), looks like it’s doing well on paper, but Grandstander fell into the trap that all country boys do - “oh look, there’s so many areas of Tokyo that aren’t well patrolled!”

Yes, there’s quite a few, and that’s because no one cares about the thirty pickpockets you caught in an area populated by people that no one cares about. You aren't gonna be on the news, and your neighborhood won't be thankful either, because they know how it goes with gung-ho boys like you.

And sure enough it did. Grandstander claimed that Kisakawa Yukio was assaulting her boyfriend, but eyewitness accounts clearly show that Grandstander picked a fight with the boy, who had a particularly “menacing” mutation quirk (like we don't know what that's code for), and Yukio intervened. Grandstander purposely and knowingly slapped his hand on her chest, sending shockwaves through her body, pulverizing her internal organs.

He got more news time for this incident than he had in his entire heroic career. And it was clear to all of us who was the victim in the eyes of the public.

What a scandal! What a shame! But this was a case of a quirkless person being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and what did she expect, hanging around lowlifes in those sorts of neighborhoods?

So once again, her quirklessness made her a darling angel who couldn't possibly protect herself, but also made her responsible for any situation she ended up in, since she “should have known it was too dangerous” and she “should've been more careful.”

I was friends with Yukio. We went to the same middle school, and we bonded over being quirkless. I am viscerally aware that what happened to her could happen to me. To any of us. Sure, it wasn't a “hate crime”, but a year later, Grandstander lost his hero license for assaulting a quirked man. That was where the Hero Public Safety Commission drew the line - not at quirkless death, but at quirked injury. If the quirked man had died, I'm sure Grandstander would be in jail now. So people will gasp over insensitive remarks and cry over the poor, innocent quirkless souls who die at the hands of villains and heroes alike, but we're all very aware that to them, we are a waste of space. Disposable. This is old news.

Sir Nighteye

Centipeder: the group from the office is here, sir
Nighteye: I told you they wouldn't let anyone but Inko into the room
Centipeder: doesn't matter
Centipeder: we have some get well cards
Centipeder: and i think we'd all like the reassurance that he's breathing
Nighteye: fair enough. I'll come down and grab you.

Centipeder: are you doing okay sir?
Nighteye: I'm fine.
Centipeder: with all due respect sir, that's bullshit
Centipeder: we've been working together for over ten years now
Centipeder: you're barely keeping it together
Centipeder: let me help
Centipeder: we're a team, aren't we?
Nighteye: Thank you, but I’m fine.
Nighteye: Truly.

Personal account of an urban legend about a man who could give and take quirks, collected from Fujita Miyu (87) in Nigata, collected by Saitou Ayano in 2139. Recording destroyed in 2150, surviving transcript is archived in the Saitou house:

Recording starts.

I know that he won’t come after me. Yoshi and Kisa were the ones who did it, and it’s been fifty years. I bet he doesn’t even remember me. Maybe he’s dead. And even if he is alive and he does remember, he probably didn’t see my face, right? I’ve survived all these years. I’m sure I’ll be okay. But in the back of my mind, I think…

Sorry. I didn't mean to ramble. You wanted to know about the man who could give and take quirks. There were legends about him in the circles I ran in. “All for One”, some called him. One older man called him the “Eye Keeper”, but I sure as hell don't know what that means. No one really thought he was real. Except for that older man though - I think his name was… Yoshiyama? Yama…guchi? Something like that. He claimed that his grandfather had been killed by the man. But he also claimed that he was going to live on the moon and that'd he'd married a princess once upon a time, so none of us really believed anything he said.

So it wasn't like we were looking for All for One. Or even watching out for him. We were just trying to make a couple bucks by hitting this drug den. It was Double S, so, you know, common, but big money. We'd steal a couple kilos, sell some of it for a few grand, and keep the rest to keep us happy for a while.

We didn't think anyone was there. No one should have been there. But we were sneaking through the warehouse and my friend screamed. It was the most chilling sound I've ever heard. She screamed and then there was a snap, and the man was there, and he was wreathed with flame.

That was Kisa's quirk. Flame Halo, she called it. Pretty useless for heroics but good for intimidation if you used it right. It wasn't just flame in a halo, either. There was something else to it, something more - My point is, Kisa's quirk was unique, but somehow this man had it.

I barely had time to process that before Yoshi screamed too. The fires flickered out, but there was only a moment of darkness before Yoshi started to burn. It was Kisa's flames, but they were inside of him somehow. They were right under his skin, burning him from the inside out. And he screamed and he screamed and he screamed….

I ran. My clothes stank of charred flesh. I smelled it for weeks, even after I washed my clothes and cut off my hair, even after Kisa returned to our flat, blank-faced and hollowed-eyed. She didn't cuss me out for running and leaving her there. She just whispered, “he took it, he took it,” and stared off into nothing.

She died two months later. Brain aneurysm, the doctors said, but I doubt that was the real reason. For the last two months of her life, she didn't have a quirk. I think that's what killed her.

And I never saw Yoshi again.

Recording ends.

Izuku woke with a scream lodged in his throat. He gasped past it as his fingers scrambled for purchase. His ribs screamed as he jolted up to a sitting position. The ground was soft beneath him, but there was the cold bite of metal right next to him -

“Izuku, Izuku, calm down! Izuku, you’re fine - breathe.”

The familiar voice broke through his panic. He tried to obey and slow his frantic breaths.

“That’s it,” Sir Nighteye soothed him, rubbing small circles on his back. “That’s it, in and out. Breathe with me.”

Izuku finally registered that he wasn’t in the USJ. He was in a hospital, and Sir Nighteye was perched in an armchair next to Izuku’s bed. And when he realized that, the events of the afternoon came flooding back.

“Ai-Aizawa-san,” Izuku gasped out when he could. “Sir, I’m… I’m so… s-sorry. I tried -” and then he burst into tears. It was too much. He could hear the crack of Aizawa’s head against the pavement, could see the slow seep of blood, could feel the warmth of the spatter of it on his cheeks….

“Izuku, Izuku, it’s fine.” Sir Nighteye awkwardly gathered Izuku into a loose hug. At any other time, Izuku would be embarrassed, both by his tears and by the fact that his emotional display forced Sir Nighteye to comfort him, but the physical contact was too good, too necessary. He hung onto Sir’s shirt and cried into his shoulder.

“It’s fine,” Sir repeated. “Aizawa is going to be okay.”

The shock of it stopped Izuku’s tears. “W-what? I thought - I saw him - He was dead.”

Izuku could feel Sir’s sharp intake of breath. “You thought-? No, no, he’s alive. He hasn’t woken up yet and we won’t know the status of his eyes until he does, but he’s alive.”

“Oh,” Izuku said, and then collapsed back into tears.

“Are those happy tears?” Sir asked, still rubbing circles on Izuku’s back.

Izuku nodded into his shirt.

Sir Nighteye chuckled lightly. “Good. And you’ll be happy to know that Thirteen is fine as well.”

“And the… the rest of the class?” Izuku hiccupped through his sobs.

“They’re fine,” Sir reassured him. “The heroes arrived just after Noumu hit you. You were the only injury.” He pulled back enough to look sternly into Izuku’s eyes. “And don’t think we won’t talk about that.”

“I - I know I fucked up,” Izuku mumbled into Sir’s chest, ducking away from his stare. “I should have been able to get one little beacon out -”

“No,” Sir interrupted harshly. “No, you aren’t allowed to do that to yourself.”

“What?”

Sir gently resettled Izuku against the cushions and handed him a few tissues to wipe away his tears. Izuku tried not to stare at the wet patch on Sir’s shirt.

“You're not allowed to criticize yourself for situations that you handled well,” Sir told him.

“I didn't handle it well,” Izuku protested. “I got Shouji and Ashido warped away, and then I -”

“Izuku,” Sir interrupted. “Look at me.”

Obediently, Izuku looked up at his mentor. Sir locked eyes with him and laid a hand on Izuku's shoulder.

“I am proud of you,” he told Izuku. Utter conviction rang in his voice. “Izuku, I -” His voice cracked. He swallowed thickly. “I am so, so proud of you.”

Sir’s words hit Izuku in the small, wounded part of him. The one that sounded like the bullies, like Kacchan, like the dismissive adults and the apathetic teachers. The one that reminded him that he wasn’t ever good enough, couldn’t possibly be, not weak, quirkless Izuku.

I’m proud of you. The words echoed in his head and he clutched them close. Sir Nighteye was proud of him.

Izuku started to bawl again, and without any hesitation this time, Sir gathered Izuku into his arms. The cold metal of the bed railing pressed into Izuku's hip, but he ignored the small discomfort. He clung to Sir desperately and tucked his head underneath his chin.

They stayed like that for several long minutes until the position started to make Izuku's chest ache. His shifting alerted Sir who rearranged him on the pillows again while informing Izuku that his “ribs would be very delicate for a while” and that he “shouldn't shift position too much, although that was my fault.” Sir also discreetly handed Izuku more tissues so he could dry his eyes again. He noticed Sir surreptitiously wiping a tissue under his own eyes as well.

“Izuku,” Sir continued seriously once they were both settled, “I… I do want to make it clear that you did the best you could in that situation. Your actions saved 22 people, including yourself, from grievous harm or death. But I am concerned about this pattern.”

“What pattern?”

“The one where you place yourself in danger in order to save others.”

“It's not-” Izuku protested.

“Not a pattern?” Sir finished the sentence. “The sludge incident, the USJ…”

“Two data points does not a conclusion make!”

“Don't steal my lines,” replied Sir with a hint of a smile. “And don't think Inko hasn't told me all about your childhood misadventures.”

Izuku huffed, leaning back into the pillows. “You and my mom are conspiring against me.”

Sir Nighteye snorted. “That's one word for it, I suppose.” He straightened up, the humor falling away from his face. “But Izuku, I am deadly serious - your mother and I are worried for you. We both… well, Inko's been handling this incident well. So far, however, I have not.”

“Really?” Izuku asked in disbelief.

“While I am heartened by your faith in me, yes, I've been… well, so far I've yelled at three nurses, one doctor, a traumatized student, and All-Might. So I'm sure that both the hospital staff and my colleagues will be glad to hear that you've woken up.”

“All-Might?!”

“I know you get along with him very well, but we have surprisingly incompatible personalities for two people who worked closely together for a number of years.”

“No,” Izuku clarified. “I mean, why did you yell at All-Might because I was in the hospital?”

Sir Nighteye sighed and removed his glasses to rub at the bridge of his nose. “I yelled at him because I was frightened for you. And mad at myself. We shouldn't have assumed the attack would be focused on the 3rd years, and because of that, you were hurt.”

“I'm fine-”

“You could have died,” Sir Nighteye interrupted harshly. “That's what I'm trying to explain to you. You could have died.”

“I had to save them-”

“And I'm proud of you for it, but Izuku, listen to me.” Sir Nighteye gripped his hand with both of his own. They were shaking, Izuku noticed. “You matter. Your life matters. You are so important to me, and your mother, and your friends, and the world-”

“I wouldn't go that far-”

“I would.” Izuku was struck silent by the burning conviction in Sir's words. “I would. You're the best of us, Izuku. You're 15 and there are already about 50 people that owe you their lives, and that's just the ones you directly saved. You've closed over two dozen cases while you've been with us. You inspire so many people around you to do better, to be better, to strive for more. You are bright and brilliant and I don't want the world to snuff you out. Please,” Sir Nighteye pleaded. “Please consider the worth of your own life.”

What worth? Izuku automatically wanted to ask, because for all Sir’s pretty words and nice intentions, Izuku couldn’t help but think he was a little biased. If any of his classmates had died, Izuku knew that not only would their families and friends be devastated, but the world would have lost a fantastic potential hero. If Izuku had died, Mom and Sir would be sad, and so would the rest of the agency, but really, another analyst could fill Izuku’s position. They’d probably make fewer mistakes than Izuku as well.

But Sir and Mom… they would be really sad if he died. And maybe if he worked harder, became sharper and more cunning, then he wouldn’t have to put himself in dangerous situations. He’d just have to become good enough to not worry everyone. It was an actionable plan. Izuku nodded to himself.

“I'll try,” Izuku promised. “I can't… I don't really think I can… believe all that, but I can… I'll try to consider you and Mom and everyone. Before I put myself in danger again.”

“Good.” Sir Nighteye squeezed his hand one last time before he let it go. He straightened in his chair and cleared his throat. “Now that that's… well, now that we're good with that, there's a few logistical things we need to settle before I call the nurse.”

“Okay?”

“First, you're not to come into the office until you finish a full week of school without incident.”

“What?!” Izuku exclaimed. “That's not fair!”

“It's not a punishment-”

“I should be pulling even more hours - you guys will need all hands on deck for the League of Villains, and we're already overworked-”

“Izuku-”

“We should be getting more interns, not fewer-”

“Izuku!” Sir snapped. Izuku settled down with a mullish cast to his mouth. “You're a gentle soul until someone requests that you don't do work for a couple of weeks. You have a mild concussion, which means you need to not read and not write and not think too much.”

“I'm going to go insane.”

“You're going to take care of yourself is what you're going to do. The exception to this rule is that you can come in to give your statement to us and get showered in get-well-soon gifts from the agency. Tsukauchi also has some questions about Noumu for you.”

“Can I get people to follow up on my hunches at least?”

Sir frowned. “They're all busy, to be honest. You have great ideas, but if they can wait for-”

“If I find a new intern, can they follow up on my hunches?”

Sir Nighteye paused and narrowed his eyes at Izuku. “How long have you been planning to bring this up?”

Izuku shrugged. “Just a couple days. It's been percolating.”

Sir sighed. “Alright, fine. I'll talk to them and see if they're a good fit for the agency. And then if the new intern agrees to work with us, they can follow up on your hunches. Name?”

Izuku typed it out on Sir's phone. “Please don't tell them that I recommended them, though.”

Sir stared at Izuku for a long moment and then sighed again. “I don't know what this is about, but sure. I won't.”

“Thanks!” chirped Izuku. “What was the other problem?”

Sir grimaced. “It’s not quite a problem, per se. But Nedzu, Tsukauchi, Inko, and I all agree that you should start seeing a therapist.”

“What? Why?”

“Izuku,” Sir said, his gaze soft and sympathetic. “You’ve had several traumatic experiences in a short amount of time. First the kidnapping, then this. It helps to have someone with whom you can discuss those sorts of experiences.”

“Can’t I just talk to one of you guys?” Izuku asked a little desperately. “Someone at the agency? It’s a lot of money, and-”
“We care for you and we understand what you’ve been through,” Sir replied. “But no, we’re not trained therapists, so we’re more likely to make things worse than to make things better. And as for cost, Nedzu’s providing the therapist through UA, so your mother won’t have to pay anything.”

“What if I don’t want to talk about it?”

“Then you don’t. But you need to attend therapy, even if you spend the whole hour doodling or twiddling your thumbs.”

Izuku couldn’t express the mixture of emotions churning in his gut - shame, guilt, fear, a hint of betrayal - so he slumped back on the pillows and acquiesced with the barest nod. He wouldn’t talk to the therapist, but if it meant so much to Sir, then he’d go.

Sir Nighteye gave him a relieved smile, which made Izuku instantly feel terrible about his internal resolution not to talk to the therapist. Sir pressed the nurse call button. “Thank you, Izuku. I appreciate you being accommodating about this.”

“Can you get my mom, please?” Izuku asked as Sir rose to his feet. “I'd like to - I mean -”

Sir Nighteye smiled fondly at him. “Of course. I was planning to. Rest well, Izuku.”

“I'll try,” Izuku promised.

“And that's all I can ask for.” Sir ruffled Izuku's hair briefly before the arriving nurse chivvied him out.

He really would try, Izuku told himself. He’d get better so that he could be better. And then this would never happen again.

Sir Nighteye

Nighteye: How do I stop him from getting hurt?
Nighteye: Do I fire him? Advise inko to pull him out of UA?
Nighteye: Would that even help

Nighteye: I’ve never used my quirk on him you know
Nighteye: At first it was just because he was an intern and I didn’t know him well enough to even think of doing so
Nighteye: But then I knew him, and I cared about him, and now
Nighteye: Now I’m afraid that I’ll see him dead in an alley, too young, his eyes wide open and glazed over
Nighteye: Or maybe ripped apart by a monster, not even enough of a body to identify him
Nighteye: Or maybe he'll be screaming my name and I won’t be there
Nighteye: And he'll be dead
Nighteye: Lying on a hospital bed, not breathing
Nighteye: I have dreams about it sometimes
Nighteye: But I can’t use it. I can’t know for sure
Nighteye: Because the only thing worse than this uncertainty would be the truth

Nighteye: I'm sorry. I’ve probably woken you by now.
Centipeder: it's fine sir
Centipeder: i think midoriya scared all of us
Centipeder: but remember you aren't alone
Centipeder: he isn't alone
Nighteye: I know.
Nighteye: And he's capable. Honestly if he wasn't, he and a number of others would already be dead.
Nighteye: But I worry.
Centipeder: as we all do
Centipeder: you're a good mentor sir. I dont think you give yourself enough credit for that
Nighteye: I think I give myself as much credit as I deserve.
Nighteye: Thank you Juso.
Centipeder: of course, osamu

Chapter Text

“I’m very grateful that Sir Nighteye gave me this chance at an early internship. Honestly, very grateful, although I don’t know how or why he knew about me, but why do I have have to go find… every police file between 2000 and 2050 that mentions ‘eyes’?”

Centipeder shuffled through a pile of papers. The exoskeleton made his emotions very difficult to read, but Hitoshi thought that he seemed amused. “Question not the will of the Overseer, Shinsou Hitoshi,” the man told him, and yeah, Centipeder was definitely fucking with him. Great. “His whims are capricious and his self-preservation instinct low. Ouch! Hey, no hitting.”

Bubble Girl thwacked the file threateningly against her open palm. “No messing with the newbie, Centipeder.”

“I’m not messing with him. Am I messing with you?” Centipeder tried to make an expression that was much closer to puppy eyes than a man with a centipede head should have been able to get.

Hitoshi shook his head, entertained despite himself. It helped that even though every member of the agency knew about his quirk, they all talked to him normally. A handful of people had hesitated in answering him during his first day on the job, but a couple of days into this internship and the whole office was treating him like just another intern. Putting up with a bit of teasing in exchange for that was a very, very good deal.

“Well, you’re definitely not doing your work, that’s for sure.”

“I am!” Centipeder protested. “This fine young man wanted to know the reasons behind the whims of our Supreme Overlord, Midoriya Izuku, he of the minor concussion and major internal injuries, and I told him-”

“Wait,” Hitoshi interrupted, stunned. “Midoriya Izuku. He works here?”

Bubble Girl gave him an incredulous look. “Yes? He was the one who recommended you for this position. He didn’t tell you? I thought you were his friend from school.”

“No, I mean, yes - but we’re not - I haven’t been,” Hitoshi stumbled over his words, caught off-guard. “We’re not talking right now?” As soon as he said it, he wanted to smack himself. Way to air your own dirty laundry, Hitoshi.

Bubble Girl’s expression darkened alarmingly. Hitoshi took an involuntary step back. “He’s not talking to you? Doesn’t sound like him.”

“I… I’m not talking to him?”

“If this is about the massive internal injuries,” Centipeder broke in, “Sir’s told us that: ‘No matter how angry we are about Midoriya-kun’s lack of self-preservation, we should keep up a healthy dialogue with him so that he knows that he doesn’t have to put himself at risk in order to win our love and approval.’ Or something like that.”

“The massive internal injuries?” Hitoshi yelped. “What the hell happened to him?” Midoriya had been missing from class for the past week, but Hitoshi had been studiously avoiding thinking about the other boy. So he hadn’t pondered his absence too much. Now he wished that he had allowed himself to ponder it just a little more.

“Oh, did you get the party line?” Centipeder asked. “That’s right. Sir said that they told the UA kids that it was just cracked ribs and a concussion. Which it was, after Recovery Girl helped him out. Don’t go spilling that to the press, by the way, or you’ll have to be terminated. One way or another.”

“No, I didn’t - I mean, what happened?”

Centipeder looked at him sharply. “Aren’t you in his class?”

“Not his hero class,” Bubble Girl clarified. Her expression was closed off, unreadable. “Shinsou here is a gen-ed student.”

“So he hasn’t heard about the villain attack?”

“You mean the one at the USJ?” Shinsou interrupted. “I thought that there weren’t any student injuries.”

He’d gotten that information from his classmates, who had gotten it from the press coverage of the event. According to school gossip, Class 1-A was being frustratingly tight-lipped about the incident in question. None of them had divulged anything about the attack, and they appeared to have closed ranks for some reason or another. They used to mingle a bit with the other classes during the first week of school, but now they walked around the school in packs and all sat together at lunch. Only Todoroki and the exploding kid, Baku-something, didn’t always hang around their classmates, but the two prickly boys didn’t hang around anyone else either.

“No hero student injuries,” Bubble Girl clarified. “Midoriya-kun is technically a management student according to the school registry. Nedzu’s a wily bastard when it comes to the press.”

“Oh.” Hitoshi felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. “Is he okay? Midoriya?”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Bubble Girl asked sweetly. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“We’re not - I mean - I can’t just…”

“Why aren’t you talking to him?” Centipeder wanted to know, and Hitoshi broke.

“Okay, so we argued about quirks! Specifically mine. I had a bad day, and he was talking about ‘underground’ quirks and how I could make it in heroics, even though he didn’t know shit, and he’s like, a recommended student. So I snapped. And I… Neither of us has apologized. So. That’s why we’re not talking.”

Bubble Girl gave him a look that was a mix between pity and disdain. It rankled at the part of Hitoshi that wanted to snap and snarl at people so they’d just stay away. “Do you know what his quirk is?”

“No,” he answered, and now Centipeder was giving him that look too. He reflexively sneered back.

“Maybe you should ask him,” Bubble Girl suggested.

“Sure,” Hitoshi snapped. “I’ll get right on that, since it’s your business and everything.” He felt hurt and a little cheated. He’d thought that he could co-exist with the others in this workplace, but apparently the fact that he had snapped at a kid on the internet would turn this whole office against him. If it wasn’t his quirk, it was his “attitude.” Like those two were disconnected or something. He didn’t know why he had expected anything different here. “This has been a fascinating discussion, but if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my job.”

“Hey, wait,” Centipeder interjected. “Kid, Shinsou - listen.”

Despite the ache in his chest and the urge to lash out at Centipeder and Bubble Girl, Shinsou obediently waited and bit his lip to stifle the instinctive refusal.

“Look around the office for me. What do you see?”

Computers. Messy desks. Piles of paper. “An intelligence agency?” Shinsou bit out.

Centipeder shook his head. “Sure, but I was thinking more in terms of people.” He pointed at himself. “Disgusting mutation quirk.” He pointed at Bubble Girl. “A quirk that’s annoying and useless for heroics.” He pointed at three nearby desks. “Mutation quirk, villain’s child, useless quirk.” He pointed at Sir Nighteye’s office. “Dangerous, ‘invasive’ foresight quirk.”

Centipeder laced his fingers together and leaned towards Hitoshi. “There’s not a single soul in this office that doesn’t understand at least a part of what you’ve gone through with that quirk.”

“Except Mirio,” contributed Bubble Girl.

“Except Mirio,” Centipeder corrected himself. “But Mirio, Midoriya, and Sir are the only three people who didn’t flinch when they first shook my hand, which honestly explains why Sir recruited Mirio for this agency.”

“Anyway,” Bubble Girl continued, “the point is that everyone here hasn’t exactly had it easy. We attract those sorts, partially because intelligence and covert ops is a solid option for people without mainstream heroic quirks or a happy backstory and partially because Sir is always exactingly fair.”

“Midoriya-kun isn’t an exception to this,” Centipeder told Hitoshi gravely. “And that’s all I’ll say about it. But you might want to think about asking him why he recommended you for this agency. And why he may have wanted to give you advice about how the heroics industry works.”

Bubble Girl whacked him gently on the head with her folder. “You’ll fit in here fine once you pull this out of your ass.”

“Hey,” Hitoshi protested weakly, but he didn’t snap back. The fight drained out of him, leaving only the usual deep weariness. “Yeah, fine, I get it. I’ll talk to him if it pleases you, your majesties.”

Bubble Girl laughed, the darkness clearing from her expression. “So it doth, my most valiant vassal.”

“That’s terrible,” Hitoshi told her as she cackled to herself. “Like, really bad.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Centipeder told him sympathetically. “Just like Stockholm Syndrome. Welcome to the office, Shinsou-kun.”

Hitoshi could only muster a small smile. He still felt a little emotionally bruised, and he knew it would be a while until he’d stop feeling hurt over this incident. But Centipeder and Bubble Girl’s acceptance soothed the hurt a little. “Thanks,” he replied, “Happy to be here.”

Kouhai

Midoriya: hey senpai quick question
Mirio: yeah what’s up
Midoriya: so you know the case that’s been all over the news?
Mirio: what?
Mirio: wait
Midoriya: Stain?
Mirio: okay so a couple of obituaries is not “all over the news”
Midoriya: yeah ppl are keeping this quiet but
Midoriya: iacuc is in an uproar
Mirio: how do u know that?
Midoriya: im on their mailing list
Mirio: midoriya
Midoriya: listen i have my sources
Midoriya: anyway tho back to my question
Mirio: no
Midoriya: what?
Mirio: youre gonna ask me to pass u info
Mirio: 1. its not our case
Mirio: 2. sir would murder me
Mirio: 3. youre not even supposed to be looking at your phone
Mirio: 4. SIR WOULD MURDER ME
Midoriya: im not gonna do anything!
Midoriya: whose case is it?
Mirio: endeavor agency’s
Midoriya: fuck me
Mirio: so good luck with that
Midoriya: thanks!! :D
Mirio: no wait i didn’t mean it like that
Mirio: Midoriya no
Midoriya: midoriya yes :D
Mirio: sir is going to kill u
Midoriya: bold of u to assume im not dead already

Midoriya: too soon?
Mirio: a little, yeah
Midoriya: i’ll be careful, i promise
Midoriya: im just curious
Mirio: k im holding u to that
Mirio: dont do anything stupid
Midoriya: i wont

Haplotype analysis for NAKAHARA, NOBU

Chr 20, 4012332_4012407delinsTTGAAAATCTCGG…

Heterozygous wild-type/indel

NAKAHARA, NOBU is heterozygous for the wild-type “quirkless” allele. The insertion-deletion (indel) that marks the quirked allele was present on one copy of chromosome 20.

Note: We re-ran this analysis three times, and every time, we had double the presence of the “quirkless” allele than we expected as compared to the presence of the “quirked” allele. We suspect that the sample was contaminated, as these results would indicate that there were three copies of the quirk region in the sample - two quirkless and one quirked allele. We validated our method on other samples in the laboratory, and confirmed that it must be the sample. Thus, the conclusion of this individual being heterozygous at this locus may be incorrect. It is possible that the individual is homozygous for the quirkless allele and was contaminated by the quirked allele. We suggest that you send us an uncontaminated sample.


Haplotype analysis for NAKAHARA, GOROU

Chr 20, 4012332_4012407delinsTTGAAAATCTCGG…

Heterozygous wild-type/indel

NAKAHARA, GOROU is heterozygous for the wild-type “quirkless” allele. The insertion-deletion (indel) that marks the quirked allele was present on one copy of chromosome 20.

Note: This sample was also contaminated, but in the opposite direction of the previous analysis. We had double the presence of the “quirked” allele than we expected as compared to the presence of the “quirkless” allele. Thus, it seems that NAKAHARU, NOBU could have been contaminated with this same quirked allele and is in fact homozygous at this locus. However, none of these results are clear, and we would recommend sending us other samples from both of these individuals.


Methylation analysis for NAKAHARA, NOBU

One of the quirkless alleles and the quirked allele were both unmethylated, which means that both would have been expressed, while the other quirkless allele was silenced. This is impossible. There have not been studies on the effect of two unsilenced alleles, but due to the fact that even the ancestral allele is subject to imprinting at this position, we would posit that such an individual would be deeply unhealthy. How exactly one extra unmethylated copy of this gene without a corresponding methylated copy found its way into this sample is unknown.


Methylation analysis for NAKAHARA, GOROU

Similar to NAKAHARA, NOBU, one of the quirked alleles and the quirkless allele were both unmethylated, while the other quirked allele was methylated. This makes no sense. Please send us another sample for this individual.


Izuku’s notes, recorded in “Unsolved Mysteries, Vol. 3”: I never really considered the mechanic of action of All for One, and that’s an oversight on my part. From the lab results, it seems like there’s an additional, unsilenced quirked allele in both Nakahara brothers’ samples. Is it possible that this is an artifact of the All for One? Does the giving and taking of quirks affect the target on a genetic level? It must. Thus, this third, unsilenced quirked allele must be given somehow to the individual by All for One along with (possibly) any other DNA important for the functioning and the nature of the quirk.

That’s why death follows so quickly after the removal of the quirk. All for One is literally excising parts of their DNA. And it can’t be healthy to have an additional unsilenced copy of this gene either, even if it does give you a quirk….

Sports Festival to Move Forward Despite Attack

One of the most anticipated events of the year, the UA Sports Festival, is just around the corner. Every year, 100 million viewers in Japan tune in to the broadcast, while 10 thousand more pay anywhere between 25,000 yen and 60,000 yen to get a piece of the action in UA Stadium itself. It’s a celebration of the upcoming generation of heroes and UA’s legacy of supremacy in heroic education. All announcers and commentators are professional heroes and UA alumni, and any visitor is sure to spot all their favorite heroes in the Pro-Hero section of the stands.

Recent security incidents, including the debacle last Thursday when villains invaded the school and attacked one of the first year heroics classes, have lead many critics to question whether UA should hold its annual Sports Festival this year. They cite concerns over security as well as the mental health of the students.

School officials, however, have announced that the Sports Festival will continue as scheduled. “With the assistance of several consultants, we have made sweeping improvements to our security,” claims Principal Nedzu. “We don't wish to deprive our students of their chance to go beyond and show the world the next generation of heroes!”

“More like Nedzu doesn't want to deprive UA of its profits,” rebutted Ibu Ryuuzaki, Japan's Minister of Education. The UA Sports Festival does indeed account for more than half of UA's revenue, especially since the majority of UA's students are the beneficiaries of internal scholarships and don't pay tuition. It also is the major avenue for internships for UA students, and is part of the reason why UA students intern in some of the most prestigious hero offices during their school years.

“The Sports Festival is an important event in every UA student's life,” All-Might told the assembled press at a conference over the weekend. “And my students are fully prepared and up for the challenge! All of UA's staff refuses to let these villains ruin this event for the kids.”

Unknown number

Unknown number: hey i got your number from ppl at the office
Unknown number: its shinsou

Changed contact name to Shinsou

Izuku: hey Shinsou-kun
Shinsou: i heard u were the one who recommended me
Izuku: yeah
Shinsou: thanks for that i guess
Izuku: i thought you’d be a good intern
Izuku: i just told Sir the truth
Shinsou: oh well thanks

Shinsou: bubble girl said i should talk to u about quirks
Shinsou: so like
Shinsou: whats your quirk
Izuku: im quirkless
Shinsou: wait what
Shinsou: youre pulling my leg
Izuku: nope
Izuku: been quirkless for all 15 years of my life
Shinsou: holy shit
Shinsou: but youre a recommended student?
Izuku: recommended by Sir
Shinsou: oh
Shinsou: fuck

Shinsou: okay so i fucked up
Shinsou: and im sorry
Izuku: it’s fine!
Shinsou: no its really not
Shinsou: i assumed a lot of things
Shinsou: that i really shouldnt have assumed
Shinsou: i was a huge ass to u and u didnt deserve it at all
Shinsou: u were trying to help and i just spit in your face
Shinsou: so im sorry
Izuku: i forgive u, Shinsou
Izuku: thank you
Shinsou: god dont just
Shinsou: dont forgive me like that!
Shinsou: or thank me for apologizing dear god
Shinsou: i was horrible just let me suffer for a bit before u forgive me
Izuku: why? u apologized?
Izuku: and even if u didn’t, i understand why you lashed out
Izuku: so i’m just glad you’re talking to me again
Shinsou: omg i get why they were so mad at me now
Izuku: what?
Shinsou: im so mad at me now
Shinsou: listen u can be angry at me
Izuku: but i’m not?
Shinsou: hngggggggggg
Izuku: Shinsou?
Shinsou: HNGGGGGGG
Shinsou: i understand everything in this office now
Shinsou: also what the fuck is up with u having major internal injuries
Izuku: oh yeah
Izuku: oops gotta go
Shinsou: come back here
Shinsou: i will get my answers one way or another
Izuku: it’s gonna have to be another!
Shinsou: challenge accepted
Izuku: wait no
Shinsou: too late
Izuku: i regret everything
Shinsou: TOO LATE

MEC Plagued by Technical Issues, Needs a “Fix” of its Own!

The ME Calvin Carbon Fixation Plant, located in the northern United States, has been suffering from unexpected shutdowns since last May. Dr. Andrew Benson, the US Secretary of Energy, has announced that another carbon fixation plant is being constructed, but that project is several years away from completion.

The MEC was the first of its kind, constructed during the frenzy of the “Environmental Savior” technology boom of the 2040s. Carbon dioxide levels dropped significantly after this multi-billion dollar project became operational. A network of other carbon fixation plants were built across the world, but the MEC is still the dedicated plant for much of the US and Canada.

While the other plants are able to pick up the slack for a bit (during the two week shutdown in January, carbon dioxide levels rose slightly, but didn’t break 400 parts per million), the technological problems plaguing the MEC could be a harbinger of disaster to come. The MEC celebrated its 130th year anniversary two years ago, and the next oldest, the Beijing plant, is celebrating its 130th in a few months. If the MEC is failing, perhaps it is time to update our system of carbon fixation plants, or else we might find ourselves in the environmental crisis of the 2020s again.

Dr. James Basshan, the director of the MEC, told reporters that “it is an expected consequence of using facilities that are more than a century old.”

“We knew that this day was going to come,” he said to the gathered press at the MEC. “That’s why my colleagues have been pressuring Congress to allocate funds to build an entirely new plant that incorporates technology that has been developed in the past couple of years. We’ve updated the MEC several times throughout its century of operations, but we need a bigger and better building to support the state-of-the-art technology that we want to install. I’ve been urging my counterparts in other countries to do the same. We need to ensure that our global network of carbon fixation plants do not fail.”

Transcript of phone conversation, made from an internal UA line from Nedzu (HID: 2333077) to Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956):

Sir Nighteye: Hello?

Nedzu: Sir Nighteye! I’m glad I caught you before the end of the day.

Sir Nighteye: Hello, Nedzu. (Rustle of paper.) What can I do for you?

Nedzu: Well, I’m currently in the final stages of planning the Sports Festival -

Sir Nighteye: (Snorts) Yes, I saw your recent interview. “Security consultants” are helping to update your security?

Nedzu: Midoriya-kun and his friends did consult us on security! They actually had quite a list of weak points, so we’re using their suggestions to update our network security and our internal protocols in the case of an emergency. I think you'll be happy to know that every UA facility will have two ground lines for emergency communication now in case the wireless emergency signal is interfered with.

Sir Nighteye: Better late than never. I'm glad that Izuku's special UA track is a success so far. (Pause.) We're both busy men, Nedzu. What did you need?

Nedzu: (Sighs.) I know when Midoriya-kun joined that we were in agreement that he wouldn't participate in the Sports Festival.

Sir Nighteye: Yes, we were.

Nedzu: The playing field has changed somewhat. Key members of the UA school board and the Department of Education have been made aware of Midoriya-kun's involvement in the USJ incident. I haven't been able to change the UA entrance exam, but it seems reasonable that we could establish -

Sir Nighteye: No.

Nedzu: No?

Sir Nighteye: No. He's not going to risk himself for the sake of your politics, Nedzu.

Nedzu: My politics. Sir Nighteye, you of all people know how discriminatory our entrance exam is. Using the Sports Festival to advance students with underground quirks into the heroics classes - underground quirks, which, of course, will be broadcasted to hundreds of millions of viewers - is the height of folly. The opportunity is in our grasp -

Sir Nighteye: So you want to broadcast Izuku to 100 million viewers, which almost certainly includes a pair of murderers that almost killed him last week -

Nedzu: You heard his statement. Nakahara Nobu? If the League does its due diligence -

Sir Nighteye: Which would also lead to a public reveal of his quirkless status, so that not only would the villains know about his lack of a quirk, but also everyone else in Japan -

Nedzu: Honestly, I think the time is ripe for a quirkless hero -

Sir Nighteye: I refuse to hand them his head on a silver platter, Nedzu!

(Silence.)

Nedzu: Wonderful! What do you think about him interning with one of the top fifty heroes instead of Nighteye Agency for a week?

(Silence.)

Sir Nighteye: That’s still an unacceptable level of exposure.

Nedzu: Very few people pay attention to interns, Sir Nighteye, especially interns operating outside of UA internship season.

Sir Nighteye: Still, too many people will be watching him! We need to -

Nedzu: Certainly less than if he competed in the Sports Festival.

(Silence for a long moment.)

Sir Nighteye: (Quietly) You didn't have to do it this way, Nedzu.

Nedzu: I did. I know you, Osamu.

Sir Nighteye: If you had led with -

Nedzu: You're overprotective of Midoriya-kun. Any suggestion I had about removing him from your oversight for a time, you would have immediately dismissed. This move is for “my politics”, as you put it, and you would have resisted based on that alone, nevermind that my politics benefit both you and Midoriya-kun. I will push for him to compete in the Sports Festival, or he takes the internship.

(Silence.)

Sir Nighteye: You still didn't have to do it this way. I know you too, Nedzu.

Nedzu: Yes. I suppose you do.

Sir Nighteye: If he agrees, then I won't interfere. Now fuck off.

(Call ended.)

Police Case #002-2009-0101, Tokyo Prefecture

Time: January 1, 1:02am

Victim: Fifteen unknowns

Perpetrator: Unknown

Situation: Fifteen men between the ages of 20 and 50 were found strung up in Kabukicho in Shinjuku, Tokyo. They all were bled out swiftly via their carotid arteries. All injuries were inflicted post-mortem. Their corpses were hung with ropes from the roof of Red Smokes, directly facing the Lucky Parlor. All of the victims’ teeth were removed, their fingertips were burned, and their faces were mutilated beyond recognition. Their eyes were also all cleanly removed and then strung with fishing line. The eyes were used as a garland that draped over the shoulders of the 15 corpses.

On the wall of the Lucky Parlor, in blood, a message was written. It read: “Give him to me.”

No witnesses have come forward and all business owners and locals are too terrified to talk. All claim that they saw nothing. Potential yakuza connections are being investigated and victim identification is still ongoing.

Transcript of Therapy Appointment #1 of Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341), conducted by Ikeda Jun (Medical ID: 112-767-902), on April 13, 2178 at 3:00pm. UA mandated session, transcript confidential:

Ikeda: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Midoriya-kun.

Midoriya: And you.

(Silence)

Ikeda: So have you been to therapy before?

Midoriya: No. I haven’t. Didn’t Sir tell you that?

Ikeda: Sir Nighteye didn’t tell me anything - I know that you work for him, but that was all that was noted in your basic student file. I haven’t done any further research or asked anyone about you. That would be overstepping my bounds as your therapist.

Midoriya: Okay.

Ikeda: And I just want to be clear: if, at any time, you don’t feel that our relationship is safe or comfortable or our sessions productive, you can request to be transferred to another therapist. Sometimes therapists just aren’t the right fit, and I totally understand if that’s the case.

Midoriya: Good to know.

Ikeda: All right, so before we get into the heavy stuff, I just have a handful of background questions for you.

Midoriya: Oh, yeah, sure, wait a sec.

Ikeda: Of course.

(Rustling noises)

Midoriya: Here.

Ikeda: Ah, what is this?

Midoriya: I did a complete psychological profile of myself. Early childhood, relationship with parents, my quirklessness, a detailed breakdown of every non-classified incident that I’ve been involved in during my time at Nighteye Agency.

(Flipping of pages)

Ikeda: I see that you included every school transcript plus confidential teachers’ notes on your behavior? How did you acquire these?

Midoriya: Legally, I can request to keep a record of them, since they concern me. They aren’t the teachers’ private documents.

Ikeda: Did you?

Midoriya: What?

Ikeda: Request to keep a record of them.

Midoriya: Not officially. Once you log them as UA student records, however -

Ikeda: I see. Midoriya-kun, any therapy materials will not be included in your official student records. They will remain with me unless you legally request them.

Midoriya: Okay.

Ikeda: Ah let's see - hmmm - is this incident report intended to be… entirely black?

Midoriya: It's confidential and you don't have clearance.

Ikeda: Okay, I see. Why provide it at all?

Midoriya: I have a copy of the confidential version of this psych profile filed at the office.

Ikeda: Securely?

Midoriya: Of course.

Ikeda: All right. (Hums. Flips pages.) You included a… five-page analysis about how someone could exploit umm… let’s see here - your emotional attachments to your mother and Sir Nighteye, your lasting trauma from both the USJ and an unnamed classified incident that involved both torture and imprisonment, and both the societal and emotional ramifications of your quirklessness.

Midoriya: Yes? It’s a complete psychological profile.

Ikeda: Okay. Okay, this is a good starting point. I have a few questions -

Midoriya: You didn’t read it, though.

Ikeda: Midoriya-kun, this report is not what therapy is.

Midoriya: If you’re worried about bias, my answers to your questions are going to be just as biased -

Ikeda: I'd prefer to hear it from you directly.

Midoriya: Because that's what therapy is?

Ikeda: Because I refuse to treat you like you treat yourself.

(Silence)

Midoriya: What do you mean by that?

Ikeda: Midoriya-kun, do you think that you’re worthy of tenderness?

Midoriya: What?

Ikeda: Do you think that you’re deserving of kindness?

Midoriya: What sort of question is... I mean… I… I suppose so?

Ikeda: You’ve just provided me with a detailed analysis of how you would leverage your traumas against yourself. You’ve looked at the most vulnerable, hurt parts of yourself and then treated them as weaknesses to be exploited. I refuse to do the same. Midoriya-kun, I know that this hurts and that you’re suffering, but the answer is not to dehumanize yourself. This, here, this is not what therapy is. Therapy will hurt, yes, but that is a side-effect, not a method. Do you understand?

Midoriya: I… yes. I’m, shit, I’m sorry, I just -

Ikeda: Midoriya-kun, it’s understandable. I’m going to give you back this report and I’d like for you to destroy all copies of it, alright?

Midoriya: Yes, I… I can do that.

Ikeda: And then maybe you can tell me about your important relationships in your own words, person to person.

Midoriya: Okay. We can… yeah, I can try.

Ikeda: That’s all I ask, Midoriya-kun.

Excerpt from “Quirk Privacy: Why it Matters” by Yamauchi Hana:

“What’s your quirk?”

It’s a common question nowadays. Everyone asks it - classmates, colleagues, strangers on the street. It’s a required field on employment paperwork and on middle school, high school, and college applications. It seems a reasonable question at first glance, but requiring people to disclose their quirk when applying for work and education has actually opened the door to a host of abuses.

[...]

Thanks to an old law on the books, it’s illegal for employers to discriminate on ancestry and pedigree. This came about because of concerns about nepotism, but it also makes it illegal for employers to reject an applicant because they don’t like their parents or their family. However, no similar law has been passed regarding quirk discrimination - and this has paved the way to employment procedures that flagrantly flout the nepotism law.

For example, if your father is arrested for shoplifting by a hero (thus making him a “villian” by default and making his arrest a matter of public record), his quirk is part of the information that is entered in the national “Villain Database”. Employers and schools have access to this database for the purposes of background checks. Although it is illegal to search to see if the applicant’s father is in the database, it is not illegal to see if the applicant’s quirk appears in the database. If the applicant has inherited their father’s quirk, then an employer would be able to discover that the applicant is a “villain’s child” and thus reject their application. If brought to court, the employer could successfully claim that their decision was influenced by the applicant’s quirk. Such was the case in Matsuo v. Yotsuba Enterprises - where the judge ruled in Yotsuba Enterprises’ favor.

From: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Noumu Genetic Analysis

I sent Noumu’s samples out for DNA analysis to see if we could identify them. The results are attached.

In summary, there are about three or four people’s DNA in Noumu. On a hunch, I sent the samples to the same lab that did the Nakahara analysis for us. They’re very confused why we keep sending them samples with so many extra copies of the quirk gene. I’ve also attached their analysis.

I think the connection is clear and very concerning.

Tsukauchi


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Noumu Genetic Analysis

I know who Noumu is. Who they are.

Oshiro Kanon and Hisakawa Hideki. They went missing in Chiba during the past year. Oshiro Kanon had a mutant quirk called “Beak” and Hisakawa Hideki had an emitter quirk called “Shock Absorption.”

I guess we found them.

Looking at the timeline, it’s likely that these people were kidnapped by the Nakahara operation as well. So the League of Villains are connected to the Nakaharas who are connected to All for One. Since Shigaraki really hated All-Might, the connection isn’t that much of a surprise.

Midoriya Izuku


From: Tsukauchi Naomasa <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>, Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Noumu Genetic Analysis
Midoriya-kun,

I’m impressed. We’ll contact the families for genetic samples to confirm. We’ll say that we found some unidentified bodies and that the rest of the case is classified. Thank you. You’ve saved us months of investigation.

I agree that the connection between the League of Villains and the Nakahara operation is fairly clear. The investigation into the Nakahara operation has stalled out for the time being - the warehouse that we raided was only the main base of operations for the kidnapping and human trafficking side of the business. The rest of the business that Aizawa was infiltrating went underground and disappeared as soon as the raid happened.

We’ll keep working both sides of the case - the League and the Nakaharas - and I’ll keep you apprised. Let me know if you turn up anything else.

Tsukauchi

Personal account of an urban legend about a man who could give and take quirks, collected from Chiaki Mari (35) in Saitama Prefecture, collected by Saitou Ayano in 2142. Misfiled in the microfilm section of the National Archives of Japan, near a newspaper story about 15 unidentified corpses in the Kabukicho district. Another transcript is archived in the Saitou house.

Recording starts.

I loved him, you know. Or I thought I did.

He called himself Taro at the time. Yamada Taro. You know, like the name they give to unidentified bodies. He'd laugh about it, but it always feels like he was laughing at a different joke. Or like maybe he wasn't really laughing at all. I don't know.

I was quirkless. I have a quirk now, and it's slowly killing me. He gave it to me and he knew what it was. I can't go to the police - he'd know. And heroes are a joke. So I'm telling this to you.

And make no mistake, he'll kill you over it. I've signed your death warrant.

He might not have noticed you, your little project, since it's not like you've found anything but smoke and rumors. God, you're a fool. Collecting stories about a dangerous man who's been alive since before your grandparents were born - what were you trying to do? What did you think you would find? A folklore project? He's more real than you'd ever know.

He'll notice you now, though. I can see you don't believe me. You should back up your project, whether you trust me or not. Keep physical copies somewhere and leave digital crumbs along the way. No, nothing will come of you and your project, but someday it will be another weapon for someone to wield against him. You're like the Lady of the Lake, or whatever, with Excalibur.

But yeah, my story.

I was eighteen and stupid. All I wanted was cash and drugs and a baby in my belly, not that I knew what that really meant. What all of them really meant. I was still dreaming my mother’s dream of a handsome husband and a cushy life even while I was living my father’s reality of crime and drugs and sex. Oh, don’t look at my ring like that. I’m married now and it’s as terrible as it was for my mother. The name change was useful; I’ll give the lazy sonofabitch that much.

But yeah, I was eighteen and I met him. Taro. Hiroshi. Yamada. Souma. Whatever his name is. I’m sure I don’t actually know. He was handsome, charismatic. Everyone orbited him. There were a couple of gangs that owned their allegiance to him, but even members of other gangs showed him respect. I didn’t realize until later how important that was to him.

I panted after him like a bitch in heat. I wasn’t the only one, but there was something about me that drew him in. My vulnerability, maybe? My naivety? My utter lack of defenses against him?

When I was nineteen, I was attacked on the street. My quirklessness and my lack of physical strength made me a target. I mean, that’s what I thought at the time. At my most paranoid, I wonder… but no, probably not. Anyway, yeah, he saved me from them. Killed the offenders actually - brutally murdered them. And god, if before I was besotted with him, now I was truly in love. Every girl yearns for a man who would commit murder for her. If she says she doesn’t, she’s a fucking liar.

He strung me along for a couple more years, but when I got older and my attention started to wander, he hooked me back in. I’m not going to describe our relationship to you. Chances are that it would sound familiar anyways. He’d be so soft and gentle and casually possessive in that way that makes your blood burn, but the moment my attention would stray…

He’s a cruel man at heart. You should remember that. I was never able to.

I’m not a good person either, though. I just want to make that clear. I’ve seen him kill dozens of people. Casually just - boom, dead, with some quirk or another. He always liked to vary it. Burn a man to death for insulting him. Break every bone in a woman’s body for trying to cheat him. I stayed with him through all that. He was terrible to others, but only rarely bad to me. It felt like I had tamed a monster, and I felt like a goddess.

But then he killed my best friend.

Daichi was with me since I was born. He was always too good for me. He got out, went from high school to college and then to a residency. He would have been a great doctor with a wonderful life. He would have, if it wasn’t for me.

He always wanted me to follow him, to join the police force and become a detective, just like we’d talked about when we were kids. He’d stopped pushing when I’d made it clear that I didn’t want that anymore, but he’d still come back to check on me from time to time.

He was unlucky this time. Taro and I had just gone through a… rough spot, and he took one look at my black eye and stormed off to his death. I begged. I cried and I begged as he bled out on my bedroom carpet. Every plea just enraged Taro further. I think it was the care that I showed Daichi, the proof that Taro wasn’t the sole figure in my personal universe. That there might be someone else more important to me than him.

So yeah. Daichi died at Taro’s hands, and then Taro pressed those bloodstained hands to my chest, and I saw. Oh god, I saw. Flashes of a thousand futures, more than I could ever sort through. I saw the world and my own insanity along with it. I didn’t realize I was screaming until he touched my forehead and the visions stopped.

He gave me a quirk. A foresight quirk that was active continuously unless I was touching him. I don’t know the criteria for the person that the quirk latches onto. I don’t know if there’s someone else in the world that would calm my visions. I haven’t seen them, but then again, I don’t remember much of what I see.

My new quirk kept me bound tightly to his side for the next five years. I hated it. I hated him. One night I realized that my choices were to slit my own throat or slit his. I chose his.

There was such betrayal in his eyes as I fled. The slash was already healing, but my head start and my broken foresight was enough to escape him. And it has been for the past three years.

But my quirk is killing me. I’ll die within the next few weeks - brain hemorrhage. Nothing anyone can do about it. But I’ve seen enough. Someday, someone will use this statement to cut him, to bleed him out like he bled out Daichi. It’ll be a small cut, but it will be one of a thousand small cuts. And I’m satisfied with that, I think. I have to be satisfied with it.

Godspeed, Ayano. I hope your death is swifter than his.

End Recording.

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: i fucked up

i called myself nakahara nobu to the league and they’re going to tell afo and hes going to know hes going to know that i know and who i am and what if they go after my mom and i cant protect her because im just a weak little kid and i cant protect myself much less anyone else


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: i fucked up
Izuku,

1. Breathe.

2. Your mom’s going to be fine. As soon as I got the emails from you and Tsukauchi, I arranged for police protection. There’s going to be a discreet guard on your house 24/7.

3. If you want, we can arrange basic self-defence lessons for you. No idea where we’ll fit them in your packed schedule, but we’ll figure something out. Maybe as part of your hero classes.

4. I’m going to call you. Don’t pick up if you’d rather not talk to me right now, but if you want to talk about it, I’m here.

Sir Nighteye

Chapter Text

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Saitou Sota <[email protected]>
Subject: Saitou Ayano’s folklore project
Dear Saitou-san,

Hi, my name is Midoriya Izuku. I'm an analyst with the Nighteye Agency. I found a copy of one of the statements that your relative, Saitou Ayano, collected before her death. I know that the official copies were accidentally destroyed about thirty years ago, but I was wondering if there are any surviving private copies of these statements. I think they may be of help in an ongoing criminal investigation.

I'm not sure if anyone is still monitoring this email address, since it's the third one I've tried. But if you are, thank you for your time, and whatever the answer, I'm glad I was able to successfully contact you.

Best,
Midoriya Izuku

Excerpt from “A Spectroscopic Analysis of Trigger’s Composition” by Emilia N. Kriel, et al.:

The results of the mass spectroscopic data is clear: Trigger is a complex mixture containing anywhere between three and six different drugs. The exact composition varies from sample to sample, but every dose of Trigger contains a methyl bromide derived compound which is best known by its street name, Double S, as well as two common quirk suppressant drugs, Nitropex and Biofranil. In addition, most samples of Trigger contain some combination of two or three more drugs from a group of around 15 more illegal drugs. Some of the other drugs commonly found were methamphetamine, cocaine, and phencyclidine - illegal stimulants that have been reported to cause aggressive and agitated behavior.

Both Double S and Biofranil are restricted compounds. Double S is a controlled substance - classified as DEA Schedule 1 in the US - with no known medical benefits. Its production, sale, and use are prohibited. Biofranil, also known as Bio, Life, and Clink, is a quirk suppressant that was discovered back in the 2020s. Its production was discontinued and its use outlawed when the UN Human Rights Council released a statement that summarized current research and stated that the side effects (dissociation, schizophrenic episodes, intense paranoia, suicidal ideation, and visual hallucinations) were cruel to the point of human indecency. Up until that point, Biofranil had been used to suppress “dangerous” quirks of criminals in prisons. After their drug regimens were halted, prison officials reported that the criminals’ quirks raged powerfully out of their control. This period of increased quirk strength and lack of control lasted anywhere from a few days to a couple of months in a few cases. In small doses, Biofranil causes dissociation and visual hallucinations, similar to PCP, with an additional brief suppression of the user’s quirk. Some habitual users claim that during their “downtime” between doses, their quirk is both stronger and harder to control than normal.

Incident Report - April 14, 2179

Student: Bakugou Katsuki, Uraraka Ochako
Class: 1-A
Supervising Teacher: Eraserhead
Homeroom Teacher: Eraserhead

Summation of Incident:

Members of Class 1-B and Classes 1-C, 1-D, and 1-E confronted Class 1-A at the beginning of the lunch break. None of the assembled students made any physical threats towards Class 1-A, but they did taunt Class 1-A with comments about the villain attack. Monoma Neito of Class 1-B voiced insults about the "missing student" of Class 1-A and suggested that he was too scared to return to school, or perhaps the remaining students of 1-A were covering up the death of one of their classmates.

Bakugou Katsuki lost his composure at this comment and punched Monoma in the face. He used his quirk to do so. Monoma was sent to the infirmary with a bruised jaw and a burned chin. I gave Bakugou one week of detention with me. Monoma has two days of detention with Vlad King. This is Bakugou’s second infraction in as many weeks. I strongly suggest that he be assigned a UA therapist.

Uraraka Ochako also punched a fellow student, Tachibana Juurou of Class 1-C. While he didn’t make any comments that merit a detention, he did verbally agree with all of Monoma’s insults. A warning has been issued to all parties involved with Monoma’s actions. Uraraka has one week of detention with me. She will be serving it alongside Bakugou.

Supervising teacher's comments:

It's practically a tradition for the rest of the classes to harass the hero class in the weeks leading up to the Sports Festival. Of course, because of the attack last week, I expected it to be a little worse this year.

It was my fault. I should have expected it to be much, much worse, and I should have restricted access to the hero class wing before it got to this point.

I made two mistakes in my analysis of the situation. First, I forgot a crucial fact: while Class 1-A is still coming to grips with the reality of the hero world and the very real possibility of death - made worse by Midoriya's continued absence - the rest of the school has no idea that a student was even injured in the incident. While teenagers are not known for their kindness, I suppose I assumed that UA students would not cross the line from taunting into cruelty. But without the full facts of Class 1-A's trauma, the offenders didn't know where that line was. This isn't excusing their behavior. Even if Midoriya wasn't injured, their comments would have earned them a detention or two.

And this leads me to my second mistake. I've been keeping a close eye on the student that Midoriya had formed a close friendship with before the USJ incident, Uraraka, and the students that were witness to both Midoriya's injury and my own. I haven't been keeping a close watch on Bakugou.

I still don't know the particulars of Bakugou and Midoriya’s relationship. They've known each other for a long time, and there's a dynamic there that speaks of long-term bullying and abuse. The last incident report that I wrote was about Bakugou literally attacking Midoriya. Yet when Monoma implied that Midoriya was likely dead, Bakugou fell into a blind rage. There’s something here that I’m missing.

Bakugou refused to speak to me after, but during the incident he yelled some things that made me concerned. I need a copy of the transcript of his post-USJ interview.

The silver lining in this situation is that it seems to have broken through some of the hatred between Uraraka and Bakugou. Uraraka was also moving to punch Monoma, and when Bakugou got to him first, diverted to punch one of the loudest Gen Ed students. I think they're both reevaluating each other. Bakugou might not remain as isolated from the class as I feared.

From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Internship
Izuku,

Nedzu has forced me into offering you an additional internship. If you agree, for the next two weeks, you would report to one of the top 50 hero offices, and not Nighteye Agency. You can apparently choose any of the top 50.

This is your decision, but I would like to caution you against taking this offer. As a future analyst, your anonymity is crucial to your safety. There will be a certain amount of press attention involved in these internships. I'm positive that you would be successful with any office you chose, but it would be dangerous for you in the long run. Let me and Nedzu know what you decide.

Sir Nighteye


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
CC: Nedzu <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Internship
Sir and Principal Nedzu,

Thank you for this opportunity! I understand that media attention could be harmful for me and my career, but I think the experience could be valuable as a whole! I'd like to intern with Endeavor Agency, please!

Midoriya Izuku

-- What's tall, vicious, and covered with hands?


From: Nedzu <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>, Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Internship
Midoriya-kun,

Wonderful! I'll give you the paperwork during our next class and inform you of the specific details. Good luck on your internship!

Plus Ultra!
Nedzu


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Internship
Izuku,

No. Why? Why in the world would you choose Endeavor Agency? First, you know he's terrible to work for. Second, he's the only hero who routinely calls for more quirk discrimination. He doesn't even pay lip service to non-discrimination. Third, he hates me and this agency. Why would you, a quirkless intern of the Nighteye Agency, choose to work with him?

Please choose anyone else.

Sir Nighteye

Excerpt from "Ongoing Criminal Investigations, Vol. 1" by Midoriya Izuku:

Stain
Villain

Description: Eyewitness accounts vary widely, and are likely inaccurate. However, the accounts from injured heroes all have some commonalities. Stain uses knives and short swords (possibly katanas, according to a handful of accounts). He is wrapped in bandages, is tall, inhumanly fast, and in the majority of accounts, he doesn't have a nose.

Crimes: A hero killer. Since his first official appearance, he has killed 6 heroes and seriously wounded 10 more. I suspect that the injury of the hero Cherry was not Stain's first appearance, and furthermore, I suspect that "Stain" is not this criminal's first identity. More about that below.

Goal/Motivation: Speculation, at this point. Early IACUC reports (made before the case became big enough to hand off to a mainstream hero agency) suggested that these might be vengeance killings. This is impossible, at least for the traditional definition of a vengeance killing. The 16 heroes were never involved in incidents together, never had the same patrols, and generally didn't know each other. Even the six that died don't have any strong connections to each other.

All I have to go off of is the testimonies of the injured heroes. Some of them report that Stain chastised them for choosing to be heroes. From this, IACUC analysts concluded that Stain's actions could be driven by a grudge against heroes as a whole.

The evidence seems to support this, but I'm not so sure it's the ultimate answer. I took a look at the logged patrols of other heroes in the area that Stain's first attacks took place (in the city of Chiba), both mainstream and underground heroes. There were quite a number who would have been easier to attack than Tailwind and Cherry, but he chose those two for some reason. I'll dig deeper into their backgrounds, and that might give me an answer.

Strange Details:

• In every area since his first, Stain has attacked four heroes. (I suspect that there will be two more attacks in Roppongi before Stain moves on to new hunting grounds.) However, he was reported to have only attacked two heroes in Chiba. I think he actually killed two more that were not attributed to him.
• Every hero was killed or injured with Stain’s knives and not some sort of quirk. Testimony of the injured heroes emphasizes that Stain’s quirk is not related to the knives. A popular theory seems to be that his quirk is superspeed or heightened reflexes, but reading through the victims’ accounts, there’s something that’s bothering me about that theory. I’ll figure it out.

Excerpt from “Hero Public Safety Commission: The Rise of the Committee of Odds and Ends” by Hayashi Honoka:

When Japan established the first Heroic Unit and the bureaucratic infrastructure surrounding it, it was a rushed affair. The anti-quirk riots were still a significant and present disruption at that time, and so the government simply created the Hero Public Safety Commission with the vague mission statement: “To regulate the relationship between Quirked Heroes and the people.” It was given to Oshiro Shouhei, a famously incompetent bureaucrat. He tried his best to run it into the ground and mismanage the situation, but his more level-headed and skilled staff prevailed and prevented a catastrophe.

His successor, Shimizu Aoi, was a member of his staff. She wrested control from him after several scandalous abuses of power within the committee destroyed his reputation. To the end of his life he denied his role in these scandals, and while he was not believed at the time, Shimizu Aoi’s papers and documents, which were released after her death, suggest that Shimizu might have engineered these events herself. However, whoever the true instigator was, it is undeniable that under Shimizu’s leadership, the HPSC successfully stabilized the hero system after the riots and expanded its power both legally and socially. By the middle of the 21st century, heroes had gained ascendancy, and the HPSC with them.

“MIDORIYA-KUN!”

Ochako saw Iida and Tsuyu flinch in surprise next to her, but she couldn’t feel guilty or embarrassed about it. She took a running leap onto the back of her friend. Midoriya buckled a little under her weight, but she felt him laughing as she let herself slide down to the floor again.

He turned around to face her, and she studied him eagerly. He looked as good as he ever did, although it seemed as if the bags beneath his eyes were a little deeper than she remembered. “Hi Uraraka-chan!” he greeted her with a big, nervous smile. “Do you want to join us for lunch?”

Us? Ochako finally noticed the boy next to him. If she had ever thought that Midoriya looked exhausted, this boy brought a whole new meaning to the word. He had fluffy purple hair and dead, tired eyes. The bags under his eyes could have been painted on with Ochako’s darkest eyeshadow. He raised a nonchalant hand in greeting.

“Sure!” Ochako chirped. “Can Iida-kun and Tsuyu-chan join us?”

Midoriya slanted a brief glance at his companion, who stayed as expressionless as ever, before nodding. “Of course!”

“Iida and Tsuyu were with me in the USJ,” she explained to Midoriya as they made their way to the cafeteria. “After that we just kinda… stuck together.”

“It’s not an uncommon trend in our class, kero,” Tsuyu interjected. She was walking next to Iida, half a pace behind the rest of them. “We were all rattled, I think. It was comforting to stick around people who had been through the same things you had, kero.”

Midoriya nodded. “That makes sense. Everyone’s okay though?”

Ochako shrugged. “More or less. Physically, yeah. I think maybe Yaoyorozu overused her quirk - she was out for a day. But… well….”

“We were worried for you, kero,” Tsuyu said bluntly. “The ones with you in the plaza were sure you’d been killed before the police told us otherwise. And then Aizawa returned, and he was wrapped head to toe in bandages, but you still weren’t back, kero. We feared the worst.”

“There were a couple people who were adamant that I be more than fully recovered before I returned,” Izuku explained sheepishly. “I was fine, but -”

The purple kid coughed something that sounded suspiciously like “massive internal injuries.” Midoriya shot a sharp glare at him.

“Proper rest and recovery time is important for heroes,” Iida commented. “Are you sure that you’re fully healed?”

“I’m fine,” Midoriya repeated. “It wasn’t that bad. And it’s good to be back now.”

The group briefly fragmented when they reached the cafeteria, but congregated again outside after purchasing their food.

“You’re not in 1-A or 1-B, kero,” Tsuyu said to the purple-haired guy when they’d all sat down.

“Very observant,” he replied.

Midoriya sighed. “This is Shinsou. He’s in Class 1-C. We share a science class.”

“And an internship,” Shinsou said casually.

“An internship?” Iida asked. “Ashido was claiming that Midoriya was an undercover hero, but it would be foolish to believe such unsubstantiated gossip….”

Midoriya thunked his head on the table, narrowly missing his food. “Shinsou.”

“Oh, was I not supposed to talk to my new friends about my internship with Sir Nighteye?”

Midoriya tilted his head enough to glare up at Shinsou. “Do you just enjoy spreading chaos?”

Shinsou gave him the most unconvincingly innocent smile that Ochako had ever seen. “Of course not,” he lied.

“Is that how you and Ochako-chan learned about the attack ahead of time, kero?” asked Tsuyu.

Midoriya tilted his hand from side to side. “Kinda? It wasn’t directly because of the internship, but I doubt we would have known if I wasn’t Sir Nighteye’s intern.”

“It’s likely why Sir Nighteye was interviewing us,” Iida said. “I had been wondering about that. The USJ doesn’t seem like Nighteye Agency’s usual case.”

Shinsou shrugged. “As far as I can tell, Nighteye Agency takes every sort of case. But yeah, Sir Nighteye wasn’t about to leave a case involving his precious -”

“Anyway,” Midoriya loudly interrupted, ignoring Shinsou’s shit-eating grin. “How about you guys? Have things been good?”

Ochako shrugged. “They haven’t been bad, I guess. Everyone’s fine, or they will be. Especially since you’re back now.”

“But it’s been hard to move past everything, kero,” Tsuyu broke in. “Everyone outside of Class 1-A keeps trying to talk to us about it.”

Ochako nodded. “Yeah. And even if we wanted to, it would be really difficult to talk to people in the other classes. They don’t… Well, some of them cornered us in the classroom yesterday and said nasty things. It… well…”

Shinsou perked up. “Hey, were you the girl who punched Tachibana?”

“What?” asked Ochako, surprised.

“What?” yelped Midoriya.

Shinsou slanted an amused look at Midoriya. “Of all the things, you don’t keep up with school gossip?” As Midoriya was still sputtering, he turned to Ochako. “Yeah Tachibana is in my class, unfortunately. But I got to hear him whine about the girl who socked him in the face. And then he got detention for talking shit.” He sighed with satisfaction and closed his eyes, as if savoring a particularly good memory.

“Yeah, I punched him in the face,” Ochako confirmed.

“I still maintain that you shouldn’t have resorted to violence, Uraraka-san,” Iida chided.

“No, no, don’t scold her,” Shinsou interrupted Iida’s lecture. “Tachibana’s a piece of shit. Every time I see that bruise on his face, it gives me life.”

“Really, Shinsou?” said Midoriya.

Shinsou suddenly became utterly serious. “He was talking shit about you, Midoriya. Not that he knew your name or anything about you, but you were out of school because some asshole decided to use you as a baseball, and Tachibana thought that this would be a great time to harass the hero class. I don’t know what else he expected. If I were there, I would have punched him in the face too.”

Midoriya sighed. “It really doesn’t matter what people say about me, Shinsou. I don’t care -”

“You do,” Ochako interrupted. Both of the boys turned to look at her. “I know… I know I haven’t known you long, Midoriya-kun, but one thing I do know is that you do care. You care about me, about this class, about everyone at UA. You put yourself in danger to save us. I think… I think you do that a lot - risk yourself to save people, I mean.” Sometimes when she closed her eyes, she could still see her friend, so small and so brave, tiny in comparison to the monster that loomed over him.

“So maybe you don’t care about what people say about you,” she continued. “That’s fine. But you care about us, so - sometimes you have to let us care about you too.”

There was silence. Ochako had just begun to regret her declaration when Shinsou solemnly held out his fist. It took her a second to realize what he wanted. She smiled, and gave him a gentle fist bump.

“Oh,” Midoriya said, and ducked his head. He tried to subtly wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, but all of them noticed.

After a moment, Ochako started asking questions about the others’ plans for the weekend to give Midoriya space to compose himself.

By the time lunch ended, Ochako and Iida had made plans to study together, and Tsuyu, Midoriya, and Shinsou were all deep in a debate about… something complex. Quirk registration? The legality of the hero industry?

Whatever the topic was, Midoriya was engrossed, talking a mile a minute. But still, when they were making their way back to their respective classrooms, she felt his hand slip into hers and squeeze it in a desperate sort of gratitude.

She squeezed back and let go. When they parted ways, Midoriya flashed her an honest, brilliant smile.

Ochako silently resolved to punch absolutely anyone who dared to talk shit about Midoriya. Sure she had detention, but for that smile? Totally worth it.

UA Principal Nedzu Announces Sweeping Change to Sports Festival! - published in 2161, 18 years ago

Five years after Principal Nedzu announced the establishment of scholarships for students in any UA department, the most radical change in UA policy since the turn of the century, Nedzu shocked Japan with yet another major reform. “Now”, said Nedzu in a statement to the press, “it will be possible for students to be exchanged between the General Education and the Hero Departments, based on Sports Festival performance.”

Since UA’s inception, its individual departments have been completely independent of one another. Students apply to specific departments and permission is very rarely granted for students to switch departments after admittance. However, with this policy change, General Education students, should they perform well in the Sports Festival, will be allowed to transfer to the Hero Department. Presumably, the reverse is also true - should a hero student make a particularly poor showing, they may be demoted to the General Education department.

This announcement has been met with mixed reactions. Ibu Ryuuzaki, the Minister of Education, released a statement condemning the policy. Ibu-san claims that such an emphasis on the Sports Festival would shift students’ attention away from their studies and their internships, which are vital for their future heroic careers. Ibu-san also suggests that this move was an economic one at heart, since UA receives half of its yearly revenue from the Sports Festival.

All-Might has publicly spoken out in favor of Nedzu’s reforms. “When a student shows heroic potential, it should always be possible for them hone that potential and become heroes. Nedzu’s new policy is the embodiment of Plus Ultra! Go beyond what you started as, and become the best hero you can be!”

“It is my truest hope,” Nedzu said, concluding the press conference, “that someday UA departments will not function as independent entities! The flow of support between heroes, their staff, and the general public is the foundation of our society, and thus should be reflected in our school systems.”

From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Thoughts on Miku
Sir,

So I was rereading Centipeder's analysis of Miku's Construction, the company that ostensibly owns the ruins of the bank in Funabashi. He found the connection to Hisakawa, aka our local crimelord ghost, but no one has followed up with Miku's other properties. I think it was assumed that since this shell company was used to buy something as important as the bank, they wouldn't use it to buy anything else crucial.

But I don't believe that anyone involved thought that the bank would be followed to Nakahara Nobu's operation. We honestly did it backwards. No one should have been investigating the bank heists, not unless they were either investigating Nobu's family or were looking for cases that could be specifically connected to All for One.

And let's say the police identified Nakahara Nobu through some other means, and then wanted to investigate his organization and other criminal activity it was connected to. Of course they'd look into Chishiki, since he’s on the board of directors, but why would they pick Miku’s Construction to focus on out of the hundreds of other connections Chishiki has? The bank was never a risky acquisition - which was why it was only one shell company away from Nobu’s real enterprise.

It’s possible that the warehouses and empty lots are distractions, or are inconsequential. But they could also be as important as the bank turned out to be.

Can I investigate them? (Or have Shinsou start investigating them, I guess?)

Izuku

-- What’s small, green, and runs on caffeine?


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Thoughts on Miku
Izuku,

I agree that this is a potentially fruitful line of investigation that we hadn’t considered before. Your logic is impeccable, and there could be some undiscovered connections that we’ve overlooked up until now.

I’ll assign Shinsou and Centipeder to the task, since, if I remember correctly, this was only your first day at school. I recall something about you needing to attend UA for a full, uninterrupted week before you could work on any Nighteye Agency cases….

Oh, and Izuku, as you well know, Mirio is terrible at keeping things secret. He informed me that you’re choosing Endeavor’s agency because of the Hero Killer case. I can’t stop things now - Nedzu’s already set all the wheels in motion. I won’t ask why Stain is so important to you, and if this internship is really worth it, but please, please be careful. Both with Stain, and with Endeavor.

Sir Nighteye

-- Sounds like an accurate description of you.


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Thoughts on Miku
Sir,

Yes, fine… But I’ll make sure Shinsou keeps me in the loop.

And you don’t need to worry. I’ll be cautious, and prudent, and all those good things. I know you’re not happy about me working with Endeavor’s agency, but he’ll probably just hand me off to some underling and I’ll finally be able to get full access to the case.

I’m not sure I can explain to you why I need to be involved with the Hero Killer case. You deserve a good explanation, but there’s a lot in my head right now. All I can really tell you is that every night I check the official list of Heroic Deaths in the Line of Duty because I’m always scared that you or someone else from the agency is going to turn up on it. And ever since IACUC started buzzing about Stain, it’s been more… It’s just been more, you know?

Anyway, on a lighter note, Mom wants to know if you want to come over for dinner tomorrow night. Yes, it’s not a Thursday (it’s a Friday, in fact!), and yes, you came over on Tuesday, but she’s very insistent. Let me know, but I hope you can make it.

Izuku

-- A coffee-loving bonsai tree!


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Thoughts on Miku
Izuku,

I understand. I truly do. When a criminal threatens your coworkers, your friends, there’s an additional sense of urgency - a belief that if you don’t apprehend the killer quickly, the next casualty will be one of your own.

All I ask is that you don’t let that urgency consume you. When he kills again, remember that those deaths are not on your shoulders. Every murder will feel like a failure, a result of your inability to catch him. Remember - you are opposing him and nothing you do aids him or his goals. His sins are not your burden to bear.

You’ve put yourself in a precarious position, and I can’t help you much when you’re under Endeavor’s authority. Still, if you need assistance, please reach out. We’ll find a way to help you. I’ll find a way.

And yes, I’ll be there for dinner tomorrow. Tell Inko thank you, and I’ll see you both soon.

Sir Nighteye

-- As I said - sounds like you.

Excerpt from “Abhorrence: the Scourge of Tokyo” by Harold Carlyle:

Possibly the most destructive supervillain to date, Abhorrence rose to prominence in the 2070s, when the world was just recovering from the death of the hero Phoenix and the wave of crime that followed her demise. Europe was relishing in its newfound stability when the news broke of a catastrophic event in Tokyo. Large portions of the Shinjuku district of Tokyo had been utterly leveled.

There was an imposing horror to those first pictures - whole city blocks of Tokyo replaced by seas of dust and dirt, while neighboring skyscrapers towered over the carnage. Japanese heroes and police worked to contain the destruction, but they soon learned that careless attempts to capture Abhorrence would only enrage him. And when Abhorrence was enraged, swathes of Tokyo tended to disappear.

Abhorrence would continue to terrorize Japan for the next three years, and would eventually rack up property damages totalling trillions of yen. His reign of villainy is well-known, as well as his dramatic death, but where did he come from? Who really was Abhorrence?

“Midoriya? Could we speak in private?”

Izuku looked up to find Todoroki looming intimidatingly over him. He fought the urge to hide under the cafeteria table. It was only his second day back at school - he shouldn’t be expected to deal with this.

“Umm, s-sure?” he stuttered, instead of diving under the nearest bench. He tried to subtly wave away the concerned glances of Iida and Tsuyu and motion Uraraka and Shinsou to sit down, but he didn’t succeed based on the unimpressed look Todoroki threw him. Still, Izuku managed to extract himself from the cafeteria without any concerned parties trailing behind. He counted that as a success.

“What, um, what exactly do you need, Todoroki-kun?” he asked after Todoroki stopped them in a deserted hallway. “Not that I’m not happy to talk to you! I’d be happy to talk to you about anything, but it seemed -”

“You’re joining my father’s agency.” It wasn’t a question.

“I -” Izuku stumbled over his words, surprised. “I mean, on a temporary basis?”

“I know. He said that you’re from Nighteye Agency.”

“Yes,” Izuku confirmed. “And since I’m still an employee of Nighteye Agency, it’s not a permanent thing.”

“No,” Todoroki agreed. His serious face took on an even more dour cast. “I thought I should warn you, however. My father doesn’t like you.”

Izuku shrugged. “I’m used to people not liking me,” he told Todoroki truthfully. Endeavor would be far from the first adult in a position of authority to despise Izuku, but he would definitely be the first that was so physically and socially powerful. Though, the thought of Endeavor hating him - Endeavor, who had the power to just… casually burn down skyscrapers - was more than a little terrifying.

Todoroki shook his head. “You don’t understand. Endeavor hates All-Might, and thus he hates Sir Nighteye. You’re Sir Nighteye’s son, and you don’t have -”

“Wait, what?” Izuku yelped. “Sir’s son?”

Todoroki cocked his head to the side and then slowly gestured to his hair. “You have the same…?”

“My mom has green hair too!”

“You work in his agency?”

“Yeah, but so do a lot of people!”

“Are they quirkless, too?”

“Oh.” Izuku bit his lip. “So he told you about that, I guess.”

Todoroki scowled. “Yes. It was… He was very loud at the time.”

“Sir said that he doesn’t like quirkless people.”

Todoroki snorted. “That’s an understatement. He thinks quirkless people are worse than useless.”

Izuku tried to smile at him, but could only muster something closer to a grimace. “I’m also used to that.”

The other boy shook his head slowly. “Not like this, you aren’t. He’s cruel. His agency is composed of people who have made an art out of looking the other way. You won’t have any allies there.”

“Except for you,” Izuku replied impulsively, the words stumbling out his mouth before he could think to regret them.

Todoroki huffed, darkly amused. “I doubt that you’ll want to ally yourself with me.”

“Why not?” Izuku argued. “You don’t like Endeavor either.”

The other boy shrugged. “I don’t. So? Endeavor is focused on me and my improvement as a hero.” There was a disgusted twist to his mouth, like he had tasted something bitter. “It’s not exactly a safe thing to be, my ally.”

Izuku shrugged too, mirroring him. “I’ve never been good at being safe - or at looking the other way.”

The corners of Todoroki’s mouth quirked upward as he gave Izuku a considering look. “That’s a refreshing policy.”

Izuku huffed out a laugh. “I don’t know - not many people are a fan.”

“Endeavor certainly won’t be,” Todoroki warned. “If you were hoping to fade into the background, you won’t. Not with that attitude.”

Izuku briefly mourned his hope of a smooth, untroubled internship. Still, some things were more important, and he doubted that he could stand idly by when Endeavor mistreated Todoroki. He’d had his suspicions since his entrance exam when he’d done a profile on the other recommended student. This conversation was confirming every one of them.

So, he stuck out his hand. Todoroki stared at it like Izuku had offered him a rotting fish. Izuku resisted the urge to withdraw it, run away, and wallow in his own social ineptitude. Instead, he firmed up his courage and stuck it out more insistently.

“Allies?” he asked tentatively. “Against Endeavor Agency?”

Todoroki gave him a long, inscrutable look before he finally took his hand. It was cold to the touch, Izuku noted. “Allies,” he confirmed.

It should have been comforting, but instead, Izuku only felt a deep foreboding.

From: Saitou Sota <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Saitou Ayano’s folklore project
Midoriya,

Take all of the cursed things. I would have burned them if my daughter hadn’t made me promise to store them safely. I hope they bring you better fortune than they brought her.

Saitou

Transcript of conversation between Sir Nighteye (Civilian Name: UNAVAILABLE) and Midoriya Inko on April 16, 2179 in Midoriya Residence (kitchen), recorded by camera #3:

Nighteye: What’s Izuku up to?

Midoriya: (Laughs) Ah, he’s driven you paranoid already. He’s up in his room, “letting the adults talk,” he said.

Nighteye: And that means…?

Midoriya: Probably listening to the police scanner and trawling the forums for hero news.

Nighteye: (Laughs) Of course.

(Pause)

Midoriya: And how are you doing, Osamu?

UPDATE: Sir Nighteye (Civilian Name: Osamu UNKNOWN)

Nighteye: Good. Fine. You?

Midoriya: Oh, don’t dodge the question. Come on, how are you really?

Nighteye: (Sighs) I don’t know, Inko. Tired? Exhausted? The usual, really.

Midoriya: What did my son do?

Nighteye: (Laughs) Oh, Izuku gives me plenty of gray hairs, but it’s not his fault this time.

Midoriya: (Fake gasp) Shocking!

Nighteye: (Laughs) I know, I know, I’m as surprised as you. Do you know what Aizawa calls him?

Midoriya: Aizawa? Isn’t that one of his teachers?

Nighteye: His unofficial homeroom teacher, but Izuku worked with him before that. He might have called him Eraserhead?

Midoriya: Oh, Eraserhead! (Laughs) Oh yes, of course - he’s mentioned him… a couple times. What does Aizawa call him?

Nighteye: Problem child.

Midoriya: P-problem child? (Laughs) Oh, oh my! Well, I can’t dispute the accuracy of that. He’s a wonderful child, but oh, how he worries me!

Nighteye: (Sighs) He’s seen too much of the broken parts of the world, and he thinks that it’s his duty to fix them. Hopefully therapy will help.

Midoriya: I don’t know if it will or not, but I can tell you that he likes his therapist.

Nighteye: Oh, that’s a relief.

Midoriya: Mmhmm. So do you want to tell me what’s bothering you?

Nighteye: Have you ever considered pursuing a career in interrogation?

Midoriya: Osamu.

Nighteye: (Sighs) I don’t know. It’s not a specific case. I’m just… tired. The cases never stop. There’s a pile of paperwork on my desk, and every day I finish it, and every morning there’s another pile, as big as the last.

Midoriya: You’re burned out.

Nighteye: We’re all burned out, Inko. (Huffs) Sometimes I wish that I were a mainstream hero. I’d have some big, flashy quirk -

Midoriya: Fire breath.

Nighteye: (Laughs) I’d have fire breath, and my hero name would be…

Midoriya: Flamethrower?

Nighteye: Mmmm, possible. A little too broad?

Midoriya: Halitosis?

Nighteye: (Laughs) A little, a little too... (Laughs) Aha, oh god, a little too on the nose with that one, Inko.

Midoriya: (Laughs) I’m not sure you could get too many sponsors with that.

Nighteye: I’d be killer at selling mouthwash.

Midoriya: (Laughs) Oh, hah - oh, and Izuku says you don’t have a sense of humor.

Nighteye: That’s rich coming from him. He has the strangest sense of humor I’ve ever seen.

Midoriya: He gets that from me, I’m afraid.

Nighteye: Oh, trust me, I’ve noticed.

Midoriya: (Snorts) The perils of having you around so often.

Nighteye: Yes. (Pause) Inko, I don’t think I say it enough, but -

(Pause)

Midoriya: Osamu?

Nighteye: Thank you. Just… I…

Midoriya: It’s okay, Osamu. You don’t -

Nighteye: No, I… I want to express this. I need to say this.

Midoriya: Okay. Take your time.

Nighteye: Thank you. (Pauses) I… My mother wasn’t there. And my father wasn’t good. My quirk was strange and off-putting. I didn’t have friends until high school. And… and I didn’t have a family until now.

Midoriya: Oh.

Nighteye: So… thank you. You, and Izuku… thank you.

Midoriya: No, Osamu. Thank you.

Nighteye: What?

Midoriya: You chose us as much as we chose you. And our little family is better for it. So thank you.

(Pause)

Midoriya: Osamu?

Nighteye: I’m fine, I’m fine.

Midoriya: (Laughs gently) I know. Do you want a tissue?

Nighteye: ...Yes, that would be appreciated.

TRANSMISSION ENDED. Transmitting to… IP UNKNOWN.

Chapter Text

From: HR <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Internship Details
Midoriya Izuku,

Attached is the necessary paperwork for all incoming Endeavor agency interns. Fill it out and return it to us by your first day of work.

Your internship will begin on April 19. Report to the agency at 3:30pm sharp. Tardiness will not be tolerated.

Best,
HR


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: HR <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Internship Details
Hi,

Sorry to bother you, but I already filled out the standard incoming intern paperwork and sent both that and my Nighteye Agency records to you via Interagency Secure Communication. Did you receive it?

Thanks,
Midoriya Izuku


From: HR <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Internship Details

We did. We still need you to fill out the attached internship paperwork, per our previous email. Return it before Monday.

HR


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: HR <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Internship Details
Hi,

As far as I can tell, the paperwork you attached contains the standard internship liability, employment, and confidentiality forms, which I have already filled out and set to you. The only one I haven’t is an additional liability form, which I’ve attached to this email. Thank you! Let me know if you need me to do anything else.

Thanks,
Midoriya Izuku


From: HR <[email protected]>
To: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Internship Details

We need you to fill out the whole packet. Send it back to us. By Monday.

HR


From: Midoriya Izuku <[email protected]>
To: HR <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Internship Details

I see. Thanks for your time.

Midoriya Izuku

Murder of Beloved Hero, Woodskip

One of Roppongi's longtime local heroes, Woodskip, was reported murdered at 8:13pm last night. An underground hero on a randomized patrol heard his screams and called in for backup, but by the time neighboring hero agencies arrived on the scene, Woodskip was already dead.

Investigators have declared that, based on similarities to other hero murders in recent weeks, that this horrific crime is likely the work of Hero Killer Stain. The police refuse to comment further on this case, only saying that a well-known hero agency is now heading the investigation.

Woodskip was a beloved hero in his local Roppongi. He was known for cracking down on quirk misuse and local gangs, as well as supporting his community and encouraging aspiring heroes in his district.

Shinsou

Shinsou: so
Izuku: so?
Shinsou: sports festival
Izuku: yes?
Shinsou: are u competing
Izuku: haha no
Izuku: are u?
Shinsou: i think so
Izuku: have you talked to sir about it?
Shinsou: okay so
Shinsou: just so ur aware
Shinsou: sir is terrifying
Shinsou: the reason u talk to him about everything is that he loves u
Shinsou: im a bb intern
Shinsou: i talk to kanon and jack and yuki
Shinsou: at best i talk to centipeder
Izuku: sir’s not scary
Shinsou: agree to disagree
Shinsou: anyway i think hed say the same thing as everyone else
Izuku: which is?
Shinsou: that my quirk relies on surprise and secrecy
Shinsou: and that participating in something as high profile as the festival will hurt my career
Izuku: they’re not wrong
Shinsou: so u agree with them too
Izuku: i mean
Izuku: shinsou i know that this internship with sir isn’t exactly what u wanted
Shinsou: no im very grateful that you got it for me
Shinsou: i wasnt at first but its been a good fit so far
Shinsou: and very good for an underground career
Izuku: but u never wanted an underground career
Shinsou: no
Shinsou: but its different from what i thought it would be
Shinsou: idk
Shinsou: i like that ppl dont hate me
Shinsou: that my quirk is useful and respected
Shinsou: i guess theres more paperwork than i really want tho
Izuku: so underground villain apprehension?
Shinsou: ya i think id like that
Izuku: okay so yeah the sports festival might make that a little harder for u
Izuku: but also the teacher of class 1-A is eraserhead
Shinsou: wait what no shit
Izuku: u didn’t know that?
Shinsou: ive never seen class 1-A’s homeroom teacher
Shinsou: and no one talks about him
Shinsou: except for rumors about him expelling entire classes
Izuku: yeah he does that
Shinsou: what
Izuku: but yeah anyway
Izuku: if u want to be in underground villain apprehension
Izuku: there aren’t many heroes better than eraserhead
Izuku: at least not ones that u can talk to as a student
Izuku: and none that are as good at teaching
Izuku:like he’s gonna start to teach me some basic self-defense soon
Izuku: and the outline he gave me… wow
Izuku: anyway
Izuku: so maybe the festival will boost your public profile
Izuku: but also maybe u could get into eraserhead’s class
Shinsou: so u think it would be worth it?
Izuku: shinsou, what do u want to do?
Shinsou: i want to pound the 1-A kids into the dirt
Izuku: fair and valid
Shinsou: ur a 1-A kid
Izuku: i want to be a smear on the pavement shinsou
Shinsou: nope im out of here
Shinsou: im kinkshaming
Shinsou: and im telling sir
Izuku: you’re too scared of him coward
Izuku: but seriously
Izuku: if you want to be in the festival, do it
Izuku: i think the pros and cons are about equal
Shinsou: ok
Shinsou: thanks izuku

Excerpt from “Retrograde Motion - The Devolution of the Japanese Justice System”, by Nishimura Kuro:

In the early 2000s, child abuse was actually starting to be seriously discussed in political circles. Our closely held values of privacy and the sanctity of the household meant that child abuse cases were not rigorously investigated. The prosecution of such cases was very rare.

After the rise of quirks, the Japanese justice system was remodelled rapidly. During this period of upheaval, the long-cherished Japanese policy of privacy suffered a strong blow. Quirks were new, scary, and invisible. It suddenly became urgent to know the details of citizens’ lives. And since quirks were heritable, families also were under a greater level of scrutiny than ever before. The breakout of World War III also provided an impetus for the Japanese government to investigate and crack down on crimes domestically. Looters had historically been a problem in World War II, and the Japanese government was eager to preempt a similar trend during this war.

This era was rife with government abuses perpetrated against quirked individuals. However, this greater transparency meant that a record number of child abuse cases were brought to light. Between 2010 and 2020, three times as many child abuse cases went to court than in the previous decade. This trend continued until the mid-2050s.

In the 2050s, quirks had become a normal part of life. They were becoming more prevalent. Thanks to the creation of the hero system, some quirks were even more cherished than “normality” or quirklessness. Children with “heroic” quirks were entering into apprenticeship programs for heroes, and it was evident that a heroic quirk could make families unusually upwardly mobile. Now, close scrutiny by the government felt more invasive than safe. [...]

Nowadays, the number of reported child abuse cases has returned to pre-quirk levels, even though the population is higher. As discussed in this chapter, there have been many factors influencing this trend and the situation is complex. The solution, however, is simple - we must push for a return to post-war levels of accountability. We must lobby for transparency, for unbiased investigation, and for a healthy balance between privacy and scrutiny.

Excerpt from “Ongoing Criminal Investigations, Vol. 1,” by Midoriya Izuku:

that’s why it sounded familiar. I knew i’d heard that name somewhere.

I know why Stain is killing them.

“So, uh, do you guys have a specific analysis room or something, or should I just -”

“Do you ever,” snapped his guide, an older woman in prim and proper attire, “stop talking? Or do you just chatter on all day long?”

Izuku shut his mouth with a snap.

She sniffed, her pursed lips turning slightly upward in something that might be construed as a smile. They walked through the hallways in silence.

The room she led him to was no bigger than a closet. Something claustrophobic rose in him. It was so different than the large, open spaces of the Nighteye Agency, specifically designed so that the whole agency could mingle together. This room was only big enough for a desk and a filing cabinet. Izuku himself could barely fit in here.

Izuku swallowed and tried to smile. From the woman’s expression, he didn’t accomplish it. “So,” he asked, “who should I report to?”

“You shouldn’t be bothering anybody!” she barked.

Izuku harshly bit his bottom lip. He didn’t remember being so difficult to keep his sass to himself. “And I won’t,” he replied as cordially as possible. “But I do need to know who I should… who will be giving me my assignments.”

Her lips twisted up in a sneer. “You’ll be emailed.” She bit out every syllable individually, like she was speaking to a toddler with poor language comprehension. “So don’t go bothering anyone. We’re all very busy here.”

“Yes,” Izuku replied, thinking of the overflowing filing cabinets, the messy desks, and the hordes of employees “on break” that they had passed in the halls. “I’m sure.”

She knew she was being insulted, but unable to put her finger on exactly how, she satisfied herself with another impressive sneer in Izuku’s direction before turned on her heel and hurried away. Izuku was left alone in his broom closet of an office.

He sat down gingerly on the wobbly chair and turned the computer on. It groaned, a long, loud protest, but eventually it woke up.

HR had given Izuku a login and an email, and he spent the first thirty minutes of his internship familiarizing himself with Endeavor Agency’s digital resources. He quickly discovered that he didn’t have access to the Stain case - in fact, he had no access to any criminal case files at all.

“What do they expect me to do here?” he muttered to himself.

Just as he had started to poke through employee payroll out of boredom (apparently that wasn’t locked to him), an email arrived in his Endeavor Agency inbox.

Izuku read it through quickly and then re-read it to make sure the email really said what he thought it said. Then he spent five minutes simply breathing, alone in his closet. He told himself firmly that he couldn’t cry, or scream, or react in any way. That’s what they wanted. They wanted him to make a fuss so that they could have an excuse. He knew how this worked. He’d been living in this world for fifteen years, and only two and a half of them had been in the employ of Nighteye Agency.

Everyone had warned him. He’d known what he was getting himself into. Sure, he’d thought that he’d at least have access to the Stain case at this point, but, well, there was still time. If he played the game well enough, he might be able to finagle his way in. But he’d known that they wouldn’t respect him.

Still, it hurt. It always had, but now it hurt in the way that the resurgence of an old injury did - the surprise of pain, after such a long reprieve, and the utter despair of the realization that it had never truly healed in the first place.

After the five minutes he allowed himself to wallow in his self-pity, he reopened the email and pulled up the files that detailed the minutiae of Endeavor Agency’s financials over the last twenty years. If they wanted him to be an accountant, he’d just have to be the best damn accountant they’d ever seen. He knew it was meant to be mind-numbingly boring. It was meant to be intimidating. They meant for him to give up.

Well, it was boring and intimidating. Izuku supposed that two out of three wasn’t bad.

He got to work with a vengeance.

Ivy League Colleges to Transition to Fully Quirk-Blind Admission Process

Since the turn of the century, colleges across the US have had a quirk-blind admission process for their domestic students, thanks to quirk antidiscrimination legislation that required it. However, this legislation did not protect international applicants, and colleges still included a section requiring applicants from abroad to disclose details of their quirk. But now, the most prestigious private colleges in the US are eliminating this section from their application process. This decision comes on the heels of a lawsuit against Harvard College, in which the plaintiff claimed that Harvard’s hiring process was biased against those with mutation quirks.

“While we strive to have a fair and equitable admissions process, our legacy of prejudice can stand in the way of that. It was a tiny portion of the application, but we have come to realize that the small things can matter in more ways than we think,” said Marie Liang, the Dean of Undergraduate Education at Yale University.

“Our admission process is unbiased,” claimed Harvard University president Samuel Faust. “Still, the move to eliminate the quirk portion of the application was overdue. Students may still write about challenges associated with their quirk as a part of the free-response essay section.”

Although applicants will no longer be required to disclose their quirk to these schools until after acceptance, the US government’s policies regarding student visas and quirk registration remain unchanged. When asked how they would respond in the case of one of their international students being denied entry to the US based on their quirk, Samuel Faust refused to comment.

Transcript of Therapy Appointment #4 of Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341), conducted by Ikeda Jun (Medical ID: 112-767-902), on April 22, 2179 at 3:00pm. UA mandated session, transcript confidential:

Ikeda: Hello, Midoriya-kun. How are you today?

Midoriya: I’m fine.

Ikeda: Okay. Would you mind giving me a little more detail than that?

Midoriya: I mean… Everything’s fine?

Ikeda: You’ve been working at Endeavor’s office for four days. Last time we met you alluded to the fact that your first day of work was… disappointing. How are you feeling about it now?

Midoriya: Yeah. I guess… well, it’s nothing that I’m not used to. Feels pretty familiar now, actually.

Ikeda: Considering the experiences you’ve had in the past that we’ve discussed, I’m not sure that’s a good thing, Midoriya-kun.

Midoriya: It’s… it’s not, really. Good, that is. (Pause) I… I took your advice.

Ikeda: Oh? What advice was that?

Midoriya: When we were talking about hostile environments. In our second session. You told me that even though we assume that everyone in a hostile environment is against us, it’s likely that a few are favorably inclined. So I reached out.

Ikeda: How did that go?

Midoriya: Mixed results.

Ikeda: Okay. Since mixed means good and bad, let’s start with the good. What went well?

Midoriya: I reached out to Todoroki-kun. He seemed… well, not friendly. But cooly supportive? He warned me about his father’s attitudes. We formed an official alliance. Which sounds really stupid when I say it out loud, but -

Ikeda: Has that been helpful?

Midoriya: Not… not really. They stuck me in, like… the financial department? The combination of their HR department, their intelligence analysis department, and their financial department? I’m not quite sure. Their organizational efficiency is terrible. Anyway, Todoroki is always on patrol with his father or the sidekicks. He doesn’t come down to my department. So… I don’t know. It hasn’t been directly helpful.

Ikeda: Okay. What about the bad?

Midoriya: The bad? Oh, of my mixed results. Hmm. It hasn’t been that bad, I mean -

Ikeda: Midoriya-kun. You’re deflecting again.

Midoriya: I’m not! I’m just… I don’t know, trying to let you know not to freak out.

Ikeda: Midoriya-kun, you don’t need to manage my emotional state. I’m capable of doing that myself. Let’s start again. What’s been bad?

(Pause)

Midoriya: There’s this guy in the office. A little older than me I think? He didn’t seem to use his quirk, whatever it was, at all, and he… well, he was more friendly to me than the others. Just by comparison, really, but…. I was stupid. That was the problem. So they gave me this assignment, with the financials, like always, but this time I had to do it on some hard copies. And I finished pretty quickly, but I didn’t know who to deliver them to.

I asked him. The nice guy. He told me to just put them into the chute located in my office. Quick delivery system or something.

I didn’t know anything was wrong until my… boss? I don’t know. She oversees me and hates everything about it. About me. But yeah, she came in and asked me about the papers and I pointed to the chute. And she was like, “You sent them to the incinerator?” So I was like, “Yep, I messed them up so badly that I wanted to throw them out and try again.” She wasn’t happy about that. But she wouldn’t have believed me if I told her the truth. She loves him - Takahashi, the… the guy who tricked me. I think he reminds her of her grandson.

Ikeda: Is there anyone -

Midoriya: Okay, I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but I can’t trust a single person there. I can’t. It’s difficult enough as it is, and backstabbing just….

Ikeda: That’s understandable, Midoriya-kun. I wasn’t going to suggest that you do. While there may be some people sympathetic to you, guarding yourself seems to be a wise strategy at this time. No, I was going to ask if there is anyone that you can reach out to outside of Endeavor Agency. Perhaps your colleagues at Nighteye Agency?

Midoriya: And… tell them about all of this?

Ikeda: We have talked about communication.

Midoriya: Yes, when it’s important for someone to know something.

Ikeda: Yes, exactly. And wouldn’t this be something important for people in your life to know?

Midoriya: No?

Ikeda: No?

Midoriya: No. It’s not like they can do anything about it. Endeavor Agency operates independently. If they try to do anything, they’ll just land themselves in trouble. So I don’t think it’s important for them to know.

Ikeda: Oh. I see. If they took reckless actions against Endeavor Agency, would you feel that you were responsible for those actions?

(Long pause.)

Midoriya: Information is… Information can be dangerous. I know that better than most.

Ikeda: A lack of information can be even more dangerous.

Midoriya: In this case?

Ikeda: Your friends and family care about your well-being, and they want to be able to support you through difficult times. Additionally, you do have a pattern of not informing them when something is wrong, so not telling them about your negative experiences in Endeavor Agency will probably lead them to be more concerned than if you simply confided in them.

Midoriya: That’s a good point.

Ikeda: Do you plan to talk about this with them, then?

Midoriya: Sure.

Ikeda: Alright, I’ll trust you on that. (Shuffling of papers) Would you like to discuss this discrimination more? Work through your feelings about it?

Midoriya: Nope.

Ikeda: You have the right to make that choice. May I ask why?

Midoriya: This isn’t anything new, Ikeda-san. I’ve been dealing with this for the majority of my life.

Ikeda: This is the first time it’s occurred for you in the context of employment.

Midoriya: Yeah, but trust me - it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.

From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Miku’s Construction investigation
Sir,

I purposefully left Midoriya-kun out of this email chain. Don’t add him to it.

I don’t know what to do with the following information. I’ve attached everything I found to this email. Go through it and let me know what you think and what our next actions should be.

You’ve spent a lot of time with the Midoriyas. What do you know about Midoriya Hisashi?

Centipeder

-- Ask me if I’m an albatross.


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Miku’s Construction investigation
Centipeder,

This is very concerning. Very, very concerning. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Let’s leave Izuku out of this for now. He has enough on his plate with the internship. I’ll ask Inko some questions, but I’ll be as subtle as possible. Neither of them needs the stress right now.

I know precious little about Hisashi. I didn’t want to push before. Now I wish I had. All I know is that he was married to Inko for about a year before he went back to the US. He was apparently of Japanese descent, but he was born in the US. He left before Izuku was even born. He was sending money every month, but that decreased to every two months, then every six, and now only once every year. Inko hasn’t divorced him because she doesn’t even know how to find him to get his signature on the papers, and according to her, “it would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

Look more into both Hisashi and the company that he ostensibly works for - Unus Incorporated.

Sir Nighteye

-- That’s not a different joke, Centipeder.

error404

tbh all the mourning for tailwind is making me physically sick. im just gonna say it - im glad that stain killed that son of a bitch. i hope he's cooking nicely in hell rn

washmanstan

What the fuck? That's fucked up, man. He was a hero. He saved people. Have a modicum of decency or just stfu.

error404

i could shit talk a legion of dead heroes and i would have more decency in my little finger than tailwind ever had in his entire life

allrightallmight

@cookiemomster - what's this about?

cookiemomster

me: why do people keep pinging me for details on hero scandals?
also me: oh ho ho do i have some juicy deets

okay so before i get into it, no analysis of this clusterfuck is complete without a link to The Original Big Boy aka smallmight101’s in-depth investigation of aaaallll the shit that went down. no idea who this absolute legend is irl. they were doing run-of-the-mill hero analyses (albeit pretty quality ones) before this, but somehow they discovered a thread of this whole thing and just… followed it down the rabbit hole. there’s an iconic point where smallmight101 actually called a twist before anyone reported on it.

but yeah, i love smallmight’s thing, but it’s long af. if you want refs or the whole story, go read that one. if u want the tl;dr, proceed.

Alright, so. It’s the summer of 2173. There’s the resurgence of minor protests over the fact that people with significant mutation quirks still are banned from most international sports competitions, although certain countries may allow them to play in their national leagues. Sweden even leaves the FIFA Women’s Cup this year in protest when one of their assistant coaches is asked to leave the field. That’s the story that’s dominating headlines when this all starts.

High Flying (aka Tailwind) is one of many small-time heroes in Ikebukuro. He belongs to Crust’s agency as a sidekick, which, since Crust was currently ranked 11th on the Hero Billboard Chart, should have placed him well for a future career in heroics. But by this time, High Flying had probably figured out what the rest of us have known for a long time - Crust has a huge agency with minimal mentoring or oversight for its sidekicks. Additionally, the agency is so saturated that advancement within the agency is nigh-impossible. High Flying, who by all accounts was a middling successful Ketsubutsu student, wouldn’t have any better opportunities than this perma-sidekick position unless he managed to be involved in some seriously high-profile cases.

At the same time, gambling establishments in Ikebukuro are suffering a downturn in business as higher-end casinos are moving back to their traditional early 21st century Obaida floating casino establishments. Legitimate casinos in Ikebukuro either move as well or just liquidate everything. But the casinos operated by the Yakuza… well, they want a better return on their property than real estate can provide.

There’s no better return than an insurance payout, especially when that’s due to heroics-related property damage. The HPSC has been quietly encouraging insurance companies for years not to ask too many details about the damage, but instead to just promptly pay out the full insured amount. This policy does limit outcry about property damage as a result of heroic activities, but it also makes this a popular route for criminals looking to commit insurance fraud.

On August 1, 2173, High Flying battles a no-name villain with a heteromorphic quirk that allows him to become semi-gaseous. High Flying is perfect for this particular villain apprehension task, given that he can generate blasts of wind with his feet. The resulting windstorm unfortunately destroys a casino in the area, but there are no casualties. High Flying hands him off to police, does a couple of interviews, and resumes his patrol.

The villain escapes. Police now give him an official villain name - Poison Gas. Three police officers are murdered when he escapes from custody.

August 4, 2173. High Flying battles Poison Gas for the second time. Another casino is destroyed, and the battle is more fraught. There are two serious injuries because of falling debris, but no casualties. High Flying hands Poison Gas off to the police once again, but not before first, on live TV, admonishing them for letting the villain escape. One of the attending officers is the brother of one of the casualties of Poison Gas’ escape. He decks High Flying and has to be physically dragged away by his colleagues.

The combination of this second capture (a fated rematch!) and the assault by a police officer cause High Flying’s media exposure to skyrocket. His agency doesn’t commend him for his actions, but now they’re actually taking notice of this sidekick.

Poison Gas escapes yet again, this time in transport. Later inspections confirm that the holding tank for him was sabotaged prior to the truck leaving for the prison. The driver of the truck is killed and the five other officers are severely injured.

At this point, the insurance company is getting a little suspicious. They don’t question the casino owners too closely about the details, but it’s clear that they’re wary about the fact that they’ve just made out two huge checks to the same people in as many days.

So at this point, the Yakuza either tell High Flying or Poison Gas (or both) that they need to generate more property damage this time to throw off suspicion. Smallmight101 did a detailed analysis of their third fight and they think that the Yakuza just told Poison Gas to increase damage. Still, whatever the case, the third fight, August 6, 2173, is the most destructive yet.

An apartment building collapses. Ten adults and four children perish when a nearby crane is blown violently into the structure. High Flying apprehends Poison Gas, but at this point, High Flying’s kill count is higher than the villain’s.

Another escape, this time from the prison. A prison guard is killed. There are more signs of sabotage. The prison reports this to the detectives, who have also gotten reports from both the insurance company (who find it suspicious that another casino was destroyed at the edge of the fighting) and the prison transport officers who were present at the second escape.

The detectives report their suspicions to their superiors, Crust’s agency, and the HPSC. But no one gets the chance to act on them before High Flying and Poison Gas have their fourth battle on August 9th.

An elementary school playground is completely covered with debris from a nearby shopping center. Twelve children and one teacher are killed instantly. Without fanfare, High Flying is fired and heavily fined. He changes his hero name to “Tailwind”. Poison Gas is transported by a small force of underground heroes to a maximum security prison, where he later quietly disappears from the records.

At this point, you might be asking yourself - “wait, this is huge! Why didn’t I hear about it?”

Because the HPSC has a history of silencing scandals that could damage “public trust in the institution of heroics” aka anything that would reveal the myriad abuses of power that occur within the system. If you’re wondering why Tailwind wasn’t stripped of his license - the same reason, really. Stripping a hero of their license is a big deal and by law, must be reported publicly. So some reporter is going to pick up on it and follow the trail to a juicy story. (Reporters for the independent and foreign-owned newspapers, of course. The Japanese official newspapers aren’t going to make any hostile moves against the HPSC.) But if you just shuffle off the offending hero to a desk job at some agency, then you remove them from the public eye, but you’re still able to keep the whole mess quiet.

honestly, the internet wouldn’t even be aware of this one if smallmight101 hadn’t started analysing the fights and found the strange population damage reports. so i guess the moral of the story is to keep an eye on everything heroes do and someday we can maybe hold them accountable? idk

killingmeSOFTLY

the moral of the story is that stain is doing god’s work

cookiemomster

No. Absolutely not. Stain’s a villain who’s killing people. I don’t care that they’re “heroes”, but I do care that they’re people. If they, like Tailwind, have done something illegal, then we should lobby for them to be punished under the law, establish precedents for dealing with this sort of crime. We shouldn’t support lawless execution.

killingmeSOFTLY

it’s direct action, darling. someone has to take out the trash.

cookiemomster

this isn’t and will never be a villain fandom blog. blocked

Hatsume

Hatsume: yo spy kid!
Izuku: hey hatsume
Hatsume: forgotten 2 txt u recently but i got a lot of good shit goin on
Hatsume: so i was really inspired by u & ur quirkless hero thing uve got goin
Izuku: I mean, im not really trying to be a hero exactly
Hatsume: yea so i made u like
Hatsume: some weapons
Izuku: oh ummmm
Hatsume: dont worry! not that many
Hatsume: just about 20 or so
Izuku: 20???
Hatsume: ok yea its closer to 30
Izuku: 30?!
Hatsume: not important
Hatsume: anyway yea come by sometime
Hatsume: i made a lot of shit 4 u
Hatsume: like a tranq gun
Hatsume: a superheated knife hidden in a cell phone case
Hatsume: a bracelet that releases small emps to disable recording devices
Hatsume: a taser shaped like a dinner mint
Hatsume: a dinner mint shaped like a taser
Hatsume: that one isnt useful
Hatsume: a jetpack with guns
Hatsume: a superpowered laser gun disguised as a pen
Hatsume: but yea u should come by and see what u want
Izuku: ok i will
Izuku: hows arai? hes not replying to my texts
Hatsume: who?
Izuku: hacker guy?
Hatsume: oh him!
Hatsume: no idea havent seen anyone in a couple days
Hatsume: come by already plz
Izuku: i cant im literally in class rn
Hatsume: ugh ur boring
Hatsume: fineeee come whenever i guess

Personal account of a man who was forcibly given quirks, collected from Matsumoto Yuudai (34) in Tokyo, collected by Saitou Ayano in 2141. Recording destroyed in 2150, surviving transcript is archived in the Saitou house. Provided to Nighteye Agency in 2179.

Recording starts.

I knew it wasn’t a real job. I mean, yeah, I would work and they would pay me, but I knew it wasn’t legal. There was no way a real job would be so vague and pay so goddamn much. I heard about it through one of my… shadier friends. He was just like, “Hey, so there’s a guy I know looking for people to help with some resource acquisition.” Resource acquisition. Yeah. We all know what that means.

But hey, it’s not like I’d been having much luck with legal jobs. I’m big, stupid, and ugly. It’s hard to get a job at a fast-food joint with qualifications like that. So sure, yeah, I’ll go beat someone up for money. I’m better than average at it.

So I arrive at the place - it’s some sort of bar or something. I don’t know. What’s important is that there’s three of us, all of us with really obvious mutation quirks. I think whoever hired us had a type. Anyway, we’re met by this real smooth guy - blond, slicked-back hair, probably in his forties. He says his name is Irving. Just Irving, doesn’t give us his last name.

Long story short, the “resources” were actually people. No, I haven’t gone to the police. You’re welcome to - if they kill you, it’s not on me. One guy - I don’t even know his name - he balked at it. A couple of goons dragged him off. Irving just watched the whole thing and when they’d removed the guy to the back room, he turned to us two remaining employees, and was just like, “Usually I’d just put a bullet in their head. Honestly I think that would have been kinder.”

So we’re freaked, which it turns out we have a right to be. The guy comes back three days after, but he’s all wrong. Like, he had a mutation quirk that made him look kinda like a rhino. But he comes back and suddenly he’s bulging with muscles, but they’re all… wrong. He can also transform his fingers into long, black claws now. He couldn’t do that before.

He died within the week. It looked really painful. Like, at first he was running around and punching shit with his brand-new muscles, but then it looked like he’d get these sores, and he was tired and his eyes were bloodshot. He got really slow. He still came into work, but we didn’t know why he did. He could barely move at the end.

He died on a job. No one killed him; he just dropped dead.

I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for. Your ad said you wanted to know about people with multiple quirks and people who gained quirks. So there you have it.

What are you doing with all this shit, anyway? Why are you collecting people’s stories about it? It’s just a myth, right? Like, there’s gotta be a better explanation for the shit I saw. Some sort of weird disease. A poison.

But yeah, I need money. So can I take the payment and go now?

Recording ends.

“You wanted to talk to me?”

Todoroki nodded in response. Usually something like that would get Hitoshi’s hackles up - it was a common technique to avoid replying to Hitoshi verbally. But Todoroki didn’t talk to anyone else either. Hitoshi suspected that he was just an awkward, antisocial bastard.

Like Hitoshi really - except Todoroki was blessed with an amazing quirk, so really, what was his excuse?

“So?” Hitoshi prompted. “What do you need?”

“It’s Midoriya,” Todoroki replied. Hitoshi waited, but he didn’t say anything more.

Hitoshi sighed. It looked like he’d have to drag out the whole story, bit by bit. “Does this have anything to do about last week when you dragged him away at lunch?”

“He’s working at Endeavor’s agency,” Todoroki said, which again didn’t answer any of Hitoshi’s questions.

“I know. I’m an intern at Nighteye Agency and none of them can shut up about it.” Hitoshi was, perhaps, being a bit unkind, but since that’s how he personally dealt with worry and stress, he thought it was fair.

“Has he spoken to you about it?”

“The internship?” Hitoshi replied. “No, I think he’s been pretty quiet about it. He might have told Sir about it - they’re pretty close - but knowing him, I’m guessing Izuku hasn’t told anyone anything. Why?”

“It’s not good. The internship.”

Hitoshi dragged a hand down his face. “Yeah, no shit. That was obvious from the get-go.”

“No, I mean -” Todoroki huffed, frustrated. “I mean that it’s getting worse. Endeavor is positive that Midoriya joined the agency to steal cases from him. Take the glory.”

“He did,” Hitoshi pointed out. “Not the glory bit - he doesn’t give a shit about that - but you guys have the -”

“The Stain case,” Todoroki interrupted. “Yes. And thanks to the recent murders, it’s become high profile. Endeavor thinks that All-Might is trying to muscle in on the case. So he’s trying his best to prevent Midoriya from doing anything useful as well as isolating him in the office. He even shuffled people around to create chaos in order to stir up resentment against Midoriya.”

“Fuck,” Hitoshi breathed softly. “Does Izuku -”

“Does he know?” Todoroki broke in, now visibly upset. “Maybe. But it’s not going to matter in a bit. The Stain case is going nowhere and Endeavor is paranoid. He’s going to pull Izuku out of the analysis department and stick him with me in the sidekick division.”

Hitoshi was stunned silent for a long moment. "How does he expect that to go?" he demanded. "Izuku's an analyst, not a hero."

"Probably why he wants him out of the financial department."

"Are they going to make him patrol?"

Todoroki shrugged. "The sidekicks wouldn't want him just sitting around, so I assume so."

Shinsou was suddenly enraged by Todoroki's nonchalance. “He just started combat lessons,” he whispered furiously. “Like, Aizawa apparently just started teaching him hand-to-hand combat today.”

“I know.”

“Last time he was around villains, he played the part of a glorified baseball.”

“I know.”

“He doesn’t have a fucking quirk!”

“I know.” Todoroki looked as serious as Hitoshi had ever seen him. “I don’t think you have to be worried about the villains as much as Endeavor, however.”

“I’m worried about both of them!” Hitoshi cried. Todoroki startled at the shout. Hitoshi breathed in slowly, and then out. When he was marginally calmer, he continued, “Does your dad want Izuku to die or something?”

Todoroki shrugged. “He wouldn’t be upset about it, but too much paperwork. No, he wants Midoriya to quit the internship prematurely under his own power.”

“So he’s bullying him out of it.”

“Trying to,” Todoroki corrected him. “He’s been remarkably unsuccessful.” A dark smile stole across his face.

“So,” Hitoshi said, “I do appreciate the warning, but - why are you telling me?”

“Instead of Midoriya?” Todoroki scowled. “I’m… I’m going to have to act a certain way around him. If I don’t, Endeavor will… It will be worse if I don’t. So I thought that… it might be better if this comes from the mouth of someone he can trust. Who he will continue to trust.”

“If you hurt him, I’ll tear you apart. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Todoroki replied, and Shinsou grabbed him with his quirk.

“Back up and turn around,” Shinsou ordered, and after Todoroki obeyed, cut the connection.

Todoroki slowly turned back to face Shinsou. “I do understand. That wasn’t necessary.”

“Wasn’t it?”

An expression of frustration flitted briefly across Todoroki’s face. “I will choose the lesser of two evils - I promise you that.”

“Promises are worth shit.”

Todoroki scowled. “I can’t give you anything more than that. A warning and a promise - do with them what you think best.”

“Oh, I will.” Hitoshi threw him a jaunty little salute. “But Todoroki, listen to me. If you don’t watch his back, you’ll have to watch yours. Capisce?”

Todoroki gave a little nod in return. “He’s lucky,” he suddenly said.

“What?”

“Midoriya. He’s lucky.”

And with that, the two-toned bastard left, even though, once again, he refused to properly explain anything he said. And he’d had the last word. Life really was unfair sometimes.

And speaking of - Hitoshi was going to have to decide what to do with this information that Todoroki had dumped on him. He contemplated the problem until the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. With a sigh, he dashed off a text and then turned off his phone.

He might not know how to approach this, but someone else would.

Chapter Text

Transcript of Therapy Appointment #5 of Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341), conducted by Ikeda Jun (Medical ID: 112-767-902), on April 27, 2179 at 3:00pm. UA mandated session, transcript confidential:

Midoriya: You might be happy to know that I’ve come to terms with my working relationships with the Endeavor agency.

Ikeda: Oh? What insights have you had?

Midoriya: I was looking at it all wrong, Ikeda-san. I was thinking of the other members of the agency as obstacles or hostile entities.

Ikeda: Oh, so you’ve decided to treat them as coworkers?

Midoriya: What? No! That would be terrible. No, they’re not obstacles - they’re assets.

Ikeda: ...How so?

Midoriya: Every one of them is a person who could put pressure on Endeavor to give me the Stain case. I just… have to give them an incentive to do so.

Ikeda: How are you going to do that? They haven’t been receptive to your overtures of friendship.

Midoriya: No, they’ve all been mean. But honestly, they’re all really bad about network privacy. Social media is not secure at all.

Ikeda: Midoriya-kun, are you saying…

Midoriya: I don’t like it, Ikeda-san, but I need that case.

Ikeda: Why, Midoriya-kun? Why do you need it so much?

Midoriya: Because I know why he’s killing them, and when I tried to tell him, Endeavor pushed me out of his office and slammed the door. Because he’s a petty asshole who lets people die for the sake of his ego. Because they’re mismanaging the case, and heroes are going to die because of it. I need the case, Ikeda-san, because someone needs to rip it from Endeavor’s hands.

Ikeda: I can’t persuade you otherwise.

Midoriya: I think you know better by now.

Ikeda: Yes. (Pause.) Will you talk to someone about it?

Midoriya: I am.

Ikeda: Not me. Someone else.

Midoriya: Maybe. I’ll think about it.

Ikeda: That’s as much as I can ask.

American Dream

Mirio: sensei! guess what!
American: What, young man?
Mirio: i used ofa for the first time on patrol today!
American: Impressive!! How did it go?
Mirio: i apprehended the villain successfully
Mirio: and i only broke three toes!
American: Oh no…
Mirio: that’s better than it has been!
American: You’re having problems separating your quirks again
Mirio: that’s the thing sensei
Mirio: ive been thinking
Mirio: i dont think theyre as separate as u think
American: No?
Mirio: u couldn’t have noticed since u didnt have a quirk but
Mirio: as time goes on the control exercises i did with my first quirk
Mirio: well they actually work better and better with ofa
Mirio: like its slowly adjusting to me and my quirk
Mirio: eventually i think
Mirio: i wont be able to use them separately
American: I want you to talk to someone.
Mirio: okay?
American: I’ll put you in touch with them soon.
Mirio: can i talk to sir about this? and izuku?
American: Midoriya?
Mirio: u know he has a good mind for quirks
American: Yes, impressively so. Yes, you can tell both of them.
Mirio: thank u!
American: Of course.
American: Rest well! And no practice today, young man!
Mirio: awwww
American: That’s what you get for breaking three toes.

From: Maki Takahashi <[email protected]>
To: Flashburn <[email protected]>
Subject: New kid
Hey,

Don’t know if you know, but orders from the boss are to keep the kid busy and miserable. Hopefully you have better luck than us.

Kisses,
Takahashi


From: Flashburn <[email protected]>
To: Maki Takahashi <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: New kid
Dumbass,

I heard. You paperwork guys are wimps. How hard can it be to fuck with some quirkless kid?

Fuck off,
Flashburn


From: Maki Takahashi <[email protected]>
To: Flashburn <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: New kid

Lol fine but don’t come crying to me later


From: Flashburn <[email protected]>
To: Maki Takahashi <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: New kid
Okay,

What the hell? Took him out on the worst patrol - raining, awful. I tripped him into three puddles. Genie made fun of him the whole time. I ruined his jacket. Shouto was a stoic little bastard, but what’s new there? New kid didn’t complain the whole time.

But we got back and we were in the locker room, and the little fucker just suddenly paused, turned towards us, and just… fuck dude.

He told me that she’s happy with her new man and then like, pulled up fucking pictures on his goddamn phone. I don’t know how the fuck he got them. He said even more fucked up shit to the others. He just like, systematically punched us all in the metaphorical balls, and then was like… “I want the Stain case” and walked out.

What the hell?
Flashburn


From: Maki Takahashi <[email protected]>
To: Flashburn <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: New kid
Hey,

I told you not to come crying to me. Why do you think we finally begged Boss Man to switch him into a different department? He was meek and sweet until he just… snapped. Like he just decided he’d had enough bullshit.

Who’s the wimp now, Flashy?

Kisses,
Takahashi

Excerpt from “To Kill an Immortal: The Death of Phoenix” by Howard Rosenberg:

Phoenix’s status as a “Symbol of Peace” in western Europe was severely restricting the Mafia’s criminal enterprises. She was different than the “Symbols of Peace” that had reigned before her in two vital aspects. First, she was effectively immortal. Previous heroes that had been dubbed the “Symbol of Peace” had been generally powerful, but their careers had been meteoric - brief and bright with a catastrophic crash. They were useful propaganda tools for the government, but they weren’t that effective in reducing crime in a significant way. Petty criminals were often deterred, but career criminals carried on their business, certain that the overpowered but often underfunded Symbols were no real threat to their businesses.

And this was the second difference: Phoenix often ignored petty crime to focus on the real threat - organized crime. She used her celebrity status to shine a light on mob activities that the Mafia would have preferred that she left in the shadows. She also cracked down on racketeering and human trafficking, two of the mob’s most profitable businesses. This, combined with the fact that the near-immortal Phoenix didn’t seem like she was going anywhere soon, made the Mafia very nervous. So they started to scheme how to knock Phoenix down from her pedestal - and that was the beginning of the end.

Transcript of conversation between Bakugou Katsuki and Eraserhead (HID: 6661845), UA Campus, April 29, 2179 at 3:02pm:

Bakugou: Why are you here?

Aizawa: This won’t take much time. I have something I need to discuss with you.

Bakugou: (Snorts.) Great. You wanna talk about my fuckin’ mom again, sensei? Or maybe I said “fuck” too much and Aki-fucker didn’t want to deal with me anymore?

Aizawa: What you talk about with Akiyama-san is your business, and I’m not about to interfere with you two. I’m here to talk about this.

(Slap of paper on desk. Silence.)

Bakugou: What about it?

Aizawa: This is a transcript of your debrief with -

Bakugou: I know what it is.

Aizawa: Fine. Do you want to file a formal complaint about Sir Nighteye’s behavior?

Bakugou: What?

Aizawa: Do you want to -

Bakugou: I heard you the first fucking time. (Pause.) No.

Aizawa: It’s your choice. (Rustle of papers.) You do realize he was out of line.

Bakugou: He was right, though.

Aizawa: No, he wasn’t.

Bakugou: Yes, he was! Yeah, I guess he didn’t fucking coddle me, but so what? I was a goddamn idiot -

Aizawa: You didn’t assess the situation correctly, yes. The proper response to that, especially with a student, is to instruct and criticize. He shouldn’t have taken his anger at the situation out on you.

Bakugou: Listen, sensei, I was a fucking moron, and I almost got the whole class killed. You can’t fucking argue against that!

Aizawa: This situation was not your fault.

Bakugou: He was distracting them, and I fucking messed it all up -

Aizawa: Bakugou, sit down and be quiet. (Pause.) I want you to think about when you first returned to the USJ plaza -

Bakugou: (Snorts) Now you really do sound like my fucking therapist -

Aizawa: Shut up. Think back. What was your first gut reaction when you saw Midoriya with the villains?

Bakugou: (Pause) I was… I thought he was in danger.

Aizawa: Yes. You thought he was in imminent danger -

Bakugou: That doesn’t excuse shit! Yeah, sure, I thought he was in danger, but if I hadn’t rushed in -

Aizawa: If he was in danger, you could have saved his life.

Bakugou: I basically killed him! It’s luck that he’s still fucking breathing right now!

(Silence)

Aizawa: That’s what Sir Nighteye accused you of. But Bakugou, it wasn’t -

Bakugou: It wasn’t my fault? Whose was it then? Huh? Are you gonna say it was the fault of the fucking villains? Sure, of course, and that just absolves everyone else of responsibility. Like all the people who stand by and do fuck-all are fucking blameless just because they aren’t the ones doing the killing directly, like people don’t fucking die because of their inaction. Like people who fuck up and get other people killed -

Aizawa: It was my fault.

Bakugou: What?

Aizawa: I was the one who failed to recognize the threat in time to get you all to safety. I was the one who was overcome by the villains in the first place, forcing Midoriya to intervene. I was the one who put him in that position to begin with.

(Silence)

Aizawa: Sir Nighteye was out of line, Bakugou. Yes, your actions were ill-suited for the situation, but you were not the reason that Midoriya was severely injured.

Bakugou: Then why the fuck did you stick me in therapy? If I’m not broken and fucked-up and I didn’t almost kill someone -

Aizawa: You’re in therapy because you attacked two students. One, I will grant you, was provoked, especially in light of this debrief, but your antagonism against Midoriya was not. (Pause) If you didn’t have potential, you’d already be expelled. Keep that in mind.

Bakugou: Sure. (Pause) Was that it?

Aizawa: I won’t delay your therapy session any longer. Have fun.

Bakugou: Fuck you too.

From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Unus Incorporated
Sir,

Trying to follow Unus’ money is like attempting to find the center of a labyrinth with a blindfold on and two broken knees. You’re more likely to get devoured by the Minotaur than get anywhere close to the goal. We might have to outsource that, much to my chagrin. I’d apologize, but I know that really, I’m going to be the one that suffers the most.

Midoriya Hisashi was easier to follow up on, in a way. He’s definitely living in the US - San Francisco to be specific. I have attached the surveillance photos I received from the San Francisco police department. I’d ask if it’s really him, but he looks like an older version of Midoriya-kun, minus the hair color. His kids also look like Midoriya-kun. Guess Midoriya-kun’s a big brother.

And yes, the police have surveillance on him and were very curious why I was investigating him. Apparently Midoriya and a handful of other employees at the company have a strange habit of being in two places at once. Sometimes there are transactions in their name in Japan and China when they’re here in the US. They all have a lifetime’s worth of documentation, including birth certificates and US quirk registration papers, but they can’t find a single person who can say they existed before around 2160.

I don’t understand any of this. Hopefully you have more insight into the situation.

Centipeder

-- Ask me if I’m a kiwi bird.


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Unus Incorporated
Centipeder,

That is indeed Midoriya Hisashi. He is definitely the same man who came to Japan in 2162 and who married Utsunomiya Inko in 2163. But past that, I’m as confused as you are. I requested the details of the Unus employees investigation from the San Francisco police department, and they confirmed - no one knows of Midoriya Hisashi before 2160. He’s not in any yearbooks and he doesn’t have any friends from childhood or high school or college. And the times when he is in two places at once are just as inscrutable. Honestly, the pattern of purchases make it seem like whoever is using his identity is using it for the purposes of networking. And in that case, why is Hisashi not simply networking himself?

Stay on this investigation. Dig deeper. And I know you hate Silence, but he’s the best in the business, so yes, we’ll liaise with him and bring him in on this. (I don’t understand the enmity - I’ve found him to be a perfectly pleasant person.) I think he’s been working out in Kyoto, so I’ll reach out to him and arrange for a short-term transfer.

Sir Nighteye

-- Switching to extinct birds doesn’t make it a different joke, Centipeder.

Excerpt from “Hero Public Safety Commission: The Rise of the Committee of Odds and Ends” by Hayashi Honoka:

The HPSC enjoys its current power and success today because of the efforts of one woman, Shimizu Aoi. In the aftermath of the quirk riots, the HPSC’s obvious route to political ascendancy would be to nominally manage the heroes’ publicity, but to undermine the heroes’ legitimacy and throw them under the bus of public opinion. While the general populace had become almost approving of the heroes, many powerful figures in the government, including the Prime Minister and most Cabinet members, despised the heroes and not-so-subtly hoped for a swift downfall of the hero system now that it had accomplished its purpose in subduing the riots.

But Shimizu threw the HPSC behind the heroes whole-heartedly. She was a staunch defender of the heroes both in public and behind closed doors. Analysts both then and now have concluded that Shimizu’s personal sympathy for these hard-working, underappreciated people drove her efforts.

However, her recently discovered diaries throw doubt on that theory. In her diaries, Shimizu reveals layers of complex political calculations that led her to believe that backing the heroes was the most politically sound move. She was correct, of course, and more astute than many of her contemporaries, who will be forever remembered as staunch anti-quirk bigots.

Sir Nighteye

Sir: Do you have time to talk right now?
Izuku: im heading to my internship so i can text but the train is nosy
Izuku: is there something wrong?
Sir: Endeavor transferred you to the sidekick division of his agency
Izuku: i guess
Izuku: who told you
Sir: That doesn’t matter. It should have been you.
Izuku: okay
Izuku: i didn’t think it was important
Sir: Fine, but please tell me these things.
Izuku: okay
Sir: that includes if Endeavor or any of his sidekicks mistreat you
Izuku: i’ll be fine
Sir: Historically, that has never been the case
Izuku: please i’m really fine
Izuku: don’t throw yourself into an inter-agency fight on my behalf
Sir: I’m not going to be stupid about this Izuku
Sir: But I’m also not going to be a doormat
Sir: I have a few legal tricks up my sleeve to deal with Endeavor in an emergency
Izuku: so do i
Sir: I’d expect nothing less
Sir: You got access to some of his data, then?
Izuku: they aren’t an intelligence agency
Sir: An understatement.
Izuku: i gotta go
Sir: Fine. Keep me updated. Stay safe.
Izuku: okay

Excerpt from “Brushfire” by Maki Keiko, published in 2100:

The fire rose about him, hungry, so hungry. It sang its hunger to the boy in words he could no longer understand, but could only half-recall, like the melody of a forgotten lullaby

“Please,” the boy begged. “Please.” But you can’t reason with something that will never understand you.

The fire consumed him. And the lesson is this - when the world turns against you, you must run.

If you wish to survive, you must run.

Transcript of phone conversation between Sir Nighteye (Civilian Name: Osamu) and Midoriya Inko on April 30, 2179 on Midoriya Phone Line, recorded by kitchen phone bug:

Nighteye: Inko, hello.

Inko: Oh, hello Osamu! Are we still good for dinner tonight?

Nighteye: Unfortunately, no.

Inko: (Sighs.) Did you get a new case today?

Nighteye: Two. No, three. Wait, I didn’t check the incoming mail… fuck. Four.

Inko: Osamu, you need a break.

Nighteye: I know, Inko. And I’ll take one, just… it can’t be today.

Inko: I understand. Take care of yourself!

Nighteye: You too. And take care of Izuku too.

Inko: I’ll certainly try my best.

TRANSMISSION ENDED. Transmitting to… IP UNKNOWN.

Personal account of an urban legend about a man with multiple quirks, collected from Fujioka Chou (66) in Tokyo, collected by Saitou Ayano in 2140. Recording destroyed in 2150, surviving transcript is archived in the Saitou house.

Recording starts.

Do you think he’s watching? Do you think he’s watching even now? I don’t want to talk to you about this, but not talking is even worse. Because I have nightmares, you know, every night, and I need to talk about them. I’m that sort of person. I need to bleed off the poison, or it just becomes worse and worse and worse. But I can’t talk to my family about it, because what if he hears? What if he knows? You’re safe, a good option. If he kills you, it won’t hurt me.

Do you still want me to tell you what happened?

Fine, it’s your funeral.

I saw a murder. I was walking past an alley, and it was just… wrong place, wrong time. But I glanced in and I couldn’t look away. Because there was a man screaming, being beaten to a pulp by invisible hands, but he wasn’t making a sound. I mean… sorry… there was a man. And he was dying, very brutally and strangely dying, but the reason I stared was….

Well, I can see quirks. That’s my quirk. I see them as… light. That’s not quite the right description, but, you know, close enough. Every quirked person has a little ball of light, like a tiny, personal star. Quirkless people are kinda just a black void against the sea of color. The dying man was a black void, quirkless, but the man who was killing him… he was a sun.

There were so many balls of light inside of him, I couldn’t distinguish one from the next. He was a riot of light and color, beautiful and blinding.

So I stared because of the brightness of his quirks. And then I noticed the dying man. And then the dying man noticed me.

And then the murderer noticed me as well.

When his eyes met mine, something in them speared down into the depths of me. I promise it wasn’t just a flight of fancy or a metaphor. I could feel something… almost attach to me. I turned away and ran.

I assume the man died. But the other one, the brilliant man with uncountable quirks… he followed me.

I see him out of the corner of my vision now. I’ll be on my way to the shops and I’ll see a flash next to me. I’ll whirl around, but there’s no one there. But there’s an afterimage floating in my eyes, and I know he was there. He’s just following for now. Watching and waiting. But I think I’m gonna end up like the man in the alley someday. I didn’t do anything, but I think I saw more than I should have.

I wanted to tell you this because I thought when I talked it all out, I’d understand how silly it all sounded. That’s how it’s worked with my nightmares before.

But not this time, I guess. I… I think he’s coming for me. I know he’s coming for me. I don’t know if you believe me. You should, thanks to that quirk of yours, but this is such a fantastical story… I hardly believe it myself.

Recording ends.

The doorbell rang. Inko shot a confused glance towards the door. She abandoned the sizzling chicken on the stove and wiped her hands on her apron. “Izuku,” she called as she made her way from the kitchen to the living room, “Osamu’s here.”

“I thought he wasn’t coming to dinner?” Izuku replied, but he obediently emerged from his room.

“That’s what he said on the phone.”

The doorbell rang again.

“Coming!” Inko called. She unlocked the deadbolt. As soon as she did, the door swung open, banging painfully into the side of her foot.

It wasn’t Sir Nighteye on the other side. It was a man, neither young nor old, with black hair and black eyes. He smiled at her. She reflexively smiled back, although there was something off about him.

“Does Midoriya Izuku live here?” he asked in a melodious, lilting voice. He held up a hand as she opened her mouth to answer. “Oh - no, no, no. There’s no need to tell me.” His grin grew wider. “I know he does.”

Inko felt a jolt of fear, and tried to slam the door shut, but she was too slow.

He pushed his way into the house and kicked the door shut behind him. Inko retreated towards her son, who was wide-eyed and frozen in the middle of the living room.

“Get out of our house,” she demanded. “I’ll… I’ll call the police.”

“I don’t think you will,” the man replied. In one smooth motion, he pulled out a gun and aimed it squarely at Izuku. Inko stifled an instinctual scream at the sight of it. Panic pounded in her chest, but she couldn’t make any sudden moves. Not with the gun pointed at Izuku.

“You won’t call the heroes either. Why don’t we sit down and have a little chat?” He gestured at the couch. The gun was still unwaveringly aimed at Izuku’s head.

Inko sat down and Izuku followed after a moment.

“This is an incredibly stupid move,” Izuku told the man evenly. He was maintaining easy eye contact with the stranger, not even flicking a glance to the gun aimed at his forehead. Inko would have believed his feigned nonchalance, but she knew her son. She could see the tension in every line of his body.

The stranger laughed. It was a pleasant, joyful sound. “Oh, the irony of you accusing anyone else of making a stupid move! Please, enlighten me, how am I playing the fool right now?”

“I don’t know if you know, but I work at Nighteye Agency -”

“I do know,” the man interrupted. “But, oh, sorry, I cut you off. Please continue.”

Izuku swallowed. “Sir Nighteye will be visiting here soon -”

“Oh!” the man interrupted again. “That’s what you mean by stupid idea. Ha, that is stupid.” He chuckled. “By stupid, I mean you, of course. Sir Nighteye isn’t coming tonight and we both know it. What an utterly transparent effort at scaring me off. If those adorable undercover police officers with their fancy guns couldn’t scare me off, what makes you think that you can?”

“What do you want from us?” Inko broke in. She didn’t like how the man was looking at her son, the cold, cruel dismissal in his eyes. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking when the stranger turned to look at her, but it was better than him looking at Izuku.

“Oh, Midoriya-san, my deepest apologies for not introducing myself.” He ducked his head in a facsimile of a bow. “You can call me… well, why not? I suppose you can call me Ekibyou.”

It was obviously a fake name. No one would name their child Pestilence. But it sent a jolt of fear through Inko. Judging by the hint of a smirk dancing around his mouth, that’s exactly what he was after. Hysteria rose up in her throat, but she pushed it down. Izuku needed her to be calm, focused. She concentrated on the roil of anger instead, the rage that this man dared to break into their home, to threaten her son.

“Ekibyou,” Inko echoed. Izuku shifted in her peripheral vision. She studiously didn’t look at him. She kept her eyes locked on the man in front of them. “Interesting name. Is there a Death? A Famine?”

Ekibyou scoffed. “Please, Midoriya-san, no transparent attempts at stalling. I’m a busy man on a schedule. Now, I need some information from you both, and then I’ll take my leave.” Inko felt a flash of anger at his dismissal and fed it, until the spark was a campfire under her sternum.

“You’ll kill us, you mean,” Izuku replied. His voice wavered on the last word, but his gaze was steady.

Ekibyou shrugged. “Not necessarily.”

Izuku snorted. “You chose the name Pestilence. Not Death, or War, or Famine. You kill softly, silently. If you left anyone alive, it would be too noisy for you.”

Ekibyou’s eyes narrowed. He pulled the armchair closer and sank into it, gun still trained on Izuku’s forehead. He took his eyes away from Izuku for a moment, and in that moment, Izuku caught Inko’s gaze and flicked his eyes towards his school bag, which was partially open beside the coffee table. When Ekibyou’s gaze returned to Izuku, Izuku met it evenly. There was no sign he had looked away.

“Well then, you’re awfully chatty for a dead man,” said Ekibyou conversationally. Inko surreptitiously peered into the backpack. She couldn’t lift the whole thing towards them - it was too heavy, and Izuku knew that. There must be something inside that he wanted her to get while he distracted Ekibyou.

“I thought you wanted chatty.”

“No,” Ekibyou corrected, almost pleasantly. “I want answers, and you’ll give them to me.” Inko wanted to give him a punch in the teeth, but she had to focus. There wasn’t anything that Inko could see of importance in the open bag. Papers, books…. Was Izuku trying to hit the man with something? No, they both knew that was chancy at best….

“Or what? You’ll kill us?” Izuku repeated, mocking. Inko wondered for a brief moment if her son really did have a death wish, but felt a flash of satisfaction at the annoyance that flitted across the hitman’s face.

Ekibyou shrugged, and fluidly shifted the gun to aim it squarely at Inko. She froze. “I’ll kill her if you don’t shut up.” I’ll kill you if you don’t shut up, Inko thought, hard and loud enough that she could ignore the terror in her bones. But she was painfully aware that Ekibyou could shift the gun back to Izuku before she could react.

Izuku stared at him silently, his fists flexing against the fabric of his pants. After a long, tense stretch of silence, Ekibyou shifted the gun back to Izuku. “Do you understand?”

Izuku licked his lips. “Yes,” he bit out. Inko used relief as an excuse to slump a little in her seat to get a better look at the contents of the backpack. It was really was just books, Izuku’s laptop… wait, was that a dinner mint? There was something written on the wrapper…

“Tell me, Midoriya Izuku,” Ekibyou said, “Why did you request the research of Saitou Ayano? How did you discover it?”

Izuku froze. “That’s what all this is about? The statements?”

The hitman shrugged. “I’m not contracted to know the details. But I do know that my organization was hired to keep tabs on anyone who contacted the Saitou family, and to… eliminate… anyone too interested in Ayano’s research. So yes, the statements. You shouldn’t have poked your nose into places it doesn’t belong.”

“The statements,” Izuku repeated blankly. “The statements? It’s the goddamn…” Izuku paused and dropped his head and his shoulders shook. He made a sound like he was sobbing, but when he lifted his head, it became clear that Izuku was laughing. Ekibyou sneered at Inko’s son as he broke down in front of him. “You’re not the first person to tell me that,” Izuku hiccuped out, his eyes bright with hysteria. “But who knows? You might be the last.”

“Shut up,” ordered the hitman. “Just answer the question. I don’t have enough time to deal with your emotional outbursts.”

Izuku started laughing again, and Ekibyou stood up threateningly.

In his moment of distraction, Inko pulled.

She pulled the mint harder than the wrapper, a little trick she’d picked up to separate two items. The mint slapped into her palm, and the wrapper (“DANGER: DO NOT EAT”) floated to the ground.

Ekibyou’s eyes snapped to the wrapper. Inko shoved the mint into Izuku’s hand. She hoped she had chosen the right thing. Ekibyou pointed the gun at Inko’s head.

Izuku was going low, dropping from the couch and rising upward. The gun swung from Inko to Izuku. Izuku was close, so close, his hand darting towards Ekibyou’s face. But the hitman’s finger was tightening on the trigger…

Inko pulled again and the gun jerked. There was a bang, deafening in the small space. Her ears were ringing, Ekibyou was lining up for another shot - but Izuku was there and he clenched his fist -

They both screamed, Izuku and Ekibyou. Ekibyou convulsed and dropped like a stone, and Inko could see two thin wires trailing from his neck before Izuku grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door, and then outside.

And then they were out on the street, and Izuku was screaming and so was Inko, but the ringing in her ears was still too loud. She saw lights start to flicker on in houses up and down the block.

Inko could smell a sick, burning scent, like melted plastic and seared meat. She looked down. Izuku’s other hand was balled into a fist and held close to his body.

Inko couldn’t think about it too hard, because if she did, she’d go back into that house and strangle that man into unconsciousness.

Or she’d cry. Crying actually sounded really, really good right now. Maybe she’d do that.

“What the hell, Inko?” She heard Mitsuki’s voice, loud enough to break through the ringing in her ears. Izuku’s hand was still tangled in hers, their grip on each other strong enough to hurt. They were on the Bakugous’ doorstep and then in the house. Mitsuki’s face was swimming in front of her, full of concern, and suddenly it was all too much.

“Call Nighteye Agency,” she pleaded with Mitsuki. Katsuki had come downstairs and was staring at the pair of them, but she was too frantic to care about that. That man would be right behind them. Izuku had shocked him with… something. (A taser? But it was a dinner mint?) Whatever it was, he wasn’t dead. He’d come after them, find them…

She heard Izuku’s soft sobs next to her and she tugged him into a hug. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and she could feel the wet spread of his tears in her shirt. “Please, please call them.” she repeated. “And don’t answer the door.”

“Inko, what -”

“Just call Sir Nighteye!” Inko cried. She fumbled for her phone, but she couldn’t find it, and panic rose in her throat.

“I’ve got it,” Katsuki said. His face was stone. “What’s the number?”

Inko recited it from memory. He typed it in with quick flicks of his thumb. He held out his phone to Inko. “Here you go, Auntie Inko.”

She took it from him with shaking hands. It rang once, twice. “Who’s this?” Osamu answered the phone.

“Osamu,” she began, her voice tremulous.

“Inko?” he replied, confused and concerned. “Inko, what’s wrong?”

And then, only then, did Midoriya Inko break down into tears.

Chapter Text

Osamu felt powerless.

The flashing lights of the emergency vehicles had transformed the Midoriya neighborhood into a harsh, alien landscape. Police officers were silhouettes outlined in blue and red. If Osamu strained his eyes, he could pick out Izuku, hand outstretched to a paramedic in the back of an ambulance, and Inko, huddled beside him under an orange shock blanket.

In another ambulance, they were loading two gurneys. The shapes under the white cloth were still and silent. Ekibyou had failed to kill the Midoriyas, but their police detail had not been so lucky. Ekibyou hadn’t even used a gun - the only sign of an injury were two tiny puncture wounds in the shoulder of both officers. They would need a full toxicology test to determine exactly what cocktail of drugs Ekibyou had used.

They hadn’t found the man himself. By the time that the police and heroes had arrived, Ekibyou was already gone. He’d exited through a back window and disappeared into the city streets. Someone with a tracking quirk was already en-route, but Osamu knew it wouldn’t matter. The hitman would already be long gone.

So, to summarize - one injured high school boy, severely burned by an experimental taser that had saved his life, one traumatized mother, and one hitman who had tried to kill them both, still at large.

Osamu had felt things slipping out of his control since Izuku had joined Endeavor’s agency. Or, no, before that, even. Since Izuku had discovered the hacking just before the USJ incident. Or maybe as early as that disastrous case when he’d been kidnapped.

This was just the culmination of it all, another nightmare to haunt him. His… his family had come so close to death and only Izuku and Inko’s quick thinking and luck had prevented utter catastrophe.

And where had Osamu been? At work. Something he’d told Inko on the phone, the phone which was bugged, according to officers who had done a sweep of the house on Izuku’s suggestion.

He had no idea how long the surveillance had been in place or how it was installed. He didn’t even know why the Midoriyas had been attacked tonight. But oh, he knew who was responsible.

When he had arrived at the scene, frantic with worry, Izuku had told him that Inko needed a safe house - that the attack had been related to the League.

But All for One aside, Osamu knew that the real reason was himself. If he hadn’t taken Izuku on as an intern, if he hadn’t gotten close to him and his mother, if he hadn’t pushed for Izuku to attend UA, hadn’t assigned Izuku that fucking case -

But regret was useless. The only thing with meaning in this world was action. If Osamu felt two steps behind his enemies, then he’d just have to catch up. If the consequences of failure were unbearable, then, well, he’d just have to succeed.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Bubble Girl’s number. It was time to cut away their excess cases and focus on the real issue at hand.

He’d destroy the League of Villains if it was the last thing he did.

Uraraka

Uraraka: hey are u ok?
Izuku: im fine
Uraraka: you werent at school today so i thought id check! °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
Izuku: ah thx
Uraraka: bakugo was even concerned!
Izuku: what
Uraraka: yeah he was really growly all day
Uraraka: and then he told me to txt u
Izuku: im fine
Uraraka: u said that
Uraraka: hey u know
Uraraka: if u need to talk
Uraraka: im here

Izuku: i know
Izuku: thanks, Uraraka
Izuku: youre a really good friend

Excerpt from “Hero Public Safety Commission: The Rise of the Committee of Odds and Ends” by Hayashi Honoka:

Heroics law is a labyrinthine beast - full of confusing turns of phrase, weird loopholes, and strange compromises. When it is compared to Shimizu Aoi’s early legislation work - which is clear, crisp, and succinct - one can only conclude that this is the way that Shimizu wanted it. And indeed, with all the political pressure to shackle the hero profession, to regulate it so much as to defang it, Shimizu had to walk a careful line. She had to ensure that heroes were free to act in the public good, but also that they were regulated enough to placate the majority of the legislature.

Although some of the more draconian laws were lifted in the late 21st century, the core of Shimizu’s regulation remains in place. Heroes have a great deal of freedom in apprehending criminals, but the arrest and processing of them still remains in the hands of police. Heroes can have limited influence on judicial proceedings - sometimes even calling one as a witness is fraught with arcane legalities. But heroes’ use of their quirks is almost entirely unfettered, and thanks to Shimizu’s legislation, they cannot be prosecuted for any public use of their quirk.

Hatsume

Izuku: thx for the equipment
Hatsume: yee np
Hatsume: did u use it yet????
Hatsume: how wz it?
Izuku: good
Izuku: worked well
Izuku: thx
Hatsume: yee ill make u more!

Transcript of conversation between Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956) and Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341) on May 1, 2179 at 7:13pm, recorded by Safehouse 23ADR Surveillance Camera 4:

Sir Nighteye: Are you and Inko settling in well?

Midoriya: I suppose so.

Sir Nighteye: The kitchen’s nice and large.

Midoriya: Yeah.

(Pause.)

Sir Nighteye: Are you going to sit here all night?

Midoriya: I don’t want to go downstairs.

Sir Nighteye: Why not?

Midoriya: The officers stare at me.

Sir Nighteye: Are they hostile? I’ll tell the Chief of Police to switch -

Midoriya: No! No. It’s… they’re fine.

Sir Nighteye: Obviously not.

Midoriya: They’re fine, Sir.

Sir Nighteye: They’re making you uncomfortable -

Midoriya: Really, Sir, please leave it.

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, I know you prefer to ignore things like this, but I will not let you be discriminated against in your own house -

Midoriya: They’re fine! I’m the one who’s not!

(Pause)

Sir Nighteye: Izuku…

Midoriya: They look at me, and I can feel them looking at the scars, at the bandage. And then I think about how they all stared at me, like I’m something inhuman, something less than human.

Sir Nighteye: They?

Midoriya: Nakahara! Shigaraki! Ekibyou! They just… they all stared at me. They looked me right in the eye. But I wasn’t human to them. Just an interesting toy, a curiosity, something to play with and discard.

Sir Nighteye: Yes, I know what you mean. With psychopaths -

Midoriya: But you don’t! You don’t know!

Sir Nighteye: Izuku?

Midoriya: Because that’s how Kacchan used to look at me. And his friends. And my classmates.

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, I’m -

Midoriya: That’s how the principal looked at me, and the cashier at the corner store. And Endeavor, and all of his employees!

(Pause)

Midoriya: Like they’re all just waiting to hurt me too.

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, if you’re scared -

Midoriya: Oh, I’m not scared.

Sir Nighteye: What?

Midoriya: I’m not scared.

Sir Nighteye: Really? It would be more than understandable, with what you’ve gone through….

Midoriya: Yeah, but I’m not scared.

Sir Nighteye: What are you, then?

Midoriya: Oh, I’m fucking furious.

(Pause.)

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, don’t -

Midoriya: I’m gonna go downstairs now. Thanks, I feel a little better.

Sir Nighteye: I think we should -

Midoriya: Well, see you downstairs! Don’t hang out in my new room too long.

(Retreating footsteps)

Sir Nighteye: (Sigh) Well, that’s not concerning. (Pause) Shit.

Police Case #067-2009-0325, Tokyo Prefecture

Time: March 3, 2009 at 6:45pm

Victim: Kamiya Ryuu

Perpetrator: Unknown

Situation: Responded to a call at apartment complex 34-13 Tomihisacho, Shinjuku City. The apartment had apparently been vacant for some time. Residents had noticed a sickening smell from the apartment and the landlord entered, only to find a decomposing dead body. The corpse was excessively brutalized. DNA tests later revealed the body to be that of Kamiya Ryuu, who had not been reported missing, although he is well-known to the officers on the Shinjuku patrols.

Kamiya’s eyes were removed cleanly, leading many to think of the Lucky Parlor murders two months prior. The rest of his injuries were hard to analyze because of the decomposition, but the medical examiner was able to determine that all of the injuries, including the eye removal, were inflicted before death. This is medically impossible, and thus is likely the effect of a quirk. We therefore suspect multiple perpetrators - one with a quirk that can cleanly slice through flesh, and another with a quirk that can keep people alive, even when they should have succumbed to death. These criminals are dangerous, and anyone attempting apprehension should be cautious.

Shinsou

Shinsou: so u decided 2 cool scars werent enough
Izuku: what?
Shinsou: had to get 1 on ur hand too
Izuku: is medical info private anymore?
Shinsou: your medical info? private? in this office?
Izuku: yeah okay
Izuku: silly of me
Shinsou: yeh it was
Shinsou: but hey
Shinsou: u doing okay?
Izuku: idk
Izuku: should i be?
Shinsou: nah dude
Shinsou: u should b fucked UP
Izuku: oh good im meeting expectations
Shinsou: this 1 time u might think about not doing that
Izuku: too late

Shinsou: izuku
Shinsou: txt me if u need anything
Shinsou: and i mean anything

Broadcast on the Nippon News Network on May 3, 2179 at 6:00pm:

Mori Wakana: Breaking news from IACUC Press Liaison, Saito Koharu, at a press conference held today. Underground heroes have confirmed that Hero Killer Stain is cooperating with the League of Villains, the shadowy organization that attacked UA hero students last month.

(Cut to recorded press conference)

Saito: Hello. Thanks to dangerous intel-gathering missions by IACUC members, we have confirmed that Hero Killer Stain has been in contact with the group known as the League of Villains. The names of our operatives in this mission are top secret and highly confidential. Any speculation about their identities will lead to immediate dismissal from this press conference. (Pause.) Any questions?

Hashimoto: Hashimoto Yume, Nippon News Network. What are the broader implications of cooperation between Stain and the League? What is IACUC worried about, going forward?

Saito: While the League is bold and possesses both terrifying firepower and powerful quirks, Stain unquestionably has a much higher kill count. The cooperation with a much more lethal villain suggests that the League’s next attack might not be so bloodless. Additionally, with more support behind him, Stain’s kill count may skyrocket. (Pause.) Any further questions?

Tsuyu-chan

Tsuyu: have you read the book yet.
Izuku: hi tsuyu. sorry i havent had time lately
Tsuyu: thats okay. i understand.
Izuku: i dont know when i will have time
Izuku: do u want it back?
Tsuyu: no.
Tsuyu: read it when you want to. return it to me when youre done.
Izuku: its gonna take me a while
Tsuyu: okay.
Tsuyu: then it will. im in no hurry to get it back.
Izuku: ok! thx tsuyu!
Tsuyu: youre welcome.
Tsuyu: i hope you like it.

From: Silence <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Unus

Midoriya Hisashi is not the only Unus employee who has been in two places at once.

Silence


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Unus
Centipeder,

Attached is Silence’s analysis. Looking over this, it seems like Unus might literally be a hub for people willing to sell identities that they’ve cultivated to various customers who want to bury their activity under the cover of an impeccable lie. While criminals use their identity, the employees of Unus live unremarkable lives as a smokescreen. However, it doesn’t seem to be normal for them to marry while they’re providing cover.

Hisashi came to Japan and married Inko, changing her name to Midoriya Inko. He hasn’t divorced her, even after resuming his job in the US. We haven’t been able to find anything out of the ordinary while searching under Hisashi’s name. What about Inko’s?

Sir Nighteye


From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Re: Unus

Fuck. Sir, you need to call Uehara. Inko needs a lawyer, now.

Centipeder


From: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
To: Centipeder <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Re: Re: Unus
Centipeder,

We legally have until the end of the day to report this. Completely unconnected to that, I’m putting you on the League of Villains case, and you can’t go home until you get us a lead. You can take overtime up until your next shift starts, so I’d expect your day to end at 8am tomorrow.

Sir Nighteye


From: Centipeder <[email protected]>
To: Sir Nighteye <[email protected]>
Subject: Fwd: Re: Re: Re: Unus
Sir,

Understood, and thank you, Sir, for this opportunity. I’m sure I’ll get back around to the Unus case eventually.

Centipeder

Mirio

Mirio: hey hows the hand
Mirio: doin better?
Izuku: kinda?
Izuku: also really
Izuku: is no medical info private in that office
Mirio: not yours!
Mirio: not mine either really
Mirio: u know how many broken leg jokes i got
Mirio: do u know how many
Izuku: centipeder had to have given u at least 15
Mirio: wait why
Izuku: because that’s how many i sent him
Mirio: YOU’RE EVIL
Mirio: BETRAYER

Mirio: but seriously
Mirio: we r all worried bout u
Mirio: lemme know what we can do

Transcript of conversation between Sir Nighteye (HID: 8082956), Centipeder (HID: 1105921), Uehara Umiko, Officer Okamoto Yuto (PID: 004-445-219), Officer Sasaki Takuma (PID: 004-620-013), Midoriya Izuku (SID: 9093341), and Midoriya Inko on May 5, 2179 at 8:38, recorded by Safehouse 23ADR Surveillance Camera 1:

Uehara: Midoriya-san, as your legal council, I advise you to say nothing until I arrive. I will be right behind you and will follow you -

Midoriya Izuku: You can’t arrest her! You can’t!

Uehara: - to the station. Do you understand?

Midoriya Inko: I… I don’t really….

Midoriya Izuku: Get the fuck off of me! Why are you arresting her?! What is happening?

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, we know she’s innocent -

Uehara: I know, Midoriya-san. This is a very confusing situation. Here, I’ll follow you to the car -

Officer Okamoto: We need you to stay at a reasonable distance, ma’am.

Midoriya Izuku: If you know she’s innocent, why the fuck are you here with the police?

Centipeder: There have been illegal acts done in her name. We were legally mandated to report -

Midoriya Izuku: What illegal acts? How did you find this? Why is this an issue?

Uehara: Remember, Midoriya-san, don’t say anything.

Midoriya Inko: I… I won’t. But I don’t understand! Why-

(Car door slams)

Midoriya Izuku: Mom? Mom!

Uehara: Midoriya-kun, don’t worry. I’m headed over to the station right now. Your mother is in the best of hands.

(Car door slams. Engine revs.)

Midoriya Izuku: What the FUCK is happening?

Sir Nighteye: We found a number of illegal businesses and crimes connected to bank accounts and other capital connected to Inko’s name -

Midoriya Izuku: So you said, yes. But how did you find this? What the hell is this connected to? My mom hasn’t done anything!

Centipeder: We know, Izuku. But we were looking into Unus -

Sir Nighteye: Centipeder! We -

Centipeder: With all due respect, Sir, he needs to know now.

Midoriya Izuku: Needs to know what?

(Pause).

Midoriya Izuku: Hey. Hey, that was my mother in that fucking cop car, okay? Don’t just stand around giving each other significant looks. What. Do. I. Need. To. Know.

Centipeder: I was researching Unus Incorporated, which was attached to Miku’s Construction.

Midoriya Izuku: The business from the Nakahara thing.

Centipeder: Yes. One of the employees of Unus Incorporated is Midoriya Hisashi.

(Pause)

Midoriya Izuku: My father.

Centipeder: Yes.

Midoriya Izuku: And at this point you decided not to loop me in.

Sir Nighteye: You were busy with your Endeavor internship, and we thought -

Midoriya Izuku: You decided not to loop me in.

(Pause)

Centipeder: Yes.

Midoriya Izuku: Okay, continue.

Centipeder: It turns out that Unus employees loan out their identities for use by… unsavory individuals.

(Pause)

Midoriya Izuku: So the person Mom knows as Midoriya Hisashi….

Sir Nighteye: Oh, we’re positive that he’s actually Midoriya Hisashi. Whoever was using his identity was travelling between America and Japan during the period that he lived here.

(Pause)

Midoriya Izuku: He sold Mom’s identity too.

Sir Nighteye: Yes.

Midoriya Izuku: And because she’s not a Unus employee, it doesn’t matter how blatant they are with her identity. They can do anything, because they don’t give a shit about whether or not they ruin her life. He sold her identity to -

Sir Nighteye: Izuku.

Midoriya Izuku: And you didn’t loop me in on this.

Sir Nighteye: We were worried that -

Midoriya Izuku: I wouldn’t have had to inform the police. I’m not technically a hero. I don’t have that obligation.

Sir Nighteye: I mean, you do, as every citizen does -

Midoriya Izuku: Stop.

Sir Nighteye: What?

Midoriya Izuku: Stop trying to explain yourself. You didn’t LOOP ME IN! I could’ve done something! I could’ve prevented this if you didn’t fucking restrict my access to information!

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, we didn’t want you to drive yourself to exhaustion -

Midoriya Izuku: (Hysterical laugh) Oh, it’s for my own good! I should have known! It’s always for my own good, isn’t it! Restricting me from the office, banning me from looking at cases! Telling me to slow down, to just talk to you! WHY THE FUCK SHOULD I DO THAT?

Sir Nighteye: Izuku, please -

Midoriya Izuku: WHY SHOULD I TALK TO YOU IF YOU DON’T TALK TO ME? HUH?

Centipeder: You have to calm down -

Midoriya Izuku: Do I? Do I really? Do I have to be quiet, and meek, and out of the way?

Sir Nighteye: What? No, I don’t -

Midoriya Izuku: Convenient, except when I’m troublesome. Useful, except when I’m a burden. Something to be praised one day and shunted aside the next!

Sir Nighteye: That’s not it at all! We were worried!

Midoriya Izuku: About what?

(Pause)

Sir Nighteye: We were worried that you’d do something reckless.

(Pause)